News

Square Enix’s US 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 Hero.


PC

Rant: Even If No One Listens, Let The Diablo III 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 10/10, sure, that’s not a legitimate review. And people staging a sit-in aren’t there to legitimately patronize a public accommodation, either. But a sit-in is a legitimate form of protest. And I think a review bomb is, too.


May 25, 2012
In Real Life

‘Hacker’ 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.


PlayStation

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.


May 24, 2012
News

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?


May 23, 2012
In Real Life

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.


News

Modern Warfare Creators Were Going To Make $16m 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.


May 22, 2012
Uncategorized

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.


News

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.


News

Bungie’s Next Huge Game Is An Xbox-Only ‘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 and Activision a matter of public record, revealing Bungie’s upcoming game development plans.