Gift-giving Comes To ITunes

Apple has added a new function to iTunes that lets users pay for content and forward it with a gift card to other users, reports Kotaku. The Give a Gift feature includes a digital card that can be personalized with up to 500 characters. Gifts can be forwarded to multiple users as long as the content is purchased for each. Read more at Kotaku.

Move Over Natal

Sony has a long-form ad for PlayStation Move featuring its whacky VP of everything Kevin Butler, and taking swipes at a rival console and its upcoming motion controller. FastCompany’s Dan Nosowitz labels it snarky. Watch the ad, and read more of his take on it, at FastCompany.

Rated M For Messed-Up

WHA Entertainment and Frozen Codebase give a first look at their videogame based on the upcoming film Kick-Ass. The game is destined for PlayStation Network and iPhone to coincide with when the R-rated film premieres in April. Based on the first look, the game makers didn’t shy away from delivering what the originally comic-based IP is known for, namely young teens turned superheroes dishing out profanity-laced over-the-top violence. Watch it at Joystiq.

A Half-Century Of Gaming

Writing for LiveScience, Ned Smith talks to Jon-Paul Dyson, director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, about which videogames have helped shape the medium since an MIT student hacked the code for “Space War” into a mainframe computer. Dyson oversees game history for the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. Read the article from LiveScience.

Is PlayStation Move Already An Icon?

Business Insider features the best entries from a Gizmodo photo-altering contest asking readers to come up with creative uses for Sony s PlayStation Move controller. There was apparently no shortage of places to plant the distinct colored ball tipped controllers. The range of subject matter attests to that, as does the fact that there are more than 70 photos being featured. Check them out at Business Insider.

Facebook Updates Come To Console Games

According to Kotaku, Relentless Software’s PlayStation 3 title Buzz! Quiz World has become the first console game to integrate Facebook connectivity. The game maker has released a patch enabling a feature that allows players to connect to the social site from within the game while playing online. The feature takes advantage of Sony’s integration of Facebook into PlayStation Network.  Similar to what Facebook users see with games played within the site, players of “Buzz! Quiz World” can send updates such as in-game achievements directly to their profiles. Kotaku says the game maker is currently limiting posts to five per day.  Read more about it at Kotaku.

ELSPA Approves Name Change

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, the leading British trade organization for the game industry, is renaming itself the UK Interactive Entertainment Association. Edge-Online reports that the more than 20 year old organization, better known as ELSPA, voted for the change at an Extraordinary General Meeting. The body’s board said the change was made for an “evolving and expanding” industry as well as to encompass the new areas of activity that will be undertaken. Edge-Online says the organization is hoping to fully rebrand itself before this summer. Read more at Edge-Online.

BAFTA Picks Its Winners

IndustryGamers is reporting on the results from this year’s videogame awards handed out by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Eidos and Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum was recognized as BAFTA’s game of the year. The game overcame the favorite, Sony’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which had until now swept the category with other major game awards. But Sony’s title managed four BAFTA awards of its own, winning for best action and best story along with a couple of production awards. BAFTA also recognized legendary Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto this year, giving him the Academy Fellow award. Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 was nominated in nine categories but only managed to win one award, albeit a prestigious one. The Infinity Ward developed war shooter was the recipient of BAFTA’s peoples choice GAME Award of 2009. Check out the full list of nominees and winners at IndustryGamers.

Ad Age Viral Video Chart For Week Of March 8

Ad Age lists the top 10 viral videos for the week of March 8 based on viewer tracking by online video firm Visible Measures.

Both of this week’s new entries stormed to the top of the chart. Apple’s TV spot introducing iPad debuts at number two, pulling in just under 2.5 million views. A viral video for BMW motorbikes, one of the how d they do it stunt” variety that definitely runs on fumes in creativity, enters just below it with about 1.6 million views. At top with almost 3.1 million views is the E-Trade baby spot from the Super Bowl, which Ad Age says was helped along by its subject matter drawing a lawsuit from starlet Lindsay Lohan. Check out the full list and watch the videos at Ad Age.