According to VentureDeal, during the first half of calendar 2010, 21 venture capital-backed U.S. technology companies went public, raising a total of $1.9 billion in gross offering proceeds.

The study said Internet sector IPO activity was at a low ebb, with ReachLocal (NASDAQ: RLOC) being the only IPO during the six-month period. ReachLocal helps small and medium businesses attract customers via online search and yellow page offerings. The company raised $54 million in its IPO on May 20 and was backed by venture capital firms such as Rho Ventures, Galleon Group and VantagePoint Venture Partners. The company said the net proceeds from the offering will be used to fund working capital, general corporate purposes and to potentially acquire complementary technologies.

Square Enix said that it has teamed with Ankama and will release the free-to-play MMORPG WAKFU for Windows PC in North America. Featuring turn-based, tactical combat, players will choose from 12 character classes in the anime-style world of WAKFU.

Blizzard Entertainment said that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty has sold over 3 million copies worldwide in the first month of its release, claiming the gme is the bestselling PC game of 2010 and the fastest-selling real-time strategy game of all time.

Miniclip.com is accelerating its mobile gaming business with the establishment of a new dedicated smartphone division. With an audience of more than 57 million casual gamers worldwide and a library of more than 600 online games, Miniclip’s newly formed smartphone games division, led by former Skype manager António Sérgio Varanda, will develop, publish and distribute online casual games for mobile operating systems.

According to comScore for the month of July 2010, Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in July with 178 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 174 million and Microsoft Sites with 165 million. The Mozilla Organization jumped 10 positions in the ranking with 35.1 million visitors, while The Washington Post Company climbed 5 spots to 27.7 million visitors.  

Launching in close to 600 Best Buy stores this week, with additional stores to soon follow, the new Best Buy Trade-In program offers customers an opportunity to sell pre-owned video games.

Customers who trade-in their games beginning this Sunday, August 29, will receive a $20 Best Buy Gift Card on more than 100 popular titles. Best Buy will continue to offer a similar program online at BestBuy.com that enables customers to get estimates for their games, mail them in for free and receive a Best Buy Gift Card 7-14 days later. Trade-In prices in-store will match the prices shown online. This would put Best Buy in competition with GameStop and its popular trade-in and used video game business.

The9's (NCTY) net revenues for the first quarter of 2010 increased by 6% quarter- over-quarter but decreased by 95% year-over-year to RMB22.1 million (US$3.3 million). Net loss for the first quarter of 2010 decreased by 63% quarter-over- quarter but increased by 62% year-over-year to RMB75.8 million (US$11.2 million).

PocketGear, which claims to be the world's largest open app store and content marketplace, today announced the closing of its $15 Million Series B funding, led by Trident Capital with participation from BlackBerry Partners Fund. PocketGear will use the funding to scale technical operations, build out its sales and marketing team and expand its global reach.