Sierra Online recently announced that they've drafted some of the hottest hip-hop artists to provide phat sounds to their upcoming JC Entertainment-developed basketball sim game for the PC, FreeStyle Street Basketball.

Some of these artists include Young Hot Rod, Sha Money XL, and G-Unit's Lloyd Banks, who has been tasked to create the official theme song for the game and whose debut album has sold more than three million copies. Lloyd Banks says,

I jumped at the chance to create an exclusive song for FreeStyle Street Basketball, especially since hip-hop has always been relevant in the street basketball culture. I'm always playing video games so to have the opportunity to record the theme song for a game is crazy.

Good thing we didn't have to bleep any of the words there, huh? Harhar. So anyway, just in case you've never heard of the game, it's an MMO game that allows players to go on 1-on-1, 2-on-2, or 3-on-3 street basketball battles and currently has more than 30 million players in Asia.

When asked about the reasons behind the selection of the game's soundtrack artists, Sierra Online President Ed Zobrist said, "G-Unit artists embody the spirit of street basketball so Lloyd Banks, Young Hot Rod, and Sha Money XL are a perfect fit for FreeStyle Street Basketball.We are excited to combine great artists with great gameplay." Interested parties can now download the Game Client for FreeStyle Street Basketball by hitting the read link below.

Vivendi SA (formerly known as Vivendi Universal), the media conglomerate behind major developers like Blizzard and Sierra Entertainment, is announcing the addition of a new studio to their growing family. Wanako Games - one of the larger studios in Latin America - has just been acquired, and will now be working under Sierra Entertainment to help further develop their growing crop of online games.

"The combination of Wanako's development experience, creativity and technical capabilities will contribute greatly to our presence as a leading publisher of console download online games," said Sierra Online president Ed Zobrist. Wanako and Sierra will be best remembered for their team-up in the highly successful Assault Heroes title for the Xbox Live Arcade, with Wanako expected to release 3D Ultra Mini-golf Adventures soon.

In line with the acquisition, Wanako president/founder Esteban Sosnik will head the newly formed Sierra Online branch in Latin America. "We are very excited to join a visionary group like Sierra Online who is focused on bringing truly entertaining and innovative online games to a mass market," said Esteban regarding the deal.

When Vivendi Games dismissed rumors about the existence of a Battlestar Galactica MMO, fans were like "Come on, we want that game!" We know exactly how you feel so this bit of news should cheer you up.

Vivendi is in fact doing a game inspired by the hit TV series and it is coming out on Xbox Live Arcade as well as Windows PC. After a lot of guessing on the part of the fans, Ed Zobrist, President of Sierra Online (a division of Vivendi Games), finally made it official:

We're huge fans of "Battlestar Galactica"and are thrilled to have the opportunity to create a game inspired by the TV series. NBC Universal is working closely with us so that players will be able immerse themselves in the "Battlestar Galactica" universe and re-live their favorite missions from the TV series.

While Battlestar Galactica won't come out before Fall of 2007, fans can now have a glimpse of the game by downloading Gamer Pics and Themepacks at the Marketplace. Lastly, details about the game are still scarce as of now, but Sierra mentioned that developer Auran Games implemented both single and multiplayer modes.

Also, players can take part in intense space battles as a pilot for either the humans or Cyclons. We also heard that legendary ships from the television show will be featured on the game as well. Legendary, eh? Which ships would those be?