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Activision

World of Warcraft subscriber base hits 12 million

Global subscribers to World of Warcraft crossed the 12 million mark, according to an announcement today from Activision Blizzard. After holding at 11.5 million subscribers for more than a year, some had assumed WoW had peaked. Between this announcement and the forthcoming expansion Cataclysm scheduled for release on December 7, we'd be willing to bet the venerable online role-playing game, which launched in 2004, will continue to grow.

In light of this announcement, it seems we need to update our calculations from earlier this week regarding WoW's likely longevity.

To recap, we're using Sony Online Entertainment'… Read more

Next World of Warcraft expansion set for December 7

Blizzard Entertainment sent word across the wires and its European press site this morning that Cataclysm, the next expansion of its World of Warcraft franchise, will hit stores and its own digital download service on December 7. Cataclysm will be the third expansion for the long-running role-playing game, and highlights of the new content include a redone and expanded version of the original game world, two new playable races, and a character level limit raised from 80 to 85.

If you're wondering just how long the 11.5-million-member-strong World of Warcraft will last, we turn to 1999's Everquest. … Read more

Activision, EA war of words continues

The Activision-EA war of words is heating up.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick had said in a recent interview with Edge Magazine that Electronic Arts is in trouble and that "great people really don't want to work there."

EA has now responded with some potshots of its own.

"Kotick's relationship with studio talent is well-documented in litigation," Jeff Brown, EA's communications vice president, told Gamasutra on Monday in an interview.

Brown was ostensibly referring to Kotick's recent legal forays with Jason West and Vince Zampella, former heads of Activision subsidiary Infinity Ward.

Earlier this year, Activision announced that it had terminated West and Zampella. After that, the executives, who were integral to the success of the Call of Duty franchise, established a new development studio, Respawn Entertainment, and inked a deal with EA that would make the mega-publisher the studio's exclusive game distributor.

Litigation that surrounded those events was a bit ugly.… Read more

Activision CEO: 'Great people' don't want to work at EA

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick believes Electronic Arts, his company's biggest competitor, won't attract people who will help the Madden maker keep up with his firm.

Speaking to Edge Magazine in a recent interview, Kotick said that EA "has been struggling for a really long time." And one of the main problems the company faces, he believes, is attracting talent to help it build high-quality games.

"The most difficult challenge [EA] faces today is great people don't really want to work there," Kotick told Edge Magazine. "It's like, if you have no … Read more

Activision: Violent games law chokes free speech

Activision Blizzard, which is prepping the release of M-rated Call of Duty: Black Ops later this year, has joined the games industry's fight against a California law that blocks the sale of violent video games to minors.

Back in 2005, California passed a law that banned the sale of "violent and inappropriate" video games to minors. At the time, the bill was challenged by the gaming industry, which said that it violated First Amendment rights. The bill was blocked by a U.S. District Court in 2005 and again by the U.S. Appeals Court in 2009.

Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case on November 2. In preparation, Activision Blizzard has filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief to show its support for the games industry. The industry is also supported by 10 state attorneys general, Activision said.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is outspoken about the California law.

"Our First Amendment has survived intact for 219 years amid far greater technological, historical and social challenges," Kotick said today in a statement. "The argument that video games present some kind of new ominous threat that requires a wholesale reassessment of one of our nation's most treasured freedoms, and to take that freedom away indiscriminately from an entire group of our population based on nothing but age, is beyond absurd."… Read more

Harsh words from GoldenEye 64 designer

GoldenEye 64 designer Martin Hollis finds it hard to believe that Activision's Wii remake, GoldenEye 007, will do the original game justice.

Speaking to the U.K.'s Official Nintendo Magazine, Hollis said he believes Activision sees more value in the franchise's name than in the quality of the title. And he's concerned that the company will allow its "business decision" to get in the way.

"I imagine it's a business decision, isn't it?" Hollis said in an interview with Official Nintendo Magazine. "'This name is valuable, let's use … Read more

Sony, McAfee, sued over software activation patent

After suing Microsoft for patent infringement, Uniloc USA is now turning its sights on a host of other companies.

In a suit filed in U.S. District Court in the eastern district of Texas Thursday, Uniloc is alleging that its patent for software activation is being violated by the likes of Sony, McAfee, Activision, Quark, Borland Software, and Aspyr Media.

The patent in question #5,490,216, awarded to Uniloc founder Ric Richardson in 1996, covers a method for registering and activating software locked to one PC. The technology was developed as a way to prevent users from freely installing … Read more

And on keys...

Links from Thursday morning's episode of Loaded:

Rock Band 3 will feature keyboards when it launches this holiday season so brush up on your 80s tunes! Logitech launches a new line of HD Webcams with Logitech Vid HD, the company's own video calling program.AT&T has suffered a security breach and 114,000 iPad 3G users' email addresses have been exposed.Panasonic shows off a 152-inch 3DTV.

New Modern Warfare 2 DLC hits Xbox Live on June 3

One week after it shipped the first map pack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the PC and PlayStation 3, Activision has announced a second batch of downloadable content (DLC).

Like the original Stimulus Package, the Resurgence Pack will first arrive on the Xbox 360 before coming to Windows systems or Sony's console. The five-map add-on will debut on Xbox Live on June 3, with the other platforms receiving it at a later date.

Read more of "2nd Modern Warfare 2 DLC hits XBL June 3" on GameSpot.