Microsoft plans to bring its Silverlight graphical framework to Xbox 360, enabling portability of online advertising campaigns between the console and other Silverlight-supporting platforms. According to a MediaPost report, Microsoft will open up space for advertising, presumably on the Xbox Live Dashboard, that will be identical to what is available for web ads, and will conform to Interactive Advertising Bureau guidelines. Silverlight as a technology is similar in intent to, and a competitor of, Adobe ...

Pioneering adventure game designer Ron Gilbert will deliver the keynote address at this year's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, event organizers have announced. The designer follows in the footsteps of BioShock creative director Ken Levine, who keynoted the popular convention last year. Penny Arcade Expo 2009 is being held September 4 to 6 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. It is the fifth annual consumer gaming show held by Jerry Holkins and Mike ...

After its first four days on sale in Japan, Nintendo's Wii Sports Resort, which is bundled with the Wii Motion Plus peripheral, has become one of that region's fastest-selling Wii titles to date. Its more than 353,000 units sold put it at a somewhat distant third to the two best-selling-in-four-days Wii titles, fellow first party releases Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, according to a Famitsu report. According to the magazine/website's notes surrounding ...

The strategy gaming faithful owe something to Brian Reynolds. The longtime game designer is responsible for such notable games as Alpha Centauri and Civilization II. Most recently, Reynolds, who co-founded strategy mainstay Firaxis Games, was with another respected strategy game maker, Rise of Nations and Catan house Big Huge Games, which he also co-founded. But with Big Huge's former parent THQ falling on financial hardship, the publisher had to sell off the studio, or close ...

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey says that despite the promise of holiday success for games like DJ Hero and Tony Hawk: Ride, Activision's year end could see some snags -- chief among them the increasing likelihood that Starcraft II won't make this calendar year. Although Blizzard's not yet pinned a specific release date for the game, it's maintained a 2009 window. But Starcraft II lead designer recently told consumer weblog Kotaku that the team plans ...

GDC organizer Think Services (also parent of Gamasutra) announced that Klaas Kersting, CEO of German browser game pioneer Gameforge, will keynote the business track at the 2009 Game Developers Conference Europe. Gameforge is best known for free browser-based RPG Ikariam, and at GDC Europe, he'll give a talk entitled "Changes in the Games Industry - Free-to-play vs. Payment Models," where he'll share his thoughts on the success of the revolutionary free-to-play model Gameforge uses. In ...

The interface has been a central selling point of the video game experience for years now. Such interfaces can be traced back decades: Sony's EyeToy; Bandai's Power Pad; Mattel's Power Glove; Amiga's Joyboard; the rideable cars and motorbikes of '80s - '90s arcades; indeed, even Nintendo's own progenitors of the Wii Remote, like Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble for Game Boy Color. The recent acceleration in motion control schemes and Sony and Microsoft's E3 gesture-based gaming ...

U.K.-based music, DVD, books, and games retailer HMV Group reported overall profits dropped 50 percent for the fiscal year, but games and technology were a "key growth category." HMV on Tuesday reported profits of £44.2 million ($72.71 million) for the fiscal year ended in April, down from £89 million ($146.42 million) a year prior. But profits from continued operations, which doesn't include the August 2007 sale of HMV's Japanese business, reflected a bump in profits ...

Embattled file-sharing site The Pirate Bay has been acquired by game networking company Global Gaming Factory for $7.8 million, and will turn the website into a legitimate operation that compensates content providers. "We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site, " said GGF CEO Hans Pandeya in a statement. The acquisition is slated to close in August. Pandeya said ...

Rogue Warrior, based on the personality and exploits of real-life Navy SEAL Richard "Demo Dick" Marcinko, has had a long, twisted development history. Originally announced by publisher Bethesda Softworks in conjunction with Seattle-based Zombie Studios, little was heard about the game for several years until Bethesda recently re-announced it as being developed from scratch by the UK's Rebellion Developments (Aliens Vs. Predator). Rebellion redesigned the game from a tactical first-person shooter to a hybrid first- ...