Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions and publisher/developer Aspyr Media have entered into a multi-year agreement in which Aspyr will bring Kaplan-branded interactive entertainment products to market. The first game under the deal will be an engaging, visually dynamic and unconventional title that is rooted solidly in Kaplan's SAT prep curriculum.

Disney Interactive Studios announced an agreement to acquire Chinese independent developer Gamestar. With locations in Shanghai and Wuhan, Gamestar was founded in 2002 and has collaborated on several titles with international partners.

According to The NPD Group’s recent 'Online Gaming 2008' report, analyzing consumers’ behavior, time and money spent in this market, overall participation in gaming rose in 2007, from 64% in 2006 to currently 72% of the of the population, with half of that playing games online.

A new research project by Middlesex University psychologists Miss Jane Barnett and colleagues on 292 male and female online gamers playing the game World of Warcraft concluded that people who play violent games online actually feel more relaxed and less angry after they have played.

Red Mile has signed the license to Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novels and comic books; signed Flint Dille, known for The Chronicles of Riddick, as designer/scriptwriting; and revealed Sin City: The Game will be powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 3. Sin City, currently scheduled for Christmas 2009, is being developed by Transmission Games, formerly known as IR Gurus, and since the Wii is one of the platforms, could they be the mystery developer porting the UE3?

Carnival Games: Mini-Golf is home to larger-than-life, theme park style miniature golf courses. Whether back in time to the land of dinosaurs, keeping order in the Wild West or searching for treasure on an island full of pirates, the game combines traditional miniature golf fare with action-oriented game play.

Genius Products announced its expansion into the publishing and distribution of video games, and plans to offer a number of new game titles in 2008 across a variety of gaming genres starting with InXile's internet phenomenon adaptation of Line Rider.

Swedish-based publisher Pan Vision Games signed a three year exclusivity agreement with Yuko Shimizu, creator of Hello Kitty, to make games based on the Japanese IP Angel Cat Sugar. The brand story evolves around Angel Cat Sugar, a princess in a world of angels, and her three mice friends Parsley, Thyme and Basil.

In a first-of-its-kind imaging study, the Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have shown that the part of the brain that generates rewarding feelings is more activated in men than women during video-game play.

Once known for starring alongside Kurt Russell in 1982's horror film The Thing, actor Keith David is probably more known for voicing the Arbiter in Microsoft's Halo than his acting career. According to Reuters, video games have helped resuscitate the careers of actors doing voice-overs as their status in Hollywood fades. Although they usually charge $760 for a four-hour recording session, one Hollywood celebrity asked for $750,000 and was turned down, but so far, the highest, unspecified payout has been $500K.

Chair Entertainment and bestselling author Orson Scott Card announced their partnership to create the first-ever video games inspired by the legendary "Battle Room," featured in the popular science fiction novel, Ender's Game.

Video Games Live is an immersive concert event featuring music from the biggest video games of all time, now expanded with a wide variety of brand new segments. Special performances to take place during GDC, Comic-Con, Leipzig Games Convention, NYC's Broadway, a 7,000 seat bullring in Mexico, as well as Taiwan, Brazil, Germany, France, England, Scotland, China, Canada and more ...

MTV Games announced an exclusive deal with movie and TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer to build a game incubation studio where a team of experienced video game experts, artists and storytellers will seek out and deliver new game concepts and intellectual property.

Consumer analysts at Turner Investment Partners concluded that casual games are catching the eyes (and fingers) of women, baby boomers and even seniors, giving video games the potential to be "one of the few retailing success stories in what may be a lackluster holiday shopping season." The company fails to mention the real casual games from companies like PopCap and Bigfish Games, and instead touts several high-profile companies of which it just happens to own shares.

Parents and teachers might have to rethink their long-held belief that the more a child reads, the better. Ironically, in the just-released Book of Games Volume 2, the authors cite research indicating that video games actually can be better than books, both for your mind and body.

Video Games Live is an immersive concert event featuring music from the biggest video games of all time, now expanded with a wide variety of brand new segments such as Halo 3, BioShock, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade, StarCraft II, Chrono Cross and a few very special guests and surprises!

Vigilance was designed to help train U.S. military personnel to locate and identify Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The Vigilance serious game mod was created using Crytek's CryENGINE 2 3D engine and the Scaleform GFx UI engine to create a nearly photo-realistic IED detection simulation.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games players will compete in events (100m track, table tennis, swimming etc.) that take place in venues based on the official Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, against a supporting cast of characters from the worlds of both Mario and Sonic, including Luigi, Knuckles, Yoshi, Tails and more.

Nikitova Games announces two new IP titles are currently in production and planned for release in 2008. CCTV where you play the role of a surveillance officer using Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and police cars to catch criminals, and Mind Games is a selection of 21 mini-games based on the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery.

Medical News Today has published a research paper based on tests of 2,500 kids by psychology professor J. Ronald Gentile and his son Douglas Gentile, assistant professor of psychology and director of research for video game critic National Institute on Media and the Family. The document claims that frequently playing violent video games produces hostile actions and aggressive behaviors.

id Software and Fountainhead Entertainment announced today that the two developers have joined forces to create a new division of id Software, id Mobile, which will develop games for cell phones, the NDS and PSP.

Vivendi has released its financial results for the first nine months of the year, and reported, to no one's surprise, an increase of 7% compared to last year (10.9% in the last quarter). Vivendi Games' revenues in particular are up 49% compared to last year, racking up a rough $1 billion, primarily driven, like the past year or two, by World of Warcraft, which has recently launched in China and now counts over 9 million subscribers.

A new poll by AOL Games/AP reveals 80% of all children between the ages of 4 and 17 regularly play computer or video games, while 38% of all adults admit to playing computer or video games, with 45% of those actually being female.

Feel the unmatched speed and intensity of the real-life sport with an authentic physics engine and intuitive gameplay that mimics the exhilarating experience found in international competition.

Battersea Evolution in London’s Battersea Park played host to the British Academy Video Games Awards. Wii Sports dominated the evening, winning six out of the thirteen categories (Gameplay, Casual, Innovation, Multiplayer, Sports, and Strategy & Simulation), while Crackdown, Okami, and God of War 2 each took two categories.