Former Friendster CEO Kent Lindstrom Joins Ooga Labs

Kent Lindstrom, former CEO of Friendster, joins Ooga Labs, the fast growing consumer technology greenhouse in San Francisco. Lindstrom led the turnaround of Friendster between 2006 and 2008, an effort backed by Kleiner Perkins and Benchmark Capital. During his tenure, Friendster became the #1 social network in Asia, and the 7th largest website in the world. At Ooga, he will oversee the development of a new company targeting the “local” space.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) — Ooga Labs, a technology greenhouse that has spun out companies such as WonderHill (www.wonderhill.com) and Medpedia (www.medpedia.com), today announced that Kent Lindstrom has joined as an executive overseeing development of a new company targeting the multi-billion dollar “local” space.

Lindstrom led the turnaround of Friendster between 2006 and 2008, an effort backed by Kleiner Perkins and Benchmark Capital. During his tenure, Friendster became the #1 social network in Asia, and the 7th largest website in the world (data provided by ComScore). Friendster pioneered and established the ’social networking’ category that now includes sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Hi5. Read more

Merlin’s Legacy Brings Fantasy Action to the iPhone App Store

Mobile content publisher Oasys Mobile, today announced the Apple App Store launch of Merlin’s Legacy for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Merlin’s Legacy is a fantasy battle game that merges role-playing and strategic elements. The game has already started to garner critical praise, with AppVee.com giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) — Mobile content publisher Oasys Mobile, today announced the Apple App Store launch of Merlin’s Legacy for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Developed by Floodgate Entertainment, Merlin’s Legacy is a fantasy battle game that merges role-playing and strategic elements, all while balancing it into a fun and engaging title that everyone can enjoy. The game has already started to garner critical praise, with AppVee.com giving it 4 out of 5 stars. Read more

Sony, NBC ink content deal for PlayStation (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Sony Computer Entertainment America will make movies and television programs from NBC Universal available to buy or rent through Sony’s PlayStation Network, the companies said on Tuesday.

Under the deal, films from Universal Studios Home Entertainment and programs from NBC will be offered for download through the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable in the United States.

With the addition of NBC Universal, Sony said its video service now features more than 1,300 movies and 4,500 TV episodes.

The content is being offered via the PlayStation Network, which has almost 9 million registered accounts in the U.S. and more than 20 million worldwide.
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Nothing dark about Batman’s first night at the box office

“The Dark Knight” lit up cash registers during its midnight debut, stealing away with a record $18.5 million from 3,040 theaters, distributor Warner Bros. said Friday.

That bested the 2005 performance of “Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith,” which took in $16.9 million during its midnight debut in 2,915 venues.

“The Dark Knight” figure did not include any of its 3 a.m. or 6 a.m. showings.

And while Batman only strikes at night, all indications are that “The Dark Knight” will keep landing blows: Advance ticket sales were booming.

The early numbers mean “The Dark Knight” will likely join the ranks of 10 other films that debuted on non-holiday weekends and cleared more than $100 million from Friday to Sunday, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Media By Numbers LLC. Read more

Natsume Celebrates 10 Years of Its Popular Harvest Moon Series with 2 New Titles for DS and Wii

Natsume, a worldwide developer and

publisher of family-oriented video games, announced today that the

company is celebrating the ten-year anniversary of its popular Harvest

Moon franchise this summer. In commemoration of the anniversary,

Natsume is launching two new Harvest Moon titles later this quarter

and offering a host of retail promotions surrounding the launches.

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness for the Nintendo DS and Harvest Moon:

Tree of Tranquility for the Nintendo Wii will both be available at

retail later this summer, and will be branded with special packaging
Read more

Hollywood talent animated movie upcaming from Space Chimps, Brash Entertainment

The currently during Brash Entertainment announced today that key Hollywood talent from the upcoming animated movie, Space Chimps, will be featured in their videogame of the same name. Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm, RV) and Patrick Warburton (Bee Movie, Seinfeld) reprise their roles from the movie, Luna and Titan respectively, for the videogame. Based on the highly anticipated film produced by Vanguard Animation and presented by Starz Animation, the videogame is slated for release on July 15, 2008, just days before the film’s July 18, 2008 debut.

In the Space Chimps game, players follow the adventures of pioneering primates on a mission into outer space. Cheryl Hines as Luna, is a by the books, go-getting chimp, who graduated top of her astronaut training class. As the interactive plot of the game unfolds, Luna’s level head becomes an asset, and players take control of the character to explore alien territories and complete quests that explore lands and characters beyond the plot of the movie. Patrick Warburton as Titan, is the commanding officer of their space craft, and uses his deep stern voice to keep his crew in line. However, his quick temper and tendency to go bananas makes leading a squad difficult at times for this commanding chimp. Read more

Civilizing Your Civilians from Yahoo Video Games

As in past Civ games, the world is made up of a giant grid that mimics the layout of a map of the world (although the continents and oceans are variable, so it usually doesn’t resemble our Earth at all). It’s up to you to found cities, build them up by constructing different kinds of structures, and train military units to defend your borders.

The controls for Civ Rev on the DS are almost identical to its console cousins and the d-pad fills in for most of the selection duties. Of course, the DS’ stylus is put to good use and comes in handy for more minute selection options like when you have multiple units in one square and want to choose only one. Tapping the stylus on anything on the screen will select it (or you can scroll over it using the d-pad) and then you are free to direct your units by dragging the stylus from your unit to where you want it to go or whomever you want it to attack. While the d-pad seemed a bit more intuitive for actually moving units around, it’s nice to have the option of using the stylus if you so choose. Read more

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