Xbox360

Under pressure to respond to competitors offering souped-up features for their video game systems, Nintendo announced Monday that it will offer a sneak peak of the Wii's successor in June. While consumers may love the shiny new system, the real question is how much it will cost.

Microsoft soundly beat its 2010 sales forecast for the Kinect, a motion-sensor device that enables players to use body movements -- instead of controllers -- to play games on the Xbox console.

Investors are buying into the meme that Windows is dying -- and therefore Microsoft is as well. While tablets are clearly cutting into the giant's core PC business, Microsoft is also showing remarkable agility in building new franchises for the future, the Kinect for one.

Microsoft sold out of its Xbox video-game console in late December thanks to strong holiday-season demand, and may have product shortages in January and February as well, as the company's Kinect motion-sensor device has boosted the popularity of the system, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

How long can Nintendo Wii maintain its position as the reigning video-game console? Microsoft shipped an astronomical 8 million Kinect game systems in the past two months, undermining Wii's leadership -- already weakened by competition from the Xbox and PlayStation 3.

Hulu lowered the price of its newly launched Hulu Plus subscription service by $2 to $7.99 Wednesday, just days after the online streaming video service saw its rank decline on a closely watched Internet ranking service for the month of October.

Stores sold 4% less video-game equipment -- including hardware, software and accessories -- in October compared to a year ago, according to research firm NPD Group. While players are spending more on the games themselves, they aren't shelling out for new consoles: Sales of those systems declined significantly.

The launch of Microsoft's long-anticipated motion-sensing video game, Kinect for Xbox 360, has heated the debate about whether facial-recognition software may be racist. A GameSpot review found the game didn't recognize dark-skinned players as well as light-skinned ones. How does this happen?

Microsoft motion controller for its Xbox videogame console, which launches this week, will outsell Sony's new PlayStation controller during the holiday season, according to a forecast report released Monday.

Sony has slashed the price of its Daily Edition e-reader to $299.99 from $349.99, following similar price cuts to Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Can any of these companies really make money at the reduced price levels?