entertainment

According to media ratings and research company Nielsen, E3 is generating online buzz at a level 59 percent higher than last year. The key driver is interest in Nintendo's successor to the Wii console, which is expected to be revealed on Tuesday, June 7.

The buzz level was measured by counting the number of messages from blogs, Twitter, and message boards during April and May of 2010 and 2011, and Nielsen says that 22 percent of this year'… Read more

We've been cautiously optimistic about online streaming game service OnLive since it launched about a year ago. For the uninitiated, it's essentially cloud-based PC gaming that originally allowed nearly any laptop or desktop to play high-end PC games by offloading the CPU- and GPU-intensive tasks of actually running the game software to a remote render farm, then beaming the gameplay back to you as a streaming video.

Later, the company added a MicroConsole--a small box that connects to a TV via HDMI and acts as a streaming dongle for the games, which are played with a wireless controller … Read more

At E3 2010, we wrote that the show's usual software focus had been temporarily eclipsed by a flood of new hardware, from the Microsoft Kinect (which actually debuted a few months before at the Game Developers Conference), to the the PlayStation Move, to Nintendo's handheld 3DS console.

Since then, all three devices have been released commercially, each to great initial success and generally positive reviews. But, we've also noted, in anecdotally talking to people in and out of the industry, that a user's interest level in all three of these groundbreaking projects can drop off quickly in many cases.

Case in point: after moving to a new apartment a few months ago, neither my Kinect nor PlayStation Move have been permanently hooked up again yet (at least partially because of the logistical problems that come with using the Kinect in a small apartment). We've talked to many other gamers who also find that their hot hardware from E3 2010 is collecting dust.

The primary culprit seems to be a lack of must-play software. The number of new Kinect games slowed to a trickle almost immediately after the motion-sensing camera launched, and the same is true of the PlayStation Move (although that camera at least works with high-profile games such as Killzone 3 and SOCOM 4). The Nintendo 3DS, groundbreaking as it is, also suffers from a lack of killer apps. Big buzz games aren't here yet, nor are long-promised features, such as 3D video recording and streaming, although the built-in 3DS shop is set to go online next week.

So, our question here for you is: Of the big three hardware releases from E3 2010, the Xbox 360 Kinect, PlayStation Move, and Nintendo 3DS, which ones have you purchased but now rarely, if ever, use? … Read more

Even though it's supposedly an industry-only trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is an event of epic proportions for video game aficionados, as evidenced by the legions of fans who follow the show's daily announcements online, through blogs, news outlets, and (a more recent development) video feeds.

But despite its decade-plus place in the public consciousness (I've been attending since 1999), the E3 show has been to the brink of extinction more than once, and while it has pulled off a remarkable recovery over the past couple of years, there's still a chance history may repeat itself.

In brief, what happened was the trade show equivalent of a boom and bust cycle. Throughout the 2000s, game companies competed to outdo each other, with excessive budgets and outlandish displays, creating literal mini cities inside the Los Angeles Convention Center that easily trumped anything seen at the larger Consumer Electronics Show, which takes place in Las Vegas every January.

The trend peaked in 2006, after which the participants collectively realized that entirely too much money was being spent on the show, which had long since stopped being a place for retail buyers to make deals with publishers, and had become essentially a weeklong press conference. Simply put, the week's worth of media hits was judged to be simply not worth the investment.

At the time, the Entertainment Software Association, a trade organization that runs the event, agreed to retrench, scaling down the 2007 version into what then-Entertainment Software Association President Douglas Lowenstein called a "more personal, efficient, and focused" show. E3 went from 60,000 attendees the previous year to about 4,000, and from 400 exhibiting companies to fewer than 40. E3 2008 was a similarly small affair, returning to the Los Angeles Convention Center, but keeping the small, low-cost format.… Read more

Samsung and 3D company RealD are teaming up to license a new, full-resolution 3D technology to consumer electronics makers, the companies announced today.

Discussed at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, the new technology promises better and brighter image quality. The technology brings active shutter functionality to the display, which alternates content viewing between the left and right eyes, making full use of all the display's pixels. Content delivered through the companies' technology can be viewed with RealD's circularly polarized 3D eyewear.

"RealD and Samsung's new displays look fantastic and represent the next step in … Read more

Miramax and Netflix have signed a multiyear content deal, the companies announced today.

Starting next month, "several hundred" Miramax movies, including "Pulp Fiction," "Shakespeare In Love," and "Good Will Hunting," will be made available on Netflix's streaming service in the U.S. The deal marks the first time that Miramax has ever brought its content to a digital subscription service, the company said.

"From day one, we've been very clear about the importance of digital and our desire to respond to the significant pent-up demand for our films--delivering to … Read more

In the wake of the three-week PlayStation Network outage and data breach, Sony has taken various steps to compensate customers. Most recently, the company said affected U.S. customers of the Sony Online multiplayer online gaming service will get free identity theft protection from security firm Debix and a month of free service.

Sony is also offering Sony Online users a free day for every day past one month that the service is offline. It's supposed to come back after a few days, according to yesterday's statement. In addition, the company is giving a variety of in-game benefits and items such as currency. Lifetime subscribers will get 20,000 coins for Free Realms, 7,500 Galactic Credits for Clone Wars Adventures, and 10 Marks of Distinction for DC Universe Online.

These compensation measures are being offered in addition to the offer made last week to PlayStation Network and Qriocity customers affected by the same breach. The offers come after Sony servers were attacked between April 17 and April 19, producing a massive breach of data related to users on PlayStation Network, Qriocity, and Sony Online.

What do you think? Are Sony's compensation measures enough? Vote in our poll. … Read more

Sony Online Entertainment today offered more details on how it will compensate customers affected by the three-week-long outage of the PC and console gaming network, which Sony says should be online in "at least a few more days."

U.S. customers with an account for the multiplayer online gaming service will get free identity theft protection from security firm Debix. Customers in other countries will be getting similar offers soon, according to the statement. This is in addition to the offer made last week to PlayStation Network and Qriocity customers affected by the same breach.

In addition, all players will get one month of free service as compensation, plus another free day for every day past one month the service remains inaccessible. Sony Online is also giving players in-game bonuses for several of its titles, both for PC games and PlayStation 3 games such as DC Universe Online, Free Realms, and EverQuest.

Customers who've paid for "lifetime" subscriptions will get free in-game currency (20,000 coins for Free Realms, 7,500 Galactic Credits for Clone Wars Adventures, and 10 Marks of Distinction for DC Universe Online).

For a complete list of the in-game bonus items, see the company's statement. … Read more

HBO's mobile app has apparently caught on quickly.

Speaking yesterday at the Streaming Media East conference, HBO co-President Eric Kessler said HBO Go's mobile application, which is available on iOS- and Android-based devices, was downloaded over 1 million times during the first week of availability. The free app launched April 29.

HBO Go itself launched on the Web last year. The service offers a wide range of HBO content, including movies, original series, and documentaries. Currently, it has about 1,400 titles available. However, the service is not available to everyone.

AT&T, Dish, Verizon, and DirecTV … Read more