Ubisoft is working on a fix, but for now, a workaround exists. Simply clear you cache, and restart you Xbox without connecting to Xbox Live, and you’re good to go.

Update

A fix is live, and it requires no effort from the user. Simply play the game like normal.

We don’t have the time to comment on the many lawsuits Activision files against its employees and creative partners.

Among the charges, Activision states that West and Zampella attempted to ”prevent Activision from awarding additional compensation to [Infinity Ward] team members as a reward for the success of [Infinity Ward]-developed games, in order to make these employees easier to poach when West and Zampella executed their plans to leave the company and set up their own company.” The suit also claims that the pair delayed pre-production on Modern Warfare 3, which Activision most likely planned for a 2011 release.

West and Zampella’s original lawsuit had stated that Activision fired them as a way to deprive the developers of royalties earned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has generated more than $1.5 billion in worldwide revenue since the game launched in November. The lawsuit claims Activision owes the duo $36 million in royalties and damages.

Robert Schwartz, their attorney, released a statement about the countersuit:

The allegations Activision made today are false and outrageous. Just one example is Activision’s allegation that Jason and Vince conspired to spin off Infinity Ward. Activision itself proposed spinning off Infinity Ward when, last year, it sought to renegotiate Jason and Vince’s contract and induce them to forego developing a new game in favor of doing another Modern Warfare sequel. Jason and Vince had hired the Creative Artists Agency to advise them in their negotiations with Activision, and not to breach their contract. The conversations with IW employees, talent agents, and others during these negotiations with Activision were conducted to see if Activision’s proposal could work, and not in disrespect of their obligations to Activision.

Activision’s inaccurate and misguided allegations lose sight of the reality here: None of the false claims of insubordination or breach of duties had any negative affect on Activision — none. Modern Warfare 2 has been the world’s most successful video game. And none of this changes the fact that Jason and Vince would still be at Infinity Ward developing new games except that Activision kicked them out. This is just an Activision tactic to avoid paying Jason and Vince and everyone else at Infinity Ward the millions of dollars they all earned and that Activision owes them. Since being fired by Activision, Jason and Vince have taken steps to regain control over their creative future and plan to have an announcement very soon.

Activision, as alluded to by EA’s Brown, is known for filing many, and mostly frivolous, lawsuits, so who knows exactly how this situation will pan out. We do know, however, that The Gamerz Zone will keep you up to date as it progresses.

Just when you thought we might be able to stop running stories about Infinity Ward an Activision screwing something else up, the much debated (overpriced) Stimulus Package has gone live this morning, bringing with it a myriad of problems and errors, including:

Multiplayer lobbies not working.
Images for maps not showing up.
No option to play private matches.

Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, head of the Xbox Live team, writes via twitter:

The Stimulus Package needs a Title Update and it didn’t go out properly. We’re pushing it out now – it won’t be long

However, as of writing this, the time is 9AM Central, and it’s still not been fixed. Hryb’s second tweet says they are still working on a fix.

I feel it’s important to also mention that, due to a deal who’s numbers have never been disclosed to the public, the DLC is currently only available to Xbox 360 owners, with PS3 and PC to follow at a later date. Certainly seems curious to limit DLC to one console and then royal mess it up.

Hryb’s posted an update to twitter indicating an update is live and should fix the problem. No word as of yet as to what problems that update may cause.

The MW2 Title Update is now live! It may take a few minutes for everyone worldwide to get it – our apologies for the delay. #MW2

It may take a few mins for you to get the update, or for it to work properly. Once things get in order all should be fine.

Some people, including us here at the Gamerz Zone, are still having problems with connecting to the Xbox Live servers. Be not afraid, you are not alone.

The Xbox LIVE support team has published a blog detailing the cause of the problems. Most issues are fixed, with some intermittent issues with account payments still possible.

Folks, regardless of what side of the DLC fence you’re on, I think we can all agree, this is not the way to go about it. For the same price that you can get some of the better XBLA games on the market, you’re getting three new maps and two regurgitated ones. So, in my opinion, save yourself the money, or if you must buy something, just go buy Call of Duty 4, and get two of those same fives maps for the same price.

If it is a case of an attack on Ubisofts servers, and just their DRM and Login servers at that, you would think the company would realize that people are unhappy with their DRM practices, however, at this time, Ubisoft is making no attempt to alter or replace their DRM. Perhaps with more attacks or other unrelated downtime, Ubisoft will come to their senses.

“I don’t have any clear information on what the issue is … but clearly the extended downtime and lengthy login issues are unacceptable, particularly as I’ve been told these servers are constantly monitored. I’ll do what I can to get more information on what the issue is here first thing tomorrow and push for a resolution and assurance this won’t happen in the future.”

This, of course, does not affect those who went ahead and pirated the game instead, lending more credence to the idea the “crime pays.” But remember folks, if you pirate it, your game will be incomplete.

Sony is now advising that you do not turn on your older PS3 models to avoid further damage.

Yes. You heard right. Y2K has finally struck, ten years later and to a very specific group. Namely, PS3 Phats, whose dates are being reset to December 31, 1999, causing major outages, corrupted trophy information, and even the inability to play offline games throughout the PSN network.  Sony is aware of the issue and is “looking in to it,” the typical response from companies second only to “taking it seriously.”

Ubisoft are dickfucks. There. I said it. Now that I have that out of my system, allow me to elaborate.

Ubisoft have implemented DRM in the upcoming PC version of last years Assassin’s Creed 2. In case you don’t know what DRM is, it’s copy protection applied to prevent piracy. I’m all for game developers wanting their games to sell and make them money. But there’s one thing they need to learn. Don’t fucking punish the people buying your game. 

Ubisoft’s idea of copy protection is to charge you full price for nothing but a box, disc, and a manual. The game itself is not yours and never will be. Sounds ignorant, doesn’t it? Let me go further into detail.

Assassin’s Creed 2 and Settlers VII require you to have the disc in at all times and be connected to the internet to play. This isn’t a simple one time “Connect to the internet to validate your copy.” type of deal. With Ubisoft’s DRM, you can’t play a single-player game that lacks any online component unless you are hooked up to the internet the whole time you play.

If you get disconnected while playing, you are booted out of the game and lose all your progress since your last save or checkpoint and can’t play the game again until your internet connection is established.

You’d be paying $50 for a game you do not own. If Ubisoft servers go down, you can’t even enjoy the title screen of “your” game.

Ubisoft, understand this, please. You aren’t stopping piracy. You are causing it. Your game will be cracked and people will enjoy it free of charge because you think you are doing the right thing, when in reality, you are more shameful than any pirate to ever sail the seven internets. Stop punishing PC gamers. They’ve been though enough as it is. They don’t need you to further fuck things up for them.