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.

The PS3 and PC version of the Stimulus package is due out May 4th in North America, with Europe lagging a day behind. No word as of yet on the pricing, but after spending over £1million in Europe alone to market the pack, expect them to gouge PS3 and PC users as much as they did the Xbox users. Also unannounced is whether the pack will break the Playstation Network and the internet as it did Xbox Live.

I think, however, if this was starring anyone but a cranky looking old man, it might not have met the same fate. Or if this were any other country, instead of one who views sex as a taboo subject… ]]> http://thegamerzzone.com/2010/04/08/watch-the-banned-modern-warfare-commerical/feed/ 4 http://thegamerzzone.com/2010/04/08/dead-again-that%e2%80%99s-like-the-billionth-time-today/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dead-again-that%25e2%2580%2599s-like-the-billionth-time-today http://thegamerzzone.com/2010/04/08/dead-again-that%e2%80%99s-like-the-billionth-time-today/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:06:04 +0000 Jared Cooper http://thegamerzzone.com/?p=851

Ever since the good ol’ days of Pac man and Super Mario, gamers have been growing more and more accustomed to dying.  It has gotten to the point where dying in video games really has nothing to do with real death, but is actually just an ingenious way that some dude came up with to tell us that we have succumbed to failure once again.  This day and age is, arguably, much worse than before, though, because the ways that death is achieved in new games like Modern Warfare 2 and many other war games out there is much more gruesome than before and are actually designed to make the gamer feel like it just happened to them.  Is the video game industry trying to teach us that there is no consequence for death?  Sure does seem like it to me, because dying is not so much punished, but almost rewarded with a fresh new life and a full clip of ammo.  Games nowadays even reward us with tips when we die like “If you see your grenade indicator pop up, you might want to move” and “If you’re getting shot at then get out of the way.”

Death, in some ways, even becomes a good thing because it gives gamers a chance to memorize locations, spawns, patterns of advance, and layout of the level in general.  Don’t know where that sniper is?  Well just let him kill you, then watch the KillCam to find out where he’s hiding.  Those poor CPU soldiers never even stand a chance the second time when there is a cooked grenade landing on them before they even get a shot off.  Although completely unrealistic in this day of unreal graphics and  amazing design, death has become almost as much of a strategy than a failure.

That’s right. Effects studio Corridor Digital spent a mere $209.42 to make this amazing video. Imagine if some of these big name studios would use real effects rather than CGI. I’m look at you George Lucas. Anyway, check the video below.

Full Disclosure: We here at the Gamerz Zone do not condone spawncamping, noob tubing, lagging, getting served in giant robot dance offs, climate change, dunking oreo cakesters, or Larry Langford.

While information regarding this issue are scarce, one thing is for sure, I have no idea what is going on with Activision and Infinity Ward. It seems that some companies crumble under their own success and arrogance.

The bigger your successes…

Thanks for keeping things interesting though.

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.

The gamer, using an Xbox 360, played the Modern Warfare 2 training level “The Pit,” while a former elite special ops soldier, whose missions were so secretive his identity couldn’t be revealed, took on a real life scale version.

Now, we’ve seen faster speed runs of the pit before, but this guy actually takes the course like a real soldier would, and still managed to best the soldier by seven seconds. Of course, this wouldn’t happen in the real world, but it’s still interesting to watch.