Samsung Electronics in the fourth quarter of 2011 solidified its leadership of the U.S. liquid-crystal display (LCD) market, as its share of unit shipments reached a record high, according to the IHS iSuppli Television Systems Service at information and analytics provider IHS. During the final three months of 2011, Samsung accounted for nearly one-quarter of U.S. LCD TV shipments, at 23.6 percent. This represented the largest share of the market ever posted by Samsung on a quarterly basis, and allowed the South Korean electronics giant to pad its lead over No.2 brand VIZIO Inc. of Irvine, Calif.

Apple has sold three million new iPads since launch on Friday, March 16 and that’s with many consumers still awaiting new product. Eager fans spent the night waiting in line for the new device and crowds stormed retail stores to be the first to buy the new tablet. The new iPad features a Retina display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5 megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life while remaining thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA.

SAN FRANCISCO – Nintendo had a strong showing at the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2012). The game maker abandoned Wii U for Nintendo 3DS and featured some brand new games. On display and playable was Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, Mario Tennis and Kid Icarus: Uprising.

With the might of Sony’s marketing machine behind it, yesterday’s launch of Sony’s PlayStation Vita in North America and Europe underlines the company’s hopes that this next generation portable game console can turnaround the fortunes of its loss-making Consumer Products & Services segment. However, according to Strategy Analytics, despite PlayStation Vita’s strong content line-up, creative gaming capabilities and great internet experience, the device faces enormous challenges if it is to succeed in an increasingly converging marketplace.

Twihards were in the mood for love before Valentine’s Day. Summit Entertainment, a Lionsgate company, has continued to make a mint off Stephanie Meyer’s last book in the supernatural love triangle franchise. It was a very smart decision to split the final film into two parts, as the home entertainment release is picking up right where the theatrical release left off. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1 sold an estimated 3.2 million DVD and Blu-ray units during its first weekend of release. Actress Ashley Greene talks about the movie in this exclusive video interview below.

LAS VEGAS -- Intel used the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) to demonstrate a prototype ultrabook dubbed Nikiski that features a transparent touch pad panel allowing tablet-style operation. The advent of the Nikiski represents the first wave of what promises to be a deluge of tablet-style ultrabooks designed to stave off the inroads of Apple’s iPad and other competing devices.

Driven by fast-selling software Nintendo 3DS sells more in its first nine months than Wii did, capping a very good 2011 for the game maker. Whether they were on the go or at home, whether they played in 2D on the TV or in glasses-free 3D in their hands, gamers of all ages celebrated the holidays with Mario and Zelda. Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 for Nintendo 3DS not only became the fastest-selling titles in the history of their respective franchises when they launched, but they are now also the first Nintendo 3DS titles to sell 1 million units each in the United States. On the console side, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which also broke launch records, became the 45 Wii title to sell more than 1 million units in the U.S.

Although many people have upgraded to Blu-ray Discs, the majority of Americans still view movies on DVD. While the overall home entertainment market is still hurting as more people rent than buy movies, blockbuster event movies still entice purchases. Warner Home Video had a very good year with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I and II dominating the chart. Disney has a trio of kid-friendly movies, including Cars 2, which is featured in the exclusive video interview with Owen Wilson and Eddie Izzard below. And it's worth noting that every movie, save for Bridesmaids, had a videogame tie-in for gamers to further explore these worlds.

While James Cameron doesn’t have anything to worry about when it comes to the final tally of his Avatar 3D epic, Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 did the director’s film in the race to $1 billion. MW3 earned $1 billion in just 16 days. It took Avatar 17 days to reach that milestone. It’s worth noting that Activision chose not to release the new game in 3D after experimenting with 3D in Black Ops last year across all platforms.

Entering the seventh year of its lifecycle, Xbox 360 just closed the biggest sales week in the history of Xbox, selling more than 960,000 consoles in the U.S. during the week of Black Friday. The game maker also has seen continued interest in its controller-free games. More than 750,000 Kinect for Xbox 360 sensors were sold in the U.S. that week, both standalone and bundled, according to internal Microsoft data.

Those gamers who weren’t the first to line up and pre-order some of the big games of 2011 can get a lot of games for their money on Black Friday. Amazon.com is offering amazing deals all day long that brings the price of some of the biggest games of the year below half price. On November 25th, gamers can pick up new games like Assassin’s Creed Revelations for $35, Deus Ex: Human Revolution for $30 and Forza Motorsport 4 for $27 in Lightning Deals. You can even pick up an 4GB Xbox 360 for only $140. There are also All Day deals that include games like Battlefield 3 and inFamous 2 for $40. Check out the complete sale list below for Friday, November 25 at Amazon. As an added bonus, all these games are also eligible for free shipping.

With Black Friday around the corner, Blizzard Entertainment  is offering gamers who haven’t yet engaged in the real-time strategy experience of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty a chance to get in for a breeze. For a limited time, the fastest-selling strategy game of all time and one of the bestselling PC games of 2011 is available from the online Blizzard Store for a just $29.99 -- that’s half off the suggested retail price. This deal is only good through Cyber Monday, November 28. The developer talks about the new game’s expansion, Heart of the Swarm, in this exclusive video interview below.