Tag: activision

Call of Duty: Black Ops Brings Back Dedicated Servers

black opsLike many of the PC gaming faithful on this very website, I was a bit dissapointed in Infinity Ward’s decision to use a peer-to-peer matchmaking service for their multiplayer. While it was fun for a bit, the amount of glitchers and hackers I would run into during every single match became a bit much. I quit playing that game in January, and I haven’t looked back (mostly because of how awesome Bad Company 2 is).

With a new Call of Duty on the horizon, you would expect developer Treyarch to continue on with IW’s plan of no dedicated servers, right? Fortunetly, Treyarch is thinking for themselves this time around, and studio head Mark Lamia recently went on record with PC Zone (via CVG) saying that he thinks, quote:

…dedicated servers are excellent. I don’t see any reason not to see them unless… well, I just don’t see any reason not to.”

Honestly, I think this is good news for the Call of Duty franchise. When you take out dedicated servers, and with it the ability of admins to moderate the player base, what you get is an unholy mess, where only those with the latest aimbot hack comes out on top. I’m still not digging this new Call of Duty that much, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. What do you guys think? Good news? Enough to get you to purchase yet another CoD?

Source – CVG

Today’s WTF: Bungie Joins Forces With Activision?

acti-bungieIf there ever was a sign of the coming apocalypse, I’m sure it would be notoriously evil publisher Activison-Blizzard snapping up Bungie Studios, creators of such renowned franchise as Halo, Marathon and Myth. Well, “snapping up” is technically incorrect, as Bungie has entered into a ten-year publishing agreement with Activision but are retaining their autonomy.

This is different from Infinity Ward’s situation, as they were a wholly owned subsidiary, so conspiracy theorists can lay that one to rest. The fact of the matter is that Bungie is an extremely strong studio, whereas Infinity Ward was a struggling start-up when they were taken over by Activision. Besides, Bungie retains control over any Intellectual Properties they develop under this agreement. While pressure from the publisher can lead to complications, chances are Bungie will invest all their man-power into this new game after they finish development of Halo: Reach.

After Bungie parted ways with Microsoft in 2007, they were contractually obligated to ship one more Halo game before pursuing other interests. This is a big coup for Activision, who just recently lost a lot of talented staff from Call of Duty development house Infinity Ward, and may stand to lose a lot more than that.

What do you guys think of this development? Eager to see what Bungie produces after Reach? Are you PS3 owners excited at the prospect of having Bungie develop for your console? Will the average consumer even notice a difference?

Source: Gamasutra

Analyst Predicts Closure of Infinity Ward

closedI honestly can’t remember the last time that we’ve videogame industry drama on the scale that we have been seeing lately with Activision and Infinity Ward. If you’ve somehow missed out on all the craziness: several weeks ago, studio heads Zampella and West of Infinity Ward were Order 66’d. Some crazy allegations launched out from both Activision and Zampella and West, who went on to start Respawn, which was then bought up by EA.

In the wake of this insanity, many employees of IW have been jumping ship, with some of them going to join Respawn with their former bosses. In addition to that, some employees have filed a lawsuit against Activision, claiming that hundreds of millions in royalties were owed. Add to that the fact that yesterday, Activision Publishing President and CEO Mike Griffith is stepping down from his post, and you have quite the poostorm going on.

Naturally, this has lead to some concerns about the future of Infinity Ward in the hands of Activision, and now industry analyst Mike Hickey is predicting that the studio will close after the next map pack is released. According to big Mike:

We expect Infinity Ward studio will be essentially closed after their next map pack release, with development work on Modern Warfare 3 spread between two studios not historically tied to the franchise.

And there you have it. While this is just an analyst’s prediction, and to be taken with a grain of salt, it definitely rings true with what some have no doubt thought about. So what do you guys think of this whole drama? Even though I’m sure that there is much wrong on both sides of the camp, all of this stuff really makes Activision look pretty bad, and like they squandered their golden goose.

Source- Gamasutra

Today’s WTF: From Zero to Nuke in 30 Seconds

I’m sure that, by this point, most of us have ventured into Modern Warfare 2’s online arena and have seen some crazy shenanigans go down. From the Javelin glitch and speed skating to ridiculously accurate knife tosses, Infinity Ward’s leviathan continues to provide quality entertainment at other people’s expense. Just take a look at the following video where some lucky dude grabs a early multi-kill and proceeds to dominate everyone:

Too wild, eh? What do you guys think? Is this legit, or is the user engaged in some shady activity?

Modern Warfare 2 DLC Trailer is Stimulating

As we are all well aware, Infinity Ward is still giving us a map pack for their immensely popular online shooter on March 30 despite their current trouble with parent company Activision. Featuring five maps, two of them remakes of the popular Call of Duty 4 maps, Crash and Overgrown, this add-on will cost an astounding fifteen dollars. Take a look at the newly released trailer for the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package:

How do you guys feel about this? I’ve moved on to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and I don’t think I’ll go back to Modern Warfare 2. The game was really addictive for a while, but the land-slide of bugs and glitches killed my enthusiasm. Who here is still playing this game, and are you going to pick up this up?

Activision Goes All Order 66 on Infinity Ward

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Almost five months after releasing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a smash hit with sales numbering in excess of a billion dollars, a wave of shady goings-on and innuendo has blanketed Infinity Ward, resulting in the layoffs of two senior members, namely Vince Zampella and Jason West. For those who are unfamiliar with the pair, these two are the head honchos at Infinity Ward, so these are some startling developments indeed.

It all started yesterday with IW’s bosses heading for a meeting with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. Zampella and West went MIA after the meeting and a bunch of “bouncer”-types showed up outside the IW offices creating a “tense situation”. Although the security personnel would not disclose why they had rolled up on IW’s office building, this did not stop the internet’s unofficial band of sleuths from digging through Linked-In, a job-history database. Vince Zampella has changed his profile to reflect his new employment status with his tenure as Infinity Ward’s CEO clearly represented in the past tense.
Continue reading Activision Goes All Order 66 on Infinity Ward

Today’s WTF: Tony Hawk is a Glutton for Punishment

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Poor Tony Hawk. Back in its heyday, the Pro Skater series of games were the best way to get on a skateboard and have fun without breaking your neck, but recent iterations of the franchise have been, well…less than stellar, to put it kindly.

After the massive failure that was the first Tony Hawk Ride, it appears that Mr. Hawk and the crew at Robomodo (the developers of the original) are more than willing to get back on the board and give it another shot; probably as a courtesy to those who paid upwards of $119.99 USD for the game and its peripheral. The skateboarding luminary, famous for his 900 degree revolution trick, recently Tweeted that he was in Chicago meeting with the studio about their next project.

The Tony Hawk games reached their zenith with the first Underground game and have been in a swift decline ever since, and I don’t think that Ride 2 (or whatever it will end up being called) has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning back those who were jaded by the first game.

I’m interested in one thing, though: has anyone here played THR, and was it as bad as it was made out to be? What do you think of the games themselves? Should they fade off quietly into the nether, or will Activision continue to pump them for all they’re worth? For fun, what was your favorite version? Answer away!

Source: ShackNews

Upcoming StarCraft Release Features Protoss “Mini-Campaign”

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As we all know, the various species of the StarCraft universe will be getting their own complete campaign spread across three separate titles that will fully comprise StarCraft II. With the Terran campaign “Wings of Liberty” set for release sometime this year (hopefully), we all assumed that we’d have to wait until 2011 or later to play as the Protoss, but this may not be the case.

A Blizzard Community Team member confirmed on the official Battle.Net forums that the psychic aliens will get a small campaign separate from the Terran missions in StarCraft II. The Protoss portion of “Wings” is expected to be much shorter than the Terran sections and will only feature a small sampling of units and buildings, so it doesn’t exactly set one up for multiplayer. The main purpose of the mini-campaign is to break up the pacing and add a little variety to the single player offering.

What are your opinions on this new development in the seemingly never-ending stream of pre-release StarCraft news? It’s great that Blizzard continues to add new features to the game (even when they take essential ones out), but I’m of the opinion that StarCraft II needs to hit in 2010 or the sci-fi RTS will take a major hurting in the PR department. How do you guys feel, though? Is StarCraft II going to be worth the wait, and are you going to pick it up?

Source: Kotaku

He Said What? The Most WTF Quotes of ’09.

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Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year! As we slip into 2010 and eagerly await the best first quarter of video game history, we look back and reflect on 2009 and what an interesting year it was for gaming. We had plenty of great games drop this year (Batman, Resident Evil 5, Assassin’s Creed II just to name a few), and we finally saw the release of the undeniable juggernaut, Modern Warfare 2. But, as great as this year has been, there’s been more than a few eyebrow-raising moments as well. Whether you’ve got Infinity Ward’s decision to use matchmaking on the PC, Bobby Kotick’s Emperor Palpatine-esque villainy or Microsoft and Sony’s bizarre desire to tap into the motion control market, 2009 has seen its share of shenanigans. 1up has put together a list of their top industry quotes of 2009, and I’ve gone through and picked out a few of my favorites:

“You ever wonder what the bottom of an Avatar’s shoe looks like? Well BAM! There it is!”

Kudo Tsunoda demonstrating Natal at the E3 2009 Microsoft key note.

“Games have been used for stimulation, but maybe it won’t be long until games are used for relaxation and even to fall asleep.”

Nintendo prez Satoru Iwata introducing the ultimate WTF, the Wii Vitality Sensor, at the E3 2009 Nintendo key note. Continue reading He Said What? The Most WTF Quotes of ’09.

On Glitches and Cheating

gimlihax
Modern Warfare 2 is an incredibly fun experience online, whether you’re grouping up in one of the few rooms that allows party chat or going lone wolf like I tend to. The game is consistently rewarding, and I rarely feel frustrated to a degree where I consider quitting.

That used to be the case until a new exploit in the game became all the rage. You may have experienced a scenario where an enemy soldier sprints towards you with a Javelin launcher equipped, intent on suicide. You pop a few rounds into him, mutely thanking the newbie for an easy kill. Just as you begin gloating, the oncoming adversary explodes and takes you down with him. By using some sneaky controller manipulating, the griefer is essentially turned into a human bomb with a dead man’s switch. Killing him causes the Javelin to go off, triggering a massive explosion.

Fortunately, this new way to show your immaturity is being patched, and those who are caught using it face bans. This got me thinking, however. As much as this glitch peeves me, there are some legitimate things in Modern Warfare 2, and other games besides, that aren’t exploits per se but are incredibly underhanded.
Continue reading On Glitches and Cheating

Rumor: Modern Warfare 2 With a Third-Person Perspective?

Okay, I am thoroughly confused by this one. I’m a big supporter of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” game design method, so I’m a little puzzled as to why Infinity Ward thought that their upcoming blockbuster needed a third-person multi-player mode. The following video was taken off a live stream of someone in France (the big source for all leaks, apparently) showing off the supposed alternate view point for Modern Warfare 2. It certainly looks legit, but I’d wait until an official comment comes from Infinity Ward before going too crazy. I mean, those poor guys have enough problems as it is.

The video is of questionable quality, which is a natural consequence of recording off a live stream. It shows the action well enough, and it does look like MW2. The third-person modes in question appear to be Team Death Match and Cage Match, so I wouldn’t expect to see this camera option appear in the campaign or SpecOps. What do you guys think? True or fake, and is this a weird move for the series?

Edit: So, it looks like this is true. Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling confirmed the existence of a couple third-person playlists, citing it as “another way to play”.

Source: Destructoid

Today’s WTF: No Dedicated Servers for Modern Warfare 2 on PC?

modernwarfare2All hands on deck! The klaxon is sounding, and that means only one thing: someone has wrung the WTF bell! Here’s what’s got the internet in a tizzy now.

In a bit of breaking news yesterday, Infinity Ward’s Community Manager Robert Bowling confirmed the existence of IWNet, a PC Call of Duty matchmaking service which will change the landscape of multiplayer for Call of Duty fans. The only problem? There’s not going to be any dedicated servers.

Traditionally, PC gaming is handled through servers that are managed by the players, but IWNet is set to change all that. According to Bowling, this service runs concurrently with Steam, but is managed by Infinity Ward themselves. Since IWNet is eliminating dedicated servers, this means that clans, custom map-makers and all those other “hardcore” folks will not be able to enjoy the same range of freedom that they’re used to with private server ownership.
Continue reading Today’s WTF: No Dedicated Servers for Modern Warfare 2 on PC?

Review: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

carnage-marvel-ultimate-alliance-2-screenshot
Mindless beat-em-up brawlers occupy a special place in my heart. First off, they’re the easiest games to pick up and play: just grab a controller and mash the hit button until everything is dead. Second, brawlers are awesome for co-op, especially if they are vested in a universe that both you and your co-op partner are interested in.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 takes its cues from a lot of different games and smashes them together with the Marvel universe in hopes that you’ll like the offering. It does have a lot going for it: the Civil War storyline that Marvel published a couple years ago is the main background for the game even if it does make a left turn at the corner of Metal Gear Solid 4 and go all nano-bot on us, forgoing the actual conclusion of the comic series. It is a lot better than the “cram everything in for fan service” campaign from the original Ultimate Alliance where you would be fighting Arcade one second then dusting up Mephisto the next. A more coherent story helps move the game along at a fairly brisk pace while keeping you engaged. The voice-acting is a little hit or miss, however, but the most painful gaffs are confined to the minor characters. Visual representation for the game is serviceable, as you always know what your looking at and your characters are easy to follow. It’s not the most beautiful game by any means, but it’s far from being the ugliest.
Continue reading Review: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Today’s WTF: Guitar Hero Movie?

Rush Hour and X-Men 3 director Brett Ratner wants to take his franchise ruining stick and beat Guitar Hero with it, according to MTV Multiplayer. Ratner has featured the game in several different projects as of late, including a Miley Cyrus music video. His dream is to make a Guitar Hero movie. WTF?

I’ll give you a second to brace yourselves for the super-spectacular plot…

Continue reading Today’s WTF: Guitar Hero Movie?