Looks like Google’s plans 
to take its movie rental service on the road are about to get rolling.
The Android App marketplace briefly offered a Google-branded movie rental app for a short period last Friday, according to published reports. It was yanked quickly, but that still seemingly indicates an imminent widespread release.
At long last, Zynga has 
confirmed its plans to go public.
The company on Friday filed an S-1 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission, announcing plans to raise $1 billion through publicly traded shares. That wasn’t the interesting part, though. The really fascinating stuff was in the details.
The just-started NBA 
lockout is already having far-reaching effects.
Beyond what players, coaches and team owners are going through (and, of course, fans of live games), the television industry is scrambling to find ways to fill the possible holes in their schedule. Meanwhile, video game companies are trying to determine the ramifications for some of their biggest franchises, while NBA.com webmasters have had a busy few days. Let’s break it down by industry.
While the company hasn’t confirmed 
any of the whispers, everyone on Wall St. knows the Zynga IPO is coming soon.
Several news outlets this week postulated the filing could come on Wednesday, but that deadline (like so many before it) came and went. What’s taking so long?
Sony’s rearranging the executive 
structure of its PlayStation branch. Kaz Hirai, who holds the title of president and CEO, is stepping away from the group to widen his focus on the company as a whole.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe chief Andrew House will take over those roles. (Hirai will remain involved as chairman of the group.) The switch takes place Sept. 1.
David Maisel, the former chairman and 
executive vice president of Marvel Comic’s entertainment arm, is joining the Angry Birds.
Maisel is the latest hire at Rovio, which is looking to expand its hit iPhone game into several new fields, including television and film. And given Maisel’s executive producer credits on “Iron Man” (and its sequel), “Thor,” “Captain America” and “The Incredible Hulk,” it seems to be getting more serious about film.
Monday’s ruling that video games are 
protected under the First Amendment was the culmination of a long fight. And the victory was clearly a solid one for the industry.
But in reading through the 90-plus page decision and dissenting opinions, there are some interesting arguments – both for the industry’s rights and those of parents. Much like the oral arguments of last November, Justices were split on the possible differences in interactive and passive forms of entertainment and the First Amendment issues at hand.
Google has long since moved past its roots 
as a company focusing on Internet search, but in the past month or so, it has been demonstrating an increasing interest in the world of entertainment – raising some questions about its end game.
In mid-May, it launched the Google Music cloud storage system and a month earlier, reports suggested it YouTube arm was looking to add up to 20 ‘channels’ of original, professionally produced content, which will fill between 5-10 hours per week. Now it has the games industry in its sites.
Amazon is ramping up 
its fight against Netflix.
The online retailer, which lets members of its Amazon Prime service stream over 5,000 films and television shows, has added another 1,000 offerings to the mix – and is prominently letting users know that on its front page today.
The sky is getting pretty 
crowded these days.
The already competitive cloud music space has another competitor stepping into the fray. Best Buy today unveiled plans for its own service, letting people access their digital music collection from virtually anywhere.
Chris Morris: Journalist 