Activision Blizzard, the gaming industry’s largest publisher, has 
hired a high profile advertising and marketing veteran as CEO of its Activision Publishing arm.
Eric Hirshberg, who had served as CEO and chief creative officer of advertising and marketing agency Deutsch/LA, will join the company effective Sept. 7. He assumes the position from Mike Griffith, who was promoted to vice chairman of Activision Blizzard earlier this year.
Google, which has been a looming threat in the gaming world, 
appears to be edging closer to becoming a major player in online games.
The search giant has invested at least $100 million in social gaming company Zynga, the developer of some of the biggest games on Facebook, including “FarmVille” and “Mafia Wars,” to help launch Google Games, which is expected later this year.
Firaxis Studios, the home of video game legend Sid Meier and the developer of the forthcoming title “Civilization V,” is the latest game maker to face significant staff cuts.
The studio on Wednesday laid off 20 developers as part of what parent company Take Two Interactive Software calls a “realignment of development resources at the studio.”
Five years ago, videogame publishers 
decided they were spending entirely too much time and money on their annual trade shows and dramatically scaled back the events — with fewer attendees and none of the largess for which the shows had become legendary.
But as it turns out, largess is a key component for an industry that thrives on energy and adrenaline. So this year, the circus was back in town.
While some videogame publishers are shying 
away from licensing deals, THQ is stepping up. The company has signed a multiyear deal with DreamWorks Animation to make games based on upcoming films.
The first title, based upon the upcoming “Megamind,” is due this November.
Avi Arad wants to bring Pac-Man back 
to television — and he wants to do it in 3D.
Arad, former CEO of Marvel Studios and now executive adviser for Namco Bandai, showed a three-minute teaser of his vision for the new Pac-Man at an E3 event celebrating the pellet chomper’s 30th birthday.
While there has been a lot of talk about the 
future of 3D in gaming, Nintendo on Tuesday made the clearest statement yet that the technology is about to become a major factor.
The company officially unveiled its Nintendo 3DS handheld system, managing to live up to the high expectations surrounding the device. As promised, the 3DS offers true stereoscopic 3D on a 3.5 screen without the need for any special glasses.
If you thought Microsoft’s multi-million dollar 
Cirque du Soleil backed introduction of Kinect, its gesture-recognition controller, was extravagant, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Activision, publisher of such games as “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” “Guitar Hero” and “World of Warcraft” reached into its coffers and pulled out what might have been the most extravagant party in the video game convention’s history.
Sony will jump into the motion sensing 
game this September.
The company announced Tuesday at its E3 press conference that the PlayStation Move peripheral, in essence an enhanced version of the Nintendo Wii controller, will go on sale in North America Sept. 19.
Richard Branson has a history of turning 
industries on their ear. And now he has his eyes set on the video game world.
The billionaire entrepreneur’s re-entry into the gaming world with Virgin Gaming Tuesday caught a number of people by surprise. While it was hardly shocking that he’d want a piece of the $10.5 billion dollar industry, most expected Virgin would approach it from the publishing route.
Chris Morris: Journalist 