PS3

Activision today announced new strategic plans for the Call of Duty franchise, one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time.

The plans include the formation of a dedicated business unit that will bring together its various new brand initiatives with focused, dedicated resources around the world. The company intends to expand the Call of Duty brand with the same focus seen in its Blizzard® Entertainment business unit. This will include a focus on high-margin digital online content and further the brand as the leading action entertainment franchise in new geographies, new genres and with new digital business models.

"2010 will be another important year for the Call of Duty franchise," stated Mike Griffith, President and CEO of Activision Publishing. "In addition to continued catalog sales, new downloadable content from Infinity Ward and a new Call of Duty release, we are excited about the opportunity to bring the franchise to new geographies, genres and players."

2K Games announced today an aggressive post-launch downloadable content plan for BioShock 2 that extends and enhances the single and multiplayer experiences by adding more glimpses into the award-winning world of Rapture. Downloadable content will be made available soon, beginning with the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, available this March from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows–LIVE for 400 Microsoft Points and from the PlayStation Network for £3.19. Future expansions into the world of BioShock 2 are slated to arrive over the coming months and will continue to expand on the stories of the denizens of Rapture.

“The fans who waited in the snow, rain and cold for the midnight launch of BioShock 2 have spoken and their message is that Rapture still has many fascinating stories to tell,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Downloadable content is a key part of our efforts to continue to entice the fans that have made 2K a household name - we intend to deliver single and multiplayer content that respects and expands upon one of the greatest fictional worlds ever created.”

Can we gamers ever get enough of the living pageantry that was the Medieval Ages?  Looking at the ever growing roster of medieval and fantasy-themed games, the answer would seem to be a definitive “no!”  Surprisingly, the most recent company to throw their hat into the ring are a bunch of fellas who are best known for battles involving giant mechs and huge robot armies.  That’s right, Gas Powered Games has today announced a new fantasy RTS title called Kings and Castles.  The game will use “state-of-the-art RTS technology that Gas Powered Games has pioneered with its previous titles. Key features include the ability to zoom to any level, incredible maps, and eye-popping visuals that will run on a wide range of systems.”

Sounds good!

Chris Taylor, Creative Director of Gas Powered Games, remarked that they intend to give fans an up close look at the game’s development:

“We’re doing something different this time around.  We want to take our fans on a great adventure with us. They'll get to go behind-the-scenes and watch the game come to life from start to finish."

Today, Paradox has wrapped up an exciting week in Stockholm, as the city was host to the Paradox Interactive Convention. Serving as a hub for internal and external developers, publishing partners, journalists and other friends of Paradox, the Paradox Interactive Convention featured upcoming game presentations, developer roundtables and loads of entertainment for all parties involved.