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Activision Gets A New Chairman
It’s been announced overnight that Activision Blizzard‘s chairman, who is due to retire later this year, is to be replaced by the Chief Executive of partners Vivendi. The mega-publishers’s current chairman – Rene Penisson – will be stepping down because his “mandate expires this year”. His replacement, Jean-Bernard Levy, has been with Vivendi since 2002,…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 5, 2009 -
Reviews
X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review: A Pretty Good Start
There’s a new Wolverine movie in theaters, which means it’s time for another developer to take a stab at Marvel’s stabbiest super-hero with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Developer Raven Software isn’t altogether unfamiliar with Wolverine, having played about with him in both the X-Men Legends series and Marvel Ultimate Alliance; but this is the first time…
By Mike Fahey Published May 4, 2009 -
Another Pic of Wolverine’s Secret Areas
Friday, Fahey dug up a screenshot of X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s homage to Warcraft. A reader sent us a screengrab of another crossover marvel, one of two mentioned in the game’s achievement list. Obligatory spoiler alert. The first hidden area is understandable – Activision/Blizzard publish both Warcraft and Wolverine. Although it’s not specifically invoked, and Valve…
By Owen Good Published May 3, 2009 -
Rumor: Call of Duty Moving on to Vietnam?
Citing a confidential source, That VideoGame Blog says Activision is pursuing licenses for Vietnam War-era music, as well as Cuban, Soviet Union and African music. They also infer that Treyarch will be the developer. TVGB says that Noah Heller is involved with this supposed CoD 7; he was the senior producer on World at War,…
By Owen Good Published May 3, 2009 -
Activision Supports Scottish Weasel Mating
In a bit of marketing that could theoretically bite someone at Activision in the ass, the company is promoting X-Men Origins: Wolverine in the UK by backing giant weasel mating. There are two Logan’s in Scotland’s Edinburgh Zoo today, all thanks to the marketing efforts of Activision. The zoo’s only male wolverine, which is a…
By Mike Fahey Published May 1, 2009 -
Wow, Check Out One Of Wolverine’s Secret Places
In the frozen wastes surrounding the Akali Lake Weapon X facility, Wolverine stumbles upon an artifact of untold power from another world…of Warcraft. I’m placing the main image below in case the spoiler warning tag isn’t enough to keep you from peeking inside. It really is one of the more humorous little cross-title nods I’ve…
By Mike Fahey Published May 1, 2009 -
Valve Sues Activision Over Sierra Monies
Valve and Activision are doing the legal two-step, with the former suing the latter over royalties from a 2002 lawsuit against Sierra. On April 6th of this year, Valve was awarded a $2,391,932 judgment against Activision as the result of a 2002 lawsuit against Sierra Online. The original lawsuit, which we reported on way back…
By Mike Fahey Published April 30, 2009 -
World At War Map Pack 2 Introduces Imperial Zombies
Activision and Treyarch bring Japanese Imperial zombie killing to World War II in June, with the release of the second map pack for Call of Duty: World at War. Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2 delivers three new multiplayer maps and one new zombie map to Treyarch’s World War II shooter. Fight…
By Mike Fahey Published April 30, 2009 -
Prince Turned Down Guitar Hero’s Diamonds & Pearls
Activision may be able to throw their fat rolls of cash at bands like Metallica and Aerosmith, but there’s one man who was approached by the company and turned them down: Prince. Yes, the man who is perhaps the greatest living American says in an interview with Tavis Smiley that Activision once approached him over…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 30, 2009 -
Prototype’s Story In Convenient Montage Format
If you want to tell the back story of Radical Entertainment’s Protoype while still remaining cool and mysterious, then you’re going to need a montage. A back story montage! The developers certainly add to the air of mystery surrounding the virus infecting the citizens of New York City and the origin of the game’s protagonist,…
By Mike Fahey Published April 27, 2009 -
Activision, Gibson Guitar Settle Claims
Sometime last week, Activision and Gibson Guitar decided to end their legal wrangling over a patent infringement claim made against the Guitar Hero franchise. Terms ain’t disclosed. Gamasutra dug up the docs, which indicate only that Gibson and Activision shook hands on April 17 and a federal judge in California terminated the case. A federal…
By Owen Good Published April 25, 2009 -
Guitar Hero: Van Halen Now Available For Pre-Order At GameStop
Executives have spoken of it. Ratings Boards have classified it. And now the world’s largest games retailer is accepting preorders for it. Activision, it’s about time you announced Guitar Hero: Van Halen. A GameStop employee has helpfully pointed us towards his overseer’s website, where you can throw some money down on the unannounced title right…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 24, 2009 -
Wolverine Behind-The-Scenes Teases Secrets
The latest developer diary video for X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a dirty, no-good secret snikt-tease. Developer Raven hasn’t so much created levels for the game as they have crafted environments for players to romp about it. Forest environments; jungle environments; snowy forest environments – they’re all represented here. It’s all very interesting, until they get…
By Mike Fahey Published April 23, 2009 -
New, Non-Movie Transformers Game Coming
As we’ve established, no matter how good the Transformers movie games are, they’ll always be flawed by the fact they’re based on the movies. But what about a game not based on the movies? The Cut Scene reckon that Activision are working on a Transformers game due for release in 2010. Which makes sense, since…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 23, 2009 -
Project Gotham Devs Unveil New Racing Series
When Activision lured Bizarre away from Microsoft, it wasn’t to make platformers. It was to make racing games. Like the one Bizarre are working on now, called Blur. Revealed in the latest issue of French magazine/Edge accompaniment Joypad, Blur seems be offering everything Bizarre did so well with Project Gotham – namely fast cars, exotic…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2009 -
This Is How You Get Me Interested In A Transformers Game
I didn’t want anything to do with the last Transformers game, partly because I’d heard it was awful, but mostly because it featured “movie” Transformers. Which are terrible, spindly things. Call me a purist, call me an asshole, I don’t mind, but when a Transformer looks like a Bionicle with a bone disease, it’s not…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2009 -
ESA Welcomes Trion and XSEED
Just when you thought everyone was jumping ship, the Entertainment Software Association welcomes two new companies to its ranks. Trion World Network, Inc. isn’t familiar to most gamers – because they haven’t actually put out any games yet. The company is working on “server-based games and original entertainment” and made a couple of headlines last…
By AJ Glasser Published April 20, 2009 -
L.A. Court Finds In Favor Of Scratch DJ
A California judge has ruled in favor of Scratch DJ Game LLC, granting a temporary restraining order against Activision Publishing, ordering all Scratch intellectual property returned immediately. Despite assurances on Thursday by Activision that the L.A. Superior Court saw no evidence of wrongdoing on their part, a judge today granted Genius Products and Numark Industries…
By Mike Fahey Published April 20, 2009 -
Guitar Hero: Van Halen Confirmed By Ratings Board?
While Activision’s plans for a Guitar Hero game highlighting the music and career of Van Halen is a poorly kept secret, the publisher hasn’t yet officially announced it. But the German game ratings board has. The Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) has rated Guitar Hero headlining Van Halen for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a fairly…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 17, 2009 -
Activision Denies Wrongdoing In Scratch Suit, Backed By LA Court
Publisher Activision has responded to allegations that it conspired to delay rival DJ game Scratch: The Ultimate DJ by buying its competitor’s developer, 7 Studios, calling those claims disingenuous and lacking in merit. Yesterday, Genius Products and Numark Industries announced they had filed suit against Activision and Scratch developers 7 Studios for “intentional interference with…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 16, 2009