But there is one area where the tech giant is currently kicking butt and taking names, and that is online gaming.
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Xbox Live is an online gaming service that works across both the current Xbox system and the future Xbox 2.
Investors simply do not believe Zynga online gaming is a sustainable business, especially Facebook-based gaming, which is now hated by investors.
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Most of this revenue is generated by in-game spending on virtual goods, an area which is just beginning to take off in the U.S. Online gaming is all about owning the user experience, and traditional display advertising is viewed as something which takes away from the game experience.
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Perhaps, but this is a day the online gaming industry has desperately tried to avoid and defer.
The company is also using its online gaming service to push more than 100 community-developed games directly to users.
Although online gaming is still experimental, both companies sell kits to hook their game consoles up to the Internet.
Growth in casual and online gaming is strong and accelerating, driven by growing adoption of mobile computing and social networks.
Gaikai is one of several online gaming systems that let people play games by streaming the action to a PC.
Thanks to the rise of mobile applications and online gaming this is an increasingly common situation.
An Ireland-based online gaming firm is looking to go legit as a derivatives exchange in the United States.
The attraction of bitcoin to the online gaming community is obvious.
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OnLive has denied rumors that the online gaming service is going out of business in response to request for comment from Forbes and various other publications.
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Some 60% of traffic coming through Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service is from "Call of Duty" games, where players can take each other on, he said.
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Kevin Chou is CEO of Kabam, an online gaming platform.
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Furthermore, when it comes to online gaming, the PlayStation is deemed to be some way behind the Xbox.
Gamebattles.com is the leader in engagement for the online gaming space, with more than 18 minutes spent on site.
Microsoft is taking more direct control over the online gaming experience.
To help YaYa stay competitive, Ferrazzi is exploring other ways companies can use online gaming to interact with adults, such as in education and corporate training.
She said the company is still in the early stages of monetizing online gaming.
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There is a veritable architectural boom occurring in the online gaming world, with millions of people engaged, both individually and collectively, in creating an endless variety of virtual buildings.
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Online gaming like World of Warcraft is suffering its fair share of concerns, particularly in the Far East, where there are fears of widespread addiction and detrimental effects on intensive users' health.
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Microsoft is adding new titles to its online Xbox Live Arcade gaming hub.
Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) is adding new titles to its online Xbox Live Arcade gaming hub.
The Xbox 360, while going with the now-defunct HD DVD format for its media player, is superior (in my opinion) in its online gaming options.
"You know this is truly global, " says Victor Carlson, the online gaming company's senior vice president.
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This is especially true of disabled people who told researchers that online gaming enabled them to socialise on an equal footing with others.
The answer to that last question is, No, you can't-in the online gaming world, you gotta keep it simple.
The syndication model is common among entertainment-news sites such as E Online and gaming companies like Total Entertainment Network, which partner with portals, communities and other highly trafficked sites that repackage their goods for mass consumption.
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