Further strengthening the senior management team of Activision, Inc.'s Publishing unit, Michael Griffith was named President and Chief Executive Officer and Ron Doornink appointed Chairman. The announcement was made today by Robert Kotick, Chairman and CEO of Activision, Inc.

Activision today announced an agreement with Harrah's Entertainment to develop and publish "World Series of Poker" video games based on the widely popular tournament for the PC, console and handhelds. The video game is expected to be available at retail stores nationwide this fall.

Vision is the next stride forward in the evolution of modern role-playing games. Exceptional graphics, true-to-life NPC behavior and a finely tuned balance between raw action and deep story development are the essential elements that will make the title irresistible to RPG fans.

Trinigy today announced that future versions of its Vision Game Engine will fully support Microsoft's Xbox 360.

During E3 Activision started a Guess The City Contest for the public to try and find out (ends 11:59 p.m. PT on June 16, 2005) which location its True Crime sequel will take place. Giving away a brand new Chrysler 300 to the lucky winner, Activision has released a new trailer showing off some ingame footage, as well as giving a few hints. Read more to check out some screens showing off the new wheels, or download the trailer and get lucky!

Activision today announced that it has acquired game developer Beenox, known for several Mac or console to PC ports, currently working on Fantastic Four. The acquisition further bolsters Activision's internal development capabilities by providing it with a foothold in the province of Quebec.

Activision announced today that it will prepare for an equal amount of launch titles on the PS3 as it is working on X360 one's, when the new Sony system will ship in spring 2006. To better cope with the demand for new titles, Activision will be looking to increase its in-house developers by as much as 30 percent. Activision only recently received development hardware for the PS3, but has already been workingon four X360 launch titles for almost a year.

Today sees the official E3 2005 kickoff, and here we go with another motherload of media. We got screens and trailers for the following Activision titles :

• 'Call of Duty 2' (X360/PC) - Screens
• 'Call of Duty 2: Big Red One' (PS2/Xbox) - Screens
• 'Enemy Territory: Quake Wars' - Screens
• 'Fantastic Four' (PS2/Xbox) - Screens & E3 2005 Trailer
• 'Quake 4' (X360/PC) - Screens
• 'Shrek Superslam' (ALL) - Screens
• 'The Movies' (Xbox/PC) - Screens
• 'Tony Hawk's American Wasteland' (X360/PC) - Screens
• 'Ultimate Spider-Man' (PS2/Xbox) - Screens & E3 2005 Trailer
• 'X-Men Legends II' (ALL)- Screens & E3 2005 Trailer

Activision's E3 lineup includes titles based on popular entertainment brands like Marvel's Spider-Man, Fantastic 4, X-Men, Shrek, new installments in their best-selling Tony Hawk and Call of Duty franchises, and innovative offerings from id Software's QUAKE 4 and The Movies from Peter Molyneux's Lionhead Studios.

Activision Value Publishing and Krome Studios today announced a co-publishing agreement for the third installment in the TY the Tasmanian Tiger series. Currently in development at Krome Studios, the game will be available for the PS2, Xbox, GameCube and GBA in fall 2005.

Activision today announced record net revenues for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2005. Net revenues and net income had increased 48% and 78%, respectively, over last year's numbers, boosted by sales of top-10 console titles such as Spider-Man 2 and Tony Hawk's Underground 2 and DOOM 3, Rome: Total War and Call of Duty for the PC.

Activision today announced that it has acquired game developer Toys For Bob. Most recently the companies have worked together on the upcoming children's game Madagascar, based on DreamWorks animated feature film. The game is slated to ship this month timed to the movie's release.

Activision today announced that the company has signed an agreement with SOE to publish Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade for PSP in all territories excluding U.S., Canada and Japan, as well as those areas serviced by SCEA. Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade is the only multiplayer action role-playing game currently available for the PSP.

Macrovision today announced the results of a gaming piracy study that shows significant losses experienced by the gaming industry due to software piracy. The surveys of 6,000 Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 users show that 21% of gamers play pirated games, but 73% would have bought the game within one month if a free version had not been readily available. This high level of piracy on console systems, which are generally considered to be secure closed systems, is surprising.

Activision and Viacom have settled their dispute over video games based on the "Star Trek" franchise. All lawsuits related to the dispute have been dismissed, but settlement terms were not disclosed. Activision sued Viacom in July 2003, claiming Viacom diminished the value of the "Star Trek" game license by not promoting the latest "Trek" series or making new "Trek" movies or TV shows. Viacom countered at the time that the suit was just a ploy to renegotiate the license.

Activision will be enlisting gamers in an all new tour of duty this fall with its latest Call of Duty game for the consoles. The company will develop the new title using its internal studios Gray Matter, the developer of Call of Duty: United Offensive, and Treyarch, creators of the popular Spider-Man series.

Trinigy and development and publishing house Destineer today disclosed the conclusion of a licensing deal regarding the Vision Game Engine. Within the scope of this agreement, Destineer will be developing currently undisclosed games based on Trinigy's Vision technology for multiple platforms.

Following Shrek 2's ranking as the #1 children's video game in the U.S. for calendar 2004, Activision and DreamWorks Animation announced that Activision will develop and publish video games based on the upcoming animated film, "Shrek 3," which is scheduled for release in summer 2007.

Activision today announced that it has acquired game developer Vicarious Visions, most recently known for Spider-Man 2 on NDS. Vicarious Visions' proven proprietary Alchemy middleware technology and tools will be combined with Activision's next-generation tools and libraries to further enhance the company's overall development efforts.

Screens from the titles that were presented by Activision at CES:

• Spider-Man 2
• Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix

Trinigy today announced the release date for the newest version of the Vision Game Engine. On the 30th of November, the development kit with the version number 4.5 will be shipped to customers all over the world.

Namco announced today the hiring of Grantley Day as Director of PC Development, reinforcing the company's commitment to its expansion into the PC games market. Day brings to Namco more than eleven years of experience in developing entertainment software for the PC, including most notably his online game development work for The Sims franchise at Electronic Arts.

Using proprietary methodology, Nielsen Entertainment and Activision will conduct a PC-based test to measure in-game product placement among a representative sample of active video game households. The test will incorporate a watermark - an inaudible audio code - that will identify how long and how often players are exposed to various products.

Macrovision Corporation has signed an agreement with SEGA Europe under which the software publishing giant will use Macrovision's SafeDisc advanced security solution on its forthcoming PC CD-ROM titles.

Today Activision is having their annual Activate press day, and we have new material from a boatload of their titles. We're starting with :

• Rome: Total War
• Star Wars: Republic Commando
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• Knights Of The Old Republic 2
• Mercenaries
• DOOM 3
• Call Of Duty: United Offensive
• Call Of Duty: Finest Hour
• The Movies
• Tony Hawk Underground 2
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
• X-Men Legends
• Dreamwork's Shark Tale