Guns N' Roses frontman has just filed a $20 million lawsuit against Guitar Hero publisher Activision claiming its use of the GNR song "Welcome to the Jungle" violated a deal not to include any imagery of ex-guitarist Saul Hudson (aka Slash) in the popular game.

It seems that the Bizarre Creations troubles are not the only looming signs over at Activision, as 88 positions (approximately 1% of its workforce) in its California-based Quality Assurance team have been laid off, and Iowa-based Budcat Creations has been shut down.

Three years ago Activision made a big splash when it acquired U.K.-based developer Bizarre Creations, known for the PGR franchise and, more recently, Blur. It seems that merry marriage is over, as rumors from earlier today about the closure have been somewhat confirmed.

Activision Blizzard has released its Q3 2010 financials, earning $51 million, triple the amount of last year's Q3 ($15 million). driven by continued strong demand for the latest Modern Warfare 2, StarCraft II and World of Warcraft. In the follow up conference call Activision revealed that it plans new titles in the Guitar Hero, Spider-Man, X-Men, Transformers, and Call of Duty franchises somewhere during the course of 2011.

Activision Blizzard and Web Wise Kids are forming a partnership to empower youth and families to make wise choices in their digital lives.

3D game engine provider Trinigy has integrated its Vision Engine 8 with two Allegorithmic products: Substance Air and Substance Redux, allowing developers of MMOs and browser-based games to access lightweight, dynamic textures created with the Substance products directly from within Vision Engine’s scene editor, vForge.

Trinigy announced that it has integrated support for the Autodesk FBX asset exchange technology into Vision Engine 8, easing higher-fidelity data exchange between the flexible game engine and several Autodesk content creation tools: Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Softimage, Autodesk MotionBuilder and Autodesk Mudbox software .

Intellivision Lives! includes over 60 different games including, Astrosmash, B-17 Bomber, Shark! Shark!, Motocross, Space Cadet, Thin Ice and many more classics, giving players countless hours of enjoyable play.

Good Old Games just launched a weekend promo where it offers up to 30% off Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura and Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption. You'll receive a 30% discount if you buy the bundle (or complete the bundle if you already have one of the games) or a 20% discount if you buy one of the games. The promo ends on Tuesday, July 27 at 5:59 a.m. CET.

NecroVisioN: Lost Company is the prequel to the old-school horror FPS which covers the events that happened before the NecroVisioN story began. The game contains several unique levels, characters, weapons and gameplay elements, as well as a new main hero that tells the original game story from an opposing perspective.

Activision announced that its anticipated games Call of Duty: Black Ops, DJ Hero 2, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and True Crime: Hong Kong will feature music from some of the most popular and successful recording artists including Grammy Award winners Usher, Eminem, Soundgarden, Pharrell Williams, David Guetta and other world-renowned musical talents.

Great games come from great ideas - but those ideas need support to reach their full potential. To help foster creativity and innovation from the rising talent in the independent game development community, Activision announced the call for submissions for the inaugural Activision Independent Games Competition.

There just might be a stereovision PC in your Christmas stocking this year according to industry research and consulting firm Jon Peddie Research, which has just completed an in-depth look at the emerging Stereo 3D (S3D) PC market.

Mafia II immerses players in the mob underworld of a fictitious late 1940s-early 1950s scenario by fusing high-octane gunplay with white-knuckle driving and an engaging narrative. Players will easily become engaged in the game's cinematic Hollywood movie experience with strong, believable characters in a living, breathing city.

Activision Blizzard announced better-than-expected financial results for the first quarter 2010. Their revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, was $1.3B, fueled by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sales and World of Warcraft subscription revenue.

Bungie, known for Halo, Myth and Marathon, has entered into an exclusive 10-year partnership with Activision, to bring it's next big multiplatform action game universe to market.

NVIDIA and Epic Games announced the addition of NVIDIA 3D Vision technology support to Unreal Engine 3, meaning that licensees of the engine will be able to take full advantage of integrated 3D Vision technology support and offer an unprecedented level of immersion in their upcoming games.

Former Infinity Ward president/game director and CEO Jason West and Vince Zampella, respectively, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Activision, which terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalties as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2.

Activision announced new strategic plans for the Call of Duty franchise, and confirmed earlier rumors that both Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward. Activision also revealed that it will bring the franchise to Asia, and that Sledgehammer Games is working on a Call of Duty action-adventure game.

GOG.com has signed a digital distribution agreement with Activision, expanding its catalog with a slew of classic titles, Gabriel Knight 2, King's Quest 4+5+6 and Call to Power 2, while more titles will be unveiled gradually in the coming weeks, DRM-free of course.

GOG.com has signed a digital distribution agreement with Activision, expanding its catalog with a slew of classic titles, Caesar 3 and The Interstate '76 Arsenal, while more titles will be unveiled gradually in the coming weeks, DRM-free of course.

On the eve of the TV Festival and the closing day of Edinburgh Interactive, the two will host the first ever creative industries event for television and games, providing an insight into technologies, but more importantly bringing the decision makers from games and television together for the first time.

Activision issued a statement about realigning its resources, reducing its amount of titles for 2010, and focusing on its most profitable business segments. Short of actually saying it has laid people off, various reports suggest that developer Luxoflux (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) will be shut down, while Neversoft (Guitar Hero/Tony Hawk), Radical Entertainment (Prototype) Underground Development (GH: Van Halen) have all suffered layoffs, with the latter possible being shut down on top of that.

GOG.com has signed a digital distribution agreement with Activision, expanding its catalog with a slew of classic titles, Phantasmagoria and Space Quest 4+5+6 pack, while more titles will be unveiled gradually in the coming weeks, DRM-free of course.

Activision Blizzard announced December quarter and calendar year 2009 financial result, racking up net revenues of $4.28 billion. More importantly CEO Robert Kotick stated that WoW: Cataclysm and StarCraft II (also as digital download through Battle.net) are both scheduled for later this year, with the latter going into closed beta this month, while new installments in the Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, Tony Hawk and Spider-Man franchises are also planned for 2010.