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It appears that invites for the LEGO Universe beta have started to arrive to email inboxes. If you signed up, now would be a good time to check your email.
After the epicness (yes, I just made that up) of the LEGO Universe trailer, how could you not have signed up to test the beta? I mean…it’s LEGO. Duh. Not to rub it in your nose, but if you don’t get selected to participate, we’ll let you know what you’re missing. You know, in a nice, constructive way.
Remember the short, film-like Halo movies that showed up back in 2007? Or, better yet, how about the Assassin’s Creed II: Lineage short films that were released last year before the game was released? Well, even if you don’t, Ubisoft is currently getting ready to film a 20-minute, live-action film for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
We first learned that Ubisoft was interested in doing live-action stuff back at last year’s E3, when they announced Anvil, their engine for developing the Assassin’s Creed II shorts and helping with James Cameron’s “Avatar” movie. Next up, Ubisoft is teaming up with Francois Alaux and Herve de Crecy, the guys that won an Academy Award for their short film Logorama, to make a short film that is due before the release of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
This film will act as a prequel to Future Soldier. This 20-minute short apparently has a budget of $8-10 million. The film is being written by the co-writer of Children of Men, Tim Sexton. I wish someone would give me $8 million to make a 20-minute movie. Heck, I’d do it for a thousand.
After much speculation as to what the name of Sony’s Playstation 3 motion controller would be, Sony crushed all rumors today during Sony’s GDC event that it would be called Playstation ‘Arc’. The motion controller has been dubbed “Playstation Move.”
The Playstation Move will launch in several different packages and bundles. One of the bundles is a system bundle, where you get a Playstation 3 console, the Playstation Eye, and Playstation Move. There is also a ”starter pack” Playstation Move bundle, which comes complete with the Playstation Move controller, Playstation Eye, and a game. The starter pack will be available for “under $100.”
Are you getting tired of playing the same old maps on Modern Warfare 2? Do you play on Xbox Live? Do you enjoy making fun of the self-help ads? If you answered yes, then you may be suffering from Mapathy. And the cure is right around the corner.
We officially learned a few weeks ago that two downloadable map packs are in the works at Infinity Ward for Modern Warfare 2. The first of these two packs, and the cure for Mapathy, is coming to Xbox Live on March 30th.
Playstation 3 users will have to suffer mapathy a bit longer, as the cure is exclusive to Xbox Live for a certain amount of time.
Though it is a non-traditional way of doing things, Harmonix thought it would be clever to use Facebook to announce that Rock Band 3 is coming out this coming holiday season.
As short, sweet, and to the point as Facebook statuses are, we didn’t really get any details at all.
Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!
EA has apparently renewed its deal with Viacom to distribute Rock Band games, as the previous agreement only went through fiscal 2010. That’s all we have for you, folks. Please, come again.
The sequel to one of 2007’s games of the year has been revealed by GameInformer’s cover for their April issue. Portal 2, the highly anticipated game that we’ve heard little to no information about, will be out later this year.
After the cover was revealed, Valve announced that Portal 2 will arrive this coming holiday season. If you want to get the first details on the game, you should keep on the lookout for GameInformer’s April issue. The magazine will have a 12-page feature of the game that describes Portal 2 as “a full-fledged, standalone sequel.” The article will also go into detail on the “new gameplay mechanics, storyline, and some surprising new twists.”
We were able to track down a few details, nothing major though. Eurogamer was told by Valve’s Doug Lombardi that Portal 2 is coming to Xbox 360 and PC. This is kind of surprising, as the original Portal was one of the games included in The Orange Box, which was released on Xbox 360 and PC, as well as Playstation 3.
Oh, one more thing, GameInformer also revealed that the game has co-op.
Aside from the statements that were released yesterday from ex-Infinity Ward studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella’s lawyer that summarize what led the two to sue Activision, we don’t know much about the legal side of the ongoing battle between Infinity Ward and Activision. That is, until now.
Joystiq was able to get their hands on the full 16-page court document filed by West and Zampella that details their complaints with Activision, among other things.
The unpaid royalties (that we reported on when they filed suit) appears to be their main complaint. “”Activision fired them in hope that by doing so, it could avoid paying them what they had rightfully earned, and to seize control of the Infinity Ward studio, to which Activision had previously granted creative control over all Modern Warfare branded games,” the document explained.
The document also informs us that Activision purchased Infinity Ward for $5 million, and the Call of Duty franchise has earned over $3 billion since 2003. Another major complaint of the two ex-studio heads is that Infinity Ward was supposed to be allowed to be run as an independent studio, though Activision consistently interfered.
“Despite assurances by Activision that West and Zampella would have complete freedom to run Infinity Ward as an independent studio, Activision had begun to intrude upon Infinity Ward’s ability to create quality games. For example, Activision forced Infinity Ward’s employees to continue producing the games at a breakneck pace under aggressive schedules, and West and Zampella were concerned that Activision was emphasizing quantity over quality.”
It would appear that crap has really hit the fan now. West and Zampella show no signs of backing down, nor does Activision. And we find it curious that we haven’t heard much from inside the walls of Infinity Ward.
This week, Bizarre Creations announced that its upcoming action packed race game, Blur, will be released to the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on May 25 in North America and in Europe on May 28.
The game was set for a November release last year, but was delayed till 2010 for improvements on the multiplayer portion of the game.
Up to 20 players can play online at once as part of the multiplayer feature in the game. Blur has over 50 licensed vehicles and several cities from all over the world featured in the game.
Stay tuned to Division-Gaming.com for more updates on the game.
It seems as if the video game industry is always riddled with legal trouble, and when a new case comes along, it usually sticks around for a while. The latest example would have to be the Activision vs ex-Infinity Ward studio heads battle.
The latest development in this ongoing story is that Activision has issued a response to the lawsuit that was filed by Jason West and Vince Zampella, the two studio heads that are no longer with Infinity Ward. Activision is calling West’s and Zampella’s decision to file suit “meritless.” Activision’s full statement reads:
Activision is disappointed that Mr. Zampella and Mr. West have chosen to file a lawsuit, and believes their claims are meritless. Over eight years, Activision shareholders provided these executives with the capital they needed to start Infinity Ward, as well as the financial support, resources and creative independence that helped them flourish and achieve enormous professional success and personal wealth.
In return, Activision legitimately expected them to honor their obligations to Activision, just like any other executives who hold positions of trust in the company. While the company showed enormous patience, it firmly believes that its decision was justified based on their course of conduct and actions. Activision remains committed to the Call of Duty franchise, which it owns, and will continue to produce exciting and innovative games for its millions of fans.
Apparently, Activision is also looking into the possibility that West and Zampella were in talks with competitors of Activision, one of which may have been EA. This probably isn’t the last we’ll hear of this case.
If there is one thing that I think of most when I think of The Sims, it is that they always have tons and tons of expansion packs. The Sims 3 is no exception, as The Sims 3: Ambitions was announced by EA today.
The Sims 3 Ambitions will open a wider selection of careers for your sims to chose from. Your sim can finally be such things as a fire fighter, an architect, or even a tattoo artist. Heck, your sim can be a ghost hunter or private investigator if they want to be. Also, you can now control your sim’s actions and interactions while they’re on the job, and the choices you make will affect the town and other sims.
“The variety of careers to choose from is unmatched and we’ve never given players the opportunity to follow their Sims to work and affect their actions on the job,” said Scott Evans, General Manager of The Sims Studio at EA. “The Sims 3 Ambitions changes that. Players’ actions at work now directly affect their lives, community and neighbors and become an extremely important part of how the game is played.”
This expansion pack will arrive this June for the PC and Mac.
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