Game Developer

It's no coincidence that most of the blockbuster video games of the last two decades have been gorefests and war simulations. Their creators were single guys in their teens and 20s whose all-night coding sessions were fueled by Doritos and Mountain Dew. John Smedley was one of them. In the mid-1990s, he helped make the trailblazing online game EverQuest, a slash-'em-up fantasy world that only a Dungeons & Dragons-obsessed geek could love. But Smedley has grown up, and so has the industry.

Walt Disney Co. said Thursday it has acquired Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios as it expands its game-publishing business. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Junction Point was added to the Burbank-based company's Disney Interactive Studios unit. Junction Point, based in Austin, Texas, will create games based on Disney characters, Disney said.

Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday that it would team with "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson to create content for its Xbox 360, in part to get more mainstream users interested in the company's video game console. Just don't call these products "games." "I don't want to classify it as a game. I'm hoping to stretch the definition of interactive entertainment to go beyond the game," said Shane Kim, a vice president in charge of Microsoft Game Studios.

A soldier in a Humvee scoots across the desert, warily eyeing the vast, empty plain. A fire appears on the horizon, driving smoke high into the sky. The soldier is alert but calm. There is a rumbling noise, then the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire from Iraqi insurgents. Suddenly, the soldier flinches and the scene disappears -- quieted by a keystroke. The soldier relaxes and returns to the reality of his therapist's office. Game over.

After failing to run up a score in the 1990s, Walt Disney Co. is again vying to be a video gamer. On Tuesday, Disney announced it gained a toehold in the business by acquiring a small Salt Lake City-based video game developer, Avalanche Software, and launching a new venture in Vancouver, Canada. Terms weren't disclosed, but the company pegged the total investment at less than $50 million, a relatively small outlay for the $31-billion entertainment giant.

Brian Fargo is a grown-up kids might envy. His ride to work is a black 450-horsepower Cadillac Escalade with seven video screens. His office two blocks from the surf in Newport Beach is stocked with video game consoles, classic arcade machines, free snacks and a shower so he can wash up after boogie boarding. At 40, Fargo himself would be considered a kid by most business executives. In the youth-crazed video game industry, though, he's a geezer.

Video game developer 3DO Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Redwood City, Calif., company had subsisted for the last several months with loans from its founder, Trip Hawkins, a former senior executive at Electronic Arts Inc. "We are focused on pursuing either the sale of the entire company or the sale of its assets," Hawkins said. A listing of assets and liabilities was not available.

This is a gambling tale about a casino boss who took a seat at history's card table and bet the house on a royal flush of an invention. He watched it change the course of California gaming and sweep the world -- then he walked away in anonymity as the revolution he created left him behind. Pai gow poker is the game. It is steeped in Asian superstitions, and even Hong Kong high rollers think it originated in China.

TECHNOLOGY * Nintendo Co. said it has sold its 49% stake in British video game developer Rare Ltd. to Microsoft Corp. for an undisclosed amount. The sale paves the way for Microsoft to acquire the remaining ownership from the studio's founders, Tim and Chris Stamper. Microsoft, which makes the Xbox game console, has been seeking premium titles for its box, which has been suffering from a dearth of exclusive blockbuster titles since its launch last November.