Washington - For the first time, bloggers have been given press credentials by a U.S. federal court, and will be present in the courtroom to cover the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. [more..]

Tokyo - Sony has fallen far short of its sales projections for the PlayStation 3 in its home country of Japan, The New York Times reported, citing sales data from Japanese market research firm Enterbrain. [more..]

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's video game publishing unit Blizzard Entertainment announced on Thursday that its "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online roleplaying game -- the most popular title of its type ever created -- has now surpassed 8 million paying subscribers worldwide. [more..]

Las Vegas - Technology news and information publisher CNET Networks on Thursday announced its 2007 Best of CES Award winners, naming Korean electronics maker LG's combination Blu-ray and HD DVD player Best in Show at the event. [more..]

Agoura Hills, Calif. - Video game publisher THQ on Thursday raised its sales and earnings outlook for its third quarter and the year 2007, citing strong holiday game sales. [more..]

New York - Touchstone, an imprint of publisher Simon & Schuster, has partnered with online social network Gather.com on a contest that will publish a book by a first-time author, The New York Times reported on Thursday. [more..]

Las Vegas - MusicIP, the developer of a global search engine for music, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week the launch of a new, free pricing structure for MusicDNS, its on-demand service that can identify music tracks and deliver accompanying metadata. [more..]

London - The BBC said on Thursday that it plans to launch online social networks centered on its most popular brands, like "Top Gear" and "BBC Good Food," Reuters reported. [more..]

New York - CBS Corporation's Showtime cable TV network has announced plans to launch a broadband on-demand video game service. [more..]

London - News Corp.'s MySpace online social network on Thursday launched a version of its site in France, as part of the company's roll-out of foreign language sites catering to overseas markets, Reuters reported. [more..]

London - 24-7 Music Shop, a U.K.-based provider of online and mobile entertainment distribution services, announced that its mobile music delivery service has been adopted by Scandinavian wireless carrier TDC Mobile, while its online component will power Groove Mobile's online store for 3UK Music. TDC Mobile is the first wireless carrier to launch 24-7 Music Shop's mobile service, which will allow subscribers to purchase dual-format downloads -- with one copy sent to a mobile phone and another to a PC, where it can be burned to CD or transferred to a portable player. [more..]

Los Angeles - The Digital Watermarking Alliance, a trade group of companies with commercial digital watermarking technologies that can identify and protect copyrighted works, announced on Thursday that Widevine Technologies has joined the organization. Seattle-based Widevine provides forensic watermarking technologies for telco, Internet, mobile, cable and satellite providers. Formed in September 2006, the Digital Watermarking Alliance's membership also includes Cinea, Digimarc, Philips, Thomson, Verance and Verimatrix. [more..]

Las Vegas - MOD Systems, a provider of in-store digital media systems, announced that it has signed new licensing agreements with Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and EMI Music. Retailers utilizing the MOD System platform will have access to more than one million tracks and samples, providing patrons with the ability to browse a catalog, preview samples, create customized playlists, and then burn them to CD or download them to a music player or music-enabled phone. [more..]

Gainesville, Fla. - Escape Media Group on Thursday introduced Grooveshark, a new peer-to-peer music sharing service the company says will compensate both copyright holders and members who participate in the community. Founded by 20-year-old Escape Media Group CEO Sam Tarantino, Grooveshark is expected to begin beta testing during the first quarter of 2007. The service will offer songs in the unprotected MP3 format for no more than 99 cents, and pay royalties to copyright holders -- although no licensing deals were announced. The company will also reward users who participate in the community by uploading songs, fixing song tags, flagging unwanted files or reviewing music with free downloads from Grooveshark. [more..]

San Francisco - Dovetail, an online distributor of independent films, shorts, TV shows and music videos, announced on Thursday that it will compensate filmmakers and artists who distribute their work through its service. Content producers will now receive 10 cents for each download of works they contribute to the service -- currently in beta -- which uses peer-to-peer technology to transmit DVD and HD-quality video files to users. [more..]

Greensboro, N.C. - Notion Music, a developer of music creation and performance software, has opened an office in London. To develop Notion software, the company's founders worked with the London Symphony Orchestra at the famous Abbey Road Studios to record more than 100,000 instrumental sounds. [more..]

Chicago - Midway Games said on Thursday that is has shipped more than 1.8 million units of its "Happy Feet" game, based on the Warner Bros. Pictures film, to retailers. Since opening in U.S. theaters on Nov. 17, the film has grossed over $326 million. Midway's game based on the movie is available for PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, GameCube, DS, Game Boy Advance and the PC. Separately, Midway said that it plans to release six of its classic arcade titles, such as "Joust," "Gauntlet" and "Mortal Kombat II," as digitally downloadable titles for the PlayStation 3. [more..]

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts on Thursday released two new versions of its "The Godfather" game, for the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii. "The Godfather: The Don's Edition" for PlayStation 3 includes the "Corleone" expansion pack and takes advantage of the PS3's Sixaxis controller, while "The Godfather: Blackhand Edition" for the Wii adds elements designed for Nintendo's own motion-sensing Wii Remote. [more..]