Guitar Hero franchise nets a billion
NPD group has reported that American retail sales of Activision's popular Guitar Hero music simulator franchise have put it among the top-selling game franchises of all time, earning over $1 billion in 26 months. Activision has reported sales of 14 million units and 5 million additional song downloads since the title's initial release in 2005. The fiscal year of 2007 ended with the company posting $1.5 billion net revenues.
Several sources report that the Pokemon series, which consists of over 30 individual titles holds the position of "best-selling video game of all time." Other sources say the Mario Brothers series is the best-seller of all time, with a total sales figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 195 million units.
Verizon expands V CAST Mobile TV coverage
Verizon's V CAST Mobile TV service, which uses MediaFLO to provide television entertainment to capable handsets has received a service upgrade in the areas surrounding New York City.
Included in the expansion is the greater part of Suffolk County including Lindenhurst, West Islip, Holbrook, Centereach, and from Coram east all the way to Riverhead, All of Staten Island, portions of Essex, Union, Passiac, and Morris Counties in New Jersey. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx will also receive a service enhancement.
Netflix to allow unlimited streaming on select plans
Netflix subscribers who have unlimited rental plans will now be able to stream an unlimited number of movies or TV shows on their PCs at no additional cost. The change affects all subscribers with plans starting at $8.99 per month, according to a statement. About 6,000 movies and shows are currently available for streaming. Previously the company used a metered approach to offering streaming.
"Unlimited has always been a very powerful selling point with our subscribers and a large part of what set us apart in the marketplace," marketing chief Leslie Kilgore said. Only subscribers of the $4.99 per month plan will have limits on streaming. Two hours of time will be alloted to customers on that plan at no extra charge.
CES Trend #2: Is 2008 finally the year for 4G mobile?
Scott Fulton, BetaNews: Every year at CES time, we revisit the topic of when or whether the United States will finally catch up with the rest of the world in mobile wireless broadband. Why do we keep butting up against the same roadblocks year after year?
For our #2 trend on the countdown, we ask whether this time, the telcos and service providers at CES are finally getting the formula down for the next great evolution of services. To start, I'd like to bring in former Gartner analyst, and our CES analyst here all week, Sharon Fisher.
CES Trend #3: High-def displays seek differentiation to avoid commoditization
Scott Fulton, BetaNews: If you've been following our CES 2008 coverage since the few days before our team arrived in Las Vegas, you probably found yourself asking an interesting question: Has BetaNews forgotten how to count?
After all, we had a Top 10 countdown, and we ended up at #4. Well, we do have a bit of an excuse for you: First of all, we had some material already planned about the high-definition format war. That material became quickly outdated after the events of last weekend, and with the crowd at CES starting to see Blu-ray as the front-runner, if not the outright leader, for the first time.
Up Close: Panasonic's 150-inch display
While last year's CES had multiple electronics makers touting the world's largest display, Panasonic took no chances this year, showcasing a 150-inch plasma TV. The screen has been the talk of the show, measuring 11 feet long with a resolution of 2000x4000 pixels. Although it's just a prototype, the television highlights the ability for manufacturers to build bigger screens at lower prices.
One critical patch for Vista en route
Maybe they are busy prepping for CES, but Microsoft only plans to issue two patches for the first Patch Tuesday of the new year. Both patches will deal with code execution vulnerabilities in the Windows Vista operating system. One will be rated "critical," while the other received an "important" rating from the Redmond company.
The critical patch affects not only Vista, but all versions of the Windows operating system, while the important patch is also intended for Windows 2000, XP, and 2003. FrSIRT may provide some idea as to what these patches may be: it currently lists a critical buffer overflow vulnerability in Microsoft DirectX, and a "moderate risk" flaw in the Windows CFileFind class.
First multi-touch tablet from Toshiba available today
Toshiba made available today its 9th generation M700 tablet PC, the current highest-end tablet PC offered by the company, and the first to offer multi-touch capability.
Besides being the first convertible laptop from Toshiba to feature a multi-touch backlit LED display, it is also the only tablet currently available in retail to incorporate a swappable Ultra SlimBay for an internal optical drive, second hard drive, or just to lighten the overall package.
LG's dual-format disc player hits stores
LG said Monday that its second try at a dual-format next generation disc player is now available at retailers.
Unlike the company's previous player, this unit has been certified by both HD DVD and Blu-ray, and will be upgradeable to the new BD Profile 1.1 when those discs become available next year. Like its predecessor, the BH200 will retail for $999 and support up to 1080p resolution. LG's announcement follows that of Samsung, whose player will sell for $200 less when it becomes available later this month.
Exclusive beta invitation from GameTap and BetaNews
Time Warner subsidiary GameTap is searching for people who love to play games to join its beta program. Sign up through this exclusive invitation before the spots fill up.
No matter whether you prefer action games such as Tomb Raider: Anniversary and Clive Barker's Jericho, adventures games such as Sam & Max: Season Two and Overlord, fighting games such as Street Fighter Alpha 3 and King of Fighters 2003, or puzzle games like Bust-A-Move and Columns, GameTap has them all playable for free.
Samsung's next-gen DVD combo player ships
Despite rumors of delays, the Korean electronics maker says its dual-format player is still on track for a release this month. The BD-UP5000 will also ship with a lower price than originally announced. Samsung said that it will lower the price to $799, $200 cheaper than its original listing. According to a spokesperson, the player has begun shipping and will appear on retailers' shelves soon.
Even with Samsung's assurances, the Amazon.com list page for the product still says the player will be released on January 15, 2008.
House votes to tighten net child porn regulations
The US House of Representatives late Wednesday approved a measure by a vote of 409-2, to expand the responsibilities of ISPs to reign in child pornography on their servers.
Under the new law, Internet service providers will be required to preserve child pornography images as evidence, and report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children the online screen names and locations of suspected child predators, along with the times when the images in question were accessed.
News Corp takes a leap of faith in Beliefnet
Media conglomerate News Corp said Wednesday that its film and television arm had purchased religious site Beliefnet, which is the most popular religion site in the US. Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, it is believed that News Corp paid in the tens of millions for the site. Topics on the site are not just Christian-centric: subjects on other religions are covered, including Judaism, Hinduism, and others.
Beliefnet will likely remain a separate entity and would not be integrated with other News Corp web properties. However, the site may look to integrate somewhat with MySpace in the future, Fox Digital president Dan Fawcett told the Wall Street Journal. The site would also adopt advertising technology that was developed by Fox Interactive for MySpace, he said.
Former Moto CTO takes job with Cisco
Cisco confirmed late Tuesday that Padmasree Warrior would take a position with the company as its chief technology officer, just one day after she left Motorola following the exit of CEO Ed Zander. Warrior would be a good fit for Cisco as it moves into becoming more of a consumer company, but holds a good deal of enterprise and networking knowledge which is still very much the company's primary business.
"I am eager to bring to Cisco my technical expertise, over 20 years of experience in many aspects of the communications industry, a global bent of mind and an energizing leadership style," she said in a blog post announcing her hiring. She also said the company's drive to build new paradigms in communications drew her to the company. Warrior would report to CEO John Chambers.
Microsoft expands XP SP3 beta, but not yet to public
Microsoft late Monday expanded its beta test of Windows XP Service Pack 3 to subscribers of its MSDN and TechNet programs, releasing what is being called a "near-final release candidate." The move is likely harbinger of a public beta, as the latest SP3 code will be in the hands of far more than the 15,000 who originally were given access in mid-November.
Noted Microsoft pundit Mary Jo Foley says the public release of an XP SP3 beta could come as early as next week, when a public test build of Windows Vista SP1 is said to be slated for release. A final version of both service packs are currently scheduled for the first half of next year, "based on customer feedback." Vista SP1 will likely arrive sooner than XP SP3, possibly in February.
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