Blog Posts by Chris Morris

There weren't a lot of surprises at Apple's press event Tuesday. The rumor mill was pretty much spot-on when it came to the iPhone 5, taking a little of the wind out of the company's sails.

But that doesn't make the iPhone 5 -- and the slew of new iPod Touch devices that the company also debuted -- any less important to gaming. In fact, Apple might be further cementing its presence as a major player in the video game industry.

Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel (Credit: EA)Not only can playing video games with a friend make the experience more fun, it could make you a more giving person.

A pair of studies from Ohio State University finds that playing games like Halo, Call of Duty and Unreal Tournament with a teammate can reduce the negative behavioral effects that are associated with those games.

"Most of the studies finding links between violent games and aggression were done with people playing alone. The social aspect of today's video games can change things quite a bit," says David Ewoldsen, who co-authored the studies.

In 2000, Lindy Ruble suffered a stroke. She survived, but was left unable to recognize text, which made using a PC keyboard -- and most Internet-based forms of communications -- impossible.

But a clever tech hack by her son has allowed her to start sending emails once again.

This year's Madden is showing some serious MVP potential.

The latest installment of the venerable sports franchise is breaking records left and right -- a victory for EA, which gambled with major gameplay changes this year.

The game set Day One sales records for the franchise on current-gen consoles, but went even bigger in its first week with over 1.65 million units sold on the Xbox 360 and PS3. That's an 8 percent jump over last year's game.

Darksiders II (Credit: THQ)Video game makers just can't catch a break.

For the ninth month in a row, brick and mortar retail sales of video game hardware and software was down -- and down sharply. The NPD Group, which tracks the sales, says overall numbers for the month were down 20 percent compared to a year ago.

A lack of price cuts and new home consoles led to a whopping 39 percent drop in hardware sales, but the good news is that software sales seem to be showing a slight rebound, falling just 9 percent year over year. Software sales are generally viewed as the best barometer of the industry's health.

They have no value in the real world (yet), but good luck telling that to the millions of gamers hopeless addicted to Microsoft's Xbox Achievements. Earning some of these digital tips of the cap can takes hours, if not days or weeks. Yet, for many, many gamers, they're an integral part of what makes the Xbox 360 such a great console.

Admittedly, the thrill of seeing "Achievement Unlocked" and hearing that pleasing little chime after long hours of hunting down in-game items is often its own reward. Some Achievements, though, can test the mettle of even the most dedicated gamers, remaining just a pipe dream no matter how hard they try. Stretch your thumbs and grab some extra batteries before trying to take down the 10 hardest Xbox Achievements.

(Credit: Getty Images)Gaming, in some ways, seems bigger than ever. An explosion in mobile titles, the sheer size of blockbusters like Call of Duty and Halo, and a seamlessly endless barrage of requests from Facebook friends to join them in games points to a growing, healthy industry.

But new data from the NPD Group, the market research company behind the industry's monthly sales charts, finds that the number of players is on the decline in the U.S. -- and it's falling faster than you can imagine.

Despite good intentions, bad games happen. What's really astonishing, though, is when a bad game gets a sequel, followed by another one.

And another. And another.

How do game franchises continue to exist despite critical drubbings and, often, sales that don't begin to compare to the haul of other titles that never see a second chapter?