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The 2007 Tokyo Game Show would have been a idyllic podium for Sony to make some positive PS3 announcements. Despite the hot gaming industry, they’ve been getting handedly beaten in monthly sales by Nintendo and even Microsoft.  They could use some good press.  Instead, a few bright spots notwithstanding, it was largely another missed opportunity and more bad news.  Sony said Thursday they were delaying the launch of their virtual world meets Xbox Live clone (aka their own virtual community for PS3 users).

The Home community was scheduled for a fall launch; due in time to help support the holiday sales push.   It’s now expected early 2008. Click to Read More

Forget Web 2.0.  Think twice about Internet video? Is gaming the next big frontier for investors and entertainment media companies alike?  It’s sure starting to look that way; even for those late to the party.  From Venture Investors to Big Media, gaming seems hot all over.

The sector has been hot for a while but in the past few months the temperature continues to rise.  Retail sales of consoles and games are returning consistently impressive results well ahead of the holiday season.  More than 68m people played a console game in June worldwide.  According to a report released Tuesday from market research firm DFC Intelligence, the cumulative worldwide “interactive entertainment industry” is on track to grow about 9% per year to reach $47b by 2009 (from $33billion in 2006).  Other market data firms are similarly bullish: Gartner has predicted mobile gaming revenue will hit $9.6b by 2011.  IDC predicts Internet connected consoles will generate revenue upwards of $10b by 2011, up from $981 in 2007.

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Every month gaming analysts wait for retail sales statistics like others sit anxiously in wait for interest rate news from the Fed. Thursday, they got their monthly relief when NPD, North America’s primary source of game-retail statistics, released its sales figures for August. As seems to consistently be the case, and the story for the year, the numbers handedly beat expectations and continue to validate projections that the industry is growing revenue at an astonishing rate.

For August, Nintendo continued its reign as king of the consoles and portables. Click to Read More

Yesterday after the close of market video game publisher Take Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) reported their 3rd quarter financial results.

The New York company has had a rough year.  Not only have they been embattled and burdened by investigations into their options practices but in early August they announced they their premier game, Grand Theft Auto, would miss its October launch (and the holiday shopping season).  The game’s arrival was pushed back into 2008.  Also, in March, shareholders revolted and booted board members and management.  This quarter’s earnings may be the first sign things may be improving.  Buoyed in part by the sale of their game based on the Fantastic Four movie franchise they beat expectations.

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There are all kinds of games built around the idea of six degrees of separation.  Probably the most famous is “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” a game that challenges you to connect two actors by their co-stars to Kevin Bacon in 6 moves or less. It’s so popular, in fact, there’s even a website that will make the connections for you.    Another version of the game ought to be: Six Degrees of Electronic Arts.

The gaming industry is currently popular with investors but especially, it seems,  if a new company includes alumni from Electronic Arts.   Looking back over recent deals, the EA connection seems to be everywhere.

First, there are two newly funded companies: Media Machines and Rocketon, both have leadership schooled on the EA campus.

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Going into the holiday weekend, two Santa Monica companies joined the ranks of the newly funded.  Jacked, an interactive Internet TV-companion platform has raised $6.5m and gaming company Trilogy Studios has closed a $3.2m second round.

Trilogy Studios was founded in 2005 by gaming industry veterans. Click to Read More

D2C Games, a San Mateo California publisher of downloadable games, appears to be the latest company to join the lists of recently funded. Appears is the key word as there  is some confusion as to the details.  Most reports are saying the company, which as its name suggests is focused on direct to consumer casual sports games for consoles , mobile and PC environments, closed a $6m Series A financing.  The confusion surrounds whether this was in fact an A or a B round, and when it actually closed.

Past reports noted on Paid Content and elsewhere have said the company previously took in a million dollars in seed money, and professional Series A round worth another $1.5m last year.  Click to Read More