Gaming

Consumers who play video-games at least 16 hours a week embrace in-game advertising more than those who play less, a study released on Wednesday shows, with some believing advertisements will become a main-stay in games in the future.

Previous game experience and recommendations from friends serve as the best marketing tools for video game purchases, according to one research firm.

The Game Developers Conference will take the reigns as the largest trade exhibition for the gaming community, following the recently announced scale-backs of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)in August.

Unbeknownst to many of her peers, 70-year-old Barbara Sainte-Hilaire, MTV's senior video game correspondent and star of the blog Old Grandma Hardcore, is a sensation in video game circles.

The United States has arrested a second Internet gaming executive, adding to fears it is cracking down on the lucrative industry and sparking share price falls on Thursday that wiped over $1.5 billion off the market value of the sector.

Online gaming group PartyGaming is not bidding for sports betting rival Victor Chandler and is unlikely to get into a bidding war for World Gaming plc, Chief Executive Mitch Garber said on Thursday.

A substantial minority of American adults would rather spend their free time playing casual games - such online diversions as Bejeweled and TextTwist - than watch television.

Internet gaming group BETonSPORTS, which removed its chief executive from his job following his detention in Texas last month on racketeering charges, said on Friday it was closing down the U.S. business, which drives the vast majority of the company's profits.