Round Up: FFXII Sales, FUN Games Pres. RealNetworks Q3

Today's round-up includes news of Final Fantasy XII selling 1.5 million units in North America, Peter Blacklow named as the president of FUN Games, and RealNetworks' third quarter financial results, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source posts, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - Square Enix announced today that it has shipped 1.5 million copies of its PlayStation 2 role-playing epic Final Fantasy XII since its stateside release on October 31, 2006, setting a sales record for the company. The game has already sold more than 2.4 million units in Japan since its release on March 16, 2006, and has been lauded with numerous awards from around the gaming industry. In addition, Square Enix also honored the title itself with a celebration in Times Square on October 11, 2006 to commemorate the game's release. - Representatives from casual gaming publisher FUN Technologies announced that Peter Blacklow has been appointed to the newly created post of president of the company's FUN Games division, reporting to Lorne Abony, CEO. In this role, Blacklow will be responsible for expanding on the company’s aggressive growth strategy, and will manage day-to-day-operations at FUN Games’ SkillJam and WorldWinner subsidiaries. In addition, Blacklow will oversee overall consumer business development, increasing revenue from its consumer advertising stream and expanding the company’s cash competition business. Blacklow was formerly chief marketing officer and vice president of WorldWinner, responsible for managing the consumer experience, including driving player acquisition and retention. - RealNetworks, a provider of streaming video and audio codecs, has announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2006. During the period, the company reported record revenue of $93.7 million, up 14 percent from the previous year's $82.2 million. In addition, RealNetworks also saw profit of $42.2 million, compared to $11.2 million during the same period last year. The company's game's division specifically, which has RealArcade as its main distribution point, saw revenue of $22.5 million, a 53 percent increase over the third quarter of 2005. The division both distributes casual PC games from third parties such as Bejeweled developer PopCap, and develops/distributes its own game titles through its GameHouse and Mr. Goodliving development divisions. A particular differentiating factor is its GamePass system, which offers one game every month for a $6.95 subscription fee, and discounts on buying other games. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include a look at classic puzzle title Sokoban, news of Konami's Winning Eleven-themed Nintendo DS Lite, and a look at the rather obscure Short Warp for the 3D0 game console. - The latest updates from Gamasutra sister website Serious Games Source include a serious games development partnership between Exis Interactive and defense contractor General Dynamics. - The latest updates from Gamasutra sister website Game Career Guide include a feature covering the attraction of virtual game environments and the release of the Game Developer's Open Source Handbook. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Pandemic Studios and Creat Studios.