You can not follow game industry news and not have noticed the countless reports of the drama currently going on between publishing giant Activision and successful Call Of Duty developer Infinity Ward. Even legitimate news sources have covered the huge lawsuit frenzy that has been going on. Today, industry analysts have suggested that as many as 20 more Infinity Ward Employees are projected to no longer be employed by the company in a month's time (source Gamespot). Even though strong sales of the Modern Warfare 2 map pack DLC suggest a short term financial positive for Activision, the stock has continued to go down. I may not be a business tycoon or an expert economist, but I do know this Activision. Read More...

Not long ago Activision "let go" the co-founders of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella. Well it looks like these two guys have decided to start a new gaming company and get a new publisher. Jason West and Vince Zampella are two industry leaders who brought the amazing Call of Duty franchise to homes everywhere. Now brushing off the dust from a rumor filled departure, Jason and Vince have founded Respawn Entertainment. The website is up and running, and probably the simplest website in the world. Read More...

That is if you pre-order Transformers: War for Cybertron from them and have held out from going to Game Stop to get your exclusive there. Oh and if you want to get Demolishor and not Shockwave that is. Yea, that's right. You can get Demolishor now if you pre-order on Amazon.com for Activisions new pursuit of money from hardcore fans. If you look a little lower here, you can see what each of these pre-order gems will look like when you crack open your PS3 or XBox copy of Transformers: War for Cybertron. No, they are not specific to console as that may have sounded. Read More...

If you are one of the few people who actually picked up DJ Hero for the XBox 360 or PlayStation 3, then I am really sorry you spent all that money for nothing. Just Kidding. Anyways... All DJ Hero owners will be mixing it up with brand new mix tracks from Activision, as they will be releasing a JAY-Z vs. Eminem Mix Pack. Jamie Jackson, Creative Director of FreeStyleGames said, “From sold out concerts to #1 albums to double digit Grammy Awards, JAY-Z and Eminem define what it means to be a successful artist. Read More...

Activision finally reveals details, including the pricing, of it's first DLC content for Infinity Ward's latest best seller game, Modern Warfare 2. So far there will be three brand new maps, titled Storm, Salvage, and Bailout. They will also be throwing in two graphically enhanced maps from the original Modern Warfare, which are Crash and Overgrown. The price for these five maps is a ridiculous $15, or 1200 Microsoft Points. If anyone may recall, the only map pack released for Modern Warfare was four maps for only $10, or 800 MS Points. Read More...

After a minor hiatus, the trio of the Aggrocast are back. We start off with our normal discussion of the games we have been playing. We talk about Heavy Rain, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, World of Warcraft, and Aion. Bargain Binh becomes a Guitar Hero for under thirty dollars, while on The DL has Brian turning into a Mega Man. Mike teaches us how to raise Arizona in Netflix Picks. We finish off the show by discussing some hot news items from the past couple weeks. Read More...

This morning many awoke to rumors quickly circulating the internet and news sites about prominent figures at Infinity Ward being fired by Activision, supposedly even with "bouncers" removing them from their offices. Patrick Klepek of G4's The Feed initially broke the possible story. The rumors began gaining credibility as Jason West's Linkedin page now stated he used to work for Infinity Ward and a Facebook status claimed unemployment. Activision finally confirmed the rumors late this afternoon/early evening. Jason West and Vince Zampella have both been let go from the developer. Read More...

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, 2010 will be the year of...Blizzard? Announced today by Blizzard President and Co-Founder, Mike Morhaime, the closed beta of StarCraft II will launch towards of the end of February. That is awesome for those, myself included, that have been waiting for StarCraft II to come out. The news of StarCraft II was not the only announcement made by Blizzard. To be released later this year, Blizzard's highly acclaimed MMO, World of Warcraft, will be releasing their latest expansion with Cataclysm. Read More...

Are you tired of reading all the reviews for Modern Warfare 2? Or listening to every gaming podcast giving the game high marks? Well how about we throw some numbers at you and see if you think Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is worthy of this year's Game of the Year. Activision Blizzard, Inc (Nasdaq: ATVI) has announced today that Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 brought in approximately $550 million dollars in the first five-day worldwide. This makes it the largest entertainment launch in history. How about we look at more numbers for the first five-day entertainment records, including box office, book and other video game sales. Read More...

As I looked at the massive amount of people at my local GameStop that were in line to pickup MW2, it dawned on me, this is the biggest, most anticipated, and what could be the best selling action game of all time. Over 300 people were standing in the cold for some four hours waiting for the same thing. Many of them planned on calling in sick the next day or skipping out on school just to get some playtime in. Many people were reminiscing about COD4 or saying how they played a bunch of COD4 to get psyched up about MW2. Read More...

The bad gets worse. PC gamers have often been on the short end of the stick on gaming for awhile now except for one thing: Multiplayer. Mods, dedicated servers, better clan support, and VOIP programs like Ventrilo and Teamspeak usually make the PC multiplayer experience better than their console counterparts. Modern Warfare 2, which is poised to be the best selling FPS of all time, is only full of disappointments to the PC crowd unfortunately.Dedicated servers have already been taken away from the PC version and now comes more. Read More...

Reinventing the Vinyl WheelYour palms sweat heavily as you approach the stage. There's a twitch, a solitary twinge of excitement racing through your veins and ready to explode from the tips of your fingers onto the vinyl that awaits you. The lights flicker and flash and the crowd roars as you make your entrance. You deftly weave between songs and paradoxical rhythmic patterns, cross-fading between sultry sirens and heard edged break beats. You match the intensity of the crowd with every pull of the record, every scratch rivaled by their increased volume. Read More...

Infinity Ward recently announced that their upcoming Modern Warfare 2 won't be supporting dedicated servers, something that PC gamers have 99% of the time, replacing it with something called IWNet, a proprietary server system ran by Infinity Ward themselves. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let's make a list of pro's and con's. Pros: Less Cheaters Less Lag Better Matchmaking No Clan Servers No Custom Configs Cons: No Mod Support Chance that IW could disconnect and end servers at anytime for any reason No Clan Servers No Custom Configs Unable to play on “favorite” servers, only way to play with same group of people is to be in the same party or clan While console gamers have never had their own dedicated servers (save a few games like Section 8, Evolution 4x4, and a few others), it's rare for a PC game to do away with it (and yes, COD4 had dedicated servers). Why this move was made is beyond anybody's idea however it seems that Infinity Ward would like to either Nazi their PC players Pave the way for a pay-for service Get rid of Modders Genuinely want to get rid of hackers Announce that they are taking it away, to drive some gamers away, then announce that they will include it, and gain even more gamers to it due to the news (IE: New Coke) Kill the ability for pirated copies of MW2 to be played online. Read More...

Ahhh, the soothing sounds of a hype train pulling into the station. With two weeks remaining until the release of Band Hero, Activision has now finally released the final set list for the game. On top of that, they divulged methods and pricing for importing the tracks from Band Hero to Guitar Hero 5 and vice versa. As far as the song listing goes, you will utter "Sweet Song!" as many times as you say "Huh? Read More...

So what is this game then if it isn't the next IP for the Jurassic Park franchise? Pretty much another dinosaur shooter style game with one major twist that others do not have. What would this twist be? Not that you are another space marine traveled through time and space and ends up in a jurassic era, but that you are a "normalish" adventurer and weapons master. That and you have been transported back in time with loads of ammo and weapons to hunt and kill the monstrous and angry dinosaurs of the jurassic era, via the Bermuda Triangle. Yep, that's right. Read More...