Games and entertainment

More Americans are checking in on their favorite shows this year, a new report from Nielsen has found.

According to Nielsen, the average American spends 159 hours watching television in the home, along with 4.5 hours of content on the Web. They watch another four hours of video on their mobile devices. Those aged 65 and older spend the most time each month watching "traditional television," tallying nearly 221 hours of total viewership. Kids between the ages of 12 and 17 watch the least amount of television programming each month, viewing just 107 hours of content.

All … Read more

Age is playing an important role in how people watch movies, according to a new survey released by Epix.

Epix, a joint venture of Paramount Pictures, MGM, and Lionsgate that offers films through a broadcast channel, video-on-demand, and streaming, found that people between the ages of 25 and 34 are 24 percent more likely to watch movies on iPods than those who are 35 to 64.

These younger viewers are also 21 percent more likely to use tablets and smartphone to enjoy a flick, compared with their older counterparts. Moreover, seven out of eight of all respondents said they watch … Read more

Pandora has increased its initial public offering price.

The streaming-music provider filed a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission today, indicating that it would be offering its shares for between $10 and $12 when they hit the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "P." The company previously announced that it would offer its shares in the range of $7 to $9.

Pandora, expected to go public soon, will register nearly 16.9 million shares with the SEC, including over 2.2 million that underwriters can purchase to cover over-allotment after the stock goes on sale. All … Read more

Brad Bushman, a communication and psychology professor at Ohio State University, has conducted many studies demonstrating the negative effects violent video games can have on teens and young people.

He wasn't investigating the possible effects of "relaxing" games because, he says, "Until recently...such games didn't exist. Most video games try to rev people up rather than calm them down."

But the researcher says a growing genre of relaxing games has enabled him to investigate whether, just as violent games can lead to aggressive behavior, nonviolent games can promote positive behaviors.

Bushman and doctoral … Read more

An unlikely pairing has emerged in the online space.

A new start-up called Backplane has raised over $1 million in venture funding, The New York Times is reporting. The company's investment is led by Tomorrow Ventures, the venture firm that Google Executive Chairman (and former CEO) Eric Schmidt founded.

By investing in Backplane, Schmidt has a new partner: Lady Gaga. The pop artist owns 20 percent of Backplane, according to The New York Times.

Backplane, which has yet to launch, is designed to build and expand online communities around musicians and sports teams. According to the Times, the service … Read more

Electronic Arts is doubling down on the digital-gaming space with the launch of a new direct-to-consumer platform, called Origin.

Launching later today, Origin will allow gamers to purchase and download over 150 games directly to their PCs. So far, the content on the site is limited to games from EA "and its partners," the company said in a statement today. In the coming months, EA says that it will offer more games, including the highly anticipated Battlefield 3, FIFA 12, Madden NFL 12, and Mass Effect 3.

"Origin is a game service with two fundamental features," … Read more

Lady Gaga's new album "Born This Way" sold more than 1.1 million digital and physical copies in its first week and set a new record for digital sales, thanks in part to a pricing scheme from Amazon.com.

Testing the waters of digital music prices, the retail giant offered the pop singer's new album for a mere 99 cents for one day on Monday, May 23. Hoping to lure more than the usual Lady Gaga fans, Amazon threw in 20GB of cloud storage as part of the deal. After technical problems due to overwhelming demand on that day, Amazon tried once more last Thursday, offering the 99-cent MP3 version of the album for a single day.

Boosted by Amazon's retail push, "Born This Way" hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 1,108,000 copies altogether and making it the 17th album to sell a million in a single week since 1991 when Nielsen's SoundScan started tracking such data, according to Billboard.

Amazon itself accounted for more than 440,000 of the total 662,000 digital downloads of "Born This Way," according to Billboard.… Read more

Miramax and Hulu have signed a multiyear deal that will see some of the studio's top films come to the streaming-video service.

Starting today, Hulu Plus subscribers will have access to hundreds of ad-free Miramax films. Many of the titles will be available in HD, the company said, while the remaining titles will be available to users in standard definition. In addition, those who access the free Hulu will find a selection of 15 Miramax films to choose from. Those films, which will be rotated each month, will be ad-supported, the companies said.

Adding Miramax content to Hulu is … Read more

Roku has inked a deal with Angry Birds creator Rovio to bring the company's video games to its set-top boxes.

The companies have entered into a "strategic partnership" that will see Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio come to Roku's Channel Store, Roku said late yesterday. An Angry Birds video channel with game-themed animated shorts, as well as a marketplace to buy game-related merchandise, will also be available in the Channel Store.

However, a Roku representative confirmed to CNET today that the games will not be available on the company's current hardware. Instead, the titles will be made available to owners of new hardware expected to launch this summer.

Roku has come a long way since its initial set-top box launched in 2008. Earlier this year, the company announced that more than 1 billion content streams have been sent to TVs through its set-top boxes, which currently range in price from $59.99 to $99.99. It currently offers more than 250 entertainment options in its Channel Store, which basically acts as an applications store, allowing people to add those channels to their personal menu and watch the content associated with them.

Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and NBA Game Time are among the channels Roku offers.… Read more