Video games - Top Stories latest news

AFP - videogame colossus Electronic Arts has said an online Scrabble game customized for Facebook will be released this month to challenge the popular unauthorized version Scrabulous.

6 xbox 360 Screenshots posted, from Midway

8 xbox 360 Screenshots posted, from Atlus Software

Shipping on the 23rd and 24th, the XBLA and PSN game is inspired by the original arcade games.

The game's an average platformer, but the license is well used, and the characters are fun.

The Washington Post's Mike Musgrove is reporting that the Blizzard-Activision merger is official as of yesterday afternoon. "One analyst has predicted that the merged company would make $1.38 billion in profits during its first financial year, enough to make Activision Blizzard the world's largest game publisher. [...] But this merger should give the newly-formed company enough heft to compete with EA for such blockbuster projects, said Pachter. 'It's good to have a duopoly instead of a monopoly,' he said. 'This just makes the industry that much more interesting.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

USATODAY.com - If you see your nephew or daughter waving a plastic wand like a crazy person at the TV, rather than calling a shrink, you might want to dial your broker. Novel types of controllers, like the motion sensitive wand used to move on-screen characters on the nintendo wii console, have shown investors that video games have burst light years beyond the dark basements of geeks.

Some element of motion control could be integrated into Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, according to word from Microsoft big wig Ken Lobb, chatting to IGN (thanks VG247) this week.

Unofficially, Animal Crossing for the Wii has now been sighted, GoNintendo affirming that the long-rumoured title was spied on a Nintendo Norway release schedule yesterday.

Another potential E3 unveiling hit the web late last night, after Amazon.com rapidly pulled down a product listing inadvertently added for Star Wars: Battlefront III.