The James Logan Courier

By Dan Gallagher
MarketWatch (MCT)

SAN FRANCISCO — After enjoying a banner year in 2008 despite the slowing economy, the video game industry may find the coming year to be more of a challenge.

The mounting recession along with a lack of big blockbuster titles in the pipeline is expected to weigh on the sector in 2009. And while no one is predicting a major downturn in what many analysts consider to be a recession-resistant business, tough comparisons with the prior year and rising development expenses are expected to put more squeeze on game makers — several of whom are already coping with their own internal issues.

"Any year that you don't have a 'Grand Theft Auto' or a 'Halo,' you're going to get a cautious outlook," said Michael Pachter, video game analyst for Wedbush Morgan.

By Rohan Kumar, Courier Staff Writer

Ensemble Studios, one of the most successful video game publishers known for there online video game success Age of empires, are at it again. Ensemble Studios latest game Halo Wars is set to be released for Xbox 360 on March 3,2009. Halo is traditionally a first person shooter, but Halo Wars is a real-time strategy game like Command and Conquer. Real-time strategy games allow you to control whole armies of men and direct them in battle.

LUNCH
Salsa Bar at the Creations booth! Pizza, Chinese, grill items such as burgers & chicken strips, deli sandwiches and, of course, burritos!

MISCELLANEOUS
On April 26th, Hayward Adult School will be hosting the 16th Annual Ukulele Festival for which they need volunteers. The festival itself is a one-day event, but they need volunteers for 2 days, Saturday and Sunday. If you would like to help out, come to the Career Center to pick up a blue flyer. Or if you just want to go and have a fun day, you too should pick up the blue flyer.

By Billy O'Keefe
McClatchy-Tribune (MCT)

It's reset button time again for Tenchu, the stealthy ninja whose recent adventures have been something of a technical mess.

With "Tenchu: Shadow Assassins," the series returns to the arms of the developers who originally created it. That's the good news. The slightly baffling, not-so-good news? It appears exclusively on the console least capable of handling its fickle approach to stealth gameplay.

For those unfamiliar, "Tenchu" takes the complete opposite tack of most ninja games. Rather than carve your way through whole armies, you're lurking in the dark, traipsing from point to point and avoiding enemy contact whenever possible. You're capable of performing kills on unsuspecting enemies whose backs are turned, but if one of them sneaks a conscious glance at you and you aren't equipped with the right weaponry, you're dead to rights.