In an announcement today, publisher Activision stated it holds the number one home console and handheld video game publisher in the United States from January to November 2007. The company bases its claims on figures from tracking firm NPD, which recently released its latest report.

Activision claims overall market share of 16.8% for that period, a massive year-over-year increase of 7.9%. Meanwhile, chief rival Electronic Arts' market share has waned somewhat in recent years, and its stock prices have grown at a slower rate than Activision's--though EA CEO John Riccitiello recently stated in a conference call that his company will hold 20% market share in North America and Europe during the third and fourth quarters.

Much of Activision's success is due to the astronomical success of the Harmonix-created, now Neversoft-developed, Guitar Hero franchise. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock proved to be the highest-earning title across all platforms; to some extent, the per-unit revenue on Guitar Hero games is increased due to the available packed-in hardware. Another Activision-published title, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, apparently came in at the number two earnings slot. Meanwhile, the Guitar Hero franchise as a whole is said to be the highest-selling franchise of the year.

Today's announcement is likely to be particularly worrying to EA, since the performance it reports precedes the epic Activision/Vivendi merger that will result in megalithic Activision Blizzard. That newly-formed company is expected to top the industry in total revenues.

2K Games owner Take-Two Interactive has officially announced the creation of 2K Marin, a new development studio located at 2K's new headquarters in Novato, California.

Said to be creating original intellectual properties as well as assisting with other 2K projects, 2K Marin is reported to be made up of some ex-BioShock (PC, X360) staff. BioShock was developed at 2K's studios in Australia and Boston, a tag-team formerly known as Irrational Games.

"We're focused on continuing to bring new brands and cutting-edge gameplay to market with the creation of the 2K Marin studio," said 2K president Christoph Hartmann. "2K Marin will build upon our success in creating and leveraging AAA franchises."

As part of PR firm Kohnke's complaint against Gods & Heroes developer Perpetual Entertainment, the company claimed to have convinced "reviewers to write positive reviews about the game." This blunt wording caused many to question Kohnke's methods, and the company has responded to this claim by saying the verbiage was a typo.

"This was nothing more than a typo in the complaint," Kohnke VP Sean Kauppinen wrote to Shacknews. "The game was never released, so it should be clear we didn't mean 'reviews,' but 'previews.'"

Kauppinen went on to say Kohnke never tries to sway a reviewer's opinion of a game. It's a PR agency's job to portray a game in a good light, he said, but it's ultimately up to game journalists to make the decision. "Flat out, we don't convince people to write positive reviews," he stated.

"Anyone who knows me or anyone else here at Kohnke knows that we would never attempt to influence a score from what a journalist thought a game deserved," Kauppinen added. "To reiterate, we're not paying anyone off to review games, this is not related to Jeff Gerstmann, the Illuminati, or HGH in baseball."

With the opening of a new office dedicated to video game simulations, the United States Army is looking to significantly increase the role of video games in training exercises. As part of the Training and Doctrine Command's project office, TPO Gaming is currently crafting software that will let users create their own training scenarios.

"We will empower that soldier to build his own scenario rapidly so he can train for his specified task," civilian chief of TPO Gaming Robert Bowen informed the Training & Simulation Journal.

It's not the first time a branch of the armed forces has used video game technology as a training tool. In 1997, the Marine Corps were said to be using a heavily-modified version of id Software's Doom II (PC).

More recently, the Marines have converted Bohemia Interactive's realistic battlefield simulator Armed Assault (PC) into a training tool known as Virtual... Read more

Blizzard Entertainment co-founder, president and CEO Mike Morhaime (pictured left) is the latest addition to the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame, the academy announced today.

Morhaime marks the eleventh inductee into the Hall of Fame, joining renowned industry figures such as Sid Meier, Will Wright, Shigeru Miyamoto, Richard Garriott, Peter Molyneux, Trip Hawkins, and Yu Suzuki.

"This is a great honor, and I'm proud to receive it," said Morhaime. "The success that Blizzard Entertainment has had over the years would not have been possible without the enthusiasm and support of players around the world, and the passion and dedication of our employees, so I thank all of them for contributing to this achievement."

Though Morhaime has contributed to beloved Blizzard franchises--including Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo--it is the company's work with its ludicrously... Read more

Update 3: Kohnke has clarified the statement that it convinced journalists to "write positive reviews about the game" as a typo, noting that the document should have read "preview" instead.

"Flat out, we don't convince people to write positive reviews," Kohnke VP Sean Kauppinen told Shacknews. "We're not paying anyone off to review games."

Update 2: The full text of the seven-count complaint reveals additional details on Kohnke's suit against Perpetual. Among the claims, the complaint levies charges of fraud against P2, Perpetual, and Perpetual employees Chris McKibbin and Josh Keene.

"The reason that Gods & Heroes was cancelled had nothing to do with the commercial expectations for that game--it was cancelled solely due to the desire of Keene, McKibbin, and P2 to concentrate on Star Trek Online, which they believed was adversely affected by Gods & Heroes," the complaint reads.

Kohnke alleges that Perpetual owes it $10,675 in outstanding invoices, in addition to fees for its work promoting Gods & Heroes. Depending on the game's success after launch, Kohnke would be entitled to a minimum of $70,000 and a maximum of $280,000. The complaint alleges that Kohnke's work on promoting the game should entitle it to the maximum amount.

"Kohnke's public relations campaign was successful in creating pre-release 'buzz' around Gods & Heroes, and in convincing reviewers to write positive reviews about the game," the text reads. "Kohnke is also entitled to... Read more

Future Publishing has responded to the state of Texas-issued lawsuit that alleges its gaming-oriented GamesRadar website does not properly protect the privacy and safety of children.

"Future US strictly adheres to all laws and guidelines regarding content on our websites," the company informed GamesIndustry.biz. "This is the first contact we have had from the Texas attorney general on this matter and we are urgently reviewing the complaint."

According to Texas attorney general Greg Abbott, the creation of a free RadarNation account on GamesRadar violates a federal law known as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act through its collection of "personal information such as names, ages, and home addresses from children [under 13]."

RadarNation registration has been closed since the lawsuit was... Read more

Though Sega of Japan recently filed an updated trademark for the term "Dreamcast," the company has "no plans to get back into the console business," Sega of America PR director Charlie Scibetta told GameDaily BIZ.

News of the update caused some to speculate that Sega was contemplating a return to the hardware industry, especially since the new filing added phrases such as "flash memory cards" over the original Dreamcast trademark.

Others believe the company was simply protecting the brand name of its last console, especially as the emulation of former Dreamcast titles, perhaps via digital download, is possible on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, or another unreleased dedicated platform.

"We're very happy being a platform agnostic company and have moved up the ranks the past three years from #11, to #9, and now stand at #6 in terms of our market share by units among third-party publishers," stated Scibetta. "We like our current strategy and have no plans to change in the middle of this outstanding growth."

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today pressed charges against the Future Publishing-owned gaming website GamesRadar.com, claiming the site does not "adequately protect [children's] privacy and safety."

The lawsuit states that the site "unlawfully collect personal information such as names, ages, and home addresses from children [under 13]," and thus violates a federal law known as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

Along with GamesRadar, international media corporation Future Publishing owns CVG and publishes PC Gamer in both the US and UK, renowned UK gaming magazine Edge, and official magazines for Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.

Registration for a free RadarNation account, which allows users to... Read more

Sega of Japan has filed an updated trademark for the term "Dreamcast" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, leading to speculation that the third-party publisher may be plotting a return to the hardware market.

Another popular theory is that the updated trademark represents Sega's protection of the brand, especially as the emulation of former Dreamcast titles, perhaps via digital download, is possible on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, or another unreleased dedicated platform.

The Dreamcast was Sega's last venture into the realm of hardware. It launched on 9/9/99 in North America and was axed less than two years later as Sega announced it would be focusing on publishing software across multiple platforms.

It has long been rumored that the company would return to hardware manufacture once it built up enough capital to do so. Sega fans somewhat jokingly point out that 9/9/09 would be a fitting launch date for a new Sega platform.

Officially halted in September after more than a year of court battles brought on by the Entertainment Software Association, the Oklahoma bill equating games to porn was originally authored by Rep. Fred Morgan (D-Oklahoma City) and Sen. Glenn Coffee (R-Oklahoma City). In an interesting twist, Coffee has returned to the spotlight in the games industry, this time on the side of the ESA.

Coffee has created a public service announcement endorsing the Entertainment Software Rating Board's ratings system, the ESRB announced yesterday. "ESRB ratings are an effective and informative resource that allows parents to decide if the video game their child wants is appropriate," Coffee said in a statement. "I'm proud to be educating parents in our state about the tools at their disposal."

Coffee's PSA will air on Oklahoma television channels and radio stations this month. ESRB president Patricia Vance said the board appreciates Coffee's collaboration, and the announcement unsurprisingly made no reference to the senator's previously opposing standpoint.

Coffee's pro-ESRB stance is certainly not indicative of other policy-makers' views, and some U.S. congressmen have come forward today to make a request concerning... Read more

A feud between the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) and the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) has erupted, causing the two organizations to clash about the effectiveness of and policy behind video game ratings.

NIMF's 2007 Video Game Report Card claims that, despite retailer and industry efforts, an investigation revealed that minors were able to purchase M-rated games, which are intended for audiences 17 and older, nearly 50% of the time.

Earlier this year, a separate study performed by the Federal Trade Commission showed that though 42% of unaccompanied children were able to purchase an M-rated game, 71% of minors were able to purchase R-rated films on DVD.

NIMF president and founder Dr. David Walsh also noted "several shocking incidents [that] have inadvertently revealed dangerous loopholes in the ratings process," no doubt referring to the ESRB's decision to uphold the M-rating of Rockstar's Manhunt 2 (PS2, Wii, PSP) despite the existence of a technically-demanding hack that allows a clearer view of the game's violence.

The ESRB has been under fire since that controversial decision, with... Read more

Noting that development of their next project is underway, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars developer Splash Damage sends along word that they are hiring. The company is looking for various artists, an art director, a junior tools programmer as well as a producer.

Speaking on the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games, Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy has labeled subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment as the "crown jewel of the industry."

The company formed by the merger, Activision Blizzard, is the "largest and most profitable multi-platform publisher in the world" and its creation "fulfills the promise of digital media convergence," said Levy. Vivendi will hold a 52% majority stake in Activision Blizzard, and stated its intent to increase that figure to 68% in the days following merger's completion.

Repeatedly emphasized in a conference call was the importance of World of Warcraft developer Blizzard in the new company. According to Levy, the studio "has yet to fulfill its full potential."

Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo creator Blizzard is responsible for the "most powerful brands in all of entertainment," noted Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. "It is a business we and many of our competitors found extremely difficult to duplicate without risking hundreds of millions of dollars. Even then, we were unlikely to achieve success."

"I think this is an opportunity to unlock the value that is hidden inside Blizzard," said Blizzard CEO and president Mike Morhaime. He also noted his belief that Vivendi shareholders never gave the studio "proper credit" for its efforts.

"We currently don't have any plans right now on the console-side. Blizzard's focus is on the PC-side," noted Morhaime. "If we were to release anything on the... Read more

Update: Over on the blog, we have some interesting comments left on Silicon Valley gossip rag Valleywag claiming to be from a GameSpot editor. We have reason to believe they're legit, but since we can't definitively confirm it we're keeping it relegated to that part of the site.

Original story (Nov 30, 2007 5:14pm CST): GameSpot owner CNET has addressed allegations that GameSpot executive editor Jeff Gerstmann was fired due to his negative review of IO Interactive's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (PC, PS3, X360), which is published by CNET advertising partner Eidos.

"We do not terminate employees based on external pressure from advertisers," CNET spokesperson Sarah Cain told Joystiq, though she refused to specify if Eidos had attempted any such pressure.

Though Gerstmann was far from the only one to paint a critically negative picture of IO Interactive's latest--for example, check out our own review of the game--many believe Eidos was upset with his take given that it had heavily advertised Kane & Lynch on GameSpot, to the point where the page could be understandably mistaken for the official Kane & Lynch site.

Said ads were removed from the site shortly after the story broke, as... Read more

Rumors have been swirling today that Jeff Gerstmann, executive editor at CNET-owned major video game site GameSpot, was fired after giving a generally unimpressed review of Io Interactive's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Gerstmann awarded the game a 6.0. [Edit: Gerstmann had particularly negative words in his video review, which was removed from the site by GameSpot today.] (Though Shacknews does not score its reviews, our own Kane & Lynch review was similar in its verdict.)

According to the reports, the layoff came after Kane & Lynch publisher Eidos took issue with the review and threatened to pull its considerable ad contract. GameSpot's front page is currently almost entirely re-skinned with Kane & Lynch imagery.

The rumor began bouncing around various industry circles over the past day, and this evening was reported by Kotaku. Popular webcomic Penny Arcade posted a strip about the alleged incident tonight, outside of its normal publishing schedule.

Shacknews can confidently confirm via its own sources that Gerstmann was indeed fired yesterday from his position at GameSpot. The source declined to comment as to whether the firing was directly related to the reported Eidos situation, but the circumstances are suspicious at the least.

Gerstmann had been an employee at GameSpot for about a decade, and took the place of former executive editor Greg Kasavin when Kasavin left the company to work for Electronic Arts as a producer.

Update: CNET employee Tim Tracy has posted what appears to be a farewell notice on his GameSpot blog. Until July, Tracy was an editor at GameSpot, and since then has been working for CNET-owned MP3.com. If indeed Tracy is departing, it is unknown if it is related to Gerstmann's dismissal.

THQ executive vice president and chief financial officer Edward Zinser has today resigned from his position at the company.

With his departure taking effect immediately, Rasmus van der Colff will serve as a temporary CFO while the company investigates a long-term replacement. Colff joined THQ as vice president and controller in May 2007, and is said to have more than two decades in accounting experience.

The publisher, which recently lowered its sales estimates of the current fiscal year to $1.06 billion and delayed three titles, claimed that the resignation "is in no way related to the financial condition, results of operations or future prospects of THQ." As the action is not directly related to the company's financial well-being, it refuses to elaborate on the reasons behind Zinser's vacating of his position.

THQ develops and publishes a number of multi-platform titles based on licenses, including the American Girl clothing line, Bratz action figures, reality quiz... Read more

Kiev-based developer GSC Game World is now a certified Xbox 360 developer, the company has announced.

Though no specific titles were mentioned, GSC Game World will now pursue multiplatform projects. However, CEO Sergiy Grygorovych promised "we will continue paying maximum attention to the PC platform."

GSC Game World is best for the Cossacks RTS series (below, left) as well as this year's atmospheric FPS S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (below, right). It is currently developing a prequel to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. titled Clear Sky, and is pursuing other entries in the franchise.

"Obtaining such a status for an independent developer based in ex-USSR means a lot--it took us over 2 years to get," Grygorovych noted. "Creating games for PC, we achieved practically everything, and now are prepared to garner the top spots in sales charts and gamers' recognition in the world of console games too."

Publisher Take-Two's proposed settlement for a class action lawsuit stemming from the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" fiasco will reward "offended and upset" owners of the original, unmodified game with up to $35 a piece.

The cash payout is just one of many settlement options Take-Two is said to provide, with another being an exchange for an edited copy of the game. Full details on the possible settlements are expected in mid-November when the Settlement Agreement is filed with the Court, and the company is sure to point out that the amount of cash payments depends on the number of people that apply.

To qualify, Take-Two stipulates that owners of the game must submit a "detailed" proof of purchase and swear that: they bought the game before July 20, 2005, were "offended and upset" by the "Hot Coffee" content, would not have purchased the game had they known about the content, and would have returned the game upon learning about the content "if they thought this was possible."

More details, including how those interested can participate and exactly what they need to submit, are expected shortly.

The settlement, which would cost the company at least $1.025 million but... Read more

Growing publisher and developer Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will acquire TT Games, pending the standard regulatory approval for such a move.

TT Games encompasses developer Travellers' Tales, best known for its work on the LEGO Star Wars series, and TT Games Publishing. The company, which holds the worldwide rights for LEGO video games, is currently working on LEGO-themed renditions of Indiana Jones and Batman, both of which are slated to arrive in 2008. The latest release from Travellers' Tales, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (PS3, X360, Wii, DS), arrived in stores yesterday.

The planned acquisition of TT Games coincides with WBHE's aspirations to become a major force in the video game market. "We're in this for the long haul," senior VP of worldwide sales Ron Scott said earlier this year. "We are not just an arm of a business that is simply going to leverage the movie properties that Warner has--we are going to be a creative force as well."

"TT Games will become the cornerstone of our Home Entertainment... Read more