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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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
I Hope This Doesn’t Rule Out a Big Boy Transformers Prime Game
While the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 get what’s shaping up to be a pretty spectacular Fall of Cybertron, Nintendo Wii, 3DS and DS players get this. Now I am not saying this isn’t an excellent Transformers Prime game. I’ve not played it, so for all I know it could be spectacular. It just looks…
By Mike Fahey -
Skylanders Moves More Than 30 Million Colorful Pieces of Plastic
In today’s first quarter financial results announcement Activision revealed at more than 30 million Skylanders toys had been sold as of March 31. That’s enough toys to feed 30 million plastic-eating children a day for an entire… day.
By Mike Fahey -
Amazon-Exclusive Spider-Man Preorder Bonus Lets You Play as the Amazing Stan Lee
Just look at it, folks. That’s how you generate preorders right there. Amazon is going to be swamped. I didn’t believe it when Stan Lee said it back in March, and now that Activision’s made it official I’m still not sure I believe it. And I call myself a true believer. But yes, it is…
By Mike Fahey
