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<title>Haaze.com / bintterazmwes / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Fri, 18 Feb 2011 08:11:21 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Video game sales down again in January]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=video-game-sales-down-again-in-january</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=video-game-sales-down-again-in-january</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Feb 2011 08:11:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bintterazmwes</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=video-game-sales-down-again-in-january</guid>
<description><![CDATA[These days, there seem to be at least a few signs that the general state of the economy is improving. But video games sales aren't one of them.For the second straight month, and 10th in the last year, the industry saw sales drop, year over year. According to the NPD Group, which compiles monthly sales statistics for the video games business, total revenues in January came in at $1.16 billion, down 5 percent from $1.22 billion in January 2010.Will the Nintendo 3DS help spark the games industry come springtime(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)Over the last year, the industry has seen upswings in monthly year-over-year sales just twice--last November and last March. Otherwise, revenues have gone down each month.Generally, NPD issues an analysis with its monthly report, but it didn't do so this month. It did reveal that sales were down throughout the video games industry ecosystem, with accessories being the only category that saw a jump (up 6 percent). Both software and hardware were down significantly in January.For the month of January, the industry sold $576 million in software, down 5 percent from $606 million a year earlier. Hardware sales were down 8 percent, from $353.7 million in January 2010 to $324 million last month, according to NPD.If there were any bright spots in the industry, Microsoft claimed them for its Xbox 360 platform. Microsoft said in a statement Thursday thatXbox sales were up 14.4 percent from a year ago, with 381,000 units sold. A year ago, the company moved 333,000 Xboxes.Microsoft claimed its console was the only one to show monthly growth from a year ago, suggesting that the Sony PlayStation 3 andNintendo Wii consoles saw lower sales in January. For its part, Sony claimed thatPS3 software was up 25 percent from January 2010.As of early Thursday evening, Nintendo had not come out with its own statement.One analyst digging into the January numbers cautioned against early optimism, but suggested that improvements are on the horizon.&quot;It is not clear to us that growth will return in February and March, as Wii and portables will likely stay weak until the 3DS launches in March in the U.S.,&quot; Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities wrote in a note issued today. &quot;Once Nintendo launches the 3DS in late March, we expect a modest recovery for handheld software sales. While we cannot be as confident in a recovery for Wii software sales through the middle part of the year, we think that growth in the installed bases of the PS3 and Xbox 360 and a strong game lineup will support modest growth for software sales on those platforms.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Monty Python's Cow Tossing: Fetchez la vache!]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=monty-pythons-cow-tossing-fetchez-la-vache</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=monty-pythons-cow-tossing-fetchez-la-vache</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:10:42 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bintterazmwes</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=monty-pythons-cow-tossing-fetchez-la-vache</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Monty Python Cow Tossing offers some unique twists on Angry Birds, but comes up short in the graphics, sound, and humor departments.(Credit:Zed Worldwide)Talk about a can't-miss idea: an Angry Birds-style game based on the cult classic &quot;Monty Python and the Holy Grail.&quot; Instead of flinging birds at pigs, you fling French cows (and other presumably French barnyard animals) at King Arthur and his knights. Sprinkle in clips from the movie and some unique gameplay twists, and you've got pure gaming gold.In theory. In reality, Monty Python's Cow Tossing (also available for iPad) is missing that certain...special...something [cue music].The game works on the same basic principle as Angry Birds: fling stuff at your enemies until you've destroyed them. In place of a slingshot and a limited supply of birds, you've got a catapult and unlimited animals.So where's the challenge if you have unlimited &quot;ammo&quot; It took me a while to figure this out, but the knights (i.e. your targets) are piled atop a battering ram that slooowly creeps toward your stronghold. If it gets there, you lose the level.You can adjust the height and placement of your catapult, though I rarely found this to be necessary. What's more, various power-ups (and occasional power-downs) drop from the sky at regular intervals' if you time your shot so that your &quot;weapon&quot; hits one midflight, it immediately gains (or loses) an advantage.What do the various power-ups/downs do You'll have to squint at the game's tiny help pages to figure it out. One example: fling a turkey at a falling axe and it turns into two projectiles (body and, um, severed head) instead of just one.All this should add up to great fun, especially for a die-hard Python fan like myself, but Cow Tossing comes up short in the most important area: gameplay. Maybe it's because everything onscreen is so tiny, or because the herky-jerky framerate makes the action awkward, but the game just doesn't &quot;feel&quot; right.I will say that after I got through the first 10 or so levels, which are extremely easy, things started to get more interesting, and I started to enjoy it more. But I still couldn't escape that feeling of something being missing. I guess I expected more humor, or at least some Python-ish sound effects (mostly you just hear explosions). Monty Python's Cow Tossing needs less tossing and more Python.At 99 cents ($1.99 foriPad), the game won't break anybody's bank. It did, however, turn me into a newt. (I got better.)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Report: DOJ nearing decision on Google-ITA]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-doj-nearing-decision-on-google-ita</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-doj-nearing-decision-on-google-ita</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bintterazmwes</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-doj-nearing-decision-on-google-ita</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google&amp;39's proposed acquisition of travel software company ITA Software could face a DOJ review.(Credit:ITA)The U.S. Department of Justice is gearing up for a possible formal antitrust investigation into whether or not Google should be allowed to purchase travel software company ITA Software, according to a report.Bloomberg reported today that DOJ lawyers have been asked to start getting ready for a possible challenge to the deal, which was first announced last summer. Such a challenge has seemed inevitable, as following completion of the deal Google would be in a position to control software that powers the reservations systems for many of the online travel booking agencies. Google has said it plans to honor all existing agreements that ITA Software has signed with companies like Orbitz and Kayak, but a coalition of travel companies opposed to the deal isn't prepared to take Google at its word. The DOJ has been eyeing this one for several months, but work has taken on a degree of urgency because Google exercised its right to force the government to make a decision one way or another within 30 days of providing such notice, according to Bloomberg. Such uncertainty involving large transactions could be a real problem for Google in 2011, if companies like Groupon that would automatically trigger federal review decide it's not worth doing business with Google and having to endure a six-month period of limbo.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Seventh person arrested in insider trading probe]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=seventh-person-arrested-in-insider-trading-probe</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=seventh-person-arrested-in-insider-trading-probe</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bintterazmwes</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=seventh-person-arrested-in-insider-trading-probe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The FBI has arrested another person in the ongoing investigation into the sharing of insider information with investors by consultants working for so-called expert firms. The latest to be arrested is Winifred Jiau, 43, of Fremont, Calif. Like others charged or arrested on December 16, she has ties to Primary Global Research. She's accused of providing inside information to Primary Global clients who were portfolio managers at hedge funds of Nvidia and Marvell Technology during a period from 2006 to 2008. Prosecutors say she collected $200,000 during that time. She's facing charges of conspiracy and securities fraud. In August of 2008, the complaint says, she provided managers of two hedge funds with detailed numbers for quarterly revenues, per-share earnings, and gross margins for the quarter ending that month. The complaint says that in the conversations she made it clear she had obtained the information directly from an employee of Marvell. The funds in question--they were not named in the complaint--allegedly made $820,000 on trades from the information. On August 8, 2008, the complaint says, Jiau provided the hedge fund managers with an early look at Nvidia's quarterly revenue and told them it planned to announce a stock buyback, which it did four days later. I've embedded the complaint below.Jiau, Winifred ComplaintStory Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.              h4 a{            text-decoration: underline !important'        }        addStories{            margin-bottom: 15px'        }        addStories li{            line-height: 1.8em'        }                            Additional stories from AllThingsD                                                        Sony Decides It Doesn&amp;039't Want to Be Left Out of Cellphone Patent Fight                                                                        Web Commerce Isn&amp;039't Really SocialYet                                                                        Fun With Mobile Stats: Holiday Edition                                                                        Accel Partners&amp;039' Rich Wong Predicts an Android New Year (Video)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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