Entertainment

Nintendo: Don't expect a big event at E3 this year

Unlike previous years, Nintendo will not make a major splash at the E3 gaming expo in June.

Speaking to shareholders on Thursday, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata confirmed that his company will not hold a major showcase at E3. Instead, his company will focus on smaller presentations centered around its many software titles.

"First, we decided not to host a large-scale presentation targeted at everyone in the international audience where we announce new information as we did in the past," Iwata told investors. "Instead, at the E3 show this year, we are planning to host a few smaller … Read more

Dark Horse dangles 50 free digital comics

Free digital comics! That always gets comic book fans revved up, and the latest batch can be had courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.

The comic book house, which was founded in 1986, is celebrating the two-year anniversary of Dark Horse Digital by offering free digital editions of the first issues of 50 different comics. The freebies include a variety of titles such as Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 No. 1" and "Serenity: Those Left Behind No. 1," Felicia Day's "The Guild No. 1," Mike Mignola's "Hellboy: Seed … Read more

Google Doodle honors jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald

Jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald would've been 96 years old on Thursday, prompting Google to commemorate the date with its latest doodle.

Known as the "First Lady of Song" and the "Queen of Jazz," Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917, and grew up to become one of the world's most celebrated jazz singers, typically ranked as one of the top three female jazz singers of all time along with Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. "Lady Ella" sang professionally for more than 50 years, selling more than 40 million albums and winning 13 Grammy awards.… Read more

Zynga launches Draw Something 2, kills four other games

Zynga executives say they're "doubling down on big bets," which means killing off games that won't bring in big bucks in the long run and sticking to franchises that do.

The company announced Wednesday that Draw Something 2, the sequel to the popular Draw Something mobile drawing game, goes live this evening. On the flip side, Zynga is killing off four other games: The Ville, Empires and Allies, Dream Zoo, and Zynga City on Tencent.

The new Draw Something 2 includes a social feed, where you can like or comment on drawings, and follow people. There'… Read more

The 404 1,256: Where we go off the charts with Shanon Cook (podcast)

Spotify's Top 10 Trending Songs of the Week

Daft Punk - Get Lucky - Radio Edit Lorde - Royals Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines Hunter Hayes - I Want Crazy Nashville Cast - Ho Hey Florida Georgia Line - Cruise - Remix Avril Lavigne - Here's To Never Growing Up Selena Gomez - Come & Get It Psy - Gentleman Bastille - Pompeii… Read more

The economics behind Amazon's possible set-top box gambit

Yes, Amazon makes the successful Kindle Fire tablet computer. And yes, it's reportedly considering offering a smartphone.

But a streaming video set-top box? Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Amazon plans to dive into that hardware business, citing "three people familiar with the project who aren't authorized to discuss it." What's Amazon thinking?

It's a crowded market already. Companies such as Roku and Boxee already make set-top boxes that can stream video content to televisions. Consumers can stream video from gaming consoles such as the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. And they can catch streaming … Read more

Zynga revenue drops 18 percent as player base shrinks

Zynga posted a small profit in the first quarter of 2013, earning 1 cent per share and bringing in $263,589 in revenue, the company reported Wednesday.

That beats expectations, but is down 18 percent from the same period last year. Bookings brought in $230 million, which is down 30 percent from the previous year.

Some Wall Street analysts expected the company to report a loss of 4 cents per share with a revenue of $209.79 million, according to Nasdaq. The company's own expectations was a loss of 5 to 4 cents a share with revenue between $255 … Read more

Plan, shoot, and cut your own video shorts with Directr

Many developers are wisely taking advantage of the powerful cameras in today's smartphones and trying to replicate the success of photo sharing apps with video apps. Apps like Viddy, Klip, and Socialcam compete to let users make clips and add quick effects before publishing and sharing. But no developers have really taken that a step further to include the all-important creation component.

Directr and its creators want to distance themselves as far as possible from the new Video-Instagram crowd. The brainchild of a former Microsoft Software Engineer, Directr is a little video app that aims to help the average … Read more

Google's Schmidt to Colbert: I don't understand the Internet

To hear someone from Google claim they don't understand something is like hearing a fundamentalist religious believer suddenly declare he has celestial doubts.

There was something, therefore, stunningly heartwarming about Eric Schmidt's appearance on Tuesday night's "Colbert Report."

In a previous appearance on the show, Google's executive chairman had tried to be funny. This time, he allowed Colbert to be the comedian -- which was a good decision.

Instead, Schmidt took the opportunity to thrust his new book "The New Digital Age" at the cool, ironic world and offer a little hope.… Read more