Pure West Documentaries and director Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza have made a documentary about Gamers and Virtual Worlds (YouTube trailed embedded above), called Second Skin. The film, which will be premiering on March 7th at SXSW 2008, gives you a glimpse into the (virtual) worlds of computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by the emerging genre of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). If you are interested in finding out more about the future of games and game-like interfaces, check out this presentation by James Lundy of the IT research firm Gartner. It is an hour long and a little on the dry side, but you can click through the slides on the left to get a quick grasp of his predictions for what will happen in this space.

London - The market for massively multiplayer online games in the West reached $1 billion for the first time in 2006, with North American subscriptions totaling $576 million and European subscriptions $299 million, according to a report from market research firm Screen Digest.

Redwood City, Calif. - Video game developer and publisher Electronic Arts announced on Tuesday that it will invest $105 million for a 19% stake in Korean online game developer Neowiz.

Los Angeles - Nexon America, the U.S. arm of the Korean multiplayer online game developer, announced on Monday that its "MapleStory" title has surpassed 3 million registered users in North America, making for a total of nearly 60 million worldwide. The company added that it plans next month to launch "Audition," a free, massively multiplayer online dance game.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi Games' Blizzard Entertainment on Thursday announced details of its third Worldwide Invitational, a public event where the company connects with players of its "Warcraft," "Diablo" and "StarCraft" titles, and hosts a range of gamer tournaments. This year's event will be held in Seoul, South Korea on May 19-20, and will feature the first season for its World of Warcraft's Arena Tournament.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi Games' Blizzard Entertainment said on Wednesday that "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," the first expansion for its title that figures as the world's most popular massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, sold 3.5 million copies within a month of its release in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The figure represents a new one-month record for PC game sales, and includes more than 1.9 million copies sold in regions that play on North American realms. The "World of Warcraft" worldwide subscriber base has now grown to more than 8.5 million.

Billund, Denmark - The LEGO Group said on Monday that it has signed an agreement with NetDevil to develop a massively multiplayer online game based on LEGO's intellectual property. Louisville, Colo.-based NetDevil has developed multiplayer online titles including "Jumpgate" and "Auto Assault."

Beijing - Chinese software developer CDC Corp. announced on Monday that its CDC Games unit has expanded into online games with the formation of CDC Games Studio, a new development unit that will receive up to $100 million in funding.

Seoul, South Korea - Korean online game developer Webzen announced on Tuesday an agreement with The9, to publish its massively multiplayer game "Huxley" in China. Webzen expects to gain an estimated $35 million from the deal, which it says is the largest for a Korean game developer for a single game in a single country. "Huxley" is slated to launch in Korea later this year; no launch date for China was announced.

Shanghai, China - Shanda Interactive Entertainment, a provider of multiplayer, casual and PC games and other media content in China, announced on Thursday that it has sold part of its stake in Chinese Web portal SINA to Citigroup for about $129.6 million.

San Diego - Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) announced on Wednesday that Station Exchange, the online auction site it launched in June 2005 to allow players of its "EverQuest II" multiplayer online game to pay real money for virtual characters and items, generated $1.87 million in player transactions during its first year.

Shanghai, China - Chinese online game operator The9 said on Tuesday that it has signed an amended agreement with Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment, to additionally publish the recently released expansion pack to Blizzard's "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online game in mainland China. The companies did not say when "The Burning Crusade" would launch in China.

Irvine, Calif. - Online game publisher K2 Network said on Tuesday that it will launch Korea's most popular massively multiplayer online game in the U.S. "Granado Espada" was developed by imcGames, which also created "Ragnarok Online," and licensed to K2 from Hanbitsoft. The game will be re-titled "Sword of the New World" for the U.S. and European markets, where it is set for release in the summer.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment game publishing unit announced on Tuesday that "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," the first expansion to its massively multiplayer online game, broke the day-one sales record to become the fastest-selling PC game ever in North America and Europe.