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.

Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack Hits PS3 Thursday

Call Of Duty 4 Sells 9 Million

CoD4 PS3 DLC DAT(ed)

Activision: Army Of Two, R6: Vegas 2 Fail

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the shit. This is the gist of Activision marketing director David Tyler's recent comments in UK trade mag MCV, where he called out recent EA and Ubisoft shooters for failing to catch the hearts of gamers around the world.

"We're pleased to have Call of Duty 4 leading the way in the FPS genre, with recent launches such as Army of Two and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 failing to inspire. Call of Duty 4 has been a phenomenal success for us and reflects Activision's commitment to creating truly ground-breaking games."

Activision: Vegas, Army of Two "failing to inspire" [CVG]

Do Gaming Skills Develop Like Other Childhood Skills?

Brandon Erickson at Gamecritics puts forth an interesting question. Is there a "critical period" in children for learning video game skills, the same as there is for language? It doesn't preclude the learning of languages, or the innate hand-eye coordination specific to video games, later in life, but it may explain why younger kids who grow up using controllers second nature will, depending on the game, always whip the ass of an adult who learned on that stupid Colecovision phone-looking thing.

PS3 Call Of Duty 4 Maps Inbound

Call of Duty 4 Map Pack Montage

This is a great way to prep for the Call of Duty 4 map pack set to hit later this week. I'm going to have to go get in some more COD time, I've been really slack lately.

Game Guns Are Fun Guns, Not Real Guns

"I take these weapons, and look at what defines them, or what people think defines them. For an Uzi, people think it fires lots of bullets, and it's really inaccurate." That, he knows, has nothing to do with reality—if anything, Uzis are considered some of the most reliable and accurate submachine guns around. But the 80s (and Miami Vice in particular) offered us the Uzi as a low-life villain's weapon, spit-fire and out-of-control. "So I make it fire faster than it should. It's about taking the personality of a weapon, and making it shine in the game,"

Right now plans for the PC version are unannounced but we are working to bring PC users the same content in the future, however logistics are being worked out on how to make that happen.

April 3rd will see the launch of Call of Duty 4: Game of the Year Edition and with it, the roll out of the Modern Warfare Variety Map Pack. Each copy of COD4:GOTY will come with a download token for the new multi-player maps, or you can download it from XBL for 800 MS points. Here's a quick rundown of the details:

The Variety Map Pack includes four new multiplayer maps. "Creek" is a wide-open village ravaged by combat where concealment is the difference between life and death. In "Broadcast," fight throughout an enemy communications building with confined corridors and wide-open parking lots. "Chinatown" is a foggy downtown district, lit only by a full moon and the neon glow of the city. "Killhouse" features a desolate training warehouse filled with a variety of building mock-ups and soft and hard cover points.

More details including an early sneak peek of the maps at select GameStops can be found on the Xbox COD website.

Modern Warfare Variety Map Pack [Xbox]

Call of Duty 4 Feature Patch Deployed To Update-Starved PlayStation 3s

Call Of Duty 4 Gets 360 Re-Release

Call Of Duty 4 Sheds No Tears, Holds On To Number One Software Spot