A buzz was created everywhere as soon as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was quoted by Gizmodo magazine as saying that a Blu-Ray accessory for the X-Box 360 might be coming soon. All speculation, however, died down recently when the software giant made it clear that no such accessory is on its way.

Zapak.Com, a privately-held online gaming portal, has entered into an agreement with DesiMartini.Com, a social networking site.

Under the arrangement, Zapak.Com will power the exclusive gaming section on DesiMartini.Com and this game section will feature more than 70 games across genres like Action, Puzzle, Strategy, Racing and Sports.

DesiMartini is a social networking site where visitors, from all over the world, can connect to each other, make new friends, share photographs, videos, messages and engage in discussions.

Beijing  - Chinese gamers will be able to play the popular online role-play game, World of Warcraft (WoW), for free while the operator awaits official approval from government censors, local media reported Sunday.

In April, Chinese players' access to the game was cut off when the operating rights were transferred from one company, The9, to another, Shanghai Netease.

Reliance Mobile has entered into an alliance with US-based Gameloft, a mobile games company that specializes in developing   mobile games based on world celebrities and Hollywood movies.

As per this tie-up, Gameloft will soon release an unique mobile game based on the life of Paris Hilton. The game will be called Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest.

It should be noted that the proposed game will be the first official mobile game from   Paris Hilton, showing the star's glamorous side and elegance.

According to industry analyst NPD Group, US video games' year-on-year sales plunged almost 17 percent in April, marking the second successive monthly fall! As compared to the month-before sales figures, the April sales tumbled 30 percent.

NPD said that the video game industry reported $1.03-billion revenue in April, as against the year-before figures of $1.24 billion.

While game software sales for the month dropped 23 percent to $510.7 million; hardware sales fell 8 percent to $391.6 million; and accessories' sales were down 15 percent.

Rolling out its new entry-level gaming console Xbox 360 Arcade in India, Microsoft intends substituting it with the Xbox 360 Core model. The new console offers five interesting Zbox LIVE Arcade games - Uno, Luxor 2, Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, and Pac-man Championship Edition.

Los Angeles - Dave Arneson, who co-created the Dungeons & Dragons game, which pioneered the format for role-playing video games has died aged 61 after a two-year battle with cancer. Wizards of the Coast, the company that produces Dungeons & Dragons, said Friday that Arneson died in a hospice in Minnesota on Tuesday.

Arneson developed the game in 1974 together with Gary Gygax, who died in March 2008. The game was one of the first to allow players to assume and develop an individual character while embarking on complex quests, and has inspired countless computer games.

San Francisco - A new study has found that action video games can improve players' eyesight, researchers said Monday.

The study, which was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, found that the visual processes needed to play games like Call of Duty 2 improved players' contrast sensitivity. Contrast sensitivity allows people to notice different shades and is particularly important for such tasks as driving at night and discerning patterns and facial expressions.

Packed with Qualcomm's cell phone technology, start-up Zeebo's first video game console for "the next billion" will be launched next month. Priced at $199, the console will specifically target the "emerging" BRIC - Brazil, Russia, India and China - markets.

Given the fact that Zeebo's console is developing world-specific, it is not intended to offer any direct competition whatsoever to the "big three" namely - Sony's PS 3, Microsoft's Xbox 360, or Nintendo's Wii.

Video-game publishers are pressurizing Sony Corp to take its pick out of two alternatives - one, lower the price of its PlayStation 3 console; and two, face the possibility increased development funds going Nintendo Wii's way! At its starting price of $399.99, the PS3 is $150 more than Wii and $200 more than the most-economical Xbox 360.

According to analyst Mike Hickey, of Janco Partners Inc. in Greenwood Village, Colorado, even though Sony has thus far stood unyielding against calls for lower price, there is likelihood that it might trim the price of PS3 by $50-$100 in the near future.

On 3rd April, UK would see Nintendo launching its new DSi, two days before its release in the US - at a retail price of 149 GBP.

A source, on condition of anonymity, disclosed, "A third iteration of Nintendo's hugely successful handheld hardware, the DSi adds two cameras while slimming the proportions, and perhaps most significantly adds both an SD card slot and 256MB of memory, transforming the DS into a multimedia tool."

Online gaming and mobile games company, Indiagames on Monday launched its latest mobile game, 'Dev D', joining bollywood films Ghajini and Chandni Chowk to China which have been converted into video games.

Dev D was launched by Indiagames' CEO Vishal Gondal in the presence of the two leading actresses, Mahi and Kalki, of the Abhay Deol's film.

Vishal Gondal, CEO, Indiagames, said, "Movie companies have started looking at mobile gaming very seriously as an opportunity. This year has been great for us as we have started with 'Ghajani', followed by 'Chandni Chowk to China', and now we are doing 'Dev D'."

It has been proved by a novel study that a Nintendo that carries a price tag of £100 is no better than a 10 paise pencil at stimulating the memory. After the latest study, the claim by Nintendo that the DS Lite boosts the brain has been disapproved.

With the aim to bring to the PlayStation Network video service, MTVN’s collection of shows to the PS3 and PSP networks, SCEA and MTV Networks (MTVN) have joined hands.

It should be noted here that U. S. telecommunications regulation and policy is overseen by the FCC and regulation of telephone and cable companies; oversight of concentration of ownership of radio, television outlets, and auctioning public airwaves are all included in its reach.

Apple has been taking initiatives to popularize iPhone and iPod touch as mobile gaming platforms with many big game publishers like EA, Sega and others, already rolling out iPhone OS version games. But now, Social Gaming Network has come up with MMO concept of gaming over iPhone and iPod Touch.

The gaming applications were showcased by the game developers on Facebook, Hi5, Bebo and MySpace, who also showcased their four sports games - iGolf, iBaseball, iBasketball and iBowl - on Apple App Store.

Reliance ADA Group’s venture Zapak has partnered with Greystripe. Greystripe provides ad-supported distribution of games for mobile users. Zapak Digital Entertainment will feature 900 plus ad-supported games and applications from Greystripe. This has been seen as a significant development in Indian online gaming space by industry experts.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has implemented a new strategy of attracting casual gamers with the introduction of a PC-gaming graphics card for less than $150. Despite delivering its ATI graphics cards at such appealing prices, AMD still provides the high-end products favored by serious players.

Though the price is low, the features are many, namely - a 256-bit GDDR3 memory interface; unified video decoder, two dual-link DVI ports, and support for the ATI CrossFireX technology.

Keeping in mind the “cultural sensitivities” in India, the release of Fallout 3 has been cancelled by Microsoft India in the nation. 

It was earlier planned that on 28th October, the Bethesda RPG will be published on Xbox 360 by the platform holder. However now MS informs that game was cancelled from being launched since it could hurt Indian sensibilities. 

Hyderabad based online gaming company 7Seas Technologies, has announced the launch of an online casual game called Operation Big Bang on its gaming portals www.onlinerealgames.com and www.neodelight.com.

The game has 35 levels, which educates the player about the Large Hadron Collider, which is located in an underground tunnel at France and Switzerland border.

Further, the game also guides about tremendous blowup that created the Universe.

GameStop Corporation, world's largest video game retailer, has agreed to buy French video game retailer Micromania for $700 million in cash, to expand its presence in the European market.

Under the deal, the company will purchase the Micromania's outstanding shares from private equity fund L Capital.

The company intends to fund acquisition by cash on hand from an existing revolving credit facility, as well as by a $150 million committed term loan from Bank of America.