El Segundo, Calif. - Toymaker Mattel (NYSE: MAT) on Monday introduced a new subscription-based version of its BarbieGirls.com virtual world, "Barbie Girls V.I.P.," which will cost $5.99 per month and offer "a world four times larger than its original size, with new locations to explore, new games and new experiences throughout the site." In addition, V.I.P. members will exclusively be able to purchase members-only fashions, furniture and room décor, and pet accessories.

London - Toymaker Mattel (NYSE: MAT), which owns the rights to the board game Scrabble outside of North America, has asked the online social network Facebook to remove an online knock-off called "Scrabulous" from its site, Reuters reports.

Agoura Hills, Calif. - Video game publisher THQ announced on Thursday a partnership with toymaker Mattel's American Girl division, to publish games based on the company's line of dolls and books. The first title, "Julie Saves the Eagles" for PC, has already shipped to retailers, and several more titles for PC and Nintendo DS are in the works.

El Segundo, Calif. - Toymaker Mattel said on Wednesday that its BarbieGirls.com virtual world for kids has now surpassed 4 million registered users, within three months of its launch. This week the company will also ship the Barbie Girl, a $59 MP3 player that doubles as a fashion doll and USB key that unlocks additional content on BarbieGirls.com. Mattel also plans next week to launch Barbie Girls websites in five additional languages, including French, Spanish, Italian, German and Portuguese.

Seattle - RealNetworks announced on Tuesday that it has signed a multi-year deal with toymaker Mattel, to develop, publish and distribute PC and online game versions of its "Scrabble," "UNO" and other titles. Seattle-based RealNetworks said the first titles under the deal are set for release in mid-2008. Separately, RealNetworks said it signed a deal with Lifetime Television, to create a series of downloadable casual games targeting the female-dominated audiences of both the network and the company's RealArcade game service. The network will promote the Lifetime Presents game series on-air, while RealNetworks will run video ads for Lifetime programming within the games. The first title in the series will be "Sally's Salon," set to launch next week.

New York - Toymaker Mattel on Friday introduced a Barbie-branded MP3 player, and the launch of a virtual world for young girls, called Barbie Girls.

El Segundo, Calif. - Satellite TV provider DirecTV on Wednesday announced the launch of Game Lounge, an interactive TV casual games channel.