Blog Posts by Chris Morris

Margaritaville - THQ With his enduring anthems to margaritas, cheeseburgers and flip flops, you wouldn't peg Jimmy Buffet to be much of a gamer. But with popular -Ville games like FarmVille and FrontierVille dominating people's time online, it only makes sense that the man behind 'Margaritaville' would join the party at some point.

That point is now. Buffett and THQ are set to bring the tropically inspired Margaritaville Online to Facebook and Apple's iDevices, packed with a hefty dose of classic Buffett songs, characters and virtual cheeseburgers.

Due later this year, the free-to-play game is tailor made for Parrotheads, but will feature many of the same trappings as other social network games, including

World of Warcraft - Blizzard Entertainment Subscriber numbers tend to ebb and flow with massively multiplayer games. No matter how high they get, people generally expect them to come down -- unless that game is World of Warcraft.

So when Activision-Blizzard announced earlier this month that subscriptions of its crown jewel had fallen 5 percent, heads turned. Was the mightiest title in the persistent world universe finally showing signs of weakness?

The answer really comes down to perspective. While the loss of 600,000 subscribers in one quarter would be catastrophic to virtually any other game, WoW is hardly struggling, as it still has a healthy 11.4 million people paying their monthly fees.

The drop-off has sent a message to the

Apple may tout the diversity of the App Store in television ads, but let's face it -- the store is prejudiced against certain users. Sure, there are apps for adults and children, scholars and idiots, big spenders and cheapskates...

...but what about cats?

The touch interface system, after all, is much easier for Fluffy to navigate than a keyboard and (delicious) mouse, but so far no forward-thinking developer has given a second thought to the needs of the feline demographic.

Leave it to Friskies to end the species-ism.

The cat food giant has created a trio of iPad games for cats that it says "were developed through behavioral research, careful consideration of what appeals to cats' senses,

The impact of the hacker incident.

No one is more eager than Sony to put the recent cyberattacks on the PlayStation Network behind them. Unfortunately, there are
still some hurdles to clear.

The electronics giant issued an earnings warning Monday, noting that early estimates on the cost of the PlayStation Network breach have
hit about $172 million. And that figure could increase in the months to come.

The hack was expensive, but it was just a drop in the bucket
compared to the losses that went hand-in-hand with the massive earthquake and
tsunami in Japan. Sony says overall, it expects to post a $3.2 billion loss this fiscal year,
largely due to the natural disaster.

Things are starting to look up, though, on the

Chucky - Universal Army of Darkness has its own video game. So does Saw. So it really shouldn't come as much of a surprise that one of the biggest icons of
horror is creeping into the gaming world.

Chucky, the freaky little doll at the center of the 'Child's Play' series, is getting the video game treatment with a new title scheduled to
be released this fall.

Described as a stealth-action title, the as-yet untitled game will let players dispatch innocent victims in a variety of ways. Universal, overseer of the film series, has hired TikGames to head development on the project, which will be available on PC and consoles.

"We're proud to be able to bring a fan-favorite movie character, such as Chucky, to

Blake Griffin lobbies for a job Blake Griffin has a lot going for him. He has endorsement deals with TV manufacturer Vizio, a multimillion dollar contact with the Los Angeles Clippers and sitting on his mantle at home are trophies for the 2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest and NBA Rookie of the Year.

But what the guy really wants, it seems, is to fight mutants and in id Software's upcoming shooter, Rage. And he's making his case in a hilarious new video that includes motion-capture, dribble-drives and, yes, a tiger getting dunked on:

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Rage blends the first-person shooter genre with wide-open, automotive combat -- neither of which are skills encouraged by the NBA.

That's not stopping Griffin,

5 online games

With the number of quality free-to-play online games growing almost daily, dropping $10-$15 per month in subscription fees is getting harder and harder to justify.

Walking away from a free online game, after all, is a pretty easy thing to do. There's no nagging voice in the back of your head doing the
math and informing you of how much money you've invested in a game you're no
longer obsessed with. When it's free, the stakes are low, though often so is
the payoff.

While the number is shrinking, there are still a few pay-to-play online games that are worth your time -- not to mention a few soon, like Star Wars: The Old Republic, that have loads of potential. Determining which is best for

2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose - Getty Images

The NBA finals won't be held until early next month, but Chicago Bulls fans might want to start stockpiling the bubbly right now.

Award-winning b-ball sim NBA 2K11 has come out with its annual prediction of who will emerge victorious from the finals, saying Chicago will beat the Dallas Mavericks in seven games. In addition, the game predicts Derrick Rose will take home MVP honors after a tremendous performance in the final three games.

The Bulls will feel the heat from Miami, but ultimately beat them in five
games. Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer will be the standout players, combining for more than 17 rebounds per game, with Rose averaging a Jordan-like (or is that Rose-like?)
32.4 points