Now that Activision has acquired Bizarre Creations, and are creating two games under their newfound partnership, what's the long-term benefit that can be gained from their merging? Activision executive vice president Robin Kaminsky tells more about their future plans with Bizarre Creations.

Acquiring the developers of popular racing game franchise Project Gotham let Activision gain an aptitude towards developing racing titles, and they are now considering creating a brand new racing franchise with Bizarre Creations.

Kaminsky also said that Bizarre Creations is also known for their XBLA titles, and they are also tapping their talent in creating Xbox Live content, but their main priority as of the moment are the large-scale titles. They are already working on several XBLA titles, all of which are slated to be released this holiday season.


Check the Read link for the entire interview!

It seems that over a flurry of this first quarter in the year, major development studios in Canada have been announcing their efforts to expand their workforce, studio size and operations. And surprisingly, this is also in spite of a sporadic trend of company downsizing for major game companies, like Atari and Sony.

 

Up next in the list of Canada-based studios is Quebec developer Beenox, those responsible for delivering the PC versions of Shrek: The Third and Spider-Man 3 (aside from Marvel Ultimate Alliance, also for the PC). As a subsidiary of major gaming publisher Activision, Beenox has announced in a press release today that they too have plans to expand their employee base by three-fold in the next two years.

Granting that the game developer's move will open up more than 200 job positions for game-related careers, it's a lot helpful to the current government's program to expand the gaming industry the major regions of Canada, including Quebec. They claim that the new additions to their team will help Beenox to include next-generation console development in their repertoire. Robin Kaminsky, executive VP of Activision, concluded the announcement saying:

Activision is making a significant investment in Beenox and the Quebec region, which is one of the fastest growing talent pools in North America. Beenox has consistently delivered high-quality titles and we are confident in their ability to continue creating great games in the coming years.

At least they're not aiming to be the biggest studio.

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board has been under fire lately. Even here at QJ, we just couldn't ignore ESRB-related news bits that concern everybody in the industry. Recently, the board announced the various steps it is taking to keep up with the young videogamers of today. Despite these efforts however, some are still finding ways to replace them.

ESRB might have just found an unlikely ally in Activision as the latter released the results of its newly conducted online survey. The study, titled "Ratings Are Not a Game," proved that 80% of the parents find the ESRB system effective and are actually following them.

Activision Executive VP Robin Kaminsky announced that they are very delighted with the survey results. "But it was even more gratifying to see that such a large majority of parents are aware of, researching and active in their children's videogame purchasing and playing," Kaminsky added. ESRB on the other hand, just couldn't help but be happy. According to its president Patricia Vance:

Video game ratings can only be effective if consumers understand the ratings and use them when making purchasing decisions for their families, and this study shows that parents greatly rely on and value the ESRB ratings in helping them decide which games to allow their children to play.

A total number of 1,014 players, ranging anywhere between 8 to 24 years old, together with their parents were used in the study. The breakdown of the results are as follows:

• 84% of parents cited an awareness with the ESRB system
• 65% of children cited an awareness with the ESRB system
• 79% of parents said they paid close attention to games their children play
• 68% of the parents believed the ESRB system is effective
• 56% of the parents said that rating was the top influence in determining whether to buy a game
• 52% of parents said they actively researched games before buying them
• 74% of parents said that video gaming was part of their family
• 52% of parents said they play games themselves

War is hell. But according to analysts, the upcoming war between Sony's PS3 and Nintendo's Wii could be the best thing that ever happened to it. Activision has nothing to lose in this war because its not choosing sides. Instead its taking advantage of the two console's fan base by releasing games for both platforms.

For the PS3, the publisher offers Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Call of Duty 3, and Tony Hawk’s Project 8. Over to the other camp, Activision is baiting fans with Wii versions of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Call of Duty 3, and Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam. Being on both sides of the fence, analysts predict the company will make around US$ 145 million.

In an interview with Red Herring, Robin Kaminsky - Activision’s executive vice president of publishing - revealed their neutral strategy that is expected to bring in the mega big bucks. "When a title is multi-platform, we’ve really tried to use what makes each platform unique. How we get there is much different, but the end result is the same. As long as the platforms are successful, they will more than pay back development costs for us."

At US$ 145 million, yeah, that's a pretty decent pay back.

Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360, the game which was recently-named the most played game on Xbox Live has yet another trophy to add to it's glass cabinet today after publisher Activision announced that the Xbox 360 version has sold over 1 Million copies in the U.S territory alone.  The award-winning title is the #1 best selling game on Xbox 360 and continues to be among the highest rated games for the platform as shown by the magical 1 Million sales mark.

"We are proud that Call of Duty 2 is the first title to sell over one million units on the Xbox 360 in the U.S." said Robin Kaminsky, executive vice president, Activision Publishing. "Activision has made a strong commitment to develop leading franchises for the next-generation consoles and we look forward to continuing that successful strategy with our titles launching on Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 and the Wii this fall."

The release of these figures certainly concretes COD2 as being one of the most successful Xbox 360 titles to date, and sales continue to rise. Other successes of COD2 include netting $1 Million in revenue from Xbox Live and being Xbox Live's game of the week numerous times.