Iran has launched its own video-sharing website to compete against Google's popular YouTube whose content is deemed inappropriate by the Islamic regime, the state television reported on Sunday.

The website (http://www.mehr.ir) called 'Mehr', meaning affection in Farsi, aims to attract Persian-speaking users and also promote Iranian culture, according to its About Us page.

The cartoony post-apocalyptic shoot-'em-up sequel "Borderlands 2" and the stealthy first-person game "Dishonored" were among the early winners at the Spike Video Game Awards on Friday.

"Borderlands 2" was picked as best shooter and multiplayer game, while "Dishonored" was awarded with the best action-adventure game trophy at the gaming extravaganza.

"The Walking Dead: The Game" took a bite out of the Spike Video Game Awards.

Telltale Games' interactive episodic series based on the zombie comic book franchise was selected as game of the year at Friday's extravaganza, which honors outstanding achievements in the video game industry over the past year.

Hundreds of people queued up at electronics shops across Japan Saturday as Nintendo released its new Wii U game console, hoping to reposition itself in a gaming market invaded by online social games.

About 100 people were waiting outside Bic Camera's flagship store in Tokyo's Ikebukuro commercial district before it opened at 8 am, with the number quickly swelling to several hundred, an Agence France Presse photographer said.

Emma McCluskey's classroom looks much like any other.

A verb chart, posters and pupils' work adorn the walls. The children lean over their desks, seven and eight-year-old brows furrowed in concentration.

A federal judge appeared ready to trim millions from a $1.05 billion jury verdict Apple Inc. won over Samsung Electronics this summer as she urged the top two smartphone companies to settle their myriad legal actions around the world.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said Thursday she would issue a series of rulings over the next several weeks resolving the many legal issues raised at the hearing Thursday. Samsung is seeking a new trial or a reduction of the verdict that resulted from a lawsuit Apple filed in 2011. Apple, on the other hand, urged the judge to add millions more to the award and permanently ban the U.S. sales of eight Samsung smartphone models a jury in August said illegally used Apple technology.

Justice Brian Leveson, who led the inquiry into Britain's phone-hacking scandal, said Friday the Internet's growth had complicated debate about mass media privacy, with no easy solution.

Leveson, who last month called for an independent media regulator in Britain, told a privacy symposium in Sydney that there was "an element of mob rule" in identifying people online, and said it was a difficult area to police.

A judge mulling whether to trim or overturn Apple's billion-dollar damages award against Samsung on Thursday called for a ceasefire in the ongoing patent war between the smartphone titans.

"I think it's time for global peace," U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh said after legal teams from Apple and Samsung dueled for hours over post-verdict motions in her courtroom in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose.

YouTube on Thursday announced it was taking to the skies with a deal to stream shows from some of its partners free to seat-back screens on Virgin America planes in the United States and Mexico.

Within two weeks, Virgin passengers will be able to tune into shows from five partners of the Google-owned video service including "H+ The Digital Series" from Warner Brothers, according to YouTube marketing manager Kate Berland.

Activision Blizzard said Wednesday that sales of its "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2" video game rocketed to the billion-dollar mark just 15 days after its release.

Sales of the game hit a billion dollars two days faster than 3-D film blockbuster "Avatar," which set a box office record after its release in 2009.