MCV magazine recently spoke with Activision Blizzard CFO Thomas Tippl on the recent merger between Activision and Vivendi that resulted in the largest gaming conglomerate in existence.

Due to the high number of popular franchises developed by Activision and Blizzard individually, MCV was curious as to which titles might be considered high priority in terms of the new juggernaut's future plans. Not surprisingly, Tippl was quick to herald Guitar Hero, which he stated has "sold more than any video game in the history of the industry," and the continued focus on Call of Duty.

On Blizzard's side of the equation is the ever-popular World of WarCraft, which now boasts more than 11 million worldwide subscribers, making it the leading subscription-based MMO. Coupled with last year's StarCraft II announcement and the more recent unveiling of Diablo III, Tippl didn't have to work hard to convince MCV (or anyone else in the gaming world) that Blizzard's line-up will be as strong as ever through the next several years.

Specifics regarding stock shares were also discussed. When asked if Vivendi's 52 per cent holding classified the merger as more of an acquisition of Activision than a partnership, Tippl discussed the company's recently announced self-tender, " which will last for 20 business days. During that period of time, shareholders who want to sell up can do so at a price of $27.50."

The full interview is available at MCVUK.com.

Adding the latest nail to the coffin of beleaguered Flagship Studios, the following short message was posted last night on the official forums for both Hellgate London and Mythos:

On Friday, July 18th at Midnight (CST) the forums will be shutting down. We would like to thank everyone for being a part of this wonderful community and we hope to see you all again soon.

So much for that. While the message ended on a somewhat positive note, one has to wonder if there's anything left to salvage. They hype surrounding Hellgate prior to its release was categorically "off the hook." Despite a fantastic premise and average reviews, the end product not only failed to deliver on that hype (which was arguably out of control), but apparently failed to deliver a game the public deemed worthy of their time.

Official WoW site WorldOfWarCraft.com brings word that the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion for Blizzard Entertainment's World of WarCraft MMO will introduce achievements into the world of Azeroth.

"World of Warcraft's achievements system will launch with more than 500 individual achievements covering every aspect of gameplay, including world exploration, PvE, PvP, professions, and character development," wrote the company on their official site. "From the purely whimsical to the truly epic, there will be something for everyone. Some achievements come with in-game rewards such as tabards, vanity pets, and titles. All of these rewards are purely cosmetic and just for fun, but you'll certainly stand out when you proudly display them."

Given the number of hours WoW fanatics spend in their favorite virtual world, Blizzard has already foreseen that 500 achievements probably won't be enough. "And don't fret about running out of achievements anytime soon," continues the site. "The list is easily expandable, so you can expect additional achievements with each new World of Warcraft content update."

Achievement details will be accessible via a new button on your action bar. Clicking the button opens your achievement window, which details your total points for all the achievements you've completed; and a name, description, point value, completion date, and progress bar (if applicable) for each achievement. Similar to quests, players can choose which achievements to actively track.

The evolving achievement list will encompass a variety of different types and categories, ranging from simple assignments such as receiving a haircut to slaying one of each race in PvP factions. "Some achievements are progressive," explains the site, "for example, once you complete an achievement to collect 10 vanity pets, you might next be asked to collect 25. Finally, meta achievements unlock when you complete other achievements -- unlocking all World Exploration achievements ... unlocks a World Explorer meta achievement."

For more details regarding what to expect from WoW's achievements, visit WorldOfWarCraft.com.

In an interview with business site Portfolio.com, Electronic Arts executive John Riccitello confirmed that an MMO based on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is in development.

Talking about EA's portfolio of upcoming titles, Riccitello said: "We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development, [Warhammer Online and] the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it." When Portfolio asked for clarification that he's talking about the KotOR IP, he said "yes."

At this point it's hardly a surprise, as the trademark has already been registered and hints have been dropped, but a confirmation is a welcome thing. Essentially, the industry's worst-kept and most popular secret is a secret no longer!

[Via Massively]

With the release of Mythic Entertainment's anticipated Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning approximately two months away, the developer would like to remind you via this E3 gameplay trailer that online battles will be large, fast-paced, and utterly cataclysmic in their presentation.

Shown at yesterday's Sony E3 press conference, the newest DC Universe Online trailer is now available for viewing. Depicting legendary heroes and villains such as Batman, Joker, Superman, Bizarro, Catwoman, Bane, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the Flash, and Wonder Woman, the upcoming PS3 and PC MMO from Sony Online Entertainment won't allow you to play as the iconic characters themselves, but judging by the trailer, you'll get to do more than your fair share of fighting alongside them.

While the two games have basically been linked for a while now, NCSoft has made it official today. Their super hero MMOs City of Heroes and City of Villains are now merged into one game product. People who own one of the two games can now access all of the content of the game they didn't already own and all copies of both games sold at retails stores and online will gain access to both games.

One of the more interesting features in this merge is that people who play as heroes can now have access to base building, which is something only City of Villains players had access to until now. It also will lead into future updates and projects for City of Heroes that will be announced later this year.

[via email press release]

In between all of the E3 2008 hubbub, the fate of the Flagship Studios development team has been in flux since word got out Friday that massive layoffs had occured at the creator of the action-RPG Hellgate London. This week the game's official forums have posted up a note admitting that the company has indeed laid off most of its employees but that Flagship Studios continues to operate with its founders and core management still on board.

How long Flagship continues to operate remains in question, as the press release admits that it will no longer be taking any new subscriptions for the paid version of Hellgate London and that all current subscribers will no longer be billed. Contrary to previous reports, the press release states that the technology and IP for both Hellgate London and their in-development free MMO Mythos are owned by Flagship. One thing is for sure; a development company that many believed to be a sure thing had a massive flameout that no one predicted would happen

A trailer for developer and publisher Lonely Cat Games' Atlantica MMO has been released, offering a brief glimpse into the game's expansive world. Big Download will be providing preview coverage of Atlantica in the near future.

Big Download's sister site Massively.com has all the news you'll need about MMOs. Here's the best, brightest, and most interesting stuff from the last week, all in one convenient place for your MMO minute.

	Mark Jacobs announces major features cut from Warhammer Online In the latest of an ongoing series of interviews with MMORPG.com, Mythic Entertainment VP and General Manager Mark Jacobs has dropped big news on the Warhammer Online fanbase: major features are being culled from the game in order to make their Fall launch deadline. In short, the capital cities for the Dark Elf, High Elf, Orc, and Dwarf factions will not be in the game at launch.
	The Digital Continuum: Diet WAR Diet Warhammer Online: same great taste, less content. Is it bad that the recently re-branded Mythic Entertainment just cut out a large portion of our Warhammer Online pie and put it in the deep freeze? Well it's certainly not good when a developer cuts content they've been talking about publicly for so long, especially when launch is only three or four months away.
	Massively visits Stargate Worlds: The interview This exclusive, in-depth, and conversational interview is overflowing with information about everything in the game, including TV series tie-ins and cameos, episodic content, combat, graphics, mini-games, and much, much more.
	Massively's E3 Week Prediction Bingo Every year it's customary to roll out predictions on what will and won't show up at the current year's E3 event. With Massively heading in the direction of the LA Convention Center already, we thought it might be fun to offer up some likely (and highly unlikely) predictions of what might get talked about next week.
	Jack Emmert discusses the Champions IP in fresh new video During a recent media event at Cryptic Studios, Jack Emmert gave a presentation on what the Champions IP was all about, including the history of the Champions universe and its super-powered beings. He also took some time to answer a few questions, and delineated how the Champions Online MMO will distinguish itself from City of Heroes.

On Friday, Big Download was the first to report on massive layoffs happening at Hellgate London and Mythos developer Flagship Studios. Now Voodoo Extreme is reporting that all employees of Flagship have officially been laid off with 30 days of severance pay. The future of both games is now in question. The free-to-play MMO Mythos (which was never officially launched) is now owned by Asian publisher HanbitSoft who hopes to continue development of the game in Asia.

As far as Hellgate London, the rights have reverted to the American bank Comerica (who Flagship secured a loan with a few month ago). They might also continue developing the game in Asia with HanbitSoft. The English support for the games is currently up in the air. So far Flagship has yet to officially issue a statement and the official web sites for both of their games have yet to mention the fate of the developer.

MMORPG.com has posted part two of their interview with Mythic Entertainment's Mark Jacobs, VP and General Manager of the development studio. In the interview, Jacobs reveals that Mythic has partnered with Punkbuster to crack down on the cheaters expected to inhabit Warhammer Online's servers.

"We think this is a huge win for the players," Jacobs said in regards to the partnership. "We are an RvR-centric game and anything that gives a player an advantage over another player in an RvR-centric game is a very bad thing. We take this stuff incredibly seriously, our history shows that. We wanted, by doing this deal with Punkbuster, to show the players that we're willing to go an extra step for them."

Jacobs also confessed that Warhammer Online's reported six capital cities has been downsized to two in the interest of fun gameplay. "We decided to focus our energies on two capital cities; one for Order and one for Destruction, and make them fabulous, said Jacobs. "Not good, not great, but fabulous. We wanted to make our Capital Cities the best cities in any MMO. We think we're doing that, but it came at a price and that price is that the other cities aren't going in the game right now."

Visit MMORPG.com to read the full interview.

Developer Runewalker Entertainment has announced that gamers interested in its upcoming Runes of Magic MMO can now register for the chance to participate in the closed beta. Interested adventurers need only fill out a quick registration form on the game's official site. If eligible, Runewalker will send word at a later date.

Runes of Magic is a fantasy-themed MMO "without monthly costs and free to download," according to RunesOfMagic.com. "Dive into Taborea, a magical world full of wonders and ancient mysteries. Meet mythical and dangerous creatures and solve the puzzle of a long perished kingdom."

A German game developer called Splitscreen Studios has just announced Pirate Galaxy, a 3D, browser-based MMO. The press release (warning: PDF) describes Pirate Galaxy as a "space combat game set in the distant future," in which you may "join thousands of other players as you fight to break free from the tyranny of ruthless alien oppressors."

Gameplay seems to be focused on fighting enemies to acquire ship upgrades. Big surprise there! The game will use a microtransaction-based business model. That is to say, it will be free to play, but some ship upgrades and other bonuses will be sold in an online shop. Splitscreen, which is made up of former Bigpoint employees, hopes to launch Pirate Galaxy by year's end.

This is probably the hundred trillionth browser-based MMO to be announced in the past two years. But hey, there's probably room for quite a few of them.

Mythic Entertainment, formerly EA Mythic (and originally Mythic Entertainment), has announced the start of the next phase of their beta for MMO Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Titled the Guild Beta, this newest phase is another way to stress test Warhammer Online's servers before the game's debut this fall.

"WAR's Guild Beta is here and some of the world's most experienced MMO players will now get a chance to play one of the most anticipated MMOs of all time," said Mark Jacobs, vice president and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "We look forward to seeing them beat, bash and burn their way through the world that we have created for their enjoyment. It's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be glorious!"

Mythic reports that over 10,000 guilds applied for WAR's Guild Beta phase. Approved applicants will assist Mythic in testing Guild and Heraldry features, one of the most notable being WAR's "revolutionary Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) gameplay that immerses players in a world of perpetual conflict," according to the official Guild Beta press release.