World of Warcraft is still the #1 MMO around the world, Modern Warfare 3 sold like freaking hotcakes and oh yeah — kids love Skylanders. See? Not really that surprising that they’re still printing money. Here’s a short recap of what was covered in their conference call today.

• Call of Duty Elite has over seven million subscribers.
• World of Warcraft has actually lost subscribers — going from 10.3 million to 10.2 million. Not a big loss, but one nonetheless.
• Speaking of WoW, we’ll get more information on the Mists of Pandaria expansion on March 19.
• A new Call of Duty is on the way (how not surprising!) with an Elite 2.0 to match.
• Diablo III is still coming this year — probably in Q2, if a slide from the publisher is to be believed (I think it is). That might not qualify as “early 2012″ to some people, so those people may think of it as a delay. In any case, we’re getting closer and closer to looting like mad — and WoW subscribers who took part in the Annual Pass program announced at BlizzCon 2011 are one step closer to a free copy of the game. (By the way, over one million people took part in that program.)
• Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure was the #1 kids’ title for the calendar year of 2011.
• A collection of all content available to current Call of Duty Elite members is on the way for Xbox 360. Really, you were probably better off just buying into Elite, but we won’t judge.

Not too much surprising stuff here. Are you looking forward to anything from Activision?

It’s really easy, actually! You can either purchase PSP games directly from the PlayStation Store using the device (or check out your list of purchased games via the Store), or you can also connect your Vita to your PS3 to download any games you might have loaded on your PS3′s XMB. Granted, this will require you to download games to your PlayStation 3 first, assuming you have one, but the Vita’s Content Manager will take over and make the process easy.

Of course, all of this knowledge is useless without knowing which games you can actually play — 275 PSP titles and Minis will be available for play on day one with more on the way. This effectively makes the launch lineup about 300 strong.

Here’s the full list, straight from PlayStation.Blog:

PSP Titles

PlayStation Minis

Pyschonauts and Costume Quest developer Double Fine Productions wanted to create a game in the public eye—and with their help. To do this it created a campaign on Kickstarter and with amazing speed, the support from fans came through.

Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions have surpassed their goal of a $400,000 goal on Kickstarter with almost $700,000 raised at the time of this writing. Not only that, but a spokesperson from Kickstarter revealed that this project is the fastest-funded in the site’s history. Wow.

Double Fine is going to create a new point-and-click adventure game more akin to Tim Schafer’s roots.

The company wanted to skip the influence of publishers, or investments firms, thus this Kickstarter campaign. This allows Double fine to create the game its way, and release it when it is ready, and not be under pressure from a publisher.

Backers of the project get access to a video documentary series based on creating the game. Also, backers can post thoughts about the game on an exclusive online forum, and gain access to the beta test of the game. These are the low tier prizes that can be awarded for only donating at least $30. More prizes for higher donations are available on its Kickstarter page.

Oops, sorry. I got carried away with the adorable puppy. Nintendo’s hired a brand-new “spokesdog,” Uggie, a Jack Russell terrier, to bark the word about Nintendogs + Cats for Nintendo 3DS. He’ll also spread the word about responsible pet/owner relationships during the month, which happens to be Responsible Pet Owners Month (no, I didn’t know it existed, either).

“Uggie didn’t have to sit up and beg for his role as Nintendo’s spokesdog,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “It’s truly our pleasure to work with a star of Uggie’s magnitude, especially to help animal lovers and portable gaming fans discover the fun of Nintendogs + Cats.”

All dog puns aside, this is kind of adorable.

If you want more of Uggie, you can see him in The Artist, which appears to be an awards season favorite.

Sneak in the shadows and stalk potential suspects as Wei Shen, an undercover cop, tries to dismantle a criminal organization—the Hong Kong Triads.

Sleeping Dogs offers shoot-outs at every corner of the city adorned in neon lights bordering the streets. Guns aren’t the only method of combat. Get up close and pound enemies with martial arts and objects found in the city.

The United Front Games and Square Enix game is an open-world cop drama that will be released later this year for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC.

“Working on Sleeping Dogs has been such a huge passion for the team at United Front Games and we’re really pleased to be working with Square Enix London Studios,” said Stephen Van Der Mescht, Executive Producer at United Front Games. “The extensive experience both our studios have in creating compelling openworld gameplay and rich and rewarding combat makes for a perfect partnership. Working together we can make sure that Sleeping Dogs is the most intense and immersive experience it can be.”

Does this game look a little familar? It should. After Activision canned True Crime: Hong Kong last year, Square Enix picked up the game…but not the IP rights. Oops? Not really — Square Enix was basically just forced to rebrand the entire thing, and Sleeping Dogs is the result.

Here’s a trailer to get your feet wet.

…yep.

“We’re geared up for an outrageous sea and land conflict with the all new BATTLESHIP videogame,” said David Oxford, Activision Publishing. “Inspired by the film’s exciting action and stunning backdrop, the game is next-gen naval warfare that thrusts players into the middle of humanity’s last stand against an unfamiliar menace.”

I…have never thought about next-gen naval warfare while trying to figure out which coordinates that stupid, tiny destroyer floated on. I also missed the part where the original Battleship had land warfare. I also always knew who I was making my last stand against. (It was my mother, and she had a knack for taking me down quickly.) I have also never put characters on my boats (mostly because they were too tiny and I didn’t miss the part where it was a board game). But this has not stopped Double Helix, who are developing the game for Activision.

In Battleship, you’ll play as demolitions specialist Cole Mathis (who, I’m betting, is going to sink a battleship! Teehee!), who is essentially stuck in a deserted land and sea area where his cell phone doesn’t work. Well, okay, it’s Hawaii. Also, considering that I once had a boyfriend call me from the top of a volcano in Hawaii, I’m not quite understanding this “dead zone” thing. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he has Sprint or something.

Anywho, the game somehow combines first-person shootery goodness with naval strategy simulation, so it’s Call of Duty meets…well, the board game. The key word is “somehow.” You’ll command frigates, cruisers, destroyers, submarines and…well, a very surprising last ship — the USS Missouri battleship.

Why so surprising? Well, the USS Missouri is a museum. So, I’d imagine that makes it very easy for the enemy to find — just go to Pearl Harbor. It’s kind of just…there. And it has a P.O. Box and everything. Easy!

Battleship arrives in Europe this April, followed by North America in May. It’ll be available for PS3 and Xbox 360 with special versions available for Wii, Nintendo DS and 3DS.

Here’s a trailer chock-full of “Not actual game footage.”

Activision Publishing is taking big to a whole new level. The successful Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure game featuring real life figurines is getting a sequel—Skylanders Giants.

Giants will feature eight new collectible figurines that are both grand in size and power. The new toys are more than twice the size of the original figures, and they pack more in-game punch to match. Some of the new toys will also have a light built-in to detect when they are near or on a ‘portal of power’.

The game will also feature eight new regular sized Skylanders, each with their own traits and powers.

Don’t worry about your old Skylanders, because they will work with the game with all levels and customizations still there.

Skylanders Giants will have updated arenas, gameplay options in battle mode and new hero challenges.

It's so pretty!

Our review on GamingAngels will be coming soon (we bought it today) but I thought it would be interesting to see what people are saying about Kingdoms of Amular online. What do you think about this format? Are you curious about Kingdoms of Amular? Have you played the demo?

Remember Flower, the serene game for the PS3, where you drifted through the game being calmed by the soft music? Flight of the Fireflies is almost like that.

Wooly Robot, a Swedish game studio, has created an iPad game where you guide fireflies with your finger. Each lit bug has its own note and creates the music as you collect more fireflies.

The game is great for mobile trips where killing time and distressing is needed. Flight of the Fireflies is all about the experience the game gives you. It may not be what some people think as a traditional game, but Jonathan Hise Kaldma, the game designer, doesn’t care.

“I call it a game, since it comes from that tradition. But I know some people wont think it’s a game since you can’t really win or lose,” said Hise Kaldma. “I don’t really care if people call it ‘interactive art’ or something else instead. As long as they don’t think it’s inaccessible or hard to understand, because it’s not. Anyone with an open mind can enjoy it.”

Sony informed Kotaku today that the UMD Passport program, first instituted in Japan, would not be available for North American users.

This program allowed gamers to put UMD games in their PSPs to register them, then download them at a discount on the Vita.

Unfortunately, this means that when Vita launches in North America, you’ll have no way to play the UMD games you’ve collected over the PSP’s lifespan — and you’ll have to keep your PSP if you ever intend to play those games again. Any PSP games you’ve downloaded/purchased digitally will still be available.

No reason has been given (as of yet) for not offering the program. It’s possible that, for some reason, it’s just not popular and therefore not worth offering in the U.S. and Canada.

Does this change your opinion of the device? I’d say I was bummed out, but I never owned a PSP, so it doesn’t really affect me that much.