Yahoo has acquired PlayerScale, a startup developer of infrastructure software for cross-platform gaming, adding to its string of recent acquisitions.

The U.S. International Trade Commission has turned down a request for a ban on Microsoft's Xbox after finding that the gaming device did not infringe a patent owned by Google's Motorola Mobility unit.

Microsoft brushed off a dubious hacker's claim on Thursday that he stole 47 million account credentials for Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming service.

Microsoft is making a big play for the living room with a new Xbox console that marries games with live TV, Internet browsing, music and Skype.

Nvidia's Project Shield handheld gaming device, now called simply Shield, will be available for pre-order on May 20 priced at US$349, though it won't ship to customers until the end of June.

For years, using voice recognition technology on phones or other devices has been a novelty -- something people try once but never again, usually because it works so poorly. But recent developments, including harnessing the computational power of the cloud, have made it more usable and will make it even better in the near future, according to Microsoft.

Well, that was fast. Do-it-yourself electronics kit maker and hobby retailer Adafruit recently announced that a hacker had won the company's Open Kinect Bounty. Spain-based hacker Hector Martin Cantero, who is known online as "marcan," released a proof-of-concept video Wednesday night showing the Kinect interfacing with his Linux-based laptop.

Thank God Steve Jobs isn't on the Supreme Court.