When Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops video game went on sale back in November 2010, more than 5.6 million units had been sold. The United States was responsible for 4.2 million of those sales, which passed $1 billion after only six weeks.

And now, hold onto your joysticks and step to the side, here comes Black Ops II. Set to be released on Nov. 13, the next installment is on track to be another blockbuster. The trailer above has received more than three million views since it was released on Oct. 16.

To mark the occasion and generate even more interest in the gamer world (as if it needed any), Activision and JJ Abrams' BadRobot Interactive collaborated to develop a new update to the Action Movie FX app, which allows gamers to get some of their weapons for the game earlier than its release.Continue reading...

Back in 2008 it made sense for Zynga to piggyback with Facebook and offer a games portal for the social newcomer on the desktop. But as gaming machines got more powerful and home consoles proliferated, simple click-click games gave way to those more complicated, more easily replicable by other game developers, and clicks got more costly.

Now games like Farmville and Cityville, once Zynga’s bread and butter, are being left in the digital dust as droves of players spend more time on smartphones than on social gaming and paying gamers now comprise less than 5% of Zynga’s user base. 

The billion-lapping Facebook garnered 14% of its revenue in the first six months of 2012 from Zynga, but according to CNBC, analysts are warning that “social gaming on mobile devices is growing at the expense of desktop, which is where FB derives the majority of its payments revenue.”

Its stock price has fallen more than 70 percent this year from its December IPO price of $10, and it's seeing executives such as its head of poker games, CMO, COO and Chief Creative Officer exiting for greener pastures. Is it Game Over for Zynga?Continue reading...

Zynga today released FarmVille 2 on its website and Facebook, described as "Zynga's next-generation social game that delivers a brand new farming experience through stunning visuals, beautiful animations and new ways to visit and interact with friends. FarmVille 2 allows players to create a beautiful farm and express themselves in a world that feels alive and reacts to every touch." More details in the video below.Continue reading...

Amazon has launched its games studio and its first major release: Living Classics, a "moving object game" for Facebook that gets back to the brand's roots as an online bookseller:

In the game, a family of foxes have wandered into vibrant, animated illustrations from their favorite books including Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and King Arthur. Players help to reunite the foxes by exploring beautifully illustrated scenes and spotting moving objects. You can visit friends, share rewards you’ve earned, rediscover famous stories, and reunite fox families.

Its blog post continues: "Why is Amazon making social games, you ask? Good question! We know that many Amazon customers enjoy playing games – including free-to-play social games – and thanks to Amazon's know-how, we believe we can deliver a great, accessible gaming experience that gamers and our customers can play any time." Get the Facebook app here and watch the trailer below.Continue reading...

Zynga is biting the hand that fed it by pitching “Zynga With Friends” as an alternative to Facebook.

The new social network will be accessible through Zynga.com, and players can build profiles, connect with other players and access a real-time multi-player mode for collaborative game-playing on platforms including laptops, smartphones and tablets. 

"Zynga With Friends will be your social lobby wherever you are, whether on the Web or on mobile," said Zynga GM Manuel Bronstein during Zynga Unleashed, its conference this week for reporters and analysts.Continue reading...

The annual E3 video-game conference this week is bringing gamers a flurry of announcements to keep them excited about where the ever-evolving industry will take them next.

Ahead of the annual confab, Nintendo released a video (watch it below) to showcase how its new Wii U console (called the Wii U GamePad) will use social networking in new ways. “The machine will promote the Miiverse in which users can see what others are playing, share self-created game content and swap gaming tips,” the BBC reports.

The plan is for users to be able to connect into the network not just from the new console, but from PCs, smartphones, and 3DS handhelds.Continue reading...

In 1889 Nintendo put out its first batch of playing cards. Since then, the brand has done all it can to represent good times for the world’s fun seekers. It has adapted and shifted through its 123-year history to keep things moving. 

With the rise of technology, of course, things need to shift a little more quickly but it appears that Nintendo isn’t quite ready to shift away from its last big game-changer, Wii, Reuters reports.

It’s understandable that Nintendo isn’t quite ready to push Wii out the door. After all, it’s made the company about $14 billion, the wire service notes, and completely changed the gaming industry back in 2006 by getting the whole family involved rather than being a segment dominated by kids.

Now, the alarm bells are sounding: On Thursday, Nintendo reported its first-ever operating loss in a market that is now dominated by games designed for smartphones and other mobile devices — an area Nintendo hasn’t made a strong push to join other than the sale of its DS and 3DS handhelds.Continue reading...

As you tune into the March Madness games, what do you think your favorite college athletics should receive for their hard work on the court, their image, and likeness? As you mull over that question, consider this case. 

In the fall of 2011, former Boston Celtic and University of San Francisco athlete, Bill Russell, who led University of San Francisco to the NCAA championship in 1955 and 1956, joined forces with former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon on the behalf of other former NCAA players to sue Electronic Arts and the NCAA, as covered by Bloomberg News. 

The former college basketball stars accused the NCAA and Electronic Arts for “violating federal antitrust law by unlawfully foreclosing former Division I men’s basketball and football players from receiving any compensation related to the commercial use of their images and likeness,” stated Jon King, an attorney for the former players, to Bloomberg.Continue reading...