Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) on Thursday announced that new release movies from the major Hollywood studios will now be made available for purchase and download from the iTunes Store on the same day as their DVD releases, and will be priced at $14.99. Participating studios include 20th Century Fox (NYSE: NWS), The Walt Disney Studios (NYSE: DIS), Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX), Paramount Pictures (NYSE: VIA), Universal Studios Home Entertainment (NYSE: GE), Sony Pictures Entertainment (NYSE: SNE), Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) (NYSE: SNE) has signed on to be the first major studio to authorize older titles from its library to be manufactured and distributed through HP's DVD on-demand service. "We know there is strong consumer demand for these titles, and by working with HP we can monetize our deep product library and help give retailers the means to bring a wider offering of Sony Pictures product to consumers without a significant investment in inventory," said SPHE president David Bishop. Among the 5,000 or so titles currently available through HP's year-old service are classic TV shows not available yet on DVD; foreign and independent films; and specialty cable TV programming.

Sausalito, Calif. - Sony Pictures Entertainment's (NYSE: SNE) Crackle video entertainment site on Thursday announced the premiere of "Penn Says," an unscripted Web series created by magician and pundit Penn Jillette, of Penn & Teller fame. Four one-to-three minute videos will be added weekly, featuring Jilette's rants on politics, celebrities, current events and other topics.

Los Angeles - Vivendi Games and Sony Pictures have announced plans to produce a series of games based on the "Ghostbusters" movie franchise, which will feature the voices and likenesses of original stars from the movies including Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Annie Potts and William Atherton, Variety reports. Aykroyd and Ramis will also create an original story for the game. The companies tapped Terminal Reality to develop to create version for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC, and Red Fly Studio to develop the title for PlayStation 2, Wii and DS.

Los Angeles - Japanese video game developer Capcom has partnered with Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan to create a 3D animated film based on its "Resident Evil" game franchise, which to date has sold 33 million units worldwide. "Biohazard: Degeneration" is scheduled for release in the second half of 2008. A trio of live-action movies based on "Resident Evil" have already been released; "Resident Evil: Extinction" has so far earned $50 million at the U.S. box office since its release on Sept. 21, Variety reports.

Espoo, Finland - Nokia on Monday shipped its new Nokia N95, a mobile phone with 8GB of internal memory that comes pre-loaded with Sony Pictures Entertainment's full-length feature, "Spider-Man 3." The $761 device, which is initially available in Europe and certain countries in the Middle East and Africa, sports a 2.8-inch display and 5-megapixel camera, and includes features such as Wi-Fi and GPS.

San Diego - Sony Electronics said on Tuesday that it has added content from CondeNet, Sports Illustrated, Blip.tv and Sony Pictures to the Bravia Internet Video Link service available for owners of its Bravia high-definition televisions. The $300 Internet Video Link device hooks into the back of a Bravia TV, and delivers Internet video programming over an existing broadband connection without the need for a computer. Content from Yahoo, AOL and Crackle has been available on the service since it launched in August.

Espoo, Finland - Nokia announced on Tuesday that it has signed deals with CNN and six other video producers to provide content for distribution on its mobile devices. Joining existing partners YouTube and Reuters in providing content to the Nokia Video Center are CNN, IBN News, Jamba, Sony Pictures, RooftopComedy, ROK and Versaly Entertainment. The video will be compatible with Nokia's Nseries devices, including the Nokia N95.

Los Angeles - Sony Pictures Entertainment said on Wednesday that, contrary to news reports, an investigation by the company has found no pirated DVD copies of its forthcoming "Spider-Man 3" film in China, or on the Internet.

New York - Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive is among a list of defendants being sued by the creator of the "Ghost Rider" comic book, who claims the companies have violated his copyrights with the video game and other ancillary products related to the comic's recent movie spin-off, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Bristol, England - Aardman Features, the U.K.-based animated film studio behind movies like "Chicken Run" and "Wallace & Gromit," announced that it has signed a new three-year deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo announced on Wednesday the launch of Amazon Unbox on Tivo, giving TiVo users the ability to download movies and TV shows from the online retailer's new Unbox download store.

New York - 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive, on Wednesday announced the release of its "Ghost Rider" game, based on the Marvel Comics title and Sony Pictures movie of the same name. The game was developed by Climax for PlayStation 2, PSP and Game Boy Advance. Separately, Take-Two's Rockstar Games unit said it released a Sony PSP version of its "The Warriors" game, based on the cult classic film.

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.