The news from the video game industry hasn't been so good recently. While overall sales grew 6 percent in 2005, console game sales--the heart of the industry--fell 12 percent. Many believe the slump is attributable to the so-called "console transition" publishers face every five years or so, in which gamers transition to the next-generation console system and software sales are slow; but there is also concern by a few industry observers that the video game business may not as be growing beyond the subculture of hardcore gamers as was previously thought. Further evidence of declines: several major titles fared below …

It's been rumored before and now it's being rumored again: Google may be working on a project to create its own global Internet Protocol network, a private Internet controlled by the massive Web company, according to sources who are negotiating with the search giant. Just last month, Google listed the following job posting in the U.S. and Britain: "Strategic Negotiator candidates with experience in...identification, selection, and negotiation of dark fibre contracts both in metropolitan areas and over long distances as part of development of a global backbone network." The "dark fibre" in the posting refers to the fiber optic cables …

Movie reviews are yet another item that most people don't use newspapers for anymore. According to a New Line cinema executive, 90 percent of the target 13-34 moviegoer audience goes online to get movie information. The Hollywood Reporter says movie review aggregators like RottenTomatoes.com and Metacritic.com, are changing things. Both sites cull the Web for movie reviews, tallying user-generated reviews as well, and then compute some sort of average score. RottenTomatoes has been featured by Yahoo, USA Today, and Netscape, and earns most of its revenue from ad sales, which have reportedly skyrocketed at the site in the last …

Online Generation May Be More Lucrative for Video Game Publishers The next generation of online gaming could be game consoles like the Xbox 360 rather than the PC. Each of the next console installments from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo will all be Internet-enabled, which game enthusiasts say will lead to a crumbling of walls that will see massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming go mainstream. Some industry observers say Microsoft's Xbox Live Internet network has already gained share from the PC-dominated online gaming sphere, with titles like Halo2 and the arrival of its new system. The online service offers multiplayer competition …

Investment firm Deloitte & Touche weighs in on the top media, telecommunications, and technology trends of 2006. The expanding role of search engines is No. 1 on the list; the firm believes search engines are poised to replace e-mail as the most used digital service thanks to higher speed connections and the ever-growing mountain of digital data used to personalize results. It also expects a big year for consumer-based technologies like video games and satellite radio, saying game console makers and publishers will make a collective push toward expanding its core audience of young males, resulting in new genres and …

Search engine marketers and the ad agencies who hire them still aren't getting along. According to a search engine marketing blog, traditional ad agencies continue to have a serious inferiority complex when it comes to SEM, primarily because they don't understand it, and they know it eats away at their budget, making them angry and frustrated. However, as the blog points out, "At some point, ad agencies will be forced to come to terms with the fact that they will have to accept and work with search engine marketers even if they have to bring them in-house." Even so, ad …

Yahoo Research has unveiled a cool little game that lets users bet for or against emerging technologies and trends. The so-called Tech Buzz Game lets Yahoo users predict those technologies people will be searching the Web for in the future by buying and selling fantasy "stocks" reflecting a mix of companies, products and technologies. The free game gives each registrant $10,000 in fantasy dollars to throw onto the virtual futures market. Users then decide which markets to "invest" in. Each individual market focuses on a specific technology, like wireless Internet, advertising services, virtual earth, operating systems, and desktop search. You …

Google is taking aim at a few lingering problems in its Web search with a new infrastructure it has slowly begun to roll out at its data centers. URL hijacking is the main problem Google is intent on fixing with its new infrastructure. According to TechWeb News, the company will convert a new data center every 10 days or so. Hijacking refers to someone redirecting a request for another site to the hijackers' Web site. Web sites change their URL for a variety reasons--including site reorganization, a new domain name, or a new content delivery system--but many visitors will continue …

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday said any government's attempt to censor Web sites or blogs would ultimately fail. The spread of private e-mail, for example, means online users could distribute banned news items despite government efforts. "If there's a desire by the population to know something, it's going to get out," Gates said in a news conference in Lisbon. Microsoft recently pulled the blog of a critic of the Chinese government in December after getting an order from Beijing to do so. Gates said that where his company is concerned, it must meet the legal requirements of the country …

As many of us know, the video game industry is going through its every-five-year slump that happens as consumers transition to the next generation of video game consoles. This means that many of the top game publishers suffered last quarter, primarily because the Xbox 360 is the only next generation console to arrive so far, with the next offerings from Sony and Nintendo due out later this year. But game developers will have to offer more than fancier graphics to lure increasingly picky consumers into the next generation. At a recent industry conference, "Sims" creator Will Wright shed light on …