Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales rose 18% in October, to $1.31 billion, led by sales of Nintendo's Wii console and Microsoft's "Fable II" title, according to sales data compiled by market research firm NPD Group. [more..]

Washington - Speculation has heated up within the local tech community about who President-elect Barack Obama will appoint as his new chief technology officer (CTO) and just what that person's role might be, The Washington Post reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Video game developer Brash Entertainment, which had signed deals with a number of studios to create games based on big-name movies, is officially ceasing operations as of today, Variety reported. [more..]

McLean, Va. - Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 84 other daily papers, said that it has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire Ripple6, a New York-based provider of social media technology and analytics. [more..]

Paris - French video game publisher Ubisoft announced this week that it has acquired Sweden-based game studio Massive Entertainment from Activision Blizzard. [more..]

Washington - Though more than 1 million people are expected in DC for January's historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, they won't be able to purchase highly coveted tickets to the event on eBay. [more..]

San Francisco - KPG Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm specializing in seed-stage consumer Internet companies, said that it has launched its second fund, known as KPG II. [more..]

Santa Monica, Calif. - Transpera, a provider of mobile video advertising technology, announced that it has raised $8.25 million in its second round of financing, led by Flybridge Capital Partners. [more..]

Los Angeles - In a presidential first, President-elect Barack Obama has announced plans to syndicate his weekly address to the country on Google's YouTube video site. [more..]

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo on Friday claimed victory in Election Day online news traffic, boasting that its Yahoo News site attracted 7.6 million unique visitors on Nov. 4, besting MSNBC.com (6.8 million), CNN.com (6.3 million), AOL News (2.5 million) and FoxNews.com (1.9 million). [more..]

San Francisco - Google has introduced new voice recognition features to the search application it offers through Apple's App Store for the iPhone, The New York Times reports. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Meebo, the provider of an online and text message-based communications platform, has partnered with Hearst Magazines Digital Media, to offer instant messaging and chat services on sites including Seventeen.com and PopularMechanics.com. [more..]

New York - Viacom's Atom.com and Comedy Central network on Friday announced the launch of "Face to Bush," a new series of multiplatform video shorts spoofing exit interviews with President Bush that was co-created by comedian Bob Odenkirk, and stars Bush impersonator and comedian James Adomian. [more..]