Tokyo - Facing mounting losses related to the PlayStation 3, Sony Computer Entertainment will lay off up to 100 employees at its U.S. unit in Foster City, Calif., Kotaku.com reported on Wednesday. [more..]

Washington - A new trade group called the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) this week filed suit against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Reserve, seeking to halt enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, The Gambling Newswire reported. [more..]

Dulles, Va. - Following months of speculation about a possible spin-off or sale of the company, media giant Time Warner said on Thursday that it will make a decision about the future of AOL by year's end, Reuters reported. [more..]

Washington - Top executives at large webcasters Yahoo, RealNetworks, Live365 and Pandora on Thursday sent a letter to Congress, asking for additional focus on the results of a Copyright Royalty Board decision that raised rates webcasters must pay to stream music online. [more..]

San Diego - Anywhere CD, the online CD and MP3 store created by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, has settled a legal dispute with major label Warner Music Group over the sale of albums in MP3 format. [more..]

Irvine, Calif. - A class action suit has been filed by a veteran player of Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" (WoW) multiplayer game against a company called IGE, a "gold farmer" that recruits players to accrue virtual gold to sell to WoW players for real-world money, The Escapist reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Game publisher NCsoft and developer Cryptic Studios have sold the motion picture and television rights for their "City of Heroes" massively multiplayer online superhero game to producer Tom DeSanto, who recently also produced "Transformers," Variety reports. [more..]

New York - CBS Corporation has made an undisclosed investment in TicketReserve, an online marketplace where users can purchase tickets to live events. [more..]

New York - MeetMoi, a location-based mobile dating service, has raised $1.5 million in new financing from Acadia Woods Partners, TechCrunch reported. [more..]

New York - Major record label Sony BMG announced on Thursday that it has partnered with mobile video and audio distributor MobiTV, and will add more than 2,500 music videos to the MobiTV service. The companies will also collaborate on customized channels that will feature original video, such as long-form concerts to genre and artist-driven shows and series, some of which will be fee-based. The first such site is Avril TV, which includes all music videos, and mobile versions of the Make 5 Wishes comic released along with Avril Lavigne's latest album. The ad-supported site is sponsored by CBS. [more..]

Los Angeles - Horror film director Sam Raimi ("Evil Dead," "Army of Darkness"), who also recently helmed the "Spider-Man" movies, has signed on to create short-form content for horror website FEARnet, the Associated Press reported. FEARnet, a joint venture between Comcast, Sony Pictures Television and Lionsgate, this week began airing the first series from Raimi's Ghost House Pictures, "Devil's Trade." [more..]

New York - Coca-Cola plans later this month to launch a mobile social networking service for its Sprite brand in the U.S., Reuters reported. The site debuted last week in China; Coke is also considering an offering in Latin America. The Sprite social network will offer profiles viewable on a mobile phone, allow users to upload photos and videos -- which will be screened by the company -- and provide free downloadable content. [more..]

El Segundo, Calif. - Satellite TV provider DirecTV said on Thursday that it will air events from the Championship Gaming Series, an international pro video game league, live and in high-definition when the season begins on July 9. The broadcaster had previously planned to air taped versions of the events. "If you can't catch a sporting event live, then it's not a true professional sport,” said DirecTV Entertainment executive vice president Eric Shanks. "We're giving the CGS the same star treatment as NFL Sunday Ticket and all of our innovative sports programming." [more..]

Chicago - Indie record label group Touch and Go/Quarterstick has launched its own digital music store, which will sell songs in the unprotected MP3 format at 256 Kbps, Pitchfork reported. The site will be the only online store to sell digital copies of works from bands including Slint, Shellac and Rapeman. [more..]

Los Angeles - Mexican indie label Noiselab, which releases albums from artists on labels including Merge and Rough Trade in Mexico, has partnered with Web radio site and music retailer Beon.com to launch an MP3 song store, Billboard reported. The site is expected to offer 600,000 songs for about $1.20 each by year's end; Noiselab will also stream concerts it books on Beon.com. [more..]

Bellevue, Wash. - BoxWave on Thursday announced the availability of its complete line of Apple iPhone accessories, in advance of the device's launch on June 29. The products include several models of screen protectors; leather and plastic cases; a retractable sync cable; stereo headphones; and an emergency batter adapter. [more..]

Seoul, South Korea - Electronic Arts said on Thursday that it plans to launch its online game "Battlefield" in Asia. The Asian version will be co-developed with Korea's Neowiz -- of which EA owns about a 15% stake -- and launch in Korea initially, with plans to expand to China, Japan and Taiwan. EA and Neowiz previously paired to launch "FIFA Online" in Korea, which now counts 4.9 million subscribers. [more..]