Gaming

Gaming on the iPad, no one knows you're a mom.

Insiders explain why the future expansion of videogames with widespread appeal rests with Apple's already popular tablet

Since the first Game Boy hit our shores in 1989, gamers have used single-purpose devices for gaming on the go, a model most developers followed until 2007, when the iPhone took "walking-around" gaming mainstream. The smartphone's touch-screen interface, hardware, and widespread adoption  means that both casual gamers and hardcore gamers could get their fix MORE

Steve Ballmer's latest Vegas bet

'FarmVille' gamemaker Zynga sees dollar signs

At least one company is making money off of social networking. The game developer behind 'FarmVille' and 'Mafia Wars' has seen its web-based games take off - and deliver profits.

On any given day 500,000 tractors are sold on the Internet. But don't start buying stock in John Deere or Caterpillar just yet. These are $20 "virtual" tractors that belong to the 50 million players of FarmVille, the largest and fastest-growing MORE

iPhone app store turns 1: Anyone making real money?

A year ago this week Apple opened the floodgates and began letting software developers sell software for the iPhone, and geeks everywhere caught iPhone fever.

Since then Apple's iTunes App Store has swelled to more than 50,000 titles, logged more than 1 billion downloads, and inspired an entrepreneurial surge that's reminiscent of the dot-com gold rush -- only without the illusion that everyone is making tons of money.

In fact, aside from MORE

Nintendo Wii officially recession-proof

The Wii Fit game is one of Nintendo's biggest sellers with 697,000 sold in the U.S. in November. Courtesy of Nintendo

By Yi-Wyn Yen

Nintendo seems to have bucked the recession. The Japanese video game manufacturer has doubled November sales of the Wii in the U.S. from a year ago, according to NPD's latest release on gaming sales.

The demand for the Wii remains strong since the game console's debut two years ago. The company MORE

The Xbox 360's holiday makeover

Xbox 360 gets an image makeover to compete with the Wii. Image: Microsoft

By Yi-Wyn Yen

The Xbox 360 is getting a major software update designed to transform it into a multimedia machine.

Starting Wednesday, all Xbox 360 owners will be required to update their gaming consoles so that they can watch movies in high-definition, stream TV shows and movies from Netflix (NFLX) and navigate categories like games, photos, and videos through a MORE

Apple's next act: Changing PC buying habits

Nvidia inside: Apple's latest MacBook laptops have an Nvidia graphics processor next to their Intel chips, which puts the spotlight on graphics chips as an important part of today's basic computer system. Image: Apple

Take Our Poll

With all the presidential campaign talk about American exceptionalism, it might be easy to forget that we do a pretty unexceptional job at some things -- like shopping for computers.

No question, we Americans buy a MORE

Fashion goes 3D

Using OptiTex software, fashion designers can simulate real fabrics on the computer screen – right down to seeing how they'll move when a model twists on the catwalk. Image: OptiTex

You wouldn't know it from browsing the chic fall styles at the mall, but fashion is a messy business. For example, a designer typically makes a shirt three times before perfecting the one you see on the rack, and often MORE

Android's threat to the iPhone

The first phone to use Google's Android operating system will be available on October 22.

If Google plays its cards right, its unveiling of the first Android-powered phone on Tuesday will prove to be more than a distraction from iPhone-mania – it will be the moment the search giant capitalizes on Apple's control issues.

First, the lowdown on Google's (GOOG) Android mobile operating system. The first phone to use it, the MORE

[video] With graphics power, AMD still has fight left

Click above for video of AMD vice president Patrick Moorhead talking about how the chipmaker will face the competition from Intel and turn things around.

(DELL) (HPQ) (AAPL) (INTC) (AMD) (NVDA)