E3 09: StarCraft II in 2009 and more from Activision Blizzard @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on June 01, 2009

News: Blizzard president Michael Morhaime confirms the game's release date.

Activision Blizzard has decided to kick off the E3 festivities a bit early with a conference call Sunday night. GameSpot covered the call, which included Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, Activision Publishing's president Mike Griffith and Blizzard's president Mike Morhaime, in a live blog. Some highlights include:

Kotick said Activision will increase the number of games they release in 2010 and they will support those games with more extensive downloadable content.

The company comfirmed several 2010 releases including a game based on the movie Shrek Goes Fourth, James Bond 2010 (the previously announced driving game that Bizarre Creations is working on), Tony Hawk 2010, Spider-Man 2010, and Transformers 2010

Other plans for 2010 include "new approaches to other proven properties" and an action game featuring a brand new franchise.

Of the company's famed Call of Duty franchise, Griffith said "[T]here's tremendous potential to take Call of Duty to new theaters, new settings and even related genres."

Guitar Hero PSP, "with a drum component", was announced. No other details about the game were given.

Finally, Morhaime said that the highly anticipated StarCraft II is on schedule to be released by the end of the year. But if the game is not ready, it will be delayed as Blizzard doesn't release anything before they feel it's done. A beta test is scheduled for this Summer.

We'll have more soon.