So how big has Modern Warfare 2 (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360) become? Well, you can forget about Grand Theft Auto IV's previous US$ 500 million video games record and Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince's US$ 394 million five days post launch box office record. According to the estimates of Activision, the latest installment of the Call of Duty franchise has so far generated $550 million worldwide in just five days to set an all-time entertainment industry record, shattering all previous first-and five-day entertainment industry box office, book and video game sell-through records.

Now that Modern Warfare 2 (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360) is slowly making its way into store shelves and home consoles, Activision seems to be busying itself with a different call of duty. The publisher is donating US$ 1 million to put up a foundation to help find jobs to those who answered the call of duty - the veterans.

Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith has revealed that they have now set their sights on breaking into the action genre with a brand new IP. Details about the IP are still scarce, but Griffith did share with Develop why Activision, which has become decidedly restrictive when it comes to new IP, made the decision. I bet you guys can guess why.

Shocking title? No, not really. That's not meant to bash the E3 2009 event. After all, it was a HUGELY successful one, and we're really happy for ESA that it all worked out so well. After all, it was only last year that they were practically declared clinically dead by the industry. And it was a big comeback they sure showed this year. BUT. All that you're gonna see here are news items and industry happenings that did NOT happen at E3, although not necessarily with absolutely nothing to do with the stuff that went down in LA. Hopefully you'll still read up on this one despite that limited scope. There is life beyond E3, after all. *wink*

It's nice to sometimes see corpo-bigwigs share the sentiments of common lay folk, especially when it comes to price cuts. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick would be one example of such corpo-bigwig, and yes, he too, like many of us out here, was disappointed that no console price cut was announced at E3.

Hollywood Reporter is reporting that there's gonna be a "Call of Duty: The Movie" headed to the cinemas soon, if Activision carries out its intention of having one. According to an inside source, talks have been underway for the big screen version. Do we say "Uh-oh..."?

Even though the movie tie-in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hasn't yet reached its June 2009 release target, Variety is reporting that according to various sources, Activision already has someone working on another Transformers game for 2010. What's more, rumor also has it that there's a new Spider-Man game in the works.

Activision has revealed that a new entry in its James Bond game franchise has been delayed to 2010. This announcement was made by Activision CFO Thomas Tipple in a conference call with investors today.

Forbes recently accused Rock Band of being a "shameless knockoff" of Guitar Hero, only with added peripherals. Shame on you, Forbes. You know how much the truth hurts. EA responded to the accusation with a very firm no comment statement.

Irony in the full article.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick explains why they decided not to retain all of Vivendi's games when the two companies merged. The reason? The games just weren't "exploitable" enough. More in the full article.