Earlier this month, Games On Net was one of a select group of publications to be invited from around Australasia to attend Activate Asia ’08, held in lovely Auckland, New Zealand. I made the perilous journey across the Tasman (sarcasm intended) to bring you the scoop on the event.

So what is Activate Asia? Activision Blizzard’s annual showcase for the Asia Pacific region, Activate Asia is a chance for media and retail types alike to get hands on with some of this year’s biggest holiday releases, with the creative minds behind the titles on hand to provide insight into the games they have dedicated their lives to over the past few years.

On show this year, was the latest James Bond title Quantum of Solace, Spider-Man Web of Shadows, Call of Duty: World at War, Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Transformers Animated to name a few, but the star of the show was of course Guitar Hero: World Tour and rightfully so.

Also at the event were the latest from Sierra and LucasArts, who are in partnership with Activision Blizzard. On show from Sierra we had the latest Crash Bandicoot and Spyro titles, the latter of which is looking to be one of my surprise picks of the event. From the LucasArts side of things we had The Force Unleashed, the Clone Wars video game and the new experimental terrain-shifting title, Fracture.

After the much-publicised merger between Activision and Blizzard in July, you might be wondering where was all the Blizzard content? Well apart from a presentation for the retail reps on the new World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, it looks like Blizzard are keeping their cards close to their chest until BlizzCon in October.

With a motto like “we make great games that sell”, it appears Activision Blizzard are taking it easy for the first year of their merger, building on known and trusted licences, with only Fracture straying from the pack of established IPs, to be what Activision called the sole “Medium Risk” title this holiday season.

After kicking off the event in true New Zealand style with the traditional Haka, we were introduced to the new Managing Director of Activision Asia Pacific, Phillip Earl. Worlds away from his prior job in the chocolate industry, Earl was a lively and charismatic face for the new Activision Blizzard. After running through the rudimentary sales figures ($1.5 billion in ’07 up to a incredible $2.8 billion in ’08 for those following), Earl began to discuss the state of the current gaming climate. With the advent of titles like Guitar Hero 3 on Wii blurring the social market, Activision have witnessed an evolution of the supply chain, where the purchaser is in most cases no longer the person playing the game. We’re talking parents buying games for their kids, kids for parents, wives for their husbands: gaming is truly once again a passion for the masses.

With such changes in gaming trends across the market, they see the potential for Activision Blizzard to rise above its current 19% market share, to hold a staggering 25% market share by the end of this year. Saving the best for last with the next instalments of both Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft still waiting to be an unleashed, this is a goal that looks more than obtainable. Profits aside, their key objective is to keep the industry healthy though and they see themselves bringing insight into the business to create the foundations for the next phase of category evolution.

In the four days of Activate Asia 2008 I would get to sit down with each of the games for the first time and put it through its paces, picking the minds of the producers and creators to find out what we can expect when the games hit shelves and where the games are heading in the future.

But enough with the sales figures, lets get on to the games.

Call of Duty: World at War

Kicking things off with a bang, Associate Producer from Treyarch, Vince Fennel, took the stage to demonstrate Call of Duty: World At War. Taking the war back to the 40’s, Vince jumped straight into the game, previewing a level called ‘Eviction’. It’s April 12, 1945, and with the Nazis losing power at the tail end of the war, Russia has commenced its invasion of Berlin. Spawning amongst your comrades in an abandoned building, a Nazi soldier has been seized and interrogated. He is no longer of any use and quickly disposed of with a bullet to the face. The cityscape appears drab and scarred, with a subdued colour palette akin to Gears of War. This is a battlefield, not a metropolis.

Vince took the opportunity to demonstrate the new Molotov cocktails and double-barrelled shotgun, both of which are satisfyingly destructive. Smothered in flames, enemies who meet their end at the hands of a Molotov would make a last ditch to run away, before collapsing into a lifeless heap. The shotgun is even better. As a trench gun fan from the days of CoD2, the shottie is one hell of a sight to behold - running through corridors tearing enemies apart with the splatter of glorious gibs. It might only carry two shells at a time, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay.


It is when that the fight was moved to the Pacific and we were given a chance to get hands on with the title that the differences from previous instalments began to shine through. The Pacific theatre isn’t just a change of scenery; it’s a change of tactic. Putting the newly included cooperative mode through its paces, four of us headed to the swamps of Pacific Asia. Coming across a downed fighter plane, we were suddenly ambushed from the scrub as Japanese soldiers camouflaged in ghillie suits quickly rushed our position, running straight at us from all directions. In the frenzy, we’d managed to team kill each other not once, not twice, but three times. You see, killing your comrades isn’t looked upon to fondly in the army, so just like friendly A.I. you’ll need to watch your fire (not playing with suicidal idiots helps also) or be forced to start again. Funnily enough, the key to cooperative play is to actually work cooperatively as a team. When a player is downed, they will go into ‘Last Stand’ mode and it is up to the rest of the team to save them. Symbolised by a yellow arrow on your screen that fast turns red, you’ll need to reach and heal them or else it’s mission over. Rushing a machine gun head on is never a good idea and is just going to lead to countless resets. A particular concern is the enemy snipers who would hide patiently in trees in open fields, waiting for careless fools to wander through. Attached to the tree by a rope for stability, they make an amusing piñata to vent your anger when they’re finally taken down. We also tested out the new flamethrower, which is likely going to be the root of more than few ‘accidental’ team kills. You’ll have to work to a plan and work as a team if you want to survive. Levels are wide open with multiple points of attack, allowing for great strategy for cooperative play.

Running on the Call of Duty 4 engine, World at War looks fantastic and is a seamless jump from CoD4, bar the obvious weaponry and technical advancements. World at War is one step back and one step forwards for the series. It’s a return to the familiar World War II theatre of war, but now you are granted the abilities and improvements from CoD4: Modern Combat, particularly the ability to sprint which makes the shotgun a much more useful weapon. World at War is ultimately going to come down to a personal decision amongst gamers, with some who won’t want to step back. With the new weapons, abilities and locations though, World at War certainly warrants one last trip to the past.

Look for Call of Duty: World at War in stores November 12th.

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Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

Spider-Man might be getting given a run for his money at the Box Office with the release of The Dark Knight, but Spider-Man is still no doubt one of the most popular superheroes of all time. Following on from the Call of Duty presentation, the latest title under the Spider-Man licence, Web of Shadows, was the next game to be shown. Executive Producer Graham Fuchs was on hand to take us through a demonstration of the game.

In Web of Shadows, the city of New York has been overrun by a symbiote invasion and it is up to Spider-Man to save the day. With the return of the infamous black suit symbiote costume, the path in which you take to reach your goals isn’t quite so simple. You are able to choose your path through the game, being the perfect hero or giving into your dark desires to become a vigilante. Spider-Man is able to cycle through the red and black suits on the fly with a click of the left thumbstick, allowing you to create impressive combos and develop the abilities of each suit, as you desire. Banding together with characters like Luke Cage, Nick Fury and Wolverine over the course of the game, you can dictate whether they become friend or foe. Characters have been specially redesigned for Web of Shadows by developer Shaba with Marvel’s approval. As a Spider-Man fan myself since I was a kid, I felt that they had managed to still capture the essence of the characters, while giving them a distinctly memorable new appearance.

The premise behind Web of Shadows is a unique concept, but it is until you see the game in motion that you can witness the most exciting part of Web of Shadows’ gameplay; the focus combo-based mid-air combat. Attacking enemies you can select your next target, springing from one enemy to another in smooth, Tony Hawk-style trick lines. It really manages to capture the fluid, acrobatic fighting style of Spider-Man in a way that previous Spider-Man games have failed to capture. Outside of combat, the trick lines can have practical uses, such as using other enemies as stepping stones to reach Vulture as we were shown in the demonstration. It’s simple to pull off and it feels great.

Executive Producer Graham Fuchs demonstrates Spider-Man’s new abilities in Web of Shadows

Taking influence from modern free-running trends, the other main change in Spider-Man’s repertoire is the emphasis on wall-based combat. Spider-Man can run along the sides of buildings at a blistering pace, particularly useful for bounding towards the symbiote as they attempt to scale structures. My only concern in getting my hands on with the game, was that the wall-based combat seemed to sport some questionable physics, which seemed to suspend reality just a little too much for my liking. No matter how super human Spider-Man is, sliding up the side of a building and shooting web perfectly perpendicular just felt a bit off. Ultimately it just felt a bit too unchanged compared to the ground combat in the build I played, but it’s a minor gripe from the physics nerd inside of me.

In all other areas, Web of Shadows felt great - much better than I had expected. The essence and fluidity of Spider-Man’s fighting style feels as if it has finally been captured intuitively. With a massive open, living city and a rich story that allows you to follow the path of hero or vigilante, Web of Shadows looks like it might just be the best Spider-Man title since the video game adaptation of Spider-Man 2.

Spider-Man Web of Shadows is out on the 22nd of October.

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That’s it for today’s wrap up of Activate Asia 2008. Check back tomorrow for a Guitar Hero overdose as we take an in-depth look at the eagerly awaited Guitar Hero: World Tour, as well as checking out the latest handheld instalment in the series, Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades.