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.
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.
Ubisoft Clarifies Assassin’s Creed II DRM, We’re Still Not Convinced
To say that Ubisoft’s in the doghouse with every PC gamer on earth right now is a bit of an understatement. “But wait!” says Ubisoft, its Adam’s apple bobbing as a pitchfork hovers just above its throat. “We can explain!”
Ok, we’re listening.
"As long as you do not quit the game, the game will continue to try to reconnect for an unlimited time. Once the game is able to reconnect, you will immediately be returned to your game," Ubisoft told Ars Technica.
"Where exactly you are reconnected in the game may differ from title to title. Settlers 7 reconnects at the exact point where the connection was lost, AC2 reconnects you at the last checkpoint (and not the last auto save, as indicated in the CVG article). There are many checkpoints so you’re back to the point where you got disconnected in no time."
Apparently, DRMed games also won’t miss a beat if your connection goes MIA for a couple seconds. Only “lengthy” disconnects send you hurtling back to the starting line.
As you might have surmised from the title, though, we’re still not sold on this. Not by a long shot. The fact that we can be locked out of our game at all is a head-scratcher, and it really doesn’t help anyone. After all, what’ll happen? Will our legal copy suddenly transform into a pirated copy when Ubisoft stops looking?
Piracy needs to stop – no doubt. But publishers don’t need to treat PC gamers like second class citizens to do it. Shocking, we know, since it’s worked so well in the past.
Ubisoft Clarifies Assassin’s Creed II DRM, We’re Still Not Convinced
To say that Ubisoft’s in the doghouse with every PC gamer on earth right now is a bit of an understatement. “But wait!” says Ubisoft, its Adam’s apple bobbing as a pitchfork hovers just above its throat. “We can explain!”
Ok, we’re listening.
"As long as you do not quit the game, the game will continue to try to reconnect for an unlimited time. Once the game is able to reconnect, you will immediately be returned to your game," Ubisoft told Ars Technica.
"Where exactly you are reconnected in the game may differ from title to title. Settlers 7 reconnects at the exact point where the connection was lost, AC2 reconnects you at the last checkpoint (and not the last auto save, as indicated in the CVG article). There are many checkpoints so you’re back to the point where you got disconnected in no time."
Apparently, DRMed games also won’t miss a beat if your connection goes MIA for a couple seconds. Only “lengthy” disconnects send you hurtling back to the starting line.
As you might have surmised from the title, though, we’re still not sold on this. Not by a long shot. The fact that we can be locked out of our game at all is a head-scratcher, and it really doesn’t help anyone. After all, what’ll happen? Will our legal copy suddenly transform into a pirated copy when Ubisoft stops looking?
Piracy needs to stop – no doubt. But publishers don’t need to treat PC gamers like second class citizens to do it. Shocking, we know, since it’s worked so well in the past.
Civilization V Officially Announced
The Revolution was televised, and it was pretty all right, we guess. But now Sid Meier’s up to his old tricks again, and we couldn’t be happier. No more “Revolutions,” no more Facebook games. Just a good old-fashioned numbered installment in the Civ series that’s being built from the ground up as a PC exclusive.
“Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise has been recognized as one of the greatest PC game franchises of all time with millions of units sold worldwide,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Civilization V takes the franchise further by offering players a more immersive experience with deeper strategies; heightened tactical combat; vast, realistic landscapes to explore, battle over and claim as their own; and an in-game community hub where Civ fans can share content and compete against each other without leaving the game.”
Which is all great. But you know what’s even better? Hex grids, which apparently allow for “deeper strategy, more realistic gameplay and stunning organic landscapes for players to explore as they expand their empire.”
Hexagon tiles, incidentally, strike us as a bit of an odd feature to promote front-and-center when you’re announcing a new game. There’s no middle ground. Either you’re an average “everyday” gamer who only delves into turn-based strategy when a new Civ game comes out, in which case, you have no idea what Talk-Two’s taking about. Er, Take-Two’s talking about. Or you’re a hardcore strategy buff, in which case you’re sexually aroused right now.
But that’s neither here nor there. And sadly, neither is any more info on Civ V. We’ll keep you posted.
Civilization V Officially Announced
The Revolution was televised, and it was pretty all right, we guess. But now Sid Meier’s up to his old tricks again, and we couldn’t be happier. No more “Revolutions,” no more Facebook games. Just a good old-fashioned numbered installment in the Civ series that’s being built from the ground up as a PC exclusive.
“Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise has been recognized as one of the greatest PC game franchises of all time with millions of units sold worldwide,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Civilization V takes the franchise further by offering players a more immersive experience with deeper strategies; heightened tactical combat; vast, realistic landscapes to explore, battle over and claim as their own; and an in-game community hub where Civ fans can share content and compete against each other without leaving the game.”
Which is all great. But you know what’s even better? Hex grids, which apparently allow for “deeper strategy, more realistic gameplay and stunning organic landscapes for players to explore as they expand their empire.”
Hexagon tiles, incidentally, strike us as a bit of an odd feature to promote front-and-center when you’re announcing a new game. There’s no middle ground. Either you’re an average “everyday” gamer who only delves into turn-based strategy when a new Civ game comes out, in which case, you have no idea what Talk-Two’s taking about. Er, Take-Two’s talking about. Or you’re a hardcore strategy buff, in which case you’re sexually aroused right now.
But that’s neither here nor there. And sadly, neither is any more info on Civ V. We’ll keep you posted.
Things You Should Boycott: Assassin’s Creed II and Its Horrendously Restrictive DRM
We love Assassin’s Creed II. It’s a fantastic game that actually lives up to all the promise its predecessor fell just short of.
Its DRM, however, manages to undo all that good will and then some.
We weren’t entirely sold on Ubisoft’s new “anti-piracy plan” when the publisher ran it by us last month, but little did we know that we were witnessing the birth of DRM so sinister that we’re now petitioning to have the guy that created SecuROM canonized.
Here’s how it works (as discovered by the fine folks at PC Gamer UK): as you’re already aware, the DRM requires an Internet connection to authenticate your game. As you weren’t already aware, it requires that Internet connection at all times. Constantly. The second you lose that connection for whatever reason, even for a second – be it a faulty wireless signal, a clumsy roommate, or a fried server on Ubisoft’s end – your game goes dark, you lose all unsaved progress, and you’re locked out of the game until you resolve your connection issue.
We’re reminded, at this point, of an old Internet saying: DO NOT WANT.
Ubisoft’s also afflicting the DRM upon Settlers 7. We weren’t actually planning on purchasing Settlers 7 in the first place, and – shockingly enough – this hasn’t done anything to change our minds.
Is this a joke, Ubisoft? Because we’re not seeing the punchline. That is, unless you burst out laughing every time hundreds of thousands of pirates cause you to lose millions of dollars.
Things You Should Boycott: Assassin’s Creed II and Its Horrendously Restrictive DRM
We love Assassin’s Creed II. It’s a fantastic game that actually lives up to all the promise its predecessor fell just short of.
Its DRM, however, manages to undo all that good will and then some.
We weren’t entirely sold on Ubisoft’s new “anti-piracy plan” when the publisher ran it by us last month, but little did we know that we were witnessing the birth of DRM so sinister that we’re now petitioning to have the guy that created SecuROM canonized.
Here’s how it works (as discovered by the fine folks at PC Gamer UK): as you’re already aware, the DRM requires an Internet connection to authenticate your game. As you weren’t already aware, it requires that Internet connection at all times. Constantly. The second you lose that connection for whatever reason, even for a second – be it a faulty wireless signal, a clumsy roommate, or a fried server on Ubisoft’s end – your game goes dark, you lose all unsaved progress, and you’re locked out of the game until you resolve your connection issue.
We’re reminded, at this point, of an old Internet saying: DO NOT WANT.
Ubisoft’s also afflicting the DRM upon Settlers 7. We weren’t actually planning on purchasing Settlers 7 in the first place, and – shockingly enough – this hasn’t done anything to change our minds.
Is this a joke, Ubisoft? Because we’re not seeing the punchline. That is, unless you burst out laughing every time hundreds of thousands of pirates cause you to lose millions of dollars.
The Game Boy: No Use Reloading Your Last Save Over Spilt Milk
I’m a few loose ends away from wrapping up Mass Effect 2, and that terrifies me.
I know, I know. I shouldn’t be so frightened. I’ve turned the galaxy upside-down, shaking loose its roughest, toughest customers and sweeping them right onto my ship. My crew and I have fought back-to-back time and time again, leaving robots, aliens, and entire mercenary organizations battered and bloody in our wakes. But it’s not my crew I’m worried about. It’s me.
I mean, let’s be honest here: the term “suicide mission” doesn’t inspire much optimism. And here we are, betting the whole space farm on those abysmal odds anyway. But whatever, right? Mass Effect 3’s already been announced. Unless the game’s actually a bouquet of colorful Game Over screens, I’m pretty sure we’ve got this one in the bag. We may as well be running a victory lap at this point.
However, we’ve got one more major factor working against us – one that not even the great, no-longer-late Shepard has taken into account: I, the player, am not reloading a previous save if things go awry.
Oh, sure, if I slip up and take a headlong dive right into a red, pulsating Game Over screen, I’ll restart a combat scenario, but that’s just assumed. No – I’m talking about story-altering consequences here. Crew members can – and depending on my actions, may very well – die permanently during Mass Effect 2’s final hours. It used to be that, when this kind of thing happened in games, I’d simply hit the reload button and roll back the clock a couple of minutes as a quick, clean necromantic ritual. Then I’d do things the “right” way. No unnecessary blood or tears shed.
Now though, I’ve realized something: Undoing my in-game mistakes robs my actions of all meaning. In videogames, we can make mistakes. Sure, other mediums have filled tome-upon-tome, tape-upon-tape with tearful tales of regret and guilt, but only in games can we truly own those feelings. If I accidentally lead my exceedingly loyal teammates right off a bridge, that’s on me. And one of my favorite aspects of Mass Effect 2 – or BioWare’s recent works in general, for that matter – is that it leaves room for those sorts of game-changing mistakes. That, in my opinion, is a big step in the right direction for story-based videogames.
Take Dragon Age, for instance. I’ll try to keep this as vague as possible, so as to minimize spoilers, but here’s how it went: My party could have made it through the game’s final encounter fully intact. It didn’t. It was my fault. And before I knew it, I was saving my own hide at someone else’s expense. As I witnessed one of my companions selflessly charge through death’s gates, warm tears streamed down my face, uncontrolled – partially because I was saddened by my party member’s passing, partially because I was ashamed of my own cowardice, and partially because I could have done something to stop it.
If only I’d known what would happen.
And now, I do know. But I refuse to tarnish that moment with a do-over. Because I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so strongly about a videogame in my entire life.
Mass Effect 2 expands on this by allowing for quick moments of Paragon/Renegade action – or, often more importantly, inaction. Hesitate just long enough on stopping that gung-ho Quarian captain from going out in a blaze of glory and it’s too late. Then your stomach sinks, and you’re hit with the always slobber-knocking one-two combo of guilt and regret.
Too many games, I think, subscribe to the idea that there’s a “right” and “wrong” way of experiencing their stories.
Take BioShock, for instance. If you harvested a Little Sister early on – because, let’s face it, Rapture’s a kill-or-be-killed kind of place, and it was either you or her – you were locked out of the “good” ending. But that panicked “I have to harvest her or else I’m fish food” mentality and the mistake that arose from it are what makes the whole encounter so interesting. Your back was against the wall, so you lashed out. Later, once you got your footing (and a Plasmid or three), you decided to repent for your sins by freeing every brittle, barefooted Little Sister you laid eyes on.
In the above hypothetical playthrough, then, your early flirtations with the “wrong” path eventually strengthened your commitment to the “right” path. You made a mistake and you felt awful about it. The game, however, saw things differently. The second the game’s own excellent atmosphere and scene-setting drove you to whip up some delicious, nutritious Little Sister soufflé, you were judged guilty. Your actions after that initial mistake simply didn’t matter. “Bang, bang,” slammed the gavel. And just like that, you were either mostly evil, or mustachio-twirlingly, cape-sportingly evil. No middle ground.
Whereas Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age make these sorts of internal struggles viable, BioShock and many other big-name games brusquely shove them out of the way as they barrel toward the finish line. Videogames are interactive. Our actions within them should mean something. I say it’s time to finally make good on that particular promise.
