Biohazard

"Our one and only goal once we got the Wii U hardware was to get Darksiders II running on it. We didn't even have running the game on the touch screen on our 'to do' list. but once we got it running, we just fooled around with getting it on the touch screen as a lark. It took all of five minutes and two lines of code, and boom! - there was the entire game running on the controller. Amazing."

CVG

Nintendo hasn't been faring so well of late. The company had to slash the price on its 3DS and reduce its annual profit forecast. Meanwhile, the company's stock has been down 40% this year. Overnight, however, Nintendo's stock suddenly jumped 10%. What happened? Are investors now encouraged by the new low 3DS price?

Well, that may have helped, but the real explanation for the boost is actually that there are now expectations of Nintendo being included in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average. At the moment, Nintendo shares are traded on the Osaka Exchange.

Panoptic Management Consultants CEO Asif Khan explained to IndustryGamers, "Nintendo shares spiked 9.8% overnight in Japan on a rumor that the Japanese traded 7974 shares could be added to the Nikkei 225 index.  This is great news for Nintendo shareholders as most companies on the verge of self-destruction are rarely added to benchmark indices.  When stocks are added or dropped from market indices it forces ETFs, and mutual funds to buy or sell shares.  In the case of Nintendo, any fund that attempts to mimic the Nikkei 225 will have to buy up shares."

Khan continued, noting that Nintendo actually could climb back beyond the $50 per share mark: "I believe we are seeing savvy buyers trying to front run that trade.  If you know that there are big ETF and mutual fund buyers waiting for the rumor to become official, why not get in ahead of them?  This is why I believe that Nintendo is up on the day.  We own the NTDOY ADR for clients and in our personal accounts and this move above $19/share is just the beginning of what we believe is in store for this company.  I believe NTDOY could reach $50-65/share over the next 3 years, so this $1.50 move today is welcome but not exactly a tectonic shift.  We continue to like shares, and today's rumor of the addition to the Nikkei 225 should be viewed as a vote of confidence in Nintendo's future.  

"Of course, we must wait to see if this rumor is true before we break out the Jigglypuff champagne glasses."

Industry Gamers

One of the weirdest moments of last night's Republican debate probably slipped completely under the radar for most viewers. This moment occurred in Herman Cain's closing statement, when the former pizza-chain CEO recited a favorite inspirational quote: "A poet once said, 'life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it's never easy when there's so much on the line.'" Nothing strange about that on the surface, until you Google the quote and you realize that these words of wisdom were uttered not by a poet, but by disco queen Donna Summer in her song "The Power of One." Even more bizarre, this isn't even one of Summer's classic hits — she recorded it just over a decade ago as the theme song for Pokémon: The Movie 2000

http://nymag.com/dai..._he_was_qu.html



While there is a dispute as to whether or not video games are art, there is no doubt it is relevant in the realm of politics.

Technology company AMD (supplier of graphics hardware for the Xbox 360) is claiming that the Xbox 360's successor will be capable of producing the kind of visual detail seen in James Cameron's Avatar, as reported on examiner.com via the August issue of Official Xbox Magazine US.

Cramming the kind of technology it took to render every frame of the eyeball-searing Avatar into a console within the next year or so sounds impossible, but AMD is claiming the next Xbox will launch with this within reach.

AMD would not confirm it was actually working on the next Xbox but director of ISV relationships at AMD, Neal Robison, has said that gamers have a lot to be excited about. Beyond visual fidelity Robison claims that the AI and physics capabilities of the next generation will allow for every pedestrian in an open-world title like GTA or Saints Row to be an individual character with a unique personality. This would mean NPCs would react in a whole host of new and different ways to in-game actions.

Of course, this is far from the first time this sort of hyperbole has been tossed out into the public. Gamers have been teased with promises of Toy Story graphics for the PS2 and Toy Story 2 graphics for the original Xbox before.

IGN