Wall Street capped a week of milestones today with a rally that pushed the major stock indexes to all-time highs for the second day in a row.

The Call of Duty series is set to come to the big screen, with a number of interconnected movie titles to create a cinematic universe

Activision Blizzard has agreed to buy Irish-based King Digital Entertainment for $5.9bn (€5.35bn), unifying console and PC games ‘Call of Duty’ and ‘World of Warcraft’ with the leading mobile game ‘Candy Crush Saga’.

Activision Blizzard is set to splash the cash and purchase Candy Crush developer King Digital Entertainment for $5.9 billion.

The former Central American dictator Manuel Noriega’s case against the makers of video game Call of Duty has come a cropper in a Californian court.

Revenues and profits at the main Irish arm of global games giant Activision Blizzard last year slumped as the firm downsized.

Redundancy costs at the main Irish arm of the global games giant Activision Blizzard, the firm behind World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, last year contributed to pretax profits decreasing by 6% to €3.45m.

Activision Blizzard and a group led by chief executive Bobby Kotick have agreed to buy out most of Vivendi’s stake in the biggest US video-game publisher for $8.17bn (€6.15bn), ending five years of control by the French media and telecommunications company.

Sony said its next-generation PlayStation will be available for Christmas, hoping its first video game console in seven years will give it a much-needed head start over the next version of Microsoft’s Xbox and help revive its stumbling electronics business.

Pre-tax profits at a Cork-based subsidiary of the global online games giant Blizzard Entertainment that recently announced the loss of 200 jobs at its Cork base increased by 30% to €3.5m in 2010.

Up to 200 jobs are to go at the American computer game firm, Blizzard Entertainment, in Cork city.

Third-level roles in boosting the digital games industry and a scorecard system for ministers will form part of the Government’s long-awaited action plan for jobs, which is unveiled today.

The gaming industry in Ireland is on the move thanks to new technology and a visionary action plan, writes Niall Kitson

THE main Irish arm of social network game developer giant Zynga recorded pre-tax profits of just under $1 million (€728,000) on revenues of $70 million in its first year of operation in Ireland.

PRE-TAX profits at the Irish unit of game giant GOA Games increased more than eight-fold in 2009 as revenues almost doubled.

IRELAND’S games industry has received a jobs boost with US- owned PopCap Games confirming that it intends to double the number it employs to 110 at its European headquarters in Dublin.

Sony today unveiled its highly anticipated “motion control” system as it takes aim at Nintendo’s dominance in the gaming sector.

The video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 set a new sales record in the first 24 hours, its maker said today.

US video games publisher Electronic Arts has launched a $2bn (€1.3bn) takeover bid for rival Take-Two Interactive Software, owner of the Grand Theft Auto game.

Two computer games giants today announced plans to merge to create the world’s largest computer games publisher.