Here's the awesome kicker from MTV's Patrick Klepek:
At the meeting, Activision Blizzard showcased new games that would make sense for in-game ads, including the vaguely titled “Guitar Hero 5,” which included a screen shot of gameplay with a Burger King ad to the right of the note highway.
Yeesh. This is, clearly, the right way to debut a new sequel. With a fat ad next to it. You'd think that Activision would release some sort of information to the press at the same time, if only to potentially avoid having product placement be the first thing people hear about your next big sequel.
The quote out of the event on the new Tony Hawk game is "you’re not going to be playing this game with a controller in your hands." This lends credence to all the skateboard peripheral rumors that have come up over the last few months. The developer of the new Tony Hawk wasn't mentioned, but I heard awhile back that it was being done by a company called Robomodo, which is a Chicago-based studio filled with ex-EA Chicago and ex-Midway people. Robomodo has since announced that it is working on a popular Activision franchise, but hasn't said which one. This tenth Tony Hawk game will be out in October on 360, PS3, Wii, and DS.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 shouldn't be too big of a surprise, but it certainly dials down all the sci-fi and Civil War rumors that have been surrounding Infinity Ward. That was given a fall release date.
The Bond-based driving game will be done by Bizarre Creations, which Activision picked up relatively recently. It'll be out in September and won't be tied to a movie. Does anyone remember how much mess Activision talked about the Bond games that EA made when it first picked up the license? So far we've had one lackluster first-person shooter and now they're taking a second crack at 007 Racing? Weird.
Be sure to check out MTV's story for more details.