Testimony in the trial of a 19-year-old from Melbourne, Australia man who stabbed a homeless person to death in January after an altercation, seems to be trying to create the defense that Call of Duty had a strong influence on the defendant's state of mind. Easton George Woodhead is facing a murder charge for repeatedly stabbing Morgan Wayne "Mousey" Perry at an encampment of homeless people living on the banks of Melbourne's Yarra River.

The Atlantic Council's Brent Scowcroft Center held a special event called "The Future of Unknown Conflict" featuring Dave Anthony, the writer and director of the popular military-themed computer game series Call of Duty on Oct. 1. The 1 hour, 26 minute presentation is now available in its entirety here or to your left.

Dave Anthony, who has writing and director credits on Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Call of the Dead, will be taking part in the Atlantic Council's "Art of Future War" event at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security in Washington D.C. October 1. Anthony recently joined the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security as a Nonresident Fellow. Here's more on his presentation from the Atlantic Council:

Activision Blizzard announced this morning that it has every intention of filing a motion to dismiss what it categorizes as a frivolous lawsuit filed by former Panamanian dictator and convicted murderer Manuel Noriega. But the oddest twist to the story is who Activision Blizzard has hired to handle the case: former New York City Mayor, U.S. Attorney for New York, and Republican Candidate for President, Rudy Giuliani.

Ahmed Muthana, the father of two ISIS members fighting in the Middle East (Nasse and Aseel Muthana), claims that Jihadist in Britain lured his children into the cause using Call of Duty.

In a not-so-shocking turn of events today, developer Sledgehammer Games revealed that Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare will not be coming to the Wii U. According to a tweet from Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey, the decision not to release the game on Nintendo's console was not his or his company's, but Activision's.

"No, no WiiU," he said in response to a question about bringing the game to Wii U. "That was an Activision decision. We are focused on XboxOne, PS4, and PC."

This Local.se report details the story of a Swedish father who is taking a little bit of heat from other parents for taking his two young sons on a trip to occupied Israel and Palestine in order to teach them about the realities of war. Yes, video games -- specifically Call of Duty -- is part of this story. Carl-Magnus Helgegren is a journalist, university teacher, and a father of two boys (ages 10 and 11).

The hosts of MSNBC's morning political talk show Morning Joe highlight what's wrong with reporting on video games via cable news. In a recent segment the show reported that former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega (who is currently in prison in Panama after serving prison time in the United States) has filed a lawsuit against Activision for use of his likeness in Call of Duty Black Ops 2.

Courthouse News highlights a lawsuit filed by former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega against Activision for "blatant misuse, unlawful exploitation and misappropriation for economic gain" of his image in the video game, "Call of Duty: Black Ops II."

The latest title update for the console version of Activision and Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Ghost offers "overall anti-cheat improvements" to the game alongside general fixes to known bugs. The title update improves the game's spawning system, a 60-second match timer fix, and general balancing for the game's Extinction mode.

The latest Call of Duty DLC lets players show their appreciation of pot. The new "Blunt Force" character pack for Call of Duty: Ghosts is available now for $2 on Xbox platforms and comes with a pot-themed uniform and two headgear options that feature pot leaves.

According to Infinity Ward's description of the pack, it will make your enemies "experience chronic defeat." The "Blunt Force" character pack follows a similar weapon camouflage pack that launched in April which featured marijuana-themed decorations for weapons.

A study of online Call of Duty players found that women who sent out friend requests were more likely to be accepted if they behaved in polite and positive manner during play. Those women who talked trash during matches were less likely to have a friend request accepted. On the flip side, males who talked trash during online play sessions were more likely to have a friend request accepted than those who were polite or remained quiet during a match.

The Daily Mail has jumped on the story of South Manchester coroner John Pollard (pictured) who noticed that four teenagers who had committed suicide, in a span of at least two years, had played a Call of Duty game.

Infinity Ward will absorb Neversoft to create one 'super-studio', according to an Activision memo from CEO Eric Hirshberg - obtained by GiantBomb. The wholly owned Activision studios most recently collaborated on Call of Duty: Ghosts, with Infinity Ward creating the main game and Neversoft developing the game's 'Extinction' mode.

According to this Huffington Post report, a sore (and unidentified) loser who lost a game of Call of Duty match sent a police SWAT team to his opponent's house. According to the report, which is based on reporting from the New York Post, a police SWAT team was dispatched to a Long Island, N.Y.

Late last year Activision announced a licensing deal with LEGO competitor and toy maker Mega Brands to make building toy sets based on its popular mature-rated action game series, Call of Duty. The toy sets, which were launched in January, are finally getting the attention of children's advocacy groups and one outspoken UK MP - UK Labour MP Keith Vaz, who chairs the Commons Home Affairs Committee.

Cautionary tale #657: drinking too many energy drinks to do anything - in this case to play a marathon session of Call of Duty - can put you in a coma. That is exactly what happened to a 14-year-old Norwegian boy. After drinking four liters of energy drinks he collapsed and was hospitalized with kidney failure. He then slipped into a coma for several days.

Call of Duty Elite, Activision's stat tracking system for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, will officially shut down on Friday, February 28. The system is shutting down mainly because Call of Duty: Ghosts uses the new stat tracking system called "Clan Wars." The current Call of Duty app will serve as a replacement for Elite when it goes offline, according to Activision.

Even though Activision warned (earlier in the year) that it expected this year's iteration of the Call of Duty series to be down compared to last year's Black Ops II because of the transition to new console systems, Cowen analyst Doug Creutz is sounding alarm bells with investors today. The analyst noted that sales of the franchise year-over-year are down 19 percent and could ultimately be down a lot lower than that for the life of the title.

Activision has released a Call of Duty Ghost hotfix for all platforms that deals with several serious issues that have been plaguing the game's online community for awhile. The hotfix addresses various hacks including "invisibility" and "god mode" being used in multiplayer.

Activision has also released the first update for the Xbox One version of the game, including general performance and stability fixes.

According to an announcement made by Activision today, Call of Duty: Ghosts is the best-selling PS4 game so far. The PlayStation 4 launched on Nov. 15, and the PS4 version of Call of Duty: Ghosts was launched on the same day. The game is also available for last-generation consoles and PC, with an Xbox One version launching at the end of this week. The company cited sales data from top North American retailers including Best Buy, GameStop, Target, and Wal-Mart.

Video game cover band Critical Hit has released a second music video on YouTube today - this time playing its own rendition of "Battle for New York" from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The band will also be performing live at BlizzCon 2013 on November 9 and taking part in a panel on sound in games. In case you don't know, Critical Hit is a game music cover band led by Blizzard’s composer Jason Hayes, as a side freelance project.

Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz is saying something publicly that must be music to Activision's ears: what critics say about Call of Duty: Ghosts does not matter. Speaking to GII, Creutz says that latest title in the series is "somewhat review-proof."

"We think [Call of Duty] has become such an embedded franchise that it is somewhat review-proof," said Creutz to GII.

At this time of year when a new Call of Duty game hits, Activision is usually able to say that the latest release in its popular franchise is the greatest launch in video game history. But following on the heels of Take-Two's and Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V, it seems like Activision is tweaking its message a little bit.

Call of Duty: Ghost, the latest in Activision's best-selling military-themed shooter series, releases today, but current generation versions of the game have been hacked, according to this Polygon report.

Prior to the release of Grand Theft Auto V in September, Activision held the title of biggest video game launch in history with Call of Duty Black Ops 2. Activision UK senior brand manager Kevin Flynn recently told MCV that congratulations were in order for the folks at Rockstar, but that they shouldn't get too comfortable with the title they recently earned:

To celebrate 15 years in business Amazon UK has released its best selling games list of all time, and the Call of Duty series is prominently highlighted throughout. According to Amazon UK, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (all platforms) is the best selling game in the service's history, followed by Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3, Grand Theft Auto V (which has only been out since September in the UK), and Black Ops 2.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a lengthy statement today noting that it is time that games involving war start including the actual laws of war. The IRCC says that this could be done without interfering with the fun that millions of players have playing first-person shooters.

It looks like the fellow behind the stories for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 and 2 has had his latest television project greenlit by CBS. NCIS: LA creator Shane Brennan has teamed with video game writer Jesse Stern for a show called Insecurity. The duo previously worked together on the mothership NCIS series.

A new study by the School of Psychology at the University of Leicester comes to the conclusion that first-person shooters can help players better perceive motion... while walking backwards. The research was recently published in a paper called "Selectively enhanced motion perception in core video gamers" in the journal Perception.