Guitar Hero IV Adds Drums, Vocals, Create A Song

"Pitfall is one of the most legendary franchises in the history of videogames, so we look forward to releasing a new version exclusively for Wii," said Dave Oxford, Activision Publishing. "What could be more fun than using the Wii Remote™ to swing on a vine over blood thirsty crocodiles as retro-cool Pitfall Harry?!"

Sources tell us that the upcoming Call of Duty 5 game in development is already playable, and currently going through quality assurance.

Treyarch is also said to be the developer, and the title, we're told, is set in a WWII Pacific environment and will be using Call of Duty 4's engine, the same engine on which the upcoming James Bond: Quantum of Solace movie game is being built.

Yesterday, on the company's call to investors, Activision publishing CEO Mike Griffith said CoD5 would be coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and DS, in addition to a return for the franchise to PS2 and Wii for the first time in two years.

During the company's call to investors yesterday, Activision publishing CEO Mike Griffith revealed big plans for the next installment in the Call of Duty franchise, which helped drive the company to a record $2.90 billion in revenue on the year.

"We'll bring the intensity of the recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare title to a new military theater," Griffith said, adding that CoD4's success "doubled" the franchise's user base.

Goodbye, Project Gotham Racing 4, You Will Be Missed

Ben Heck's Guitar Hero Pedal

Activision Says Relax! No Industry Slowdown Coming

The video-game market fundamentals have never been stronger. There's no evidence that this growth will slow... A lot of this growth is coming from consumers who are experiencing video games for the first time.

Activision Announces Record Billion-Dollar Growth In "Breakthrough" Fiscal 08

Activision saw a record $2.90 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ending March 2008, the publisher announced today - $602.5 million was in the fourth quarter alone, as compared to $312.5 million during the same period last year.

Strong worldwide sales for Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero III and Spider-Man 3 drove the considerable growth, supported by Transformers: The Game and Shrek The Third. NPD data also shows that GHIII was the year's best-selling game in the U.S. and Europe in dollars during the year, while CoD4 was the number two worldwide best-seller in Europe, and the number one highest-earning PC title worldwide. Both franchises have surpassed a billion dollars in sales since launch.

It was the most profitable fourth quarter ever for Activision, even though the publisher did not release any new titles during that period. With its overall growth outpacing the rest of the market by more than four times, the company is now the number one console and handheld software publisher in dollars, according to NPD Group data.

Maybe you've noticed, maybe you haven't, but it seems Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has been taking quite a few little digs at its fellow giant Electronic Arts these days — perhaps coincidentally, the same digs many of you have been taking at EA in the comments of my recent stories on the company's bid to purchase Take-Two.

On his Level Up blog, Newsweek's N'Gai Croal decided to go right to EA's Jeff Brown and see what the company had to say in its own defense. The logo you see here is Level Up's own design for the EA Empire — think they should adopt it officially?

Industry Insiders Discuss ESA, E3's Future

What's the fate of E3, and of the Entertainment Software Association? It's worth examining in light of recent events. This morning we broke the news that two major publishers, Activision and Vivendi, have decided to take a pass on the event and exit the trade association, while other companies have withdrawn their E3 attendance as well. At the same time, the ESA appears to be facing stirrings of industry discontent with the ESA's leadership, namely its current president, Mike Gallagher.

E3 is not the boon to publishers that it once was, says Penny Arcade's director of business development Robert Khoo, who as the organizer of the PAX fan expo clearly has an interest, to say the least, in how things turn out.

"The reason that E3 imploded in recent years was because the publishers felt that it turned into this sort of pissing contest between them... where they were trying to figure out who could one-up each other," Khoo said. "They all thought to themselves that it just wasn't worth it."

ESA Confirms Activision/Vivendi Departure

The Entertainment Software Association told Kotaku today that both Activision and Vivendi are no longer a part of the industry trade organization, confirming a rumor we broke earlier this morning.

"While the Entertainment Software Association remains the preeminent voice for U.S. computer and video game publishers, we can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry's objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry. Our high level of service and value to members and the larger industry remains unchanged."

- Rich Taylor, Senior Vice President of Communications and Research, Entertainment Software Association

This comes a day after it was noted that Activision and a number of other notable publishers were not listed as showing at the industry's big conference.

Neither Activision nor Vivendi have responded to requests for comment. More as this breaking story unfolds.

Guitar Hero III Revisits Its Muse

Activision and Vivendi Break From ESA

Yesterday word broke that Activision was one of what might be several companies not attending this year's E3 Media and Business Summit. Today I've heard that neither Activision nor Vivendi will be attending the annual conference and are in fact no longer members of the association.

We have contacted the ESA, Activison and Vivendi for comment and will update the second we hear back.

In 2006 the association announced they would be reworking the annual E3 conference after publishers complained about the expense and focus of the event. Last year it was reworked and made smaller, cutting down on the number of press and publishers allowed to attend and held in Santa Monica rather than Los Angeles. This year the event is moving back to the LA convention center but keeping the smaller, more intimate format.

Activision Sitting Out E3 "For Business Reasons" This Year

Today marks the 25th 35th (oops) anniversary of me popping out of my mother's uterus, and to celebrate, Activision has released a playable demo of the game of the movie Kung Fu Panda for me to play! The 810MB demo features the Jack Black-voiced panda Po taking on the evil forces of the snow leopard Tai Lung. According to Larry Hryb's website, the demo is only available in the US and Canada currently, with other regions getting it closer to the film's release. Kung Fu Panda is due out in theaters in early June in the states, so either they are supremely confident about the quality of the title or figure kids might need something else to play in between bouts of jacking cars and stabbing hookers. Thanks Activision!

Demo: Kung Fu Panda [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

Good news! The US economy is going in the toilet, and we may get cheaper game consoles because of it!! Says Activision CEO Bobby "Robert" Kotick:

With the rising costs of fuel and food and housing, it is more difficult to go out and buy a $399 console, and I think it's going to put pressure on the console manufacturers to reduce their prices.

Kotick is a regular ol' quote machine! Opinions? He's got 'em.
Game Console Prices May Be Cut [Reuters]

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Oozes Muppet Ugly

Activision released the tracklist for its DS title Guitar Hero: On Tour. It's more than 25 songs, though the tracklist only includes 15 of them. Hit the jump for the list: