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Modern Warfare 2 Breaks Record for Biggest Launch in Entertainment History

Surprising absolutely no one on the entire planet -- since damn near all of humanity was counting down the milliseconds until the game was clasped between their grubby mitts – Modern Warfare 2 now officially holds the record for biggest launch in entertainment history. We’re not just talking games, either. Books, movies, and music – none of them stood a chance against Activision’s not-so-secret weapon.  

Last year, Grand Theft Auto IV stole the show, moving 3.6 million units and raking in $310 million – all after a mere 24 hours. Modern Warfare 2 also lured $310 million from the safety of gamers’ wallets, but sold 4.7 million units. On top of that, Modern Warfare 2’s day-one sales came only from the US, Canada, and UK. GTA IV’s numbers, meanwhile, stem from a worldwide launch. Thus, all things considered, it’s a photo finish, with Modern Warfare 2 sporting slightly longer legs.

So, on a completely unrelated topic, what’s everyone playing this weekend?

Blizzard Presentation Says Diablo III’s Not Coming in 2010

The elevator up from hell sure is taking its time. We imagine that Mass Effect’s Shepard -- even with his eternal patience for cramped spaces, boring music, and upward mobility -- would be cursing up a storm by now if he were aboard that infernal machine. So just imagine how poor old Diablo must feel – especially now that the not-so-loveable lug may have a “few years” left before he finally surfaces.

A recent Blizzard presentation listed Diablo III as arriving in the “next few years,” along with StarCraft II’s expansions and Blizzard’s next massively multiplayer cash cow. In store for “next year,” meanwhile, are StarCraft II and WoW: Cataclysm. The bottom line? No loot-grabbing and Satan-stabbing until – at the earliest – 2011. Unless, of course, Diablo III goes into full-on beta mode next year, but we’re not getting our hopes up.

Honestly Diablo, at this point, we’re thinking you should’ve taken the stairs.

Flash Flaw Could be Major Risk for User-Generated Content Sites

Security research firm Foregorund has made known today that there is yet another serious flaw in Abobe’s Flash plugin. The problem could potentially affect many of the sites we use every day. Researcher Mike Murray said, “Any site that allows user-uploadable content is vulnerable, and most are not configured to prevent this."

The problem stems from the Flash ActionScript same-origin policy. This system is supposed to limit a Flash object’s access to content from its original domain. But if an attacker is able to insert malicious code into a Flash object, it can execute that code when run.  Anyone viewing the malicious Flash object is vulnerable to attack.

Adobe and the researchers agree that the flaw is not easily corrected with a patch to Flash. "We see this as a generic problem that affects any site that allows active scripting, not just Flash, but things like JavaScript and Silverlight as well,” said Adobe’s Brad Arkin. Foreground has yet to see any examples of the attack in the wild, but they believe it could happen at any time. The only way to be completely safe from this attack is to stop using Flash or at least running the No Script add-on for Firefox.

Office 2010 Beta Already Leaked

Is a week just too long to wait to get your hands on the beta of Office 2010? If so, you can head on over to you friendly neighborhood torrent site and grab the code. While we don’t necessarily recommend doing this, you certainly could. Microsoft is neither confirming nor denying anything saying, “We have not officially released the beta code of Office (2010)… We recommend that people do not download code from unauthorized sources."

Microsoft is expected to officially release the Office 2010 beta at the Professional Developer Conference next week. A tech preview was released in July, but was still lacking some features and polish. The Redmond software giant is also making a bit of a departure by offering browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. So, interested?

Twitter's Runaway Popularity Halts in US

It’s been nearly a year since Twitter exploded into the mainstream. Instead of seeing the year go out with a bang, Twitter may be headed for disappointment. The number of unique domestic users visiting Twitter’s homepage declined for the first time in October, down 8%.

The new numbers from comScore put Twitter’s users at 19.2 million in October, which is, admittedly, nothing to sneeze at. Growth began to taper off over the summer, but people are taking notice of this decline. Twitter CEO Evan Williams has acknowledged the drop off, but hopes new features, including lists and retweets, will reverse the trend. While the numbers don’t include access via Twitter’s API, it is still a troubling situation for the microblogging site.

Rival Facebook’s growth seems to be continuing unabated. If this is the beginning of a trend for Twitter, things could be bleak. Without their massive growth, are they even a viable company?