Lawsuit. Activision created Modern Warfare “Police State”
Guarded doors, secret interrogations and broken promises are just the latest allegations laid out in the ongoing saga about the break-up between the world's largest game publisher and the people in charge of creating Modern Warfare 2.Activision created a "police state," conducted secret "interrogations" of employees and held $54 million dollars hostage as they tried to threaten and cajole the team behind Modern Warfare 2 into making the next Modern Warfare game, according to an amended lawsuit filed in California today and obtained by Kotaku.
A group of nearly 40 past and present Infinity Ward developers banded together in April to file suit against the publishers of Modern Warfare 2 for half a billion dollars, alleging breach of contract and unpaid royalties.
An addendum to the suit filed today lays out what the former employees say happened to the bonus and royalties they were expecting. It also lowered what the group is asking from at most $216 million in punitive damages and unpaid bonuses, down from half a billion.
In March, according to the suit, Activision paid 40 percent of the Modern Warfare 2 bonus money to the team, but withheld the rest, demanding that Infinity Ward develop, produce, complete and publish Modern Warfare 3 by November 2011 to get the rest of the money.
The suit alleges that during the build up that led to the firing of West and Zampella, Activision forced Infinity Ward employees to submit to secret interrogations and told the employees not to tell anyone about them. The publisher also brought in security personnel to man the office exits, according to the suit.
Later that month, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick attending a meeting with Infinity Ward, promising them that they would receive their full bonus at the end of the month, but that never happened, according to the suit.
When a group of employees met with CFO Thomas Tippl in April to demand the bonus, according to the suit, Tippl responded "Get over it."
The suit says that had Activision not fired West and Zampella, withheld the bonus, created a hostile work place, not created a "police state-like atmosphere" they would have stayed on with the publisher.
A separate suit was filed by former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella in March, seeking $36 million unpaid royalties and alleging an "Orwellian," "pre-ordained" investigation designed to "manufacture a basis to fire" the studio founders.
There will be a hearing in front of a judge on Aug. 5 to see the trials of both suits against Activision will be consolidated into one trial. A trial date was set for May 23, two weeks before next year's E3 is set to get underway.
Activision has been contacted for comment. We will update the story with comment when they provide one.
Source: http://kotaku.com/5583710/lawsuit-activision-created-modern-warfare-police-state
Tip: Anarchy
Discussion Thread: http://forums.modernwarfail2.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=683
MW2 Pricing Fail
The digital distribution pricing for MW2 is becoming more 'fail' by the day as you can pick it up cheaper in most places.
So while Steam may well be convenient to buy Modern Warfail 2 (sorry, that's Modern Warfare 2), it's actually ~40% cheaper to wait a few days and have it shipped to you.
thanks Alex!
Activision: Black Ops can better MW2
Call of Duty: Black Ops set to raise the bar and trump Modern Warfare 2’s heralded launch
The sequel to the biggest entertainment launch of all time will take Call of Duty to an entirely new level, says Activision.
Call of Duty: Black Ops hits shelves on November 9th – 12 months after Modern Warfare 2 smashed sales records.
And despite sky-high expectations from retail and consumers, developer Treyarch believes its newest FPS can exceed them.
Speaking to MCV as the publisher took the wraps off the game to the press this week, Josh Olin of the Activision-owned studio said the new game raises the bar for the franchise.
“Modern Warfare 2 is an extremely successful entertainment launch, record selling, which is absolutely phenomenal,” he told us.
“Every Call of Duty game has ratcheted the bar up for the next one, and we’re just ratcheting up the bar one step further. I think Black Ops is going to exceed expectations. This game is going to be huge.”
Treyarch is often seen as playing second fiddle to Call of Duty creator Infinity Ward, especially amongst savvy retailers and consumers – but Olin told us that the new game shoots down that stereotype.
“We’re going to let Black Ops speak for itself,” he said.
“We’re always trying to make the best game we can possibly make, and with Black Ops it really is the best work we’ve ever done.”
Activision concedes that Black Ops is going up against some ‘great competition’ as EA’s Medal Of Honor, Take-Two’s Spec Ops: The Line and Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier all look to carve a space in the genre Call of Duty has dominated in recent years.
But Olin said Black Ops will “stand out in true Call Of Duty fashion” come November.
The developer also has high hopes for the game’s launch, taking inspiration from Modern Warfare 2’s release. “It’s going to be a big year for us,” said Olin.
Source: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/39181/Activision-Black-Ops-can-better-MW2
ModernWarfail2.com Redesign
ModernWarfail2.com has had a redesign, we decided it was about time!
Let us know what you think? Is there anything else you'd like to see?
AlterIWNet Video
Following on from an excellent article, on AlterIWNet, by Anarchy. A video has been sent to us on just how easy it is to do.
Again, we're not promoting that you should use this software - you do so at your own risk. You could end up being VAC Banned, if you aren't already. But in the interest of reporting on the sheer fail of it, here's the video.
Thanks to Hidraga for submitting this to us.
Whooops! Comments Fixed!
Whoops!
We were starting to wonder why things were a little quiet on the main site, turns out there was an issue with our CSS which was preventing Disqus comments from loading. This issue has now been resolved - you can now go and comment away on the latest articles 
Forum Tweaking
Following yesterday's migration a redirect wasn't quite functioning correctly, this has now been resolved.
The forums are now, once again, back at: http://forums.modernwarfail2.com (note 'forums', no longer 'forum').
For some people, depending on their ISP, it may take a few hours for the forums to become accessible to you on the new subdomain.
ModernWarfail2.com is now part of TCSCNetwork
As announced earlier in the week ModernWarfail2.com has now officially moved servers to the United Kingdom and become part of TCSCNetwork ("The [CeltS] Soldiers Clan Network").
At time of writing the move has been successful but we still need a little more time to sort out the forums, these will be available again very shortly! Unfortunately an unavoidable loss of avatars occurred, but you will be able to re-upload a new avatar to your profile once the forums become available again.
So what does being part of TCSCNetwork mean?
It simply means that the hosted site benefits from being hosted off TCSCNetwork's Game, Web and Projects hosting network.
So who's in charge around here?
KingOfTehInternets, the founder and lead administrator is still the top dog.
So has ModernWarfail2.com being sold?
No. ModernWarfail2.com has not been sold - there is simply a negotiated arrangement with ModernWarfail2.com for the promotion of TCSCNetwork.co.uk in return for free hosting, support, etc.
For a hosted site this means they can let someone else worry about the technical "stuff", while receiving the benefits. For TCSCNetwork this means that they can get their name out there more and start working with companies to deliver sponsorship for our network, which benefits the hosted sites on the network.
I want free hosting!
If you have a clan website, mod project or something else gaming related and want to sell us the idea of you becoming part of the network you can contact us via http://tickets.tcscnetwork.co.uk/submitticket.php?step=2&deptid=1.
I want free Game Servers!
Game Servers unfortunately cost money and while we can't give them away for free we may be able to get you a better deal then what you're currently paying, again contact us to find out more.
So explain it to me, what is TCSCNetwork?
TCSCNetwork (“The [CeltS] Soldiers Clan Network”) was launched in April 2010. The founding objective behind TCSCNetwork.co.uk is to, serve as a management website for our operations as a Game, Web and Project host.
The [CeltS] Soldiers Clan is a well established clan within the PC Call of Duty community. As a result of our success with Call of Duty, particularly Call of Duty 4, we are starting to expand into the Battlefield Series (Battlefield: Bad Company 2) and also developing our networks with other platforms, such as the XBOX.
Our operations as a Game, Web and Project host is an additional avenue that we are developing; as it allows us to continue to expand our network, while providing a positive contribution to the internet community.
Call of Duty: Black Ops To Support Dedicated Servers
Lower the pitchforks and put out those torches, PC shooter fans. Treyarch has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops will in fact include dedicated servers for online play.
"I think dedicated servers are excellent,” Treyarch head Mark Lamia recently told PC Zone magazine (via CVG). “I don't see any reason not to see [use?] them unless...well, I just don't see any reason not to."
And while Infinity Ward caught heat for forgoing dedicated server support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in favour of the multiplayer system found in the console versions, Lamia says both systems have value.
“We're working very hard to marry those two things, so people can run dedicated servers and also participate in the communal experience the console players get to have, given they're all on first-party servers."
So what say you, PC gamers? Dedicated servers for Black Ops sound alright with you?
Source: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/704695/Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops-To-Support-Dedicated-Servers.html
EA: ‘Modern Warfare’ is damaged
EA Partners boss David DeMartini has said that legal battles at Activision have harmed the Modern Warfare series.
Speaking to CVG, the exec claimed that the lawsuit between the publisher and Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella may have caused irreparable damage to the brand.
"That [Modern Warfare] was a hugely successful franchise," he said. "I'm sure Vince and Jason didn't want to get fired and now looking at it the whole thing's kind of blown up.
"A franchise is damaged - maybe never to be the same again. But then at the same time other things spring up. As one thing dies, you have Respawn popping up - who are going to do other great things in collaboration with us now."
West and Zampella went on to form Respawn Entertainment in collaboration with EA. Several other ex-Infinity Ward employees have also joined its ranks.
Source: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a219630/ea-modern-warfare-is-damaged.html