DENVER (Billboard) - There were a lot of questions surrounding the "Guitar Hero" videogame when it first came out. Would gamers agree to pony up extra money for the special guitar-shaped controller needed to play it? Would the music industry agree to license master tracks? Would the addition of downloadable content be successful?

DENVER (Billboard) - There were a lot of questions surrounding the "Guitar Hero" videogame when it first came out. Would gamers agree to pony up extra money for the special guitar-shaped controller needed to play it? Would the music industry agree to license master tracks? Would the addition of downloadable content be successful?

The biggest media and tech companies are meeting at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, but so far, not many deals have been made. Find out what companies have reached agreements.

Summer blockbuster movies no longer end with the closing credits with rising numbers of licensed video games being spun off from Hollywood adventures, putting the gamer in the starring role.

To give investors an edge in a holiday-shortened week of trading, CNBC asked the experts for their best trades now.

"Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,"  Activision's latest installment of their video game franchise, launched Friday at Time Square's Hard Rock Cafe release party n New York. It's the fourth game in the best-selling title, but the first based on a specific band.

Rather than having to pitch a video game idea and hope for funding, developers and skilled hobbyists can now create the game they want on the side—then let the market dictate whether their idea had merit.

There are a lot of baby boomers out there and there's a lot of potential money to be made off of their retirement. Just be prepared to apply unconventional thinking to fit the habits of nontraditional people.

Acquisition charges pushed video game publisher Electronic Arts to a loss for its fiscal fourth quarter, but the company's strong software sales helped the company's revenue blow past analyst expectations.

But with the surprise box office success of “Iron Man,” many are now questioning whether the company should abandon its franchise model and bring development of video games based on its characters in house.

The video gaming industry is more complicated than it might appear from the outside. Know these things before jumping in.

U.S. video game giant Electronic Arts Sunday said it had made an unsolicited $1.9 billion offer for "Grand Theft Auto" publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, escalating its battle with Activision for the title of biggest video game maker.

Video games are full of action and adventure, but the stocks of companies that make them look surprisingly safe to Kaufman Brothers cable and satellite analyst Todd Mitchell.