Yesterday, Activision Blizzard's revealed several of its major games for 2009, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Guitar Hero 5. Now, the studio has informed VideoGamer that reports of the games are "speculative as far as we're concerned."

The revelations were part of Activision Blizzard's presentation at a conference held by in-game advertising firm Massive Inc, during which Activision detailed its 2009 releases.

In addition to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Guitar Hero 5, the company also spoke of the next Tony Hawk game. "You're not going to be playing Tony Hawk with a controller in your hands," said an Activision executive, according to journalist N'Gai Croal.

The presentation also specified two new racing titles from Project Gotham Racing series developer Bizarre Creations: a James Bond racing game and another game billed as "Mario Kart meets Forza" by a company representative.

Along with N'Gai, MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo provided coverage, lending further credibility to the reports. Both writers are respected and considered credible. It is speculated that Activision did not expect journalists to be reporting live from the event, and presented confidential information not yet meant for public consumption.

Microsoft's in-game ad firm Massive today announced it has signed separate deals with both publisher Activision and developer Blizzard.

The Blizzard end of the deal will encompass only the company's Battle.net and website advertisements.

"Massive understands and respects our stance against advertising that might detract from gameplay or offend our players," said Blizzard COO Paul Sams.

Under the terms of the Activision deal, Massive will provide its in-game ads to the publisher over several years, for up to 18 Xbox 360 and PC titles. Guitar Hero: World Tour, Quantum of Solace, and Tony Hawk were named as specific titles that Massive would be handling.

Massive and Activision have worked together in the past, with the ad firm running over 330 campaigns with more than 225 advertisers in titles such as Guitar Hero III and Tony Hawk's Proving Ground.

"By incorporating dynamic in-game advertising in our titles where it is appropriate, we can increase the realism of our games by presenting consumers with authentic environments in genuine settings, while also expanding a key growth opportunity for the company," said head of Activision business development Dave Anderson.

Publisher Activision has modified the box art for Left Field Productions' offroad racer Score International Baja 1000 following a legal complaint that the original cover art was too similar to that of the THQ-published, 2XL-developed Baja: Edge of Control.

THQ and Activision settled the issue out of court, reports Patent Arcade, with THQ having dismissed the lawsuit and Activision rolling out redesigned cover art.

Both Baja: Edge of Control (PS3, 360) and Score International Baja 1000 (PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, Wii) are now at retailers, with the new artwork expected to hit shelves shortly.

MMO technology creator and CyberSports contractor Monumental Games announced today that it has acquired half of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand developer Swordfish Studios from Activision, marking the second ex-Vivendi studio to be sold off this week.

The studio was one of the many that Activision Blizzard hoped to sell after the Vivendi Games merger, with Swordfish's 50 Cent game among those dropped from the company's publishing slate as it did not fit with Activision's sequel-centric plans.

Monumental picked up Swordfish's 26-person Manchester branch for an undisclosed sum. The fate of the Birmingham office is not yet known, though publisher THQ has signed on to release 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand early next year.

"The Swordfish team is one of the very few developers worldwide to have fully solved the hugely complex issues involved in running and managing the XLSP (Xbox Live! Server Platform) server environments for online console gaming," explained Monumental CEO Rik Alexander.

"This knowledge base will help to consolidate Monumental's position as the market leading online game developer."

Massive Entertainment, developer of World in Conflict (PC, 360, PS3), has been bought by Ubisoft after being put up for sale back in August by previous owner Activision Blizzard.

"Ubisoft is growing at an intense pace and our strategy is to ensure the strength of our global creative teams," said Ubisoft executive Christine Burgess-Quemard in a statement obtained by GameSpot.

The French publisher is reportedly acquiring "the assets and all of the personnel" of the Swedish studio, signaling that the transition will be made without layoffs.

Activision Blizzard, for its part, reported a strong quarter just last week but made no mention of the transaction. Massive's future was put into question after Activision and Blizzard merged, necessitating a streamlining of the portfolio at owner Vivendi.

Massive is presumably still at work on Soviet Assault, an expansion to World in Conflict. The game was due this fall but suffered some setbacks from the sell-off, leaving its release date unknown.

Activision Blizzard today acquired developer Budcat Creations, which has worked with Activision on Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero World Tour for PlayStation 2, and developed the customizable Wii shooter Blast Works for Majesco.

Activision noted that Budcat is working on "a new game in the Guitar Hero franchise," which could be Guitar Hero Modern Hits, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Jimi Hendrix, or an as-yet-unrevealed entry. Activision previously stated its intent to triple its annual Guitar Hero releases by 2010.

Budcat joins Activision's growing stable of Guitar Hero-capable studios, which includes Neversoft (PS3 and Xbox 360), Vicarious Visions (Wii and Nintendo DS) and the recently-acquired FreeStyleGames, which is working on Guitar Hero downloadable content. In addition, FreeStyle is working on a new franchise rumored to be DJ Hero.

"In addition to strengthening our development capabilities on the... Read more

Activision says the growth of retail videogame shelf space should help the industry's chances of weathering the economic downturn this holiday, but warns that second-tier games may bear the brunt of the financial malady.

"Publishers with top-selling titles will likely benefit disproportionately in this quarter," said Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith.

"Retailers are ordering less up front, and are focusing on chasing the winners," added Griffith, who noted that stores are "being more cautious with second-tier titles."

The CEO was unsurprisingly optimistic about his company's chances, with new Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft titles debuting in time for the holiday season.

"Over the past year, global retailers have allocated 40% more in-store space to the videogame category at the expense of other categories," said Mike Griffith. "Most of this has been dedicated to the music genre."

As publisher Activision Blizzard reported better-than-expected second quarter revenue today, the company explained how its strategy of developing games within long-standing franchises has been its secret to continual growth.

"[Developing games with] clear sequel potential that can meet our expectations of 100+ million franchises, that's a strategy that has worked very well for us," said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.

Activision Blizzard's portfolio consists of such consistently-performing franchises as Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk and Call of Duty.

"I think generally our strategy has been to focus on the products.. that we know if we release today, we'll be working on ten years from now."

Kotick added that the difficulty in creating successful new intellectual property has been clearly established over the past 20 years, while noting that Activision's... Read more

Publisher THQ has sued fellow publisher Actvision, claiming the box art for Activision's Score International Baja 1000 is too similar to that of THQ's Baja: Edge of Control.

"Activision's impending use of packaging art [for its game] ... is likely to confuse, cause mistake or deceive the public into believing that the Activision Game originates or is sponsored or approved by THQ, when in fact it is not," claims the lawsuit, as reported by Edge Online after Patent Arcade broke the story.

THQ is asking the court to delay the release of Activision's Baja game until the artwork is changed, otherwise it believes it will suffer "as yet unknown" damages, which would cause THQ to "be entitled to Activision's profits from the sale of the Activision Game."

According to the suit, which also seeks attorney's fees, THQ contacted Activision regarding the similarities in the beginning of October, but Activision refused to change the packaging. Baja: Edge of Control (PS3, 360) arrived in September, while Score International hits retailers this week in PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii editions.

Following Activision's plans to triple the amount of yearly Guitar Hero releases by 2012, the publisher has filed a trademark for the phrase "Guitar Hero Modern Hits."

Few details are known, though the phrasing seems to imply that the game will feature contemporary artists. The details of the application confirms that the phrase applies to "computer game software and related instruction manual sold together" and a "video game comprised of a cartridge or DVD sold as a unit with a video game controller."

In addition to the October 26 release of Neversoft's multi-instrument music game sequel Guitar Hero World Tour (PS2, PS3, 360, Wii), the company is also planning to release Vicarious Visions' second DS Guitar Hero, dubbed Decades, on November 16.

"You mention milking the franchise--I don't think we're doing that," Vicarious Visions producer David Nathanielsz told Shacknews when asked about the short span between the release of Guitar Hero: On Tour DS and the announcement of the sequel. "People are asking for songs, and that's what we're giving them."

This year also saw the debut of the first band-centric Guitar Hero game, Guitar Hero Aerosmith (PC, PS2, PS3, 360, Wii), with upcoming releases believed to include Guitar Hero: Metallica and Guitar Hero: Jimi Hendrix.

Video game-related stocks have long been seen as a safe haven for investors, but even Blizzard was feeling the crunch today after the record-breaking 777 point drop on the Dow Jones industrial average.

The tech-based NASDAQ index saw a similar slide, dropping 199 points after the US House of Representatives voted down a bill to rescue the financial sector with $700 billion of taxpayer money.

The US gaming industry saw widespread drops, with Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts both seeing major hits. A mess of ugly numbers provided by GameSpot:

The share price of Activision Blizzard (World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero World Tour), the newly minted biggest third-party publisher on the planet, slid 13.8 percent ($2.26) to end the day at $14.12. Former top dog Electronic Arts (Madden NFL 09) saw $3.63 shaved off of its stock price, ending the day down 9.16 percent at $36 even.

THQ (Saints Row 2) lost 7 percent, or $0.87, to close at $11.48, and shares in Take-Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto IV) lost 4.52 percent ($0.73) to close at $15.43--nearly $10 less than its asking price one month ago.

GameSpot further notes that overseas publishers and console manufacturers were not immune from the turmoil, with Microsoft, Sony, and Eidos parent SCi Entertainment all posting significant losses. Publisher Ubisoft dropped a massive $17.92 per share to close at $65.37.

Activision Blizzard will triple the amount of Guitar Hero titles and content it offers by 2010, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith revealed today at the company's Analyst Day.

That expansion extends to both retail titles and downloadable content for the popular multi-instrument music game series, and follows Activision's plans to double the amount of Guitar Hero releases in 2009.

The growth will be accomplished by bringing in more developers and more hardware suppliers, Griffith explained. Late last week, the company purchased UK developer FreeStyleGames, which is currently working on "localized downloadable content" for the Guitar Hero brand.

The next Guitar Hero game, officially dubbed World Tour but often referred to as Guitar Hero 4, hits PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii on October 26.

Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith today confirmed that Call of Duty creator Infinity Ward, which most recently handled Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, will return to the franchise next year with Call of Duty 6.

"In 2009, we expect Infinity Ward to deliver another [entry of] ground-breaking quality, Call of Duty 6," Griffith stated at today's Activision Blizzard Analyst Day. Earlier this year, the CEO revealed that a new Call of Duty game would arrive in 2009, but did not offer any other details at the time.

Confusingly, Griffith's presentation today seemed to date CoD 6 for 2010 as well. After discussing Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War, which he referred to as Call of Duty 5, the CEO said that "for calendar year 2010, Infinity Ward is already at work on the next installment in the franchise."

Following publisher Activision's "leapfrog strategy" of alternating developers, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 6 will follow up Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War, which launches on November 5 for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2, and Wii. Treyarch had also developed Call of Duty 3 as a part of that strategy.

Activision Blizzard subsidiary Activision Publishing announced today that it has purchased FreeStyleGames, a UK-based developer best known for its breakdancing game B-Boy (PS2, PSP).

FreeStyleGames is currently working on "localized downloadable content" for the Activision-owned Guitar Hero franchise, along with a new music-based game. According to Activision, the acquisition represents the latest step in "its global leadership position in the music-based genre." Financial details were not specified.

Over on its official site, FreeStyleGames affirmed that it will "retain creative control, continue to run the studio and have the opportunity to continue to achieve our own ambitious targets."

"We can begin to leverage Activision's experience, infrastructure and support to deliver on the games we have in development," the developer added.

The sequel to Monolith's spooky shooter F.E.A.R. will now be known as F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin instead of plain old Project Origin. Furthermore, the game will hit PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 10, 2009, according to IGN.

Though Monolith created the first F.E.A.R., the sequel was not going to use the brand name as Vivendi owned the title while Monolith held the rights to its characters and settings.

That changed today as Monolith and owner Warner Bros. revealed that they had purchased the F.E.A.R. brand from Activision Blizzard, recently formed from the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games. The conglomerate has previously stated its intent to only retain a handful of Vivendi properties, leaving a number of projects in limbo.

Nearly 100 Radical Entertainment employees, 60 High Moon Studios staffers and at least two games mark the latest causalities in parent company Activision Blizzard's streamlining efforts, according to reports.

Word of the Radical layoffs, which make up almost half of the Prototype-developing studio, arrived via The Vancouver Sun and was confirmed by the studio. Gamasutra cites numerous independent sources for the departures from The Bourne Conspiracy developer High Moon, which represent less than half of the company.

Left, Radical's Prototype. Right, High Moon's The Bourne Conspiracy

"Activision Blizzard is committed to making the best games possible and has elected at this time to reduce the number of titles that Radical is developing from four games to two," commented Radical human resources VP Leah Rubin. "Therefore... Read more

Publisher Activision Blizzard is currently in talks for the sale of World in Conflict developer Massive Entertainment following the recently completed merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, studio executives told Videogaming247.

"It seems like we have plenty of options. We've had some good meetings here," said Massive founder and president Martin Walfisz. "Being a part of a merger like this is a strange situation, because obviously the new organization has to look over all of its assets, everything it owns and its strategy for the future."

Activision Blizzard revealed late last month that several titles owned by corporate component Vivendi would not make the transition to the newly-formed company, and that it would be "exploring options" concerning the Vivendi-owned studios... Read more

The rights to develop and distribute games based on Robert Ludlum's Bourne series of novels have been reacquired by the late author's estate from former holder Vivendi Games, representatives of Ludlum Entertainment announced today.

The announcement follows the recently merged Activision Blizzard's streamlining of properties and studios owned by Vivendi Games, which saw a number of titles offloaded from the company's publishing operations.

Activision Blizzard announced its intentions to "realign staffing" at Vivendi-owned High Moon Studios, developer of Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy (PS3, 360), the first title to be based on the Bourne license. The game hit stores last... Read more

Update 2: Developer Double Fine has chimed in on the fate of Brutal Legend, stating that the Jack Black-starring action-adventure title "is fine."

Update: Sierra has assured that Ghosbusters "will not be cancelled", but offered no further details on the title or any of the others believed to be on the chopping block.

Original Story: In the wake of the recently completed Activision Blizzard merger, the company has revealed that only five franchises from Vivendi Games' Sierra portfolio will be making the transition to the newly-formed company's publishing operations.

Endangered titles Brutal Legend (Left) and Ghostbusters (Right).

The titles and franchises confirmed to make the leap include Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Ice Age, Radical Entertainment's Prototype and a yet unannounced title. Those remaining titles formerly slated for publishing deals with Vivendi Games, however, could now be without publishers.

"The only [Vivendi] franchises that Activision Publishing will release are based on Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro, as well as Prototype and one other game that has not yet been announced," an Activision Blizzard representative told GameSpot. "We are reviewing our options regarding those titles that we will not be publishing."

The remaining Vivendi Games portfolio includes Double Fine's Brutal Legend, Terminal Reality's and Red Fly's Ghostbusters, A2M's Wet, Starbreeze Studios'... Read more

The freshly conglomerated publisher Activision Blizzard is considering development of an online music platform similar to Apple's iTunes software utilizing the Guitar Hero brand, according to the Financial Times.

"I don't think there have been a lot of credible alternatives to iTunes but Guitar Hero certainly has that potential," said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.

The executive also stated that a Guitar Hero online music platform was a "natural evolution" of the franchise, which has generated over $1 billion in revenue for the company.

The newly formed Activision Blizzard arose from a merger between Activision and Vivendi Games, which owns Universal Music. Kotick added that the music label could help the company create a venture which could successfully compete... Read more