Blog Posts by Chris Morris

Curt Schilling (Credit: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)Curt Schilling's video game dreams are now the property of the state of Rhode Island.

A U.S. Bankruptcy judge has given The Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. and Bank of New York Mellon Trust Co. the go-ahead to take 38 Studios' assets -- specifically, the IP for its games.

As you might expect, the governor has no interest in making a video game of his own, meaning the state and bank plan to look for a buyer to the rights for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and the in-development online game Copernicus.

(Credit: Getty Images)A 15-year old from Columbus, Ohio was rushed to an area hospital Tuesday after collapsing during a marathon session of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 that lasted between four and five days.

Tyler Rigsby was admitted to the Ohio State University Medical Center, suffering from dehydration. Hospital officials say he was released later in the day.

Local news reports say Rigsby only paused the game to use the bathroom, grab an occasional snack and take a shower. He stopped playing Tuesday to visit his aunt with his mother.

Living Classics (Credit: Amazon)For years, Amazon has been a looming figure in the video game industry. On Monday, it finally pulled the trigger.

The retail giant has launched a new division, called Amazon Game Studios, which will focus (initially, at least) on social games, though expect it to branch into other areas in the months and years to come.

The game 'Living Classics' will be the first effort from the studio. Amazon describes the Facebook title as a "moving object game" where a family of foxes wanders into a series of classic books. Players reunite the family by exploring the scenes. Early reviews of the game have been complimentary.

(Credit: Oculus)Virtual reality got a bad reputation in the early 1990s. Proponents overpromised and underdelivered, with crummy graphics and headache-inducing headgear -- not to mention prices that were so stratospheric, there was no way anyone could afford to buy a system.

It was a technology that became an afterthought -- until game design guru John Carmack took an interest, at least. During the E3 conference in June, Carmack showed off the Oculus Rift headset, a virtual reality device he helped to create using (no joke) Oakley ski goggles, duct tape, and spare miniaturized rocket parts he had lying around his shop.

Flash forward to last week, when Carmack's partners launched a Kickstarter for the Oculus Rift, hoping to raise $250,000. In less than 5 days, gamers have pledged over $1.3 million — and excitement isn't slowing down.

Azeroth is a lot emptier these days.

World of Warcraft saw more than 1 million people cancel their subscriptions over the past three months, the game's publisher revealed in its quarterly earnings statement. That's one of the most dramatic drops in the game's long history.

That's not to say WoW is exactly hurting for players. With 9.1 million subscribers (as of June 30), it's still one of the biggest out there, but any title that loses 10 percent of its player base in such a short period is going to sound alarms.

Tom Curtin didn't get what he was asking for one of the rarest video games ever found, but you won't hear him complaining too much about that.

Earlier this week, Curtin launched an eBay auction for an exceptionally hard-to-find The Legend of Zelda prototype cartridge. The price? A whopping $150,000. That proved too steep, but a buyer quickly stepped forward and offered $55,000 — and just like that, there was a new record for the most expensive video game in the world.

Sony at E3 2012 (Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)The length of this console life cycle continues to haunt Sony. The company saw a wider loss in its fiscal first quarter with poor PlayStation sales dragging the numbers down.

The games unit saw a notable decline in sales last quarter (from April 1 to June 30), selling 800,000 fewer hardware units and coming in at an operating loss of $45 million. Software sales were down as well. It was a discouraging performance for the division Sony is hoping will help guide the company out of its financial woes.

Jay Z (Credit: Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images)He's a music mogul, clothing designer, real-estate developer and author.

And now Jay-Z is adding 'video game producer' to the list.

Take-Two Interactive has drafted Jay-Z to be an executive producer for the upcoming NBA 2K13. Chief among his duties will be hand-picking the soundtrack for the game, which will include a half-dozen of his own songs, as well three numbers from Kanye West and others from well known names such as Puff Daddy and the Family, U2, and Coldplay.