By William Jackson GIN technology correspondent There is a ready-made base of customers ready to adopt wireless gaming, according to a new high-tech marketing report. In-Stat/MDR of Scottsdale, Ariz., estimates that by 2009, mobile gaming services in the United States will generate $1.8 billion annually. This would be only 4.4 percent of total wireless data revenues, but would constitute a significant niche market, reflecting an expected 10-fold increase in the number of mobile gamers. One key to expanding this market is improving the gaming experience. One company thinks it has a technology to accomplish this. Atrua Technologies Inc. of Campbell, … Continue reading Mobile Gaming Niche Ready To Expand →

By: Chella Ramanan EGN – Zango Games interview While at EGN, I had the good fortune to run into Zango Games, a company that wants to make games more popular by extending their lifecycle. It will take a strong community to make things work, but Zango seems to have all their ducks in a row. Chella caught up with Charles Balas, director of business development for Zango Games. With so many comparisons being made between the movie industry and the games industry, Zango Games is looking to films for revenue inspiration. GiN: What is Zango Games? Balas:The best analogy is; … Continue reading It's Zango Time! →

By: Chella Ramanan As games budgets continue to reach for the sky, developers are looking for all the help they can get. Following on from GIN's interview with Microsoft's Dean Lester at last year's ECTS, Chella brings the latest on Microsoft's gaming for Windows initiatives at ECTS 2004. The release of Direct X 9.0 means developers can create cutting edge graphics, special effects and environments for PC gamers to enjoy. The latest consoles are coming to the end of their life-cycle and anticipation is already growing for the next generation. Meanwhile, the PC market is leading the way in terms … Continue reading Microsoft Does Games at ECTS →

Jolt Online Gaming, Europe’s largest independent online gaming network, is pleased to announce it has signed an exclusive agreement with Turbine Entertainment Software, a premier provider of online subscription services, for the right to host, operate, market, distribute and support Asheron’s Call and Asheron’s Call 2: Fallen Kings online services in Europe. The deal marks an important step forward in Jolt’s business operations and reaffirms its position as a leader in the provision of online gaming services in Europe and a dynamic, strategically expanding company in the fast moving market. "We’re very excited about the prospect of handling the Asheron’s … Continue reading Jolt Online To Carry Asheron's Call Games →

Prepare for battle. LucasArts is excited to announce that the highly anticipated action/shooter, Star Wars Battlefront has officially GONE GOLD on PS2, Xbox and PC and is scheduled to blast its way onto store shelves on Tuesday, September 21, 2004 — day and date with the Star Wars Trilogy, which marks the first time all three classic films will be available on DVD. Star Wars Battlefront is an intense open-ended single player and multiplayer action game set in the Star Wars universe that puts fans and gamers in the heat of the action as they re-live all of the epic … Continue reading Star Wars Battlefront Goes Gold →

By: Chella Ramanan GiN European Correspondent The queues were already building outside Game Stars and there was an air of quiet anticipation. The doors opened and it was a question of locating the Xbox stand as soon as possible. I did and got myself in the sweet position of being about 15th in the queue – result! The stand was dressed to the max, with palm trees and rough terrain, featuring real packed down rocks to get us in the mood. A huge screen played a rolling demo, complete with commentary from the dev team. An hour later and I … Continue reading Exclusive Halo 2 Preview! →

Gizmondo, the eagerly anticipated, new handheld multientertainment device from Tiger Telematics (NASDAQ:TGTL) will be showcased this week at the 2004 European Games Network (EGN), September 1 – 3, at ExCeL in London. EGNExpo is the UK's premier trade show targeting computer/video games suppliers, publishers, developers, distributors and the gaming industry as a whole. The Gizmondo booth located at the Game Star Live stand C4, provide many attendees with the opportunity to experience the fully functioning gaming device for the first time. The Gizmondo, powered by a Microsoft Windows CE.net platform, boasts a 2.8-inch TFT color screen with an ARM9 400Mhz … Continue reading Gizmondo premieres in Europe →