Davos, Switzerland - Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick confirmed on Friday that a new music-centered video game called "DJ Hero" is in development and due out in 2009:
"We have this product called DJ Hero coming out later this year, which is a turntable that you actually can play competitively and spin discs and mix songs," he said during a CNBC interview.

Port Washington, N.Y. - Once again bucking the overall economic downturn, U.S. video game sales were up 10% in November, to $2.91 billion, while year-to-date sales are up 22%, to $16.04 billion compared with $13.14 billion at the same point a year ago. "One reason for the continued strength of the industry compared to other forms of entertainment comes from a number of sources," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "Certainly, the expanded audience for gaming due to the availability of a wider variety of compelling content is a strong contributor. Economic factors are also at play given that a video game is a relatively inexpensive form of entertainment for the hours of value it provides. Our Consumer Spending Indicator shows that video games is the category consumers are least likely to cut back on this holiday."

New York - Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) Massive Inc. in-game advertising unit on Wednesday announced a multi-year deal to serve ads within 18 of Activision Blizzard's (NASD: ATVI) titles, as well as on the company's various websites and Battle.net online game service. The deal includes the territories of the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea and Australia. Massive also said it partnered with Integri to manage Web-based ads for Activision Blizzard, whose titles include "Guitar Hero" and "World of Warcraft."

San Francisco - Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI), the company recently formed through the merger of Activision and Vivendi's games division, is considering launching an alternative digital music platform to compete with Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes, company CEO Bobby Kotick said in an interview with the Financial Times. "I don't think there have been a lot of credible alternatives to iTunes but Guitar Hero certainly has that potential," Kotick told FT.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI), the company recently created through the merger of video game publisher Activision with Vivendi's games division, announced on Friday that it will effect a two-for-one stock split.