That’s right, the Devon-born songstress will be lending her voice to a new Bond-girl and providing an exclusive song for the game’s soundtrack. Alongside her will be Daniel Craig, Judy Dench and other faces fans of the movies will be familiar with.

There’s been rumblings that the Blur developer was working on a new Bond game and now we know that was the case. The fact it’s not a racing title is certainly a surprise. Bloodstone will be a third-person action adventure game, something that’s pretty much a world away from what the developer is used to doing.

Players can expect “an explosive third-person action adventure where they will unravel an international conspiracy across exotic locales” as well as “full-throttle, behind-the-wheel action on land and sea while using the most high tech gadgetry”. Activision hope to capture the feel of the Bond movies, which is no easy task, especially with no movie to base it on.

You can check out the first screenshots after the jump.

Activision have released the official box art for Call Of Duty: Black Ops. The image has been used throughout the promotional campaign for the game, so it’s unsurprising that it’s made the cover. It’s certainly different to what we usually see from Call Of Duty box art. This is a more foreboding looking image in comparison to the ‘heroic solider striding through dust’ look of Call Of Duty 4 or Modern Warfare 2.

Also, anyone else think it looks like the cover of a rap album? Call Of Duty: Black Ops is set for release this November.

Check out the full box art after the jump.

Well it looks like Beenox might be here to save us all from the peril of yet another, god awful, licensed game. With the success of Batman: Arkham Asylum last year, developers need to step their game up in the superhero genre. From the looks of this video, posted over at Destructoid, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is definitely what Spiday fans have been looking forward to.

The ‘Amazing’ and ‘Noir’ universes are looking really good. Hopefully we’ll find out more very soon.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is set to release this September.

Check the video out, after the jump.

It’s an unsurprising move considering Activision’s love of releasing their key franchises each year. However, Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick admitted that the music game genre will “continue to compress”, meaning less success in this field. Kotick also talked about Activision’s shift in focus from peripherals to software.

As for Guitar Hero 6, the outspoken CEO says the franchise “remains the leader in the category” and stated that both Hero titles would be receiving “exciting downloadable content”

Call Of Duty: Black Ops will be developed by Treyarch and is due to be released on November 9th 2010 (a fact you’ve already garnered from the image above). We’ve no details on the game as of yet, but I’m sure we’ll have some soon enough – what with all that E3 business. Also GTTV will have footage of it tonight, so there’s something.

Source: Joystiq

The Stimulus Package, which is set to cost around £9.99, was accidentally detailed on Xbox.com earlier this week and it certainly bodes well for fans of Call Of Duty 4. Alongside three new maps – ‘Bailout’, ‘Storm’ and ‘Salvage’ – are COD4 favourites ‘Crash’ and ‘Overgrown’. Whilst this does carry some interest, I think many (even the die-hard COD fans) will be put off by the exuberant pricing.

Having already charged £54.99 (RRP) for their game, Activision are expecting people to shell out another tenner for five new maps? It seems a little ridiculous if you ask me (and most of the other members of the press and public too).

The maps are exclusive to Xbox 360 for one month before being released on PlayStation Network.

The third track pack contains three mixes from the game’s premiere artists, Jay-Z and Eminem. These new tracks are certain to spark a little more interest in the game and maybe get some people back behind their plastic turntable. See the three mixes below.

• ‘Shake That’ by Eminem mixed with ‘Show Me What You Got’ by Jay-Z
• ‘Without Me’ by Eminem mixed with ‘Encore’ by Jay-Z
• ‘Can I Get A…’ by Jay-Z mixed with ‘Lose Yourself’ by Eminem

The tracks will be available on PSN next Thursday (March 18th) and will cost $7.99. No UK pricing has been confirmed as of yet.

“A bunch of bouncer-types” apparently showed up at the Modern Warfare 2 developer’s HQ unannounced and, when questioned by employees, would not provide any information as to why they were there. Vince Zampella and Jason West met with Activision yesterday morning and have not been seen by the Infinity Ward staff since. A source inside the studio described the relationship between the two companies as “tense”.

Rumors are abound that this is some kind of publicity stunt, used to counter the launch of Battlefield Bad Company 2. G4′s Patrick Klepek – the man who broke this story – is urging people to take this seriously. In one of the latest posts on his Twitter page, Klepek says: “Guys, come on. This is not a publicity stunt.” Activison have been contacted, but are yet to provide a comment on the situation.

Update – Well now we know it wasn’t a publicity stunt. Activision have stated that Jason West and Vince Zempella are no longer with Infinity Ward.

I have spent time looking at the different arguments raised about how it has been put in simply to promote hype and infamy. Nicky Campbell even raised the issue on his Sunday morning question program in the UK. It was apparent from watching this program how uninformed, narrow minded and against games the large proportion of the public can be. One woman even insisted that the majority of people playing “these games” are aged between 13 and17. In actual fact  in recent studies it was reported that the majority of gamers are adult males between the ages of 18-35, of above average intelligence and income.

These points aside I can understand Infinity Ward’s decision to include the level. By making the player carry out the act it does give you more empathy and insight into these kind of terrorist atrocities. The fact that they went ahead despite knowing the backlash that may come from some, shows how far developers have come in following their vision rather than simply falling in line.

As I said, the option does exist to skip this level entirely but you will still be shown a narrative of the events that take place to allow the story to remain cohesive. However, the game is rated as it is for a reason and I think that by skipping it you are missing the point. It is supposed to show how awful and cruel real life can be, and the lengths some terrorist will go to achieve their goals. If they had made the level a cut sequence I doubt it would even registered as a blip on the public radar, but because its playable the mass media have jumped all over it.

I played the level on release day with little to no knowledge of the controversy and found it to be just another level in the game with set goals and objectives. I didn’t feel great about killing the civilians but I wasn’t shocked or outraged by it. Is it any worse than running over pedestrians in GTA or stabbing witnesses in Assassins Creed?

Maybe after spending the last 20 years gunning down Nazis, zombies and whatnot in games, I have become desensitized to the violence but I feel that as long as the game is certified correctly then adult content should be acceptable. If this had been a movie it wouldn’t even be mentioned but because its “evil games” again the outrage will roll on and on.

As said above the majority of gamers are adults and as with the likes of MW2 and the upcoming Heavy Rain, it’s nice to see developers making adult games, with grown up themes that push the boundaries. Let’s hope this kind of thing doesn’t stop developers from being brave enough to take risks and exploring society’s darker side.

…if you’re going to make a commitment to doing something original, the odds are that you’re not going to get it right on the first chance. I think DJ Hero is a really innovative product. I can’t wait for you to see next year’s. That’s the thing; we’re sticking with it. We’ll stick with it and get it right.

DJ He;ro 2 has already been confirmed for release later this year and, no doubt, every year after that. In fact if we don’t see six next year, I’ll eat my hat – Ok, I might be exaggerating there. You get the idea though.

Source: TheSixthAxis