The 1.40 patch focuses on eliminating the recent hacking issues for the PlayStation 3. No official patch notes have been released yet. Unfortunately, the patch is currently only out for North America; a European release has yet to be scheduled.

Modern Warfare 2 will be out on November 10th for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Read (Infinity Ward Forums)

Blizzard has recently announced that the 3.1.2 patch for World of Warcraft has left the public test realms and entered the live realms today.

Featured in said patch is everything you would expect, class changes, bug fixes, the like. However, the big thing that Blizzard introduced with this patch is the Equipment Manager which they describe as:

When enabled from the Interface Options menu, this feature will allow players to store sets of equipment, easily swap between saved sets using hotkeys, and pull items directly from backpacks or bank slots (must be at the bank to equip inventory from the bank).

This will ease the pain when you have to switch from your PvP set to your PvE set.

Full list of changes after the break.

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.1.2 – (2009-05-19)

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

General

• Equipment Manager
  • When enabled from the Interface Options menu, this feature will allow players to store sets of equipment, easily swap between saved sets using hotkeys, and pull items directly from backpacks or bank slots (must be at the bank to equip inventory from the bank).
• New art textures have been added for Argent Tournament mounts. Any mounts already purchased from the Argent Tournament vendors will be updated automatically. Argent Tournament mounts with the old textures will still be available for purchase from the Argent Tournament vendors for a small Champion’s Seal and gold cost (standard faction requirements apply).

PVP

• Vehicle health and damage output in Strand of the Ancients and Wintergrasp now scale with the item level of the operator’s gear. Power scaling is now 1% damage and 1% health per average item level.
• All Wintergrasp daily quests have been changed to a weekly format. The honor and Stone Keeper’s Shards rewarded for completing these quests have been increased to compensate.
• The bonus honor for winning the battle in Wintergrasp and controlling/destroying towers has been reduced.

Death Knights

• Improved Death Strike: This talent now also increases the healing from Death Strike by 25/50% and the tooltip has been adjusted to reflect the actual functionality after the hotfix in 3.1.0.
• Ghoul Frenzy: Now has a 10-second cooldown.

Druids

• Innervate: This ability has been redesigned to grant 450% of the casting Druid’s base mana pool to the target over 20 seconds.
• Improved Moonkin Form: Now grants 10/20/30% of spirit as spell power.

Hunters

• Disengage: Cooldown reduced by 5 seconds.

Mages

• Mirror Images: The images summoned by this spell will now target the creature that most hates the Mage, and should no longer cast Fire Blast or Frostbolt on targets that are affected by crowd control debuffs that break immediately on damage unless they are already casting these spells when crowd control is applied.

Paladins

• Blessing of Wisdom and Greater Blessing of Wisdom: Now grant 92 mana per 5 seconds to prevent being overwritten by Mana Spring Totem.
• Exorcism: Can no longer be used on player-controlled creatures.

Priests

• Divine Hymn: Healing and healing scaling reduced by 30%. Buff on affected players changed from 15% to 10%.
• Renewed Hope: Effect can no longer be dispelled.
• Soul Warding: Mana cost reduction is now 15% down from 30%.

Warlocks

• Conflagrate updated: Consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 12 seconds of your Immolate, or 8 seconds of your Shadowflame.
• Fire and Brimstone: Now increases the damage done by your Incinerate and Chaos Bolt by 3/6/9/12/15% on targets afflicted by Immolate, and increases the critical strike chance of your Conflagrate by 5/10/15/20/25%. In addition, the increased critical strike chance of Conflagrate provided by this talent no longer requires the Immolate effect to have 5 seconds or fewer remaining on the target.
• Nether Protection reduced to 30% damage reduction, down from 60%.
• Sacrifice (Voidwalker) redesigned: Sacrifices a portion of the Voidwalker’s health, giving its master a shield that will absorb X damage for 30 seconds. While the shield holds, spell casting will not be interrupted by damage. 1-minute cooldown.
• Shadow and Flame: Now also includes Shadowburn.

Warriors

• Juggernaut: Critical strike chance bonus reduced to 25%, down from 100%.

Items

• Arena weapons with an item level of 239 have had their rating requirements increased to 2350.
• Darkruned Battlegear 2-Piece Set Bonus: The bonus critical strike chance for Frost Strike and Death Coil has been increased from 5% to 8%.
• Furious Gladiator’s Staff and Furious Gladiator’s Greatstaff: The agility values on these two items were too high. They have been reduced by 50%.
• Glyphs
  • Glyph of Innervate: Has been adjusted to grant the Druid 90% of his or her base mana pool over 20 seconds.
  • Glyph of Mass Dispel: Now only decreases Mass Dispel cost by 35%.
  • Glyph of Rapid Charge: Reduced to 7%, down from 20% cooldown reduction to Charge.
• Guise of the Midgard Serpent: The base attack power on this item has been lowered to balance it against items of a similar quality.
• Increased the health and mana restored from Northrend food and drinks.
• Most scopes now have a level requirement and will bind the item to which they are applied.
• Nightsong Garb 4-Piece Set Bonus: Chance for Insect Swarm to trigger an instant Starfire changed to 15%.
• Scourgeborne Battlegear 4-Piece Set Bonus: The runic power gain has been reduced to 5 runic power from 10 runic power.
• Ulduar 10-player hard mode weapons have been updated to item level 232.

Professions

• Fishing
  • Jewel of the Sewers: You can now fish in all parts of the Dalaran sewers for this quest.
  • Phantom Ghostfish: Can now be caught from Nettlefish schools in Sholazar Basin.

Bug Fixes

• Death Knights
  • Anti-magic Shell: Tooltip error corrected.
  • Blood Boil: If no target is available for Blood Boil to hit, the spell will now cast and consume a blood rune but generate no runic power.
• Druids
  • Maim: Rank 2 of this ability is properly considered a stun and can be escaped by Blink.
• Hunters
  • Go For The Throat: Explosive Shot critical strikes now trigger this talent.
  • Lock and Load: The tooltip has been corrected to display its actual chance to occur.
  • Rabid: This Hunter pet talent no longer lists a percentage chance to be triggered, as that chance varies by the attack speed of the pet.
• Paladins
  • Divine Sacrifice: Damage done to the Paladin while this is active will no longer cause the effect to break early, and if it is dispelled or cancelled early, the damage counter will reset correctly the next time the spell is cast.
• Rogues
  • Shadow Dance: Issues with action bars and ability use arising from using Stealth while Shadow Dance is active have been fixed.
  • Tricks of the Trade: To prevent exploits, this ability can no longer be cast on non-player targets.
• Warlocks
  • Demonic Sacrifice: This spell will no longer appear in any Warlock’s spellbook.
• Professions
  • Tailoring
    • Swordguard Embroidery: Now correctly increases ranged attack power.
• Dungeons and Raids
  • Ulduar
    • Hodir should now reset in a timely manner if a group fails to kill him.
    • 10-player bosses that drop Runed Orbs will also sometimes drop the recipes that use those orbs.
    • The Spark of Imagination: Characters that release in part of the boss room will no longer be ported to Westfall or The Barrens.

Remember how we told you a few days ago that you could sign up for the Starcraft II beta? Well, that signup may be put to use sooner than we thought.

In a recent Activision Blizzard earnings call, Blizzard President Mike Morhaime was quoted to say that Starcraft II’s external beta testing will take place this summer.

So yes, this means that the general public (those who signed up) will actually get access to a beta form of Starcraft II. Hell, maybe us simple folk (those who didn’t sign up) will be treated to an open beta.

Hey, we can wish, can’t we?

Read (VG247)

It was recently announced that CEO of Vivendi, Jean-Bernard Levy, will replace Rene Penisson as Chairman of Activision Blizzard.

According to Joystiq, Vivendi is the majority owner of Activision Blizzard, just to give you a whiff of the company’s scale.

Let’s see, Activision Blizzard has Warcraft, Starcraft, Guitar Hero, Diablo, and Call of Duty; all colossal franchises. Vivendi, hower, has Activision Blizzard and Universal Studios. Yeah, big companies.

It seems taht the Chinese government is at it again, and this time completely rejected Blizzard’s attempt to release World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King in the area. But why?

Well JLM Pacific Epoch says that the rejection was due to the game including city raids, and skeleton characters.

City raids and skeleton characters, huh? Aren’t those 2 of the things that made World of Warcraf fun? Probably not, but it seems that the Chinese government is afraid people will use WoW to concoct plans to overthrow the government, or something like that.

Originally set to be published by Vivendi, which merged with Activision last year, the game was ditched following the formation of the new company, along with 50 Cent, Ghostbusters and The Chronicles of Riddick, all of which have found new homes.

It is being speculated that Activision wants a cash payment for the publishing rights. Meanwhile, an EA representative expressed doubt that Activision would sue, likening the situation to be “like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy.”

It’s all over the news; the economy sucks, WE KNOW, but not for Activision Blizzard. The company responsible for franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Guitar Hero, have recently gotten some numbers and, if you’re the jealous type, look away now.

In 2008 alone, Activision Blizzard raked in $5 billion, with $429 million of that during the holidays making it a record year for the company.

And, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, god knows how many Guitar Hero titles, and possibly Starcraft 2 just over the horizon, 2009 is shaping up to be an even bigger year for the mega publisher.

Read (Kotaku)

Do you find your eyes plastered to the computer screen for several hours a day playing none other than Blizzard’s enormously popular World of Warcraft? Well good, then this news is just for you.

Recently released via their forums, Blizzard has given us a sneak peak at whats in store in terms of classe changes when 3.1.0 hits. So far only the Priest, Rogue, and Shaman changes (below) have been released, with the rest of the classes to follow suit:

PRIEST

Divine Spirit – this spell is now a core ability available to all priests.

Discipline has access to a new talent, Power Word: Barrier. (Think of it as Power Word: Shield for your whole group).

Several area of effect (AOE) heal spells have been improved: Prayer of Healing can be cast on any groups in your raid party. Holy Nova’s mana cost has been reduced. Circle of Healing now heals for more.

Shadow priest PvP survivability has been improved: Shadow Form now reduces magic as well as physical damage. Dispersion now removes snares.

Penance – this spell can now be targeted on the priest.

Serendipity – this talent now reduces the cast time of Greater Heal and Prayer of Healing when Binding Heal or Flash Heal are cast.

We are also working to give Holy additional PvP utility.ROGUE

Hunger for Blood – instead of a self-buff, this ability can only be used when there is a bleed effect on the target. However, it has no stacks and grants a 15% damage bonus.

Adrenaline Rush – the cooldown on this ability has been lowered.

Lightning Reflexes – reduced to 3 ranks. In addition to 2/4/6% dodge, this talent now also grants 4/7/10% passive melee haste.

Killing Spree – while this ability is active, the rogue does 20% additional damage.

Savage Combat – now causes 2/4% physical damage done.

Mace Specialization – this talent now grants haste in addition to armor penetration.SHAMAN

Chain Lightning – now jumps to 4 targets but does less damage. We wanted to make the distinction between Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning more clear.

Storm, Earth and Fire – this talent now increases all damage done by Flame Shock, not just periodic damage.

Spirit Weapons – now reduces all threat, not just melee threat.

Unleashed Rage – reduced to 2 ranks, now also increases your critical strike chance with melee attacks by 1/2%.

Totem streamlining: The Mana Spring and Healing Stream Totems have been combined. The Disease Cleansing and Poison Cleansing Totems have been combined.

We are also working on giving Enhancement and Elemental more PvP utility.

Read (World of Warcraft)

Neversoft has confirmed that they are no longer working with the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series. Joel Jewett, one of the founders of the developer, said in an interview: “It’s probably best for the franchise … it’s time for someone else to add fresh ideas to it,” Neversoft is currently working on Guitar Hero as its main franchise.

It has been hinted in the past that the developer to take on the game will be independent Chicago-based Robomodo. It was formed specifically to work on a “high-profile extreme sports title for Activision Blizzard.” The company is currently seeking to fill several job positions on its webpage.

Read (GiantBomb)

Now loyal readers, take the the following information with a grain of salt but, StarCraftWire has recently gotten their hands on a flyer detailing game releases in the near future for Singapore. The one we really care about? You guessed it, Starcraft 2.

Anyways, as you can see from the above snippet taken from the flyer, Starcraft 2 is stated to have a release date of Q1 2009. This is the first information we have recieved that states a solid time period for which we might be seeing the game hit store shelves.

This is quite possible, considering Activision Blizzard has said in the past Starcraft 2 is projected for an ‘09 release date. Too bad for everyone hoping for it to be out for this holiday season, but we already knew it wouldn’t be, right?

Read (StarcraftWire)

It was recently announced that Microsoft’s in-game advertising firm Massive Inc. has striked a deal with Activision Blizzard, makers of Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft. The deal states that Microsoft will supply ads for 18 of the companie’s titles, including Battle.net which is the online service used for games like Diablo 2 and Starcraft.

Microsoft has said the ads will be dynamic and change over time as well as adapt to the gamer’s location. Sounds pretty neat.

Along with in-game advertising, it was also announced that Massive Inc will be the main advertiser for Blizzard’s websites. This isn’t the first time Massive and Activision Blizzard have worked together, with their first deal concering ads for a previous Guitar Hero title.

Read (Yahoo! Tech)

"When you look at the impact [Guitar Hero] can have on an Aerosmith, Van Halen or Metallica, it’s really significant," he said. "So much so that you sort of question whether or not, in the case of those kinds of products, you should be paying any money at all and whether it should be the reverse."

Kotick also pointed out that the company doesn’t really need any particular label, especially Warner, seeing as how their parent company also owns Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record label.

“Looking even further out, we’re exploring new models, like an annual pass subscription where players can subscribe and get a certain number of songs downloadable each month,” Griffith explained.

He wouldn’t offer any further details, such as a price or start date for such a program. It comes as part of the company’s plans to monetize the Guitar Hero franchise, which they hope to push down your throat by 2010.

Detailing just how popular the franchise is, Griffith revealed that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith “deliver 10x the revenue compared to Aerosmith’s most recently released CD in 2004.”

The largest publisher in North America is currently working on a Quantum of Solace game which is based off the Call of Duty 4 engine. It seems to be shaping to be a worthwhile release, though that remains to be seen.

This MIDI sequencer will support rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, keyboards and drum tracks on the PS3, but will be limited to drum tracks on the Xbox 360 due to “hardware issues” which weren’t specified. These features will be released as a week-one patch for the game, which is due out in late October.

Further details are to be provided soon.

Horowitz added foundation to his statement by citing “My Name is Jonas” by Weezer as a prime example. The song appeared in Guitar Hero 3 and saw a real-world sales increase of about 1000% in the weeks that followed the game’s release.

It appears Universal sees a business opportunity in the Guitar Hero franchise, which Activision hopes to produce a lot more of in the coming years.

It marks a rise in the number of multiplayer gamers; the growth can be credited to the easy availability of broadband connections that have enabled faster ping times and a smoother online experience. The game debuted at number four in the Xbox Live Top 10 Activity list and hasn’t left the list since.

Call of Duty 4 may be the most popular game in the franchise by now, selling over 10 million copies worldwide on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Its developers – Infinity Ward – is currently developing the sixth installment.

Griffith noted that the expansion refers to both retail titles as well as downloadable content for the series. In fact, Activision plans on doubling the amount of Guitar Hero releases in 2009. The sudden expansion will be accomplished by bringing in more developers and more hardware suppliers.

Guitar Hero World Tour, usually referred to as Guitar Hero 4, will be released on PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii on October 26.