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The organisers of the 26th Golden Joystick Awards have announced that a record-breaking 100,000 public votes have been registered in just four weeks, with Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare leading the nominations. Media group Future, which runs the long-established 'Oscars of the gaming world', has 15 categories this year and the overall winners will be announced on Friday, October 31. Activision's best-selling Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare leads the way, picking up nine nominations. The title appears in nearly (more)...

Activision has announced the next title in its best-selling Call of Duty franchise will offer players a new co-operative mode for both online and offline play. Call Of Duty: World At War, which takes players into the South Pacific and Europe, will allow up to four friends to take part simultaneously online or via a two-player, split-screen option on Xbox 360, PC and PS3. The new gameplay, which will also see a two-player co-op mode available on Wii, allows users to unlock perks by completing challenges and earning experience points. The game, which makes full use of the Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare engine, will, according to Activision, throw "out the rulebook of war to transform Wwii (more)...

The Nasdaq rose 0.3% in December, with entertainment software stocks and a few other new-media companies trouncing the broader markets.

That the publishers of video games saw their stocks move higher during the holiday gift-giving season comes as little surprise to some who have predicted such a move. The trick has been in choosing the biggest winners.

Many have been bullish on Activision, and their optimism has been rewarded for a few months. In December, the stock rose 34.1%. Its hot-selling games this season are Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Kaufman Bros. Equity Research analyst Todd Mitchell said that Activision had four of the top 10 selling titles in November. He also noted, though, that Activision and other video game publishers have enjoyed good runs in their stocks, so he has "hold" ratings on Activision and Electronic Arts.

Activision in December raised its guidance for the second time during the fourth quarter, plus, the company said it would merge with Vivendi's games business, with the combined company to be renamed Activision Blizzard.

Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities wrote that -- concerning the guidance boost -- it was "deja vu all over again" for Activision, and he also likes the hookup with Vivendi.

"The merger strengthens Activision's product offering and expands its geographic reach, while allowing Vivendi to further monetize its success with World of Warcraft," he said.