Activision

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Launch Trailer

By Ron on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 9:59 AM PST
In Activision, Call of Duty, Computer, Game Consoles, Microsoft, Sony, Videos

This trailer shows off Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, the upcoming sequel to the blockbuster Call of Duty 4.

Wolfenstein Graphic Novel Part 2

By Ron on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 12:34 PM PST
In Activision, Game Platforms, Raven, Videos
wolfenstein2 Wolfenstein Graphic Novel Part 2

The second installment of the Wolfenstein Graphic Novel is now live at FileFront! Head over and check out this trailer highlighting the upcoming game from Raven Software.

Get it at FileFront!

Blizzard Down to 5 Million WoW Subscribers?

By Ron on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 8:00 AM PST
In Activision, Blizzard, Computer, Editor's Corner, Electronic Arts, Games Industry, World of Warcraft

One of my all-time favorite blogs to read is Tobold’s. It’s a great place to get a fresh take on everything that’s happening in the MMORPG world. As I was perusing his site over the weekend, I ran across this article.

In short, he refers to the recent rumors that Blizzard’s Chinese World of Warcraft servers aren’t going to be coming back up anytime soon. For those of you who aren’t aware, Blizzard recently transferred their license to operate WoW in China to NetEase, away from The9.

WoW LogoThe9 filed several lawsuits in an attempt to stop this transfer, and the Chinese government accordingly refused to give NetEase a license to operate WoW, saying that “in order to protect the interests of domestic gaming enterprises,” they would “suspend review of all games belonging to foreign companies in the event of lawsuits or arbitration between foreign companies and Chinese companies.”

The Chinese servers have already been down for a month or so, and there’s still no word on when they might return. This really doesn’t hurt Blizzard as much financially as you might think, as they received little revenue from the Chinese players, who pay as little as 6 cents an hour to play.

But how does this get Blizzard down to 5 million subscribers?

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Guitar Hero 5 Features Trailer Shows Off Yet Another Music Game

By Ron on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 8:01 PM PST
In Activision, Editor's Corner, Game Consoles, Guitar Hero, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony

OK, let’s be honest here. Who isn’t tired of the near-constant stream of music games? I realize that it’s a super-hot genre right now, but do we really need another music game? Yes, this also goes for Rock Band Beatles, or Guitar Hero: Twisted Sister, or whatever the next shameless cash grab may be.

_GHM_PS3_CvrSht_gm_04_CS2Regardless of what we may think, Activision isn’t content to sit back and count all the money they’ve made from Guitar Hero so far. No, they’re going to release yet another iteration of the title.

Guitar Hero 5 will add some new functionality to the title, and strangely enough, it’s actually functionality that makes it a better party game than before. Chief among these new additions is the ‘Pick up and Play’ mode. This will allow anyone to grab an instrument, jump in, play for a few minutes, and drop out without failing or causing the rest of the band to fail. It’s perfect for those unscheduled bathroom breaks in the middle of a song.

They’re also including a RockFest mode to let you face off against four players locally, or up to eight online. Heck, you can even throw down with four guitars at once if you so desire. But the question remains: Do we really need another full game for this? Wouldn’t these features be awesome DLC for the folks who spent nearly $200 on Guitar Hero: World Tour? You could probably even convince those folks to pay for them!

Ah well, maybe I’m just a spoilsport. After all, at least they’re including 83 songs in this version, and all the World Tour DLC will carry over as well. Maybe I’m just sick of having all these plastic instruments clogging up my living room.

At any rate, there’s a brand new trailer showing off these new features. You can grab it over at FileFront, or catch the embedded stream after the break.

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Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Box Art Revealed

By Ron on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 3:49 PM PST
In Activision, Call of Duty, Computer, Game Consoles, Microsoft, Sony

Yes, I know. They’re dropping the Call of Duty from the title right? Well, maybe not.

According to Robert Bowling, community manager for Infinity Ward (a.k.a. FourZeroTwo), Call of Duty is definitely part of the new title. How can we be sure? Well, he shared this picture with us via his Twitter account.

mw2 box 225x300 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Box Art Revealed

See, now THAT is definitive. I had thought it strange that Infinity Ward or Activision would remove the CoD title from the game, since that links it into a seriously well-known franchise. Sure, it might confuse the issue of which Call of Duty game is coming next, but I’ll bet it will be totally worth it.

I can assure you all that most of us here at Gaming Today will be available online for you to shoot at on day one of Modern Warfare 2. I know that you will all be happy about that opportunity.

Grandmaster Flash Joins DJ Hero Line Up

By Eva on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 AM PST
In Activision, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games, Videos

Grandmaster Flash has signed onto the growing list of DJs for DJ Hero. This hip-hop legend was the first to use the turntable as an instrument. Grandmaster Flash will walk you through the paces of the tutorial as you learn the turntable controls and game mechanics. He’s also created mixes exclusively for DJ Hero and will be an in-game character. Here’s the latest DJ Hero video from Activision featuring Grandmaster Flash gameplay.

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Give in to Your Impulse With Great Buys on Games this Weekend

By Ron on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 10:27 AM PST
In Activision, Call of Duty, Computer, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Unreal Tournament

impulselogo 280x300 Give in to Your Impulse With Great Buys on Games this WeekendIt’s a holiday weekend, and normally that means more time for gaming. So, what are you going to play? If you’re not sure, or you’re looking for something new, Stardock has a sale going on right now that is definitely worth a look.

If you’re not familiar with Stardock’s digital distribution platform, Impulse, this would be a good time to give it a look. After all, they’re offering some great deals, like Call of Duty 4 for just $34.99 and Sins of a Solar Empire with its expansion for just $29.99.

The sale also includes titles like the complete Unreal series, Prototype, Red Faction Guerilla, and more. You can get your copy of Impulse and check out all the deals at ImpulseDriven.com

You can also see the full list of games on sale, along with their prices, after the break.

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Gaming Today Impression: This Prototype Might Need Some Tweaking

By Shawn on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 8:31 AM PST
In Activision, Computer, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games, Impressions, Microsoft, Sony

prototypes2 Gaming Today Impression: This Prototype Might Need Some Tweaking Have you ever really felt bad about the way you feel after playing a game you were looking forward to?

Of course you have, I think it might be one of the few constants of the gamer experience – disappointment when a game fails to live up to its potential and promise. Well, Prototype is one of those experiences for me.

It has all the ingredients of a smashing good time – a super powered hero, a sandbox city, even a conspiracy relating to the military industrial complex manipulating people for their own nefarious ends only to have it go wrong somehow.

Well, despite the mix of interesting pieces, the sum of Prototype just ends up coming out as a fairly bland experience. Maybe my expectation was improperly set by the history of the developer. These same talented folks turned out one of the best super hero games ever developed – Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction. That title featured a super powered hero running around in a sandbox New York city setting solving missions and running side missions just like Prototype but somehow the fun factor seemed to be higher in that title.

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Linkin Park Frontman Challenges Gamers to Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

By Eva on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 6:06 PM PST
In Activision, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games, Microsoft, Microsoft, Videos

This weekend Xbox has hooked up with Linkin Park to offer gamers a shot at playing frontman Mike Shinoda at Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. For your chance to Game With Fame with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, Xbox LIVE gold members should send a friend request to Gamertag Mike Linkinpark and be online Friday June 26th 30 minutes before the 4:00 pm EST (1:oo pm PST) start time. You can also follow the game on Twitter.

Linkin Park contributed “What I’ve Done” off their Minutes to Midnight album to the original Transformers live action movie. Their new hit single “New Divide” is on the Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack.

More details from the press release follow the break.

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Sony vs. Activision – Here We Go Again

By Ron on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 1:19 PM PST
In Activision, Call of Duty, Editorials, Game Consoles, Games Industry, Madden, Microsoft, Sony, Sony

bobby kotick Sony vs. Activision   Here We Go AgainIf you haven’t heard yet, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has threatened, in a roundabout way, to drop his company’s support for PS3 if Sony doesn’t consider a price cut.

According to MCV, Kotick said in an interview,

“I’m getting concerned about Sony – the PS3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation.

They have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony. When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP too.”

That’s a big shot fired across Sony’s bow. So, will Sony take him seriously, and how will they respond?

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