Gamertell

Gaia Online just announced the release of celebrity-inspired items for Gaia users. This week’s items now allow registrants the opportunity to dress up their avatars as Snoop Dogg or The Incredible Hulk with hairstyles, purple pants, green fists and more. This marks the first time fully licensed celebrity-branded virtual items have been sold in the virtual world.

In a partnership with virtual goods sales and distribution system Virtual Greats LLC, Gaia Online will allow users to collect or “snare“ quality celebrity items each month to create…

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Now that we’ve looked at the games that have made the Prince of Persia series so popular, it is time to take a look at where the franchise is heading.

Prince of Persia: The Next Generation

As the franchise moves forward, the Prince is set for yet another transformation. After the Sands of Time trilogy came to a close, Ubisoft decided that the series needed a new direction. And while we still don’t know very much about the upcoming Prince of Persia title for…

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Midway is plunging into a deep financial abyss, with its annual balance sheets being painted in red for the past eight years, last reporting an annual profit in 1999.

The company is hoping to use a bit less red in 2008 by focusing more on big name and movie-based games.

The man who owns 90% stake in the company, Viacom Chairman Summer Redstone, is upbeat about the publisher’s prospect. His daughter, Shari Redstone, who was recently named chairwoman of Midway, said in a company statement last week that they planned to release an impressive slate of games and she would work more closely with the management.

The game publisher has been plagued by delays in many of its games which forced it to lower its financial forecast for the third-quarter and the current fiscal. CEO David Zucker told Chicago Tribune that Midway’s new strategy of “fewer, bigger and better” titles in 2008, focusing on movie-based or other licensed games, using Stranglehold (which was based on John Woo’s 1992 movie, Hard Boiled) as an example.

Midway also has the new driving game, titled Wheelman, lined up for release in 2008. The movie rights of the game have already been grabbed by Paramount Pictures and MTV films and will star Vin Diesel. David Zucker also promised more movie-oriented titles next year. Midway will also target the Wii and DS owners with a barrage of casual games.

Read [Chicago Tribune] via [Shacknews]

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