E3: Activision Announces New Titles, Metallica Album For GH

Publisher and developer Activision has announced several new titles and detailed its upcoming games, which include Geometry Wars 2, Wolfenstein, and Guitar Hero World Tour. The company’s fall lineup will consist of Call of Duty: World at War, Guitar Hero World Tour, Quantum of Solace, and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. Activision also revealed several other titles currently in development, including Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion by Vicarious Visions, a game based on upcoming film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen by Luxoflux, and a title based on upcoming movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine by Raven Software. - Call of Duty: World at War for PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 builds on the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare engine, thrusting players into WWII combat in both the European and Pacific theaters. The title offers unique enemies, new weapons like the flamethrower, and combat variety, including Kamikaze fighters, Banzai charges and ambush tactics, as well as new cooperative gameplay. - Singularity (working title) is a first-person action game based on a new intellectual property and will be developed by Raven software, the studio behind the Soldier of Fortune and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series. - Players take on the role of OSA agent BJ Blazkowicz in Wolfenstein (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360) as they battle against combat troops, otherworldly forces, and the dark science created by a supernatural Nazi force. Players will investigate the powers of a dark parallel dimension, join with resistance forces, and employ conventional and otherworldly weapons to take on the Nazi war machine. Wolfenstein, which is being co-developed by Raven Software and id Software, promises an assortment of interlinked missions, while the multiplayer experience offers class-based team objective gameplay. - In Quantum of Solace, a game based on the similarly titled forthcoming James Bond film, players will experience a mix of first-person action and a third-person cover combat system as the secret agent. The game is based on the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare game engine, offering reactive AI and locations inspired by locales in the James Bond films. Treyarch is developing the PlayStation 3 and 360 versions, while Eurocom, Beenox, and Vicarious Visions develop respectively the PC, Wii, and DS games. - Spider-Man: Web of Shadows offers a new combat system with “truly three-dimensional battles that start in the streets, continue up sides of buildings and finish on rooftops.” Players can switch between Spider-Man’s agile red suit and his stronger black suit, allying with Marvel’s heroes and villains, pick up character ability upgrades, and choose which missions they’ll want to complete in the New York City setting. Shaba Games and Treyarch are handling the game's development for Wii, PC, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3. - Developed by Bizarre Creations, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 for Xbox Live Arcade will include six different gameplay modes, a new soundtrack, and local multuplayer modes in either versus or co-op for up to four players. - Guitar Hero World Tour expands the series’ gameplay into a cooperative band experience that combines wireless instruments with new online and offline gameplay modes, including Band Career and 8-player “Battle of the Bands,” which allows two full bands to compete head-to-head online. The game will feature a redesigned guitar, an electronic drum kit, and a microphone, as well as an Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit, and share their own songs. Music creators will be able to share their recordings with their friends online through GHTunes where other gamers can download and play unique creations. Neversoft is working on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, while Vicarious Visions is developing the Wii game and Budcat Creations is handling the the PlayStation 2 game. Activision also revealed that heavy metal band Metallica will be debuting its new album, Death Magnetic, as downloadable content in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock simultaneously with the store release this September. In addition, the album will be released as downloadable content for Guitar Hero World Tour this Spring. Said Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith: “Our strong and balanced portfolio illustrates our ongoing commitment to delivering top-quality entertainment experiences to broad global audiences. We are particularly excited about this fall’s Guitar Hero World Tour, which will deliver unprecedented innovation to the rhythm-based genre with new instruments, a significantly expanded song list, and a music creator to share user-generated soundtracks.”