Game analysts are like any other analysts predicting the market, sometimes they’re wrong, sometimes they’re right. Sometimes they’re “what they hell were they thinking”-wrong. Industry analyst Doug Creutz from Cowen and Company predicts that the upcoming Modern Warfare 3 will sell 25 million units worldwide, while it’s main competitor, Battlefield 3, will only sell 10 million units.

He bases his estimate on the fact that the previous Call of Duty game, Black Ops, sold 14 million copies, and Modern Warfare 3 is surely set to eclipse that. Which we agree, but 25 million? If we had to put our analyst hat on, we’d say Modern Warfare 3 sells 15 million units, tops. Which is about, oh, $900 million in revenue? Of which Activision will get $500 million.

Valve is one of those companies that turn heads with just about every title they put out on the market. If you’ve been paying attention yu’ll know that they have recently released Portal 2 which has received positive reception literally across the board. However, while the game is certainly a highly sought after one its $60 price tag may keep it out of the hands of gamers on a budget. If this sounds like you, you’re in luck.

It was just noted today that Kmart will be offering Portal 2 for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 for just $35 on Sunday, April 30th. Furthermore, it was also noticed that GameStop will be offering the PC version of the game for just $30 while the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will run $39.99.

If you haven’t picked the game up yet definitely keep an eye out for these deals as the game is said to be contender for Game of the Year.

There are so many different titles on the market that it’s almost becoming hard for up and coming studios to differentienate themselves from one another. However, on the flip side of things, veteran game studios like Blizzard have no problem pushing out titles that put up impressive sales numbers time and time again. A prime example of this would be World of Warcraft and its 3 successive expansion packs which have all managed to sell like hot cakes.

Well if you’ve been following the developments of Blizzard you’ll know that the studio has been hard at work on Diablo III for quite some time. To make matters worse, the studio has yet to give us a solid release date only saying that it will be out when it’s ready. Luckily they have come forth today to say the following:

We’re definitely in the home stretch. We’re crunching. This is when the magic happens.

What exactly this means we aren’t sure but let’s cross our fingers and assume it means Diablo III will be 0ut before the end of the year.

Apple’s iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the market and that is certainly no secret. While the phone itself is quite nice, the variety of software offered through the iOS App Store is what’s really going to keep consumers around. If you’ve got an iPhone and are partial to video games you’ll know that there is absolutely no drought of high quality titles offered for the phone along with Apple’s other iOS powered devices.

Of these games, Fruit Ninja is one of the most popular right up there with Angry Birds. If you’re not familiar with the premise of the game you are essentially a ninja with a sword who’s task is to slash as many pieces of flying fruit as possible within a given time period. Seeing how all of the iOS powered devices are touch enabled this is quite obviously accomplished by swiping your finger across the screen with proper timing.

While Fruit Ninja is currently only available for mobile platforms, Korea’s Game Rating Board may have given us a glimpse of the future. According to reports, said Game Rating Board has just given Fruit Ninja for the Xbox 360 a rating. You may be asking yourself how are you going to swipe your finger across the screen with an Xbox 3360 controller but you’re not as the game is set to be Kinect enabled.

Sounds pretty fun but if you choose to go this route I suggest you stay far away from those playing the game as flailing arms have been known to cause some carnage.

Just yesterday we let you in some rumors that said Hulu Plus would finally be coming to the Xbox 360 at some point in the near future. Well, Major Nelson himself has finally come forth to announce that the service will in fact be launching for Microsoft’s video game console tomorrow, April 29th. Even better, the company will be offering consumers a free weeks worth of service as a launching surprise.

If you’re not familiar with Hulu Plus it is very similar to Netflix but it exclusively offers television shows with no movies on board. Although, the beauty of that is that many television shows offered through Hulu Plus are much more up to date than those offered through Netflix.

Anyways, keep an eye out for Hulu Plus available for download on the Xbox 360 tomorrow.

There are a ton of different big name video games on the market and even more just over the horizon. This is a great thing because it never leaves us with nothing to play but it’s not a very good thing with our wallets considering most major titles cost $50+. Luckily, with services like GameFly consumers can rent games for a low monthly fee and return them without every having to pay the full retail price. However, seeing how teleportation has yet to be invented, this may be a problem as it takes a few days for GameFly rentals to actually arrive at your door step.

Well, if you have a Red Box kiosk somewhere near you, you may be in luck. According to recent reports the company is gearing up to begin renting video games through their kiosks sometime this June. Also according to reports, the games will cost $2 per night where as movie rentals are just $1 a night – not a surprise considering new video games are considerably more expensive than new movies.

We’ll keep you posted as more information is known but definitely keep a look out for video games at your local Red Box kiosk.

It’s not a bad thing to be a videogame developer. It’s a great job that requires creativity and teamwork, pays well, and most of all, lets you make videogames for a living. According to a new industry survey, videogame developer got on average a 7 percent increase in pay in 2010, meaning the average videogame developer now earns $80,800 a year. Not bad. Not bad at all. Programmers had an average salary of $85,000, while game producers saw $88,500. However, the best paid positions in the game industry belonged to the legal departments and the business managers: they raked in an average of $106,00 in 2010.

However, if you’re an independent developer, you’re earning less than half that, on average. Indie developers, while seeing their pay increase by $6,000 in 2010, still earned only about $26,500 a year. Which isn’t a lot — school janitors and secretaries earn more than that. But of course, they don’t get to make videogames for a living.

It’s always unfortunate when a developer is forced to push back a game as it leaves many unhappy gamers. On the bright side of things, these delays give said developers a chance to iron out any kinks that may have been left in the game and further polish it thus making it more ready than market. Well, despite this bright side, I’m sure many of you are going to be disappointed to hear that F.E.A.R 3 has been delayed once again.

Previously the game had been pushed back to May but now it’s been noted that the game’s new release date is June 24th of this year. Let’s hope that this is the last delay we’ll see and F.E.A.R. 3 is actually able to make its way to market. We don’t want another Duke Nukem Forever mishap.

There has been a lot of buzz circulating in the gaming world surrounding Hulu’s Hulu Plus service. This buzz largely focuses on the fact that according to numerous reports the service will finally be making its way to the Xbox 360 in the near future. However, if you’re on the PlayStation 3 you’ll know that you’ve had access to the service for quite some time. You’ll also know that you haven’t had access to the PlayStation Network due to a massive security breach that has left the network in shambles.

Well, Hulu Plus is looking to make the lives of PS3 owners a bit easier as they have announced today that they will be giving those who use Hulu Plus on the PlayStation 3 a week’s credit to the service for free.

At least you’ll have something to do when you can’t play Black Ops, right?

While there are many different sports game franchises currently on the market one stands out about the rest and continues to impress both in terms of gameplay and sales time and time again. That game, of course, is none other than Madden. If you’re a football fan or just a fan of the series you’ll know that Madden 12 is set to hit the market on August 30th of this year which is quite a ways off but that doesn’t mean we can’t start thinking about the game now.

In fact, there has been a ton of buzz circulating regarding who EA Sports will choose for their cover athlete. Well, the wait is over and it has been announced today that running back for the Cleveland Browns Peyton Hillis will be featured on the cover of Madden 12. If you were wondering, Hillis beat out Michael Vick in a final vote of 66% to 34% which is quite a hefty margin.

Again, expect Madden 12 to hit store shelves on August 30th of this year.