Foster City, Calif. - Capping off much speculation, and denials from the company that a price cut was in the works, Sony Computer Entertainment America announced on Monday that it has chopped $100 off the price of its PlayStation 3 console, which will now sell in North America for $499. [more..]

Redwood City, Calif. - Trion World Network, a developer and publisher of video games and original entertainment, announced on Monday that it has landed a new $30 million financing round, led by Rustic Canyon Partners. [more..]

Chantilly, Va. - BIA Digital Partners, an investment management firm, said on Monday that it has closed a new $195 million private equity fund. [more..]

New York - Video game developer and publisher Take-Two Interactive on Monday announced that it has obtained a 5-year, revolving credit facility of up to $100 million from Wells Fargo Foothill. [more..]

New York - Last.fm, the online social music network recently acquired by CBS for $280 million, announced on Monday that it has signed a new global licensing agreement with major label Sony BMG. [more..]

East Rutherford, N.J. - Microsoft said that its live webcasts of the Live Earth concerts this weekend served up over 10 million streams, marking the most simultaneous viewers for any online concert ever. [more..]

New York - Video game console market revenue in the U.S. is projected to reach a high of $12.8 billion this year, with the market set to generate cumulative revenues of $66 billion through 2012, according to a report from market research firm JupiterResearch. [more..]

Seattle - RealNetworks announced on Monday that it has struck a deal with LyricFind to offer searchable lyrics on Rhapsody Online, the Web-based version of the company's digital music service. [more..]

El Segundo, Calif. - Ripple Networks, an out-of-home digital TV programming and advertising network, announced on Monday that it has raised $10 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson. [more..]

San Mateo, Calif. - Tira Wireless, a provider of technology and services for mobile content publishing, announced on Monday that it has raised $5 million in its fourth round of financing, from existing investors Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Brightspark Ventures, Flagship Ventures and Export Development Canada. [more..]

Los Angeles - National Banana, a site that features episodic comedy videos produced Jerry Zucker ("Airplane," "The Naked Gun"), has raised more than $1 million in funding from US Venture Partners, VentureBeat reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - GaimTheory, the developer of an online gaming platform for PC games, has received an undisclosed investment from Momentum Venture Management. [more..]

Los Angeles - RockinCat, a music video site set to launch next week that was created by Slim Jim Phantom, drummer for The Stray Cats, has raised an undisclosed sum of seed funding from "Silicon Valley individuals," VentureBeat reported. [more..]

Rohit Bhargava sums up what may go down in history as one of the biggest integrated movie marketing efforts in the history of Hollywood. [more..]

Mark Cuban blogs about how it seems like every cable and broadcast network is programming for both the web for their TV shows, but there is very little buzz about HDTV content.
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Scott Goldberg blogs about an upcoming documentary about the art of playing Donkey Kong, two men who essentially perfected it, and the culture around it that’s been in existence since the creation of Twin Galaxies, the “official scoreboard for video game and pinball hi-scores” since 1981. [more..]

New York - Joost, a peer-to-peer streaming TV service, has partnered with Viacom's VH1 to offer a preview of the entire season of its forthcoming series, "I Hate My 30s," on the service ten days in advance of its broadcast premiere, according to The Hollywood Reporter. [more..]

Dulles, Va. - In a bid to compete more effectively with Google's YouTube, AOL said that it has launched a new version of its video portal, featuring a number of enhancements that the company said should make it easier of users to find, watch and share more than 20 million videos from across the Web. [more..]

Vancouver, Wash. - Consumer electronics maker Reigncom on Monday launched the iriver clix Rhapsody, a new digital music player optimized for use with RealNetworks' Rhapsody digital music service. [more..]

Los Angeles - Walt Disney Internet Group has postponed the launch of its massively multiplayer online game based on its "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise until the fall, missing a planned release alongside the third film in the series, Variety reported. [more..]

San Francisco - Japanese game developer Sega has announced plans to publish two titles based on VIZ Media's anime series "Bleach," which appears in the U.S. on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. [more..]

New York - Mobile entertainment publisher Airborne Entertainment, a unit of Cybird Co., said on Monday that it has signed a deal to create and distribute ringtones, ringback tones and full-track downloads for Wind-Up Records. [more..]