Category Archives: Activision

Guitar Hero Metallica Partial Tracklist, “Other Bands” Announced? [Rumor]

Thursday, December 11th, 2008
Posted by Luke Plunkett from Kotaku.

Haven’t seen this myself, so it’s rumour for now, but a number of people claiming to have their hands on the latest Game Informer are also claiming to have details on Guitar Hero: Metallica.

Additions to the existing GH formula are said to include a new drums difficulty “for people with a splitter and two kick pedals”, “Pop-Up Video” style tracks, the ability to use “Metallica drum sounds” on your drum fill and the availability of new guitar and bass “tones”, as used by Metallica’s James Hetfield and Slayer’s Tom Araya.

Yup. Slayer’s Tom Araya. Which brings us to the most exciting news of the lot. Like Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, GH: Metallica will feature songs by bands who have worked with/toured with Metallica.

Click here to read more.

Filed in Activision, Gaming, Guitar Hero, Guitar hero: metallica, neversoft, rumor | | Link inside C.I.A.G. | Comments Off

New Prototype Footage, Screens Leaked [Prototype]

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
Posted by Luke Plunkett from Kotaku.

Left homeless after Sierra bit the dust, it looks like Activision are going to hang onto Prototype, and will be showing it off at CES early next year. How do we know this? The game’s website told us all about it.

It also left a bunch of new media - not intended to be shown until CES - for the game just lying around. Hit the jump, then, for both new screens and new footage (note: not a trailer, since it’s a raw collection of gameplay footage).


It’s Crackdown with gliding and hoodies, then.


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Activision Details X-Men Origins: Wolverine [Snikt]

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Posted by Mike Fahey from Kotaku.

Following up on 1UP’s EGM teaser last week, Activision has released new details on their upcoming game based off the X-Men spin-off movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Yes, it’s the same old screenshot, but the info is fresh! The game follows the story of the movie, letting players step into the boots of Wolverine as he escapes from the Weapon X facility, stomps around Africa, and stabs people in creative ways with long spiky bits of metal protruding from his flesh. The release makes a big deal out of his healing factor, claiming that wounds will heal in real-time before the player’s eyes. Oooo, real-time wound closing.

Click here to read more.

Filed in Activision, Gaming, Movie tie-ins, News, Snikt, X-Men Origins: Wolverine | | Link inside C.I.A.G. | Comments Off

Gaming On A 103-Inch Plasma Television, Or Why You Should Embrace Split-Screen Multiplayer Again [Panasonic]


Posted by Jim Reilly from Kotaku.

The chance to play video games on a humongous television doesn’t come around very often…unless of course you write for Gizmodo. Those bastards!

The Gizmodo Gallery that took place here in NYC over the weekend played host to many strange, custom electronics and gadgets. But the one thing I just had to see for myself was the 103-inch plasma Panasonic TV running Xbox 360 games. Attendees were able to compete for prizes in head-to-head match-ups in games such as Call of Duty 4 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking.

As you can see, it’s very awe-inspiring.

Click here to read more.

Filed in Activision, Call of Duty 4, Capcom, Gaming, Gizmodo Gallery, Original, Top, XBox 360, panasonic, super street fighter ii turbo hd remix | | Link inside C.I.A.G. | Comments Off

Guitar Hero Arcade Coming In February [Guitar Hero Arcade]


Posted by Luke Plunkett from Kotaku.

Activision, Konami and the guys who make Buck Hunter? Strange combination. But that’s the team behind the arcade version of Guitar Hero, and in an interview with MTV, they’ve spoken at length on the game.

Most of it, we already knew, but what we didn’t know was that Raw Thrills - the Buck Hunter guys - are planning on rolling the machines out in early February next year.

A small, “pre-production run” is already on the way, consisting of around 25 machines, while the rest will be with us “probably in the first couple weeks in February”, according to Raw Thrills’ Andrew Eloff.

It’s hoped that, once the machines start turning up, a website will be opened up allowing users to find the closest cabinet to their place.

‘Guitar Hero Arcade’ Is Based On ‘GH III,’ Developer Explains Konami’s Surprising Involvement [MTV]


Filed in Activision, Gaming, Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero Arcade, Konami, News, raw thrills | | Link inside C.I.A.G. | Comments Off

Guitar Hero Peaking Says Analyst [Eedar]

Monday, December 8th, 2008
Posted by Stuart Houghton from Kotaku.

An analyst for Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) says that new sales figures show that the Guitar Hero franchise may have reached its peak.

“Currently, we expect unit sales to decline by more than 50 percent series-over-series for November,” said EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich, “This is coming off the October month where series-over-series units declined by more than 60 percent.”

Despite this, EEDAR believe that Guitar Hero, Rock Band and maybe even Guitar Praise are around for the long haul.

“In fact, we expect Guitar Hero and Rock Band releases for the next 10 years as they will always have a large and loyal market base, just as [Dance Dance Revolution] is still today a very profitable franchise for Konami, even though that series reached its peak a long time ago.”

Guitar Hero “Reaching its Peak” - Analyst [Edge]


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DJ Tiësto Says He’s In Activision’s DJ Hero [Dj Hero]

Friday, December 5th, 2008
Posted by Michael McWhertor from Kotaku.

Popular Dutch DJ Tiësto has added his pseudonym to the list of musical acts appearing in Activision’s DJ Hero, a game the publisher has yet to officially announce. Tiësto spilled the beans via his newsletter.

The newsletter read “We are proud to announce that Tiësto has teamed up with the game developer Activision and their latest project DJ Hero.” DJ Hero is rumored to ship with a turntable controller and support Guitar Hero controllers for co-op jam sessions.

Tiësto said via his newsletter: “I am very excited about this! I think this is a great way to introduce people into DJing. Maybe they realize it’s not as easy as they think.

Click here to read more.

Filed in Activision, Dj tiesto, Gaming, Guitar Hero, dj hero, rumor | | Link inside C.I.A.G. | Comments Off

Activision’s Big Cheese Nominated For CEO of The Year, Loses [Bobby Kotick]


Posted by Brian Crecente from Kotaku.

Bobby “Hairhelmet” Kotick has a nice write up in Market Watch.

Apparently Kotick was a finalist for the 2008 MarketWatch CEO of the Year award, though he was beaten out by Hasbro’s Brian Goldner. Still he was in good company. Other nominees included J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, Southwest Airlines Gary Kelly, and H.J. Heinz Co’s Bill Johnson.

The lengthy write up on Kotick includes some inordinately dry chestnuts about his early days as an Internet maverick, my favorite is this one:

Over lunch one day during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, Kotick asked the CEO of a prominent Web start-up why his company sported a market value greater than the insurance giant Allstate, even though it had no profits.

Click here to read more.

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Activision Boss Was 2008’s Equal-Second-Best CEO [Activision]

Thursday, December 4th, 2008
Posted by Luke Plunkett from Kotaku.

Business types Marketwatch are giving out awards! Important ones! Ones like “Best CEO 2008″. Eligible were CEOs from all walks of life. Mining companies, banks, you name it. And who came second? Bobby Freakin’ Kotick.

Yes, the Activision boss joins three other runners-up - the big men from Heinz, JP Morgan and Southwest Airlines - and came in behind only Brian Goldner, boss of…Hasbro.

Why Bobby? Marketwatch points out the obvious:

The one-two punch of Activision and Blizzard is expected to generate about $4.7 billion in revenue this year — in excess of 60% above what Activision drew as a stand-alone company in its last fiscal year.

That’s why they went Bobby.

Kotick changes the game at Activision Blizzard [Marketwatch] [Image]


Filed in Activision, Bobby Kotick, Gaming, News, business, robert kotick | | Link inside C.I.A.G. | Comments Off

Activision: Next Tony Hawk Is Hands-Free, New Bond, Call of Duty Due 2009 [Massive]

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Posted by Michael McWhertor from Kotaku.

Executives from Activision are dishing dirt on the company’s upcoming releases at an in-game advertising summit hosted by Massive. That means more Call of Duty, more James Bond and confirmation on Tony Hawk’s reinvented controls.

And while new entries in the Call of Duty series is a given, as is further exploitation of the Bond license — this time, by Bizarre Creations — the fact that you’re “not going to be playing Tony Hawk [with] a controller in your hands” will probably come as a surprise to some gamers who haven’t been keeping up. Let’s just hope whoever is at the helm improves upon what Skate It did.

Newsweek blogger/griot N’Gai Croal is twittering like a man possessed at the Massive summit, reporting that the next Call of Duty, back in Infinity Ward’s hands again, will hit Fall of 2009.

Activision-published siblings Bizarre Creations are said to be “working on 3rd person Bond game for 2009″ that’s “racing and driving focused” as well as a second racing game described as “Mario Kart meets Forza.” The former project jibes with a rumor from last December, so we’d expect this one has been in development for a significant period.

Little of that will probably come as a surprise to anyone following the Activision development hamster wheel, but it’s good to know that the wholly owned Bizarre isn’t just sitting on its hands. We’ll be keeping an eye on N’Gai’s Blackberry fingering for those sweet nuggets of info.

N’Gai Croal’s Twitter


Filed in Activision, Call Of Duty, Gaming, In-game Ads, Infinity Ward, James Bond, Massive, Tony Hawk, Top, bizarre creations | | Link inside C.I.A.G. | Comments Off