Call of Duty, Skylanders lead Activision Blizzard to beat analysts’ expectations

May 9, 2012 1:12 PM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Activision Blizzard beat expectations for the first-fiscal-quarter earnings today. The results, coming two days after Electronic Arts posted better-than-expected earnings, could be interpreted as good news for the larger game industry.

Activision Blizzard is the largest independent publisher of traditional …

Call of Duty: Black Ops II beats first-day preorders of Modern Warfare 3 on Amazon

May 4, 2012 8:39 AM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Call of Duty: Black Ops II pre-orders for the first day after the announcement of the game have beaten first-day pre-orders for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Black Ops II has beaten Modern Warfare 3′s pre-orders on Amazon by …

Activision Blizzard’s quarterly earnings report predicted to shine come Wednesday

May 4, 2012 7:00 AM Rob LeFebvre
Rob LeFebvre

Activision Blizzard will report its first-fiscal-quarter earnings on Wednesday, May 9, after the market close. This will come two days after its arch-rival Electronic Arts reports its earnings, and the two together will paint a better picture of the grudge match between EA's Star Wars: The Old Republic and Activision Blizzard's flagship online game World of Warcraft.

The DeanBeat: Losing my way to the top in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

April 13, 2012 8:00 AM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

It took me 154 days, but I finally reached Prestige, the highest level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer. I’m very proud of this achievement, although I have to admit that I lost my way to the top.…

Can we panic now? — Core gaming has a problem

April 2, 2012 10:01 AM Jeffrey Grubb
Jeffrey Grubb

THQ layoffs, Sega cancellations, and Sony studio closures caused last week to be one of the worst in memory for the gaming industry. Compare that to mobile darling OMGPOP which was sold for $210 million based on the strength of one game. It seems like one side of the market is on its way down, while the other side has nothing but growth ahead of it, but that isn't necessarily the case.

Call of Duty front man resigns from Infinity Ward

March 26, 2012 2:09 PM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

In a tweet, creative strategist Robert Bowling resigned from his job at Activision’s Call of Duty game studio Infinity Ward today.

Bowling has been an active tweeter and spokesman for Infinity Ward in the past year, particularly since Infinity Ward …

Angry Birds Space introduces the age of the mobile game blockbuster

March 26, 2012 8:40 AM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Editor's Pick

With 10 million downloads in three days, Angry Birds Space has vaulted the mobile-game business into the stratosphere of bona fide entertainment blockbusters.

It’s hard to calculate how much money the game has generated because prices range from 99 cents …

After Modern Warfare 3 outage, Activision offers fans a perk

March 24, 2012 8:17 PM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 servers on Xbox Live went down, spoiling the Friday night entertainment plans for millions of fans. But the service is now back up and game publisher Activision Blizzard seems like it will make a …

Largest Call of Duty DLC collection hits Xbox Live today

March 20, 2012 10:27 AM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Activision Blizzard said today that its largest downloadable content (DLC) in history for a Call of Duty game is hitting Xbox Live today.

The company is releasing the new content both as two new Spec Ops missions and one new …

EA’s Patrick Soderlund sounds off on Medal of Honor and Battlefield games

March 13, 2012 6:00 AM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

As the head of the EA Games label, Patrick Soderlund (pictured) oversees Electronic Arts’ Medal of Honor, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Dead Space, and other hardcore gaming properties. That amounts to a huge chunk of the company’s revenues and one …

Hands-on with the next Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 content drop

March 12, 2012 10:00 AM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

The newest content drop for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is nearing its release. We’ve already played the add-on maps — check below to see what you’ll be able to experience as soon as March 20, if you have …

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Content Season kicks off on PlayStation 3

February 28, 2012 12:28 PM Stefanie Fogel
Stefanie Fogel

The first two pieces of downloadable content for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are now available to Elite Premium members on the PlayStation Network, but not everyone is happy about it.

The new multiplayer maps, Liberation and Piazza, are …

Gunning for another Kickstarter success Minecraft-style

February 27, 2012 8:00 AM Heinrich Lenhardt
Heinrich Lenhardt

Curious how a first-person shooter with crafting elements and “total environmental destruction” would play? For a modest $15 you can pre-purchase indie game Guncraft and help the developers meet their Kickstarter funding goal of $16,000 to finish the project. It …

You’ll fall 70 stories if you lose in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Overwatch map

February 21, 2012 1:25 PM Stefanie Fogel
Stefanie Fogel

The third map in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s current content season is now available for Call of Duty Elite Premium members on Xbox Live.

Overwatch takes place in a construction site atop a New York City skyscraper, where …

Amazon reveals best-selling video games worldwide (Feb. 13-18)

February 19, 2012 4:58 PM Sebastian Haley
Sebastian Haley

Amazon’s weekly sales data is in, and it included some definite surprises this time around. The following charts are for the top 10 best-selling titles across all platforms.

North America:

1. Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 (Xbox 360 Kinect)
2. …

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 leaked, Activision implicated in blacklisting cover-up [update]

February 17, 2012 12:50 PM Sebastian Haley
Sebastian Haley

Along with the ESRB, online game retailers are notorious for revealing unannounced games long before their publishers would like them to be. Amazon France seems to have done just that, according to GameBlog.fr. GameBlog took a screencap of the above …

Modern Warfare 3 goes free-to-play for a limited time

February 16, 2012 2:06 PM Sebastian Haley
Sebastian Haley

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the best-selling anything ever,  is now free on Steam until Sunday afternoon.

With roughly 10 trillion copies sold (one for every man, child, and amoeba to ever walk the Earth), you’re probably wondering why …

Valve’s digital distribution kingdom by the numbers (Steam-powered infographic)

February 16, 2012 11:01 AM Sebastian Haley
Sebastian Haley

VideoGameDesignSchools.org has crafted a slick infographic detailing Valve’s conquest of the digital distribution market.

It should come as no surprise that Steam is doing well, but this infographic puts in perspective just how much better Valve’s PC gaming digital storefront …

NAVGTR announces nominees for 2012 game awards

February 15, 2012 9:38 PM Alejandro Quan-Madrid
Alejandro Quan-Madrid

The National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers (NAVGTR, pronounced "navigator") announced its list of nominees for their 2012 NAVGTR video game awards. Voice actors Tom Sizemore and Tara Platt were on hand to present the nominations.

The organization plans to have a panel of game journalists and other industry folks debate the list and predict the winners during the PAX East festival this April. It will announce the winners shortly afterwards.

And the nominees are...