In the last couple of months, one story has reigned supreme in the world of video game news – the rancorous battle of words and legal hearsay between Activision and former employees of its subsidiary studio, Infinity Ward.  What began as rumors of a hostile-takeover-like ousting of two top employees has escalated into a full-on media blitz of stories involving unpaid royalties, secret trips to other studios, and enough lawyer-speak to write the next three seasons of Law and Order.

As with any public argument involving an incredibly successful piece of creative property, the blogs and ‘news’ sites of the world have been quick to jump in on who they think is in the right.  But the real question here is simple:  How can anyone really be sure?

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Toby McCasker, the Deputy Entertainment Editor for Australia’s Zoo Weekly, has allegedly been let go from the magazine over issues that arose with Rockstar Games.  While the specifics are unclear, what we do know is that McCasker posted contents of an email he claims was sent by Rockstar, one that demanded its new game, Red Dead Redemption, be treated with a little more respect.

Here’s what he posted:
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This Infinity Ward thing has definitely been the story to watch over the last month or so, and it looks like it might continue to be the one to watch in the near future.  According to MTV Multiplayer, lead designer Todd Alderman and lead software engineer Francesco Gigliotti have both tendered their resignations and are no longer working with the studio.

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Square Enix has dropped the full details on the race and clan combinations that will be available in Final Fantasy XIV, and if you were worried you weren’t going to get a chance to play as a barely-passable furry fantasy you can breathe a sigh of relief and get back to downloading Digimon porn.

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Oh Sony, you are so near to my heart.  It’s not that I like your products; in fact I find most of them to be terrible (seriously, three generations and you can’t find a way to improve on the worst controller ever designed?).  No, my affection for you comes primarily from your incredible incompetence at predicting what will happen in your industry, followed by your inevitable assertions that your products are doing poorly because they aren’t designed for some crybaby “general” consumer base like the shitty Nintendo Wii, and the final step of catching up with your competitors a few years later by copying their technology and pretending it was your idea all along.

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Some gamers may remember Afterburner as an eyeball-melting run through some of the best arcade graphics of the time, but I remember it more specifically as a soul-crushing monster that remorselessly stole every quarter my dad was willing to give me.  Revenge is a dish best served cold, however, and the tide is about to turn.

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Okay, so I don’t know that for a fact since I don’t have game companies beating down my door to hand me review copies or free hardware (yet), but I do have the ability to read and a good internet connection, and so do you.

This means you can hop over to Kotaku and read Brian Crecente’s hands-on with a current build of the game.  Crecente is pretty reliable, so the chances are good that if he likes the game, you will too.

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I don’t know where companies are getting the idea that putting a number in the place of a letter is a good idea for sequels, but let me go ahead and clear it up in case any industry heavyweights are reading this – No.  It’s not.  Stop it.

Anyway, a user over at Neogaf has posted a scan of an ad from a Spanish-language magazine that supposedly confirms the existence of a third game in the F.E.A.R. franchise, and promises more details in next month’s issue.

Let’s hope one of those details is a better title.  Check out the full scan after the jump.

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With Final Fantasy XIII steamrolling right on in the sales charts and Final Fantasy XIV on the horizon, many have been curious about Square Enix’s next big project.  We’ve heard a lot of rumors and even a few wishes in regard to a remake of the Cloud-heavy Final Fantasy VII, and now the CEO of Square Enix is chipping in to add his own opinion on the matter.

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People love rocking out.  According to some rough calculations by the folks over at RockBandAide, Harmonix has grossed over $107,000 in sales on their two-week old Rock Band Network, in addition to the staggering $161,000 grossed from the traditional DLC methods.

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