At E3, video games shift their aim to casual players (USATODAY.com)

USATODAY.com - This year's downscaled E3 video game expo drew about 4,500 gamemakers, analysts, retailers and journalists to L.A. last week - less than a tenth of E3's size two years ago - even as the industry grew from $10.5 billion in 2005 to $18 billion in 2007.

Japan: PS3 Catches Up to Wii, Xbox 360 on Life Support

In Japan, the Wii's lead over the PS3 shrank from six-to-one in May to just one-point-seven-to-one in June, according to Japanese magazine publisher Enterbrain. According to the publisher, Nintendo sold 235,990 Wii in a five week period ending June...

NPD: Nintendo Wii the top-selling, current-gen console

The Nintendo Wii has secured its place above the Xbox 360 in total units sold in the US, and six of the top ten games in June were on Nintendo consoles. It's good to be the king. Read More...

July NPD Sales Numbers Fire, Industry Volleys

July video game sales leapt an appreciable 28 percent over last year, the 360 and PS3 finished in a dead heat, and Nintendo creamed everyone, as usual. Overall video game sales were up an astonishing 35 percent year-to-date, prophesying...

Invade and conquer: Space Invaders thirty years on

In 1977 Tomohiro Nishikado, a 33-year-old Japanese computer programmer, was a company employee, like millions of others. In his spare time he played video table-tennis, manoeuvring white paddles up and down a black-and-white TV screen to return a white blob of a ball to his opponent. In the amusement arcades, he had noticed a new game called Breakout, which involved moving a paddle from side to side to hit a ball, in order to destroy a series of blocks at the top of the screen.

NPD: GTA IV Fastest Selling Game Ever, Nintendo Still Bulldozes Competition

April can be the cruelest month, but not if you're Nintendo, which managed to sell 714,000 Wiis bolstered by hot-ticket games like Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Wii Play. Also not if you're Rockstar, whose Grand Theft Auto...