Playdom’s Former CEO Now Disney Interactive VP

Disney has announced that it has named John Pleasants and Jimmy Pitaro as co-presidents of the Disney Interactive Media Group. Pleasants is a former Electronics Arts executive who came onto the company with the acquisition of Playdom while Pitaro is the departing head of Yahoo Media.

Pleasants will be in charge of the gaming division, which will include Playdom and mobile gaming. Pitaro will deal with web content, marketing, advertising and non-gaming mobile content.

“I think we’ve built a framework of assets and now is the time to create a structure in a more focused way,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger. “In splitting the divisions, we can focus more on them better and in a way they deserve.”

Pleasants’ credits include being COO of EA and leading online and mobile at EA. He’s also been president and CEO of Revolution Health and CEO of Ticketmaster. Pleasants helped create value while CEO of Playdom, with Disney paying $563.2 million for the company with an additional $200 million in potential earnouts.

Source: PaidContent.org {link no longer active}

Verizon Offers Rebate In Lieu Of FCC Investigation

Verizon Wireless is under scrutiny from the FCC for $50 million in improperly charged fees. While that investigation is ongoing, the company has agreed to offer a rebate to those customers affected.

“The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones; others included accessing certain Web links, which should not have incurred charges,” said Verizon in a statement. “We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future.”

The FCC, meanwhile, will continue its investigation. “We’re gratified to see Verizon agree to finally repay its customers. But questions remain as to why it took Verizon two years to reimburse its customers and why greater disclosure and other corrective actions did not come much, much sooner,” said Michele Ellison, the FCC’s enforcement bureau chief. “The Enforcement Bureau will continue to explore these issues, including the possibility of additional penalties, to ensure that all companies prioritize the interests of consumers when billing problems occur.”

Some of the fees accrued when customers without data plans opened mobile Web links, though many of the other fees came without actions from mobile users.”Customers who did not have data plans were billed for data sessions on their phones that they did not initiate,” said Verizon. “These customers would normally have been billed at the standard rate of $1.99 per megabyte for any data they chose to access from their phones.”

Source: CNN

Nintendo Taps British Stars For Holiday 2010

Nintendo is sparing no expense to promote its family-friendly software in the U.K. this holiday. Actress Dame Helen Mirren has been drafted to promote Wii Fit Plus, reality TV pop group JLS will be the faces of Wii Party, broadcaster Terry Wogan will front the Brain Training game, while Louise and Jamie Redknapp will promote New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

“This year’s star line up is the best yet, demonstrating the wide appeal of Nintendo products,” stated Nintendo’s U.K.’s marketing director Dawn Paine.  “This Christmas, with the help of our celebrity friends, we will be helping the nation play together and have fun whatever their age.”

X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke and reality TV stars Olly Murs and Jedward will be attached to the Dragon Quest IX and New Super Mario Bros DS campaigns. Meanwhile, Geordie duo Ant and Dec will back Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Emma Stone Reportedly Offered Mary Jane Role For Spider-Man

Reports are that Sony Pictures Entertainment will offer Emma Stone the role of Mary Jane Watson for the upcoming Spider-Man reboot. She’s appeared in Zombieland and Easy A and is working now on the film The Help.

The role of Gwen Stacy could go to Dianna Agron, Mia Wasikowska, Georgina Haig or Dominique McElligott in this Marc Webb-directed reboot. The role of Gwen Stacy will, perhaps, be even more important in this movie than Mary Jane, because Stacy was Peter Parker’s primary love interest during his high school years, when the film is being set.

Source: Deadline.com

Rock Band 3 Keyboard Bundle Nixed For PS3

Despite the availability of keyboard bundles with Rock Band 3 on pre-order, Harmonix announced today that they will only be available for the Wii and Xbox 360 in the U.S., not on the PS3; the keyboard peripheral will will be available separately. This deal will not affect Europe.

“You may have seen that retailers have taken down the Rock Band 3 keyboard/software bundle pre-orders for PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, this SKU will not be available in the U.S. (including Canada and Mexico) due to the agreement terms for the region,” wrote a post by a Harmonix developer. “However, Mad Catz and MTV Games are working with those retailers that accepted pre-orders to enable them, if they choose, to honor those pre-orders placed prior to this change as soft bundles (separate discs and keyboards), at pre-order pricing. These retailers will have more details shortly.”

Source: RockBand.com {link no longer active}

Movie-Goers ‘Like’ The Social Network

Despite general disapproval of Facebook itself, The Social Network is a runaway hit. The biopic easily took first place in its first weekend at the box office with a $23 million take.

The origin story of Facebook was not only a success with audiences critical acclaim was nigh universal and there’s an Oscar buzz surrounding the film. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps placed behind The Social Network with slightly over $10 apiece in respectable second weekend takes.

Microsoft Sues Motorola Over Android

Microsoft recently filed a patent lawsuit against Motorola. The Redmond company is taking issue with Motorola’s use of Android and certain features, right before the company formally launches Windows Phone 7.

“Microsoft filed an action today in the International Trade Commission and in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against Motorola, Inc. for infringement of nine Microsoft patents by Motorola’s Android-based smartphones,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing. “The patents at issue relate to a range of functionality embodied in Motorola’s Android smartphone devices that are essential to the smartphone user experience, including synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.”

“We have a responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to safeguard the billions of dollars we invest each year in bringing innovative software products and services to market. Motorola needs to stop its infringement of our patented inventions in its Android smartphones,” added Gutierrez.

PlaySpan’s MaaS Effect

PlaySpan announced recently a new Monetization-as-a-Service (MaaS) program. This is a modification of the company’s current payment-as-a-service model with reduced cost and increased revenue for businesses.

“We invested significantly from both engineering resources and our extensive knowledge and expertise derived from over eleven years in the payments and digital goods business,” said Karl Mehta, PlaySpan’s CEO. “Our sophisticated MaaS solution addresses and solves the complex needs of all online businesses – large and small. Its seven layers of integrated services were designed specifically to provide a comprehensive one-stop solution for CEOs and CFOs to gain full control over their online revenue and scale rapidly.”

PlaySpan’s UltimatePay and MaaS is a complete next-gen approach to payments. Instead of working with 15 different technologies and legacy systems, we are now on one common platform that manages monetization across our games,” said Ana Gonzalez, Payments & Fraud Manager, Atlus USA, “We went live in less than three weeks and our ability to innovate and extend our reach to a global audience has increased dramatically.”