Blog Posts by Chris Morris

Gamers descended on retailers like locusts to grab their copies of Gears of War 3.

Microsoft says the latest installment in the series sold 3 million copies in its first week, making it the biggest game of the year (so far).

The impressive one-week sales also helped catapult the franchise into an esteemed club. Lifetime sales of Gears titles have now topped $1 billion — the first Xbox 360 exclusive franchise this generation to do so. (Halo isn't counted here since it began as an original Xbox franchise.)

Competition is clearly lacking among NFL games, and with the once-mighty NBA Live on hold this year, you won't find dueling basketball titles on store shelves until 2012.

FIFA 12 (EA Sports)Soccer fans, however, have a tricky choice when it comes to video game simulations.

The battle between EA's FIFA series and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer has raged for the better part of a decade, and while it might not be quite as intense as the upcoming fight between blockbuster shooters Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3, it's still one that has high stakes. Both games are big moneymakers for their publishers (FIFA, in fact, is more profitable than Madden due to its global appeal and lower licensing costs) — and for the first time in their history, the new games hit U.S. stores the same day this year: Sept. 27.

But which is best for you?

After exploring hundreds of fictional alien planets, gamers have helped scientists locate two real ones.

NASA's Kepler Mission (Getty Images)Players of the browser-based game Planet Hunters have identified a pair of potential planets outside of our solar system that appear to have Earth-like characteristics. Now we just need to invent a faster-than-light spaceship so we can go explore them.

The discoveries come as part of the Kepler Mission, a NASA project that lets 'citizen scientists' delve into photos taken by the Kepler space telescope in hopes that habitable planets can be found.

Wave Motion FunTreating a cancer patient is usually done through a regimen of drugs, radiation or surgery. But researchers at the University of Utah have put together a new video game to supplement those scary methods.

Unveiled last week, PE Interactive is a motion-controlled game meant to help kids get through rough treatments by building their physical and mental health and giving them a sense of empowerment.

Hope, not surprisingly, is a major factor in treating patients of any major disease. Hematologist-oncologist Carol Bruggers, who works in pediatric oncology at Primary Children's Medical Center and helped create the game, notes that a study among stroke patients showed those who focused on

FarmVilleAs the 2012 election draws near, the number of safe havens from politicking is shrinking fast. Facebook was compromised nearly three years ago. Now, some of the most popular games on the social network are at risk.

Candidates and strategists have fully embraced the gamification theory, it seems — and Farmville is squarely in their sites.

Michael Hendrix, a Dallas-based consultant assisting with the Michelle Bachmann campaign, believes there are a lot of Republicans in Zynga's hit farm simulator — and he's devised a program that's designed to let them get active in the campaign.

Electronic Arts really wants to screw up your last minute Christmas shopping this year.

The Old Republic (Bioware/LucasArts)After months (or years, even) of anticipation, the company has finally unveiled the launch date for Star Wars: The Old Republic — and it's a bit of a head-scratcher.

The World of Warcraft competitor will hit shelves Dec. 20 in the U.S. and Dec. 22 in Europe, both very unusual choices for a major game launch. Typically, publishers who want to take advantage of the holiday rush make a point to have their games out by the end of November. Failing that, they usually opt for early January, when the crowd thins out a bit.

One of the biggest games of 2011 won't be out until 2012.

Diablo III (Blizzard)Diablo III, Blizzard Entertainment's much-anticipated role-playing game, has been officially moved into next year in order to give developers time to further polish the title.

"While this news might not be a complete surprise, I know that many of you were hopeful that Diablo III would ship this year," said company CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime in a blog post. "We were too."

There's an interesting trend taking shape in the gaming world these days: First-person shooters where the player can't actually shoot anyone.

Warco (Defiant Development)An Australian development team has put together a prototype for Warco (short for War Correspondent) -- a game that puts you in the boots of a reporter in the midst of a war zone. Instead of bullets, you're shooting footage via a video camera.

It's admittedly an odd concept. After all, a game about a typical journalist would involve a lot of phone calls, "research" at the corner bar and sneaking in Facebook updates without your editor catching you. But Warco's team, Defiant Development, is made up of former members of the Pandemic Studios team, the now-shuttered group responsible for games like Full Spectrum Warrior, Star Wars: Battlefront and Destroy All Humans!, among others.