On Brightkite, ladies' night never ends

Two teens listen to music and send text messages on their cellphones in a coffee shop. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times.

When Jonathan Linner describes his social networking website Brightkite, he sounds more like a savvy nightclub owner than the chief executive of a bleeding-edge Bay Area start-up.

Whereas most new technologies tend to favor the early adopter -- a generally male-skewed, try-everything, fad-friendly crowd -- Linner is focusing on a different audience: hot girls.

"Guys will go where the hot chicks are," Linner said over lunch a few months ago. "The target demographic is a girl in college," he reiterated in a recent phone interview.

How do you get girls in high demand to cozy up to a social network that asks users to pull out their phones and check in multiple times a day? Linner employs what he calls "the ladies' night approach."

"Bars do things to make women come there -- reduced-price drinks or free drinks," he said. "So we do things in our system to make it more inviting to women."

Brightkite's landing page is bubbly and colorful with cute cartoon characters and an emphasis on words like "simplicity."

Compare that to competing location-based network Loopt, with its shiny, sleek buttons and big map overlaid with widgets. Or the smaller but much-hyped website Foursquare, which is quick to highlight that it plays nicely with high-end smart phones.

When adding new features, Linner and his 32 or so employees have to take care not to tick off Brightkite's pioneering female users.

For example . . .

Tony Hawk is back in the game with Ride

 

Tony Hawk, the renown skateboarder who landed the notoriously difficult "900" maneuver a decade ago at the X-Games, next Tuesday comes out with Ride, the latest title in the blockbuster video-game franchise that bears his name.

This time, the 41-year-old is adding a new trick to his virtual routine — a skateboard controller that looks like the real thing -- but without the wheels. Loaded with high-tech sensors, the controller gets players off the couch and doing flips on the floor. Hawk gives a demo that you can watch by clicking on the video above, composed by Times videographer, Don Kelsen.

Will it be enough to revitalize the 10-year-old series?

Hawk’s past titles have sold about 43.5-million units worldwide, generating more than $1.5 billion dollars in sales for its publisher, Activision Blizzard, according to market research firms NPD Group and GfK Chart-Track. But sales and critical scores slipped for the last two iterations, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground and Tony Hawk's Project 8.

So, two years ago, both Hawk and Activision decided to take a different path. They switched from the franchise’s longtime developer, Neversoft Entertainment in Woodland Hills, to Robomodo in Chicago. And they added a sophisticated controller.

Hawk, whose home in Encinitas, Calif., has a custom-built 4,000-square-foot skate park, spoke with us today about his latest title and whether he thinks players will spring for the $120 game when it comes out on Tuesday.

Here’s an edited version of the interview.

Tell me about what you went through to create the skateboard for the game.

We have a graveyard of prototypes. The first version was a blank skateboard with the equivalent of a Wii remote. We tried roller balls that you could slide your foot on and digital compasses that can tell which direction your board is pointed in. We also tried adding a camera. We also had a board with buttons that you could step on, like with Dance Dance Revolution.

With one of our first prototypes, I tried to do a kick flip on it. It’s a maneuver where you jump in the air and make the board do a full rotation. The board snapped in half.

How does the skateboard controller compare with the Wii Fit Balance Board?

The Balance Board only measures weight distribution. Our controller captures every motion. Every time you...

Sezmi says hello to Los Angeles

Angelenos unhappy with the cable or satellite TV offerings in their neighborhoods will have a new, much less expensive option today: Sezmi, a novel combination of over-the-air broadcasting and broadband programming. The company is launching a trial run here in anticipation of a much broader rollout by March, providing free equipment and service for about three months to those who participate. (You can sign up at Sezmi's website.) Even after the free trial ends, the price will be far below competing pay TV services: just under $5 a month for local broadcasts, Internet channels and access to pay-per-view services, and an additional $20 a month for more than 100 cable TV networks. Sezmi has some issues -- some popular cable networks aren't on board, at least not yet, and its selection of Web programming is far too limited -- but it also offers some innovations that push TV service in the direction viewers want it to go.

Google Maps' Street View under Swiss scrutiny

Google Map's Street View of Hollywood Boulevard near Highland Avenue. Credit: Google Inc..

Internet search giant Google is facing court action in Switzerland because it isn’t meeting the country’s demands for tighter privacy protection with its Google Maps' Street View service, according to a Swiss government official.

Hanspeter Thuer, data protection commissioner, announced today in a statement that he plans to bring a suit against Google in the Federal Administrative Tribunal, according to an Agence France Presse report.

Thuer said Google rejected many of his recommendations after it went online in August.

Street View is a feature that lets users pick a point on a map and see a panoramic street-level image of the surroundings. By adjusting the location of the point, a user can take a virtual walk down the street. Google constructs the images from panoramic photos taken by cars it has equipped with cameras.

Faces had not been sufficiently blurred, and people were concerned about being shown near "sensitive locations, for example outside hospitals, prisons or schools," he said.

Google argues that it provides measures to protect privacy by making it possible for people to contact Google and ask to have pictures of their property removed from Street View. The company also said it spoke with privacy regulators and gave them an opportunity to raise questions.

“We’re proud of the blurring technology we’ve developed for Street View, and are confident the product is completely legal, but we wanted to go the extra mile to address Herr Thuer’s concerns,” the company said in a blog post.

Google ran into a similar problem in the U.S. this year when a Pennsylvania couple took the company to court, saying the feature was an invasion of privacy. A judge threw out the case in February, siding with Google, which said "complete privacy does not exist" and argued that photos and building plans of the couple's home were already available to the public on local government websites.

In the blog post, Google indicated it planned to fight the Swiss case as well: “We will vigorously defend Street View in court and we’re committed to continue bringing the benefits to Swiss users.”

-- W.J. Hennigan

In Los Angeles, it's the attack of the Twittering food trucks!

The Kogi BBQ truck started the Twitterin' truck trend. Credit: joshuaheller / flickr.

Take a walk down Main Street during one of downtown L.A.'s Art Walk nights (the second Thursday of every month), and you will see an element that does not at first blend in with all the paintings, sculptures, high heels and hipsters.

Lining the curbs from 4th Street on down are a caravan of parked food trucks, part of L.A.'s growing army of Twitterized mobile eateries, originated by the now-famous Kogi Korean BBQ truck.

But now the roving bands have expanded to such variously named rolling restaurants as Nom Nom Truck, Let's Be Frank, and the upcoming FrySmith, a "truck with fries that eat as a meal." 

There are sushi trucks, ice cream and shave ice trucks, Indian food trucks, Philadelphia cheese steak trucks (couldn't find the Twitter address but I saw it with my own eyes), coffee and sweets trucks, and even a food truck for vegans!

No doubt I have omitted a few trucks from this list, but the L.A. Metblog listed more of them a few months ago, and there's even a page that tracks tweetin' trucks.

-- David Sarno

Video game sales suffer 19% drop in October

Game sales drop for the seventh month this year. Credit: Mykl Roventine via Flickr.

Ouch! Sales of video games and consoles in the U.S. fell 19% in October compared with the same month last year, putting the industry on the path for a decline in 2009 sales over last year, NPD Group said this afternoon.

"The industry is on track to generate full-year revenues in the range of $20 billion to $21 billion in the U.S., which would put it just below last year's sales of $21.3 billion," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

As for the holiday season, which in past years is when game companies rack up as much as 40% of their sales, it seems people are becoming nervous as they watch the unemployment rate hit double digits. According to NPD's Economic Tracker survey, consumers' "personal outlook continues to erode."

If October is any indication, the industry may be headed for a grisly holiday. Console sales crashed 23% to $380.7 million, compared with last year's $497 million. Game software sales fell 18% to $572.7 million, down from $698.4 million a year earlier.

"You're seeing the effects of the recession," said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, who two weeks ago predicted that U.S. game sales would be down 5% this year.

Sales of music-based games, such as Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5, have lagged behind last year's numbers as the beat begins to fade for some, Pachter said.

With mainstream players, the heroes of last year's soaring sales, missing in action this year, guess who's riding to the industry's rescue? It's hard-core gamers. Yes, those insane enough to stand in line for hours to be the first to get their hands on games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The Activision title, a gritty combat game that's not for the faint of heart, took in $310 million during its first 24 hours of going on sale Tuesday in the U.S. and Britain. It's on track to bring in more than $1 billion in retail sales worldwide within a few months of release, according to a report by Lazard Capital Markets, putting it in the same entertainment blockbuster league as the movie "Titanic" and the album "Thriller."

October's results also confirm the reliability of avid gamers in tough times, with three of the top titles squarely in the hard-core category and another four spots going to sports titles generally purchased by loyal fans. To see the top 10 titles, click on the "continue reading" link below.

Google launches flu shot locator

Advertising for flu shots at a clinic in New York. Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Feel a fever coming on?

Now that flu season is in full swing, people are scrambling for a vaccine. And the rush is even more hectic because of the H1N1 scare.

To deal help with the high demand, Google Maps has launched a flu shot finder at google.com/flushot. It provides users with the locations of clinics that provide seasonal and H1N1 vaccines.

The site works like Google Maps. Enter a ZIP Code or the name of a city and the closest sites will pop up. Clinics offering H1N1 shots are blue. Those offering seasonal shots are red. And those providing both are half red and half blue.

Google worked in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the Department of Health and Human Services on the project. The locater will eventually be linked on www.flu.gov and the American Lung Assn. website.

Be aware that many locations that are shown on the site are currently out of stock, Google said. So make sure you call ahead.

-- W.J. Hennigan

Clicker's guide to the unlimited-channel universe

One testament to the popularity of online video is the growing number of sites that serve as Internet program guides, helping people sort through the billions of available items to find something they might like to watch. The latest, Clicker, has its official launch at 10:30 this morning (it had been conducting an invitation-only trial since mid-September). Unlike most of the other guides, which direct users to videos available on their own sites, Clicker exists to help people find programming around the Web, including such sources as Hulu, YouTube or Revision3. And it directs users to legal content only, eschewing bootlegs and snippets posted on user-generated sites in favor of full-length content from the most convenient source. The goal, said CEO Jim Lanzone, is to be "the TV Guide for the next generation of television, whatever that evolves into."

Texting too much? It could weigh on your shoulders

Texting could be bad for your health. Credit: Natalie Behring 

Are your shoulders aching? Try putting that smart phone down. A Booster Shot blog cites a study in which researchers found a link between text messages and feeling discomfort in the shoulders. It might now be time to let your fingers do the walking -- on your shoulders.

-- Peter Pae

Sears launches trade-in program for cellphones, cameras and music players

A Sears store in Provo Town Center in Provo, Utah. Credit: Bloomberg News

Sears has teamed up with Gazelle.com, a company that specializes in eCommerce, to enable consumers to trade-in used electronics -- including cellphones, cameras, MP3 players and laptops -- for Sears gift cards.

Sears joins Costco and Walmart as the third major retailer in four months to engage in an electronics trade-in deal with Gazelle in hopes of generating revenue and promoting environmentally friendly practices.

To participate in the free program, consumers can go to www.sears.gazelle.com, fill out a questionnaire, and then ship their item to Gazelle. The company will inspect the item and determine payment based upon the type of product, its age and condition. Payment will be sent within seven days of inspection. (Consumers will not receive gift cards for items that are no longer functional, but those items will be accepted for recycling.)

According to Time magazine, every day Americans throw out more than 350,000 cellphones and 130,000 computers, making electronic waste the fastest-growing part of the U.S. garbage stream.

Karen Austin, president of Home Electronics at Sears Holdings, said the trade-in program is a good option to help conserve the environment.

"We are proud that through this partnership with Gazelle, approximately 90 percent of the home electronics items that consumers send in are expected to be reused and the remainder will be responsibly recycled," Austin said.

-- Melissa Rohlin

Twitter-equipped bathroom scale tells the world how much you weigh

This bathroom scale knows how much you weigh and it can blab it to your Twitter friends. Credit: Withings.

The most embarrassing new tech product of the year just got more embarrassing.

Last month, we let you know about the Wi-Fi Body Scale, the first bathroom scale equipped with a wireless connection to send your weight and body fat information directly to your Web page and iPhone.

But weight, there's more.

Today the French company behind the scale, Withings, announced it has added Twitter capability to the scale, enabling the user to automatically tweet the weight/fat info to followers.

In a news release, Withings declared the Twitter function would be a great help to users, "further motivating them by sharing their progress with followers."

Right.

What's next for Withings? An app to let the Twitterverse know how much debt you're carrying? How about a public questionnaire to rate how far you are from achieving your life dreams?

Come to think of it, either might be preferable to letting the weight info hit Twitter. This is Los Angeles.

-- David Colker

Anaheim wants to know if there's an app for that

"It's a Small World" attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim. The city is looking for some help with apps. Credit: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times.

Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle wants to use phone and computer apps to improve his city. But instead of calling on software developers to create imaginative apps, he initiated a public competition.

Any U.S. resident over the age of 16 is encouraged to submit an app idea to The Great Anaheim Apps Challenge, which began at the beginning of the month and ends on Nov. 30. Winners will be determined in of each of the following five categories: water and power, parks and recreation, public safety, tourism/sports/entertainment and anything Anaheim.

If improving Mickey Mouse's city is not motivation enough to participate in this competition, the city will give $5,000 in cash and gift prizes to the victors. They will be announced on Jan. 5.

So far, the city has received more than 300 submissions, including an app that would provide online train schedules and real-time status alerts. Another proposed app would display photos of situations that require a city response, such as a car crash or a building defaced by graffiti.

Contest details can be found at www.AnaheimApps.org.

-- Melissa Rohlin

Electronic Arts slashes 1,500 jobs [Corrected, Updated]

Electronic Arts today said it will cut 1,500 jobs by the end of March, or more than 16% of its workforce, the vast majority of them through a restructuring plan aimed at saving the company $100 million a year.

The video game publisher announced the cost cuts even as it proposed to pay as much as $400 million to acquire Playfish, a London-based developer of free-to-play games for social networks such as Facebook and Bebo.

“We are making tough calls to cut costs in targeted areas and investing more in our biggest games and digital businesses,” EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello said in a statement.

Though EA did not release details of where the layoffs would occur, EA Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown said research and development would be hardest hit, since that represents the bulk of the company's employee base. Even studios with established game franchises will be hit. EA's Tiburon Studio in Florida, which makes the Madden NFL games, will see 51 jobs go, or 8.5% of the studio's roughly 600 workers, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The dual moves, one aimed at trimming expenses and the other at boosting EA's future cash flow, were announced amid a report that its quarterly revenue was up 2% on a non-GAAP basis to $1.1 billion during the second quarter ended Sept. 30. Net income of $19 million was up from $20 million loss a year earlier.

On a GAAP basis, which defers a portion of revenue for games that can be played online, EA's sales fell 13.5% to $788 million. Net loss widened to $391 million, up from $310 million a year ago.

EA's shares, which closed up 53 cents to $19.53, see-sawed in after-hours trading following the earnings release.

Corrected, 1:53 pm: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported a net income of $20 million in the second quarter of last year. In fact, EA lost $20 million that quarter.

Updated, 5:27 pm: This post has been updated to reflect current stock price and details on layoffs at EA's Tiburon Studio in Florida.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.

Google bets big on mobile advertising in $750-million acquisition of AdMob

Google Inc. has shown which way it believes the winds are blowing by forking over $750 million for mobile advertising firm AdMob, one of the Web giant's largest acquisitions to date. 

As AdMob itself has described, the volume and effectiveness of mobile advertising has been skyrocketing over the last several years as more advanced smartphones have caught on, making it easier to deliver more kinds of graphical and text-based advertising to phone-toting consumers.

In a recent report, AdMob said that the number of mobile ads it served had increased nearly 540% from September 2007, to 10.2 billion per month from 1.6 billion.  

As mobile phones morph further into pocket Internet devices, and consumers grow accustomed to performing online functions like search, gaming and instant messaging on their handsets, opportunities for advertising companies like Google will grow rapidly, analysts expect. 

Google says the number of searches performed by smartphone users has increased by a factor of five over the last two years, led primarily by iPhone users and owners of Google Android phones. At least a dozen new Google-powered phones, such as last week's launch of Verizon's Droid, are expected to be released in the coming year.  

Google also says that marketer spending on mobile advertising is growing at 30% annually.

AdMob was founded in 2006 by Omar Hamoui, a Web entrepreneur looking to generate traffic for his mobile-based website. The company has taken funding from venture firms such as Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Northgate, and the company's clients have included Ford, Coca-Cola, Electronic Arts and Paramount Pictures.

Google, which already owns a major stake in mobile advertising with its DoubleClick Mobile unit, said it expects regulatory scrutiny of the AdMob deal but hopes the pact will be approved within a matter a months.

-- David Sarno

EA buys Playfish for $400 million, jumps into social games

Electronic Arts, looking to jump into the exploding market for games on social networks, this morning said it has agreed to buy Playfish in a deal valued at $400 million.

The transaction calls for $275 million in cash, plus $25 in retention bonuses for executives of the tiny London-based developer of games such as Pet Society and Restaurant City. It also includes up to $100 million in bonus payments should Playfish meet certain, undisclosed financial targets.

Playfish, a privately held company, does not release its financial data, but has said the venture is "substantially profitable," so much so that it has not touched the $21 million in venture money it raised in its last round of funding.

With just 125 employees, Playfish has focused on a lean operation with fewer than a dozen games played on popular social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. Though rudimentary, the games have attracted hundreds of millions of players. The fact that they are free to play is part of their appeal, but so is their social nature and the fact that players can pull their friends into the games.

EA, based in Redwood City, Calif., has been expanding its reach into free-to-play online games that make money by charging small amounts for extra features.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.

Web ads that learn from you [Updated]

This might surprise you, but the holy grail for many online advertisers is to make an ad that people actually like. Based on the current state of the banner ad economy, that might not seem like the case.

Thanks to the simple addition of thumbs up and thumbs down buttons on many websites, advertisers are finally getting a sense of how enjoyable (or annoying) their ads are.

The Internet has long provided a measurement of how effective an ad is -- that is how many times it was clicked versus how often it was shown, a metric called click-through rate. But that's based simply on how loud and flashy a banner can be in order to attract a reader's attention.

A click doesn't necessarily convert to a purchase, or "conversion" as they call it, nor are visitors guaranteed to associate the product positively. If an ad mimics a virus alert, it might get clicked out of fear or urgency but won't elicit a pleasant reaction once users realize they were duped.

Many social networking sites, including Facebook, Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon, are beginning to shift toward a subjective ad model. Initial results from allowing users to rate ads have been mostly positive. The success may be inspiring a trend, as advertisers throughout the Web seem to be toning down on annoying ads.

One of the boldest implementations is Digg Ads, which publicly launched in August and has tested exceptionally well, according to Mike Maser, Digg's chief strategy officer.

The new sponsored posts appear in the main content space and look almost identical (save for a thin gray line and small "sponsored by" text) to user-submitted news stories. Whereas an isolated graphic ad on Digg gets about eight clicks out of every 10,000 impressions, Digg Ads are pulling click-through rates of 2% to 3%.

"The results were astounding to us," Maser said. The advertisers are "writing copy and headlines in a way that's almost as if you'd want to share it with someone."

Windows 7 sales topped Vista in first weeks, but economy still a drag on PC sales

It wasn't a high bar, but Windows 7 made it.

Consumer retail sales of Microsoft's newest computer operating system topped those of Vista by 234% on a unit basis within the first few days of launching on Oct. 22, according to a report released this morning by the NPD Group. (The report did not include sales to businesses and large organizations.)

That Windows 7 would do better than Vista is not too surprising. Critical buzz for Windows 7 was relatively positive and largely void of the savage language that reviewers heaped on Vista when it launched in January 2007.

This time around, Microsoft also attempted to woo reluctant buyers with discounts and specials, such as a 50% discount on a copy of the software when buyers spring for a new PC, or a free upgrade from Vista for those who bought a PC after June 26.

"We definitely saw the results of aggressive pricing," said Stephen Baker, NPD's computer software analyst. 

Though helpful for pushing volume, the discounts may have crimped Microsoft's overall revenue from the product. (The NPD report is mum on the sales impact on Microsoft's topline.)

The fly in everyone's ointment, of course, has been the economy. With consumers making do with their old computers or opting for ultra-cheap netbooks, average PC prices have dropped around 20% since last year, Baker said.

While unit sales of Windows 7 software were up in the first days of launch over Vista, sales of computers with Windows 7 were actually down 4% compared with sales of Vista-based computers when Vista launched. The comparison is not a fair one, Baker cautioned, because Vista launched in a January, when PC sales tend to do better, and Windows 7 launched in October, one of the slowest months for PC sales.

Still, the gruesome economy may have helped Windows 7 sales in one respect, according to Richard Shim, a PC analyst with IDC.

"Usually upgrades are not very popular. People have tended to buy new PCs when new operating systems come out," Shim said. "Windows 7 seems to be an exception. One reason is that it can work well with older computers because it's designed to be streamlined."

In other words, instead of spending $500 for a new computer, some consumers are springing for the $120 to $220 Windows 7 upgrade and souping up their old machines.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.

Motorola's Droid review: It's the best phone on Verizon

We're getting this out of the way now: Motorola's Droid is the best Google phone on the market.

Maybe that's not saying a whole lot. The Droid's only competitors in the U.S. are T-Mobile's 1-year-old G1, its chubby younger brother the MyTouch 3G and HTC's Droid Eris, a $99 Verizon Wireless phone that comes out Friday -- the same day as the Motorola Droid -- with an already-outdated Android operating system.

Here's another one: Droid is the best phone on Verizon.

As we wrote last week, the Droid marks a notable shift for the nation's largest carrier. Verizon -- often renowned for its service, not its selection of phones -- seems to be wisely minimizing its interference with handset makers.

What we get is an attractive and fast smart phone packed to the brim with features for $199 (with a two-year contract).

The Droid hardware is a technical feat. It has a 5-megapixel camera with a flash that doesn't perform exceptionally well but still pretty great for a phone. The speaker is pleasantly loud. The touch-screen screen is gorgeous -- larger than the iPhone's with way more pixels per inch.

Oh, and it has a keyboard.

Quitting smoking isn't child's play. Or is it?

You can play music on the iPhone with the Leaf Trombone app. Researchers believe they can come up with a similar app for smokers to help them quit smoking. Credit: Peter DaSilva/Los Angeles Times .

In a few years if you see a person nervously blowing on his cellphone for five minutes, do not call the cops. He might not be a crazy person who forgot to take his meds; he might just be a smoker trying to quit smoking.

Columbia University's Teachers College announced today that it received a  $150,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, through the foundation's Health Games Research national program to develop a smart phone app that emulates the physiological responses smokers get from smoking.

The first apps are likely to be for Apple Inc.'s iPhone or iPod Touch. The user would control the game by blowing into the device's microphone in response to different color and sound stimuli coming from the handset. Researchers hope that it will be able to elicit the same brain patterns, heart rate levels and relaxation responses that smokers get from smoking. The game, Lit: A Game Intervention for Nicotine Smokers, is expected to be released in about two years.

Breath therapy has been used to help smokers quit smoking for a while, but it's hoped that the game will  disseminate this technique to the masses. "You don't have to learn anything; the game will cause you to breathe the right way," said Charles Kinzer, professor of education in the Communication, Computing and Technology Program and the Game Research Lab at Teachers College.

Technology is being used in another way to help smokers quit smoking. Researchers at the GRAP Occupational Psychology Clinic and the University of Quebec in Gatineau recently found that smokers who crushed virtual cigarettes experienced a significant reduction in nicotine addiction.

Tobacco use is still the leading cause of death in the United States, according to a statement from Kinzer and the Lit project team. It added that 70% of adult smokers say they want to quit, and more than 40% try to quit each year.

Kinzer said, "If we can capitalize on the motivational aspect of games and the availability of mobile devices, there is tremendous potential to positively affect heath and wellness for smokers who want to quit, and this would have implications for healthcare costs as well."

--Melissa Rohlin

Activision CEO forecasts flat industrywide game sales for holiday quarter

Activision CEO Robert Kotick. Credit: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times.

Video game sales this holiday aren't likely to top last year's, said Robert Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard Inc., the world's largest video game software company.

"If the consumer materializes and spends money, we'll do well," Kotick said in an interview today. "If not, things will be a challenge. And today, you really have no way of knowing what will happen. Shopping season hasn't kicked off. Consumers saw significant discounts last year after Black Friday, and they're waiting for it to happen again this year."

Kotick's sober remarks came just before the company released its third-quarter earnings report. Although sales were down 1% to $703 million, Activision swung into a $15-million profit, up from a $108-million loss in the same quarter last year. It earned a penny a share in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with an 8-cent loss a year earlier. The numbers beat Wall Street expectations on a non-GAAP basis.

Activision -- anchored by a trio of blockbuster franchises including Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft -- has been better prepared to weather the economic storm that has eroded software sales and dampened consumer's appetite for game consoles and other consumer electronics.

This quarter, the Santa Monica-based game publisher released DJ Hero last week, followed by Band Hero on Tuesday. Upcoming titles include Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, due out next week, and Tony Hawk Ride on Nov. 17.

More after the company's earnings conference call with senior executives.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.