Activision Vs. Infinity Ward: The Musical Blog Post

The following video is the theme song for this blog post.

*Warning some mild language*



The following blog post was written under the influence of UNRELENTING JOY!

Activision, this is what happens when you are a total jerk. When you do not pay your employees, they sue you. You know what they say about karma right? It's a... Something I can't say on a PG-rated blog.

So basically, there's been a huge fight going on between IW and Activision. I previously discussed Activision was holding IW's royalties in a last ditch attempt to keep the developers that made them a billion dollars from leaving. (A more effective strategy is, of course, to not be pure evil.)

Well, IW finally got sick of it, and they are all leaving the company, to go start a new company, Respawn Entertainment, headed by the two leads who got fired. The games they make will be published by EA, the direct competitors of Activision. Who said that Bobby Kotick shoots race horses. I approve.

So the leads sued Activision, Activision sued the leads, all sorts of other drama is going on, and I'm enjoying watching Activision have all sorts of problems immensely.

And that's not the only problems they're having! Meanwhile, while Activision is paying for it's legal suit with TRH, something wonderful/horrible is happening in South Korea.



For those who don't know, the game Starcraft is basically the national sport of South Korea. They have TV stations that give pro Starcraft coverage. There are stand up comedians who do nothing but Starcraft character impressions. They're a little Starcraft crazy over there. So the news that Starcraft 2 will only be allowed to be sold to people 18 and up? Kind of a big deal.

I prefer Warcraft 3, for the record.

Now, I don't think any of this is going to be the downfall of Activision, Activision will live on, but it is nice to see the big bad lose millions instead of making billions every now and then.

I'd like to point out this little ditty written up by a Kotaku commenter (It's the musical blog post today). The actual lyrics have swearing, so these are the censored version, but I'll link the real version if you really want.

(To the tune of How to Save a Life By The Fray. Click play, and read the lyrics along with the song for maximum awesome.)

Step One you hold our royalties
We ask and beg on broken knees
To pay us everything that you owe.
So we won't have to borrow.
You fired Zampy, then dear West,
Even though they were the best.
As you start this stupid schism
Is this what you meant by fear and pessimism?

Where did you go wrong? You screwed a brand, Somewhere along in this big mess. And I would have quit Sunday, Had I known they were nicer at EA.

Tell the press that you know best
Cause after all you're on a quest
To ignore all legal precedence
And uphold questionable innocence.
Let's write a list of what is wrong
Like Bobby Kotick in a thong,
And pray to God he hears us,
And pray to God he hears us.

Where did you go wrong? You screwed a brand, Somewhere along in this big mess. And I would have quit Sunday, Had I known they were nicer at EA.

As B.K. begins to raise his voice,
We lower ours and grant him one last choice, Pay us our royalties or
Rack up the hefty courtroom fees.
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he'll say he doesn't owe a thing
And then we'll duke it out in the Judge's ring.

Where did you go wrong, you screwed a brand. Somewhere along in this big mess. And I would have quit Sunday, Had I known they were nicer at EA.

Article about the song along with uncensored lyrics here.
Further details on Activision Vs. Infinity Ward can be found here.

Why Ultimate Rock Band is Possible, and Will Never Happen

Rock Band. I like Rock Band. Rock Band is a very fun party game. In case you've been living under a rock (although I think the rhythm game genre has reached the undersides of rocks by now), Rock Band, and Guitar Hero, and ____ Hero, and ____ ____ (The generic knockoffs.), are games where you pretend to play instruments. You hold a big plastic guitar, and press buttons at the right time to make music play. It's fun! I like it.

But there's one thing I don't like about it; You can only play preset songs. Each game has a setlist, and you need to DLC other songs off of the internet, or buy a new game altogether to get other songs. Why can't I play mp3s? Why can't I plug in a thumb drive into my PS3 and upload a bunch of, say, Five Iron Frenzy music, and play that?

You're probably thinking right now: "That would never work! Programmers have to plug in where each note you hit goes in each song the put into the game! They can't do that for EVERY song!"

Admittedly, that sounds like a very good reason. Of course they can't be expected to plug a set of notes into every song ever made! That would be impossible! But, I would like to point out something to you. Audiosurf. Audiosurf is a game with both racing, and Tetris elements, for the PC, but the unique thing about it is the fact that you can put any MP3 into it, and it will base the track you are racing down and the blocks you have to pick up based on that song.

For example, when you get to a slow part of the song, your ship will go uphill, move more slowly, and there will be less notes to pick up. When you get to a fast part of the song, your ship moves more quickly, picking up a lot of notes. It's a really good game, I recommend picking it up at some point. The point is, though, it works with ANY mp3.

That's not the only game like that either. A game I picked up just yesterday, Beat Hazard, does something similar. It's an asteroids/geometry wars style game, but instead of shooting random lasers, you shoot visualized music, like the stuff you see in Windows Media Player. If the song reaches a slow point, you shoot out less visualized music, and thus are less powerful. Enemies also spawn based on how intense the moment of the song is, and dance across the screen with the beat of the music. It's quite impressive actually.

So, I pose the question again, where is my ultimate rhythm game? My Ultimate Rock Band that lets me plug in a flash drive, and play any music I want? Surely if some indie studios could figure out the algorithm to create a racing game where the track is based off of your music, or a geometry wars game where you shoot colorful beams of visualized music across the screen, two of the biggest studios in the world, Neversoft (Guitar Hero), and Harmonix (Rock Band), can figure it out? For crying out loud, Activision makes 2/3rds of it's profit each year off of the Call of Duty franchise, World of Warcraft, and Guitar Hero! So surely, SURELY, they can figure it out?

Ah, but why would they want to? Once the release Ultimate Rock Band, they can't release Ultimate Rock Band 2. Because there's nothing more to add. Some new instruments? Ok, sure. But what then? They keep pumping out Rock Band 2, Lego, Beatles, Green Day, Mobile, Unplugged, and soon, 3. Not to mention Track Packs, and all that overpriced DLC!

And notice everything I just linked is from the Rock Band franchise. The one known for releasing LESS unnecessary sequels than it's competitor, or generic spinoffs. Plus there's DDR, and that's another multi-million dollar industry right there! Rhythm games have a big market right now. Ultimate Rock Band would kill the market for them. I mean, the market supposedly died down last year, and we're still seeing new ones released every other week!

So, sadly, I doubt we'll ever see Ultimate Rock Band. It's just not going to happen. The closest thing we'll ever get might be a cheap PC knockoff that let's you use the keyboard to play, and that's just not the same.

But hey, I can hope, right?

8 Reasons Modern Warfare 2 is One of the Worst Things to Happen to Ever Happen to Gaming

I don't try to lie about it, I'm a video game snob. I'm not especially humble when it come to... Well, most things. But video games especially. So when a game comes along that single handedly sets back the medium several years, and is so successful it sells, in Yahtzee's words, 3.7 copies to every mammal in North America, it kind of upsets me.

That's the case with Modern Warfare 2. A game so mindbendingly terrible for the industry, that my only explanation for how it sold so well is that people saw it's awfulness, and forced their brains to tell them it was actually the greatest thing ever, to avoid believing something so terrible could possibly exist.

Allow me to tell you exactly why.


1. It's an FPS on the console.
This one will probably be argued against, but seriously, there are two types of game that have no business being on any console, and those are RTSs, and FPSs. If I'm going to play either of those, I need the precision that a mouse and keyboard can give me, not the borderline archaic scheme that comes with a controller. Any FPS on a console should be ignored, and instead purchased on the PC. Which brings me to point 2,


2. The PC version has no dedicated servers.
Dedicated servers are also pretty much necessary for FPSs to work. What a dedicated server is, is basically a server that is always up, and is also much more stable. Without it, you can't bookmark a server, and lag will always be an issue, which screws up FPSs even more than a controller scheme.

3. You've played the exact game dozens of times before.
A podcast I listen to, Octale and Hordak Vs. The World, refers to MW2 as "Ghost Recon 19". While it may just be a joke, it's not inaccurate at all. The EXACT SAME GAME has been being released for years. There's nothing unique about MW2 at all. Nothing. It's the same game that's been being released for years.


4. Trying to get into FPSs? Pick something else.
I'll admit it, I suck at MW2. I didn't buy it of course, I have standards, but a friend did bring it over to my house a few weeks back, and I played for a couple hours. Speaking as someone only skilled in FPSs AT ALL when they are on the proper system, that is, the PC, I think I got about 2 kills in the span of around 2 hours. It was like trying to break down a brick wall with my forehead. All I got from my attempts was a headache.


5. Team Fortress 2 is a much better game.
TF2 is by far the best FPS on the market. The main reason? It's something different. In a world of brown FPSs, came the little gem from Valve, my favorite gaming company out there today. (Who also came out with another one of my favorite games of all time, Portal.) TF2 is class based, but not in the way that MW2 is, by that I of course mean it isn't, instead certain classes have strengths and weaknesses, unique ways to play, and different ways to be countered. And the best part? They're all a whole lot of fun. Except maybe Scout. Because seriously, screw Scout.

So far, I've explained why it's a terrible game. Now let me explain why it's bad for the industry.


6. 5 Maps, $15.
The recent MW2 Map Pack costs $15. For 5 maps. That is not a good deal. You know how much new maps for TF2 cost? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. TF2 is frequently updated with new maps, modes, and weapons, and you know what? It's all free. That's because the company that makes TF2 isn't scum. Which brings me to the next point,

7. Infinity Ward made it, and even they got screwed over by it.
Infinity Ward are the developers. They made Modern Warfare 2. Activision is the parent company. The own IW. They got the billion dollars that MW2 made. How did they repay IW for making them over $1,000,000,000 off of one game alone? Fear mongering, and shorting people the money they were promised. First, they fired the heads of the company. The two leaders of IW were fired shortly after the game launched, for "disorderly conduct". Then, none of the employees of IW left. Why didn't anyone in IW have any loyalty and leave when the owners were fired for no good reason? Everyone who helped make IW was promised royalties for the game. Those royalties have been delayed indefinitely, in other words, Activision pocketed the money. If anyone speaks up about being shorted on the royalties, they'll be fired for disorderly conduct as well, and good luck getting any royalties then. Isn't that illegal? Probably, but it's complicated, because they aren't outright being SHORTED the money... It's just being delayed indefinitely. Disgusting isn't it?


8. Bobby Kotick

This is the man responsible for screwing over IW, and is also the man responsible for most of what's wrong with gaming right now. Bobby Kotick is the C.E.O. of Activision. This is the man who said he wants to take all the fun out of game development. Because an employee who hates his work, and life, is a good employee! This is also the man who said he raised the price of MW2 by an extra $10, why? Not so they can support the game for free, obviously, but instead because he can. This man is not a good person.


There you have it, 8 reasons you should hate MW2 as much as I do. Too bad that if you're reading this, you already own 3.7 copies, statistically. I don't like the cliched phrase, vote with your dollar, but seriously people, we cannot allow this kind of thing to pass. If you bought MW2, I hope you know you contributed to killing gaming. I might sound alarmist, but seriously, that's what you are doing. You are killing gaming. I love this hobby, and if you do too, don't buy MW3 when Activision inevitably makes IW make it using thinly veiled threats.

This is not acceptable. Don't support this kind of thing. It's bad.