While it’s not quite a firm release date, mega-publisher Activision confirmed a Q2 2012 window for the highly anticipated Diablo III in their most recent earnings call. This narrows the release date down to sometime between April and June of this year.

The game has already undergone changes, including some based on player feedback from the latest beta, but knowing Blizzard’s track record, it’s probably the safe bet the game’s going to be a hit. Diablo III takes place twenty years after the events of Diablo II. Though some familiar faces like Deckard Cain will make an appearance, the game features an all new set of heroes.

[Source: CVG]

Today word got out that Activision will be launching a new subscription based service called Call of Duty Elite in conjunction with the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 this fall. Activision is still trying to determine the right subscription pricing for the service which is said to “provide extra content that isn’t offered on game discs sold in stores, including downloadable map packs.”

Aside from extra content, Elite will also provide gamers with stat tracking tools that analyze their performance and tendencies in game, in hopes of directing the player to guides and tutorials on how to improve. “These can cover things like the best way to employ a certain weapon, pros and cons for their attachments, or how to make the best use of different perks. Video tutorials will also be part of the package.”

Elite will have some features that are available to everyone, even those who don’t subscribe to the service. For example there will be a social media aspect that allows gamers who share similar interests to meet up online and blow each other away.

Gamers will be able to access Elite in several ways. Primarily, it will be built into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as well as future CoD titles, so you can access the information in game. You will also have access via the CoD Elite website as well as on iOS and Android phones and tablets.

What do you guys think about this? To be honest, I haven’t played CoD in a long time and generally stayed away from the multiplayer. Maybe I’m a gaming hipster or whatever, but I just always stuck with my old favorite Counter-Strike for multiplayer FPS action. I’d be curious to hear what the hardcore members of the CoD community think about this.

If you’re a big CoD fan, leave a comment below letting us know what you think.

Source: Shacknews

About a month ago, I reported that Activision had killed off its Guitar Hero franchise “due to continued declines in the music genre.” Apparently Ubisoft has something to say about that. Today, the developer announced that it is currently working on a guitar based rhythm game call Rocksmith. Now before you call Rocksmith a Guitar Hero clone, please note that there are some major differences. Most importantly, you play Rocksmith with a real guitar, not some plastic toy.

Apparently Ubisoft has come up with some sort of converter that allows you to plug in your guitar cord into a USB drive. Now I know some of you are saying, “What about Power Gig: Rise of the Sixstring? That game let you play with a real guitar!” Please note that with Power Gig, you had to play using their plastic “guitar.” Sure it had strings and plugged into your console of choice, but it still wasn’t a real guitar. Also the fact that the gameplay was just trash didn’t help Power Gig‘s reputation.

According to Rolling Stone, Rocksmith will teach gamers how to play guitar, as well as 45 songs from artists including: the Animals, the Black Keys, David Bowie, Interpol, Nirvana and the Rolling Stones.

For those of you who have no experience with a guitar, don’t feel too left out. Apparently Ubisoft has found a way to dynamically shift the difficulty of songs. This means that, rather than failing out of a song like in Guitar Hero, Rocksmith will adjust the difficulty while you’re playing. If you’re like me, and actually plan on using Rocksmith as a tool to help your guitar playing, you should note that there will be a practice mode where you can loop parts, adjust the speed, etc.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m absolutely thrilled to hear about this. I’ve been playing guitar for a few years now, but I’m still trash. I never really took it seriously and just kinda spent my practice time pounding out covers of Misfits songs with my friends. The thing is, I don’t really have time to take actual guitar lessons. I’d much rather have a videogame that walks me through a regimented practice system at my own pace.

What about you guys? Is this something that interests you? Are there are guitar players who can weigh in on this game? Do you think that a videogame can teach you how to play an instrument? Let us know what you think with a comment below.

Source: Shacknews.com

In light of Activision killing off the Guitar Hero franchise, John Riccitiello said some interesting things when he spoke at this year’s Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference.

The EA CEO mentioned that “If you go back seven years, we were the leader. And we dropped the ball. Our IP deteriorated, our costs went up, and we didn’t really have an answer for the rise of digital. Need For Speed ended up flat on its back. That annual sequel thing got to us. That was a very tough business run. We just didn’t have the portfolio.”

Now if only EA could lighten up on the yearly sports releases, and give us more awesome stuff like Dead Space 2, Dante’s Inferno and the Medal of Honor reboot I’d be a really happy camper.

[Via GoNintendo]

Last week, we reported that Activision is killing off the Guitar Hero franchise “due to continued declines in the music genre.” While we’re certain that the folks over at EA and Harmonix are quietly celebrating, not everyone is so happy to see the music behemoth go the way of the dinosaurs.

RedOctane was the publisher that teamed up with Harmonix back in 2005 to make Guitar Hero I and II. They were subsequently acquired by Activision in 2006, and dissolved last year. Their former CEO, Kelly Sumner, doesn’t have the nicest things to say about Activision’s management of the franchise.

His words await you after the break.

“Not every game can be a billion dollar franchise, but maybe that’s what Activision wants,” Sumner added “I’d be surprised if they sold the brand as it’d prove to the world there is still a market for this product and show them up.”

“[Activision] tried to get too much out of the franchise too quickly. They abused it,” he said ”There’s no reason why Guitar Hero cannot continue. It’s a great product. My gut tells me there is still a significant market for Guitar Hero.”

I can’t help but agree with Sumner. Activision released NINE different iterations of Guitar Hero in 2009, and they’re complaining about the decline of the genre? Talk about market saturation. With business practices like that one can only wonder how long they can stay the top dog.

[Via CVG]

Yesterday Activision announced some news that has some pretty major effects on the gaming industry. First off, the publisher has canceled the open-world action title True Crime: Hong Kong.

While this may be upsetting to some gamers, the real heavy hitting news is that Activision has eliminated its Guitar Hero and DJ Hero franchises “due to continued declines in the music genre.” Both teams working on the GH and DJH franchises have been hit with “severe layoffs.”

According to Activision these cancellations are “based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world’s best interactive entertainment experiences.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t touched a Guitar Hero game since GH3. Regardless of that fact I’m still a tad bit sad I won’t see any more Guitar Hero games. A lot of my High School memories involve hanging out in my friends basements rocking out on little plastic guitars.

Setting nostalgia aside, this decision also upsets because I believe Activision is directly to blame for the decline in the music game genre. I mean, what do you expect to happen when you saturate a market with rehashes of the same game without really innovating (sure they did the whole band thing… but Rock Band did it better). I can’t wait to see what happens to Call of Duty in a few years.

But that’s just what I think. Let us know your take on this situation by leaving a comment below.

Source: Shacknews.com

All you Call of Duty junkies out there better cancel your weekend plans – it’s double XP weekend! Everything you do, from something as simple as killing another player for +50, to shooting down an enemy spy plane for +150, counts double. After all the dust clears, I predict an awful lot of 15th Prestige players out there by the time the sun comes up Monday morning.  The double period starts at 1PM EST today, and ends sometime Monday morning (my guess would be around 5AM EST).

Personally, I don’t have a real big problem with double XP weekends, but I can see why some people don’t like it. There are a lot of people out there who have spent tons of time in Black Ops honing their skills the last few months, and achieving 15th Prestige in a short amount of time, only to be matched by people who happen to log on this weekend. Either way, make sure you at least try some Demolition, because anytime you plant a bomb, it’ll earn you a sweet +1200.

Source: Black Ops Blog

I distinctly remember Mark having a smirk on his face when he said it, however. It’s being reported that a Best Buy listing for the Hardened Edition of Black Ops read that it will feature “Four Zombie Maps Pack made famous from COD: World at War.” This information has since been pulled from the Best Buy site.

Assuming the information is true (a reasonable assumption, but I’d like to see some cache’d screenshots, please), this doesn’t sound like properly “including zombies” in Black Ops to me. If it were, I’d expect us to be fighting Soviet zombies this time around. Perhaps the Russians picked up some of the Fuhrer’s scientists like the Americans did in the rush to Berlin, but where we got the rocket scientists, the Reds picked up the necromancers, and something went horribly wrong for our Black Ops teams to discover.

Including the zombies in only the Hardened edition, and therefore the Prestige edition which eclipses it, also doesn’t sound like a proper inclusion of zombies. They were part of the basic package from the ground up in World at War, which is what made the bonus mode such a treat. Let’s hope that Best Buy pulled the information down not purely because Activision didn’t want word of zombies in Black Ops leaking out, but due to the retailer chain having the information wrong; and that some new, proper zombie modes are still in the works for us.

Source: CVG

Now I’m all for special editions, but this is getting a little ridiculous. Today Activision revealed two tiers of special editions for Treyarch’s upcoming shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops.

First off, there is the “Hardened” edition. This box includes “a custom Black Ops limited edition medal, exclusive Black Ops Avatar outfit, as well as four playable cooperative maps.” Not too shabby, if I do say so myself, but wait for it. Things get pretty crazy with the “Prestige” edition.

The Prestige Edition comes with all the bells and whistles included in the Hardened Edition plus “an entirely original remote controlled surveillance vehicle inspired by the RC-XD from Black Ops Multiplayer.” This RC spy car features a range up to 200 feet and can transmit TFT color video and audio to it’s pistol-grip controller.

Right now, Activison has yet to announce a price for either of these editions, however retailers already have them listed for $79.99 and $149.99. Call of Duty: Black Ops is currently slated to arrive on the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, DS and Wii on November 9.

What do you guys think about this? Are you willing to drop $150 on a single game? Are you excited about this crazy spy car? Do you think Activision has gone a little overboard with these special edition bonuses?

Source: Shacknews.com

Following in the footsteps of the previous Call of Duty titles, today Activision revealed that a “companion” title for Call of Duty: Black Ops will be released on the Nintendo DS. The newly revealed shooter will be hitting stores along side the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 releases on November 9, 2010.

Developed by n-Space (the guys behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized), Call of Duty: Black Ops promises to put gamers in various combat situation ranging from “taking the controls of an attack helicopter to flying an experimental stealth fighter jet.”

Other features include a new Perks system, a “unique two-player co-op mode,” and various arcade challenge modes.

What do you guys think about this? Are there any DS gamers who tried out the previous CoD handheld titles? If so, what did you guys think? Is there a big demand for this genre of game on the DS?

Personally, I’ve never tried any of the first-person shooters that are out for the DS, so I really don’t have an opinion. Just from my own experience with the DS, I can’t imagine a FPS game working out too well. But then again, I never though shooters would take off on consoles until I saw Goldeneye on the 64.?

Source: Shacknews.com

Whether it is Bobby Kotick wanting to raise game prices even further, trying to take the fun out of making videogames or even driving away one of the most popular studios in the industry, one thing is for certain: Activision has been a PR nightmare lately. While Activision is attempting to improve its public image, Electronic Arts seems to be taking advantage of Activision’s growing unpopularity amongst gamers. During a recent interview, EA Chief Operating Officer John Shappert took the opportunity to make backhanded comments towards Activision when asked about the rival company.

When asked about Activision, Shappert noted that “… stories of late [regarding Activision] haven’t been very positive. And we couldn’t be happier to have Jason [West] and Vince [Zampella] as part of our EA Partners program, or Ted Price of Insomniac”. In addition to rubbing salt in Activision’s wound regarding the loss of  Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward, the interview allowed Shappert to differentiate his company from the likes of Activision.

In doing so, Shappert inferred that Activision discourages creative development and mistreats their employees. “I would say we’re two very, very different companies. What we try to be is a company that embodies creative development, that fosters the development of games, that treats talent as well as you possibly can,” said the silver-tongued spokesman.

Further distinguishing his company from Activision, Shappert noted that “Without great people we can’t have great games, and without great games we don’t have much of a company and so it’s all about taking care of the people that make the products and treating them as the most precious resource because they truly are. So that’s really our philosophy.”

The snide nature of the comments aside, it is easy to find truth behind Shappert’s statements. While Activision seems hell-bent on whoring out its franchises to the point of market saturation, Electronic Arts has focused on fostering new and interesting intellectual properties such as The Saboteur, Mirror’s Edge, Dante’s Inferno and the Dead Space series. Hopefully, EA will treat the former Infinity Ward developers at the newly created Respawn Entertainment a little better than their former publisher did.

[Via Industry Gamers]

Today Activision sent word that a new James Bond title will be arriving on the Ps3, Xbox 360 and PC this holiday season. Dubbed James Bond 007: Blood Stone, the third-person shooter is currently being developed by Bizarre Creations (best known for Blur and The Club).

It seems like Activision has really pulled out all the stop for this game. Apparently, Blood Stone will feature an original story by Bruce Feirstein (the guy behind GoldenEye), as well as voice acting from Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, and singer Joss Stone. Word also has it that Ms. Stone will be providing the soundtrack with a little help from Dave Stewart (of the Eurythmics).

“James Bond 007: Blood Stone captures the cinematic intensity of a Bond film by immersing players in an intriguing conspiracy that will require them to think and act like James Bond,” said David Pokress, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing. “In addition, the game will feature a diverse array of multi-player modes and debut strategic objective-based gameplay that will allow Xbox 360, PS3 and PC players to battle as teams of spies and mercenaries through authentic Bond locales.”

I should also mention that there is also a Nintendo DS port being developed by n-Space (the guys behind the Call of Duty DS ports).  At this point, little is known about the DS title.

What do you guys think about this? Are you excited for a new Bond game? Is there a big following for Bond titles that I don’t know about?

Personally, I haven’t had the chance to pick one up since GoldenEye. Maybe I’m strange, but James Bond never really did it for me. I always found the films boring and drawn out. But then again, what do I know. After all, I consider Big Trouble in Little China to be the best thing to ever grace the silver screen…

Source: Shacknews.com