Disney buys Playdom

The Walt Disney company is buying online social-gaming company Playdom for $563.2 million, the latest sign the company is becoming a formidable player in the video-game industry, writes HeraldNet.

Disney said it is buying Playdom to strengthen its digital gaming portfolio. The purchase will help bring Disney's characters, stories and brands to customers in original ways, through Facebook and MySpace.

Playdom, which is based in Mountain View, California, has about 42 million monthly active users, who play games such as Social City and Sorority Life.

Video game retailer GameStop has acquired Kongregate, a social gaming destination and community, says PC Mag.

Kongregate will become a wholly owned subsidiary of GameStop and retain its current offices in San Francisco. Co-founders Jim and Emily Greer will continue to run the company. GameStop said the purchase will strengthen its digital platform and its "commitment to becoming the gaming aggregator of choice."

"Kongregate advances GameStop's digital strategy by providing a gaming platform for casual, mobile and browser games that can be promoted and played by our existing gamers," says Paul Raines, chief executive of GameStop.

Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications has cut off overnight public Internet access in businesses and banned advertisements of online games, reports CNN

This is part of the pending new regulations amid a public outcry over the games' influence on youth, the state-run news agency reported.The move also temporarily stopped the licensing of online games. Vietnamese officials say it would remain in effect until the end of the year.

Government officials said they hope to crack down on games with violent, gambling and pornographic content and rate the games, according to VietNam News.