Roundup: Summer is hot for gaming, Google plays Jedi mind tricks with ads, Xbox keeps Netflix to itself and more

Here’s the latest action:

June sizzled for video game sales — According to Nielsen data, June was a banner month for the video game industry, with total console usage spiking 21 percent up from the last year and the average gamer playing 768 minutes. The report marked some other trends, as well. Namely, that games are now appealing to older demographics, with over-18-year-olds accounting for over half of gameplay in the U.S. The two front-runners for June were the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 2 … although Xbox is inching ahead by a nose.

Delicious founder threads Twitter exchanges — To little fanfare, Delicious creator Joshua Schachter has launched a new service, A Tiny Thread, that culls exchanges between Twitter users and organizes them in threads, much like Gmail interactions. The service even lets you comment on old tweets in a thread. You can view your threads on a separate site, and all tweets involved in a thread will be broadcast on your Twitter profile page as usual.

Facebook introduces new inboxes and notifications — Facebook announced today that it is allowing developers (through a new application programming interface) to create iterations of the site’s message inbox and real-time notifications on other applications. For example, one application could allow users to be notified of new messages or view new messages from their desktops. Facebook itself says it will be adding new inbox features in coming months.

Google switches up search ad format — Today, Google made the subtlest of changes to its search ad format, but the results look stunningly different. All of the text ads that usually run down the right-hand side of any search results page have been moved in slightly to the left — in other words much closer to actual search results. Not only are they more salient (and clickable) for users, but they’re apparently also pegged to certain search results for more coherence. TechCrunch reports that Google is experimenting with different formats to see what is most helpful for users — incidentally, what’s most helpful might also be most profitable.

Apple building social networking application? — iTunes 9 may give Apple an elegant entree into the social networking scene. The application being developed separately from the iTunes update has been compared to Yahoo’s OneConnect, an application that consolidates all of an individual’s social networking presences. Of course it will have a musical bent, allowing you to broadcast whatever music you are listening to to your friends, share over a broader network and discover new music via your friends’ friends. No evidence has been seen of this becoming a reality quite yet, but the rumors are gaining momentum.

Xbox nabs exclusive Netflix deal — Microsoft announced today that it has made its partnership with Netflix Watch Instantly exclusive, blocking competitors like the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii from ever offering the service. This is a major boon for Microsoft and its console as Netflix’s streaming video service continues to gain popularity and beat out competition from other streaming video devices offered by companies like Roku.