X10

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Tomorrow morning I have to get up at 4 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight to San Francisco so I can meet with Ubisoft and then spend the rest of the day covering Microsoft’s big X10 event. It’s going to be a PACKED day. Packed with news, hands on…

Take Blur For A Test Drive In March

Bizarre Creations’ luminescent racing video game Blur, its first title for owner Activision, will be getting a beta test in March, the game’s publisher announced today, giving drivers a chance to take it for spin in advance of its release. Activision CEO Mike Griffith announced the mutiplayer beta test for Blur today, but didn’t offer…

This is the Last Dance for NCAA Basketball

EA Sports has confirmed that it is discontinuing its NCAA Basketball franchise, which next year will leave the sport without a video game for the first time in 12 years. NCAA Basketball was left out of Electronic Arts’ list of key releases in a financial filing on Monday. Today, in a statement to Game Informer,…

World of Warcraft: No Growth Since 2008

When we last checked World of Warcraft subscriber numbers in December of 2008, the game had 11.5 million. In March, Vivendi According to Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime, today’s numbers are exactly the same. Has the mighty MMO plateaued? During Activision’s calendar year 2009 conference call today, Blizzard top dog Mike Morhaime spoke of the stability of…

Activision Has Call of Duty 7 Loaded For Holiday

Given the “disproportionate contribution” that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 provided to Activision Blizzard’s well-padded bottom line, it won’t come as a surprise that the next Call of Duty game is coming this holiday season. See? You’re not surprised. Activision Blizzard confirmed its plans to “continue annualizing” the first-person shooter franchise with the still-unnamed…

Activision Narrows Music Focus To Guitar And DJ Hero

Having released 25 different rhythm game SKUs in 2009, Activision narrows the focus in 2010, with only a new Guitar Hero and DJ Hero 2 slated for release in 2010. During Activision’s 2009 financial results conference call, Activision’s Mike Griffith explained that while 2009 saw Activision increasing its share in the rhythm genre to 51%,…

StarCraft II Closed Beta Launches This Month

Finally, for real, the StarCraft II beta is about to begin. Activision Blizzard president Mike Morhaime announced today during a company earnings call that the closed beta of the highly-anticipated real-time strategy game will launch this month. The beta will be offered in North America, Europe, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and, of course, the place…

New Tony Hawk, With Board, Is Coming In Late 2010

Activision Blizzard isn’t going to let poor reviews of Tony Hawk Ride get them down. Sticking to its schedule of annual skateboard releases, the company announced today that it would release a new Tony Hawk game, using the board peripheral. Activision CEO Mike Griffith said in an earnings call today that the new Tony Hawk…

iPhone’s World at War: Zombies Getting Verruckt Tomorrow

Solid iPhone first-person shooter Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies is getting its first new downloadable map tomorrow, Activision told Kotaku today. Map pack Verruckt will come with the same extras that were included with the console version of the downloadable content. That means a Perks a Cola machine loaded with player perks, new…

Hey Little Sisters…BioShock 2 is Here

Take a peek at a slice of the BioShock 2 universe filled with breathtaking action set against the backdrop of a decaying underwater Utopia, where Big Daddy searches for his Little Sister. Game trailer after the jump! We will be reborn. BioShock 2 out NOW.

Activision Boasts $1.56 Billion, Better Than Expected Q4

Despite doing business in “difficult times,” super publisher Activision Blizzard had a better than expected holiday quarter, with $1.56 billion in revenue during the company’s Q4, bringing the yearly haul to $4.28 billion. How did Activision do so well? Activision Blizzard CEO gives props to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the “#1 best-selling title…

Samurai Shodown Sen Makes It To North America

Originally slated for release last November as Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny, the 11th game in SNK’s weapons fighting franchise will be released this spring in North America as Samurai Shodown Sen for the Xbox 360. We’ve been wondering about the fate of Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny ever since original North American publisher Ignition…

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Impressions: The Tougher Battle

If EA wants its upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to begin wresting military first-person shooter dominance away from Modern Warfare, excellence in multiplayer is only one mission objective. How important is the campaign and can it be as good? Yesterday, I played portions of two missions from Bad Company 2’s single-player campaign on an Xbox…

Pre-order Yakuza 3 And Bowl Like A Japanese Gangster

Sega has announced the increasingly common pre-order bonuses for the North American version of Yakuza 3, a downloadable quartet of additions to the PlayStation 3 exclusive gangster game. Want to Battle for Survival and get more bowling challenges? Pre-order! While the pre-ordering bonus business may induce feelings of consumer ickiness, plopping down a few bucks…

Speak-Up On Kotaku: Damaged Packages, Missing PS2s, Bad Science, And Cheating

In this week’s installment of Speak-Up on Kotaku, Pykestein, Jimmuhpage, Sazzrah, and WhiteMåge is in fact a boy take on packaging woes, PS2 availability, cheat devices, and Jo Frost. Don’t like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page. About Speak-Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say, and sometimes…

Alpha Protocol Impressions: Looks Deceive

Like the spy agent depicts, the espionage role-playing game Alpha Protocol is stealthily approaching its release, now slated for early summer. And it’s still a tricky game to size up. A few observations from a recent demonstration of the game: It Doesn’t Look Like A Role-Playing Game: At least the Mass Effect games are science…

Frankenreview: Dante’s Inferno

After going through a huge stack of reviews for our Dante’s Inferno Frankenreview, I have determined that this game might have a few things in common with God of War. That, and Dante has no idea how to play Limbo. Is it strange that a game revolving around a long, drawn-out philosophical exploration on the…

Doom II RPG Now on iPhone

You can now pick up a copy of Doom II RPG for your iPhone or iPod Touch for $4. The game includes nine maps, three playable characters, more than a dozen weapons, 11 enemies and plenty of upgrades. Game dev Zenimax, aka id, say there’s about eight hours of gameplay tucked away in Doom II…

Tekken Movie Images

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Teaches Irresponsible Driving

How can Sega expect kids to play Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and not be tempted to jump out of moving vehicles? There are so many bad ideas laced throughout this special moves trailer for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing that I hardly know where to begin. There’s drinking and driving, standing up while driving…