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A plethora of ordinary people with extraordinary powers? A shadowy organization tracking them down?  A mentally disturbed villain? A world in need of saving?  That’s the world of Heroes, NBC’s runaway TV hit and it sure sounds like the stuff of comic books, and of video games.  For gaming – superheroes, villains, saving the world – it’s a perfect fit, but until yesterday, there was no game, at least for console based video gaming.

Thursday, French video game publisher Ubisoft announced it had secured a licensing deal with Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group to bring Heroes to video gamers.  The game will aim for a holiday 2008 release and the TV series writers will supervise and consult on the game designs and storyline.  

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Last February, AOL and HBO joined forces to create a website for comedy video called ThisJustIn.com.  The effort was HBO’s first effort to bring its content development skills online outside of HBO.com. 

The Hollywood Reporter reported today, citing unnamed sources, that This Just In will shut down in August.

Predating comedy portal FunnyorDie.com (launched in April with a number of Hollywood stars), “This Just In” was designed to be a home for original content, and something of a focus group for developing new material with the niche of comedy video.

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In 1983 Anheuser Busch paid Midway Games to make all the beers served in their popular game, Tapper, be labeled Budweiser’s.  Fast forward a few decades and now that curious sponsorship has become the forefather to one of the hottest segments in marketing: In Game Advertising.

A lot has changed in the decades since Midway’s Tapper.  Today, gaming consoles have internet connections and ads placed in the games, thanks to powerful graphics chips, need not be static or two dimensional.  Today, instead of a fixed poster in the background, or a product label on a beer bottle, a billboard in the background of a game can come alive with video and sound.    Today, the labels on a virtual NASCAR racing car can be sold to marketers for sponsorship just as they might have been on a real life race car.  Today, a three dimensional soda can is able to provide a virtual facsimile in the game of what exists in reality.

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With all the talk about the iPhone, it was almost easy to forget Apple’s product portfolio is one of the treasure chests of industry.  They make great returns on the entire iPod line.  They do a robust business with iTunes.  And of course, there’s the computer line which has a devoted, loyal fan base and a solid profit margin.

Today after the close of market, to the legions of Apple fans, and hungry investors anxious for a benchmark to measure performance of technology and consumer products, Apple announced their earnings for their fiscal third quarter.  The numbers were strong, and buried in the guidance there were hints of new products to come.

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Venture capital is often the oxygen that gives life to early stage startups.  It’s the money that funds research and development; the money that pays salaries before a company becomes cash flow positive.  Accordingly, metrics which show the performance of the venture industry are often a useful barometer for the rate of entrepreneurship and state of new industries, not to mention a broader indicator of economic optimism.

Earlier this week Ernst & Young and Dow Jones’ VentureOne released their summary survey of U.S. Venture Capital Investments through the second quarter of 2007.  The numbers were generally good.  They show investments continuing their rebound from their 2003 low point.

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Hearst Corporation is largely known for its collection of magazines and newspapers which includes titles ranging from Esquire and Cosmopolitan to O to the San Francisco Chronicle but the company is also one of the worlds largest diversified media companies.  In addition to its print properties, Hearst has vast media holdings including stakes in television channels, Television networks including ESPN and A&E Networks and significant Internet properties and investments.

Today, Hearst announced UGO Networks (aka Underground Online) will join the list.  UGO will be acquired by Hearst’s Interactive Media division.  While the division has been an active investor in a number of Internet properties (Brightcove, Pandora, iVillage) this will be one of its first outright purchases of a large property.

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The NPD Group released its monthly hardware sales data for June yesterday. As was also the case for May and April, sales for both consoles and software were strong showing month to month, as well as annual year over year, gains.

For hardware, sales was up 34% to $399m. Besting strong May numbers, Nintendo, with its attention to the user experience and effort to reach out to new gamers, again dominated both full–size and portable hardware categories. In June, Nintendo sold 562k DS units (compared to 423k in May) and 381.8k Wii’s (compared to 338k in May). The numbers for the Wii are especially impressive given the scarcity of supply and difficulty that still remains in obtaining one of the consoles.

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