Activision

New Call of Duty Trailer Starts Off In Outer Space

In the latest single player campaign trailer released today from Activision and Infinity Ward, Call of Duty takes you into the sky. Like, way, way into the sky. The entire intro of this latest trailer takes place in space, which isn’t the typical grey and brown terrain we’re all too familiar with. And, of course,…

Activision Hires Big-Time Lobbying Firm as Violent Games Bill Looms

Activision has gone out and hired a lobbyist—one of the biggest lobbying firms in Washington—for representation when Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s violent video games bill, which would order research into any causal links between violent video games and violent behavior, comes to the Senate floor. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is no joke. It’s a…

The New Call Of Duty Game Is “Not Some Lazy Type Of Port”

It’s easy to understand how someone can look at a brand new mobile game carrying the name of one of the world’s most popular video game franchises arriving completely unannounced and think “cheap cash-in”. Members of Activision’s Blast Furnace mobile studio say that’s not the case with Call of Duty: Strike Team. Following this morning’s…

Watch The First 12 Minutes Of Call Of Duty: Strike Team

Activision droppeda surprise mobile Call of Duty on iOS today, and it’s two, two, two games in one. Call of Duty: Strike Team gives players the ability to switch between first-person shooter and top-down tactical strategy with the press of a button. Want to see how it works? Keeping in mind that the video recording…

Activison Just Released A New Mobile Call of Duty

Today, Activision is rolling out Call of Duty: Strike Team, a $7 mobile-exclusive Call of Duty title for iOS devices. The game offers a full-fledged story campaign taking place in 2020, and a survival game mode with leaderboards. Both game modes can be played in either the usual run and gun first-person mode, or in…

Call of Duty: Ghosts Riffs Off Titanfall‘s Cinematic Multiplayer

Infinity Ward this week showcased the pre-order bonus for its upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts, a multiplayer map called “Free Fall” that the developer claims will add a touch of the cinematic single player campaign to the game’s deathmatch modes. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Yes, that’s the exact thinking behind Titanfall, the first…

I’ve Played Skylanders On The PS4, And There’s No Going Back

I didn’t fully appreciate the next generation of consoles until last Friday, when I got the chance to play Skylanders: Swap Force for a couple hours on the PlayStation 4. It’s not that I consider the third installment of Activision’s wildly popular toys-meets-games franchise to be the pinnacle of gaming achievement or anything. I know…

Can’t wait for the next-gen version of Call of Duty: Ghosts? Activision’s got your back. If you buy the game’s PS3 version, you’ll be able to upgrade to the PS4 version as soon as it releases ten days later, at a price of 10$ (or €10, or £10). In the US, Amazon and Gamestop will…

Not All New Skylanders Split In Half. Some Are Sabertooth Turtles.

More of a sabertooth turtle dinosaur, I suppose. This is Slobber Tooth, and he’s one of the latest non-splitting Skylanders champions, joining the fray when Swap Force hits October 13. The whole Swap Force mechanic is nice and all, but I’m a sucker for a well-designed one piece with a focus on function. I had…

The Latest Call of Duty Sends You a Squad to Fight With—or Against

Multiplayer in Call of Duty: Ghosts will introduce the “Squad,” a group of up to ten soldiers with unique loadouts and appearances, with one level of prestige per character. These guys will also join you, as AI teammates—or adversaries—in a new mode called, of course, Squads. This video does all of the explaining, but the…

Breaking Down What We Saw In Call Of Duty: Ghost‘s Multiplayer Reveal

We just got a lot of juicy details for the next Call of Duty. Fans of the multiplayer for one of Activision’s biggest franchises will want to tune in here to hear a breakdown by myself and other CoD experts. I will be hosting the show with the captain of team compLexity and current reigning…

Two Modes Offer New Twists on Call of Duty‘s Multiplayer

“Cranked” and “Search and Rescue” will join the playlist in Call of Duty: Ghosts‘ multiplayer this year, offering variants on the game’s team deathmatch staples. As discussed at today’s multiplayer event in Los Angeles, in Cranked, a kill will boost a player’s speed and other attributes but it’ll also start a countdown clock; get another…

Call of Duty: Ghosts Features Female Soldiers in Multiplayer

At the big multiplayer event for Call of Duty: Ghosts underway right now, the mode’s hype reel closed out with a close-up shot of a female character, which would be a first for the franchise. Women have not been featured in multiplayer before but one was playable in the campaign of Call of Duty: Finest…

See the New Call of Duty‘s Multiplayer for the First Time Right Here

We’ve heard about its campaign. We’ve heard about its story. We’ve heard about dogs and fish. But we haven’t heard what Call of Duty: Ghosts has planned for multiplayer. That changes at 1:30 p.m., when Infinity Ward reveals what’s in store for us there. The news is streaming live, and you can watch it all…

There Are Skylanders In This Official Disney Infinity Video. [Update]

Disney Infinity is not a Skylanders clone, but that doesn’t mean the Disney title wasn’t inspired by Activision’s toy-meets-game success story. Heck, three Skylanders toys even showed up for this Disney Infinity “Designing the Figures” video. Update — The video has been removed from the Disney Infinity YouTube channel. We’ve swapped out the original link…

Blizzard’s Next Subscription MMO Is No Longer A Subscription MMO

The project code-named Titan is changing direction completely, Blizzard said on today’s Activision earnings call. It used to be a subscription-based massively multiplayer online game. No more. “We’re in the process of selecting a new direction,” Blizzard president Mike Morhaime said on the call. Titan, which has been under development for quite some time now,…

From the Mouths of Babes …

If David Vonderhaar, design director for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, thought shining a light on the rancid Twitter spew coming from the game’s so-called fans would curb those reactions, well, think again. It’s still going strong, and someone’s curating it all. Consider this a to-block list for your own Twitter feed.

Activision Blizzard used to be owned by media giant Vivendi. Not anymore. It’s now a free company, having bought Vivendi’s stake out. You could say it’s gone indie, but that joke’s going to wear pretty thin over the next 24 hours. Fun fact: Activision boss Bobby Kotick and co-chair Brian Kelly paid $100 million of…

Animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Series Gets a Game in October

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will get a second game this year, one based on the Nickelodeon TV show, Activision said yesterday. It’s going to be for a younger audience, so that probably means Michelangelo won’t be kicking bad guys in the jewels. Simply called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the game will be released Oct.…

Microtransactions? In World of Warcraft? It Could Happen.

In-game purchases? In World of Warcraft? Could happen, says a Blizzard community manager. Earlier this week, World of Warcraft players on the game’s public test server discovered an item called the Enduring Elixir of Wisdom. The item description: “Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 100%.” In other words, it makes grinding…