Is Call of Duty 7 to be set in Vietnam and Cuba? That is the information that TVGB's insider source claims, after said source picked it up from... get this... the music that Activision is looking to license for the game. What, did he hear a Đàn nguyệt (moon lute) being played in the meeting room?

Now we know a lot of folk out there have been turned off by the absence of witty Jack Carver or a tropical island setting in the sequel to Game of the Year, Far Cry. After all, their argument has some sense in it: Far Cry 2 needed to be a successor to Far Cry in some degree, or else it wasn't Far Cry at all. Art director Alex Amancio of Ubisoft Montreal stood up to give their stand on why they deviated from the things that made Far Cry memorable, and you can find that out at the full story.

Pivotal Games and Eidos Interactive are confident that their February 2008 release Conflict: Denied Ops (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC) will carry explosive action and good graphics. Now they want to make sure that the musical score is just as intense. They've decided to get Richard Jacques for the job to do just that. Find out why in the full article.

In a game where breathtaking visuals are mixed in with totally destructible surroundings, it's really interesting when the developers talk about the painstaking details on how they were able to build up the very malleable in-game environments for Conflict: Denied Ops (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3).

Watch the video of the developers diary in the full article!

It's better late than never; while European gamers have always been a little behind on software title releases for the different consoles, the recent team up of Namco Bandai Games America, Inc. and Deep Silver shows that gamers on the other side of the world will never be left out no matter what.

For more information, check out the full article after the jump!

Ubisoft officially announced the successor to the original FarCry on PC, Far Cry 2, just a little earlier today after a surprising appearance of the game's teaser web site was whispered in the PC gaming community's hot topics of the day. Earlier at the E3 Media & Business Summit, leakage of various assets from Ubisoft Montreal clued Far Cry 2 into the studio's projects, which probably spun the Far Cry 2 rumor mill faster among avid PC gamers.

John Parkes, EMEA marketing director of Ubisoft, reciprocated the fanbase's excitement, stating, "Far Cry marked the beginning of a new era for shooters. An era of gorgeous graphics and of advanced artificial intelligence. We are confident that Far Cry 2 will have the same impact again on the FPS genre landscape."

To be developed by Ubisoft Montreal, the publisher's largest development studio and responsible for Assassin's Creed (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), Far Cry 2 is being hailed as another highly anticipated game on the PC platform. But other than a tentative Spring 2008 release date, any other details on the game was scarce.

According to moderator kimi_ of the Ubisoft forums, questions not already covered by the announcement cannot be answered at present. Word has spread quickly, however, that the game may take place in Africa when images of what appears to be a baobab tree, sparse, dry grass, and a searing sunset lead speculators to believe that the new story may not take place in tropical Madagascar - the island the predecessor's story was set in.

And while Electronic Arts has Crytek under its protective wing, the question of whether Ubisoft will use the original CryEngine - technology that the publisher may continue using after Crytek sold all rights to Far Cry - or license the use of CryEngine 2 has yet to be addressed. But if an early tech demo of the game is any indication, it appears Ubisoft already has an answer to that. More on Far Cry 2 as we get them.

 

Games Factory Interactive (GFI) Ltd has just announced that the 2007 Games Convention in Leipzig will become its new playground for revealing games they've got ready for distribution. The Russia-based independent game developer will be at the main exhibitions floor, Hall 1 of the Business Center, to demonstrate their key game products.

According to the official announcement, GFI will highlight four major games, which are JAZZ: Hired Guns, Jagged Farm: Birth of a Hero, Warfare, and Gluk'Oza: Action!. The first three are real-time strategy games set everywhere from Saudi Arabia to Africa, while the last remains a top-down action shooter published by Monolith, starring an eccentric young girl as the protagonist.

GFI will also reveal a few games already released locally in Russia, which include Vendetta. Kill Boss, Vendetta. Casual Weekend, Neuro, Rat Hunter, Homeplanet Gold, Alfa: Antiterror Gold, COPS 2170, StarCalibur and Imones. Digger at meeting room E58 of the Leipzig Business Center.

According to an industry analysis report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the video game industry will continue to be considered as an above-average growth segment of the global entertainment industries. Additionally, they have claimed that this year's investments made by the game industry is "set to exceed" the current spending for the music industry.

 
The global spending has jumped 14.3% to US$ 31.6 billion back in 2006, and PwC expects that the amount should climb another 18.5% to US$ 37.5 billion in 2007. The report also projects that the game industry will officially overtake the music industry by 2008 in the US, as data from key growth factors in the industry have been gaining performance this year.

Such factors include that of online and wireless games, next generation consoles and the advent of in-game advertising. Although much of the analysis took the US into question, PwC cut back on US-only expectations and spread its views over the global scape.

Click on Full Article to learn more of the gaming industry's performance as a whole and the best performing region for 2007.

According to an official announcement made by France-based Ubisoft, the video game publisher is planning to expand its employee base for its studio in Casablanca, Morocco. Spurred by a local government incentive program for high quality jobs in technology, the studio established back in 1998 will open up 150 seats for interested applicants.

 

The Moroccan studio has been active in delivering titles under Ubisoft's umbrella, featuring a portfolio of games such as Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie and Prince of Persia The Two Thrones. They were also responsible for bringing Rayman Raving Rabbids to the DS, together with Star Wars: Lethal Alliance.

And although mostly lacking in the manpower as opposed to Ubisoft's Montreal studios, the 50-man team is currently at work on Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 for the Nintendo DS. And while the studio is the only game developer studio in Morocco or in Northern Africa, the team is mostly staffed by local people - artists and engineers from the local populace.

Managing director of Ubisoft's Casablanca studio, Cyril Vermeil, stated that many of the young people in Morocco are passionate about games: "Our task will be to recruit people who want to grow with Ubisoft to become leading specialists in an industry offering an increasing number of career opportunities for local talent."

Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, said that the studio was established because Ubisoft knew local education system would provide talented people for game development. He concluded the announcement saying:

It is an honor to work with the Moroccan government to significantly expand our presence in the region. Both the video game industry and the Moroccan economy are strong and growing, and we look forward to pioneering the industry in this exciting region.

It's a good day for African wildlife, we're sure. The folks at Pocketwatch Games, the developers of the Wildlife Tycoon series, has pledged to donate 4% of their income from Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa to help protect animal habitats in Africa.

They're donating the money to the WILD Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting African animal habitats. Said Andy Schatz, CEO and Founder of Pocketwatch Games, of their donation,

When we released Venture Africa, we made a promise to our customers that we would help to protect the animals that inspired us. I know our donation to The WILD Foundation is working directly to protect the precious animal habitats in Africa.

Pocketwatch Games specializes in making Interactive Nature Documentaries. Players use the games to explore specific biomes around the world, allowing them to create and manipulate animals whilst facing environmental challenges such as global warming.