For years, playing mobile phone games meant playing crappy Snake and Tetris clones. Occasionally a halfway decent port of a big name title would show up, but serious, heavyweight titles? Fuggedaboutit.

Fruit Ninja Kinect (Halfbrick Studios)Of course, that was before Apple changed everything with the App Store, and once those floodgates opened, the hits couldn't come fast enough. And now, some of the biggest iOS blockbusters are doing the unthinkable by taking up residence in your fancy shmancy game console.

Too Hot to TrotSick of spending $60 only to be stuck with a game disc you'd rather use as a coaster? Then you should probably be downloading more often. A slew of fantastic games can be yours with just a few clicks — and for a quarter the price (or less) of a full retail release.

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For some families, Monopoly is a bonding experience. For others, it's a Machiavellian affair that tosses love and loyalty aside in favor of a capitalistic bloodlust where there is but one goal: Drive mom, dad, grandma and weird Uncle Steve into bankruptcy as soon as possible.

Monopoly's Boardwalk (flickr user: therichbrooks)

But what's the most efficient way to do that? Everyone has a theory about how best to win at Monopoly. Some try to buy a single property of every color, while others swear that becoming a slum lord, buying up the low rent properties, is the key to victory.

And no matter the strategy, there's no greater jewel in a player's crown than Boardwalk. But is that pricey blue spot -- and it's sister street Park Place -- really worth it?

The annual QuakeCon video game expo in Texas draws a pretty dedicated crowd. Few, however, are as dedicated as engaged gamers Chaz and Stevi.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda)This past Thursday, the couple was sitting in a demonstration for Bethesda's upcoming role-playing epic The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim when Stevi, who was nine months pregnant, began to feel what she thought were contractions.

This is when a normal person might go to the hospital. Not Stevi.

BY: Christina Rexrode, AP Business Writer

The NoidNEW YORK (AP) -- The Noid is coming back.

For those who can't remember, or were trying to forget, the Noid is the red-suited, rabbit-eared villain who bounced around Domino's Pizza commercials in the late 1980s. Starting Monday, Domino's will feature him in an arcade-style video game on its Facebook page for one week. The company will give away a coupon for a free pizza every minute to the player with the highest score.

Add Maroon 5 vocalist Adam Levine to the list of musicians who are angry with Activision.

Adam Levine (Getty Images)
The singer and co-star of NBC's hit series "The Voice" has sued the publisher over the use of his likeness in 2009's Band Hero, saying he did not authorize many of the ways his image is used in the game.

Sound familiar? It should. Levine's complaints are virtual carbon copies of the ones made by No Doubt and the former members of Nirvana.

In the suit, Levine says he gave Activision rights to use his image for the band's song "She Will Be Loved," but was not informed that he would become a playable character for any song in the game -- including those sung by women.

Ridiculous Video Game Names
What's in a name? Lots of laughs, if it happens to be a video game. In honor of Microsoft's recently announced mouthful 'Kinectimals: Now With Bears!', we not so proudly present some of the kookiest names in video game history.

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According to the Entertainment Software Association, the average gamer is 37 years old. Kids born the day the original Nintendo was released are entering their late 20s, while geeks who whiled away the days with a Pong machine are storming past 40.

Umeji Narisawa (Japanprobe)But compared to Umeji Narisawa, we're all just a bunch of babies.

Japanprobe caught up with the 99-year-old gamer, who got hooked on the hobby at the tender age of 73 when her grandkids brought home a copy of the action/puzzle classic Bomberman for the NES (technically the Famicon, the Japanese version of the system.) Narisawa was intrigued, gave it a shot, and has been playing it for several hours a day since.