activision – Page 6 – StuffWeLike

Ghostbusters The Video Game – Please God Don’t Let This Game Suck

Every now and then there is a video game trailer that brings a glimmer of hope. Usually soon after, this hope gets crushed. For instance, when the Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts teaser trailer was released fanboys went wild. A couple months later, Rare shot them in the foot announcing it was a vehicular title rather than a simple platform.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game definitely falls into this category. On paper it seems fantastic. In final form, it usually is a stinker. When Vivendi merged with Activision and Activision dropped the title from its publishing lineup, a red flag warning went up. This title might not be so good.

I am grateful that Atari is planning on publishing this game. It would have been a shame to see all this time and effort by the original actors go to waste. From the new trailer [see below] it appears that at least the cutscenes will live up to the film’s comedic and fun adventure qualities.

Please Atari, take all the time and money that you need to make this title AAA.

PS – Please find a new announcer. The voice actor in this trailer kind of sucks.

Release Dates: Call of Duty 5, Dead Space, Lich King

In October, no one will hear you scream. No, we’re not talking about Halloween, but the release of the highly anticipated sci-fi horror shooter from EA, Dead Space. Yes, we love taking potshots at that tagline that much.

EA has confirmed that the game will be heading into stores on October 14th for all the consoles (all meaning Xbox 360 and PS3), while the PC version will come ambling in on October 20th. Need to give it special time and all, I guess.

In any case, this will make for a good Halloween costume idea…

Next up, on November 4th will be coming World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Man, how long has that been in development? A year and a half? Pretty long for an expansion, methinks. That prolly goes to show how freakin’ awesome it just might be…

There isn’t any official word on this, but Kotaku seems to have found it out by abducting and interrogating random store employees.

And finally, on November 11th, the world goes to war as Call of Duty: World at War will be released. This one’s official, yes sir and comes straight from the investors site at Activision. It’ll be coming out for all consoles on that date, except, of course, the PS2.

In my honest opinion, this won’t be something very special. Especially not as special as the glorious Call of Duty 4. Because this one’s more of a “filler” game, and is, therefore, being developed by Treyarch, instead of everyone’s favourite Call-of-Duty-devs Infinity Ward.

Lars Ulrich tries to be evasive about Guitar Hero: Metallica

Who is he kidding now? If a game called Guitar Hero: Aerosmith could work, what’s going to stop a Guitar Hero game on Metallica: one of the most well-known Thrash Metal bands ever? While we have almost certain confirmation that the game will be happening, Lars Ulrich was still acting a little cagey when asked about the game.

Talking to MTV News, he was caught saying:

“Let’s put it this way, [Our next album] Death Magnetic comes out in September, and the day it comes out, it will be available in the ‘Guitar Hero 3‘ format, which we’re obviously super-psyched about. As I’ve born witness to in my house, its all about the next generation. My kids play ‘Guitar Hero’ every day, and to be able to get the Metallica record the day it comes out, that’s super cool.”

“There’s an Aerosmith game out there that’s super successful, and if somebody’s gonna follow that up…we’re talking, and its exciting, and the people at ‘Guitar Hero’ and Activision are rapidly becoming our best new friends in the world. You can put the rest of it together yourself.”

Here at StuffWeLike, we’re hard at work putting the rest of it together, but our extreme calculations show that the result will be a glamour-filled, guitar-screaming, drum-killing title called Guitar Hero: Metallica! Or perhaps a variant on that name.

No Brütal Legend at E3 2008

Brütal Legend, the game prophesied for raw awesomeness, will not be appearing at this year’s E3, according to MTV Multiplayer.

They were sent a mail from Lord Awesome Tim Schafer himself, who informed them that the game will not be appearing at E3 and that there’s nothing to worry about: the game is in fine order. “We’re not going to be showing at E3, but soon after that we hope,” he said. As for when this “soon” comes, he says “As soon as the dust settles from this whole [Activision Blizzard] merger thing we should be able to talk about the game a lot more.”

For those not in the know, this is because the game was originally supposed to be published by Vivendi, which now becomes a subsidiary of Activision along with Blizzard, by the clauses of the Great Activision Blizzard merger.

Brütal Legend will see Jack Black playing the roadie protagonist as he travels across a surreal heavy metal-inspired landscape. The game will feature music and cameos from several Metal Gods, such as Ronnie James Dio, Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, Black Sabbath, Wolfmother and many more. It is going to be one hell of a game! Check out our earlier coverage on it! You’ll love it!

Infinity Ward working on new IP

Infinity Ward is about as synonymous with Call of Duty as Valve is with Half-Life or Bungie with Halo. Okay, Treyarch did make Call of Duty 3 and will be alternating with Infinity Ward in making CoD titles now, but nobody seriously cares about them. Sorry, Treyarch. 🙁

Now, while Call of Duty is all fun and all, we’d like to see a little something different from Infinity Ward, and things seem to be on the right track. Talking from his blag, Robert Bowling, the Director of Communications at Infinity Ward announced that they have decided to reup their publishing contract with Activision, which kickstarts their future project, “a unique new IP” that they will have “complete control over”.

Since Bowling isn’t very willing to divulge any details on this “unique” new project, we’re guessing it’s going to be a long while before we actually find out what happens of this. I would be surprised if we get an announcement by February next year! Still, it’s great to know that Infinity Ward is up to something creative and not abother war shooter (which they are pretty good at anyways).

On a pretty loose guess, I’m thinking it will be a typical dystopian/space sci-fi shooter that will probably involve either zombies or aliens or alien zombies. What do you think of this? What is Infinity Ward up to?

Court Denies Preliminary Injunction Relating to Activision – Vivendi Games Combination

Activision, Inc. today announced that the Delaware Court of Chancery has denied the Wayne County Employees’ Retirement System’s request for a preliminary injunction relating to Activision’s proposed combination with Vivendi Games, Inc., the interactive entertainment business of Vivendi S.A.

A special meeting of stockholders of Activision, Inc. will be held on Tuesday, July 8, 2008, to consider and vote on proposals to approve the transaction and related matters. If Activision’s stockholders approve the transaction and the other matters to be considered at the special meeting, Activision anticipates closing the business combination on or about July 9, 2008.

The meeting will be at 11:00 a.m., local time, at The Peninsula Hotel located at 9882 South Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted net revenues of $2.9 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.