Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales were up 53% in June from a year ago, to $1.69 billion, and although Sony (NYSE: SNE) got a major bump in sales via the top-selling, PlayStation 3-exclusive "Metal Gear Solid 4," Nintendo once again led with sales of 666,000 Wii consoles during the month, according to sales data compiled by market research firm NPD Group. Konami's "Metal Gear Solid 4" led overall with sales of 775,000 units, helping spike PlayStation 3 sales by 94% month-over-month to 405,000 units; Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) Xbox 360 sold 219,800 units in June.

Tokyo - Japanese video game developer and publisher Konami has filed suit against Viacom-owned (NYSE: VIA) "Rock Band" game developer Harmonix, alleging the popular music game infringes on several of Konami's patents, Bloomberg reported.

El Segundo, Calif. - Video game publisher Konami this week announced plans to publish "Rock Revolution," a title similar to the megahits Guitar Hero and Rock Band, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and DS in the fall. Konami, which has scored with earlier music titles like "Dance Dance Revolution," said that the new title, designed by musicians, will feature "the most realistic drum peripheral on the market" as well as both disc-based and downloadable songs.

Menlo Park, Calif. - Zannel on Wednesday announced the launch of its mobile social networking service, which lets users create and share content on any mobile device across multiple networks. The company counts 1,500 content partners, including Konami, the X Prize Foundation and Warner Bros. Pictures, who are distributing their content through Zannel. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Zannel raised $6 million in its first round of funding in June 2006 from Palomar Ventures and U.S. Ventures.

Los Angeles - Sony's Columbia Pictures is in talks to acquire the motion picture rights to Japanese developer Konami's "Metal Gear Solid" video game, which to date has generated more than $1 billion and 20 million unit sales, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Charleston, W. Va. - Children who consistently play Konami's "Dance Dance Revolution" (DDR) dance-based video game have shown improvements in health, attitude and behavior, according to a study conducted by West Virginia Games for Health, a research project of West Virginia University and the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency.