Released back in 1967, Moonraker saw James Bond heading into outer space to foil the plans of a mad terrorist bent on poisoning the world. Fans of the film can now relive those moments including the many battles with Hugo Drax’s henchmen in the upcoming 007 Legends video game.

Releasing on October 16 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, 007 Legends will intertwine six separate Bond movies together into one game. Sticking true to tradition, the game will feature classic Bond gadgets, espionage missions, and an assortment of sleek vehicles and weapons.

Skyfall, the upcoming James Bond film out this November, is the other film revealed to be featured in the game, so that just leaves four more spots open.

Activision is concocting a new James Bond title featuring an overarching storyline that ties together six classic Bond movies. Developed by Eurocom, the game is expected to be released this fall for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Aside from the main campaign mode, Legends will include single-player Mi6 Ops Missions, similar to those seen in GoldenEye: Reloaded, and additional local and online multiplayer modes. Players will also be able to take control of Bond’s dastardly foes, reliving missions through their eyes.

Fans can also enter Activision’s “Get in the Game” contest to design their own villain that will appear in the game. Participants can submit a digitally altered photo or a picture of themselves dressed up as a bad guy, and on May 24, the community will vote on the top 10 entries. One winner will see his or her creation in the final game.

The latest James Bond film Skyfall will be included in the game, but the other five films remain a mystery. Expect to hear more in the coming months and perhaps at E3. If it were up to you, which films would you want to relive? The Spy Who Loved Me, anyone?

The official reveal for the next Call of Duty, known the world over to be a sequel to 2010′s Treyarch produced Black Ops isn’t supposed to happen until later on tonight during the NBA playoffs, but the UK Call of Duty site seems to have spilled the beans a bit early.

While all of the game’s media like trailers and screens are blocked by a big “Coming soon” banner, the site does give a bit of info on the title. ”Pushing the boundaries of what fans have come to expect from the record-setting entertainment franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 propels players into a near future, 21st Century Cold War, where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare. Pre-order today.”

Apparently, the game seems to be a vast departure from the previous Black Ops game as it’s set in a “near future” and two leaked screens seem to show L.A. getting attacked.

We’ll update later on tonight when the first trailer becomes official.

The above images may not look like much, but they’re reportedly our first in game (or at least in-engine) shots of the as-of-yet announced Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The pictures are reportedly from the website of Hollywood special effects company ReelEFX, but have since been pulled.

So what can we tell from the images? Not much to be honest, but it does look to feature the helicopter with mounted guns that has been making the rounds in videos (watch below) and screenshots online. And I’ll be damned if that doesn’t look like geniune, if not grainy Call of Duty style footage.

Activision and Treyarch are planning to reveal Black Ops 2 something Call of Duty next Thursday, May 3. Blast will have all the info as soon as it becomes available.

Hey guess what, there’s going to be a new Call of Duty game this year! Okay, so maybe that’s not the biggest surprise in the world, but that won’t stop the world from tuning in on May 1 when the next installment in the long running mega shooter series gets its world wide reveal during the NBA Playoffs on TNT.

While we don’t know exactly what will be revealed, the smart money is on the much rumored Black Ops sequel finally seeing the light of day. The title has been all but confirmed, seeing leaks (including Treyarch employees listing it as a current project) and rumors spread wild over the last few months. It’s a logical choice as well, as traditionally, the series has switched developers between Infinity Ward and Treyarch, and since last year’s game, Modern Warfare 3 was developed by Infinity Ward, Treyarch would be next.

Retailers have also let slip that Black Ops 2 will be the next game in the series, even going as far as to give the game a November release date; which would again stick with tradition, as each of the last few Call of Duty games have been released early in that month.

Looking for something to read while waiting for the announcement? Here’s what we thought of the original Black Ops, and here’s what we said about Modern Warfare 3.

Last week, Brookline-based software company Worlds Inc. filed a lawsuit against Blizzard and Activision for violating their patent for creating and controlling 3D avatars in online interactive environments.

World of Warcraft and the Call of Duty games supposedly violate their patent received betwen 2007 and December of last year. One of its patent claims is as follows:

A method for operating a server to enable a plurality of users to interact in a virtual space, wherein each user has a computer associated therewith, wherein each computer has a client process associated therewith, wherein each client process has an avatar associated therewith, wherein the server has a process associated therewith, and wherein each client process is in communication with the server process, comprising: (a) receiving, from each client process by the server process, data indicating a position of the avatar associated with the client process; and (b) synchronously disseminating less than all of the positions of the avatars not associated with a particular client process to each of the other client processes so that the particular client process can determine from the positions a set of avatars that are to be displayed.

Worlds Inc. launched in 1994 and “ leverages its patented proprietary technology…to offer members multi-user environments that have interactive Avatars, rich media graphics, text chat, voice-to-voice chat, video and e-commerce.”

Such claims are not only vague, but could apply to countless other games currently on the market. Regardless, Worlds Inc. is suing the two game companies for damages and fees.

Via: Universal Hub, Complete complaint, 2011 patent, 2007 patent

Call of Duty Creative Strategist and Infinity Ward lead Robert Bowling has announced via his Twitter that he will be leaving the studio and Activision as a whole. ”Today, I resign from my position as Creative Strategist of Call of Duty, as a lead of Infinity Ward, and as an employee of Activision,” Bowling wrote earlier this morning.

Bowling has been a long time employee of Activision and Infinity Ward, serving as the studio’s community manager and more recently, has been the figurehead for recent game launches, playing an integral part in several launches and media events.

Though Activision has not announced a replacement for Bowling, they offered kind words via this written statement; “We sincerely thank Robert for his many years of service. He’s been a trusted and valued member of the Infinity Ward team. We wish him all the best on his decision to pursue future opportunities.”  Infinity Ward offered similar sentiments, tweeting that they “wish Robert all the best.”

Bowling has not announced his future plans and no — we don’t know if he’ll join former Infinity Wards heads Jason West and Vince Zampella at Respawn Entertainment.

Activision Blizzard has released a statement confirming that the World of Warcraft developer has laid of 600 jobs, but assures that game development will not be effected. Then lay offs come after what the company calls a review of its business based on current organizational needs.

“Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business. Over the last several years, we’ve grown our organization tremendously and made large investments in our infrastructure in order to better serve our global community. However, as Blizzard and the industry have evolved we’ve also had to make some difficult decisions in order to address the changing needs of our company,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Knowing that, it still does not make letting go of some of our team members any easier. We’re grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the people impacted by today’s announcement, we’re proud of the contributions they made here at Blizzard, and we wish them well as they move forward.”

The release also says that the studio will release specific release plans for Diablo III soon. So there’s that. Here’s hoping those 600 people land on their feet.

Parents, pay attention. This is what your kids are going to be hounding you for later on this year.

Activision has announced the next line in it’s popular Skylander series of toys/video games — the Giant Skylanders. The new line features sixteen new figures, eight of which will be giant sized, along with a new game. Don’t worry — you won’t need to plop down money for a new Portal, the one you have will work just fine.

Check out the trailer below for your first look at the new figures.

Former Infinity Ward members Jason West and Vince Zampella formed Respawn Entertainment back in 2010 after a nasty and very public split from Activision. Now, nearly two years later, all we’ve seen from the new company’s first game was a set of blurry images, and an announcement that the game would in fact be multiplatform, but we may finally be getting a possible release window.

According to a reportedly leaked  marketing EA calendar and posted by French site Hardgamers, the publisher expects the company’s first game to hit sometime in the year 2013.  EA hasn’t commented on the rumor, we’ve reached out them and Respawn, but don’t expect comment.

For those of you who are on Call of Duty: Elite, your first care package arrives today in the form of the first map pack. Included in the pack are…you know what, just watch the video above, it includes Rob Riggle of the Daily Show.

Earlier this year, a flame war raged over just which game was better, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 or Battlefield 3. Still haven’t made up your mind? Well now you don’t have to, as Battle Duty: Modern Field 3, a satirical look at Modern Day Shooters is now available on the App Store and Android Marketplace. Just what do you do? You…tap…to kill soldiers. Just watch the trailer above.  The game costs $1 and is worth a laugh or two.

We all knew that last week’s release of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 would be big, but none of us expected this. The release of the latest chapter in the blockbuster shooter series has broken movie box office, book and game sales records for five day worldwide sell-through in dollars.

Grossing more than $775 million in its first five days, Modern Warfare 3 eclipsed $650 million record set by last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops and the $550 million one achieved by 2009′s Modern Warfare 2.

“Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for three consecutive years across all forms of entertainment,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.

Not only did Modern Warfare 3 make a huge dent in sales, it also made a huge splash on Xbox Live. Not only did the game finally dethrone Call of Duty: Black Ops from its spot atop the activity boards, but it’s reported that 3.3 million users were online playing Modern Warfare 3 simultaneously on November 8th, marking a new record for the service. That doesn’t impress you? How about the fact that over seven millon multiplayer hours were logged on the game in its first day available.

Three days after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s release, its premium online subscription service, Call of Duty Elite remains broken. Activision has confirmed that they will be adding an additional month of service to all paid for one year memberships.

When Modern Warfare 3 released on Tuesday, the service was hit with an unexpected number of new registrants, which crashed the service and it’s yet to recover.

“At launch, our registration and login systems were crushed by gamers trying to enter the Elite site at the same time,” according to an update on the service. “We have now fixed the registration and login systems, but we have found that the greater than expected demand is crashing servers. We’re immediately deploying multiple additional servers to beef up the system. We are also going to temporarily limit access to Elite services on both the console applications and website while we build additional capacity and scale. We’ll look to increase access to greater numbers of users as soon as possible.”

Activision also noted that if you are able to get on to the system, it may show incorrect stats — but the game is still tracking the right ones.

A few days ago we brought you news that someone paid over a grand for a copy of Modern Warfare 3 mere days before its release and honestly, I didn’t think that we’d be able to top that, not with the game coming out in under a day. I guess I underestimated you France. Bravo.

A delivery truck carrying 6,000 copies of the highly anticipated shooter was hijacked over the weekend in Creteil, France. The truck apparently was hit by another car, but when the car’s driver’s emerged, they tear gased the truck driver and made off with the games. Yeah, that serious.

The bandits got off with about 400,000 euros or about $551,000 in games. Don’t feel like ripping off a delivery truck? You can get your copy of Modern Warfare 3 on November 8.

It may be getting mixed reviews from critics (including us), EA’s Battlefield 3 continues to roll at retailers, selling more than 5 million copies in its first week. The publisher also announced that it has shipped more than 10 million units.

“We had a spectacular first week,” said Patrick Soderlund, executive vice president of the EA Games label. “The quality is actually trending up. We’ve seen an uplift in metacritic on the console 87 on PS3 and 85 on 360. We are holding at 90 on the PC. So we are more pleased with the quality of the product and the perception of it. I think the word of mouth from gamers is really strong. People are saying, ‘You have to go in and play this multiplayer. It is like an addiction’.”

So just how good are those numbers? To put it into comparison, Call of Duty: Black Ops, the latest installment in the rival series doubled those numbers, selling 10 million copies in its first week, totaling a whopping $650 million.

Still though, it can’t be denied that the shooter, has momentum, entering the holiday season as one of the hottest games on the market, but how long could it last? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, a game which has been in a heated rivalry with launches on November 8, and is expected to top the sales results of Black Ops.

Pity developer Beenox for the decision to release their follow-up to the excellent Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions alongside the amazing Batman: Arkham City. The bat signal can’t help but put a dark shadow over a game that already has enough reasons to make Activision worry. Batman aside, Spider-Man: Edge of Time simply isn’t the game its forerunner was and while it’s not terrible, it’s hard to view this sequel as anything but a step backwards.

On the plus side, we absolutely applaud Beenox for focusing on not just the Amazing Spider-Man fans know and love, but Spider-Man 2099–one of the most intriguing characters in Spider-Man’s convoluted history. Created in the early 90’s by legendary comic book writer, Peter David, Spider-Man 2099 has the distinction of being a far better comic book than the awful main Spidey stories that Marvel was pumping out at the time.

When Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099, popped up in Shattered Dimensions last year, fans were instantly onboard and seeing him return in Edge of Time will likely make the game worth checking out for many. The plot this time around is still somewhere dimension shattering. The story opens in 2099, when an extremely zealous scientist named Walker Sloan decides to hasten his way up the corporate ladder of future mega-corporation, Alchemax, through time travel.

Sloan trips back to the 1970s with enough future tech to make Alchemax a mega power well before it was ever even started. After failing to stop Sloan in the future, O’Hara realizes that time must be set right or the consequences will be/are dire—including the death of Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man. To that end, Miguel is able to contact Peter through, well, some bizarre means and tries to warn him.

Parker, being the do gooder he is, decides to put his own personal safety to the wind in order to stop a rampage by Anti-Venom—aka Eddie Brock… aka the original Venom now with polar opposite colors and powers. Confused yet? Well, that’s nothing compared to the inclusion of time distortion between the two spider-men. Somehow, the Spidey in the past can affect the situation of the Spidey in the future.

A good example of this is a cool sequence where Spider-Man 2099 is being pummeled by a giant robot, and Amazing Spider-man has a limited time to destroy the still-in-production robot in the present. Try not to think about it too much, as it raises more questions than the concept could ever answer. Suffice to say, Edge of Time has a terrific flare for the dramatic, especially during such sequences.

The screen will show the in-danger Spider-Man in a smaller view, so players can track his status, while being heroic on the rest of the screen. The problem is that the game hinges entirely on this single time-distortion concept. To make matters worse, the gameplay is entirely linear, so players have no option to just play with the environment to see what happens.

The other major failing here is the environment. Shattered Dimensions may have focused just as much on simple, beat ‘em up action, but it had enough diversity of characters and environments to feel more expansive than it actually was. In Edge of Time, both heroes are stuck in Alchemax’s giant skyscraper, and it’s just not a great place to do all the things a spider can do. The corridors are bland, the air vents are absurdly large (and bland), and enemies are horribly reused. Combat isn’t bad, but just feels repetitive as well.

Both heroes are relatively the same, which isn’t surprising, but the overall combat system and use of combos in particular could really use an overhaul. Each has a special ability—2099 is so fast that enemies keep attacking where he was just standing, while Amazing Spider-man can evade attacks thanks his Spidey sense. In reality, both abilities are almost identical, though they create a cool, multi-colored trailing effect.

As an interactive story-telling medium, Spider-Man: Edge of Time is certainly an appealing game for the heroes’ many fans—especially since Peter David had a strong hand in the writing, particularly the dialogue. Unfortunately, the actual game doesn’t fare quite as well. The combat and environments both feel by the numbers, and its time-tunnel gimmick gets old fast. More importantly, putting these two heroes into confined spaces with nothing to do but endlessly punch bad guys doesn’t do them justice.

Blast Factor: Ultimately, Edge of Time is a definitive step backwards from Shattered Dimensions. We hope this stumbling block doesn’t kill the series, as these characters really do deserve more. The game is still relatively entertaining as a simple brawler and a solid choice for younger players who aren’t quite mature enough for the incredibly dark and violent Batman games.

Spiderman: Edge of Time is available now for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS and PSP systems. An Xbox 360 copy of the game was provided by the publisher for this review.

On paper, X-men Destiny sounds like a great idea. The game gives players the ability to take three characters brand new to the mutant universe, craft them any way they want and allow them to fight alongside (or against) famed mutants like Wolverine,  Cyclops, Gambit and Magneto. Not all ideas pan out like they should.

At times, X-men Destiny flirts with being a decent game, like when it delves deep into the X-men mythos, or lets you play mad mutant scientist by mixing powers and genes of your favorite heroes to create the mutant of your dreams – but it’s all combined with such messy, uninspired at broken mechanics that you’re unlikely to ever experience these things in full. Those who can’t get enough of the X-men should check out Destiny, if just for its fan service; just don’t expect a good game.

The stars of X-men destiny aren’t heroes like Wolverine and Cyclops, but three mutants you’ve never heard of. You take control of one of three characters created specifically for Destiny; Aimi, the mutant smuggled by her parents from Japan to escape incarceration, Grant the jock who knows nothing about the ongoing mutant VS human war and Adrian, the son of an anti-mutant to extremist.  Throughout the game you’ll interact with some of the Marvel universe’s biggest names and play an integral part in the human and mutant war that’s been raging since the death of Professor X. It’s here where X-men Destiny proves that it’s at least in tune with what makes the X-men cannon so unique. The characters origins actually have heart, and each of them (well, maybe not Grant) have a vested interest in the way the battles play out. The game may not portray this 100% of the time, but the game at least makes a valid attempt at giving us a story that fits in with those found in the X-men books on the market.

The beauty of starting with a brand new mutant is that you’ll get to craft them to your liking by finding and combining mutant genes to create a pretty cool arsenal of powers. As you play through Destiny, you’ll earn experience points by exploring, taking out identical no named thugs and even some of Marvel’s most well known mutants, you’ll use this experience to unlock genes, which in turns unlocks new abilities. Want the punishing power of Colossus combined with the speed of someone like Quicksilver? Go for it. Looking to create a badass combination of Wolverine’s berserker rage with Nightcrawler’s teleporting capabilities – you’ll just have to find the right genes. As someone who grew up creating his own X-men characters, I found this to be very intriguing and at times its incredibly rewarding; it’s just a shame that I found myself not caring about it less than halfway through the game.

For all that it has going for it, X-men Destiny falls apart when it comes to its core gameplay mechanics. Rather than fighting meaningful battles, you’ll be taking on a never-ending series of nameless thugs. The result is a boring and uninspired brawler which often feels like nothing more than a grind fest. Now, this would be alright if it were a brawler in the form of previous X-men games like Legends or the later Alliance games, but Destiny is nowhere near the quality of these titles.  Attacks have little or no weight to them and you’ll often get stuck in a sluggish combo that must be completed regardless of if your opponent is finished or not – leading to your character taking unnecessary damage. What’s worse is that these combos often cause the game itself to slowdown.  X-men destiny may present itself as a deep combat game, but it’s really nothing more than a sluggish button masher.

The game also asks you to explore quite often if you’re looking to get more of the mutant genes you’re looking for; but unfortunately, this to tends to drag the game down. Environments are often drab and uninteresting, and exploring becomes something you’ll have to do, rather than something you’ll want to do. At least the genes are hidden pretty much plain site more often than not, so you won’t have to look that hard for them.

The game’s problems don’t stop there as Destiny is an overall thin and unfinished experience. Destiny is a game that shouts its decision engine from the top of mountains, but you’ll find out very soon in the game that these decisions don’t make much of a difference at all. Throughout the game you’ll be asked to choose between two paths, one that aids the X-men and the other that helps Magento’s Brotherhood of Mutants. Making these decisions is supposed to open up new pathways and different missions, but in reality they all play out mostly the same – punch guys in the face and move on. All of this can be wrapped up in as little as 6 hours.

Presentation wise, Destiny is a mixed bag, the voice acting is surprisingly well done, but the rest of the game doesn’t feel as polished. We’ve already touched on the drab environments, but the characters as well feel incredibly awkward and move strangely at times. It’s most disappointing when characters and other elements in the game show up strangely or worse, not at all. These moments don’t happen all that much, but when they do, it’s enough to take you completely out of the game.

The Blast Factor: It’s not all bad though – if there’s one thing that X-men Destiny does right, it’s fan service. Playing through Destiny gives you plenty of different costume choices inspired by your favorite X-men characters. In that sense, there’s a ton of depth to Destiny if you really know where to look for it, it’s just a shame that it couldn’t be found in the game itself. Hardcore X-men fans, who pour of every page of the comics and have a notebooks full of sketches of their own mutant creations will get a kick out of Destiny – just don’t expect it to last too long.

In a move that’s going to surprise no one, it was confirmed at this year’s E3 that all Modern Warfare 3 DLC will be timed exclusives to the Xbox 360.  You didn’t expect Sony to take that lying down did you?

It was announced today that beginning with the already announced Road to Karkand,  all DLC for Modern Warfare 3′s closest competitor, EA’s Battlefield 3 will be exclusive to PS3 for one week before it hits Xbox Live.

EA has announced that Battlefield 3′s highly anticipated open beta will kick off next week for both PC and console platforms.

Kicking off September 29 and running until October 10, and set in Paris on the Operation Metro map playing the game’s Rush mode, the beta will give players an opportunity to explore the game, as well as Battlelog, the game’s social networking and matchmaking service.

Xbox 360 and PS3 owners must log on to their console’s digital marketplace to download the beta, while PC owners must install Origin to play the beta. Those who bought Medal of Honor’s special edition or pre-ordered the game on Origin will gain access two days earlier, on September 27.

Over the last year, there’s been a lot of talk about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 VS Battlefield 3. Who’s got the better engine? Who’s got the better multiplayer? Which one is going to sell more when they release within mere weeks of each other this fall. You know who doesn’t care? Infinity Ward — developers of Modern Warfare 3.

Speaking to IGN at an event to promote the game in Sydney, Australia, Robert Bowling, Infinity Ward’s Director of Communications and Community Manager, said that the studio isn’t focused on anything but getting the next Call of Duty ready.

“There’s no buy in on that sort of stuff,” says Bowling. “We don’t care about sales numbers, we don’t care about competition, we don’t care about beating anyone. Our 100 per cent focus is making a game that we’re going to love to play, that we’re going to be proud of, and that we know that our fans are going to play. To us, we don’t care if there are three people playing it or 30 million people playing it. If there are three people having a great time then we’ve done our job correctly and we will be happy.”

The war of words between EA, who is developing Battlefield 3 and Activision, who is developing Modern Warfare 3 has been anything but passive. Both companies (but admittedly EA a bit more) have taken potshots at the other, and there’s even rumors of CEOs of both companies being told they couldn’t see each other’s game at E3. Then again, reps from both companies did play nice at this year’s GamesCom, taking to Twitter to praise their rivals.

Battlefield 3 releases on October 25, with Modern Warfare 3 following behind it on November 8.

Since its announcement, we’ve heard so much about Battlefield 3 running at half the speed on console as its PC counterpart. Well, see for yourself, here’s the recently released full official look at Battlefield 3 running on an Xbox 360. Looks pretty good to me.

A lot has been written about the lawsuit currently in the court system between Activision and former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella, but what about the rest of the Infinity Ward team? At least one former member of the team, Jesse Stern tells EGM that he refused to work on the highly anticipated third Modern Warfare game out of his loyalty to the ousted creators.

“My primary relationship, creatively, was with Jason and Vincent, and so my loyalty is to those guys and their team. I’ve never even met anyone from Activision, except for some publicity people. So when I was approached through my agency, CAA, about working on Modern Warfare 3, I wasn’t interested,” Stern explains.

Stern then goes on to tell the magazine that he and the team had a long running plan for Modern Warfare 3, or rather — multiple plans. “We had a plan,” Stern reveals, “but we didn’t have the plan. It was pretty open, and if you asked any of us where it was going, you’d get a different answer.” Stern also doesn’t believe that any of the ideas that were born during his time with Infinity Ward made it into the final game, “It was mostly in the heads of people who aren’t there anymore. But it’s not the first time someone’s had to pick up where a previous administration left off,” he told EGM.

So, given the events surrounding the game, will Stern be playing? “Nah, I probably won’t,”  said Stern.

Okay you two, break it up — I said break it up!

For the better part of the last year, EA and Activision have been trading barbs, quips and insults  regarding the real life war between Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3, which release less than two weeks apart later this year. EA has already said they want the long running Call of Duty franchise to “rot,” but now they’re calling for something a bit more severe, the franchise’s death, an inevitable event according to one EA employee.

In response to Activision’s Publishing Executive Eric Hirshberg calling for an end to the mudslinging between the two companies, EA’s Jeff Brown had a clear message for the competion — “Welcome to the big leagues Eric.”

“You’ve got every reason to be nervous. Last year Activision had a 90 [percent] share in the shooter category. This year, Battlefield 3 is going to take you down to 60 or 70. At that rate, you’ll be out of the category in 2-3 years,” he continued. “If you don’t believe me, go to the store and try to buy a copy of Guitar Hero or Tony Hawk.”

We may not know much about Bungie’s first game with Activision, but we now know that it will include someone or something being brave and someone finding their destiny. Or…something like that.

Bungie fan site Halo.Bungie.org reports that Bungie is now the clear owner of the trademarks for “Destiny” and “Be Brave.” The two slogans were previously trademarked by fake corporation Podophobia Entertainment in typical wacky Bungie fashion.

Bungie’s new project is known currently as Codename Tiger and is the studio’s first non Halo, non Xbox 360 exclusive since the original game launched on the original Xbox.  Want to dig really deep? Like Inception style into what Bungie’s got up their sleeves?  The video below, directly from the studio is reportedly filled with hidden meanings and nods to the project. Aaaaaaaaaand discuss.

So you sat through Nintendo unveiling the Wii U at this year’s E3, but all you could ask yourself was — “But what about Modern Warfare 3?” Relax. Activision has you covered; the long awaited threequel is hitting the Wii along with every other platform you could imagine this November.

The publisher made the announcement during today’s conference call with investors. “We’re pleased to have recently confirmed that we will release aModern Warfare 3 Wii SKU this year, so as not to leave any of the community out of the excitement,” Activison Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told investors.

So yeah, there you have it. You can waggle your way through the Russian invasion this fall.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge has ruled that the lawsuit filed by former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella against Activision can be taken to court.

The lawsuit, infamously filed after the two developers, most famous for their work on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 (among other titles) were fired from Acitivison alleges that the move cut them off from over $125 million in royalties.

Activision has fired back, stating that the pair were fired due to shady behind the scenes practices that painted the company in a bad light.

Stick with Blast for more as it develops.

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello

Electronic Art’s CEO John Riccitiello makes no bones about the fact that he thinks his company’s upcoming epic shooter Battlefield 3 is better than rival Activision’s Modern Warfare 3, in fact, he wants the competition to “rot from the core.”

Oh, things started off civil during the CEO’s chat with Industry Gamers. “The honest truth is I think Modern Warfare is going to be a really good game,” he said. Then, things turned sour quickly. “I think that in a weird way it’s starting to feel a little to me like the Disneyland abstraction of a war game – a little bit jump the shark. So it feels a little bit like that to me. And I think there’s a market for that.”

Riccitiello says that there’s a market for Call of Duty, but smart gamers will make the right choice. a concentration of people that might tell the difference between a good game and a bad game. We’re going to do really well there. A lot of people bought Modern Warfare more for the coffee table and didn’t play it for 2 months. There’s sort of that mass audience… they’re going to win there. The question is, ‘So, if the gamer buys our game and the mass audience buys their game, where do the two meet?’ And all I want to do, if you will, is to have them rot from the core,”

The CEO was quick to point out what he believes EA is doing right with Battlefield, versus Activision. “”I think our game is more authentic. It’s definitely going to do a lot of things better. Lighting’s better, physics is better, animations are better, particle effects are better, vehicles are better.”

Riccitiello also claims that Activision rushed their Call of Duty announcement in an effort to stay relevant. “I think the reason they led with their chin is that they needed to say something against what was clearly a more powerful presentation of Battlefield 3 over Modern Warfare. So they needed something to say. I think they picked the wrong thing, but there’s a lot of months between now and November so they’ve got plenty of time to recover,” he said.

Harsh words. What side are you going to be on this November?

LOS ANGELES — It was supposed to be a regular mission. Get in, intercept the truck and its contents. Get out. Something went wrong, very wrong.  The suspects fled on to a train and as I chased them through London’s subway system, I watched everything around me started to crumble, and the train started to take out the subway’s support system — sending everything crashing down in massive fashion.

This is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s level Mind the Gap and it illustrates just what the teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games are aiming for with the highly anticipated sequel –”it’s got to be bigger.” Blast sat down with the team working on the newly revealed game at this year’s E3 to talk about the game.

Modern Warfare 3 picks up almost directly after the events of the last game. Captain John “Soap” MacTavish, former SAS Captain John Price and Russian informant Nikolai are on the run after killing rogue Lieutenant General Shepard. Russia has continued its invasion of the United States, but has also expanded it’s efforts to the European territory, invading countries like England and France.

Infinity Ward promised that what we saw toward the end of Modern Warfare 2 is nothing compared to the “full scale warfare” that Modern Warfare 3 will feature. “This is no longer just about the United States and Russia, this is World War III, this is what we’ve been building up to.”

Activision, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer are hoping that seeing the United States in destruction, most notably on the New York City level shown during Microsoft’s E3 press conference is enough to create an emotional bond with players as they play through the game’s single player campaign — a feat for a series known for it’s multiplayer suite. “We’re taking it to an entirely new level,” says Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling in a recent interview. “We’re taking players into the heart of major cities all around the world, delivering urban combat in places like Manhattan and London. We’re also going throughout Europe, to Russia, parts of Africa, and the Himalayas – you will travel the world.”

Even with the new focus on telling a grander story, the development team’s true goals aren’t hard to see. Huge set pieces, like the London scene and the stunning New York scene  are common in the game, and though the development team won’t reveal any information on other locations in the game, they do promise that gamers will be surprised where they’re going when they find out.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 hits shelves for pretty much every platform you could imagine on November 8.

One of the most disappointing aspects of this year’s E3 was the fact that we didn’t see anything from Respawn Entertainment, the new studio formed by former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella. Now, the week after show, we’re starting to get a bit of information on the mystery title.

The tidbits come from an E3 meeting with Frank Gibeau, EA Games Label President. ““Titles like Respawn – and I think the Insomniac title (Editor’s Note: The Insomniac game would later be revealed to be Overstrike) is a little bit more of an action game than a pure shooter – we’ll sprinkle those in where we see opportunistic gaps, either in a release schedule or in a genre standpoint,” said Gibeau. Those typically are more sci-fi oriented shooters, where as the Medal of Honor and Battlefield brands are obviously more modern military oriented. So it allows us to pick and choose the best of the sci-fi shooters. It allows us to compete with things like Gears and Halo and put them on places in our release calendar where they’re not cannibalistic to the core business and that’s the essential strategy going forward.”

Gibeau went on to say that EA will be alternating releases of Battlefield and Medal of Honor, but would release the as of yet unnamed Respawn title when the time is right, or when an “opportunistic window opens.”

Respawn Entertainment was formed by West and Zampella after a messy divorce from Activision and the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series.

So I’ve got some good new, and I’ve got some bad news.Alright, good news first.

Modern Warfare 3 is set to include new killstreaks, fresh perks and the addition of team perks. According to the information, supplied by Kotaku the game would feature multiple new perks for both player and team. Those these aren’t all of them, the site could confirm that these perks are included.

Team:

• Stopping Power: Increased bullet damage.
• Blast Shield: Unclear
• Health Regen: Regenerate health over time.
• Stun Protection: Prevent stunning from flash grenades.

Personal

• Blind Eye: Makes you immune to  killstreaks.
• Assassin: Makes you immune to UAV, thermal, and heartbeat sensors.
• Point Guard: Every two assists count as a kill towards your killstreak.
• Dead Silence: You become silent
• Recon: Unsure about this one, but likely to give you a more indepth radar

There’s also a few new reported killstreaks:

• EMP Grenade: Takes out all area electronics.
• Littlebird: givs you a tiny remote-controlled helicopter.
• Precision Airstrike: Calls in an airstrike
• Stealth bomber: Calls in a B2 Spirit
• Remote Turret: A remote controlled turret.
• Directional UAV: A UAV that can be directed into areas to scan for enemies.
• Remote Mortar: Direct a mortar team using a zoomable camera view of the map to call in strikes.
• Airdrop Trap: A booby-trapped airdrop.
• Ammo Resupply: An ammo reloading airdrop.
• Escort Airdrop: A protected airdrop.
• Specialist Strike Package: unsure what this one is.

So the bad news then? It looks like Modern Warfare 3 won’t feature dedicated servers, but rather rely on the host servers used from previous games. Blast, is this a big deal to you guys?

Earlier today we brought you your first look at actual gameplay footage from the newly unveiled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Now, we’ve got Activision’s comments on what your foaming at the mouth for, multiplayer.

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is by far the most epic Call of Duty experience yet, ” said Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg. “The teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have worked tirelessly to create for the Call of Duty player a scale that is unimaginable with a level of polish and creativity that will push the genre forward.

“The passion and energy of our developers is reflected in everything about the title. From the innovative gameplay, to the cinematic intensity, to the most advanced multiplayer ever, Modern Warfare 3 will raise the bar for this already incredible franchise.”

What exactly does all of this mean? We can only guess, but we’re sure to know more when we take the game for a test drive at this year’s E3.

Here it is folks, your first look at actual gameplay footage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Our verdict? Yes, please.  Make sure to check back with Blast during E3 for our hands on preview of this year’s most anticipated game.

Call me crazy, but when Publishing CEO of a massive video game company talks about a massive leak on their biggest game of the year, “Cool” isn’t a response I would expect to hear. But that’s just how Activision’s Eric Hirshberg  described last Friday’s massive leak to Joystiq.com.

“Friday was a really interesting, a really kind of cool day,” said Hirshberg. “No one wakes up and thinks, ‘I hope there’s been a leak and our timing gets all messed up, but  if members of the government and the military aren’t safe from this stuff, it’s a part of our world now.”

“And while it’s definitely not cool to steal other people’s intellectual property, and while it’s definitely not cool to leak stuff that’s not yours, there are ways that you can respond that actually turn the lemons into lemonade,” he added. “And that’s what we tried to do on Friday.”

Last week we brought you what could be the box art for Modern Warfare 3, and today, thanks to Kotaku, we now have what looks to be even further info on the world’s most anticipated game. Here’s the rundown.

• The game is expected to release on November 8 of this year. This release model fits in with previous Call of Duty games, as each game in the series since Call of Duty 3 has been released in the first or second week of November.
• The story will pick up minutes after the events of Modern Warfare 2 and will wrap up storylines, as well as feature the “final moments” of key characters.
• The game will feature huge battles in cities like New York, London and Paris.
• The story will span 15 chapters, and it all begins with a Russian invasion of New York City.
• Two new characters will be introduced, Frost and Sandman — both members of Delta Force.

Again, take all of this with a grain of salt until something is officially unveiled, which will likely happen at this year’s E3.

UPDATE: Activision has released a teaser trailer for the game, featuring the logo we reported on earlier. Check it out below:

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before — Modern Warfare 3 may be revealed soon. Now I know you guys have seen everything from a countdown clock to possible magazine reveals, but this time Kotaku seems to have gotten a bit of actual information on the highly anticipated yet as of this writing unconfirmed title.

First, the image to the right is apparently the game’s box art. Nothing has been confirmed, but Kotaku’s sources, who they claim have seen the game in motion supplied it.

Also, according to Kotaku’s sources, the next Call of Duty game raises the bar for the series in terms of both scale and ambition. Reportedly, the game will take a much wider scope, and feature large destructible environments (in a possible attempt to take some of the thunder from rival Battlefield 3.

Modern Warfare 3 will continue the story played out in the first two games, and will reportedly feature a more domestic setting, much like the American levels of Modern Warfare 2; but don’t expect Homefront.

Take it for what it’s worth, we’ve seen a ton of these supposed Modern Warfare leaks before. It’s looking more and more likely that Modern Warfare 3 will be revealed at E3 next month in Los Angeles (if we even have to wait that long). Stick with Blast for more info on Modern Warfare 3 and all the E3 announcements.

One of the biggest questions leading up to this year’s E3 has been whether or not we’ll be getting our first look at Bungie’s first post Halo project with Activision. Well, we won’t, as the studio announced via its blog that they’ll be missing the show this year.

“We won’t officially be at E3 this year. Remember the Band-Aid approach I talked about last week? This is what it feels like in practice. Sorry for the sting. We wanted to make sure you didn’t get whipped into a rumor-fueled frenzy only to have your expectations unceremoniously dashed during expo week.”

So there you have it, of course, it could all be a ruse to surprise gamers.

Last week, Activision announced the upcoming Beenox developed Spider-Man: Edge of time, they’re time bending wallcrawler title. Now, thanks to a panel at San Francisco’s Wondercon, we have further details on the title.

As we mentioned in the original post, Edge of Time finds players taking the role of both the original webhead and his 2009 counterpart following the death of Peter Parker. During the panel it was revealed that an evil scientist from 2009 has traveled back in time to kill Spider-Man. The 2009 Spider-Man sees this and travels back in time (to before Spider-Man was murdered) to stop it. This prompts the two to being working together.

Of course, anyone who has seen Back to the Future knows that messing with the space time continuum has severe consequences, an effect that is played up in the Wondercon trailer. In one scene, current day Spider-Man defeats a robot that would become the prototype to the robot 2009 Spidey was fighting in the future. After Spidey defeats the robot, it disappears in 2099.

No release date has been set for Spider-Man: Edge of Time, stick with Blast for more info.

I don’t get this whole Spider-man 2099 craze that’s going on right now. He’s a character who hasn’t been cool in what 10-15 years? But still, there he is in the new Spider-Man game.

Oh yeah, the new Spider-man game! Activision officially announced the Beenox developed Spider-man: Edge of Time this morning. The game places players in the role of both the original webhead and the 2099 version as they try to correct a serious error in the time-stream; the death of Peter Parker.

Ohhhhh….

Reportedly, the game has a “cause and effect” style gameplay, where something that happens in one time period will effect the other. More on the game is expected to be announced at Wondercon in San Francisco this week.