If someone ever makes a video-game-developers history book, I'd expect the Infinity Ward/Activision drama to get its own chapter.
News Blips:
Recently resigned Infinity Ward staff flock to Respawn Entertainment. Now that the ex-heads of Infinity Ward Vince Zampella and Jason West have started their own new studio, G4TV reports that at least seven other senior-level employees have resigned from the Modern Warfare 2 developer to go work at Respawn. Come on, let's go join this new studio, too -- all the cool kids are doing it!
Sega West restructures and lays off 73 employees. Speaking with IndustryGamers, Sega West President Mike Hayes revealed that the company laid off staff at both their San Francisco (36) and London (37) offices. They plan for the former to operate as a digital division, while the latter is to continue to concentrate on traditional games. Our best wishes go out to those affected by these layoffs.
A group of dedicated Halo 2 fans attempt to keep playing the game online even though Microsoft ended online service for original Xbox games back on April 15. Apparently by never having logged off, a group of players have managed to continue playing the shooter. Justin.tv user Fragged Ears set up a channel to stream the group's matches and claims that the they intend to play until their Xboxes die, they suffer from a power/network outage, or Microsoft gives them the boot. Unfortunately Fragged Ears' console froze around 2am last night, but as of this writing, a few people still appear to be carrying on the fight. I'm gonna go ahead and say that these guys are pretty damn hardcore.
Animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) condemn Zygna for adding pit bull dogs as an item in Maffia Wars. They take issue with the developer "perpetuating the image of pit bulls as fighting machines," calling it "reckless and wrong." PETA also notes that this particular breed of dog is the most abused of all pups. How about a compromise? What if Zynga spayed and neutered each of these digital canines and prohibits irresponsible breeding among the gangsters? [blog.peta]
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PETA seem to miss the point when it comes to animal abuse in games -- real thugs use pit bulls as weapons, real soldiers used attack dogs in wars (they got upset about that too). Glossing over it would show a lack of appreciation and awareness. It's not as if gangsters are seriously being presented as role-models.