video game

Any legit gamer knows that the billion dollar gaming industry has to compete for your business. There are stores and websites that specialize in trading, discount and rentals, as well as plenty of free online games and downloadable titles. When certain games are released, they may be nearly impossible to buy cheap. Still, you may be able to beat the industry at their own game.

Tiger Woods may not have won a PGA tournament in nearly two years, and his last attempt to take home a green jacket from the Masters was a bust, but the virtual Tiger is on a roll: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters has broken all sales records for the Electronic Arts franchise.

Activision Blizzard's shares fell after the video-game maker forecast that 2011 sales would fall short of analysts' estimates and announced that it would cease creating Guitar Hero games because of lackluster sales.

Activision Blizzard has added video-game competitor Electronic Arts to its $400 million countersuit against two former executives of "Call of Duty" creator Infinity Ward, claiming that EA tried to lure the executives away while they were still under contract with Activision.

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.

U.S. gamers spent about the same amount of money on video games last year as they did in 2009, even as sales of consoles and other hardware took a plunge. Purchases of physical game discs slid 5%, in spite of the record-breaking success of "Call of Duty: Black Ops," but downloadable and social-network games made up the difference.

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.

Activision Blizzard's "Call of Duty: Black Ops" video game has raked in more than $1 billion in sales since its Nov. 9 release, making it the fastest-selling video game in history -- and one of the fastest-selling entertainment products of all time.

Panasonic is gearing up to challenge Nintendo and Sony with a new handheld video-game player code-named "Jungle," Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. After leaving the portable-gaming market a decade ago, can this new device make Panasonic a major player?

Videogame publisher Activision Blizzard said its "Call of Duty: Black Ops" has had the most successful entertainment debut ever, generating more than $650 million in global sales in five days.