Every week we’re going to try and do a quick wrap-up of some news items that may have slipped through the cracks. The wrap-ups will be shorter versions of our articles, lumped together to give you an idea of things you may have missed.

Who ya gonna call? Not Activision
Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero 3, Tony Hawk 11?; these are some of the titles released last year by game publishing giant Activision. Having made a fortune off these franchises, which have consistently sold well in almost all forms throughout their lifetime, it’s no wonder that the company continues to push the levels of acceptable throughput. After all, they did promise to exploit their prime franchises. So when they began their merger with Sierra this year, the decision to separate wheat from chafe was not a hard one to make. Keep Spyro, Ice Age and Crash Bandicoot, and drop more niche titles like WET, Double Fine’s Brutal Legend and Ghostbusters.

If one of those things doesn’t seem to fit, you’re not alone in thinking that. Ghostbusters is a tried and true franchise that has garnered a lot of money during its lifetime. From the massive amount of product sold during its initial release, all the way up to Special Edition Premium Deluxe DVD Superbit, people know who to call. Activision has not been shy to produce games tying into movies, like Spiderman 3, although the release of these films and games coincided within at least a decade or two. The game will still be published, so speaks the developer, so there is hope. It is likely that all these stranded games will be picked up eventually, there will be notable delays until then, and it is a bit odd that a company that has as much faith in strong franchises would pass up a very close to finishing game that already has garnered a lot of positive press.

Traveller’s tell of more LEGO
When the topic of childhood nostalgia is breached in most circles, the comparing of LEGO collections (or Duplo if you were that guy) seems to come up more often than not. So when developer Traveller’s Tales first brought LEGO Star Wars onto the gaming scene, combining the love for playing with bricks and the love for destroying them, the game did fairly well. Well enough that they completed the Trilogy, and from there were able to acquire other licenses like Indiana Jones and the upcoming LEGO Batman. Of course, our hunger never satisfied, the developer has announced that they are not finished with LEGO.

How about a LEGO TV show? It’s likely. They have the technology, so says president Jon Burton. Alongside that expansion idea, more LEGO games are on the way. Even a film. The company has a deal with Warner to continue to use their IP (i.e. Batman) so more franchises are on the way. To be honest, this discussion has come up on a number of occasions, and the general consensus is that just about everything is better done up with LEGO. Pipe dream as it may be, could LEGO Gears of War be in our future? New Line Cinema does own the rights to the film, which is a subsidiary of Time Warner, so our hopes remain high.

Herding Cats: Convention peak season well underway
Having already gone over the results of E³ and an overview of the whole event, it still doesn’t scratch the surface of the summer’s major gaming trade shows and conventions that are gathering people around the world to play and be teased by the latest and greatest (and Littlest) games around. Having not been a week off of E³, many of the gaming press were thrust into San Diego to attend the Comic Convention, where games continue to have a growing presence. It was there were Ghostbusters was shown in more detail, and where fans first got an opportunity to try out LittleBigPlanet. Alongside a few announcements, such as a game based on the Watchmen, it was mostly a rehash of what was seen in LA and a bit of a nod to the fans who are anxiously awaiting their favourite game’s release.

Now, Liepzig’s 2008 Games Convention is around the corner, with all the glitz and insanity of the E³ of old as only the Germans can deliver it. With concerts, rides, loud and vibrant displays, the set-up is all ready for a confusing and Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), which has grown from just a few humble comics fans, to one of the largest outings in gaming. With mostly all companies having some sort of attendance here, live music, this event is more about the companies throwing bread to the fans and allowing gamers to connect on a level that is more personal than screaming over Xbox Live, or late-night Linkin Park karaoke sessions on Team Fortress 2. This event takes place less than a week following Games Convention, starting the 29th of August until the 31st. While don’t expect much in the way of news, even less so than the week previous, you’ll run the gamut of gamings elite publishers and developers showing off their latest wares, so it’s a good time to catch up on what you may be missing so far.

Anyone with the time, the money, or the location to get to one of these should certainly take some time to soak in the spectacle.

We’ll see you at Game Expo 2008 this August 22nd-24th.