Redwood City, CA - In what's believed to be an industry first, Redwood City-based game developer and publisher Electronic Arts (EA) said that it has teamed with The Weather Channel to offer real-time weather conditions and updates in its newly released NCAA Football 08 game. The latest version of the popular college football game will use information from The Weather Channel Interactive (TWCI) -- transmitted through the Internet -- to reflect accurate, real-time weather conditions at NCAA stadiums.

Federal agents on Wednesday raided businesses, storefronts, and residences in 16 states in a crackdown on the importation of illegal devices used to play counterfeit video games, InformationWeek reported.

Washington - A 27-year-old Hawaiian man has been sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to charges he distributed Xbox video game consoles he had modified so they could play pirated games.

Los Angeles - Nintendo's Wii was the top-selling video game console in the U.S. during the month of February, and its DS handheld outsold all other game hardware, according to sales data from market research firm NPD Group.

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts on Wednesday detailed plans for "Boom Boom Rocket," its first title for Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade digital game distribution service for the Xbox 360. Set to debut on Xbox Live Arcade in the spring of 2007, the rhythm action game was conceived by EA's Pogo.com casual games team and developed by Bizarre Creations.

New York - Brisk hardware sales in December helped push total U.S. video game sales for 2006 up 19%, to $12.5 billion, according to sales data from market research firm NPD Group.

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.

New York - Microsoft plans to add video game functionality to its portable Zune music and video player within 18 months, Xbox vice president Peter Moore told Bloomberg.com. The move would be Microsoft's first foray into the handheld game market currently dominated by Nintendo's DS and Game Boy Advance, and Sony's PSP. The Zune is already compatible with Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console. Microsoft expects to sell 1 million Zune players by the end of June, with the unspecified video game components coming by July 2008.

Las Vegas - Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with Canadian film studio Lionsgate, to distribute high-definition films to video game consoles through its Xbox Live Video Marketplace. The service lets gamers purchase and download movies and TV shows to their Xbox 360 video game consoles over the Internet. Lionsgate films to be added to the service include "The Blair Witch Project," "Saw III" and "Requiem for a Dream." Other providers distributing content through the Video Marketplace include Warner Bros., CBS, TBS, Paramount Pictures and MTV Networks.