Tiger Masters the Game The latest version of Electronic Arts' annual Tiger Woods franchise downplays the golf superstar in a big way. As it turns out, those
changes might have earned the publisher a hole in one.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters has proven to be the
fastest moving in the series' history. EA says the game -- the 14th installment
in the long-running golf sim -- sold 225,000 copies in its first week.

That new bar comes despite the fact that Tiger's face is nowhere to be seen on this year's box -- and branding for The Masters far overshadows any mention of his name.

This is the first year Tiger has not explicitly fronted his own game, but EA has said
previously that players should not insinuate

World of Warcraft - Blizzard What's better: Reality or fantasy? A growing movement argues that the correct answer is "both."

The concept is called "gamification," a fairly
dorky term that basically means using gameplay techniques to make everyday
activities more fun -- which, in turn, boosts people's motivation for getting things done.

And, whether you realize it or not, you may already be a convert.

Like to check in on FourSquare? Unlocked any achievements on
Facebook? Have you ever found yourself obsessively refreshing Groupon, hoping
enough people sign up for a deal to make it live? Congratulations: You've been
gamified.

The idea of gamification has been around forever. Parents
have been incentivizing children to

Console pioneer Jerry Lawson, pictured at left. - Peter Fuller, VintageComputing.com

Gerald "Jerry" Lawson, creator of the first cartridge-based videogame console, died Saturday morning in a Mountain View, California, hospital, Wired.com has learned. Lawson was 70.

As an engineer at Fairchild Semiconductor, Lawson designed the electronics of the Fairchild Video Entertainment System, later renamed the Channel F, in 1976.  Predating the release of Atari's Video Computer System by a year, the Channel F was the first videogame machine that used interchangeable game cartridges, which Fairchild sold separately. Previous game machines like Atari's Pong and the Magnavox Odyssey had all their games built into the hardware. Lawson's pioneering design set the standard for the game

Reuters.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) — A group representing individual video game developers has accused Amazon.com Inc of setting pricing terms that could harm them in the long run and of trying to win a near monopoly selling games made on Android software.

International Game Developers AssociationThe International Game Developers Association in an e-mail to members on Thursday took issue with Amazon for requiring developers to permanently lower their prices on Amazon if they offer a discount, even temporarily, on another outlet.

"Amazon has little incentive not to use a developer's content as a weapon with which to capture marketshare from competing app stores," the IGDA said in its note.

The group also said Amazon's steep discounting of games

With so many games coming out for so many platforms each week, it's hard to keep up. Unless you've got a release calendar stapled to your computer, you're bound to overlook some terrific titles -- and playing at least a few of them is just a click away. Check out these five great recent downloads on Y! Games:

Airport Mania 2 Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips

Long lines, pricey food, rude service -- airports aren't exactly a preferred destination, but they provide loads of fun in this top notch time-management sequel. Land planes, upgrade your runway and keep the skies as friendly as possible
as you jetset around the world.

Virtual Villagers 5 Virtual Villagers 5
What would you do with the power of a god? You'll find out in the

So very peaceful... Grinding your way to level 85 in World of Warcraft takes time, endurance, and plenty of slain enemies.

Or does it?

In what sounds like the most boring video game experience since Penn and Teller tortured us with their diabolically dull Desert Bus, one Warcraft player managed to reach the game's highest level without harming so much as an insect.

According to the player 'Everbloom', the seemingly impossible task took a solid five months, much of which was spent exploring, swimming, mining, picking herbs, digging up bones and partaking in a slew of other non-violent activities made possible by the game's 'Profession' system.

Epic quests? Boss battles? Even just poking at a bear? Nope.
By the

Little Known Facts about Gaming Royalty

As the world prepares to watch Wills and Kate tie the knot in England, perhaps
your thoughts are turning to other princesses, princes, kings and queens you've
come to know and love. Just like literature, theatre, and movies, gaming has
its own royalty, too -- and they have secrets that even the most committed
Royal-watchers might not know.