GameStop Breaks Out of the Box by Increasing Digital Revenues 53 Percent in the First Quarter

It’s not only the game publishers and console-makers that are seeing a transition to digital. It’s also the retailers.

Groupon Slashes Real-Time Deals on Friday to $1 in Chicago

Groupon is serving up a dollar menu of deals in its hometown of Chicago for a 24-hour period on Friday as part of a promotion to launch its new real-time offers service.

Toronto's Fuse Powered Nabs $2 Million for Mobile Game Publishing

Fuse Powered has raised $2 million in seed funding from BlackBerry Partners Fund and NFQ Ventures, we have confirmed.

News Byte

PopCap Plans IPO for November as It Emphasizes Mobile and Social Games

Making good on its announced intentions, Seattle’s PopCap Games, a casual game maker known for titles like Bejeweled, confirmed it is preparing to go public as soon as November, according to a company spokesperson. Popcap has been busy recently beefing up its mobile and social game offerings, today launching the first social version of Plants vs. Zombies on the Chinese social networking site Renren. It also has released its first Android games via an exclusive in the Amazon Appstore.

Groupon Sees Half of All Sales Coming From Mobile in Two Years

Mobile, along with social and local, will be one of the largest drivers for Groupon’s deals business over the next few years.

HotelTonight Raises $3.25 Million for Last Minute Hotel-Booking App

San Francisco-based HotelTonight, which has an iPhone application that allows you to book last-minute hotel deals on the same day you are looking, has raised $3.25 million in a first round of funding.

Videogame Publishers Highlight Digital Revenues But Remain Divided on Meaning

Activision Blizzard joins a growing list of videogame publishers that are placing more emphasis on digital revenues over selling boxed games at retail. However, what’s becoming very clear is that the definition of digital is a moving target for all parties involved, a trend that will likely continue as companies continue to experiment with new business models and delivery mechanisms.

Demand CEO Richard Rosenblatt Talks Panda

Last week, after he turned in better-than-expected earnings and tried to explain to a worried Wall Street how the search algorithm changes at Google, called Panda, were significant but not devastating to his business, BoomTown had a short phone interview with Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt.

Visa is Coming to Mobile Next Week to be Everywhere You Want to Be

Visa is fulfilling its promise of being “everywhere you want to be,” beginning as soon as next week, when it plans to make an announcement regarding its mobile payments strategy.

Can Electronic Arts Really Become A Digital Gaming Powerhouse?

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello talked a big game Wednesday, telling analysts on its year-end conference call that the 29-year-old company is well on its way to a major transformation. But the big question is whether EA can turn the ship around when there are 8,000 employees on it who are used to doing business the old way.

Liveblogging Demand Media's Q1 Earnings: Perky Perfecting!

Today, after Demand Media beat Wall Street expectations, its cheerful execs got on the horn with investors to explain how it plans to beat the Panda. That would be the beastly name for Google’s rejiggering of its search algorithm, in order to rid search results of poor quality content. BoomTown liveblogged the event, of course.

EBay Hires Ex-Yahoo Exec Don Bradford to Head Up Social

Ebay has hired Don Bradford to fill a new position at the company in charge of leading its social commerce efforts.