Director Gore Verbinski is getting into the video game industry.

The helmer of such pictures as The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Rango has announced a deal with Microsoft, where his Blind Wink transmedia company will produce original interactive content for Microsoft platforms, including the Xbox 360, Windows Phone and Windows-based PCs.

The deal includes, but is not limited to, video games, the first of which will be released in late 2012. Microsoft says the title, which Wink is developing internally, will be made specifically for Kinect.

“Audiences consume content very differently today," said Verbinski.  "As an idea house, we at Blind Wink are looking forward to our partnership with Microsoft.  Their various platforms give us access to new methods of distribution, allowing us to extend into emerging markets and connect more directly with the audience." 

Disney was the first studio to fully integrate iOS systems with their films, but they're no longer the only filmmaker doing so.

The Weinstein Company and Technicolor have teamed up to utilize the tech company's MediaEcho application to supplement last year's Best Picture "The King's Speech" with historical footage, additional commentary and behind the scenes information.

Like Disney's SecondScreen tool, the app syncs with the BluRay version of the film, displaying relevant content at appropriate moments of the film.

"The key benefit of MediaEcho as a second screen application is to offer consumers content that is synchronized and relevant to what they are watching on the TV screen," said Lew Rothman, executive vice president of Operations and Chief Technology Officer at The Weinstein Company.

It's a one-off right now, but the companies plan to add the free app to other films moving forward. The service only works with BD-Live enabled players and you'll need an iPad as well. iPhones and iPod Touches lack the necessary screen space to fully support the content.

Fox, too, jumped on the Second Screen movement earlier this year with its Sons of Anarchy app , only instead of using it as a place to highlight "extras," it focused on capitalization.  "SOA Gear," will enable viewers of the current season and the third-season Blu-ray to purchase products that appear during episodes.

The Kindle Fire is on the way to customers – and with it, Amazon's hoping to revolutionize the tablet business.

The $199 entertainment-focused device is actually shipping a day earlier than planned, as Amazon looks to build on the substantial buzz the Kindle Fire has generated since it was first announced. The company also plans to ship the Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G eReaders tomorrow – six days ahead of schedule.

The Kindle Fire is considered the tablet most likely to give Apple's iPad a run for its money, due in large part to its affordable price. Amazon's taking a razor and razor blades sales model with it, keeping hardware costs low but reaping the benefits of that by controlling the content that runs on the device.

Technically an Android tablet – and, thus, able to run most of the offerings in the Android Marketplace, the Kindle Fire is focusing on mainstream entertainment, specifically movies, television, books, magazines and music – all sold through Amazon.

Reviews have been mixed, at best. (Variety has not yet received a review unit of the device.) But with the buzz and the holiday rush underway, those negative comments aren't likely to substantially affect sales.

It's rare that a company is this candid about one of its products.

Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca, in an earnings conference call with investors this week, dubbed the company's Google TV set top box – officially called the Logitech Revue – "a big mistake" and said the company had no plans to build future versions of the product.

"We expected everybody to line up for Christmas and buy these boxes [at] $300," he said. "That was a big mistake."

De Luca, who wasn't running the company at the time, says Logitech "executed a full scale launch with a beta product and it cost us dearly." Combined with other missteps, he estimates the company lost $100 million due to operational miscues.

Not all of his comments were quite so harsh. De Luca said Google TV was, in fact, a "great concept" and he believed the success of it or a descendant is "inevitable", but the company would not be building a successor to the Revue.

Nintendo, which shied away from offering multimedia devices until long after its competitors, is getting more serious about video streaming.

The company has announced that its 3DS handheld system and the Wii will add Hulu Plus to their options before the end of the year. (No exact date was announced.)

The Wii is already the single biggest source for Netflix video streams, so the addition of a new service makes sense – and could be a big boost for Hulu, which has struggled to attract customers to its $7.99 per month premium service (in part because users still must watch ads with their shows after paying the subscription fee).

The addition also gives the 3DS a leg up on the forthcoming PlayStation Vita, which has yet to announce any third –party streaming services.

Meanwhile, Nintendo also announced it would enable 3D video recording on the 3DS starting late next month. The device can already be used as a 3D camera, but with the system update, users will be able to record stereoscopic 3D videos of up to 10 minutes. They'll only be able to play them back on the 3DS, however – not any other 3D capable device.

Less than three months after formally bursting onto the scene in the United States, streaming music service Spotify has established an impressive foothold.

Reuters reports the company has signed up more than 250,000 paying customers here since its launch. The company revealed last month that its worldwide paying customer base has topped 2 million.

Spotify has not commented on the numbers.

The growth can partially be attributed to the pend up demand for Spotify in recent years. The company built a sterling reputation in Europe, which had US audiences craving it, so an initial burst of registrations wasn't surprising.

Things went into overdrive, though, when Facebook brought the company on stage at its f8 conference this year to showcase its new app structure that will allow users to share content. That put Spotify front and center among the social network's 800 million users. Today, the service is being used by almost 7 million Facebook users.

Launched in 2006, Spotify offers both a free as-supported service as well as the ad-free premium service, which can also be used on mobile devices. The service has a catalog of roughly 13 million songs, adding as many as 10,000 per day.

The continuing customer backlash at Netflix is taking on staggering proportions. The company (whose stock, by the way, is down another 7 percent in trading this morning) has lost a quarter of its value in the past month.

Things don't look to be slowing down, either – and competitors are viewing that as a golden opportunity to swoop in and steal some of those disgruntled customers.

Leading that pack is Blockbuster, which has called a press conference for Friday where it says it will unveil "the most comprehensive home entertainment package ever." That's corporate hyperbole at its best, of course, but the upshot appears to be the Blockbuster streaming service is about to become official.

The Dish Network property has been expected to jump into the streaming market for a while now – but has played its cards close to its vest. There have been rumors, though, that it might be offered free to Dish Network subscribers. Other whispers indicate it will include content from Starz, whose current relationship with Netflix is set to end on Feb. 28.

And just to ensure it reaches as many people as possible with its news, Blockbuster plans to stream its announcement online via Ustream.

Netflix saw its problems begin in July, when it announced plans to separate subscription fees for its streaming and DVD rental service, effectively raising the rates for people who subscribed to both by 60 percent. That resulted in the company being forced to lower third-quarter subscription estimates by 1 million.

Late Sunday, it angered people again by announcing plans to separate its streaming and rental-by-mail businesses into separate divisions, eliminating much of the convenience the site has been famous for. Starting in a few weeks, the DVD delivery service will be called Qwikster.

Couldn't get a ticket to this weekend's iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas? That doesn't mean you can't watch it.

The Clear Channel-sponsored mega-concert will be streamed in high definition exclusively on Microsoft's Xbox 360, giving gamers (and their families) the chance to see the acts perform live.

The concerts, which will feature Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Coldplay, Kenny Chesney, The Black Eyed Peas, Steven Tyler, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Bruno Mars, Kelly, Usher, Sting and Jeff Beck (among others), will take place this Friday and Saturday. Tickets to the show sold out in 10 minutes.

The concert will also be audio streamed.

“This partnership with Xbox 360 means that those who cannot be in Las Vegas in person will have the opportunity to experience the event as well through an HD video stream exclusively on Xbox LIVE,” said John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel.

The collection of big apps is meant to promote the company's iHeartRadio app, which is designed to take back audience from services like Pandora and Spotify by offering easy access to over 800 terrestrial and digital-only stations via the iPod and iPhone.

The FTC wants to make changes to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) that could have a significant impact on the entertainment industry.

The Commission has proposed several amendments to the privacy rules that are meant to protect kids under 13, the most notable of which is adding geolocation information to the definition of personal information.

This would include tracking cookies that are used for behavioral advertising (based on other Web vists). The agency says the updates are "intended to ensure that key information will be presented to parents in a succinct 'just-in-time' notice, and not just in a privacy policy."

The goal, according to the FTC, is to find a balance between keeping kids safe and not overly burdening companies in this era of rapid technological changes.

Video game publishers are certain to be affected by this, especially those who make iPhone games. With the game violence issue settled by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, attorneys have noted that online would likely be the next potential trouble spot.

"I think the next big thing on the horizon is privacy and security," says Greg Boyd, an associate specializing in entertainment, media and publishing with the law firm Davis & Gilbert. "I think you can take a look at what's recently happened in the game industry with the hack attacks and we're going to have to pay a lot more attention to that moving forward. … Children are our most sensitive area."

In May, Disney-owned Playdom paid $3 million to settle charges it had violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The company was accused of illegally collecting and disclosing personal information from hundreds of thousands of children under age 13 without their parents’ prior consent.

"It's less about the content in the online environment as it is in fair warning and fees," adds Michael Zolandz, partner at SNR Denton. "I think that's the big issue in the commission's context. It's not so much what children are able to access. It's hidden fees or circumstances where it's a free download that then smacks you with hundred of dollars in add-ons."

Film and television companies should be equally aware of the changes, though, as more and more children are watching programming online. And the preponderance of using Facebook and apps to promote shows and engage viewers is exactly the sort of thing the FTC will be keeping an eye on.

Facebook's a great way to waste 10-15 minutes. You can catch up with friends. You can let everyone know about the mundane details of your day. And you can learn more about your favorite brands and entertainment content.

Unfortunately, that 10-15 minutes often ends up being a lot longer per day – and, as a result, social media has grown into a viable threat to entertainment companies who are alredy fighting for viewers' attention..

A new Nielsen study finds that Americans spend more time on Facebook than anywhere else on the Web. While there's no real surprise there, the sheer volume of time people are spending is staggering.

In May 2011, we spent 53.5 billion minutes on the site. In other words, in one month, people spent the equivalent of over 101,000 years reading status updates and looking at photos.

Put another way, Facebook's dwell time is higher than that of Yahoo!, Google, all of the AOL sites and all of the MSN/Bing sites put together – with nearly 3 billion minutes to spare.

That's why more studios are looking to monetize that audience. Warner Bros. began offering movie rentals through Facebook in March. Now Miramax is jumping on that bandwagon, utilizing the Ooyala social service, allowing people to chat about the movies with others as they watch.

Facebook (and other, smaller social networks) present an attractive potential audience for video on demand – and an additional revenue stream. So far, though, the experiments have focused on older catalog releases. What many people want to know, though, is when a studio will be willing to try streaming a new home release on the site.

Social networks also present an opportunity. Ooyala's tech lets studios arrange private film streamings/screenings, which could be a low-cost way to run focus groups for trailers or test bonus content for DVD/Blu-Ray.

Facebook represents a wide open world for the entertainment industry. The question is: Who will learn to capitalize on it first?