When Activision Blizzard buys a development studio, it generally asks one simple question: Which one of our franchises can these guys work on?

The publisher's business model is based entirely on brands that it "exploits" (sequelizes and spins off) on a regular basis. Once in a while a studio gets to make a new property, like Raven is doing with "Singularity," but most of the time, they're working on a franchise. Infinity Ward has "Modern Warfare," Neversoft took ownership of "Guitar Hero," Vicarious Visions does Wii versions of "Guitar Hero," etc.

So after Activision merged with Vivendi Games last summer and its management took control of the new entity, you know CEO Bobby Kotick and his executive team had only one thought as they perused Vivendi's development studios: Which ones fit a need for one of our franchises?
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A transformers blog has stated that the game to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will feature multiplayer via Xbox Live & PSN.
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Xbox360Fanboy took the time to go through all the Black Friday ads and list all the Xbox 360 deals.
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Ahead of Activision's financial results next week, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey has commended short-term revenue prospects, but commented that "emerging competition for some of [Activision's] core franchises, including Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk", may prove damaging for the company's long-term growth.

Hickey stated for the short-term company prospects, "We expect key fiscal Q208 and 2H08 game sales will come from Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Transformers, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Call of Duty 4 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. The Company's fiscal '08 game pipeline is exceedingly strong, and will likely generate record fiscal '08 operating performance."
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Software and hardware sales in the US from VGchartz. Guitar Hero II takes the number one spot for software sales while the Nintendo DS was the best-seller for hardwares.

Hardware: Console Weekly Total
DS - 140,151 (-4%) 13,730,938
Wii - 95,171 (-3%) 3,974,505
PSP - 59,483 (-9%) 8,864,934
PS2 - 54,701 (-10%) 44,524,847
PS3 - 43,498 (-4%) 1,738,147
X360 - 34,174 (+5%) 6,607,403
GBA - 23,725 (-0%) 40,768,173
GC - 1,656 (-2%) 12,697,057
Xbox - 11 (-58%) 15,933,106
Total 452,570
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The newest issue of the British magazine EDGE is in stores as of today and its always interesting to see which games were reviewed and what scores they got. This month some interesting titles have been reviewed, such as: Blue Dragon, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Transformers and GRAW2 for the PS3.

Apparently EDGE didn't really like Transformers and Hour of Victory as both games got 2/10 from EDGE. The British don't really like Blue Dragon and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 as well as both games 'only' got 6/10. Zelda: Phantom Hourglass did really well as it scored 9/10. Check out all of this months reviewscores below.

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS, Nintendo): 9
Blue Dragon (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 6
Transformers (Xbox 360/PS3/Wii/PS2, Activision): 2
Odin Sphere (PS2, Atlus): 6
Ouendan 2 (NDS, Nintendo): 8
Monster Madness (Xbox 360, Southpeak): 5
Exit 2 (PSP, Taito): 7
Hour of Victory (Xbox 360, Midway): 2
Tenchu Z (Xbox 360, From Software): 6
Calling all cars (PS3, Sony): 6
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (PS3, Ubisoft): 6
More Brain Training (NDS, Nintendo): 7
Anno 1701 (NDS, Disney): 8
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If you fancy getting your filthy mitts on a rather swanky Transformers toy ¿ and not just any old Transformer toy, mark you, but Hasbro's "Limited Edition Supermetal Finish" Robo-Vision Optimus Prime ¿ then GamerSquad and the BigBadToyStore have just what you're looking for. Read more...
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GamingTalkHQ is giving away 8 Transformers Xbox 360 Faceplates. The faceplates are AUTOBOT Generation 1 and Decepticon Generation 1. Contest is easy just leave a comment on there site.
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Wednesday 20 June 2007 Dear Traveller's Tales, We need to talk. We loved Lego Star Wars, of course we did, and there's no doubt that we're going to adore Lego Batman. But we need to talk about Transformers: The Game. We've tried, honest we have. We've tried to love it, to be excited by it, to relive all those fantastic childhood memories. But it just isn't working. It's not you, it's us. Well, actually, it is you. But we can explain. So here's five reasons why we just can't bring ourselves to ... » Read More

Like many franchises that refuse to die, Transformers have kept coming back for years since their inception - and for good reason - the concept works. Gigantic robots turn into mundane vehicles. Here we have a quick rundown of the entire series to gear us up for the upcoming film and game of the same ... » Read More

Transformers: The Game should be released around the same time the highly-anticipated movie hits cinemas. Can't wait that long? Then you need to check out the game's intro video right now. We're still reserving judgment on Transformers: The Game as we've not seen anything new on it for a while now. Make of that what you will. But the game's intro looks awesome even if it has clearly borrowed a few Hollywood set-pieces from the action movie department. You can check out the opening to the ... » Read More

Control the outcome in the battle for Earth this summer with Transformers: The Game, the official game of the upcoming blockbuster film from Producer Steven Spielberg and Director Michael Bay.

Protect civilization as Autobots or destroy it as Decepticons as you lead the TRANSFORMERS in the epic battle for control of planet Earth!

There are 42 achievements worth 1000 points
Out of the 42 achievements, 26 are secret
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The Transformers were a huge part of many a gamer's adolescence, and so we perhaps greeted the upcoming Traveller's Tales game with expectation levels set too high. Not that we thought it was awful, just that it sort of left us thinking... meh. Until this brand new trailer popped up, that is. Obviously showcasing the game's next-gen installments, this footage gives us hope. There's action, cool slo-mo transforming, and solid, crunchy combat moments to be gawked at. And Optimus is in it, which ... » Read More

A new Transformers: The Game trailer features in-game footage and commentary from Activision and developer Traveller's Tales on the title. It's viewable in our video player down below. For anyone recently emerging from under a rock, the action game ties in with this summer's Transformers blockbuster and lets players attempt to protect Earth as the Autobots or destroy it as the Decepticons. Versions of the game are releasing on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii PS2, PC, PSP and DS. Traveller's Tales is ... » Read More

I'll be honest with you, Transformers is a movie-to-game tie-in I'm actually looking forward to. I know there's a great potentiality that it might suck, but who cares?! It's Transformers. There's no other games out there like it and there's no other franchise out there like it. Well, aside from all those other animes with giant robots...but you get my drift. Regardless of semantics, in this latest release you can see why there's no other leader out there quite like Optimus Prime.

Peter Cullen, the voice actor behind Optimus, takes viewers through some of the personality traits for bringing someone like Optimus to life. As a character and personality, you have to admit that Prime was one of the main reasons that made Transformers so cool. How many other lead characters could get away with being a semi-truck for their own transportation? Exactly.

For the most part, the video shows off some of the in-game sequences that actually look quite cool. One thing to note in particular, is that the transforming sequences are spot-on, at least making the game look worthy with its visual presentation. The game is due out later this month for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PC. I would say the DS, but we all know that version of game isn't real. Anyway, you can check out the behind-the-scenes footage below. Enjoy.
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TRANSFORMERS: The Game, from Activision, Inc., developed under license from HPG the licensing division of Hasbro, Inc., is bridging the gap from "G1" (Generation One) to the present day TRANSFORMERS by casting the upcoming live-action film leads Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox alongside legendary voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, the original voices of OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON. Based on "TRANSFORMERS,"
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So the Transformers game is really cool. We all knew that the game had potential when the first screenshot became available, and even more so when the trailer was released. But now Activision is taking things to the next level for Xbox 360 gamers, as Transformers will be released in a limited Cybertron Edition as well.
Only Xbox 360 gamers will get the privilege of owning the Cybertron Edition
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Activision has released a transforming fact sheet on Transformers: The Game. This fact sheet covers the PC, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, Xbox 360 and Wii versions of the game.
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Earlier promises of a fully destructive environment in Transformers: The Game have been confirmed with new screenshots demonstrating a metal mash-up of grand proportions. In the latest pics, the increasingly impressive Bumblebee is opening a can of whup ass with a lampost and a passing pick-up truck, as well as grandad's favorite, missiles, destroying a few buildings in the process and sending the plebs fleeing in all ... » Read More

Original voices of Optimus Prime, Megatron reprise roles for Activision game based on battlin' bots movie; audio clip, new screens inside.
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