New York - Take-Two Interactive's (NASD: TTWO) Rockstar Games label on Thursday announced the release date for its "Grand Theft Auto IV" title for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, which will ship to retailers worldwide on April 29. The release had originally been scheduled for October 2007, which the company delayed to devote more time to development.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) (NYSE: SNE) has signed on to be the first major studio to authorize older titles from its library to be manufactured and distributed through HP's DVD on-demand service. "We know there is strong consumer demand for these titles, and by working with HP we can monetize our deep product library and help give retailers the means to bring a wider offering of Sony Pictures product to consumers without a significant investment in inventory," said SPHE president David Bishop. Among the 5,000 or so titles currently available through HP's year-old service are classic TV shows not available yet on DVD; foreign and independent films; and specialty cable TV programming.

Santa Monica, Calif. - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace has signed an agreement with BBC Worldwide that will bring clips from BBC shows like "Doctor Who," "Torchwood, " "Top Gear" and "The Mighty Boosh" to its members worldwide, Reuters reported. The deal calls for MySpace and the BBC to share advertising revenues.

San Francisco - The Facebook online social network has recruited its own users to help translate the site into other languages, CNET News.com reports. International users can install a "Translation" application, which can be used to translate the site into their native language. Users are then able to vote as to the quality of the various translations, and can also report lower quality translations or translators. The application is currently available for languages including French, Spanish and German.

Santa Clara, Calif. - Vudu, the maker of a set-top box that delivers movies and other content on-demand over a broadband network, announced on Thursday that it has slashed the price of its basic Vudu box by $100, to $295. The company has licensed content from every major studio and some 22 independent studios and distributors, including dozes of HD titles.

San Diego - Video-sharing site Veoh Networks announced on Thursday that it will add content from FEARnet, a horror and thriller website and video-on-demand joint venture between Comcast, Lionsgate and Sony Pictures. The companies will share advertising revenue generated from a FEARnet channel on Veoh slated to launch next month, which will offer feature films, celebrity interviews and coverage from top horror conventions. FEARnet is also developing a slate of new original programming for 2008 that will be featured on Veoh.

San Francisco - Mobile media distributor SendMe announced on Thursday that it signed a deal with EMI Music, to offer the major label's full catalog of mobile content, including over 4,000 ringtones. San Francisco-based SendMe also offers mobile content from Universal, The Orchard, Sony Pictures and Glu Mobile.

New York - IGA Worldwide, the operator of an in-game advertising network, announced on Thursday that it has added about $5 million to its second round of venture capital financing, from Translink Capital, Presidio STX and ITOCHU Corporation.

Tokyo - Profit for Japanese video game maker Nintendo soared 96% during the first three quarters of its fiscal year, ended Dec. 31, propelling the company to raise its sales projections for both its Wii and DS game devices.

Los Angeles - Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) is in early talks with the major record labels on launching an online music service that will offer songs as unprotected MP3s, either for sale or in an ad-supported model, the Associated Press reported, citing record company executives familiar with the matter. The company hopes to offer such a service later this year.

Arlington, Va. - Traffic at newspaper websites grew a record 6% in 2007, averaging 62.8 million unique monthly users during the fourth quarter, according to a report conducted by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).

Los Angeles - Gemstar-TV Guide International (NASD: GMST), a provider of electronic program guides for digital TV services, announced on Thursday that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against cable TV provider Virgin Media in the U.K.

New York - The number of mobile TV service subscribers worldwide is expected to reach 462 million by 2012, spurred by the expansion of 3G networks and flat-rate plans for mobile video, according to a report from market research firm ABI Research.

Agoura Hills, Calif. - Video game publisher THQ (NASD: THQI) has announced that it will shutter its Concrete Games studio, cancel production on several new titles and discontinue its "Stuntman" and "Juiced" franchises, as it attempts to strengthen its development of high-quality games.