Game industry business news

Kotaku has discovered a US patent filed by Sony that details a new PS2 or PS3 controller named the Control Docking Unit that is able to link with PSP, granting the machine the full range of controls gifted by the traditional PlayStation joypad. Initially filed in September 2005, the patent …

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Sony’s games division has reported operating losses of 120 million (29.2 billion Yen) for its first quarter of 2007 after a difficult period for the console, reports The Times – more than double the loss for the same period in 2006. Sony said that it shipped 710,000 PS3 game consoles …

Xbox is set to drop the price of the 360 HD-DVD add-on from $199 to $179 on August 1st in the US, reports Next Generation . The firm will also offer five free HD-DVD movies with the hardware from a selection of 15 titles, which is an extension of Toshiba’s …

Microsoft’s director of technical strategies Andre Vrignaud has predicted that Sony will launch a cut-price 40GB PS3 this Q4 in an effort to maintain competitiveness in the next-gen console war. Speaking to N’Gai Croal at Level Up, Vrignaud stated: A single, $599 SKU would be untenable – if they don’t …

Though knowledge of Xbox 360’s exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV content has been widespread for quite a while, whether or not PS3 would receive anything similar remains a matter of debate – though a recent admission from Rockstar indicates that nothing is currently in the works. CVG reports that when …

Vivendi has issued its financial report for the first half of the year – and the sales growth of the company’s games division is outstripping that of the overall company. In total, Vivendi enjoyed revenue growth of little more than 6 per cent for the six month period up to …

School pupils will be able to learn the history of games in qualifications equivalent to a GCSE or A-Level as part of new Government plans. 14-year-old students will soon have the chance to choose a media course at school; part of which will ask them to examine ‘the historical development …

The Hollywood Reporter has predicted that Microsoft will drop the SRP of Xbox 360 by $50 in the US on August 8th this year – and credited the information to an unnamed retail source. The publication notes that a price drop at this time would arrive shortly before the release …

Speaking exclusively to MCV, Sony’s Head of Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison has said that the choice developers face when deciding what hardware formats to support is harder now than it ever has been. Development and support for a format is very important yes, and the story is very different these …