I know Gamasutra and Worlds in Motion, among others, are typically THE go-to-sources for news in the Games and Virtual Worlds industries.  But lately I've been noticing more and more coverage in more mainstream pubs like The Hollywood Reporter, Businessweek, and more.  Not sure if it's just a temporary blip, or if the Activision/Blizzard merger has really signaled the importance of the industry to the larger investor and Media industry.

Here's a sampling of just some of the most recent stories.  A lot of reporting around the A/B merger, of course.  Another trend seems to be around the continued expansion of the gaming audience, whether new demographic audiences or serious games.

(apologies - my editing status in WordPress still precludes things like hotlinks, trying to figure out the technical difficulty) 

Businessweek Apr 28: "Tool: Training Games" - Microsoft's ESP toolset for serious games is profiled in a short blurb. –>  

Businessweek Apr 28: "Opening the Wii to wee game developers" - talks about the shift in Nintendo's strategy away from tight developer control to more open development and smaller studios. –> http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_17/b4081070887317.htm?chan=search

Businessweek April 21: "In Hot Pursuit of a video-game deal" - mostly about the EA/Take 2 battle. –> http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_16/b4080028214708.htm?chan=search 

Businessweek Games blog Apr 17 (and Apr 28 issue): "Numbers: Video Games: Not just child's play".  Numbers on the growth and changing demographics of the industry.  –> http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/gamesinc/archives/2008/04/gaming_by_numbe.html 

THR Apr 17: "Mainland MMO" - World of Warcraft hits a new high in Mainland China, with 25% increase in peak concurrent users since Oct 4.

Fortune April 14: "Guess who's rewriting the Rules of Gaming?" - lead article in the Technology section, talks about the changing (and growing) demographics of game users, and postulates disruption for large established publishers in favor of smaller developers , social MMOs (Nexon), and, all all places, Target.  Interestingly, it reminded me of the panel back at GDC where Min Kim from Nexon speaker basically smacked down Jack Emmert from Cryptic.  –>  http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/16/technology/leonard_games.fortune/index.htm and http://gametomorrow.com/blog/index.php/2008/02/21/ibm-at-gdc-part-3-the-future-of-mmos/

THR Apri 8: "Game on: Dis plays in China" - Disney plans to buy Gamestar, the China-based games developer. (subscription required) –> http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3iec476757724b75704f7105b606e4949f 

Businessweek Apr 7: "The Power of Play", an entire online special report on the Games industry.  This one warrants a separate blog post. –> http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/di_special/20080324thepowerof.htm 

THR Apr 1: "It's March madness for vid gamers" - more good news on the story of games being "recession proof": "…In February, software sales were up 47% year-over-year while hardware sales were up 19%, research firm NPD said." –> http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3if3e739fe43eee9a1f7697a32819d3886

THR Apr 1: "Ubisoft ups '08 forecast" - ditto on the recession-proof storyline. –> http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i37a2ec580927b4288e7ce119d5539aef

THR Mar 27: "Game guards" - small blurb about UK proposal to require health warnings on violent games a la cigarettes.  And here we thought Margret Thatcher abolished the Nanny State… 

THR Mar 25: "DHX Shapes Up" - acqusition featuring kids gaming and fitness –> http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i5a42e7f03a5c48fc2d3a91adfb456738

THR Mar 24: "Electronic Arts, Starz race to 'Space' movie" - extending the existing 'Dead Space' game franchise into an animated feature.  (subscription required) –> http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ifcdf91a54bfcc659fd41daa658a0f164

THR Mar 20: "Points slow to come in EA game" - amid an article on the EA/Take-2 takeover battle, a nugget from the NPD Group: "…with NPD Group figures released this week citing February sales of Hardware and software at $1.3 billion, 34% higher than the same month a year ago."  –> http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3idcdfd6551bebb6397f67ac6da248aa5b

THR Mar 19: "GameStop Gains" - gamestop's 46% increase in fiscal 4Q profits 

Continuing the trend of expanding MMOs and online social environments to broader audiences, comes two stories from The Hollywood Reporter.

The first, from April 10, writes about how Nickelodeon is developing two casual MMOs. The first a virtual world based on SpongeBob SquarePants, and the second called Monkey World.

The second, from April 17, writes about Cartoon Network prepping it's own casual MMO for this fall, after being delayed twice. This on the heel's of Disney's original property Toontown and their purchase of Club Penguin in 2007.

Is this a trend?

"When we started building 'FusionFall,' 'Toontown' was the only kids MMO," notes [Chris Waldron, the game's executive producer]. "Since then, we've seen a proliferation of MMOs targeting the same young demographic as ours, including 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' 'RuneScape,' and even social games like 'Club Penguin' and 'Habbo Hotel.' So, yeah, it's getting crowded out there and there are many more in the works so it's getting even more crowded."