EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: activisionblizzard
According to a post on Call of Duty fansite DigitalWarfare247/7, and a leaked promotional flyer from game retail giant GameStop, we may have just got our first bit of information on the third map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is coming. The game hasn’t been formally announced yet, but we’ve already received a number of teaser trailers, and Activision Blizzard bigwigs have alluded to the next industry-stomping Call of Duty title in no uncertain terms.
But even faced with little to no official or final information, gamers are already getting riled up about the next title that is sure to dominate the gaming landscape when it’s released at the tail-end of this year, lamenting that Modern Warfare 3 looks like ‘more of the same’ and ‘dated.’
This is extremely frustrating, especially for a game that hasn’t been announced yet, let alone released!
Continue reading El33tonline’s editorial: Please chill out about Modern Warfare 3 (and unreleased games)
In this podcycle built for two, Tom and Oliver discuss what makes an addictive open-world game, why Double Fine’s Stacking is so amazing, what we think about the cancellation of major Activision franchises (and the continuation of minor ones), while also chatting about newly announced games Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, The Darkness II and Call of Juarez: The Cartel.
We’re two members light this week, but the discussion is heavy! Can the podcycle take the weight?
Listen in to the latest El33tonline Podcast to find out! (Hint: Yes)
[Update] Activision has since released a few new details and a huge batch of screenshots for Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, which you can see over here. [End of Update]
A report on USA Today has uncovered news of a new game currently in development based on the cult-classic character action-based franchise, Spyro the Dragon, with a line of toys and action figures also in the works with a dual-purpose use in mind – augmented reality!
At an investor call earlier today (or yesterday, depending), Activision Blizzard CEO of Publishing Eric Hirshberg announced that a free-to-play edition of its industry-stomping Call of Duty franchise would go live in China sometime next year.
Hirshberg also confirmed new entries to previously popular ‘niche’ franchises as well as a mysterious new cross-media entertainment franchise.
Following frantic internet rumours and reports that Activision had laid off a number of employees across at least two of its internal studios, while cancelling two high profile projects currently in development, the news has just been confirmed by Activision proper in the publisher’s latest financial report.
In mid-November last year, news emerged that Activision was ‘considering its options’ as far as the future of internal Bizarre Creations was concerned, following the release of a pair of poorly-performing titles created at the studio, namely Blur and James Bond 007: Blood Stone.
At the time, Activision was looking to either sell the developer, consolidate the talent within the studio, or close the company outright.
Now, over two months later and with no serious potential buyers, Activision may be forced to close Bizarre.
Severe rumours have begun blustering around the tubes that veteran videogame developer Bizarre Creations (Geometry Wars, Project Gotham Racing, Blur) faces closure following a string of poorly performing titles, while the last game developed at the studio, James Bond 007: Blood Stone, received anything but stellar critical and commercial success.
Now Activision Publishing, the owners of Bizarre for over three years, is considering what it can do to make use of the obvious talent within the studio, while the option to either sell or close the developer is also on the cards.
Speaking to Kotaku, an Activision spokesperson commented:
This is Call of Duty: Black Ops? The game that has broken sales records and conquered the entire entertainment industry? This is the game that has managed to whip gamers into a frenzy, and lead retail giant GameStop to hold more midnight launches on release than any time in its history?
Because the singleplayer game I played seemed a little at odds with these industry-dominating achievements. Dated gameplay and graphics? The reappearance of heavily scripted sequences and scenarios, and arbitrary death for when you don’t follow that script? Linear levels? Infinite enemy respawning again?
Although… what about that intriguing and daring story, and that interesting delivery method?
And how about that multiplayer portion of Call of Duty: Black Ops? As fully featured and deep as you like, with more customisation options and game modes than most any other online competitive game!
No, this is Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Continue reading El33tonline’s review of Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Activision Blizzard has just announced that the publisher’s latest release in Call of Duty: Black Ops has managed to become the world’s largest ever entertainment launch, overthrowing the publisher’s previous title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, to take the crown.
On the launch day of November 9th, Black Ops generated $360 million in revenue in the UK and North America alone, which trumps the $310 million figure posted by Modern Warfare 2 last year.
South African importer and distributor of interactive video games, Megarom, revealed today that South African internet service provider MWEB has formed a partnership with Gameservers.com to exclusively host the online multiplayer portion of Call of Duty: Black Ops.
This partnership between Gameservers.com and MWEB is apparently a first for South African internet users, and will allow for “a superior network experience for online multiplayer gaming.”
MWEB Group CEO Rudi Jansen said of the announcement:
Following the reported revelation earlier this year that pre-order sales for Treyarch and Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops had already surpassed those of 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 during a similar timeframe, videogame retail monolith GameStop has announced that at this point in 2010, this is definitely the case.
According to a press release, GameStop is seeing “record reservations” for Black Ops:
A new Marvel superhero game has been revealed to be in the works at Silicon Knights (Too Human, Eternal Darkness) in partnership with Activision, and it’s name is:
(Just in case there’s any confusion, the name of the game is X-Men: Destiny…)
That’s about the most concrete thing that’s been revealed about this mystery game, other than a teaser trailer (which you can find below) and some vague press copy that alludes to a game that “gives players ultimate control of their destiny.”
From the release:
Activision Blizzard has released its financial results for the company’s second fiscal quarter ending June 30th, posting net revenues of $967 million, down from $1.04 billion during the same period last year.
‘20 million Call of Duty map packs sold.’
Those words must sound like pure poetry to Activision Blizzard, which recently announced that this landmark achievement had been passed as of June 30th this year, and the end of the company’s last fiscal quarter.
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