Call of Duty: Black Ops showed the world its multiplayer features last week, but in addition to the content, there’s some star power as well. Two A-list Hollywood actors have signed on to lend their voices to the game.

Gary Oldman in "Air Force One"

Gary Oldman portrayed Viktor Reznov in Call of Duty: World at War, and he’ll be reprising that role for Black Ops — which I think is cool on two levels. One, we get some continuity over a long period of time between two games. Like, I expected Soap to return for MW2, but here we’re talking a much longer time and a very different situation. Two, not only does the character come back, but there’s continuity in the portrayal by having the same actor again.

Ed Harris in "The Truman Show"

The other big name you’ll recognize is Ed Harris, who will be voicing Jason Hudson, a CIA operative. He’s a major character so you’ll hear a lot from him.

The full/final cast list has not yet been announced; I’ve seen a lot of names thrown around but I don’t think a lot of those guesses are accurate. Guess we’ll find out as we get closer to November 9.

This week, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is available in retail stores. It’s off to a good start, which put the Spidey team here in a good mood, which means a nice giveaway to celebrate.

I have ten prize packs, some of which are more prize-filled than others. So let’s break down exactly what you can win this time around:

All ten winners will get a double-sized poster featuring Amazing and Noir, a Shattered Dimensions mini-comic, a hardcover book of the art of the game, and an XL-sized t-shirt, featuring the game logo on the front and all four Spideys on the back.

Two sides, two images, one poster.

The mini-comic and the lovely hardcover art book

Size XL only 'cause that's what I've got

In addition to all that stuff, the top five winners will also win all four issues of Wizard magazine that feature Shattered Dimensions on the cover — the complete set for your Spidey collection archives.

Four Spideys, four covers, four issues

And the grand prize winner will get all that stuff plus something truly special — a deck of promotional Marvel Ultimate Alliance playing cards signed by the man himself, Stan Lee. These are from the original MUA, so they are rather collectible right there — that game’s a few years old now and beloved, so there are not many of these decks circulating to begin with. But ones signed by the creator of Spider-Man himself? Wicked rare.

To win, first, read my contest FAQ so you know how this will work, and then answer this question:

Who provides the voice for Deadpool in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions?

Need a huge hint? IGN mentioned it in their 10-day coverage of the game’s villains.

Send your answer in an email (one per person, please) to freestuff@oneofswords.com with the subject line “Shattered Prize Pack” before Sunday, September 12th at 11:59 Pacific time. In addition to your trivia answer, please include your name, address, and phone number (just for FedEx if something gets lost). Full details are in my Contest FAQ so, again, please give it a look — it’s chock full of answers.

Enjoy the game and good luck!

Heads up: You are on your own while I actually take a break for a few days and celebrate my 15th wedding anniversary at Disneyland. I’m on vacation for the rest of the week.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t plan ahead. There will be a contest announced tomorrow, while I will be in Tomorrowland. There will be a podcast available on Thursday morning, which will cover the Black Ops event, PAX, and feature a really nice interview with Dee Brown of Beenox. I’m not going to leave you hanging. Just know that everything you read for the next few days is powered by pure Disney magic.

See you when I get back. I will give your regards to Jessica Rabbit. Don’t break anything.

Sounds obvious, but the folks who work here at Activision like games. And we celebrate when they finally get released, because it’s the culmination of a lot of hard work by everybody, from the developers and producers through the marketing and PR teams, right down to the folks in finance and accounting and the team in the mailroom. For the release of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, the occasion was marked with sugar, booze, and disembodied heads.

You may recognize those big heads from the San Diego Comic-Con booth. They were placed out front to let everybody know what day it was.

During lunch, one of the conference rooms was hijacked for a few hours of free-play -- anyone who wanted to come in and check out the game was welcome.

I think every company in America probably runs on cupcakes. The peanut butter frosting was awesome. The champagne was no slouch either.

The weather just barely held out so team members could give small speeches, crediting key employees who helped bring the game to life.

And oh yeah -- there were freebies too, including t-shirts and some autographed Stan Lee swag. I saved some for you -- check back for a giveaway.

The wait is over — Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions swings into retail shelves today (come on, everybody else got to make that dumb joke, I want to make it too), and the early response from the press is very positive.

"Just your friendly neighborho -- whoa, GamePro really likes me!"

GamePro: 4.5 out of 5.0

“Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions made a lot of promises that I wasn’t sure it was going to keep. [...] But after three full days of web swinging, wall crawling, and old-fashioned fisticuffs across several amazing, action-packed levels, I’ve never been happier to be wrong. Shattered Dimensions is easily one of the best Spider-Man games I’ve played yet.”

"You know, you bad guys oughta...hey, Game Informer digs me too!"

Game Informer: 8.5 out of 10

“All of Shattered Dimensions’ disparate game types flow seamlessly together [...] It’s one of the best Spider-Man titles in recent memory, if not the best Spider-Man title to date.”

"I like to keep up with modern times, but...whoa, hi there, IGN!"

IGN: 8 out of 10

“If you think you’ve seen it all with Spider-Man games, think again [...] There’s a sense of drama in Shattered Dimensions that has been missing from Spidey games for years.”

More reviews are incoming; I generally keep an eye on Metacritic and GameRankings to see what’s been posted, but I always click through to the original site, and you should too. A score is not a review — find out how and why a writer came to their conclusion by reading their actual work.

Rock! Rock?! ROCK!!1!! Those three words and superfluous punctuation marks define Guitar Hero, and this week’s DLC gives you more rock by giving you more rock. You can’t argue with logic like that!

The Rock 1 Track Pack features six very well known singles from heavy artists — it’s like an all-star summer tour in one handy six-pack:

• Faith No More – “Epic”
• Godsmack – “I Stand Alone”
• Limp Bizkit – “Nookie”
• Marilyn Manson – “The Dope Show”
• Orgy – “Blue Monday”
• Papa Roach – “Last Resort”

This DLC content, as usual, will work in Band Hero, Guitar Hero 5, and the forthcoming GH: Warriors of (wait for it!) Rock.

The double-sized pack will be available today for 880 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, 1100 Wii Points on Wii, or $10.99 US Treasury points on PS3. If you don’t want the full track pack, songs are available individually for 160 MS Points, 200 Wii Points, or $1.99 respectively. See your local console for the digital store of your choice, but if you’re an Xbox 360 owner, it’s here and if you play on PS3, check here.

Rock, as always, on.

You may have heard about it late last week, but today’s the day you will actually be able to purchase the second DLC pack for Transformers: War for Cybertron. The rumored Zeta Prime and Dead End are playable characters for real now, and there are five new maps. See the footage and watch it sizzle:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Two of the maps are built for Escalation. Static features a lot of environmental traps to keep the hordes at bay, but the other map, Pulse, takes place inside Trypticon! If you prefer the competitive multiplayer modes, you’ll get Horizon (an Autobot statuary gone to seed), Sector (an old maintenance facility), and Metropolis (a floating city ruin on Iacon).

You’ll find the new stuff at some point today on Xbox Live (for 800 Microsoft Points)and PlayStation Network (for $9.99) under the engaging name “Transformers: War for Cybertron Map and Characters Pack 2.” And if you missed Pack 1, I’ve got the details here.

James Bond 007: Blood Stone is still a few months off, but the team at Bizarre Creations in Liverpool has been working on the game for a long time already. I got to visit them way back in February while they were fiddling with wireframes and level designs, and I got to pick their brains about how they approached such a legendary character.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Blood Stone ships in November for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (Wii and DS gamers get GoldenEye as a Nintendo exclusive).

Sync up your fantastic plastic music controllers today — free demos of both Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and DJ Hero 2 hit Xbox Live today.

Get a sample of the silver platters

The DJ Hero 2 demo features these four mixes:

• Pussycat Dolls Featuring Busta Rhymes “Don’t Cha” Mixed With Pitbull ”I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)”
• Lady Gaga Featuring Colby O’Donis “Just Dance” Mixed With Deadmau5 “Ghosts N Stuff”
• MSTRKRFT Featuring N.O.R.E. “Bounce” (Battle Mix)
• Estelle Featuring Kanye West “American Boy” Mixed With Chic “Good Times”

The demo tracks sure taste...metallic

And the Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock demo packs four tracks:

• Black Sabbath – “Children of the Grave”
• Foo Fighters – “No Way Back”
• Slash featuring Ian Astbury – “Ghosts”
• Dethklok – “Bloodlines”

So what about PlayStation 3 demos? Fear not, they are coming. The same demos are in the pipeline, awaiting approval, and will appear “soon.” I will post when they’re up.

Hey, GoldenEye 007 pre-order bonuses have been announced…just as the game’s about to be playable at PAX! What are the odds?

Looks like you’ve got three different options. If you pre-order through Walmart.com or buy the game at a physical Walmart store at launch, you can get this Oddjob t-shirt while supplies last. The shirt is new but clearly opens old wounds about whether or not it’s “fair” that Oddjob throws his hat to take out his enemies. If you’ve done it without remorse, this shirt’s for you.

Fear of a Black Hat

The other two options follow after the jump…with video!

If you don’t need the clothes (or don’t get the joke), you can pre-order GoldenEye 007 at GameStop to receive a code that unlocks Invisibility mode for split-screen multiplayer — which is just what it sounds like. Your friends can’t shoot when they can’t see…

Click here to view the embedded video.

If a variation on the old playground game of Tag sounds more fun — you can’t eliminate anyone while you’re “it” until you have to run around and tag someone else — you might want to pre-order at Best Buy, where they’ll give you a code for Tag in split-screen instead.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Which one piques your interest? The shirt makes me laugh.