"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.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts Tuesday again extended its $2 billion takeover offer for smaller rival Take-Two Interactive Software, but Take-Two again rejected the bid as too low.

U.S. sales of video game hardware and software were $1.12 billion in May, up 37 percent from a year earlier, with Take-Two Interactive's "Grand Theft Audio 4" the best-selling title for the month, market researcher NPD said in a report on Thursday.

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.

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.

Soaring sales of Nintendo's Wii game machine have made former Nintendo chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi Japan's richest man, worth $7.8 billion, Forbes magazine said in its annual rankings.

Take-Two Interactive Software scored more than $500 million in global sales of criminal action game "Grand Theft Auto 4" in its first week, marking what it said Wednesday is one of the most lucrative entertainment events in history.

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.

Japan's Nintendo, maker of the hit Wii game machine, said on Thursday fourth-quarter profit jumped 60 percent but it forecast only modest annual growth of 9 percent as sales of its DS handheld machine slow.

Electronic Arts Thursday launched a tender offer for rival video game maker Take-Two Interactive Software at $26 a share, indicating its $2 billion bid is turning hostile.

Take Two Interactive Software reported a deeper loss, but the video game publisher's shares rose as the company projected an improved profit outlook.

Take-Two Interactive Software said on Thursday it has received informal inquiries but not written offers concerning potential business combinations since Electronic Arts proposed a $1.9 billion acquisition.

Microsoft said it will stop making HD DVD players for its Xbox 360 video game system after Toshiba ceded the high-definition video format battle to Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray.

Electronic Arts reported fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings of $90 million, or 90 cents a share. The performance was in line with the mean estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.