Editor's note: John Gaudiosi covers the videogame industry for Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com.

MORRISVILLE, N.C. — NASCAR fans won’t have a new simulation game this year, but EA Sports has shipped the new family-oriented NASCAR Kart Racing for Wii.

The game is the second title, and second consecutive NASCAR game, from EA’s Morrisville studio. So far, the 10-man team that has created "NASCAR 09" on PlayStation 2 and NASCAR’s answer to Mario Kart on Wii has been a great success. The new Wii game has garnered a MetaCritic.com rating of 70 from major game outlets. When it comes to NASCAR games, critics don’t matter, but it’s nice to have positive momentum.

I caught up recently with the head of the Morrisville Studio, Ryan Stradling, who told me his team wanted to make sure this Wii game really focused on the family. Although...

NASCAR fans won’t have a new simulation game this year, but EA Sports has shipped the new family-oriented NASCAR Kart Racing for Wii. The game is the second title, and second consecutive NASCAR game, from EA’s local Morrisville studio. So far, the 10-man team that has created NASCAR 09 on PlayStation 2 and NASCAR’s answer to Mario Kart on Wii has been a great success. The new Wii game has garnered a MetaCritic.com rating of 70 from major game outlets. When it comes to NASCAR games, critics don’t matter, but it’s nice to have positive momentum.

I caught up recently with the head of the Morrisville Studio, Ryan Stradling, who told me his team wanted to make sure this Wii game really focused on the family. Although the game offers a solid single-player experience, it’s really a lot of fun when you start playing four player races.

Although definitely an arcade title, the development team did incorporate some elements from its NASCAR...

Editor's note: John Gaudiosi covers the videogame industry for Local Tech Wire.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Sony Computer Entertainment America’s hosting its annual retail and publisher conference Destination PlayStation this week, which is taking place in Arizona. As a result, there’s been a lot of news emanating from the desert. There have also been rumors floating around that Sony could cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by $100. The PS3 currently retails for $400.

Sony announced that its free PlayStation Network online community has surpassed 20 million registered users across 55 countries. Sony has sold over 21.3 million PS3s worldwide, which means gamers are taking advantage of the free online gameplay, PlayStation Store, and other services. Sony has had 4 million gamers register for its PlayStation Home virtual world, which is also free. (Microsoft offers its Silver Xbox Live service for...

Sony Computer Entertainment America’s hosting its annual retail and publisher conference Destination PlayStation this week, which is taking place in Arizona. As a result, there’s been a lot of news emanating from the desert. There have also been rumors floating around that Sony could cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by $100. The PS3 currently retails for $400.

Sony announced that its free PlayStation Network online community has surpassed 20 million registered users across 55 countries. Sony has sold over 21.3 million PS3s worldwide, which means gamers are taking advantage of the free online gameplay, PlayStation Store, and other services. Sony has had 4 million gamers register for its PlayStation Home virtual world, which is also free. (Microsoft offers its Silver Xbox Live service for free, but requires gamers to pay $50 a year for the Gold membership, which is required to play online games.)

Sony’s PlayStation Store now has over 14,500 pieces of digital...

Nintendo has dominated the handheld gaming space since it launched its Game Boy black-and-white portable. With the Nintendo DS still selling like hotcakes in the U.S., the Japanese game-maker is bringing over its new advanced Nintendo DSi portable to North America on April 5. Already a smash success in Japan, where it launched last fall, the new gaming device will sell for $170 in the U.S. and will be available in black and blue colors.

In addition to a more streamlined look and feel, the Nintendo DSi comes with two built-in cameras, new sound capabilities and the ability to download media to an SD card. Having stepped into the digital distribution stream with WiiWare, Nintendo is offering a Nintendo DSi shop for portable downloads of games. Gamers can use points to purchase and download new content directly to the Nintendo DSi. Games will be sold for as little as 200 points and can be stored on SD cards.

The most noticeable feature of the slim Nintendo DSi system is its...

Nintendo has dominated the handheld gaming space since it launched its Game Boy black-and-white portable. With the Nintendo DS still selling like hotcakes in the U.S., the Japanese game maker is bringing over its new advanced Nintendo DSi portable to North America on April 5. Already a smash success in Japan, where it launched last fall, the new gaming device will sell for $170 in the U.S. and will be available in black and blue colors.

In addition to a more streamlined look and feel, the Nintendo DSi comes with two built-in camera, new sound capabilities and the ability to download media to an SD card. Having stepped into the digital distribution stream with WiiWare, Nintendo is offering a Nintendo DSi shop for portable downloads of games. Gamers can use points to purchase and download new content directly to the Nintendo DSi. Games will be sold for as little as 200 points and can be stored on SD cards.

The most noticeable feature of the slim Nintendo DSi system...

Editor's note: John Gaudiosi covers the videogame industry for Local Tech Wire.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — More than any professional sport, NBA players love to play videogames. A whopping 85 percent of NBA pros consider themselves gamers.

This weekend, at the 57th NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, NBA pros took to the virtual hardwoods before performing under the lights of the US Airways Center. EA Sports, 2K Sports and Sony Computer Entertainment America all took part in the NBA Jam Session and various videogame contests and activities throughout the weekend.

Sony hosted the official NBA Players' Lounge inside the Sheraton hotel where the NBA All-Stars stayed at all weekend. I spent some quality time in that suite watching players relax with a PlayStation 3 version of "NBA 09: The Inside" or "MotorStorm: Pacific Rift."

The San Antonio Spurs' pool table was also very popular with NBA players present and past. Sony continued...

PHOENIX, Arizona --More than any professional sport, NBA players love to play videogames. A whopping 85 percent of NBA pros consider themselves gamers. This weekend at the 57th NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, NBA pros too to the virtual hardwoods before performing under the lights of the US Airways Center. EA Sports, 2K Sports and Sony Computer Entertainment America all took part in the NBA Jam Session and various videogame contests and activities throughout the weekend.

Sony hosted the official NBA Players' Lounge inside the Sheraton that the NBA All-Stars stayed at all weekend. I spent some quality time in that suite watching players relax to a PlayStation 3 game of NBA 09: The Inside or MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. The San Antonio Spurs pool table was also very popular with NBA players present and past. Sony continued its sponsorship of the PlayStation Skills Challenge as part of NBA All-Star Saturday Night. On Saturday afternoon, two of the four players participating in the challenge...

Editor's note: John Gaudiosi covers the videogame industry for LTW.

RALEIGH, N.C. - As more people stay home to save money, they’re continuing to spend money on videogames. Following a record year in the U.S. that saw total videogame sales top $22 billion, January game sales raked in $1.3 billion according to The NPD Group. That’s up 13 percent over last January, which kicked off the record year.

Across the board, game sales were up. Fueled by Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, hardware sales were up 17 percent in January to $445.4 million. Game software sales were up 10 percent to $676.6 million. And game accessories were up 11 percent to $209.8 million.

Nintendo continues to sell out of Wii hardware as quickly as it stocks retail shelves. And there’s no slowdown for its portable Nintendo DS, either. Combined, these two game devices sold over 1.1 million units in January. Nintendo sold 679,200 Wiis and 510,800 Nintendo...

As more people stay home to save money, they’re continuing to spend money on videogames. Following a record year in the U.S. that saw total videogame sales top $22 billion, January game sales raked in $1.3 billion according to The NPD Group. That’s up 13 percent over last January, which kicked off the record year.

Across the board, game sales were up. Fueled by Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, hardware sales were up 17 percent in January to $445.4 million. Game software sales were up 10 percent to $676.6 million. And game accessories were up 11 percent to $209.8 million.

Nintendo continues to sell out of Wii hardware as quickly as it stocks retail shelves. And there’s no slowdown for its portable Nintendo DS, either. Combined, these two game devices sold over 1.1 million units in January. Nintendo sold 679,200 Wiis and 510,800 Nintendo DS portables. Rounding out the hardware sales, Microsoft sold 309,000 Xbox 360s. Sony’s three consoles brought...

It was just a matter of time before the global recession impacted the game industry. While games made a record $21 billion last year, the fallout is being felt by publishers as big as Electronic Arts. The good news for gamers is that the sluggish economy will end up meaning lower prices for game hardware and software in the coming months.

Michael Pachter, videogame analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, forecasts that Sony will drop its PlayStation 3 console to $300 by April. And he expects Microsoft to counter with a lower price for Xbox 360, as well. Pachter believes the Xbox 360 Pro will be slashed to $250 by the time E3 rolls around in June. Since Nintendo is still selling out of its Wii around the globe, that already-low priced console will stay at $250 for some time to come. When you factor in the Wii Sports pack-in game, it remains the best deal in the industry.

Now a new study by research firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) says that those $60...

With the music videogame genre now more popular than sports and Guitar Hero and Rock Band a fixture at bars and house parties across the country, summer camps are now plugging into the music videogame craze. Power Chord Academy, a rock 'n' roll music camp for teens, is integrating Guitar Hero and Rock Band into its summer camps this year.

For those not familiar with Power Chord Academy (www.powerchordacademy.com), it's a program that's set up out of Los Angeles and takes place across the country at universities around the country. The closest university to North Carolina is the University of Maryland July 19-26.

There are two new programs aimed at gamers at these traveling camps. GameROCKERS is a 3-day game-musician program for the
new age of musicians who play Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Featuring a variety of competitions and prizes, students play in bands, write songs, record songs, and play a final concert and Battle of the Bands. iROCKER is a one-day variation of...

It was just a matter of time before the global recession impacted the game industry. While games made a record $21 billion last year, the fallout is being felt by publishers as big as Electronic Arts. The good news for gamers is that the sluggish economy will end up meaning lower prices for game hardware and software in the coming months.

Michael Pachter, videogame analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, forecasts that Sony will drop its PlayStation 3 console to $300 by April. And he expects Microsoft to counter with a lower price for Xbox 360, as well. Pachter believes the Xbox 360 Pro will be slashed to $250 by the time E3 rolls around in June. Since Nintendo is still selling out of its Wii around the globe, that already-low priced console will stay at $250 for some time to come. When you factor in the Wii Sports pack-in game, it remains the best deal in the industry.

Now a new study by research firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) says that those $60...

TAMPA, Florida -- EA Sports' Madden NFL 09 has been a mainstay in Tampa throughout Super Bowl week. Madden Bowl XV, one of the biggest parties of the week, took place in Ybor City at The Honey Pot on Thursday night.

The annual videogame tournament pitted eight NFL pros, including a representative from the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals, in a single-elimination battle on Xbox 360 for the Madden Bowl trophy. Local Buccaneer wide receiver Antonio Bryant was the last man standing at the packed event. He took out New York Giant Justin Tuck in a spirited 28-7 match-up using the Dallas Cowboys instead of his own Buccaneers. For the record, the Cowboys are the best team in Madden NFL 09.

The party was packed with NFL pros who braved the horrible weather -- it rained all day -- to play Madden with teammates and friends. EA Sports had Xbox 360 kiosks set up throughout the three-story bar. While the main action took place downstairs on stage, spectators took part in their...