The9 Limited (Nasdaq: NCTY) picked up the license to operate Kingdom Heroes 2 Online, a 3D massively multiplayer online role- playing game (MMORPG), in mainland China from UserJoy. Kingdom Heroes 2 Online is a 3D Fantasy MMORPG set to be released in 2010.

China has more than 338 million Internet users as of June 2009 for a 25% penetration rate, according to government agency CNNIC. The number of users is an increase of 13% compared to the end of 2008. Approximately 155 million people used their mobile phones to access the Internet.

US online games site, showed a significant increase in the size of its audience during the past year as consumers increasingly opt for cheaper entertainment alternatives, driven in part by the recession. The category attracted 87 million U.S. visitors in May 2009, up 22 percent versus year ago, according to data from comScore.

NetDragon Websoft announced that the beta test version of the 2.5D MMORPG Heroes of Might and Magic Online: Gold Edition will be officially launched at 15:00 (China Standard Time) on July 8th.

Mr. Liu Dejian, Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon, commented: "The Gold Edition not only preserves the style of Ubisoft's original Heroes III title, but also introduces unique Chinese elements."

Match.com, an online dating site which is part of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire People Media, an operator of targeted dating sites, from American Capital Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS), funds affiliated with American Capital and other investors.

Nickelodeon's AddictingGames, a free online games website, will extend to the iPhone this July with the launch of several games and a cross-promotion publishing network for iPhone game developers called the AddictingGames iNetwork.

Global Gaming Factory, a Swedish gaming software company, on Tuesday said it will agree to purchase Pirate Bay for an estimated $7.7 million. Pirate Bay is a file sharing website, whose owners were sentenced to a year in jail in April 2009 for distributing illegal content such as music and games.

CDC Games, a business unit of CDC Corporation (NASDAQ: CHINA)  announced today that it expects to launch The Lord of the Rings Online in China during the second half of 2009. The Lord of the Rings Online is currently offered in North America, Europe, Russia and South Korea.

Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, today completed the roll-out of the “Call to Arms” live expansion for the  Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) community. 

THQ (NASDAQ: THQI)  announced a reorganization of the company’s management team and business units. THQ has formed three new business units: 1) Core Games; 2) Kids, Family and Casual Games; and 3) Online, and has promoted key executives to manage each of these units. Each unit manager will report directly to THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell.