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Former Activision PR Manager Stole $29K From Black Ops Budget

Those PR peeps can be a shifty bunch, you know.

According to a Daily Mail report , a former PR senior manager at Activision UK has been convicted of stealing £18,963 (approximately $29,000) from the company.

Kathryn Kirton took the money and spent it on numerous shopping sprees, a luxury hotel break and a bachelorette party. Evidently, she took the money from the budget for 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops launch event in London, which took place in Battersea power station. She was assisted by PR consultant Jamie Kaye, who also admitted to taking £5,000, which was subsequently spent on six iPads and a £3,500 vacation to Florida. Hope he had fun.

Kirton's defense was that she was "entranced by the glamorous and luxurious world of public relations." Unsurprisingly, Blackfriars Crown Court didn't buy the excuse. The judge showed some leniency because Kirton has a young son, so he didn't send her immediately to jail; the sentence was 18 months with a suspended sentence of 2 years. Kaye got a 9-month sentence suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to perform 80 hours of unpaid work. That isn't too bad, really.

The judge had this to say:

"You were in a position of considerable responsibility. You bought a large quantity of designer clothing. You spent time in luxury accommodation and you funded your engagement party through dishonest means. There was repeat dishonesty over a period of months. There is no doubt your wickedness deserves a severe sentence. In the world of PR you are surrounded by luxury items. That is reality for people working in that industry."

PR isn't that glamorous. Geez.

Google’s Most Searched Gaming Term In 2011 Is “Black Ops”

If you're sick of Call of Duty dominating the world, look the other way.

According to Google's 11th annual Zeitgeist list and as found by GameZone , the most searched term on Google in the US this year was – wait for it – "Black Ops."

Perhaps surprisingly, Mortal Kombat fell into the #5 slot (the legend continues, obviously), and the long-awaited Diablo 3 came in at #9. Here's the list:

Yeah, as you can see, "Call of Duty" is the runner-up. So next year, you can pretty much bet on "Modern Warfare 3" taking over the top spot, and CoD once again coming in second because apparently, nobody can think of anything else to search for. Aw, it's okay. Casual gaming has exploded and in truth, financially speaking, it's great for the industry.

Related Game(s): Call of Duty: Black Ops

Black Ops Rezurrection DLC Gets PS3, PC Release Date

Yes, Xbox 360 owners get the jump on Call of Duty DLC, so PlayStation 3 fans just have to be patient.

The latest piece of downloadable content for Black Ops will hit the PS3 and PC on September 22; "Rezurrection" is the fourth expansion pack for the record-breaking blockbuster and it boasts five new levels for Zombie mode along with an updated soundtrack and special "Moon" theme.

As usual, the retail cost will be $15. Of the five maps in the pack, the first four are remakes of environments you saw in Call of Duty: World at War and the fifth map – that Moon – is all new and yeah, it takes place in outer space. As for the familiar maps in question, they were included in the Hardened and Prestige version of Black Ops .

Now, some will complain about Activision milking this franchise through well-timed and costly DLC but hey, the fans don't see it that way. If you can't understand the fascination, perhaps it's best to seek out an avid CoD follower and fire off a few questions. That's the only fair thing to do.

Related Game(s): Call of Duty: Black Ops ,

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Hits $1 Billion

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 hit the insane billion-dollar mark and although some analysts were skeptical, Activision was always confident this year's Black Ops would also hit the lofty plateau.

And so it has. Activision has announced that Treyarch's popular shooter has dragged in $1 billion in revenue since the game hit store shelves on November 9. Only one other product in the entertainment world has managed to hit a billion dollars that quickly; James Cameron's blockbuster film, "Avatar." In the first 24 hours, 5.6 million gamers worldwide picked up the latest CoD entry, which translated to $360 million in sales. After the first five days, the number reached $650 million; all such early stats were actually better than MW2. And of course, as you might expect, people haven't bought the game to let it sit and gather dust: Activision claims that 600 million hours have been logged online thus far. The numbers are huge, as expected, and Activision will try to do it again at the end of 2011, when the newest Call of Duty will drop. Evidently, it's Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 3 , which has another legitimate shot at that billion bucks.

We've also heard about a few other CoD titles that may or may not be huge but at this rate, just about anything with "Call of Duty" in the title is bound to hit big.

Related Game(s): Call of Duty: Black Ops

Black Ops Sets Five-Day Worldwide Sell-Through Record

We knew the game had broken day-one sales records but how about the five-day record?

Today, Activision has announced that Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops has broken theatrical box office, book and video game sales records for the five-day worldwide sell-through in dollars. The new record is now $650 million, which does indeed outstrip last year's record-setter by Infinity Ward, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 , which raked in $550 million in the first five days. Black Ops has been warmly received by critics, despite the game suffering from a few technical issues at launch. Said Activision Blizzard CEO, Robert Kotick:

"Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for two consecutive years across all forms of entertainment. The title’s success illustrates the mass appeal of interactive entertainment as millions of consumers are choosing to play Call of Duty: Black Ops at unprecedented levels rather than engage in other forms of media. The number of people playing online and the number of hours they are playing demonstrates how online gaming has become a mainstream form of entertainment and certainly validates Activision Blizzard’s leadership role in online entertainment."

Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said the primary reason for the huge sales tally is simple: "Treyarch delivered a truly awesome game, and in the process have established themselves as one of the most talented developers in the world." There's little doubt that Black Ops will continue to be popular throughout the holiday season, and you can expect all the hoopla to start afresh about this time next year…when we wouldn't be surprised to see Modern Warfare 3 .

Related Game(s): Call of Duty: Black Ops

PSXE Poll Update: Not Everyone Likes Call Of Duty

All right, so I probably shouldn't have given you guys the option.

We maintain that Call of Duty: Black Ops is a great game (albeit a little lacking in the technical stability category), but the obvious entertainment factor hasn't seemed to sway the PSXE faithful. In our recent poll, despite the words of praise from critics, the majority of participators just replied, "Call of what now?" when asked what their reaction was to Treyarch's latest blockbuster. To be fair, the game seems to get run through the shredder in various forums and communities around the web and although we understand the backlash, we still say a lot of that criticism is unfair and biased. The game wasn't as polished as it should've been and the developer is already hard at work on a PS3 patch but for the most part, it's damn fun. I will say the story was better than I expected and the single-player campaign can be immensely fulfilling.

Next up, it seems we have a racing battle on our hands. Although Gran Turismo 5 is probably the favorite – especially amongst PS3 owners – there's no denying the appeal of Need for Speed , and the new Hot Pursuit game looks great . Besides, many gamers are more arcade-oriented and have no interest in simulators so in preparation for the next few weeks, we ask: which one you gonna get? Or do you just not care about the genre at all?  If so, that's fair…besides, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is almost here.  Can't wait for that one, right?

Related Game(s): Call of Duty: Black Ops