Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) said on Thursday that composer Winifred Phillips will score the theme music for its newest Sims title, "SimAnimals." Phillips has won four Game Audio Network Guild Awards, and most recently was nominated for a Hollywood Music Award for her work on "Speed Racer: The Videogame."

Wii Fit, Nintendo’s popular video game, is currently the most searched-for product by UK Internet shoppers in the run-up to Christmas. During October there were more UK Internet searches for Wii Fit than the Nintendo Wii, the most popular product last Christmas. After Wii Fit and the Wii console, the third most searched-for gadget is the Apple iPhone.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) announced on Monday that it has acquired Iowa City, Iowa-based developer Budcat Creations.

London - Video games are set to generate more sales in the U.K. than music or video this year, the BBC reported, citing market research firm Verdict Research.

Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) announced a net loss of $4.5 million for the third quarter, compared to a net income of $4.3 million in the same period a year ago, despite posting revenue gains in both its music and games businesses.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks on Thursday announced a deal with the Beatles' record label, Apple Corps, to create a Beatles-branded music video game. The game -- which apparently will not be part of MTV's "Rock Band" franchise -- was conceived with input from Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Star, approved by Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, and will feature "LOVE" project co-producer Giles Martin as Music Producer.

The recent release of the G1 (aka Google phone) through T-Mobile and soon to be released Blackberry Bold & Storm prompted me to compare search activity among the new handheld devices. We often compare the search volume on new products to gauge the strength of consumer interest and how that may translate into sales. The Blackberry Storm was the most commonly searched product with 3.5x the volume of searches for Blackberry Bold and 3.9x the volume of the G1.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) on Monday shipped its "Guitar Hero: World Tour" for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2. This version of the game includes new controllers for guitar, drums and microphone and an 86-song on-disc set list.

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) yesterday reported a 9% overall increase in fiscal first quarter revenues, but saw revenues at its Entertainment and Devices Division (EDD) -- home to its Xbox and Zune -- fall from $1.93 billion to $1.81 billion.

Agoura Hills, Calif. - Video game publisher THQ (NASD: THQI) announced on Thursday that it has acquired the publishing rights to "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand," the follow-up to the multi-million unit-selling game featuring hip-hop artist 50 Cent. The game is currently slated for release for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in early 2009, and will feature 18 exclusive new tracks from the artist.

Las Vegas - The composer of the UNLV fight song has sued video game publisher Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) for using "Win With the Rebels" in several versions of its NCAA sports games, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Gerald Willis is seeking up to $150,000 for each alleged copyright infringement, which could reach $1.5 million. "The U.S. copyright law allows for enforcement of copyright, and we trust the judge to determine what would be appropriate in a situation like this," Ellen Winograd, Willis' attorney, told the Review-Journal. "I think the UNLV band sounds great when they play it, and that's what it was written for. It was not written for commercial use."

London - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) is selling 3.8 million downloadable songs a month for the Xbox 360 versions of music video games "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band," GamesIndustry.biz reports. In a statement, the company said that Xbox Live has "delivered more than 80% of the downloadable songs for music games."

Is scarcity still a viable foundation for a business model for content owners? For most of their histories, movie and TV studios relied on a strategy of limited distribution to extract maximum value from their works. Movies were released through a carefully ordered sequence of exclusive windows defined by distribution channel (theaters, DVD, pay-TV, broadcast); network TV series didn't enter the broader syndication market for three or four years after their debut, assuming the series lasted that long. In each case, the relative scarcity of the content provided the content owner with maximum pricing power. Since the advent of digital platforms, however, ubiquity has become the name of the game, challenging content owners' pricing power and business models.

San Bruno, Calif. - Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube has begun placing links to purchase music and games on the pages of related videos on its site in the U.S., with initial partners that include Amazon (NASD: AMZN) MP3, Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store, record label EMI and game developer Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS). The "click-to-buy" links to purchase media at Amazon's MP3 store and Apple's iTunes Store can currently be found on pages for music videos by EMI artists, and pages related to Electronic Arts' new universe-building game, "Spore."

Tokyo - Nintendo has announced plans to introduce a new model of its handheld DS game system that be lighter and slimmer yet sport larger dual screens, two built-in 0.3-megapixel digital cameras, an SD card slot, Web browser and music player software.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Games said on Tuesday that veteran rock band AC/DC will offer a downloadable full album of live tracks in its upcoming "Rock Band 2" game. The AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack will include 18 tracks, making for a total of more than 99 minutes of gameplay for each instrument.

New York - IGA Worldwide, the operator of an in-game advertising network, announced on Tuesday that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Activision (NASD: ATVI). The company will place ads within multiple Activision PlayStation 3 titles, the first of which being the upcoming "Guitar Hero World Tour."

Tokyo - Nintendo plans to release a new version of its popular DS handheld game device that incorporates a digital camera, digital music player and improved Wi-Fi reception, GameDaily reported, citing articles in Japanese newspapers. Nikkei Net reported that the new DS with added functionality will sell for around $189.

Boston - Swaptree.com, the provider of an online marketplace for the trading of books, CDs, DVDs and video games, announced on Tuesday that it has landed $3.35 million in third round funding, led by Safeguard Scientifics.

Los Angeles - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) plans to triple the amount of "Guitar Hero" content it produces over the next two years, including both new versions of the game and downloadable content for the titles, CEO Mike Griffith told analysts, GameDaily reported. Further, Universal Music president and COO Zach Horowitz stated that, on average, sales of songs featured in "Guitar Hero" jump between 200% and 300%. One song, Weezer's "My Name is Jonas," saw a 1,000 sales increase in the weeks following the release of "Guitar Hero III."