Los Angeles - Video game publishers Activision (NASD: ATVI) and Vivendi Games have discontinued their memberships in the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) industry trade group, and will also not be attending this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show, GameDaily reports.

New York - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) has affirmed plans to extend its wildly popular "Guitar Hero" franchise beyond the guitar and bass to other instruments, a la rival music-based game "Rock Band," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said in an interview with Portfolio.com. "We'll include a lot of other instruments [and] vocals," said Kotick, while refraining from giving any clues as to when these new elements might appear in the game franchise.

Los Angeles - Vivendi's Sierra Entertainment said on Thursday that rapper 50 Cent will reprise his starring role in a video game sequel, "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand," set for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the fall. The console version of the follow-up to the multi-million unit-selling "50 Cent: Bulletproof" is being developed by Swordfish Studios. Vivendi Games Mobile will also release a mobile version.

Paris - Vivendi has launched a subscription-based mobile content service, Zaoza, that charges users about $4.42 per month for unlimited downloads of music, ringtones, games and videos, MocoNews reported. Content partners at launch include Sony BMG, THQ and Eidos. The site already claims 100,000 beta users in France. Vivendi hopes to grow this number to 500,000 by year's end, spurred by launches in Germany and the U.K. planned for later this year.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

There was no shortage of news for the week of Jan. 21-25. The biggest story: The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark federal funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5%, its lowest level since September 2005, but the Fed’s actions couldn’t stop an already shaky stock market from continuing its downward spiral. After a sharp mid-week increase on news of the rate cut, the DMW100 ended slightly lower on the week.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment game publisher unit announced on Tuesday that its "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online roleplaying game now counts more than 10 million subscribers. The game launched in November 2004, and now counts 2 million subscribers in Europe, 2.5 million in North America and 5.5 million in Asia.

Santa Monica, Calif. - French media conglomerate Vivendi announced on Monday a deal with video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI), to combine its Vivendi Games unit with Activision to form a new company called Activision Blizzard, in a deal valued at $18.9 billion. Following the completion of the deal, Vivendi will hold a 52% stake in the combined company.

Paris - The head of Universal Music Group parent company Vivendi has called the contract terms for Apple's iTunes Store "indecent," and echoed calls from other major labels for variable pricing of songs from the retailer, Reuters reported.

Lifetime Television has named Sandy Varo as Vice President, Reality Programming, it was announced today by Jessica Samet, Senior Vice President, Reality Programming, Lifetime Television, to whom Varo will report. Her appointment is effective immediately.

http://www.lifetimetv.com

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment games studio announced on Tuesday that its massively multiplayer online game "World of Warcraft" has now surpassed nine million paying subscribers worldwide. The company added that its expects an influx of new and returning subscribers when Chinese distribution partner The9 launches the game's first expansion, "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade."

Paris - Media conglomerate Vivendi has formed a new unit called Vivendi Mobile Entertainment that plans to launch a paid content portal in the fall that will distribute entertainment to PCs, televisions and mobile phones, Reuters reported, citing an article in France's Les Echos.

Brussels - The European Commission has approved the $2.19 billion acquisition of BMG Music Publishing by Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Reuters reported.

Vivendi has announced the appointment of Philippe Capron as Chief Financial Officer of the Group. The appointment was effective on April 19, 2007. Capron joined the Group succeeds Jacques Espinasse as a member of the Management Board.
www.vivendi.com

San Antonio, Texas - AT&T announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment to offer a 14-day free trial of the popular "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online game. The AT&T blue room gaming site will host the offer, which figures as the longest free trial of the game available online. "World of Warcraft" currently claims 8.5 million players, while AT&T counts 12 million high speed Internet lines.

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.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's video game publishing unit Blizzard Entertainment announced on Thursday that its "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online roleplaying game -- the most popular title of its type ever created -- has now surpassed 8 million paying subscribers worldwide.