From just below the bottom line of a financial report so dull that it could take all the enamel off your teeth, comes the rather exciting news that Activision are planning a pair of follow-ups to their huge selling and rippingly good fun PC shooter, Call of Duty, and its console cousin, .
Pencilled in to appear in the next financial year - so between April 2005 and March 2006 - the pair of shooting sequels have been confirmed by the grandest of all the fromages at Activision, Mr Ron Doornink.
"We're pleased to announce that in fiscal 2006 we will launch two new Call of Duty products: one for PC and one for consoles," he said, shamelessly repeating what we've just told you. But with a capitalist glint in his eye he added, "Call of Duty has the potential to become our largest and most profitable franchise".
Also set to appear in the same chunk of this year and next are new versions of Tony Hawk, Spider-Man, Shrek, Doom and X-Men as well as games based on True Crime, Fantastic Four, Madagascar, Quake and The Movies. Although which formats they will released on wasn't mentioned.
The only bad news in the entire roller-coaster ride of fiscal fun is that the mention of Doom isn't hinting at a follow-up Mars monster-mash but to the, not so surprising, news that both Doom 3 on Xbox and Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil have now slid into the next financial year.
This all sounds like more than enough for the chaps at Activision to be getting on with but the list also includes "an original new property" from Neversoft, the team behind Tony Hawk. Which, if you believe the hardworking rumourmongers of the internet, could be a first-person shooter. On a skateboard.
