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Modern Warfare Publisher Unruffled By New Competitor
The new development studio formed by ousted Modern Warfare creators and its agreement with EA Partners comes as “no surprise” to Activision, flaunting Infinity Ward’s proven talent in a statement to Kotaku. Former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella’s conflict with Call of Duty publisher Activision is reaching legendary proportions, with accusations of…
By Mike Fahey Published April 12, 2010 -
Ousted Modern Warfare 2 Creators Respawn, Sign With Former Rivals
The drama involving the creators of one of the biggest franchises in gaming continues as Jason West and Vince Zampella, the fired former lead creators of Modern Warfare 2, have formed a new company, Respawn Entertainment. EA, their formal rival, is backing. [UPDATE: Check out Kotaku’s interview with West and Zampella about Respawn Entertainment.] The…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 12, 2010 -
Modern Legal Warfare Court Documents Got That Boom Boom Pow
We know court documents aren’t generally very entertaining, but the Activision Cross-Complaint against Infinity Ward’s West and Zampella is so three-thousand and eight, while others are two-thousand and late. Yes, this very well might be the only video game lawsuit court document containing a quote from a Black-Eyed Peas song, and for that, we are…
By Mike Fahey Published April 9, 2010 -
Axed Call Of Duty Creators Return Fire At Activision, Plan To Reveal ‘Creative Future’ Soon
Mega-publisher Activision filed its counter-suit against two former top Modern Warfare game developers today, claiming that the pair purposely delayed Modern Warfare 3 and had designs to “steal the [Infinity Ward] studio.” What does the other side have to say? The attorney representing Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella call Activision’s allegations “false…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 9, 2010 -
The Biggest Break Up In Video Game History
Intrigue, backstabbing, secret messages and double agents: Reading the world’s largest game publisher’s counter-suit against the top people in charge of creating one of the biggest video game franchise in history is like dropping into one of their Modern Warfare video games. Told from the perspective of Activision, the publisher didn’t take lightly the firing…
By Brian Crecente Published April 9, 2010 -
The Best Modern Warfare Fan Film $209.42 Can Buy
Take seven of your spare minutes today to watch Modern Warfare: Frozen Crossing, a tribute to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, if only to see how much fan film $209.42 USD can buy you. Of course, that sum doesn’t take into account the value of the talent involved in putting together this Modern…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 7, 2010 -
Modern Warfare 2 Goes Free On Steam This Weekend Only
Want to see what all that Modern Warfare 2 fuss is about, PC gamers? Then play the game’s multiplayer mode for free this weekend, courtesy of Activision and Valve’s Steam service. That “weekend” starts a little early, as the free Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer action starts Thursday, April 8. You can pre-load…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 7, 2010 -
Mystery Mailings Point To Radioactive TV Channel, Call of Duty Clues?
A mysterious USB card loaded with strange sounds, a brown envelope sent with no return address, a simple text file: That’s right, it’s time for another marketing push in the guise of a alternative reality game. Yesterday we received a plain black USB drive tucked away in a envelope. On the drive was this sound…
By Brian Crecente Published April 6, 2010 -
Modern Warfare Developer Loses Two More Key Players
Despite rumours of Call of Duty developers being “held hostage” over withheld bonus payments, it nevertheless looks like more of those involved with the series have begun to leave Infinity Ward following the sacking of the studio’s founders As revealed by the pair’s Linkedin profiles (pictured below), Todd Alderman, a Lead Designer and one of…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 5, 2010 -
Where Posters, Packaging & Box Art Comes From
A few weeks ago, I did a feature on a company that’s responsible for game logos and box art. Today, then, I thought we’d look at something similar: a company that does box art and marketing material. The artwork you’ll see in this post is the work of British firm Head First, an agency that…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 30, 2010 -
Modern Warfare 2 DLC Ad Takes Some Liberties
There’s something fishy about this commercial for the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 map pack. Namely, that these sure as hell aren’t the kind of people I run into playing the game. Compared to the community’s juvenile, angry, foul-mouthed status quo, these “mapathy sufferers” – who are capable of more emotions than just sarcasm and fury…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 24, 2010 -
Gamer Takes On Real Soldier At Modern Warfare 2
Let’s say someone built a replica of Modern Warfare 2’s training level, “The Pit”. And then felt like challenging a real soldier to go through it, while they played the level on computer. Fancy watching? Oh yeah. We featured this level a few weeks ago, built for a challenge on a British TV show. Well,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 24, 2010 -
Brits Build Real Life Modern Warfare 2 Level
The team from Britain’s FiveFWD gadget show were feeling crafty the other day, so went and built themselves a full-scale replica of “The Pit”, Modern Warfare 2’s training area. That in itself would normally be good enough, but for next week’s program, presenter Jason Bradbury will go one better and race a real special forces…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 16, 2010 -
Call of Duty For The Rest Of Them
There are people who can’t play Call of Duty. Maybe, according to a flight of fancy proposed last week at the Game Developers Conference, those people could at least help us CoD players out. The theory was explained during a panel at GDC 2010 entitled Sporadic Play: The History And Future Of Making Games For…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 15, 2010 -
Modern Warfare 2 Map Pack Also Features Ridiculous Price
Capping off a fairly terrible fortnight of news surrounding Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward comes word this morning that Modern Warfare 2’s map pack is one of the most over-priced pieces of downloadable content we’ve ever seen. Popping onto Xbox Live spokesman Larry Hryb’s podcast to promote Modern Warfare 2’s upcoming “Stimulus Package” map…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 15, 2010 -
Video Games’ Team Coco Moment
Billions of dollars? Got it. “Astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed“? Alleged. Video games are so close to being Hollywood, that we must celebrate a breakthrough: A possibly boring contract dispute that could be as juicy as Leno vs. Conan. We’ve got an executive that the Internet fans love to hate We’ve got not one, but…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 5, 2010 -
Activision “Disappointed” By Infinity Ward Founders’ “Meritless” Lawsuit
The world’s biggest video game publisher doesn’t take allegations of “Orwellian” investigations and unfair dismissals in silence. Activision has responded to the lawsuit filed by Jason West and Vince Zampella, the ousted former heads of Modern Warfare 2-maker Infinity Ward. “Activision is disappointed that Mr. Zampella and Mr. West have chosen to file a lawsuit,…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 4, 2010 -
Ex-Infinity Ward Heads Claim “Orwellian” Moves By Activision
The lawsuit filed against Activision by two ex-Infinity Ward leads alleges that the publisher of its Modern Warfare games carried out an “Orwellian,” “pre-ordained” investigation designed to “manufacture a basis to fire” them in order to avoid paying them bonuses. That suit, filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on March 3, was filed by…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 4, 2010 -
Where To Next For Call Of Duty?
The writing is on the wall. With Infinity Ward’s leadership removed, and Activision announcing a raft of new titles, the market is about to be saturated with Call of Duty games. So we figured we’d lend a hand. Rather than simply release an endless stream of World War 2 games, which is what ruined Medal…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2010