Activision Blizzard sure knows how to get the speculation ball rolling, and with this latest bit of teasers and confirmations from the company during yesterday’s Massive Inc. event (advertising summit really) what they had to say is really not much of a surprise.

This meeting basically showcases games that would be great vehicles for in-game advertising, and the biggest one mentioned was one called Guitar Hero 5 (working/speculative title at this point) which was revealed as a screenshot featuring a Burger Kings ad next to the scrolling notes.

ActiBliz also confirmed what we already knew about the upcoming Tony Hawk game slated for an October 2009 release when a spokesman stated: “You’re not going to be playing this game with a controller in your hands”. This, however is old news to gamers who have been in the know regarding a “skateboard type” peripheral which is supposed to come with the game.

Confirmed during the event was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for Fall 2009, and while no details were forthcoming on the upcoming Call of Duty title, ActiBliz did acknowledged Bizarre Creations’ “Bond Racing” (no tile was mentioned) style game which would be heading to stores sometime in September 2009. The good thing about this Bond game though, is that there is no movie tie-in associated with it and for fans of racing games, another one is in the works which is being hailed as a “Mario Kart meets Forza”.

So there ya have it. A few teasers, a few confirmations and the expectation that in-game advertising will be prevalent throughout each one of them. Hooray for greed and constantly being bombarded with advertising no matter where you look. Formally known as the American Way, it is now just the way of the world.

(MTV Multiplayer)

Some decent downloadable content for Guitar Hero: World Tour is heading our way this month and consists of the very popular and sometimes genius stylings of The Eagles, Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins. These bands are already present on the game disc, but the new content coming from each should give fans or gamers feeling a bit of music fatigue a bit of a relief.

• Tomorrow, December 4, The Smashing Pumpkins will have a three-song track pack available for purchase consisting of the songs “G.L.O.W.”, “1979″, and “Everlasting Gaze”.

• December 11 will see the release of the Nirvana track pack which includes the songs “Silver”, “Negative Creep” and “You Know You’re Right” (awesome song).

• On December 18 The Eagles track pack will feature a tune off of Long Road Out of Eden, their seventh studio album, titled “Frail Grasp on the Big Picture” as well as classic tunes “Life in the Fast Lane” and the fun yet spooky sounding “One of These Nights”. Hopefully “Witchy Woman” will be made available soon because that one is just fun to sing along to, especially when Don Henley does his “wolf howling at the moon” impression. At least that is my interpretation of the “oooohoooo” during the chorus.

Rounding out the downloadable set list for Guitar Hero: World Tour are three FREE Reggae grooves coming December 23. The Reggae Rock Track Pack is comprised of “Jimi” from Slightly Stoopid, “Your Face” from Pepper and from Expendables’ comes “Sacrifice”. These songs will only be available in a track pack, but Wii users will be able to download them individually.

The Eagles, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins Track Packs will be available on Xbox Live for 440 Microsoft Points ($5.50) or individually for 160 Microsoft Points ($2.00) and on the PlayStation Store for $5.49 or $1.99 respectively.

Dreamworks’ upcoming movie is launching complete with a cross platform Monsters vs. Aliens videogame. Players will take on Gallaxhar and his giant alien robots alternating between a team of wacky monsters to save the world.

The Missing Link, the macho half-ape, half-fish pictured above uses acrobatics as well as brute strength. The gelatinous, indestructible and always hungry B.O.B. is a cross between an ooze and Kirby. Ginormica, the 49-foot-11-inch tall woman and Insectosaurus the 350-foot tall grub combine size with their other unique talents to pound aliens into submission. A fifth member of the team; Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; waits in the wings, available as an assist in co-op multiplayer mode.

Monsters vs. Aliens launches March 2009 for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii and DS. You can find the latest details on Monsters vs. Aliens at FileFront.

Starting at 12 noon (PST) on Friday, December 5, Limited Collector’s Edition owners of Call of Duty: World at War on PC and 360 will be able to earn double experience points when playing multiplayer.

Access to the Double XP “Officer’s Club” playlists will require Xbox 360 Limited Collector’s Edition owners to have successfully activated their copies of Call of Duty: World at War. Owners will see the “Officer’s Club” show up in the player match playlists screen. For PC Limited Collector’s Edition owners, they can simply join any server during the Double XP week and be rewarded with twice the experience.

The Double XP week will end on 11:59 a.m PST. on Friday, December 12. For all the gory details and an FAQ, check out the official Call of Duty Headquarters here.

It’s been almost a year since we saw Yahtzee Croshaw fake-strumming his way through a music rhythm game, but now he’s picked up a newer plastic instrument for a bout with Guitar Hero World Tour. This time around around he has a bit of a grudge against Rock Band — which is understandable once you hear his explanation — but still finds plenty at fault with Activision’s take on the concept. Some strange design flaws, unresponsive instruments, and bizarre song choices abound in the game. I wish I could say a copy of Rock Band 2 could probably fix all those complaints, but you can still find some of the same issues over in Harmonix’s corner.

Stay tuned after the usual review for look at Deus Ex’s theme song with lyrics.

UPDATE: Hmm, the usual embed code seems to be broken, so you’ll have to go to The Escapist to watch the video.

With Thanksgiving on Thursday, Sony’s decided to release this week’s PlayStation Store update today — and I don’t think anyone will be complaining. The release of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix ($15) is the biggest news and anyone who has read 1UP’s review knows that it’s worth both the hype and the wait. Brain Challenge ($10) joins it as the week’s other downloadable game release and features 25 different brain-teasing minigames.

Should neither of those games interest you, a temporary sale on five older PSN games is in effect until December 4. The Last Guy, PixelJunk Eden, Echochrome (PS3), Novastrike, and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 are all available for just $5 while the sale lasts.

Little Big Planet once again gets new costumes, with the free costume celebrating the holiday — a turkey head costume. For $2 you can also get the Chimera costume for Resistance 2 fans.

Music gamers get another dose of DLC this week. Rock Band adds nine new tracks today — three from The Killers ($2 each or $5.49 as a bundle), three from Yngwie Malmsteen ($2 each of $5.49 as a bundle), two from Soundgarden, and one from Lamb of God ($2 each). Guitar Hero World Tour calls that with three different songs from The Killers at the same price scheme. And Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 adds six new songs to sing along to for $1.49 a piece.

The promised demo of Dead Space rounds out the end of the list of PS3 downloads, although you can of course find new wallpapers, themes, and videos, as well as five free tracks from Street Fighter HD.

PSP owners, who have likely become accustomed to getting zilch after the past month’s worth of lackluster updates, can find two new pieces of content today. A trailer for Everyday Shooter is the less significant of the two, as the other new download is a new downloadable game, PBR: Out of the Chute ($15), which is the first professional bull riding game on PSP I can think of. It might not be what you were hoping for, but it’s better than another empty week on the PSP front.

Guitar Hero: World Tour gets The Killers today, which includes these downloadable tracks.

• “Mr. Brightside” from Hot Fuss –160 Microsoft Point ($2.00)
• “Losing Touch”  from Hot Fuss –160 Microsoft Point ($2.00)

You can also get both songs via a Track Pack for 440 Microsoft Points ($5.50) which also includes the song “Human” for their album Day & Age which hit stores yesterday.

(Thanks Major Nelson)

World of Warcraft players certainly don’t mind that 7-Eleven has been dabbling in the field of selling videogames. Thanks to the apparent disregard for street dates, WoW players were able to secure early copies (albeit not early access) of Wrath of the Lich King. The retail chain has announced that its recent sales of games like WoW, Halo, and Madden isn’t a temporary holiday cash-in — they’re planning on permanently adding videogames to their inventory (via Joystiq).

“This is not just a holiday promotion for us,” explained 7-Eleven category manager for gaming and electronics, “but a brand new product line-up that will be available year-round. We may not be a total entertainment destination … yet, but we’re hoping to expand our selection beyond the high-dollar, hot-selling games to include options for all budgets, like value-priced video games as well as DVD movies. For consumers wanting convenient one-stop shopping for at-home entertainment along with groceries and gas or who just want to avoid big-store shopping inconveniences, their local 7-Eleven store is open and ready.”

In addition to Wrath of the Lich King, 7-Eleven is planning on selling the Guitar Hero World Tour band kit, Fallout 3, Quantum of Solace, Gears of War 2, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, and Call of Duty: World at War. They’ll also begin selling subscription cards for around 20 games and services ranging from Xbox Live to City of Heroes to Runescape.

Picking up a game at 7-Eleven seems to be more of a convenience rather than an alternative, at least at this point. Unless you’ve got one closer to home than any other retailer, will gamers really opt to go there instead of GameStop, Best Buy, or Walmart? But if they decided to throw in a free Slurpee with the purchase of any full-priced game, that might just give them the edge that makes it the premiere destination for picking up big-name games. It would for me, at least.

Call of Duty: World at War was just released for the PC on Wednesday, but already Treyarch has released a new toolset wich will allow modders and mappers everything they needed to create mods and levels for Singleplayer and Multiplayer modes in the game.

So, all you modders out there, get to downloading the 1.1GB file here from FileFront or by hitting the badge below.