Atari 2600 Enters Hall of Fame

Site lets horndog gamers pay for sexy foe

(NEWSER) - Male online gamers surely fantasize that one of their opponents is a good-looking female, and one Web site is looking to capitalize, making it happen in exchange for dough. Gamecrush can set you up with a PlayDate whose profile you find sexy, er, interesting, and $10 gets you about 10 minutes. The more in-demand the PlayDate is, the more money she can make—up to $30 an hour, GameDaily notes, which is plenty of incentive for spicing up the profile with images and video. More»

(NEWSER) - Dan Aykroyd has been trying to get the Ghostbusters to cross streams again for 15 years, and now it’s finally happening—in video-game form. Unlike most movie tie-in games, Ghostbusters isn’t an afterthought—Atari’s giving it blockbuster treatment, complete with voices from Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. Aykroyd chatted with the New York Times to talk about his love of the franchise he created. More»

(NEWSER) - Video game lovers in Ottumwa, Iowa, are ready to see the world's gaming hall of fame on their front doorstep, MSNBC reports. Forget Silicon Valley, home to Atari. And Kyoto, Japan, where Ninentdo was born. No, the town that hosted the first world championship 26 years ago “was the beginning,” Donkey Kong champion Billy Mitchell said. “It was the birth of organized video game play.” More»

Despite softening economy, $18B total in US marks 43% jump

(NEWSER) - More video games were sold in 2007 than ever before, with a total of $17.94 billion marking a 43% increase over 2006, reports the AP. Much of the growth came from sales of Nintendo's chronically undersupplied Wii and Microsoft's Halo 3, market researcher NPD Group said. Nintendo dominated gaming system sales, moving 6.3 million Wii units and 8.5 million of the most popular system, the portable DS. More»

Game launch boosts XBox 360 sales beyond Nintendo console

(NEWSER) - The launch of Halo 3 helped XBox 360 sales to zoom beyond Nintendo Wii, making the Microsoft system the hottest selling console in September. MarketWatch reports the extraordinary popularity of Halo 3 also helped push video game software sales up 64% over the same period last year. Game consoles were up 188% - way beyond expectations. More»