Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced that during the quarter ended June 30, 2010, life-to-date map packs for the Call of Duty franchise surpassed 20 million units. Call of Duty remains the #1 best-selling first-person action franchise in the U.S. and Europe, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and GfK.

Focus Media Holding Limited (Nasdaq: FMCN), a Chinese digital media group today announced it will sell to Silver Lake a 62% indirect equity ownership of its Internet subsidiary, Allyes Online Media Holdings Ltd. Under the terms of the agreement, Silver Lake will pay US$124 million to Focus Media, in exchange for the equity ownership of Allyes.

Venture capitalists from around the world invested $10.3 billion in 1,160 deals in Q2 for companies based in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Israel, Mainland China and India, according to industry tracker Dow Jones VentureSource. This represents a 29% increase in capital invested and a 14% rise in deals over the $8 billion invested in 1,022 deals during same period last year.

GameStop Corp. (GME), which claims to be the world's largest video game and entertainment software retailer, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Kongregate a social gaming destination and community for core gamers.

Following several years of development and an extensive beta test that resulted in focused feedback from thousands of players worldwide, Blizzard Entertainment announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is now on sale in North America, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Perfect World Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: PWRD) announced that it has entered into agreements to invest approximately RMB110.0 million and RMB82.3 million in cash, respectively, in Beijing Xinbaoyuan Movie & TV Investment Co., Ltd. (Xinbaoyuan) and Shanghai Baohong Entertainment and Media Co., Ltd. (Baohong) and take majority stakes.

Gaming startup Zattikka said it has raised $5.5m through its parent company Expedite 5, Inc. The investment is led by Notion Capital and a group of private individuals including Harald Ludwig,co-chair of Lionsgate Entertainment.

According to The NPD Group, in 2009, 21.3 million PC Game full-game digital downloads were purchased online in the U.S. compared to 23.5 million physical units purchased at retail during the same period. While NPD’s point-of-sale research shows that PC physical retail sales experienced a year-over-year revenue decline in 2009, it was still slightly larger than PC digital download sales on a unit basis.

Square Enix will launch a digital manga store serving customers in North America and France in the fall of 2010. Localized electronic editions of such popular Square Enix manga series as Fullmetal Alchemist and Soul Eater will be made available for the PC via the Square Enix group's North American and European websites.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the all-new Xbox 360 4GB console, the Kinect sensor and the "Kinect Adventures" title packaged together for $299.99 (U.S. ERP). With "Kinect Adventures," players will make their way through 20 adventures— no controller, wand or balance board required. In addition, existing Xbox 360 console owners can purchase the Kinect sensor with "Kinect Adventures" for $149.99 (U.S. ERP). The sensor, which will work with each of the 40 million Xbox 360 consoles currently in households worldwide can track full body movements and respond to voice.