Warner Bros. Acquires U.K. Game Developer Rocksteady Studios

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Burbank,
Calif. – Time Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) Warner
Bros. Home Entertainment Group on Tuesday announced that it has acquired a
majority stake in London-based video game developer Rocksteady Studios.

Financial
terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2004, Rocksteady is best known
for developing last year’s "Batman: Arkham Asylum," which shipped
over three million units worldwide.

The studio is currently working with Warner
on a sequel to the game.

Warner has previously expanded its portfolio through
the acquisition of developers such as TT Games ("LEGO Star Wars"),
Snowblind Studios ("The Lord of the Rings") and Midway Games
("Mortal Kombat").

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uhfg9

http://www.rocksteadyltd.com

Mobile Games Firm Ngmoco Lands $25M, Acquires Freeverse

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Ngmoco, a developer and publisher of games for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch,
announced on Tuesday that it has raised nearly $25 million in its third round
of funding, led by Institutional Venture Partners, and acquired mobile game
studio Freeverse.

Financial terms of the acquisition deal were not disclosed.

Other
investors in the round included previous backers Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers, Norwest Venture Partners and Maples Investments.

The company plans to
use the new funding to grow its team and product portfolio.

Founded in 2008, San
Francisco-based Ngmoco has produced titles including "Eliminate Pro,"
"Touch Pets Dogs" and "Epic Wars," that have to date
generated more than 12.5 million downloads.

New York-based Freeverse, formed
more than 15 years ago, has developed App Store titles including
"Skee-Ball," "Moto Chaser" and "NBA Hotshot."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uhfd0

http://www.ngmoco.com

http://www.freeverse.com

Mobile Ad Network Millennial Media Acquires TapMetrics

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
2

Baltimore
– Three months after announcing a $16 million funding round, Baltimore-based
Millennial Media, the developer of an independent mobile advertising network,
said on Tuesday that it will acquire TapMetrics, a San Francisco-based mobile
analytics firm, focused on application usage and behavior.

Financial terms of
the deal were not disclosed.

TapMetrics makes software designed to help
developers better manage the sales and revenue of their applications through a
simplified dashboard.

"When we raised our growth round of financing in
November, we stated that we would make investments to accelerate our
growth," said Michael Avon, Millennial’s CFO.

"We continue to
actively evaluate other potential acquisitions to further expand our
business."

TapMetrics will continue to be based in San Francisco.

 

Related Links:
http://www.millennialmedia.com/2010/02/millennial-media-acquires-tapmetrics

http://www.tapmetrics.com

United Business Media Acquires Game Advertising Online

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London
– United Business Media (UBM), a publisher of business-to-business publications,
announced on Tuesday that it has acquired Game Advertising Online (GAO) for $1
million in cash, and additional performance-related consideration of up to $7
million.

Founded in 2006, GAO is a banner advertising agency working for
publishers of online video games that offers a self-service, auction-based
system for placement of in-game ads.

GAO says it provides access to 50 million
unique users and delivers over 2 billion impressions per month.

The company
will be added to UBM’s TechWeb unit.

 

Related Links:
http://www.unm.com/ubm/media/releases/2010/2010-02-23/

http://www.game-advertising-online.com/

Currensee Secures $8 Million for Forex Traders' Social Network

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Boston
– Currensee, an online social network for Forex traders, announced on Tuesday
that it has secured $8 million in its second round of financing, led by
Northbridge Venture Partners.

New investor Egan-Managed Capital also
participated in the round.

Boston-based Currensee connects retail Forex traders
from around the world, and currently counts members in over 70 countries.

The
company will use the funds to expand in the U.K.,
Europe and Asia, as well as for further
product development.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uher9

http://www.currensee.com

Guvera to Limit Access to 100,000 Users for Initial U.S. Launch

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco – Guvera, an Australia-based streaming music
service planning to launch in the U.S. on March 30, will initially limit the
number of U.S. users able to access the service to 100,000 to ensure it
generates enough ad revenue to pay music licensing fees, Wired.com reports. The
service allows advertisers to choose attributes of the music they wish to have
associated with their brands, with Guvera’s algorithm then filtering songs
appropriately.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugx78
(Wired.com)

http://www.guvera.com

Publisher Macmillan Plans Edit-friendly Interactive Textbooks

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Publishing house Macmillan on Monday introduced DynamicBooks, a new
interactive textbook platform that will allow professors and others to edit and
customize the digital texts, The New York Times reported. The DynamicBooks platform
will launch in August with around 100 titles, to be made available for purchase
at DynamicBooks.com, as well as through college bookstores via CourseSmart. The
cheaper digital textbooks will be readable on a computer or iPhone; Macmillan plans
to expand to Apple’s iPad as well.


 

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22textbook.html

http://dynamicbooks.com

The Orchard Appoints Brad Nevin as CEO

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– The Orchard (NASD: ORCD), a digital distributor of music and video, announced on Monday
that it has named interim CEO Brad Nevin to the full-time position of chief
executive, and added him to the company’s board of directors. The company had
launched an executive search back in October, after president and CEO Greg
Scholl stepped down and the company announced it would lay off 20% of staff.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugxxv

http://www.theorchard.com

Sony Patent Application Hints at Universal Game Controller

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Foster City,
Calif. – Sony (NYSE: SNE) is working on a
universal video game controller that would work with any console, CNET News.com
reported, citing a patent application from August 2008 that was made public
last week. The patent application describes a "universal game console
controller that has an LCD presenting, depending on what type of game console a
user has input, a controller key layout for a first type of game console or a
controller key layout for a second type of game console."


 

Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10457440-17.html

Comcast Taps Auditude for Web Video Ad Management

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Palo Alto,
Calif. – Auditude, the provider
of a video advertising management and monetization platform, announced on
Monday that Comcast Interactive Media, a unit of the nation’s largest cable TV
provider, will use its platform to manage and serve video ads across its
Fancast, Fancast Xfinity TV and Comcast.net properties. Other Auditude clients
include Major League Baseball, MySpace, MTV Networks and Yahoo.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugy3b

http://www.auditude.com

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