Bond Girls. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’ve become a part of the cultural landscape. Whether it’s Dr. No’s Honey Rider, as portrayed by the legendary Ursula Andress, or the most recent Quantum of Solace Bond Girl, Strawberry Fields, as played ny Gemma Arterton, each one of these ladies has a unique piece of Bond history all her own. The next femme fatal to grace the Bond franchise will be none other than Grammy and BRIT award winning singer Joss Stone.
While Activision’s James Bond 007: Blood Stone isn’t slated for a silver screen release, the production quality behind it is arguably just as good, if not better. Penned by legendary screen writer Bruce Feirstein, the Bond title will not only feature Ms. Stone’s voice and digital likeness, but she’ll also be contributing original music for the game. The first track has already been titled, “I’ll Take It All,” and was written and performed by Stone and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. And as with all things Bond, Activision is serving up a healthy plate of land and sea action, utilizing Mr. Bond’s exclusive line of crime fighting gizmo’s and gadgets.
“James Bond 007: Blood Stone captures the cinematic intensity of a Bond film by immersing players in an intriguing conspiracy that will require them to think and act like James Bond,” said David Pokress, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing. “In addition, the game will feature a diverse array of multi-player modes and debut strategic objective-based gameplay that will allow Xbox 360, PS3™ and PC players to battle as teams of spies and mercenaries through authentic Bond locales.”
In addition to Ms. Stone’s voice and likeness, James Bond 007: Blood Stone will also include the same from Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench, cast members from the most recent Bond films. Players can do battle across a range of disciplines including cover-based firefights, hand to hand combat duels, and the gratuitous high speed driving challenges. And not just dedicated to Mr. Bond, players can take on the coveted role of double O agent, and engage in a 16 person multiplayer mode that focuses on teamwork, skill, and strategy.
More information about the upcoming Activision James Bond 007: Blood Stone can be found at www.007.com.
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Prior to being tapped for the Activision Publishing position, Hirshberg was Chief Executive Officer at 
We all knew that it was going to take a big leap of faith from a major studio to put the seal of approval on the whole shebang. And while it might not have been EA to come out and introduce free-to-play to North America, but a number of smaller firms took note, adopted the model, and started to watch a decent ROI roll in. Fast forward 18 months or so later, and suddenly, we’ve found our free-to-play flagship in Turbine. When Turbine decided to cut the flailing Dungeons and Dragons Online free from the subscription model, they had two choices, shut it all down, or…reinvent the game in a free-to-play/premium subscription hybrid model. We all know how that story went. Dungeons and Dragons Online has seen a massive resurgence, and lining the Turbine coffers nicely. So well, that the company decided to mimic the same model with their flagship property: Lord of the Rings Online (which goes f2p this coming fall).
While these numbers are nothing to sneeze at, they’re not outstanding in the field, as Zynga has received similar investments from SoftBank Capital (approx. $150 million) and Russian Digital Sky Technologies ($180 million), as well as investments from Tiger Global, Institutional Venture Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz. According to TechCrunch, the SoftBank investment was never confirmed by Zynga, and the Google investment was likely sandwiched in there.
“Social gaming is one of the biggest drivers of the explosive growth in social media – it’s fun, it’s engaging, and it’s shareable,” said Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO of MTV Networks. “Social Express brings us strong experience and know-how in this burgeoning space, which we’ll supercharge with the IP and scale of Nickelodeon and other MTV Networks brands to create great new social gaming experiences for our fans and cool tools for independent developers as well.”
In addition to these patents and owning Friendster, MOL is also a payment provider working close to home in South East Asia. The firm received a major shot in the arm yesterday when it was announced that they’d struck a deal with Facebook to aims to make it significantly easier for millions of users across Asia to purchase virtual goods in online games and applications on Facebook.
