Security Guards, Emergency Meetings, and More: Infinity Ward Bosses Laid-Off Due to “Insubordination” and Breach of Contract
The past 24 hours have not been kind to Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward.
It all began yesterday evening when rumors surfaced that Activision ordered security personnel to go check in on Infinity Ward in what we’re sure was a polite, completely non-threatening gesture. Infinity Ward employees were “freaked out” and “confused” by the nasty turn of events.
It only got uglier from there.
Apparently, Activision was investigating "breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward." These two senior employees were later identified as none other than the company’s heart and soul, respectively, bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella. Both men are now jobless.
Shortly after, in a move that seems a bit too convenient for our tastes, Activision announced the creation of a Call of Duty business unit, which will be headed-up by Philip Earl, who currently runs Activision Publishing’s Asia Pacific region. Meanwhile, Activision vets Steve Pearce and Steve Ackrich will take up the reigns over at Infinity Ward until suitable candidates are found to permanently steer the wagon. Again, fishy.
This came after Activision CEO Bobby Kotick flew in for an emergency meeting with Infinity Ward’s remaining staffers this afternoon.
So, what exactly caused this plate-flinging, staying-at-mother’s-house-for-a-month lover’s spat? Activision’s not talking, but the Internet’s made a valiant effort at putting together the pieces. For one thing, rumor has it that Activision’s been withholding royalty fees from Infinity Ward. Meanwhile, Infinity Ward’s apparently been shopping around for a new publisher despite a deal with Activision that doesn’t expire until October. And the developer’s hoping to take the Modern Warfare franchise with it, as it’s a partial owner of the Call of Duty franchise. Also, earlier this year Infinity Ward was rumored to have decided to focus on a new franchise instead of developing Modern Warfare 3 – a move that, we’re sure, had Activision’s piggy banks squealing in desperate fear of starvation.
But here’s the kicker: earlier today, after announcing a new action-adventure entry in the Call of Duty series developed by Sledgehammer Games, Activision said that Infinity Ward is still “central” to the Call of Duty franchise. An odd thing to say about a studio that hopes to develop a new IP. Now, maybe we’re reading into things a bit, but if your billion dollar horse was bucking, we bet you’d consider doing some fairly unscrupulous things to whip it back into line.
We wish the best of luck to everyone at Infinity Ward. Keep fighting the good fight, guys and gals.
Another Study Links Violent Videogames to Violent Behavior
Maybe it all started with the 1997 Atari 2600 title Combat, in which you were tasked with blowing up your best friend (or whoever you invited over) with a tank, bi-plane, or jet. Or maybe it was something else, but no matter what videogame first began shaping our feeble minds, one thing’s for sure - violent videogames increases our violent thinking, attitudes, and behaviors, says a new study. Oh, and those shoot-em-ups you’ve been playing do absolutely nothing to promote positive social behaviors.
To come to the above conclusion, psychologist Craig Anderson of Iowa State University and his team combed through the results of existing studies of 130,000 people from the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Anderson says he found an association between exposure to violent games and aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive "affect."
"Videogames are neither inherently good nor inherently bad," the study says. "But people learn. And content matters."
Naturally, not everyone agrees with Anderson’s findings. Two such critiques include Christopher Ferguson and John Kilburn of the department of behavioral applied science and criminal justice at Texas A&M International University. Ferguson and Kilburn point out flaws in Anderson’s study, including what they believe is a selection bias, as well as a weak connection at best. Furthermore, Freguson says that violent crime in the U.S. and other developed nations has decreased over the decades, even though videogames are becoming more popular than ever.
More info here.
Image Credit: scottpehnke.com
The Game Boy: Why Gamers Need to Wise Up and Realize That “Streamlined” Doesn’t Mean “Dumbed-Down”
Listening to many gamers and critics prattle on about Mass Effect 2 is kind of like listening to a teenager talk about their first love. The game, they say, can do no wrong. It’s a pure, perhaps even blind sort of love, and at first glance, it’s well-deserved. But no videogame – no matter how much of its dialogue is delivered in Martin Sheen’s seductively raspy warble – is perfect. Problem is, many of Mass Effect 2’s detractors are picking on the wrong “flaw.”
For Mass Effect 2, the word of the day that’s got nitpickers screaming like they’re on an episode of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse is “streamlined.” Or, in many cases, its more derogatory cousin: “dumbed-down.” “Mass Effect 2’s not even an RPG anymore,” many of them hoot and holler. “It’s just a shooter with RPG elements!” Now, ignoring the fact that large chunks of Mass Effect 2 see Shepard holstering his sticks and stones in favor of words so that the player can — you know — play a role, streamlining the game’s combat doesn’t diminish its effect. In fact, I’d even argue that it allows for greater strategic depth. Problem is, many gamers still cling to dusty, archaic notions of what certain genres should be, which – in my opinion – is keeping those genres stuck firmly in the Stone Age.
I realized just how much I appreciated Mass Effect 2’s straight-to-the-point take on running and gunning while I was making my way through BioShock 2. Yes, BioShock 2’s got all the trappings of a shooter, but – at any given moment – there’s just so much to do. Among other things, you’ve tons of guns and powers to shuffle through, health and plasmid meters to regulate, traps to keep an eye out for, items to pick up, etc. Now, BioShock 2’s combat definitely thrives on chaos, but – when the real meat of the game lies in staying just one precarious step ahead of splicers, Big Daddies, and Big Sisters – micromanaging the above factors really only serves to confuse and overwhelm the player. Don’t get me wrong: options are great. But so is food, and as with options, if you cram too much of it into something, you just get a bunch of unnecessary fat.
Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, gave me what I needed in battle and the means by which to quickly and conveniently access it. Nothing more, nothing less. My mind, no longer firing on all cylinders to just handle just the basics of combat, was free to plan out inventive strategies in the heat of battle. Instead of fumbling through my arsenal while working up a nice, refreshing nervous sweat, I was firing off orders and giving my enemies fits. Similarly, Mass Effect 2’s simplification of leveling, weapons, armor, and stats in general had me spending far less time bathed in the neon-glow of menu screens and more immersed in the stories of Shepard and his gang of incredibly dysfunctional cutthroats. A win-win situation, in my book.
That’s only one example, though. Over in Console Land, two games have (semi) recently come under fire for eschewing genre traditions and trimming away unnecessary fat. First up, Final Fantasy XII – in many ways the most progressive game in its entire 400,000,000 game series – bellyflopped its way right into the bargain bin because, as many gamers put it, “the game played itself.” Is that such a bad thing, though? Final Fantasy XII allowed players to program their characters for specific battle situations, all but eliminating the mundane menu-crawling that so characterized the series’ random battles for its entire existence. Again, Final Fantasy XII aimed to streamline and refine its combat system, but close-minded gamers were too stuck on their preconceived notions of what an RPG – and, on some level, videogames – should be, so they turned up their noses, scoffed, and went back to enduring random battle after random battle because that’s the way it’s always been. And guess what? Square Enix listened. Final Fantasy XIII’s a “return to form” for the series. Talk about a hollow victory.
More recently, PS3 heavy-hitter Heavy Rain took its fair share of flack for fusing a number of game genres with the cinematic flair and pacing of a movie. “It’s just a series of glorified ‘press A to not die’ quick-time events!” skeptics cried. “It might as well be Dragon’s Lair.” Again, however, by shaving off a few layers of interactivity, Heavy Rain created an entirely new form of videogame. But instead of embracing the notion of something new, many gamers hesitated to even call Heavy Rain a videogame. And yeah, it’s difficult to find a nice fit for Heavy Rain in the larger tapestry of videogame genres, but that’s the point!
And therein lies the rub: We’re operating on an outdated, utterly arbitrary notion of what makes an RPG an RPG, a shooter a shooter, and even a videogame a videogame. We’re taking our cues from a canon that’s still very much in the making. But really, if we want videogames to take off and reach their full potential, we need to stop binding their wings with our short-sighted ideas. We complain that videogames have stagnated – that they’re not innovative enough anymore. But when someone puts a new spin on an old idea, we roll our eyes and suddenly become cynical old museum curators, shooing away every piece that can’t fit in a frame and hang on a wall.
With the rapidly climbing price of game development, it’s already difficult enough for developers to breathe life into new ideas. So when a developer makes its very own Frankenstein’s monster of game genres, let’s at least wait until we’ve actually played the result for ourselves before raising our pitchforks and torches.
The Game Boy: Why Gamers Need to Wise Up and Realize That “Streamlined” Doesn’t Mean “Dumbed-Down”
Listening to many gamers and critics prattle on about Mass Effect 2 is kind of like listening to a teenager talk about their first love. The game, they say, can do no wrong. It’s a pure, perhaps even blind sort of love, and at first glance, it’s well-deserved. But no videogame – no matter how much of its dialogue is delivered in Martin Sheen’s seductively raspy warble – is perfect. Problem is, many of Mass Effect 2’s detractors are picking on the wrong “flaw.”
For Mass Effect 2, the word of the day that’s got nitpickers screaming like they’re on an episode of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse is “streamlined.” Or, in many cases, its more derogatory cousin: “dumbed-down.” “Mass Effect 2’s not even an RPG anymore,” many of them hoot and holler. “It’s just a shooter with RPG elements!” Now, ignoring the fact that large chunks of Mass Effect 2 see Shepard holstering his sticks and stones in favor of words so that the player can — you know — play a role, streamlining the game’s combat doesn’t diminish its effect. In fact, I’d even argue that it allows for greater strategic depth. Problem is, many gamers still cling to dusty, archaic notions of what certain genres should be, which – in my opinion – is keeping those genres stuck firmly in the Stone Age.
I realized just how much I appreciated Mass Effect 2’s straight-to-the-point take on running and gunning while I was making my way through BioShock 2. Yes, BioShock 2’s got all the trappings of a shooter, but – at any given moment – there’s just so much to do. Among other things, you’ve tons of guns and powers to shuffle through, health and plasmid meters to regulate, traps to keep an eye out for, items to pick up, etc. Now, BioShock 2’s combat definitely thrives on chaos, but – when the real meat of the game lies in staying just one precarious step ahead of splicers, Big Daddies, and Big Sisters – micromanaging the above factors really only serves to confuse and overwhelm the player. Don’t get me wrong: options are great. But so is food, and as with options, if you cram too much of it into something, you just get a bunch of unnecessary fat.
Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, gave me what I needed in battle and the means by which to quickly and conveniently access it. Nothing more, nothing less. My mind, no longer firing on all cylinders to just handle just the basics of combat, was free to plan out inventive strategies in the heat of battle. Instead of fumbling through my arsenal while working up a nice, refreshing nervous sweat, I was firing off orders and giving my enemies fits. Similarly, Mass Effect 2’s simplification of leveling, weapons, armor, and stats in general had me spending far less time bathed in the neon-glow of menu screens and more immersed in the stories of Shepard and his gang of incredibly dysfunctional cutthroats. A win-win situation, in my book.
That’s only one example, though. Over in Console Land, two games have (semi) recently come under fire for eschewing genre traditions and trimming away unnecessary fat. First up, Final Fantasy XII – in many ways the most progressive game in its entire 400,000,000 game series – bellyflopped its way right into the bargain bin because, as many gamers put it, “the game played itself.” Is that such a bad thing, though? Final Fantasy XII allowed players to program their characters for specific battle situations, all but eliminating the mundane menu-crawling that so characterized the series’ random battles for its entire existence. Again, Final Fantasy XII aimed to streamline and refine its combat system, but close-minded gamers were too stuck on their preconceived notions of what an RPG – and, on some level, videogames – should be, so they turned up their noses, scoffed, and went back to enduring random battle after random battle because that’s the way it’s always been. And guess what? Square Enix listened. Final Fantasy XIII’s a “return to form” for the series. Talk about a hollow victory.
More recently, PS3 heavy-hitter Heavy Rain took its fair share of flack for fusing a number of game genres with the cinematic flair and pacing of a movie. “It’s just a series of glorified ‘press A to not die’ quick-time events!” skeptics cried. “It might as well be Dragon’s Lair.” Again, however, by shaving off a few layers of interactivity, Heavy Rain created an entirely new form of videogame. But instead of embracing the notion of something new, many gamers hesitated to even call Heavy Rain a videogame. And yeah, it’s difficult to find a nice fit for Heavy Rain in the larger tapestry of videogame genres, but that’s the point!
And therein lies the rub: We’re operating on an outdated, utterly arbitrary notion of what makes an RPG an RPG, a shooter a shooter, and even a videogame a videogame. We’re taking our cues from a canon that’s still very much in the making. But really, if we want videogames to take off and reach their full potential, we need to stop binding their wings with our short-sighted ideas. We complain that videogames have stagnated – that they’re not innovative enough anymore. But when someone puts a new spin on an old idea, we roll our eyes and suddenly become cynical old museum curators, shooing away every piece that can’t fit in a frame and hang on a wall.
With the rapidly climbing price of game development, it’s already difficult enough for developers to breathe life into new ideas. So when a developer makes its very own Frankenstein’s monster of game genres, let’s at least wait until we’ve actually played the result for ourselves before raising our pitchforks and torches.
More Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 content in 2011
It seems that Bio Ware fans can rejoice, as they can look forward to even more content for their favourite RPG’s next year. As part of their annual earnings report EA have announced that Dragon: Age Origins will be getting yet another big PC expansion at the beginning of 2011. The game is currently only imaginatively titled “Dragon Age Title TBA” but it’s definitively on the EA PC release schedule for January-March period of 2011.
But the more recently released Mass Effect 2 won’t be left out in the cold. According to a report by Gamespot EA executives also talked about delivering “something far-reaching for Mass Effect (2),” in the same three month time period in 2011 during a post earnings report conference call.
All in all it sounds like EA have some serious long term plans for both Bio Ware’s RPG’s – hardly surprising when you look at the success of both brands. Mass Effect 2 is currently dominating the games charts following it’s release on the 29th of January.
Closer to the present Dragon Age: Origins will be getting its first major expansion, Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, on March 16th
More Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 content in 2011
It seems that Bio Ware fans can rejoice, as they can look forward to even more content for their favourite RPG’s next year. As part of their annual earnings report EA have announced that Dragon: Age Origins will be getting yet another big PC expansion at the beginning of 2011. The game is currently only imaginatively titled “Dragon Age Title TBA” but it’s definitively on the EA PC release schedule for January-March period of 2011.
But the more recently released Mass Effect 2 won’t be left out in the cold. According to a report by Gamespot EA executives also talked about delivering “something far-reaching for Mass Effect (2),” in the same three month time period in 2011 during a post earnings report conference call.
All in all it sounds like EA have some serious long term plans for both Bio Ware’s RPG’s – hardly surprising when you look at the success of both brands. Mass Effect 2 is currently dominating the games charts following it’s release on the 29th of January.
Closer to the present Dragon Age: Origins will be getting its first major expansion, Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, on March 16th
More Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 content in 2011
It seems that Bio Ware fans can rejoice, as they can look forward to even more content for their favourite RPG’s next year. As part of their annual earnings report EA have announced that Dragon: Age Origins will be getting yet another big PC expansion at the beginning of 2011. The game is currently only imaginatively titled “Dragon Age Title TBA” but it’s definitively on the EA PC release schedule for January-March period of 2011.
But the more recently released Mass Effect 2 won’t be left out in the cold. According to a report by Gamespot EA executives also talked about delivering “something far-reaching for Mass Effect (2),” in the same three month time period in 2011 during a post earnings report conference call.
All in all it sounds like EA have some serious long term plans for both Bio Ware’s RPG’s – hardly surprising when you look at the success of both brands. Mass Effect 2 is currently dominating the games charts following it’s release on the 29th of January.
Closer to the present Dragon Age: Origins will be getting its first major expansion, Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, on March 16th
Mass Effect 2
In some ways, Mass Effect 2 is the anti-Dragon Age. Whereas Bioware’s other RPG is an overwhelmingly expansive epic that consumes serious role-players, this sci-fi sequel (part two of a planned trilogy) is a cinematic adventure that propels players through its character-driven story with a sense of urgency. In that sense, it never feels like the same game Bioware released only two months ago, and surpasses the original Mass Effect in its ability to draw you into its mythology.
Like the first game, Mass Effect 2 is equal parts Roddenberry and Lucas—a space saga that combines the interplanetary politics and heroic adventuring of Star Trek with the gritty personality and blaster-duels of Star Wars. The plot is simple: a mysterious race called the Collectors have been abducting humans from colonies, and, as Commander Shepard, it’s your job to stop them and uncover their connection to the Reaper threat of the first game. A dramatic introductory cut-scene sets the stage for a two-year fast forward that resets you character’s abilities and puts all players on equal footing.
The disconnect from the first game extends further than the two-year time jump. Gone is your Spectre status that let you roam the galaxy like a Jedi peacekeeper. Instead, you’re now an operative of Cerberus, a pro-humanity group with a strict ends-justifies-the-means mandate. Its leader, an appropriately named Illusive Man, is your mission handler and a character of firm resolve. Cerberus and its questionable morals set the stage for the theme of Mass Effect 2, as you are constantly confronted with choices that have no clear right answer.
Even though Shepard is the hero of the game, Mass Effect 2’s tone is really defined by its supporting cast of characters. By the end of the game, you recruit 10 squad mates (including some familiar faces), each with a distinct personality, abilities, and interesting back story that could warrant a full game on its own. The Cerberus stalwart Miranda, for example, is genetically engineered to be the perfect woman, yet struggling to escape her past. Mordin, a Salarian scientist, was a major contributor to the Genophage virus that decimated the Krogan race. Without spoiling the details of the other teammates, we’ll just say that each are interesting and complex, with personalities that motives that feel real (due in part to the superb voice acting).
Once again, you can also enter into a romantic relationship with one of your teammates in the game. This requires actively flirting with the object of your affection during conversations in between missions. Not every member of your squad can be romanced, though we found that Shepard could be quite a flirt with all of them. Our favorite romance, actually, turned out to be with someone who wasn’t a member of the core team!
The game’s core missions are also driven by dialogue choices. The conversation chat dial interface returns, along with the option to resolve confrontations with benevolence or malevolence. Mass Effect 2 also has a quick-time event system to interrupt cut-scenes, which enhances the cinematic styling. This feature isn’t used as frequently as we would’ve liked, but it’s nonetheless effective at immersing you into the scene.
But Mass Effect 2 isn’t all about talking. As a third-person shooter, Mass Effect 2 is more than competent—its combat areas obviously designed to accommodate a cover system and real-time squad commands. The game is very action-centric; it’s more of an action game with role-playing elements than vice versa. Instead of fixing the frustrating inventory system of the first game, the developers chose to get rid of equipment inventory management altogether. In fact, we were a bit shocked to find that there are only 19 total unique weapons in the game. We would’ve welcomed some Borderlands-style randomization in weapon and equipment stats.
The one feature we’re actually glad Bioware dropped from the first game is the Mako vehicle missions. Planetary exploration now takes the form of a planet-scanning mini-game, which you use to gather resources or uncover side-quests. Scanning every new planet does get a bit tedious, but it’s perfect for obsessive compulsive completionists or aspiring Science Officers of the Federation. The other two mini-games are used in-mission to uncover loot or unlock doors, and thankfully neither is too distracting.
Planetary exploration is rewarded with side-quests and seemingly random encounters. Whether it’s discovering a crashed starship or tracking the origins of corrupted AI code through several star systems, these side missions all feel unique and fresh. That said, there isn’t too much content that you ever feel overwhelmed; we easily accomplished 100% completion within 30 hours of play.
Main story and side-quests aside, it’s your personal choices that ultimate shape the gameplay experience of Mass Effect 2. While the main story follows a locked path, the theme of your journey ebbs and flows around the decisions you make—both in your own character’s development and the big picture. Some of the more difficult choices aren’t even apparent until you feel their consequences. Suffice to say, more than one squad member’s life is at stake. And we loved that these life-or-death decisions never felt arbitrary; your decisions are based on what you’ve learned about these characters and the how your relationship as developed with the team. Rush through conversations and you’ll miss out on important clues that would otherwise help you make the best informed decision.
The cost of your actions will reverberate beyond the climatic ending of the game, too. Just as imported save games from the first game have significant effects on how certain missions are scripted and play out in Mass Effect 2, the consequences of your choices here are compounded to shape the direction of the final act of the trilogy—a game development achievement that boggles the mind.
Mass Effect 2 sets a new high standard for action-RPGs. Whether you’re familiar with the Mass Effect mythology or not, it’s a gaming experience that shouldn’t be missed.
PC is the real future of gaming
According to veteran developer and head of Gas Powered Games Chris Taylor, the future of gaming lies with PC rather than in consoles, which will eventually become a closed and obsolete avenue for development. “Anytime you have a propriety system it’s like a benevolent dictatorship – there are some short term benefits to it, but they fall down in the long run,” Taylor told Total PC Gaming magazine in a recent interview. “That’s been the way it’s been over and over again in the history of technology and even the history of the world.”
While he’s happy creating multi-platform titles and his current project Supreme Commander 2 will be released on Xbox 360 as well as PC, Taylor was echoing a sentiment recently expressed by Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada. Wada intimated that his company is prepared for the death of physical, disc-based console games, which he predicts will happen within ten years, warning the industry to prepare for change.
Going one step further Taylor went on to explain just why PC gaming is insulated from that sort of fate, claiming it’s primarily because of it’s early focus on digital distribution and open nature – which means it isn’t dominated by any of the major players. “So I think the PC is an open platform, and digital distribution means the ability for people to create strong (independent) publishing and distribution platforms- none of which is possible on consoles,” he said. Developers, he believes, will eventually gravitate towards PC as a result. “I could really go down the rabbit hole with this, but I see the PC as the only logical place to carry forward for everyone who wants to compete- it’s the open market place.”
Taylor and Gas Powered Games are currently finalising Supreme Commander 2 which will be released on PC on March 5th in the UK.
You can read our entire interview with Chris Taylor in Issue 30 of Total PC Gaming on sale the 18th of February.
PC is the real future of gaming
According to veteran developer and head of Gas Powered Games Chris Taylor, the future of gaming lies with PC rather than in consoles, which will eventually become a closed and obsolete avenue for development. “Anytime you have a propriety system it’s like a benevolent dictatorship – there are some short term benefits to it, but they fall down in the long run,” Taylor told Total PC Gaming magazine in a recent interview. “That’s been the way it’s been over and over again in the history of technology and even the history of the world.”
While he’s happy creating multi-platform titles and his current project Supreme Commander 2 will be released on Xbox 360 as well as PC, Taylor was echoing a sentiment recently expressed by Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada. Wada intimated that his company is prepared for the death of physical, disc-based console games, which he predicts will happen within ten years, warning the industry to prepare for change.
Going one step further Taylor went on to explain just why PC gaming is insulated from that sort of fate, claiming it’s primarily because of it’s early focus on digital distribution and open nature – which means it isn’t dominated by any of the major players. “So I think the PC is an open platform, and digital distribution means the ability for people to create strong (independent) publishing and distribution platforms- none of which is possible on consoles,” he said. Developers, he believes, will eventually gravitate towards PC as a result. “I could really go down the rabbit hole with this, but I see the PC as the only logical place to carry forward for everyone who wants to compete- it’s the open market place.”
Taylor and Gas Powered Games are currently finalising Supreme Commander 2 which will be released on PC on March 5th in the UK.
You can read our entire interview with Chris Taylor in Issue 30 of Total PC Gaming on sale the 18th of February.
