Activision

Microtransactions for ‘Customization Items’ Come to Black Ops 2 on Xbox 360

Beginning Wednesday, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will begin offering “personal customizations” on the Xbox 360, the game’s community manager said this morning. The items don’t affect gameplay—they’re items like weapon skins, targeting reticles, and player calling cards. Moreover, the multiplayer map Nuketown 2025, originally a preorder incentive back in November, will be made…

Everything Wrong With Deadpool in One Convenient Game Trailer

Deadpool is my second-favorite Marvel Comics character. Seeing him come to life (courtesy of IGN) at the hands of the studio that brought me two stellar Transformers games should be a dream come true, but the more I see of the Deadpool game the more I realize the character I fell in love with back…

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Brings Turtle Power Back to Video Games This Summer

Ready to feel like a teenager again? No? Me neither. But one part of gamers’ youths will coming back in the form of four mutated reptiles who wield deadly martial arts weapons. After a report surfaced yesterday of a new TMNT game, Activision has released info on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows:…

Based on the Nickelodeon series, TMNT: Out of the Shadows for XBLA, PSN and Steam is coming this summer. [Digital Spy]

Deadpool has an inflatable sex doll in it, says the ESRB.

Activision Lays off About 30 People, Saying There Will Be Fewer Licensed Games This Year

Even the massive money-making game publisher Activision lays off people from time to time, as the company confirmed today that they’ve cut about 30 jobs from their global work force. Kotaku first heard that the cuts were affecting Treyarch, the studio behind Call of Duty: Black Ops II, but a spokesperson for Activision said that…

Activision reminded us this morning that Bungie’s Destiny is not launching this year, despite retail listings.

Major retailers already are taking preorders for Destiny, but if anyone’s showing a release date, it’s a placeholder.

Everything I Know About Bungie’s Next First-Person Shooter, Destiny

The creators of Halo aren’t leaving their face-shooting skills behind. Destiny, Bungie’s first new game since they parted ways with Microsoft, looks and sounds like a first-person shooter—even if they don’t like calling it that. I flew to Seattle this week to get the official reveal of Destiny, or at least what teases Bungie and…

Bungie Reveals its Destiny in This Documentary

Bungie, the studio behind Halo is today revealing its next saga, Destiny, to be published by Activision. This is the first documentary describing the new sci-fi world the studio is creating. In Destiny, coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, players will be thrust into the role of defending Earth, setting off on adventures on…

The World, Or At Least What’s Left Of It, Is Yours

Nivanh Chanthara is a French concept artist who works at Beenox, a studio that’s worked on a bunch of games for Activision over the last few years. His latest project is an “unrevealed” AAA project. Before that, though, he did some work in animation, getting his start on the Iron Man: Armored Adventures series. You…

Ungrateful Toy Fair-goers Already Hawking Exclusive Skylanders on eBay

Well, this doesn’t look tacky or anything. Skylanders has been giving out exclusive Toy Fair figurines to attendees of the show itself and a couple of preview events last week. Said attendees are not civilians, as Toy Fair is a closed, industry event. But, knowing the demand for these suckers, a bunch have been listed…

Activision Is “Somewhat Disappointed” With The Launch Of The Wii U

It seems that Activision, the biggest video game publisher in the world, wasn’t exactly thrilled with the Wii U’s launch. Why? Forget Call of Duty’s performance, it’s the console’s potential for Skylanders that has Bobby Kotick and co. worried. During the company’s latest earnings call, Kotick was asked about the future of the money-printing Skylanders…

Zombies Look Really Ugly In The Trailer For The Walking Dead‘s Shooter

This is the first official trailer for The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, aka that Walking Dead shooter that has absolutely nothing to do with the Walking Dead games that everyone loves. Survival Instinct is out March 19 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. March 26 for Wii U. What do you think? Any interest?

There’s Skylanders: Swap Force Gameplay Footage Here, and It’s Lovely

Activision doesn’t have to sell me on buying Skylanders toys at this point—I literally have a bucket full of them sitting not three feet from me as I type—but the games, entertaining as they are, could use a little work. The kind of work they’ve done with the new engine for Skylanders: Swap Force This…

New Skylanders Swap Force Trailer Shows Off Wacky Combos and Vibrant Action

Activision’s latest figure-collecting-slash-video-game-adventure, Skylanders Swap Force, has recently got a brand new teaser trailer. The two-minute short showcases some of the figures and the ways they can be combined, then moves on to show us some colorful (and explosive!) gameplay footage. The trailer boasts 256 swap combinations in total, and a release date of Fall…

They’re Giving Away the Coolest Giant Skylander in New York Next Week

Of all the new figures Toys for Bob introduced in Skylanders Giants, there is one I desire above all others. She’s a ninja. She’s a djinn. She’s Ninjini, and Activision is giving her away free at the Times Square Toys’R’Us on Tuesday, the jerks. Celebrating Toy Fair 2013 and the overwhelming success of the Skylanders…

Bungie Panel at GDC Hints That We Will Hear More About Destiny Soon

We can expect to hear something official, and soon, about the game Bungie is building for Activision, rumored to be a sci-fi epic titled Destiny. GameSpot reported today that the studio is scheduled to give a talk about its new game at Game Developers Conference in late March, which would indicate a more formal reveal…

Joe Biden Sat Down With Gaming’s Leaders Today, And One Of Them Brought A Copy of Blastman III

This afternoon, U.S. vice president Joe Biden met with video game representatives to talk about the Sandy Hook shooting. Here’s a picture of the meeting in action. Hopefully it went well. Wondering who’s who? The AP’s caption: Vice President Joe Biden, center, speaks during a meeting with representatives from the video game industry in the…

Black Ops II‘s First DLC will be a Timed Xbox 360 Exclusive

Images purportedly of in-store promotional materials suggest that Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s first map pack extension will be a timed Xbox 360 exclusive arriving on Jan. 29. Five maps are included. “Revolution” sports five maps, one of which—”Die Rise”—appears to be a zombie map. The others are named Hydro, Grind, Downhill and Mirage.…