Activision's Infinity Ward studio has commented on a recent report by the UK-based Daily Mail Newspaper, who recently wrote an over-reaction to an upcoming mission set in New York City. The Daily Mail story - found here - played up the Russian assault on New York depicted in Modern Warfare 3, comparing it to what happened on September 11, 2001.

A San Francisco Chronicle guest editorial by George A. Rose, Executive Vice President and Chief Public Policy Officer at Activision Blizzard, takes San Francisco mayoral candidate, State Senator (D-San Francisco) and anti-game crusader Leland Yee to task for his promise to continue to fight for a violent videogame law. This even after a bitter defeat and a strong rebuke at the hands of seven U.S. Supreme Court Justices, no less. The gist of the editorial is that many of Yee's misguided policies and political grandstanding costs money that California doesn't have right now.

The lawsuit against Activision from former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vincent Zampella soldiers on, thanks to a ruling from a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. The judge ruled June 14 that  there were sufficient facts to support the duo's allegations that Activision defrauded them by firing them shortly before significant royalty payments were due. The lawsuit was first filed in March 2010.

The two former heads of the Activision subsidiary Infinity Ward were terminated by the company after it conducted an investigation that allegedly turned up breaches of contract, insubordination, and violations of company policy. The duo allege wrongful termination that cost them more than $125 million in royalties. West and Zampella further allege that Activision had promised them the right to creative control to the Call of Duty series and increased royalty payments on future games.

No matter what some fans may think of Activision's new Call of Duty: Elite subscription service, at least two million gamers are interested in it. According to Activision, around two million gamers have signed up for the Call of Duty: Elite beta test, set to happen on July 14. Elite will support Call of Duty: Black Ops first, followed by Modern Warfare 3 when it releases later this year.

Activision's Dan Amrich announced the news via his One of Swords blog and urged players to join up, noting that two million players is a mere fraction of the 30 million that play the game online.

In a subsequent post Amrich said that it is important for people that want to change the service for the better to participate now, because it will have a strong influence on the final product.

It's kind of a funny story, though it might be more folklore than fact; Computer & Video Games has a report about a personal assistant to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick trying to get him in to see Battlefield 3 behind closed doors. As you can imagine, EA said no to the request.

According to the C&VG report (citing "a senior informant who witnessed the exchange first-hand") Bobby Kotick's personal assistant discussed the chances of a hands-on trial of the game with EA reps at the door of the publisher's private meeting room. The female assistant jumped to the front of the line on Wednesday morning to request a personal showing of the game for Kotick. After mulling it over inside the private meeting room, an EA representative declined the request, saying that "it would not be possible."

The PA put up a small fight in front of those waiting to get in and then left in a huff, according to the witness.

Electronic Arts president John Riccitello is really proud of Battlefield 3, but he's very excited about Battlelog - the social network and multiplayer service for the game. During the EA E3 press conference today, Riccitello took a shot at Activision's Call of Duty Elite subscription service, pointing out that Battlelog is absolutely free. Activision would argue that many of Elite's features are free too but the Riccitello sound byte certainly resounded with those watching the press conference in person and at home.

DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson made a similar comment late last week, though he didn't mention Elite:

Beachhead, the newly formed Activision studio in charge of the Call of Duty Elite subscription services, claims that security is a very important piece of the puzzle for Activision. The service, which adds free and paid features to several Call of Duty games (it launches in November with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3), will help the company deal with cheaters and hackers that have attempted to breach the game's various security systems.

"From a developer standpoint we put an extremely high premium on security," Chako Sonny, studio head at Beachhead tells Eurogamer.net. "We have dedicated staff focusing on that from an architectural standpoint, making sure nothing we design is exposed, and we're also making sure that we're securing the events and competitions that will eventually become part of the service."

The official announcement for Activision's Call of Duty Elite service has been released, revealing a little bit more about the premium stand-alone service designed to enhance the company's popular games with various features. Elite is developed by Activision's new Beachhead studio and is basically a giant social network and matchmaking service for the Call of Duty franchise.

Many of Elite's features will be available free of charge, says Activision. The premium membership promises "state-of-the-art services, exclusive entertainment programming and all-inclusive game content for less than the cost of any comparable online entertainment service currently in the market." No specific pricing was revealed today, but some have suggested (as we reported earlier) that it will cost about as much as a Netflix subscription.

Here are the core components, from the press release:

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Activision will reveal a new subscription-based online service for Xbox 360 and PS3 called Call of Duty Elite. The Call of Duty Elite subscription would supplement Call of Duty releases - such as the upcoming Modern Warfare 3 - with extra content such as multiplayer maps, new game modes, and community features. While a fee hasn't been revealed (it might be later today when the embargo on Elite lifts and media outlets get the courage to talk about it) some have suggested that it will cost about as much as a Netflix streaming account (around $8 a month).

Even at this early hour, Activision is correcting those in the community that are calling Elite "paid multiplayer." Inifnity Ward's Robert Bowling spent a great deal of time this morning on Twitter telling people that Modern Warfare 3 will still have a full and complete multiplayer component that won't require Elite.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot claims that his company has what it takes to overtake EA and Activision at some point in the future to become the world's leading publisher. Speaking to MCV, Guillemot said EA's decision to sell its stake in Ubisoft has left the company in a stronger position to grow its business.

"When they left it changed lots of things for us. We had a competitor owning a share of the company and we were always wary that they could decide they would go for the company - and that wouldn't have been welcome," Guillemot said. "The problem is that when you have the number one player in your company, you can't buy another company that would be in conflict with them or their strategy.

In theory, former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella could regain partial control of the Call of Duty franchise. We say in theory because the chances of that ever happening are somewhere between slim and none. But the two counts of fraud that the duo added to its lawsuit against Activision earlier this week also asked the court to rescind the Memorandum of Understanding agreement. If the court were to give them a favorable ruling hypothetically, the duo could co-own Call of Duty and release their own games in the series. It's an interesting scenario to explore, even if it is on par with the plot to Independence Day in terms of likelihood.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter - and most anyone with an inkling of common sense say that this will never happen.

According to excerpts from a soon-to-be-published Edge interview with former Bizarre Creations creative director Martyn Chudley, commercial manager Sarah Chudley, and former design manager Gareth Wilson, company leaders had the opportunity to buy back Bizarre Creations back from Activision. Now at Sumo Digital, the trio talk about the last days of the studio responsible for Project Gotham Racing and Blur. Activision shut down Bizarre Creations in February of this year after a three-month search for a buyer.

Former Infinity Ward front men Jason West and Vince Zampella have added something more to its ongoing lawsuit against Activision: fraud. The duo claim that Activision had no intention of honoring its promises of bonuses and creative control on the Call of Duty franchise. According to a freshly filed complaint, West and Zampella secured a contract with Infinity Ward through a "Memorandum of Understanding" with Activision.

"To protect its interest in consummating its merger with Vivendi Games, Activision needed to do everything it could to keep West and Zampella content with their responsibilities and compensation at Infinity Ward. This gave West and Zampella considerable bargaining power in their negotiations with Activision," reads the amended complaint.

California Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle has ruled (without commenting on the merits of the case) that Activision has provided enough evidence to allow its $400 million lawsuit against Electronic Arts to go forward. The case is tied to Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella. A trial is tentatively scheduled to begin sometime in May.

Activision has accused EA of helping West and Zampella breach their contract, that EA received confidential information from the Infinity Ward founders, and that the duo held back the release of Modern Warfare 2 DLC to benefit the release of an EA game. Activision added EA to its long-running legal battle with West and Zempella as counter-claim to their lawsuit. West and Zampella filed a $36 million lawsuit against Activision, claiming they had been let go to avoid making royalty payments on Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

According to NPD group retail sales data for February, the industry grew by 3 percent in overall sales. But the big story coming out of last month's numbers is that Call of Duty: Black Ops is the best selling game in U.S. history. This is great news for Treyarch, who for many years has stood in the long shadow of Infinity Ward. It finally proves that the company can create a Call of Duty game that is on the same level of quality as anything its sister studio can produce.

Overall, consumers spent around $1.36 billion on games and consoles during the month, up from 1.33 billion in the same period last year. Console sales were up 10 percent during the month, even though spending on games was down five percent compared to last year. Console accessories were up 22 percent over the same period a year ago, mostly due to Kinect.

Wholly owned Activision developer Infinity Ward has released a patch that the studio believes will eliminate the ability to use hacks in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the PS3. An Xbox 360 and PC version of the patch is coming soon, it says.

Players who have had all kinds of problems with online shenanigans welcome the update. The update is also made possible thanks to a firmware update from Sony that dealt with the aftermath of George "GeoHot" Hotz's jailbreak of the system. That jailbreak opened up the floodgates for unscrupulous individuals who wanted to create online hacks and cheats.

While Infinity Ward says this patch should deal with most of the hacks being used in MW2, its effectiveness at this early hour is unknown. We will let you know if this eliminates the problems as promised or is a wasted effort on IW's part.

Source: IGN

The Vietnamese government instituted an online curfew and has ordered service providers and Internet café owners to block online game access after 10:00 PM. The Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communication has told all ISPs operating in the country to block access to online games from 10 PM to 8 AM. The government has given ISPs and cafes a deadline of March 3 for the ban to be implemented. Those who do not comply can expect to face some serious fines or be put of business.

"Provincial departments of information and communication will inspect on-line games activities nationwide and deal with organizations that violate regulations by cancelling their services," said minister Le Nam Thang.

Bizarre Creations officially closes its doors today, but the company wanted to say goodbye to all its fans and friends in the industry, so they released a farewell tribute video. The Liverpool, England-based creator of the Project Gotham Racing series, Geometry Wars, and The Club closed down on the advice of parent company Activision because it could not find a suitable buyer.

The end of the video says it best: "1994-2011."

We wish the entire team at Bizarre Creations all the best and hope they all find employment elsewhere soon. Check out the video to your left.

Source: Eurogamer

The Los Angeles Times reports that Activision has lost its bid to get a lawsuit filed by ska-rockers No Doubt thrown out. A three-judge panel rejected the company's motion to throw out the 2009 lawsuit that alleged breach of contract.

The group contends that the breach occurred when Activision allowed players of Band Hero to use band members' avatars to "perform songs they did not write." The band said in its lawsuit that this "transformed No Doubt band members into a virtual karaoke circus act."

In its appeal of the suit, Activision said that it was simply a matter of "creative expression." The three-judge panel apparently disagreed.

No Doubt can now proceed with its lawsuit.

United Front Games, (who you may know better as the developer of the PlayStation 3 hit ModNation Racers) issued a brief statement on the cancellation of True Crime: Hong Kong. According to several published reports, United Front was almost done with the game when it got the word from Activision that it was being cancelled. Luckily the company has its Sony exclusive game to work on, and probably some other projects that have not been announced yet.

On its company web site, the former True Crime: Hong Kong developer said the following:

Some of the 500 cuts Activision announced yesterday are starting to show up, and - according to several employees - one of Activision's studios is closing. Develop, citing a reliable source, reports that Activision is cutting around 50 employees from Vicarious Visions.

Vicarious Visions is best known for working on Activision's licensed properties, and has developed past DS and Wii versions of Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero. Develop also claims that Vicarious Visions was working on the next Guitar Hero game prior to receiving the bad news this week.

On a related note, two 7 Studios employees have said via Twitter that the Los Angeles studio is shutting down. Activision Blizzard has yet to confirm this.

"Activision is shutting down the Guitar Hero business as of today. This includes my studio," read a tweet from 7 Studios' Alex Beckers.

You are probably aware of the fact that Activision said it plans to discontinue the Guitar Hero series of music games (and the latest True Crime game), and that it plans to cut 500 employees from its workforce as a result. The company also plans to close at least one studio, but won't publicly say which one is shutting down..

However, what you may not have known is that DLC for games such as DJ Hero and Guitar Hero will soon end as well.

According to a ShackNews report - citing an update to the "Guitar Hero Franchise Update FAQ" - the future of music game DLC is grim. In answer to the question "Are you still going to make new DLC for Guitar/DJ Hero?," the FAQ reads:

Blizzard Entertainment announced some of the things fans can expect from the sixth annual BlizzCon gaming convention, this year taking place at the Anaheim Convention Centre in Anaheim, California October 21 - 22.

This year's event dedicated to all things Blizzard (StarCraft, Warcraft, and World of Warcraft) promises hands-on play time with the latest Blizzard games (we assume that means players will get to try out Diablo III, the latest chapter in the StarCraft II series, and any new WOW stuff Blizzard has planned), casual and competitive tournaments for players of all skill levels, community contests with special prizes, "commemorative" merchandise based on the company's various game universes, and the usual assortment of keynotes, workshops, and discussions.

Sarien.net, a web site that used to serve up classic Sierra On-Line adventure games to the masses, recently found itself on the receiving end of a cease and desist letter from Activision. The web site's creator recently shared the bad news with visitors, posting the letter from Activision on its front page. Activision holds the rights to Sierra's classic games and apparently doesn't appreciate what the web site is doing. Sarien.net has been up and running since April of last year, but Activision didn't really take notice until the site decided to add iPhone and iPad browser support.

Here is what Activision said:

Dr. Walid Phares, the security expert cited by Russia Today in its report on Modern Warfare 2 and a recent Russian airport suicide bombing, has penned an editorial telling his side of the story.

The overall theme of his editorial is at least positive to video game proponents: video games do not create terrorists, Jihadi ideology does.

First he tackles the tenuous link that Russia Today tried to make between the bombing and the "No Russian" scene in Modern Warfare 2:

Game, Set, Watch points out a new art exhibit in New York City that takes important moments in history and turns them into game box art. The art is from Anthony Michael Sneed and the exhibit, "Hell For Hire," being shown by appointment only next month at the Artjail gallery.

Sneed's work in the exhibit includes pieces that might find offensive such as JFK: The Game, KKKocaine, and a 9-11 painting animation that combines the skyline from Punch-Out!! with the World Trade Center towers under attack.

New Pop has an interesting video featuring Sneed and his work which you can watch now.

Source: Game, Set, Watch

UK gamer advocacy group Gamers' Voice is taking the kid gloves off and reporting Activision to the Office of Fair Trading over Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer on PC and PS3. The move follows an open letter sent to Activision on December 22 informing the publisher that the group had been "inundated with complaints from people who have bought copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops."

The letter asked Activision if they planned to compensate consumers that bought the game in the UK and gave them one month to respond. This week the group took action by asking the government agency to look into the matter.

At the end of last month Activision filed a motion to add Electronic Arts to its countersuit against former Infinity Ward leads Vince Zampella and Jason West. The motion sought to name EA as a "cross-defendant" for allegedly scheming with the duo to do serious harm to Activision. Many of the details of that allegation were redacted from court documents.

Joysiq reports that Activision has successfully added EA to the lawsuit and is seeking $400 million for "actual and punitive damages." With this new development in the lawsuit comes revelations on all the redacted statements in the original complaints - specifically emails that put EA in a bad light.

Rock, Paper Shotgun reports that there may be a happy ending to the World of StarCraft mod maker story we reported on yesterday. A very public story about Activision-Blizzard taking down video footage from his mod on YouTube caught the notice of someone from Riot Games, maker of the DOTA-like RPG strategy game League of Legends.

A Riot Games employee, commenting on the story over at Pixelated Geek, asked the World of StarCraft maker to contact him (her?) via email to talk about a job opportunity:

"Ryan, I'd love to hire you at Riotgames. Please email me at epak@riotgames.com We can at least chat about it."

Correction:An earlier version of this story erroneously reported that Blizzard / Activision had served the maker of the World of StarCraft mod with a "Cease and Desist" letter. This was not the case, and we have corrected the record, headline, and story below to reflect that. Apologies to all parties involved. Corrected story below: 

Activision has made a copyright infringement claim on YouTube, successfully getting a mod makers video removed from the service. The developer of World of StarCraft, an online StarCraft 2 MMO mod that combines the lore and gameplay elements of both games. Naturally the mod maker known only as "Ryan" is hurt and shocked by this action. Speaking at length on the mod's official forum, Ryan appeals to Activision to give him a break: