For the first time ever, you can customize the makeup of your band with any combination of instruments in-game: two guitars and two drums, or three guitars and a microphone, etc. while also adding new gameplay mode. Earlier today, we reported that Courtney Love is taking legal steps for unauthorized Kurt Cobain usage in GH5, but according to a statement from Activision, it has "secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain's likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero 5."

3D game engine provider Trinigy announced that it will be one of the first middleware developers to have built-in support for Microsoft DirectX 11 graphics processors.

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.

Check out the following new screens and trailers from Activision's GamesCom 2009 lineup:

• 'DJ Hero' (ALL) Gets Benny Benassi, Paul van Dyk and Tiësto Mixes - Screens
• 'Band Hero' (ALL) Gets Playable Adam Levine - Screens
• 'Tony Hawk: Ride' (ALL) - New Screens
• 'Guitar Hero 5' (ALL) Gets Rolling Stones Track Pack As Launch Day DLC
• 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare' (Wii) - First Screens
• 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized' (NDS) - Screens & Trailer
• 'Blur' (PS3/X360/PC) - New Screens
• 'Singularity' (PS3/X360/PC) - 13 New Screens
• 'Modern Warfare 2' (ALL) - New Screens

Activision announced its line-up of titles it will be showing off at GamesCom 2009 (Aug. 19th-23rd), such as Band Hero, Blur, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero 5, Modern Warfare 2, Singularity and Tony Hawk: RIDE and the LucasArts’ titles Lego Indiana Jones 2 and Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes amongst others.

Guitar Hero: World Tour will feature guitar, vocals, drums, the ability to create your own songs (and upload them on GHTunes), four-player on/offline co-op, and an eight-player battle of the bands multiplayer mode (4vs4).

Activision Blizzard posted better-than-expected financial results for Q2 2009, driven by Prototype, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty franchises, as well as World of Warcraft. However, Activision CEO Bobby Kontick revealed that Singularity and StarCraft II are getting delayed until 2010, while Mike Griffith stated that next year we can see new installments in the James Bond, Tony Hawk and Spider-Man franchises.

Revolution Software has announced a new division dedicated to creating and publishing narrative-based handheld entertainment specifically for formats which support online and over-the-air digital distribution.

3D game engine provider Trinigy has signed a licensing agreement with Robot Entertainment, former Ensemble Studios employees, to use the Vision Engine on a new, undisclosed IP currently in development.

Brütal Legend is a 3rd person action/adventure starring Jack Black in the role of roadie Eddie Riggs, who sets on an epic quest to build an army of rockers with only a broad axe, a big block V8 and his faithful guitar in hand. Last month Activision filed a lawsuit against Double Fine to stop the release of Brütal Legend claiming it never gave up the rights, and will suffer irreparable harm. DF now counter sued saying that Activision is trying to kill the game to safe guard its Guitar Hero franchise from any competition.

A witch with powers beyond the comprehension of mere mortals, Bayonetta faces off against countless angelic enemies, many reaching epic proportions. With magnificent over-the-top action and outlandish finishing moves that are performed with balletic grace, Bayonetta brings to life some fast-paced, dynamic climax combat.

3D game engine provider Trinigy and Havok announced that they will form a technological partnership focusing on the integration of their products in order to advance workflow efficiencies.

NecroVisioN is a first-person horror shooter, which sees players taking on the role of American soldier Simon Bukner, who must fight his way through the bleak trenches of World War One and into the very jaws of Hell.

Activision CEO Bobby Kontick has been calling for Sony to drop the retail price on its PS3 console for quite a while now. He was hoping that a lower-priced model would be introduced at E3, which did not happen. Valve has been claiming it won't support the PS3 because it is too difficult to develop on, while various others have claimed it requires the biggest budget out of the 3 current-gen consoles. Kontick has now made the bold statement that if Sony does not cut the price, the attach rate will drop further, which might eventually cause Activision to drop PS3/PSP support by 2010/11.

NecroVisioN is a first-person horror shooter, which sees players taking on the role of American soldier Simon Bukner, who must fight his way through the bleak trenches of World War One and into the very jaws of Hell.

Brütal Legend is a 3rd person Action/Adventure game starring Jack Black in the role of roadie Eddie Riggs, who sets on an epic quest to build an army of rockers with only a broad axe, a big block V8 and his faithful guitar in hand. Some whiny bitches over at Activision have decided to sue developer Double Fine to stop the release of Brütal Legend claiming it never relinquished its rights, and will suffer irreparable harm if it looses the game, and revenue generated by post release downloadable content. After the Vivendi/Activision merger, negotiations with DF failed when the developer requested more time & money to complete the game, at which point EA swooped in and picked up the game in Dec. 2008.

Activision has revealed its lineup of titles that it will have on display at the 2009 E3 Expo taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 2 - 4, 2009, such as Prototype, Singularity, Transformers, and also showing for the first time Blur, Modern Warfare 2, Tone Hawk: Ride, Guitar Hero 5 and others.

Gothic 4 is set 10 years after the last installment and situated on multiple southern islands, each with unique fauna & flora according to various climate zones. The game will feature a day & night cycle, changing weather, and depending on the time of day altering spell casting abilities.

Activision Blizzard announced better-than-expected financial results for Q1 2009, with $981 million in revenues compared to its expected $860 million. While no new titles were revealed, Activision confirmed the Guitar Hero titles (including Guitar Hero Van Halen) announced earlier today, as well as Blur, Modern Warfare 2, Singularity, Wolfenstein and the new Tony Hawk all being on track for the holidays. While Starcraft 2 has no release date yet, Blizzard revealed that the beta will commence this summer, which indicates the final development stretch of the core game, to be followed by two expansions. DJ Hero will have added guitar support, and according to Activision, the GH franchise is gaining ground in the genre (55%), outselling Rock Band 10-to-1.

3D game engine developers Trinigy and inventors of the Digital Molecular Matter technology Pixelux Entertainment announced Pixelux’ inclusion into Trinigy’s Partners Program, making it so that upcoming versions of the Vision Engine will include DMM.

A few years back, Valve sued Sierra/Vivendi in a copyright infringement case where it claimed that Valve was the only authorized party to license its games to cybercafes. In 2005, the two parties finally settled, and Sierra/Vivendi was ordered to pay $2,391,932, a debt Activision inherited with the merger, but which it now contests is too much, hence Valve's new lawsuit for not paying the court-ordered amount in full.

Last night the UK video games industry gathered at The Brewery, London for the seventh annual Industry Excellence Awards. Nintendo scoops four MCV Awards, Little Big Planet honored, while Fallout 3 bags sales triumph, and Activision Blizzard awarded best publisher.

Activision strongly denies the allegations made by Genius Products and believes that the claims are disingenuous and lack any merit. Yesterday, the L.A. Superior Court found that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing and refused to grant any restraining order against Activision.

Due to the better-than-expected performance of its titles at retail, Activision announced that its March quarter revenues ($860 million) are tracking ahead of its prior outlook ($550 million), driven by Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft.

NecroVisioN is a first-person horror shooter, which sees players taking on the role of American soldier Simon Bukner, who must fight his way through the bleak trenches of World War One and into the very jaws of Hell. Australia's rating board has refused NecroVision a classification for excessive violence, blood spray, dismemberment and decapitation.