Dividing Up the Problem - Activision Is Digging Their Own Grave

Well we all know that Activision completely boned themselves over, but how much exactly? After the formation of Respawn Entertainment Activision, and seemingly to quell the uprising against them of Infinity Ward’s remaining devs leaving in droves, the company announced through Dan Amrich and his Facebook:

“Vince and Jason had very large bonuses; those bonuses are being redistributed to everybody else, to the people who did not allegedly attempt to steal company secrets. (Please see Activision’s countersuit for details about Vince and Jason’s surreptitious attempts to photocopy and scan sensitive documents.) Activision is not pocketing that bonus money; it’s still going to the people who work at IW. But you have to work at IW to get it, see? :) I don’t want to see talented people screwed out of a paycheck any more than you do.”

Yes the facetious smiley was there as well as the blatant potshot at the devs who’ve already left IW. In my opinion there really was no sensitive document scanning and Activision is pocketing some of the money because they are the ones who determine the bonus size no? What’s to stop them from saying $100,000 is the bonus that was to be shared when it was more likely millions? Either way this entire pot of stew is definitely spoiled and I really hope Activision gets what’s coming to them. I don't think they realize that this entire fiasco started because of these bonuses. They're literally just dividing up their issues and tossing a few bucks to the people who remain at IW. I don't doubt either that the bonus can be revoked if they were to leave and seek employment elsewhere.

-Armand

MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 3!!!!!!!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the best arcade fighter to EVER be created officially has a SEQUEL!!!

Today at Captivate '10 Capcom has officially unveiled their teaser trailer for MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 3!!!

I have been playing Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Superheroes and Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes for the last 12+ years and finally, finally Capcom has listened and is taunting us with a trailer for the Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.

Surprising to me though, this game will only, (it seems right now), be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, not in the typical two player arcade machine style. Why they're doing this is beyond me. I don't know how many thousands of quarters and arcade tokens I've used on those two games.

I used to live in Manhattan when I was younger, and everyday after school there was only one place you could find me. The arcades. There were several back then; two in Chinatown, quite a few on Broadway itself; most are closed down now though. But before my parents forced me to move to Florida, I made damn sure that I broke the high score on every MvC2 machine I could get my little hands on. Up until four years ago in fact I had the high scores on six different machines in Manhattan and two in Queens and even the one in Brooklyn that wasn't smashed in. When I last checked though most of those famous arcades had went out of business or were bought out and made into something else. At that time I still had four high scores, my machines in Queens and two in Manhattan. Now though, it seems like the era of the arcade is dead, there's only the one arcade still open in Queens; the others all closed, (one became a Chuck E' Cheese).

That's neither here nor there. What's relevant is the fact that this game has officially debuted but doesn't have a release date yet. There are hints at new characters though; in the teaser trailer you clearly see Resident Evil's Chris Redfield fighting the Hulk on a building. I really hope the rumors are true; supposedly the character list from MvC2 has been doubled. I honestly, am giddy with excitement. I love this game, like, severely love this game. I even have the special Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 Tournament Edition Fight Stick for the Xbox 360.

Thoroughly excited and definitely gonna follow this like a hawk.

-Armand

Final Fantasy Shouldn't Be Ported.....Ever Again

The Final Fantasy Series has been well known to be an exclusive title. Always on one console, always looked positively stunning in comparison to other games. Then, by some unknown un-godly force, Microsoft aquired it and released it on the Xbox 360 at the same time as the PlayStation 3 version.

My only question is why. Why would Square-Enix even think about porting such a title to the Xbox? No, I'm not a PS3 or 360 fanboy in the least but I do solidly believe in the ability to keep particular titles completely exclusive. I never want to see Halo or Gears of War on the PlayStation 3 nor do I want to even imagine Kratos or Kingdom Hearts on the Xbox 360. I sure as Hell didn't want to see Final Fantasy XIII, a title that I've been waiting for years to be a half-assed port onto a console that doesn't, in my opinion, have the ability to play it in all its glory.

Final Fantasy XIII is a visually stunning game that has a very unique ATB system that puts Final Fantasy XII to shame; graphically alone it is jaw-dropping, let alone its amazing take on gameplay. The 360 just doesn't do the game justice. Having waited in line for hours to get the game for my trusty ol' original PS3, it would be an understatement to say that I wasn't completely out of my mind with excitement to play it. I got home, turned the volume up to 11, plugged in the HDMI cable I was saving just for this moment and pressed New Game. I didn't stop smiling even after I'd hit my last save point the next day, (I called in), after 13 hours of play, (I match the first play binge to the title number); I didn't stop smiling even when I died my first time.

I did however stop smiling once I popped my 360 copy of the game in though. I turned the volume up to 11, plugged in the HDMI cord and pressed New Game. I didn't smile one bit. The sound just felt like someone was holding a blanket up over the speakers and the graphics....the graphics were just bad. I didn't even make it past the first mini-boss before I turned it off and traded it in. Not even kidding. When Lightning, the one of the main characters, attacks, she's supposed to have sparks flying off of her and her attacks; beautifully done in the PS3 version but in the 360's version, it looks like square confetti. Monsters were missing polygons and attacks were sometimes slow and once I had a creature that literally just stood there as I wailed on it.

Not only that but it came on three separate discs; installing should have helped the load times, it didn't at all. I couldn't stand the load times in the least and then of course it loaded into a crappy rendition of a game that really shouldn't have been done in the first place.

I actually returned my copy of the 360 Final Fantasy XIII the next day. I couldn't believe the disappointment I got from that port. I don't know what they were thinking but goddamn I'm glad FFXIII Versus is PS3 only....

-Armand

Small tidbit concerning the seemingly increasing hostilities between EA and Activision; started of course with the fiasco that is still unfolding between Activision and Infinity Ward ex-staff members Vince Zampella and Jason West. More on that HERE, HERE and  HERE.

Yesterday though Activision, through press release, boasted its "impressive sales" of the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Map Pack and how the company is lifting its quarterly fiscal outlook.

EA, being Activision's well known competitor, took a quick potshot at its excited rival; Jeff Brown, EA's director of corporate communications quipped this to Kotaku.com: "This is kind of like announcing: The race horse I shot last month has won the Triple Crown !"

EA of course is currently backing Zampella and West along with their new company Respawn Studios through the EA Partners program, which allows the two canned dev heads to own their IPs that they create...the reason this whole mess started in the first place (Infinity Ward vs. Activision).

Oh well....maybe they can make a sitcom out of this or something. This is entertaining, but add the guys from Harold & Kumar and SNL and then we'll have a good show. What do you think?

-Armand

More Infinity Ward Staff Check Out

Yep...more of them. I don't know what to say because I really believe its the right thing for them to get out from under Activision but the gamer in me is saying NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Today Mark Grigsby, the team's Lead Animator, and Paul Messerly, the Lead Character Animator, have both left Infinity Ward. Grigsby had been with the company since 2005 and Messerly had been there since the formation; he worked with Medal of Honor's dev group 2015 Inc. but moved in 2002.

If you don't know off the bat who Mark Grigsby is, think back to Modern Warfare number one. A certain Staff Sergeant Griggs come up? Yeah, Grigsby was the inspiration and voice actor for that character; he also was the one rapping at the end of that game. That's actually probably the only rap song that I own...

More and more devs dropping, Activision, couldn't you part with a few million? You'd have made it back ten-fold when Modern Warfare 3 dropped. Oh well....

-Armand

XboxLive Used to Fight Crime?

XboxLive is the major gaming network in which millions of people can get together, party up and game until the cows come home. A majority of the people on Xbox are, for lack of a better word, strange, but that doesn't mean we're not moral or just! After perusing Kotaku.com, I discovered a couple of articles about gamers who "save the day":

One was very serious involving a possible school shooting that was thwarted by several concerned party members in a game lobby. One of the people, disgruntled by his failing grades as a senior in school spoke very descriptively about fellow schoolmates that he would target when he shot up the school and disconnected suddenly when questioned about it by his fellow party members. Whether he was just messed up and joking or not one Canadian party member in British Columbia alerted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who then investigated and with the help of good ol' Microsoft Law Enforcement, tracked the individual to San Antonio, Texas where he was arrested. Later it was found that he was very serious; intending to get weapons from a friend in the Marines and considered details such as  how long S.W.A.T would take to arrive and had a list of names of people in particular.He also commented that he wanted to be remembered forever. XBL community 1, criminals 0.

Another was....particularly strange, but not uncommon I'm afraid. Apparently 24 year old Ryan E. Donker of Portsmouth, VA admitted to asking for nude pictures from a 13 year old Arkansas boy on multiple occassions. He was extradited to Arkansas under felony charges and $20,000 bond. Apparently Fayetteville Police had recorded several of these conversations where Donker tried to solicit the boy but thanks to the good ol' Xbox he was apprehended and put away for a bit. XBL community 2, crimials 0.

The last one I read was more recent; tampering with a witness. Yeah. People will do anything over XBL it seems. Apparently Anythony Hayward of Hamden, Conneticut was taken in under charges or "tampering with a witness, intimitdating a witness and two counts of second-degree harassment"; all commited through XboxLive messages. "I wouldn't laugh 2 much U a dead man walking" and "Rats die slow" were among the messages sent to a material witness in a case against Hayward  who was out on bail under gun and drug possession charges. He was taken in again and hasn't posted his new bail. XBL community 3, criminals 0.

I think we have a winner!!! At any rate, this shows two things; there are some messed up people on XBL, but there are good people who report things that really really need to be reported. Always be observant and report psychos to the proper authorities; better safe than sorry folks!

-Armand

Yup, More of IW Ditched.....

Yeah that's right. Another four people have dropped from Infinity Ward's staff roster:

Lead Designers Steve Fukuda and Zied Reike have left after being with the company since its founding days working on the Medal of Honor series.

Programmer Rayme Vinson as well as Lead Artist Chris Cherubini have also been confirmed to have left the studio for good.

These are just the latest in the string of devs jumping ship after the canning of studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella who were fired under acusations from Activision of "delaying production of Modern Warfare 3." I don't know about them but I figure they've got more important issues on their hands.

-Armand