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ACTIVISION ANNOUNCES THE NEXT GENERATION OF CALL OF DUTY WITH CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS

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Call of Duty: Ghosts will set a new Benchmark for the Next Generation

All-New World, Story, Characters and Experience, All Powered by New, Next Gen Call of Duty Engine from the Developer that started it all, Infinity Ward

For an Exclusive First Look at the Game, Tune in to Xbox: The New Generation Revealed, May 21 at 10AM PDT on Xbox.com, Xbox Live or SPIKE TV

Groundbreaking Title Lands on November 5

Santa Monica, CA May 1, 2013 Prepare for the next generation of Call of Duty. The franchise that has defined a generation of gaming is set to raise the bar once again with the all-new Call of Duty: Ghosts. Published by Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), and developed by Infinity Ward, the studio that created the original Call of Duty and the seminal Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, Call of Duty: Ghosts ushers in the next generation of the franchise. The new title delivers a riveting all-new gameplay experience built on an entirely new story, setting and cast of characters, all powered by a new, next generation Call of Duty engine that redefines the series for the next generation.

Infinity Ward set the gold standard for first-person action for a generation, and theyre going to do it again with Call of Duty: Ghosts, said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, Inc. Ghosts delivers an all-new story, all-new characters, an all-new Call of Duty world, all powered by a next generation Call of Duty engine, which is a leap forward for the franchise. Infinity Ward is going all-in to create the next generation of Call of Duty worthy of the worlds greatest fans.

Everyone was expecting us to make Modern Warfare 4, which would have been the safe thing to do. But were not resting on our laurels, said Mark Rubin, executive producer of developer Infinity Ward. We saw the console transition as the perfect opportunity to start a new chapter for Call of Duty. So were building a new sub-brand, a new engine, and a lot of new ideas and experiences for our players. We cant wait to share them with our community.

To see an exclusive first look at Call of Duty: Ghosts tune in to Xbox: the Next Generation Revealed on May 21 at 10AM PDT on Xbox.com, Xbox LIVE or SPIKE TV for the debut of the all-new game from Infinity Ward.

We are consistently thrilled with the overwhelming response received from critics and consumers alike to the Call of Duty series, which has firmly established its home on the Xbox 360 with the games largest and most engaged community, said Don Mattrick, president of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft. With Call of Duty: Ghosts, we have no doubt that our longtime partners, Activision and Infinity Ward, will raise the bar higher than ever before for this incredible franchise.

Starting today, fans can begin pre-ordering their copy of Call of Duty: Ghosts at retail outlets worldwide.

Theres no other video game property like Call of Duty. Its the biggest game franchise on the planet that has had some of the biggest game entertainment launches in history, said Tony Bartel, president of GameStop. We are very excited for the launch of Call of Duty: Ghosts, as we transition to next generation consoles.

Call of Duty: Ghosts will release on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and PC on November 5. Call of Duty: Ghosts will also be available for next generation platforms. For the latest intel, check out: , , or follow on Twitter @InfinityWard. Call of Duty: Ghosts is not yet rated.

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Now, you can add to the list. GamePop is an Android-based console from , a company best known for software that lets you run Android apps on Windows and Mac. It will ship with a controller, and it will also allow users to control games from their smartphones by tilt and touch.

But instead of charging up-front for the hardware, Bluestacks is giving GamePop away to those who pre-order in May.

Well, sort of. Bluestacks goal with GamePop is to be the Netflix of gaming, and as such, it will charge $6.99 per month for unlimited access to its catalog. To get the free console, you must pre-order this month and commit to a year of service. Factor in $10 shipping, and youre paying $93 up-front.

Bluestacks is staying quiet on other key details, including tech specs, the design of the controller and the actual release date. The company also wont say how much GamePop will cost after the May pre-order period. (A spokesman merely said the console and controller are a $100 value.)

As for games, Bluestacks isnt talking specific titles, but the company says it will have 500 games to start, and is touting support from some big names in mobile gaming, including Halfbrick (makers of Jetpack Joyride) and Glu (makers of Gun Bros). To lure game makers, Bluestacks promises to handle all the engineering work to get games running on televisions. Developers will get 50% of GamePops subscription revenue, divvied up by play time, and theyll get the entirety of any earnings from in-app purchases (more on that shortly).

Ive got some doubts about GamePops approach. Personally, Id want to see actual hardware, a games list and some sense of real-world performance before committing to $84 worth of subscription costs. While Ouya managed to attract interest without demoing an actual product, at leastknew theywouldntbe on the hook for ongoing service costs just to keep playing.

In-app purchases are another concern. If too many of GamePops titles attempt to nickle-and-dime players, that $7 per month charge could start to seem like an unnecessary fee.

Also, the Netflix of gaming concept isnt new, and its never really taken off. Services likeand havent reached Netflix-like levels of popularity, and I still remember , thecolossalfailure from the mid-1990s.

s Playstation Plus service could be proof of a successful subscription gaming model (the company says its of its subscription numbers, but wont reveal them), but Plus is a supplement, not a requirement to keep using the hardware. Besides, Plus has ; you can compare the available games with their standalone pricing, and see how Plus comes out way ahead over time.

In fairness, GamePop is promising a $250 value from its game selection, andBluestacks own surveys found that people greatly prefer an all-you-can eat model. I just wonder if people will see that kind of value in mobile-style games, when so many of them are free-to-play on other platforms.

Whether its a hit or not, GamePop is more evidence of how much interest there is in shaking up the established game console business. Sooner or later, one or more of these efforts will pose a serious threat to more expensive consoles from Sony,and Nintendo.

The promo video for GamePop is below:

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According to the Bureau's review of the November election, 66.2 percent of registered black voters went to the polls, compared to 64.1 percent of white voters — and only 61.8 percent of voters overall. The election marks the first time that turnout in the African-American community has been higher than in other ethnic groups.

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Black turnout was highest in Wisconsin, Mississippi, and North Carolina. The lowest percentages — of eligible black voters, not of voters overall — were in Arizona, Washington, and Arkansas. (Many states have African-American populations too small for the Census Bureau to track; those states are in white in the interactive map below. Otherwise, the darker the color of the state in the map, the higher the turnout.)

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Looking at a map of the results in 2012, it's hard to see a strong correlation between that turnout and electoral results. Here's how each state voted, using the traditional red/Republican, blue/Democrat format.

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The effect comes into sharper relief when you look at the margin of black turnout — in other words, how much black voters turned out compared to voters on the whole. That gives us this map, wherein darker shaded states indicate higher turnout compared to the voting population, and lighter shades indicate lower margins.

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Swing states — Ohio, North Carolina, Indiana, Wisconsin — had black turnout that was higher than the rest of the population, perhaps in part due to turnout efforts in those states.

With the Supreme Court currently reviewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act, mandating, among other things, that certain states subject new voting plans to the Department of Justice before implementation, it's worth seeing how turnout did in those states. Below are the states that have some form of mandated review, or preclearance.

As may be clear from the maps above, those states didn't see lower-than-average black turnout. In fact, averaging both turnout and deviance from the norm in those Voting Rights Act (VRA) states, we see that they outperformed non-VRA ones.

This data carries a heavy caveat, of course. The 2012 election featured the nation's first African-American president facing off against a not-terribly-popular white Republican. And Voting Rights Act states are commonly ones in which there's a higher percentage of African-Americans; racism against that community is why Congress stepped in to create the VRA in the first place.

The true test will likely come in 2016, when Obama is not on the ticket. It's very likely that black turnout is no longer the highest during that election. And there's a small chance that .

The manager of a movie theater in Jefferson City, Mo., is defending himself after a publicity stunt resulted in a police response last weekend.

that management of Goodrich Capital 8 Theaters hired an actor to dress in full tactical gear (complete with a fake gun) and walk into the movie theater during the opening weekend of "Iron Man 3."

Several moviegoers called police, who responded anticipating an active shooter situation.

"We received a series of 911 calls stating that a man dressed in all black and body armor and a rifle was walking into Capital 8 Theaters," Capt. Doug Shoemaker told KMIZ.

Capt. Shoemaker told , "Everything was in place, its the opening night of a superhero movie, its somebody walking in all-dark clothes, everything pointed to bad things about to happen. Theres really no good that can come of this."

Last summer,were shot and killed during a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

The theater's management is defending the stunt saying its job is to entertain the guests. Capital 8 Theaters manager Bob Wilkins told KMIZ that the stunt resulted in only a few complaints.

Via KMIZ:

When asked if management took into consideration what happened in the the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater, Wilkins responded, "Absolutely. That's my number-one priority every day. It's the safety and security of our guests."

ABC 17 News asked Wilkins if he had any regrets for allowing the publicity stunt and he said, "No, my job is to entertain people."

John Morlock, an army veteran who suffers from post traumatic stress, saw the stunt play out.

"We had just finished watching 'Iron Man 3,'" Morlock told KMIZ. "We're just getting into the car when I spotted a man in full assault gear, carrying what appeared to be a modified M-4 and 9 mm on his side."

New South Wales state police said in a statement the search using aircraft and ships was called off late Friday after failing to find any sign of the couple.

Paul Rossington, a 30-year-old paramedic, and his 26-year-old girlfriend Kristen Schroder were discovered missing Thursday morning after the Carnival Spirit docked at Sydney's Circular Quay at the end of a 10-day South Pacific cruise. The search began within hours. Police call off search for 2 cruise passengers lost overboard off Australian east coast.

Obama made the remarks during an address to the National Academy of Sciences that marked the organization's 150th anniversary. In the speech, Obama expressed his support for the sciences as a fundamental part of American life in today's world.

"Today, all around the country, scientists like you are developing therapies to regenerate damaged organs, creating new devices to enable brain controlled prosthetic limbs, and sending sophisticated robots into space to search for ," Obama said during his address. "That sense of wonder and that sense of discovery, it has practical applications but it also nurtures what I believe is best in us."

, something that the sciences are somewhat short on according to Obama.

"What we produce here ends up having benefits worldwide," Obama said. "We should be reaching for a level of private and public research and development investment that we haven't seen since the height of the space race. That's my goal."

At the moment, however, the sequester sweeping budget cuts that are expected to hamper scientific research could make those goals harder to achieve, Obama said.

"It's hitting our scientific research," Obama said. "Instead of racing ahead our scientists are left wondering if they'll be able to start any new research projects at all, which means we could lose a year, two years, of scientific research."

Many planetary scientists have already come out against . The new document cuts funding from the space agency by $50 million but advocates say that the new budget, if approved by Congress, represents a $268 million cut from planetary sciences funding.

Hope for the sciences is not lost, Obama added. The next generation of potential scientists gives him hope for the future of the country.

"We don't want our kids to just be consumers of the amazing things that science generates," Obama said. "We want them to be producers as well."

Follow Miriam Kramer onand . Follow us on , and . Original article on .

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) said on Friday that Palin, who turns 70 this month, would be presented with an Academy Fellowship at the organization's annual TV awards ceremony on May 12.

BAFTA Chairman John Willis said the award recognized the contribution Palin had made to the industry over five decades.

"(His) amiable onscreen manner belies the seriousness of his craft," Willis said in a statement.

Palin started out writing television series and wrote and starred in some of Monty Python's best-known sketches including "Dead Parrot" and "The Lumberjack Song".

He won a BAFTA best supporting actor award for the 1988 comedy film "A Fish Called Wanda".

But from the late 1980s he turned his attention to travel documentaries, appearing in "Around the World in 80 Days", "Pole to Pole", and, most recently, "Brazil with Michael Palin".

Palin said it was a "very high honor" for anyone working in television to be awarded a BAFTA Fellowship.

"I'm well aware that any success I've had is down to team work. I've been blessed throughout my career with the inspiration and support of others," he said.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Louise Ireland)

SINGAPORE/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia is expected within days to give a green light to its biggest foreign bank takeover, but sources say the deal conditions are likely to send a very different signal: foreign ownership and bank consolidation are now in the slow lane.

Indonesia's bank regulator is due this month to decide on Singapore bank DBS Group's $7.2 billion bid for local lender PT Bank Danamon, and sources close to the deal expect it will force DBS to complete the transaction in two steps over 18 months.

That would be in accordance with the central bank's "two-stage" guidance for bank takeovers that were issued around the same time as the DBS-Danamon deal was announced last year.

However, some foreign bidders have been hoping that the guidelines would not be enforced strictly and that exceptions would be made for deals like DBS-Danamon, which is billed as one that would help modernise and strengthen the sector.

Those hopes look set to be dashed, according to the sources and mergers-and-acquisitions lawyers following the case closely.

"The main issue for those foreign investors with strong track records looking to acquire controlling stakes in Indonesian banks is that the two-stage acquisition process seems to be illogical and unnecessary," Jake Robson, a Singapore-based partner at law firm Norton Rose.

"If this two-stage acquisition process is not waived by BI (Bank Indonesia) this will certainly be seen negatively by foreign investors and could, as a result in the short term, have the opposite effect to the stated objectives of the new regulations, including consolidation of the industry...."

Indonesia acknowledges that its over-crowded and stodgy banking industry needs consolidation and an infusion of expertise that experienced international lenders can bring. In return, foreign banks see a market with huge potential.

Only about 40 percent of Indonesia's 240 million people have bank accounts and most personal borrowing is done outside the banking sector. Yet the nation has more than 120 commercial lenders, most of them minnows unable to compete with the top 10 banks which control 80 percent of total bank assets.

For foreign banks, the takeover guidelines and Indonesia's desire to strengthen its banking system are incompatible.

"For the acquirer, there is an uncertainty of eventual majority control.... Hence before securing control, the incentive to transform (the local lender) would be somewhat diluted," said Christopher Wong, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia, which owns DBS shares.

Under the guidelines, bidders cannot take control of a lender in one go. They can first take a 40 percent stake but must then undergo three financial-soundness tests, one every six months, before moving to majority ownership.

The guidelines are meant to apply to all takeovers - whether by a foreign or local bidder - but advisers expect it to be policed more strictly in the case of foreign banks, which already control six of the top 15 local banks, according to central bank data.

Indonesia's comparative credit-to-GDP ratio:

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GO-SLOW SIGN

"This ruling on ownership cap is basically directed at foreign banks. I've been told by the central bankers but they can't say that publicly in order to avoid problems with other countries," said the chief executive of one Indonesian bank, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Local banks, especially the major banks, will be the ones who benefit from this regulation as they can buy the smaller banks easily and cheaply."

He said Indonesia was also likely to increase capital requirements for banks, pushing smaller banks into the arms of larger ones.

Bank Indonesia, however, said the takeover guidelines applied evenly to both local and foreign banks, though it acknowledged that there was some confusion surrounding them.

"There is some confusion. This regulation is valid for everyone, not only foreigners," said Halim Alamsjah, a deputy central bank governor whose remit includes banking.

It is unclear whether DBS, which is buying the Danamon stake from Singapore's state investment arm Temasek, would go ahead with the takeover if forced to abide by the new guidelines.

At the Singapore bank's earnings briefing last week, DBS Chief Executive Piyush Gupta said he would await Bank Indonesia's announcement before deciding the fate of the deal.

"I have no update on Danamon. Our application is still with BI and we are awaiting BI's review and decision-making."

However, when asked about the merits of taking minority stakes in another developing market, Vietnam, Gupta replied:

"We are very reluctant to do minority positions. For us minority positions tend to be private-equity type of transactions and we rather do control transactions where we can really influence. We like being operating managers."

Under Indonesia's two-step guidelines, there is no guarantees an acquirer - especially a foreign one - will be allowed to take the second step to control.

However, some foreign bidders appear ready to take the risk that they won't get past first base.

Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is in advanced talks to buy a $1.3 billion stake in Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional Tbk Pt (BTPN) , an Indonesian lender backed by TPG Capital, people familiar with the matter say.

And several foreign banks have been sitting on minority stakes for some time, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group's39 percent stake in Bank Paninand Standard Chartered's38 percent stake in Bank Permata .

'ALL THE BIG BOYS ARE HERE'

Most if not all of them, though, would be eager to move to control. In the case of DBS, which has a small wholly owned local unit, PT Bank DBS Indonesia, it would also like to combine Danamon and DBS Indonesia to create the country's fifth-largest lender.

At least three banking deals worth $3.2 billion are being held back due to the regulatory uncertainty, including U.S. private equity firm TPG Capital's planned sale to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui of a 58.5 percent stake in BTPN and Rabobank's exit from Indonesia, bankers said.

"All the big boys are here," said Cliff Rees, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Jakarta.

However, he added, Indonesia needed to continue to encourage foreign capital. If it forced DBS and other foreign acquirers into a slow two-step, it would fail to achieve its stated target of more than halving the number of banks over the next decade.

"Their vision was to have 40-50 banks. That is not going to happen over the next 10 years."

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Denny Thomas and Mark Bendeich)

Hamlin was scheduled to get back in the race car for the first time since suffering a compression fracture of a vertebra in his lower back in a last-lap crash at California on March 24. He has missed four races.

"We're going to practice as little as we can," crew chief Darian Grubb said. "We'll see how he feels, and give NASCAR a chance to make sure he's not erratic and not dizzy in the car. I'm sure NASCAR is also going to want to do an ingress and egress test and see him get in and out of the car with his helmet on. But we're really just going to let him get in the car to shake it down and see how he feels."

Grubb then wants Brian Vickers to do one short run to check the mirrors and get some seat time in the No. 11 Toyota.

The team won't know until Sunday how long Hamlin will be in the car. He could run the entire race, or he could start and get out at some point and turn the car over to Vickers, who filled in for him at Texas, Kansas and Richmond. Mark Martin drove for Hamlin at Martinsville.

Teams typically don't run many laps in practice at Talladega, where track time is generally used for systems checks before qualifying. But NASCAR is requiring Hamlin turn some laps in order to be eligible to race on Sunday.

With a threat of rain looming Friday, Grubb said his crew did have one eye on the weather radar.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It might be the last Celtics stand for the tandem of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett but they showed their class and determination as Boston humbled the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Age, a lack of depth on the roster and the strains of the National Basketball Association salary cap have put the Boston future of Garnett and Pierce in doubt but the gritty veterans refuse to go out quietly this postseason.

Teetering on the brink of elimination down 3-0 in their best-of-seven series, the Celtics won an overtime thriller in Boston to stay alive and followed with a 92-86 win on Wednesday to send the series back to Boston for Game Six on Friday.

The 36-year-old Garnett, in his 18th season after entering the NBA out of high school, scored 16 points and hauled down 18 rebounds in nearly 39 minutes on the floor.

Pierce, 35, who has played all 15 years of his NBA career in Boston, matched his running mate with 16 points and logged more than 44 minutes on court as the Celtics outbattled the Knicks using just seven players.

"Every game since we've been down 3-0 has been Game Seven for us," said Boston coach Doc Rivers, whose team fell behind 11-0 before clawing back for another do-or-die win.

Pierce said the fighting spirit comes from the top down.

"When it was 3-0, we could have packed it in, but this team has the will," said Pierce. "That comes from our coach, it comes from our leaders, myself and Kevin to keep going."

Another defeat in this series could also mark the last game for the Boston partnership of Pierce and Garnett.

Pierce is scheduled to make $15.3 million in the final year of a four-year, $61.3 million extension. With only $5 million of that guaranteed, the Celtics could pay it off if they choose to begin rebuilding in earnest.

The 6-foot-11 Garnett, who has two years remaining on a three-year, $34 million deal, has said that if Pierce leaves Boston he could consider retirement.

BIG THREE

Before the Miami Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh took the NBA by storm, there was the Celtics Big Three formed in 2007 when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were acquired in trades by Boston to join Paul Pierce.

That 2007-08 season, the trio quickly jelled for a 66-16 campaign and the NBA title, the record 17th in the history of the illustrious franchise but first in 22 years.

Two years later they got to the finals, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, and last year they extended the Heat to seven games in the conference finals before losing to the eventual NBA champions.

The off-season saw the first crack in their championship foundation when sharp-shooting Allen left the Celtics to sign with Miami, while this year's hopes took a plunge with point guard Rajon Rondo suffering a torn knee ligament.

But the stout efforts of Boston's one-two punch of Pierce and Garnett have kept this series from being a sweep.

Garnett, who has been battling hip, ankle and foot pain, had been showing signs of age before coming up big in the last two games.

"Father Time is undefeated, and there's nothing you can do about it," former NBA player and television commentator Charles Barkley said about the aging of Garnett.

Pierce and Rivers made a point of saluting Garnett, who requires a long pre-game routine to stretch and prepare to play the game.

"That's what Kevin does," Pierce said.

"He's a legend in this game. He's one of the greatest players that ever played the game. You're seeing one of the great ones get challenged and what they're able to do.

"Kevin has inspired me every day I get a chance to play with him, practice with him, see his preparation. That's the inspiring part. He's been that way since we were able to obtain him and it's non-stop with him."

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)