Video Games

Sales of video games plunged 17% in March as shoppers found fewer blockbuster titles to choose from this year than last, according to a report Thursday from the NPD Group Inc. "This industry is driven by hits," said Jesse Divnich, director of analytical services with Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. "It just so happens that there were fewer hits last month than there were [in March] last year."

Activision Blizzard Inc. is cranking up the volume on its music games business. The Santa Monica company said Thursday that it would release three new games for its popular Guitar Hero franchise this fall: Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero and Band Hero. The series helped propel Activision to strong first-quarter earnings with the March 29 release of Guitar Hero: Metallica.

Video games, once considered recession-resistant, are showing signs of economic strain. Game prices are coming down, and so are sales. Hot titles like Guitar Hero are feeling the pressure. Even sales of Nintendo Co.'s popular Wii consoles are down. Overall, industry sales in the U.S. stumbled 17% in April over the previous year, with console sales dropping 8% and games sliding 23%, according to a report released Thursday from tracking firm NPD Group Inc.

California is taking one last stab at regulating violent video games. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown on Wednesday petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a state law banning the sale of such games to children. The law was overturned by a federal district court on 1st Amendment grounds in 2007. An appeals court in February denied California's attempt to overturn that decision.

Reflecting their disparate positions in the video game industry, Sony on Tuesday tried to get gamers amped up while Nintendo told them to chill out. Red-hot game maker Nintendo unveiled a new device for its No. 1 Wii console called the Wii Vitality Sensor, which clips to players' index finger and feeds their pulse into games.

This year, the orcs and elves returned to the City of Angels. And they brought money with them -- more than $15 million in direct spending on taxi rides, hotel rooms, wine and sushi, among other things. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, which was substantially scaled back in 2007 and 2008, came roaring back this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center, attracting more than 35,000 visitors.

On the show floor at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this week, Electronic Arts' Brutal Legend has been one of the hottest and most heavily promoted video games. Behind the scenes, however, the game is at the center of a brewing legal war. Activision Blizzard Inc., the biggest U.S. video game publisher, filed a $15-million lawsuit Wednesday against Brutal Legend developer Double Fine Productions in an attempt to block competitor Electronic Arts Inc.

Consumers, daunted by the recession, hit the pause button on buying video games in May. The game industry last month racked up $863.3 million in sales of games and consoles, the first time since August 2007 that monthly sales came in less than $1 billion, according to a report released Thursday from market research firm NPD Group Inc. Sales of game consoles took a big hit last month, dropping 30% to $302.5 million from $433 million in May 2008.

Id Software, creator of the Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Quake games, has been sold to ZeniMax Media for an undisclosed amount. ZeniMax's Bethesda Softworks studio created the popular Elder Scrolls series of role-playing games. In a statement released Wednesday, ZeniMax said the development process at Id Software would remain untouched. Id will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of founder John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of Id's game development.

To video game publishers, Mark Weiner is both a dream come true and a nightmare. The 23-year-old San Francisco Bay Area operations analyst likes to pounce on the latest blockbuster releases. He spends dozens of hours a week playing a wide range of titles. "I am passionate about games," he said. This should be good for game companies such as Activision Blizzard Inc., Electronic Arts Inc. and Ubisoft Entertainment, which publish many of the titles Weiner likes to play. But it's not welcome news.