Round-up: Online Estimates, Madagascar Madness, Wild Earth Signed

Today's wrap-up includes news on predictions for burgeoning North American game revenues, good news for Activision's Madagascar game adaptation, and the signing of a former IGF winner for PC retail release later this year, as well as the latest product news and job postings. - A new PricewaterhouseCoopers report is estimating that the number of online video game subscribers in North America will reach 28.5 million by 2009, and by then, 46% of households with a broadband Internet connection will have an online video game subscriber. The survey revealed 4.4 million online game subscribers, presumably including both casual and MMO-styled subscriptions, in 2004, and noted revenues of $647 million last year, a figure which is estimated to climb to $3.7 billion by 2009. - Activision has announced that it has already shipped in excess of one million units worldwide for its most recent release, DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar: The Game. The title, based on the recently-debuting, Ali G co-starring feature film, was released in the U.S. on May 24, and was created by recently Activision-acquired veteran developer Toys For Bob, which previously created well-received kids' game Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure for the company. - European-headquartered publisher Digital Jesters has announced that it will be publishing Super X Studios' 2003 Independent Games Festival winner Wild Earth, a photographic game based around a worldwide safari, worldwide for PC this November, good news for the product which was originally translated to a theme park motion ride after its victory at the IGF. - Also updated today: product news including an update to OpenGL profiler gDEBugger, and a 64-bit stand-alone version of Alias' Mental Ray, as well as the latest job postings from companies including ATI Technologies, Bethesda Softworks, Datascope Recruitment, Electronic Arts Tiburon, Emergent Game Technologies, Gameloft, and Mythic Entertainment.