World's most valuable game IP just became even more valuable

It's been less than three weeks since Activision's "Call of Duty: Black Ops" went on sale. The game quickly broke entertainment sales records, with worldwide revenue of US$650 million during its first five days in stores. The game's online component is wildly popular, with hundreds of thousands of players simultaneously logged in to battle each other, and is creating some big numbers of its own.

Nintendo’s deal with major online merchant sites to stop selling R4 chips has done little to dampen the rampant piracy of games on the company’s handheld console.

Last week, Activision-Blizzard released a new in-game item for its mega-hit MMO, World of Warcraft. This time out, it was the Celestial Mount and it was the first "usable" virtual pet that the company has sold (your character can ride it). They priced it at a whopping $25.