Los Angeles - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Singapore's Media Development Authority to create the Center for Content Protection, which will promote secure distribution of digital video content in the Asia-Pacific region. The MPAA says that, of the estimated $6.1 billion the studios lost to piracy worldwide in 2005, $1.2 billion came from piracy across the Asia-Pacific region. The stated goals of the Center are to promote secure distribution of digital TV; educate the public on the digital transition; support technical solutions for legal downloads, home networking and remote access; and discuss anti-piracy solutions among members.

This must be the first YouTube hit for an official government - Singapore's Media Development Authority (MDA), which regulates and censors media and the arts, has somewhat unexpectedly put together a rap video about the city-state's media ambitions. Watch it here.

Singapore - Shortly after enacting a ban on the sale of Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) "Mass Effect" video game over an alien-lesbian love scene, Singapore has changed course and will now only allow those over 18 to purchase the title, Reuters reported, citing an article in the local Strait Times. "Mass Effect" received the first-ever rating for a video game in Singapore, in a move that will likely accelerate the planned introduction of a game ratings system in the county, the Strait Times reported.

Singapore - Singapore's Media Development Authority has banned Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) "Mass Effect" video game in the country, over a scene that shows "a human woman and an alien woman kissing and caressing each other," Reuters reports, citing the local Straits Times newspaper. The country's parliament last month voted to let stand a ban on sex between men. Other titles that have been banned in Singapore due to sexual or violent content include "God of War 2," "The Darkness" and the "Grand Theft Auto" series.

Singapore - Consumer electronics firm Creative Technology, which manufactures the Zen line of MP3 players, on Thursday announced plans to voluntarily delist its shares from the Nasdaq.

The Wall St. Journal reports this afternoon that Apple has countersued Creative Technology, claiming that the make of MP3 players and sound cards has infringed on four of Apple's patents related to digital music. Creative sued Apple last week.