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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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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If there’s one thing you can say about Activision, it’s that they know how to squeeze every last dime out of their products.  The recently announced Stimulus Package DLC map pack for Modern Warfare 2 is no exception, and honestly the name couldn’t be more accurate.

It is a stimulus package.  For Activision’s bank account.  However, many MW2 players are throwing a hissy fit about the cost of the expansion – $15 for 5 maps, two of which are revamped maps from an older game – and are doing their very best to pretend like they’re not going to pay for it.

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Maybe the guys over at Activision realized how screwed they are now that their top devs got shitcanned, because it looks like they’re trying to milk as much cash as they possibly can from the Modern Warfare franchise before it falls apart.  That’s the only justification I can think of for why a map pack, the  McDonald’s hamburger of downloadable content, could possibly be priced at 1,200 Microsoft points.  However, Activision seems to think that Modern Warfare 2 players will pay anything to cure mapathy, and I’m sad to say that they’re probably right.

Destructiod managed to get the map names before they vanished from the Live website:

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Jason West and Vince Zampella, the former president and CEO of Infinity Ward respectively, may be looking at spending the next few years in court with Activision over Modern Warfare 2 royalties, but that doesn’t mean they’re not on the prowl for new opportunities.  Both have recently signed to be represented by the Creative Artists Agency, Hollywood’s biggest talent agency.

While some big names in gaming do in fact have representation in one form or another and the two may be looking to start an independent development company, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them pulled into some sort of film project.  Call of Duty has always had great story arcs and incredible settings, both of which translate quite well in to non-interactive media.

That is, of course, if Activision doesn’t own them.  I guess we’ll see!

Via the L.A. Times

We saw Activision’s pretty great advertisement for Modern Warfare 2’s upcoming DLC map pack, in which we were promised a cure for “Mapathy.”  Now EA has tried to do their competitors one better by announcing free DLC for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 with the blog title “How to avoid ‘mapathy’ without paying”:

“VIP members will be able to expand on the deep and ever changing sandbox experience, which in itself provides near endless hours of entertainment, by having new content to keep things fresh. It also plays a vital part in making sure you, the players get proper value for the money you’ve invested in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. This is why these map packs are available at no extra cost, contradicting the industry standard and what our direct competitors are doing.”

Oh snap!  You got that Activision!?  EA is done messing around!  So why don’t you take your 25 million players and….roll around in all that money….or something.  Yeah.

We knew that new maps were headed to Modern Warfare 2 soon, but until now we didn’t know exactly when.  However, thanks to Infinity Ward’s Fourzerotwo (Community Manager Robert Bowling), we now have access to a site that promises to deliver the cure for “Mapathy” on March 30^th.

From the Mapathy site:

“Mapathy (n.) [map-uh-thee] (often expressed as, “How the hell did you know I was there?!”) is a state of indifference to the same old maps one has been playing for the last several months.  The Mapathetic individual no longer derives pleasure from blowing up people hiding in the cockpit or on top of the crane.  More than 20 million people may be at risk for mapathy.”

Of course, it’s worth noting that DLC has been announced for Xbox 360 exclusively at the moment, and will probably trickle down to PC and PlayStation 3 users some time later.  Suckers!

See the full ad after the break.

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Good old Fourzerotwo.  He’s been relatively quiet as of late, what with all the drama, but his Twitter is alive again to let us know that yes, lots of people are playing Modern Warfare 2 and yes, there is DLC on the way:

From Twitter:

“…annnd we JUST hit 25 MILLION unique players on Modern Warfare 2. Insanity! Also, got a lot of #MW2 DLC details coming this week! FINALLY!”

I agree with the “FINALLY!” part – I’ve been aching for details on the next place in which some camping bastard will one-shot me with akimbo Rangers.

It looks like Tuesday’s drama over the ousting of Infinity Ward’s Vince Zampella and Jason West was just the beginning – we now have word that the two have filed suit against Activision for breach of contract.  According to the press release, the two were due for some “substantial” royalty payments but got the axe just before they were set to be paid out.

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