Palo Alto, Calif. - Facebook, the second-largest online social network behind MySpace, this week launched its anticipated open platform that lets businesses and developers create their own pages and applications. [more..]

Kyoto, Japan - Nintendo is projecting sales of up to 35 million next-generation Wii video game consoles in the U.S. by 2011 or 2012, Bloomberg reported. [more..]

Paris - Media conglomerate Vivendi has formed a new unit called Vivendi Mobile Entertainment that plans to launch a paid content portal in the fall that will distribute entertainment to PCs, televisions and mobile phones, Reuters reported, citing an article in France's Les Echos. [more..]

Tokyo - Sony has released a software upgrade for its PlayStation 3 that improves image quality for movies and legacy games, and also provides "place-shifting" of content stored on the PS3's hard drive to a PSP handheld. [more..]

Los Angeles - Event producer IDG World Expo on Friday announced details and dates for its forthcoming "E for All Expo" events, where consumers will be able to demo upcoming video game titles, compete in tournaments and meet game developers. [more..]

New York - CBS Interactive announced that it has partnered with a number of social networks and other community sites to allow members to embed CBS clips into their profiles, blogs, websites, wikis and widgets. [more..]

London - Two Way TV, a developer of interactive TV programming and delivery technology, announced this week that it has received a $10.6 million investment from Ingenious Media Active Capital, which has acquired a controlling equity stake in the company. [more..]

Fremont, Calif. - Magnum Semiconductor, a developer of chips, software and platforms for consumer entertainment systems, has raised $20 million as part of its third round of venture capital financing, PEWeek reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]

Paris - DigiCompanion, a platform that brands can use to offer digital gifts to their consumers, has raised about $2.3 million in its first funding round, led by Alven Capital and Ile-de-France Développement. [more..]

Cambridge, Mass. - Greentech Media, a publisher that focuses on environmentally sustainable energy technologies, has raised $1 million in its first round of venture capital, co-led by Northport Private Equity and Lightspeed Venture Partners. [more..]

Paris - Streamezzo, a provider of mobile audio and video distribution technology, announced that it has raised an undisclosed sum from Qualcomm Ventures as part of the second tranche of its second round of venture capital financing. [more..]

San Diego - Eyespot, a provider of Web-based remixing and mash-up creation software, said this week that StarWars.com, the official site produced by George Lucas' Lucas Online, has partnered with the company to allow fans to incorporate hundreds of scenes from the films into their homemade videos. San Diego-based Eyespot's online video-editing tool lets fans mix their own videos with more than 250 scenes and music from all six "Star Wars" films, and share them with one another online. [more..]

Madison, Wisc. - Musicnotes, a publisher of digital sheet music, announced that it has signed licensing agreements with several thousand music publishers, who have agreed to distribute guitar and drum tablature for their song catalogs on the company's MXTabs.net. Wisconsin-based Musicnotes said it reached deals with administrators including BMG Music Publishing, peermusic, Famous Music and Bug Music. The company added that it has partnered with Rebel Digital to manage ad sales on MXTabs.net. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Google said that it has launched a new feature that allows users of its search services to find and view results in their native languages. The company said that the feature, called Google Translate, is available in English, Arabic, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. [more..]

Reston, Va. - Voxant, an online distributor and promoter of news content, said that it has partnered with Dow Jones Online to make videos from The Wall Street Journal Online, MarketWatch.com and Barron's Online available through its syndication platform, TheNewsRoom. The company also announced that CBS News and CBS Television Stations Group will distribute national and local news clips through its syndication network. The company provides website publishers and bloggers with access to thousands of licensed news stories and video clips, which sites can then embed and syndicate to their own readers. [more..]

Toronto - Maximum Awards, a provider of consumer loyalty rewards services, announced that it has acquired Plays On the Net, a provider of downloadable theatre, literature and music content that owns rights to BBC audio archive materials, in a deal valued at about XX (180 million shares, otcbb mxrw). Toronto-based Maximum Awards also said that Maxwell Thomas has resigned as CEO and CFO of the company, as well as from its board. Following the transaction, the company will become known as Logica Holdings. [more..]

Madison, Wisc. - Broadjam.com, a site that lets independent musicians upload and distribute songs from personal profiles, has launched a new service, Broadjam Deliveries, that provides artists with the opportunity to submit their songs for consideration by music supervisors for film and TV, as well as by music critics and radio stations nationwide. Madison, Wisc.-based Broadjam counts artists in 155 countries, who receive a net payout of 80 cents on each 99 cent song download sold. [more..]

Franklin, Tenn. - Digital music retailer PassAlong Networks announced that it has partnered with song ID service Gracenote and MP3Car.com on a service that will let consumers download songs directly to their car stereos. MP3Car.com's service, which also offers Yahoo's Launchast radio, will launch a digital music store powered by PassAlong's StoreBlocks platform. [more..]

London - Mobile social networking service Itsmy.com said on Thursday that more than 110,000 mobile content mash-up sites have been created using the company's technology since it launched six weeks ago. The service allows anyone to create a free, personal mobile homepages, where they may post content -- such as video and music mash-ups -- that may then be downloaded, rated and commented on by other mobile users. Itsmy.com said it plans to eventually provide users with up to 5% of sales from downloads on their mobile sites. [more..]

Paris - French video game publisher Ubisoft has launched a new dedicated casual games division, initially focusing on titles for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Forthcoming titles include "My Word Coach" and "My Life Coach," part of a new line of interactive learning games, in addition to new installments in its "Petz" franchise. The new division will be headed by Pauline Jacquey, the company's executive producer of casual games. Separately, the company said it has signed a deal to develop a game based on the Paramount Pictures/Shangri-La Entertainment film "Beowulf," based on the ancient saga. [more..]

Barcelona, Spain - Electronic Arts announced that it has signed two-time FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho to serve as cover athlete for its "FIFA 08" soccer title. Ronaldinho will be joined by other soccer stars on game packaging in specific territories, including Frank Ribery (France) and Miroslav Klose (Germany). In development at EA Canada, the game is slated for release in the fall for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS and the PC. [more..]

Shanghai, China - Chinese online game publisher Shanda Interactive Entertainment said it has signed an exclusive license with Korean distributor Nowcom, to operate Korean developer Rhaon Entertainment's "TalesRunner" 3D online sports-themed running game in mainland China. The title, which recently recorded over 80,000 peak concurrent users in Korea, is slated to launch in China in the third quarter. [more..]

Irvine, Calif. - Online game developer Mgame and publisher K2 Network have announced that their fantasy multiplayer online game "Knight Online" has now surpassed 4 million registered users. Since launching in Korea in 2004, the game now also offers language support for players in 80 countries, including China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Malaysia and North America. [more..]

New York - Game developer Humongous announced that it has signed Detroit Red Wings nine-time all-star Nicklas Lidstrom to serve as cover athlete for the next installment of its "Backyard Hockey" game. The title is slated for release in the fall exclusively for Nintendo DS. [more..]