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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Anthony Morrow can still walk without incident from his downtown hotel to the BART trains that sometimes take him to the Golden State Warriors' arena. Most of Oakland's famously enthusiastic hoops fans haven't yet put a face to the name that hit their favorite team's starting lineup like a thunderbolt last weekend.

A new report from research group JPR says the PC gaming market is worth over $20 billion, and that more gaming PCs have been shipped than PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii combined.

Star Tribune:

One night in 1966, “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson and a guest, the lovely Eva Gabor, were on the studio floor as they giggled and groped their way through a new game that was destined for tens of thousands of U.S. living rooms.

The agile Johnny attempted to slide one foot to a color destination under Ava’s arched back and lean back to plant his hand on another color, before they collapsed to the floor in laughter, delighting the in-studio audience of what was the country’s favorite late-night show.

The happy inventor of Twister in 1966 was Reyn Guyer, a 31-year-old promotions pitchman at his father’s St. Paul creative shop, who conceived the game in 1964.

“Believe it or not, I was working on a promotion for a polish for kids shoes when I got the inspiration for a game that uses people as playing pieces,”

Guyer, who is also the guy behind the Nerf Ball, continues to run a small company that invents toys and children’s learning products. And at the Chicago International Toy and Game Fair Guyer, a guy who doesn’t like croquet, will introduce another toy concept: KingsCourt, a kind of team-oriented croquet.

This game includes mallets for striking balls. But it’s simpler, involves teams and strategy and is more fun to play and watch.”

Photo by Star Tribune.

The successful science and educational organization The National Geographic Society, best known for their long-running magazine, has just made an interesting announcement. Their next venture in their for-profit operations is video games. This month, National Geographic Games, a newly formed division within the company, will launch three gaming products to be soon followed by another in December and three (so far) are planned for next year. The games will be developed for major gaming consoles, handhelds, and mobile platforms, including, yes, the iPhone.

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There are few people out there who don't have fond memories of flipping through the pages of a National Geographic magazine, admiring the award-winning photography that graced its pages as our eyes widened to the wonders of the world around us. Since its launch in the "ancient" times of 1888, the world has gotten a lot smaller, figuratively speaking. Television, air travel, and, of course, the internet, have allowed us to explore much more of the world than ever before. To some extent, the information age has impacted, if not the magazine's sales themselves, the sense of wonder that was once to be had when perusing the magazine's articles and images.

To keep up with the changing times, the new National Geographic Games division (NGG), will attempt to connect with people once again on the platforms of our modern age, including the Wii, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS, PC and Mac, the PS3 Network, and the iPhone. There will also be free Flash games online at nationalgeographic.com/channel. As always, the company's goal is to encourage people to explore their world, this time though, it's through play.

Lest you think these games will be wimpy attempts at educational experiences, it's worth nothing that Chris Mate, a former executive at Take2 Interactive, the company behind "Grand Theft Auto," will serve as VP and GM of the games venture. Hopefully, his history, which also includes Bethesda Softworks, will bring some spunk to the usually dry "learning is fun!" gaming experience.

The first game to launch will be "Herod's Lost Tomb," an online game which blends in content from both the December 2008 issue of National Geographic magazine as well as the National Geographic Channel feature broadcast on the biblical figure King Herod, architect of the ancient world.

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AFP - National Geographic, the monthly magazine famed for its glossy photographs and stories from obscure corners of the world, is venturing into videogames.

National Geographic Global Media on Tuesday announced the launch of National Geographic Games (NGG), a new business unit that...

AP - ESPN will broadcast 15 Bowl Championship Series games from 2011 to 2014.

The Zune 3.1 update is available now. It includes some major navigation updates to Zune Social, three free games (Checkers, Sudoku and Space Battle) and "incremental" stability/performance updates to the Zune PC software and Zune firmware. It all sounds like good stuff to us, so go update and succumb to the Sudoku revolution today! [Zune Insider]

AFP - Chelsea striker Didier Drogba was banned for three games by the Football Association (FA) here on Tuesday.

In early 2007 David Scott created a game called Flash Element TD that was an overnight sensation, reaching 2 million plays in only two days. A few months later, Paul Preece (a friend of Scott’s) decided to see if he could replicate the success of Flash Element, and went on to create Desktop Tower Defense - a game so popular and addictive that we said it should be banned. That June the two paired up to create a gaming company called The Casual Collective, and has been toiling for over a year to produce a crop of games that is now ready to make its public debut.

Tonight The Casual Collective is launching with eight games (four of which are brand new), all crafted by Preece and Scott, and many of which seem to be every bit as addictive as their now-classic games. Available games include Minions, which is reminiscent of a streamlined Command and Conquer, a platform game called Buggle Stars, and updates to Flash Element TD and Desktop Tower Defense. Some of the games are notable for their multiplayer support, allowing up to twelve players to simultaneous play (while asynchronous Flash games like Chess are common, large fast paced games are much rarer).

The site also includes support for social communication, offering a news feed featuring high scores and game invitations (though the founders emphasize that The Casual Collective has no intention of becoming its own social network). At this point social items are restricted to within The Casual Collective, but in the future the site may support distribution of high scores and other updates through other channels, like Facebook’s News Feed.

The site plans to monetize by offering bonus packs for certain games at around $2.25 per game. Each bonus pack will offer extra options or characters to enhance gameplay, but all games will be free and fully playable without the packs. The company will also be able to collect advertising revenue on its games as they get syndicated across the web, as it has integrated its own advertising platform. The Casual Collective has raised $1 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners in seed funding.

The Casual Collective will see competition from countless other Flash game developers, but the founders are standouts in a pool otherwise primarily composed of mediocrity. It may take some time for The Casual Collective to catch on, but with two hits already available and more likely on the way, I won’t be surprised if we have to ban the entire site for wasting too much of our time.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Reuters - National Geographic is getting into the video game business. Through its for-profit unit National Geographic Ventures, the nonprofit National Geographic Society is set to announce Tuesday that it has created National Geographic Games.

AP - National Geographic, best known for its yellow-framed magazine and often breathtaking nature shows, is getting into video games.

I know. LED-illuminated pool table. You don't really need much more information to justify the $700 that you are going to spend on it. Each pocket illuminates with blue LEDs. That's it. Done. Here's my credit card. But in case you need more, the six-feet pool table converts into a card playing table and a "dining table".

According to the manufacturers, the Aurora Pool Table has been "specially designed to replicate the play found on a commercial pub style British pool table", which I'm sure means that a) is compliant with the pool rules in that country and b) comes with a five gallon bottle filled with a mix of urine, old beer, and fried pork grease mixture, so you can spray your carpet and furniture until it really feels like a real British pub. Without the drunk lads.

• Replicates playfield dimensions of 6ft slate bed British pool table
• Pocket sizes the same as found on British pool table
• Commercial standard cushions
• Hard wearing commercial standard Blue cloth
• Blue LED flood lights in the pockets
• Specially designed Pool Cue "Holster" for storing cues
• Reversible dining top - can be used as a dining top or a card table top
• Ball return system
• Adjustable feet levelers to ensure a level play surface
• Accessories include 2 x 48" cues, a set of Red & Yellow balls, Chalk, Triangle, Brush

Unfortunately, it's only available in (Great!) Britain. [Liberty Games]

I know. LED-illuminated pool table. You don't really need much more information to justify the $700 that you are going to spend on it. Each pocket illuminates with blue LEDs. That's it. Done. Here's my credit card. But in case you need more, the six-feet pool table converts into a card playing table and a "dining table".

According to the manufacturers, the Aurora Pool Table has been "specially designed to replicate the play found on a commercial pub style British pool table", which I'm sure means that a) is compliant with the pool rules in that country and b) comes with a five gallon bottle filled with a mix of urine, old beer, and fried pork grease mixture, so you can spray your carpet and furniture until it really feels like a real British pub. Without the drunk lads.

• Replicates playfield dimensions of 6ft slate bed British pool table
• Pocket sizes the same as found on British pool table
• Commercial standard cushions
• Hard wearing commercial standard Blue cloth
• Blue LED flood lights in the pockets
• Specially designed Pool Cue "Holster" for storing cues
• Reversible dining top - can be used as a dining top or a card table top
• Ball return system
• Adjustable feet levelers to ensure a level play surface
• Accessories include 2 x 48" cues, a set of Red & Yellow balls, Chalk, Triangle, Brush

Unfortunately, it's only available in (Great!) Britain. [Liberty Games]

Digital distribution paired with user-generated content will end 'passive entertainment' and advance games, Nintendo president says.

Worried about video game shortages this holiday? It might be pirates, as in the real shiver-me-timbers kind.

Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App Store

Back when the Macintosh meant a machine with a built-in black & white screen, there were some extremely popular games -- but for the generation that remembers the introduction of the Mac II's color display, the unmistakable gameplay of Crystal Quest is sure to spark a deep sense of joy. Collecting those crystals and escaping through the hyperspace hatch caused your Mac to emit a sigh of... well, relief would be the polite way to put it (I'm trying to find a sample of the audio to link). Xbox 360 owners have had a Crystal Quest version for a couple years now, and Vista users also got a build to play with.

The wild crystal excitement has made its way back to the future, as an iPhone/touch version of Crystal Quest is available. While it lacks the level-finishing 'ahh!' of the original, the rest of the gameplay should be familiar to graying fans of Mac OS 6-vintage entertainment. Crystal Quest is $4.99 in the App Store.

TUAWVintage games for the iPhone: Crystal Quest is back originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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