MTV Oy

In the wake of the financial meltdown, analysts slashed their 2009 forecasts for ad spending on "experimental" mediums—including campaigns in and around video games. But execs at the GamePower Conference @ CES said they're actually banking on an increase in ad spending this year, and here's their argument:

Viacom's Harmonix is breaking out of its annual development cycle for Rock Band this year to focus on the new Beatles' game due for holidays '09 and to avoid the limits that come along with cranking out new version, CEO Alex Rigopulos told attendees Billboard Digital Music Live this afternoon. "A lot of our creative energy this year is focused on the Beatles project," he explained, which makes a certain amount of sense given the high expectations for anything done in the name of the iconic group and the need for Harmonix to avoid being a one-trick pony.

—Tanking job market a boon for LinkedIn : While LinkedIn laid off some 10 percent of its staff in November, the financial crisis hasn't been all bad for the business-focused social network, USA Today reports.

Subscribe to Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Cable and have a kid with a Dora addiction? Get ready to pop in DVDs. Need your daily fix of The Daily Show?

—Departing Time exec's online/offline disappointment: Ed McCarrick, who leaves Time magazine after 35 years this week to go to Omnicom barter unit Icon International, tells AdAge's Nat Ives that one of his biggest disappointments was not being able to change advertisers' habits about selling beyond the paid subscription.

—Project Playlist seals deal with Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG :  So what can you do with a double-digit round of funding?

—Oprah Winfrey Network: Liz Dolan has signed on as CMO for OWN, effective January 2009. Most recently, she headed up marketing at NIKE and in 2001, created talk radio show "Satellite Sisters" with her four sisters. In her new capacity, Dolan will be responsible for all on-air, print, radio and online marketing.

—Imagine shutters N-Revolution gaming mag : UK-based magazine publisher Imagine is pulling the plug on N-Revolution, its Nintendo-focused title. But don't blame this one on the economy—Imagine is folding the mag because its core gamer target doesn't seem to be Nintendo's focus anymore. "[It] has become increasingly obvious that Nintendo's strategy for Wii and DS ...

Looking to ease its debt burden, GoFish, the OTCBB-traded kids media company, has raised $22.5 million in a private placement led by Panorama Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners and Rembrandt Venture Partners. Under the terms of the deal, GoFish's backers have an option to invest an additional $2.5 million over the next few weeks, on top of the $22.5 million. The investors will receive Series A Preferred Stock convertible at a per common share equivalent price of $0.20 per share and warrants to purchase common stock at that same price.

Back in the early dot-com days, Jokes.com was basically a site with a bunch of laugh lines—and perhaps not surprisingly, it failed to gain much traction. Now, with comedy a much bigger fixture on the Web, Comedy Central (a division of Viacom's MTVN (NYSE: VIA) Entertainment Group) is relaunching Jokes.com as a searchable hub for stand-up comedy.