activision

Diablo III looks ready to rock the living room

The PlayStation version of Diablo III appears ready to hack 'n' slash its way into living rooms.

Game maker Blizzard Entertainment showed off a new trailer and let gamers play the game at the PAX East conference taking place in Boston this weekend. While there's nothing too surprising about the footage shown, it's clear there are a few tweaks here and there to make things easier and faster for someone using a Dualshock controller.

Blizzard didn't comment or show off any footage of Diablo 3 for PlayStation 4, nor did it reveal the release date for the PS3 version. Interestingly, a company representative at the expo told Penny Arcade Report that the game isn't a PlayStation exclusive, but kept mum on an official announcement. Could Diablo III be in the works for the Xbox 360 and/or Wii U?… Read more

Bungie's Destiny to arrive on PS3 and PS4

Bungie, the creator of video-game franchise Halo, unveiled today that it is bringing its next project to Sony's consoles.

The new first-person shooting game, called Destiny, is coming to PlayStation 3 and the newly unveiled PlayStation 4, the team from Bungie said onstage at Sony's PS4 event today in New York.

Activision, which is publishing Destiny, characterizes the game as the first "shared world shooter" game, and the Bungie team said there will be exclusive content for the PlayStation community.

There was no mention of when the game will be available, but it's speculated that … Read more

The making of Bungie's Halo successor: Destiny

BELLEVUE, Wash.--Halo, the multibillion-dollar-grossing video game franchise, set an incredibly high bar for its creator, Bungie, to meet with its next title.

"After Halo, a bunch of us thought, 'What comes next?'" Bungie co-founder Jason Jones told a group of journalists visiting Bungie's Bellevue, Wash., headquarters Wednesday.

Jones and Bungie's leadership, who sold the company to Microsoft in 2000 and then spun it out of the software giant in 2007, wanted to find a project worthy of the groundbreaking work in Halo. They wanted to come up with not just a new game, but a … Read more

Activision 'somewhat disappointed' with Wii U launch

Nintendo investors aren't the only ones bummed by Wii U's uptake.

Speaking yesterday during an earnings call with investors, Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick said he was "somewhat disappointed with the launch of the Wii U." That dagger came just minutes after Kotick acknowledged that his company faced "challenges from slower-than-expected adoption of the Wii U."

It's no secret that the Wii U has faced some trouble since its release in November. Last month, Nintendo released its earnings for the nine-month period that ended December 31 and revealed that the company mustered only … Read more

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 rakes in $500 million in first 24 hours

There's no stopping the Call of Duty franchise.

The latest version of the storied military shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, grossed $500 million in revenue around the world in its first 24 hours, Activision said today. The company said that marks the largest entertainment launch of the year, and the fourth consecutive year in which it could make that claim. … Read more

Petraeus a now unlikely defense secretary in Call of Duty

More than a decade in the future, we'll see a still-strapping Secretary of Defense David Petraeus greeting troops aboard the decks of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Barack Obama.

OK, so that reality seems a little less likely in our world of carbon-based life forms now that Petraeus has resigned his CIA post amid an adultery scandal, but it's still very much part of the digital world in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.… Read more

Calling in sick to play Call of Duty: Black Ops 2? You're not alone

Getting a bit of a scratchy throat? You'd better plan to stay home tomorrow to fend off what's sure to be a terrible cold. And while you're lying around hacking up a lung, maybe you can garner the strength to play a little Call of Duty: Black Ops: 2. Your boss will never suspect that's why you really dialed in sick.

Not until reading about a new IGN poll, that is. One in four respondents indicated plans to skip work/school tomorrow, the day the next installment of the hugely popular first-person shooter launches worldwide for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Health warning: The Call of Duty Cough is expected to be serious and widespread! … Read more

Stream your Call of Duty play on YouTube

Video games are increasingly becoming a spectator sport, and Google is making its first big move to bring those spectators to YouTube.

Activision, publisher of the blockbuster Call of Duty franchise, said this morning that players will be able to live stream their game play of Call of Duty: Black Ops II on YouTube. Players can share their game play, audio commentary, and even Webcam footage of themselves on YouTube without any new hardware or software.

Sang Kim, head of game partnerships for YouTube, said in a statement that the move was "an awesome next step for the eSports … Read more

Deadly exploit briefly massacres World of Warcraft

Imagine your virtual character relaxing in the confines of the massive World of Warcraft city Orgrimmar, when suddenly, zero health points. Upon spinning the mouse cursor around, everything around you also simultaneously perishes. Not long after the death, countless skeletons of fallen players stack up upon the city streets.

While this sounds like a bad dream that might strike someone who plays World of Warcraft too much, the deadly scenario played out yesterday across many WoW servers around the world. Entire Horde and Alliance megacities -- including Stormwind -- suddenly became graveyards for thousands afflicted by an in-game exploit carried out by malicious players. … Read more

Activision and No Doubt settle Band Hero lawsuit

The pop band No Doubt claimed that the video game Band Hero turned its front woman Gwen Stefani into a "virtual karaoke circus act." Now, that circus act may have sung its last song.

Activision, the maker of Band Hero, and No Doubt settled an ongoing lawsuit this week, according to the Associated Press. The settlement was agreed upon just weeks before a jury trial was set to begin.

The legal case began in 2009 when No Doubt charged that Activision didn't tell the pop musicians that gamers would be able to unlock the band's avatars … Read more