SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Zynga Inc unveiled interactive features and a gamers’ social network dubbed “Zynga with Friends” on Tuesday, as it aims to reduce its reliance on Facebook as a platform and seeks to connect hundreds of millions of its users across the Internet.

The company founded by Mark Pincus also plans to provide programming tools to help third-party developers devise online and mobile games based on its own software, to expand its slate of games beyond mainstays such as “Farmville” and “Mafia Wars” on Facebook Inc’s network.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc Chief Executive Larry Page sat out his company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on Thursday due to an unspecified condition affecting his voice that will sideline him from speaking engagements for several weeks.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told shareholders at the company’s Mountain View headquarters that Page, who replaced Schmidt as CEO in April 2011, had “lost his voice” and would not be able to do any public speaking engagements for the time being.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot hopes Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U will be the first of a line-up of new consoles that will give the video game industry a boost and help reverse the French company’s waning fortunes.

Shares of Ubisoft, known for its “Assassins Creed” franchise and its “Just Dance” games, are down 20 percent from a year ago but up 8 percent since Jan 1.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – With its striking cityscapes and an eclectic offering of food, arts and culture, San Francisco captivates travelers and residents alike.

Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors get the most out of a short stay in the city on the bay.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 8 (Reuters) – With its striking
cityscapes and an eclectic offering of food, arts and culture,
San Francisco captivates travelers and residents alike.

Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors
get the most out of a short stay in the city on the bay.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Nintendo’s new holiday-ready “Wii U” gaming console marks the biggest bet so far on a concept that two screens are better than one.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo touted features at the industry’s biggest annual gathering this week that let gamers employ a separate display in tandem with their TVs. Publishers like Ubisoft are designing games that will make use of this second screen – like a companion display you can glance at while the main action proceeds on your TV.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Nintendo Co Ltd will launch a console with a dedicated “Super Mario” game title for the first time in 16 years, as the struggling Japanese company hopes the new Wii U will score the rave reviews that helped make its predecessor the world’s biggest gaming hit.

Nintendo, which was knocked off its perch at the pinnacle of gaming industry hardware by Microsoft’s Xbox in recent years, formally unveiled its distinctly white console on Tuesday, saying it will support two “GamePad” controllers designed to look and function like tablets.

LOS ANGELES, June 4 (Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc
plans to offer a big part of its “Star Wars: The Old Republic”
online game for free and licensed the rights to produce
videogames with the “Ultimate Fighting Championship” brand,
hoping to breathe life into efforts to secure steady long-term
revenue.

EA announced the licensing agreement with Zuffa LLC on
Monday. The licensing rights were previously held by THQ Inc
, which received an undisclosed cash payment, Zuffa and
THQ said.

LOS ANGELES, June 4 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp took
another step toward its goal of turning the Xbox into the nexus
of household entertainment, unveiling software to let users view
extra content, control games and surf the Internet from their
tablets and smartphones.

The software maker, whose market-leading Xbox already
streams Netflix and ESPN and other channels, unveiled a
“SmartGlass” application on Monday that links the console to
mobile devices powered by Windows or Apple Inc’s iOS
and Google Inc’s Android.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp unveiled a new software application on Monday to connect Xbox game consoles to tablets and smartphones, turning mobile devices into a second screen for gaming and entertainment.

The U.S. software corporation has been trying for years to make a living-room entertainment hub of its Xbox, which has sold 67 million units since it launched in 2005. Now the company is trying to expand the Xbox’s entertainment features to mobile devices.