-
The Amazing Spider-Man Made Me Nauseous. This Pleases Me.
As the Beenox representative controlling The Amazing Spider-Man during the game’s E3 2012 presentation launched Peter Parker off the top of a tall building in virtual New York City, my stomach heaved sympathetically. The piece of pizza I had consumed during a previous meeting (thanks, Sony Online Entertainment!) threatened to make an encore appearance all…
By Mike Fahey Published June 11, 2012 -
Activision Might be For Sale
According to a report on BLoomberg, media giant Vivendi – which owns Activision Blizzard – is going to meet soon to decide whether to offload the publishing powerhouse. With a market value of around $13 billion, Vivendi’s top brass will mull whether to sell the company, sell part of the company or simply leave things…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 7, 2012 -
Do Not Show Your Children This Trailer for Skylanders Giants
It might be well-animated and feature the voice of someone I am relatively sure is Bobcat Goldthwait, but the only thing this trailer for Skylanders Giants is really good for is making your children annoying and your wallet ache. I mean look at that. Not only are there a ton of new toys to purchase,…
By Mike Fahey Published June 7, 2012 -
There’s a PC Version of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron After All
Earlier this year High Moon Studio’s game director Matt Tieger told me his team couldn’t handle making a PC version of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, and PC gamers were a little upset. High Moon still can’t handle creating a PC version, but High Moon Studios and developer Mercenary Games working together are getting the job…
By Mike Fahey Published June 1, 2012 -
EA Weighs in on Activision Settlement in Delightfully Catty Fashion
Not one to sit on the sidelines of a good fight, EA has issued a wonderfully catty, short statement regarding the just-resolved lawsuit between Modern Warfare makers Jason West and Vince Zampella and EA’s rival Activision. In an email to Kotaku, an EA spokesperson relayed the following: “Activision’s refusal to pay their talent and attempt…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 31, 2012 -
Ex-Modern Warfare Makers’ Lawsuit Against Activision Has Been Resolved [UPDATE]
According to Polygon‘s Michael McWhertor, Modern Warfare creators Jason West and Vince Zampella lawsuit against Activision has been resolved. The L.A. Times‘ Ben Fritz reports confirmation from both parties” lawyers Kotaku has reached out to both parties for comment and will update once we hear more. Update: West and Zampella’s Lawyer has told Kotaku the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 31, 2012 -
Square Enix’s American Boss Calls Activision “Crazy” for Dumping True Crime: Hong Kong
Publishing executives say complimentary stuff about their upcoming games all of the time. So what. But there’s an unusual history with Sleeping Dogs, which Square Enix will release Aug. 14—it was formerly known as True Crime: Hong Kong until Activision washed its hands of the franchise in the Feb. 2011 bloodbath that killed off Guitar…
By Owen Good Published May 26, 2012 -
Even If No One Listens, Let the Review Bombs Fall
It’s easy to sit back and scoff at “review bombing,” as we saw last week when Blizzard released a broken Diablo III. Flooding Amazon to give zero stars to something others have called a perfect 10, sure, that’s not a legitimate review. And people staging a sit-in aren’t there to legitimately patronize a public accommodation,…
By Owen Good Published May 25, 2012 -
“Hacker” May Have Asked for Microsoft’s Help Breaking Into Call of Duty Creator’s Emails
According to a report from Robert Schwartz, the lawyer currently representing Call of Duty creators Jason West and Vince Zampella in their big case against Activision, the notorious “Project Icebreaker” sounds even crazier than we first thought. Schwartz tells Game Informer that Thomas Fenady, the Activision IT expert approached to hack into Infinity Ward’s email…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 24, 2012 -
So Why Are There Dinosaurs on Pre-Earth Cybertron? Blame Shockwave
In the original Transformers cartoon, Grimlock and the Dinobots are created by Wheeljack and Ratchet after volcanic activity unearthed prehistoric fossils near the Autobot base. High Moon Studios’ explanation for the Dinobots appearance in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron makes a whole lot more sense. The Dinobots’ Fall of Cybertron origin borrows elements from several different…
By Mike Fahey Published May 24, 2012 -
Activision-Bungie Contract Has Rules About Everything, Even Easter Eggs
The ongoing legal saga between Activision and former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vincent Zampella continues to bring all sorts of once-secret documents to light. We already learned that Bungie’s 2010 contract with Activision guarantees the delivery of four “sci-fantasy” shooter games, called Destiny. But what other details are hiding in that 27-page contract?…
By Kate Cox Published May 23, 2012 -
Even Activision Executives Joked That StarCraft II Was Never Coming Out
StarCraft was released in 1998. By 2010, three years after it had first been revealed, StarCraft II still wasn’t out. If you thought it was understandable that fans were wondering if it was ever actually going to come out, it’s pretty funny seeing even Activision’s top executives thinking the same thing. Buried in the emails…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 23, 2012 -
Modern Warfare Creators Were Going To Make $16 Million Each In The Year They Were Fired
All manner of dirty laundry is currently being aired the ongoing ongoing lawsuit between Activision and Vince Zampella and Jason West, creators of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare A series of internal Activision emails indicate the projected 2009 and 2010 earnings of the most well-paid 30 employees at Infinity Ward. In 2010, the year that…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 22, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Activision’s 1984 Catalogue Did Not Feature Call of Duty
Before the internet, before people even really cottoned onto the idea of games magazines, publishers had to sell things the old-fashioned way: with TV ads and catalogues. Most catalogues were simple affairs, all bright lights, screenshots and slogans, but sometimes publishers went a little left field. Like Activision did in 1984 when it basically commissioned…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 21, 2012 -
So, Activision and Call of Duty’s Creators Had a Pretty Bitchy Relationship
A stack of emails released as part of the ongoing legal action between Activision and Call of Duty’s creators have turned up some hilariously catty exchanges and contingency plans coming from the publisher’s top brass. Posted over on the LA Times, a 2009 email from Activision’s president of publishing, Mike Griffith, mentions a plan to…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 21, 2012 -
Bungie’s Next Huge Game is an Xbox-First “Sci-Fantasy, Action Shooter,” Court Records Show
The court case between Activision and developers Jason West and Vincent Zampella has brought all kinds of ugliness to light. But filings for the case have also made the details of the April, 2010 contract between Bungie, developers of Halo, and Activision a matter of public record, revealing Bungie’s upcoming game development plans. The L.A.…
By Kate Cox Published May 21, 2012 -
Activision’s “Sphere”: The Most-Used Unusable Piece of Video Game Music Ever
In the middle 1980s, my brother and I both had Commodore 64s. Our next-door neighbor was the electronics buyer for a catalog showroom—a breed of variety store brought to its knees by Walmart before Best Buy and e-commerce finished the job. Our neighbor was in charge of buying computer hardware, and software. That meant we…
By Owen Good Published May 17, 2012 -
Activision and EA Settle Case Over Call of Duty [Update]
Activision and EA have agreed to file a settlement agreement in their dispute over Call of Duty, according to a Bloomberg report The settlement is from a countersuit brought by Activision against EA accusing them of attempting to pry Jason West and Vince Zampella away from them. The initial suit was brought against Activision by…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 16, 2012 -
Call of Duty Accused of “Shamelessly” Ripping off Another Series, Legal Warfare Ensues
Activision is facing another big lawsuit over its tentpole Call of Duty series, only this one has nothing to do with people who used to work on the series. It’s to do with a rival developer who owns the right to a name that Call of Duty uses a lot Fans older PC shooters may…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 15, 2012