Welcome back for another week of video game news, with Video Game Bits. This week may turn out to be another short week for us. Much of that is dependent on whether there is news to report or not. Of course, this week should be a big one for Canadian gamers, at least those with Playstation 2s, Playstation 3s or Xbox 360s. If you weren't already aware, Rock Band is supposed to finally be hitting Canadian shores this week (excluding the folks that already imported it from the States). Whether it releases tomorrow or Wednesday is really up to Electronic Arts' shipping schedules for specific retailer's.

Then again, if Future Shop or Best Buy Canada's (same company) websites are to be believed, the release has been pushed back yet another week, to December 28 ^th , for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions and until January 8 ^th for the Playstation 2 version. Not only that, but both sites are listing the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions' priced at $199.99 CAD – $20 more than the originally listed price and $30 more than the American price. Fortunately, those site are showing some discrepancies between some of the game's listings, which could mean that there was just some confusion in their systems as to the game's actual release date. While both sites are showing matching release dates for the Special Edition for each version, which includes the release of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions next Friday (makes no sense), they also both show an earlier release date for the game-only version, which is listed as releasing this Thursday for the Playstation 2, but this Saturday for the other two versions (again, makes no sense). Another discrepancy can be found in the sites' pricing for the Playstation 2 Special Edition, which is listed as $159.99 at FutureShop.ca, but $199.99 at BestBuy.ca.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens as the week progresses. If you really want the game, your best bet is probably going to be your phone. Give your local game retailer a call and ask them if they know when it is arriving. We certainly wish you luck in that endeavor. As for us, we're still trying to get EA to comment on the whole fiasco.

Activision #1 again

There must be quite the air of celebration going around the Activision offices and studios this week, as the publisher was recently announced as the number one U.S. console and handheld publisher for the first 11 months of 2007 – according to The NPD Group. This is the second time in the past three months that the company sent out a press release proclaiming the announcement for all to hear. Now, along with the success of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Activision is touting the success of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare , and rightly so, as the game has been rock ing the charts and is getting plenty of promotion just through word of mouth. Activision Chairman and CEO, Robert Kotick, expressed how pleased he was with the company's performance and outlook for the future saying, “ We are well positioned to continue our leadership position through the remainder of the year and are on track to delivering another record year of revenue growth and the most profitable year in our history”.