Online Gaming News

Microsoft Bans Xbox Live Pirates (PC World) November 11 @ 8 PM source

PC World - Microsoft just zapped the online Xbox LIVE accounts of an unspecified number of Xbox 360 players who modified their consoles to play pirated versions of games.

Secret Confessions of A World of Warcraft Addict! (PC Magazine) November 11 @ 2 PM source

PC Magazine - Jim Lynch discovers that MMORPGs can suck you in and eat you alive.

EA shares drop after job cuts, outlook (AP) November 10 @ 9 PM source

AP - Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. took a hit Tuesday, the day after the video game publisher said it is cutting 1,500 jobs and announced it bought Playfish Inc., a maker of online social games.

Electronic Arts Acquires Playfish for $300M (PC Magazine) November 10 @ 2 AM source

PC Magazine - Electronic Arts on Monday announced that it has acquired social network gaming company Playfish for $300 million.

Electronic Arts hooks Playfish (AFP) November 9 @ 7 PM source

AFP - US videogame publisher Electronic Arts announced on Monday it has acquired London-based social network game maker Playfish in a deal that could be worth up to 400 million dollars.

Electronic Arts acquires Playfish for $275 million (AP) November 9 @ 5 PM source

AP - Video game publisher Electronic Arts says it has acquired Playfish, a privately held company that makes social network games, for $275 million in cash.

John Carmack Says No Dedicated Servers For Rage November 7 @ 8 AM source

AndrewDBarker writes "Modern Warfare 2 will use a matchmaking setup powered by IWNet for online play (as we've discussed). It's too early to say what Rage will use, but Carmack indicated he believed the servers are something of a remnant of the early days of PC gaming. That said, he realizes the affinity many PC gamers have for them — and is glad Rage won't be leading the charge away from them. 'The great thing is we won't have to be a pioneer on that,' he says. 'We'll see how it works out for everyone else.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sales Boycott over Modern Warfare 2 with Steam 'Trojan Horse' (PC World) November 7 @ 3 AM source

PC World - Steam, it seems, may finally have tromped across the proverbial bridge too far. The online PC games storefront with the sales leverage of a lion but the transparency of a two-way mirror reportedly signed a deal with Activision to load its Steamworks technology into retail and digitally distributed PC copies of Modern Warfare 2, and online sales competitors are bristling.

Interview with the producers of Warhammer Online (Macworld.com) November 6 @ 10 PM source

Macworld.com - What started out as a tabletop game played in the basements of fantasy lovers has evolved into a rich mythos and a series of best-selling video games.

Chinese agencies fight for control of Web game (AP) November 4 @ 5 PM source

AP - Chinese regulators are fighting over the right to oversee "World of Warcraft," a popular online game, in a bizarre battle that has thrust bureaucratic rivalry for control of the Internet into the open.