David Haddad taking over Guitar Hero after Dan Rosensweig departs

After less than a year on the job, Ex-Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig is leaving his position as President and CEO of Guitar Hero to "pursue other career opportunities." Guitar Hero COO David Haddad takes his place.

Activision announced today that President and Chief Executive Officer Dan Rosensweig has left the company and that Chief Operating Officer David Haddad is taking his place as head of the Guitar Hero unit.

Rosensweig became President and CEO of Guitar Hero developer RedOctane in March 2009, replacing co-founder Kai Huang. During Rosensweig's time with Activision, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits, Band Hero, Rock Band: The Beatles, and Lego Rock Band were all produced by the company.

Some of you may recall Rosensweig boasted back in September that Guitar Hero 5 was beating The Beatles: Rock Band in sales, and then turned out to be wrong when NPD Group published its sales report for that month. Despite that hiccup, Rosensweig wasn't fired from his position at Activision over bad performance reviews or anything like that. Official Activision blogger Dan Amrich says he left the company willingly to become CEO at Chegg.com.

Haddad, meanwhile, comes to the top of the Guitar Hero brand with plenty of experience under his belt. Before joining Activision as COO on Guitar Hero, he was COO at Vivendi Games' Sierra Online division.

Here's the official statement included in the press release:

"We would like to thank Dan for his contributions to the Guitar Hero business," stated Mike Griffith. "We widened our leadership in the music gaming genre in 2009. And now, as we enter 2010, David Haddad, with his broad consumer product and digital/online experience, is the right leader to drive our agenda to improve profitability."

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Silent Hill producer joins Grasshopper Manufacture; will create music for Suda 51-Mikami project

Akira Yamaoka, best known as soundtrack composer for the Silent Hill series, is joining Suda51's Grasshopper Manufacture, with plans to create the soundtrack for the project Suda and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami are making for EA.

There aren't very many video game projects that can be considered the equivalent of an album from a supergroup, but the upcoming collaboration between Akira Yamaoka, Goichi Suda, and Shinji Mikami is very close to that level of talent. When you've got the Silent Hill composer working alongside the creators of No More Heroes and Resident Evil, it seems like a recipe for success. The recipe added its latest ingredient--Mr. Yamaoka--when it was announced that he would join the ranks of Grasshopper Manufacture, according to Famitsu (via 1UP). While Yamaoka will solely focus on creating music for his upcoming Grasshopper projects, he stated that he'd like to utilize his "total sum of experience" in the future.

Yamaoka has been a driving force in the success of the Silent Hill series, creating the atmospheric music permeating the titles since the first game and serving as the producer for Silent Hill 3 and 4. He left Konami in 2009 after over 15 years with the company. According to the Famitsu article, Suda has hoped to work with Yamaoka ever since the first time he observed Silent Hill 2.

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Indie dev causes a stir with "games are not art" statements

At the Art History of Games conference this week, indie developer Tale of Tales made several bold statements about games not being art. Furthermore, "video games are overwhelmingly a waste of time."

Independent developer Tale of Tales caused a stir at the Art History of Games conference this week in Atlanta, GA by saying that games are not art and largely a huge waste of time.

Known for their unconventional games like The Path and the recently-released Fatale, Tale of Tales developers Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey were quoted by Gamasutra as saying that "games are not art," and "Beside a few noble attempts, video games are overwhelmingly a waste of time."

Above: A portion of Fatale, a game based on the biblical story of Salome.

This might sound pretentious coming from a studio whose games are often cited as proof that games can be art; but the key distinction Samyn and Auriea seem to make is that the nature of "games" is incompatible with art. "Games," they said, evolved from a biological need for play. Thanks to the rules that grew up around them, we now have what the developers believe to be a failure to evolve in video game design. Also, they said art is dead and that it's been co-opted by capitalism and restrictive government.

These bold statements preceded an equally bold proclamation that Tale of Tales plans make it all better by continuing to reject conventional game design and their "stupid rules." Sadly, they didn't announce any new upcoming titles -- but you can check out their iPhone app, Vanitas, which debuted at the Art History of Games conference as a commissioned work.

Source:
The Art History... Of Games? Games As Art May Be A Lost Cause [Gamasutra]

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Activision confirms studio layoffs, Luxoflux closed UPDATED

Studio layoffs should come as no surprise after Activision announced plans to cut production on games (especially Guitar Hero) and focus on a few core franchises. It was surprising to hear that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen developer Luxoflux was totally axed, though.

Even though Luxoflux isn't working on the new Transformers: War for Cybertron game Activision mentioned in its earnings call, it still seemed like the kind of studio Activision would leverage to work on its move tie-in games (e.g. Shrek). However, official Activision blogger Dan Amrich confirmed yesterday that the studio is closed for good and Guitar Hero developer Neversoft suffered staff cuts along with Prototype developer Radical Entertainment.

Here's the official company statement:

"Activision Publishing continually evaluates its resources to ensure that they are properly matched against its product slate and strategic goals. In 2010, the company's SKU count will be smaller than in 2009 driven in part, by a decrease in the number of music-based games we will be releasing. As we discussed on our earnings conference call yesterday, we are directing our resources against the largest and most profitable business segments, and as part of this initiative, we are realigning our resources to better reflect our slate and the market opportunities. At the same time, we are increasing our digital/online capabilities as we expect that digital/online will continue to become a more meaningful part of our business model in the years ahead."

UPDATE: In another statement issued today, Activision says Underground Studios is also closing up shop. RedOctane, meanwhile, is being relocated to Santa Monica under newly-promoted David Haddad.

Source:
Layoffs [One of Swords]

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Lord British's clean slate becomes social networking venture

Apparently undaunted by massive multiplayer online game Tabula Rasa's demise, game developer Richard Garriott gets back into the scene with a new social networking venture called Portalarium.

According to a press release sent out just ahead of the 2010 DICE Summit where Garriott is a panelist, Portalarium "has a broad-based, open-social mission that will also see it expanding into content that includes open learning, open health, open science/environment, open government and much more, all wrapped in a connective virtual world in the online social networking space." For now, though, it's a social game publishing house.

It's first product, Sweet @$! Poker, is available on Facebook now. More casino games are in the works and CenterPort, the virtual world on which Garriott's venture is founded, will go live later this year.

GamePro reporter Dave Rudden has an interview with Garriott at DICE this week where we're sure he'll tell us all about the new venture and maybe reveal more games for the service. Keep an eye on our 2010 DICE Summit coverage for details.

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Tomonobu Itagaki announces Tecmo settlement

The ex-Team Ninja developer behind Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive settles his dispute over unpaid bonuses with former employer, Tecmo. He also teases an announcement of his current project.

The trouble began in June 2008 when Itagaki announced he was leaving Tecmo and suing them for failure to pay promised bonuses on completed projects. He also filed suit against Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda, "for such unlawful acts as unreasonable and disingenuous statements made towards me, claiming damages in total of 148 million yen."

Itagaki's statement released via Famitsu today (and translated by blog Andriasang) says that a reconciliation has been reached, but does not disclose the conditions of the settlement. At the tail end of the announcement, Itagaki says he "cannot wait" to tell his fans about the project he's been working on post-Tecmo.

Source:
板垣伴信氏とテクモの訴訟で和解が成立 [Famitsu via Andriasang]

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Website lightzz.com claims credit for Major Nelson account hack UPDATE

Larry Hryb, known to most as Microsoft's Major Nelson, appears to have a hacked Xbox Live account. Lewd messages in his account info fields and a YouTube video apparently walking through the steps to hack his account showed up online today.

Kotaku spotted the weirdness on Hryb's account not too long ago. They also report that the supposed hacker is offering to hack other Xbox Live accounts for $60.

Chances are, Major Nelson isn't aware of the issue yet as we only just got back from PAX East, ourselves. Nevertheless, we've put in a request for comment with Major Nelson and are keeping an eye on our Xbox Live account just in case anybody has it in for us and $60 to put toward the cause of printing profanity in our Name or Location fields.

Here's the video walkthrough:

UPDATE: Microsoft confirmed to us that the account had been compromised in "a very specific and very targeted [attack] to Major Nelson's account." They regained control of the account this morning and the above video was pulled from YouTube. The alleged hacker still has the video up on his site along with an angry message that reads "I DARE YOU FILE COMPLAINTS ON ME BANNED ME IF U CAN MY MAIN."

Source:
Xbox Live Director's Account Hacked! (Are You Next?) [Kotaku]

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Bulgarian government official booted for playing FarmVille

The City of Plovdiv in Bulgaria booted council member Dimitar Kerin for playing FarmVille during council meetings. His defense? Fellow councilman Daniela Zhelyazkova was already at level 46 while Kerin was only at level 40.

As reported by Canvas Staff Reports on MyFoxchattanooga.com, Kerin leveraged the council chambers' wireless connection and a laptop provided to him by the city to access FarmVille during council meetings. Kerin was warned several times by council chairman Ilko Iliev, but the proverbial banhammer came down when council member Todor Hristov filed a formal movement to boot Kerin from the council so he could spend more time on his virtual farm.

Kerin defended himself by saying that other council members and City Hall officials also played Farmville on the city's technology.

According to reports, the vote to oust Kerin passed at only 20-19.

Source:
Politician Booted For Playing FarmVille On The Job [MyFoxchattanooga.com via SocialTimes]

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Erik Estavillo files another laundry list of legal complaints against game companies

Erik Estavillo, a disabled gamer who sued Sony Computer Entertainment after being banned from PlayStation Network, has filed another lawsuit in San Jose, California. He claims that this is his last complaint that he ever plans to file and advises the court to ban him, "as long as this case and complaint are heard."

First, he claims SCEA owes him the money in his virtual wallet attached to his banned PSN account.

Next, he accuses Microsoft of unfair practices for release the Xbox 360 "knowing it would fail" and charging out-of-warranty 360 owners a fee to repair the console.

Then he goes on to say Nintendo of America is in violation of anti-trust laws "by not allowing third-party software" on the Wii.

Next, he claims Activision-Blizzard's subscription fees and World of Warcraft-related transaction are "deceptive" and enumerates the ways in which the game is bad for society by causing gamers to become overweight and neglect their children, "which a simple Google search can prove."

Second-to-last (although Estavillo lists this complaint as "lastly" in the complaint), he charges Wikipedia, GamePolitics, Sarcastic Gamer, and QJ.net for "wrong-doing" which includes deleting articles off Wikipedia pertaining a previous lawsuit of Estavillo's, libel, and "violations of the Freedom of Information Act."

Lastly, he says he would like to sue itresources.co.za for $7,000 in damages for not letting him talk to his ex-girlfriend who apparently works at the website.

We've called the number Estavillo listed on his court complaint. You can find the complaint below:

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Report: Conan O'Brien negotiated with Microsoft about an Xbox program that would 'break new ground'

With Conan O'Brien coming back to television this fall with a new program on TBS, reports are coming out regarding the other avenues of distribution the late night host was considering--one of which was the Xbox 360.

In a move that surprised many who thought he'd stick to network television, Conan O'Brien was confirmed earlier today as the newest addition to cable channel TBS, as the former Tonight Show host will bring his humor to a new 1-hour program in the fall. Reports that have come out today seem to indicate that O'Brien's business team was considering even more outrageous means of distributing the program, including streaming via video game consoles. Here's a snippet of a report from Deadline Hollywood.

Team Conan (including his exec producer Jeff Ross, and WME's Rick Rosen, and manager Gavin Palone, and Ziffren Brittenham attorney Sam Fischer), were thinking way outside the network box. For instance, there were discussions with Microsoft about an Xbox deal for Conan's show that would have broken new ground.

We've put word out to our Microsoft representatives to confirm the validity of the negotiations and will report if we hear back. Team Coco members--would you have followed Conan if he were Xbox-exclusive?

SOURCE: Conan O'Brien Could Have Been A Xbox Exclusive [Press the Buttons]

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In case you were wondering who all is left at Infinity Ward

Reports have been rolling in about senior Infinity Ward staff walking away from their jobs for about a week after Activision filed a counter-suit against the former heads of studio who now have new digs at Respawn Entertainment. There may be more departures yet to come, but for now, let PC Gamer UK tick off who all is left at Infinity Ward post-scandal:

Source:
Who's left Infinity Ward so far? Let's see... [PC Gamer UK's YouTube feed]

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Why it's not over with Bethesda and Interplay

Yesterday, the Internet jumped the gun on declaring the Bethesda v. Interplay court battle won after an overzealous source erroneously told enthusiast site Duck and Cover that Bethesda dropped an appeal to block Interplay from developing a Fallout MMO. Today, Bethesda tells us the real story.

While Bethesda Softworks did voluntarily dismiss the appeal on a preliminary injunction against Interplay, there is no settlement and legal proceedings are still underway. The crux of the issue is that Bethesda does not want Interplay to make a Fallout MMO, despite originally leaving them the option to develop one. Check out our time line of the case here.

Bethesda's Pete Hines told GamePro this morning that "All claims in Bethesda's complaint against Interplay remain pending in their entirety and will be pursued actively."

In other words, it ain't over yet.

Further Reading:
UPDATE: Interplay v. Bethesda not done yet [Duck and Cover]

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Russia may tap 1C Company to make patriotic games UPDATE

According to a Russian business daily report read by RiaNovosti, the Russian Communications ministry is working with software and game developer/publisher 1C Company to produce "computer games aimed at boosting patriotism among young people and promoting Moscow's vision of the 'historic truth.'"

The report, if accurate, isn't a complete surprise. The King's Bounty developer's connections to the Russian government are close enough to land the annual 1C U.S. showcase at the Russian Consulate in San Francisco. 1C's influence in Russia is akin to Microsoft's in the U.S.

The initial story appeared in the Vedomosti daily and seems to rely heavily on a statement from the Communications ministry. The report said 1C presented a project that calls for six flight simulator games that improve Russia's international image as a tech-savvy nation "and increase patriotism among teenagers." The project cost is estimated at approximately 720 million rubles ($24 million).

The Ministry has asked the government to allocate 500 million rubles. 1C is ready to spend 200 million rubles, and another 20 million rubles will come from the government of Russia's Khanty-Mansiysk region.

It sounds like at least one of the games was demoed to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, but the project hasn't won backing from the government yet.

Representatives for 1C Company based in the U.S. did not respond to an email requesting comment on this report. The company's 2010 U.S. showcase event is set for June 3, with 10 new games on the agenda.

UPDATE: The reps got back to us to say they're forwarding our request to 1C in Russia -- the response will take at least a day to come back.

Source:
Russia to encourage patriotism through computer games - paper [RiaNovosti via GamePolitics]

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Nintendo quotes stir up speculation on Apple, online gaming, and 3D

Quotes from Nintendo President Satoru Iwata and Super Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto appeared in several publications recently suggesting that 1) Nintendo sees Apple as "enemy of the future," 2) Nintendo is "desperate to realise" online gaming, and 3) you can turn off the 3D function of the Nintendo 3DS console.

That first bit comes from British publication, Times Online. The report says Iwata "is understood to have told his senior executives recently" that Apple is their new rival in the games space with its iPhone and iPad. It doesn't take a genius to see that Nintendo and Apple aim for the same audience with their devices (you've seen the happy, smiling family-oriented ads) -- however, a second study from Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty (via IndustryGamers) backs the claim up by asserting that the iPad hurts handheld gaming console sales in the same way that it hurts Netbook sales. Coupled with the recent decline in Wii sales, the alleged quote by Iwata seems legitimate.

The second piece of news is shakier because it's speculation. Granted, the speculation comes from Miyamoto, Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development lead, so there's a bit of weight there. He told Edge magazine, "Probably the other thing that we are desperate to realise is the core [online] business structure. Do we need to demand customers pay monthly fees to enjoy online activities? Or give an online subscription that is free of charge, but then offer something extra for people that pay, so that they get some extra value? With these core business strategies I think we are less active than we should be." So while a monthly subscription fee for your Wii isn't a reality yet, it was enough to get tongues wagging.

The third piece of news is the one that carries the most weight, despite the lack of a direct quote. In an interview with the Associated Press regarding Nintendo's recent earnings release, Iwata apparently told the reporter that the 3D function on the upcoming handheld 3DS can be switched off, allowing players to play games with or without 3D. Nobody's seen the console yet, but based on the earnings report, we know it'll be on shelves this fiscal year.

Sources:
Rivals are invading its patch, but Nintendo is ready to go to war
Nintendo Hurt By iPad Surge, finds Study
Miyamoto: Nintendo Could Charge For Online Gaming
Nintendo to beef up piracy measures in 3-D machine

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Respawn, Itagaki promising E3 reveals... does Nintendo have one, too? UPDATE

Two big names in controversy are teasing E3 reveals this morning. Jason West and Vince Zampella of Respawn Entertainment (formerly of Infinity Ward) have something "big time" in the works and ex-Tecmo developer Tomonobu Itagaki is ready to reveal what his new studio, Valhalla, is working on.

The news comes by way of Facebook and Valhalla's blog page. The Facebook page is fairly obscure -- "Vince Zampella and Jason West big time announcement at E3 next week. stay tuned, kiddies!" -- but Itagaki gets more personal.

"...[T]his announcement will be the fifth all-new project in my lifetime," the English-language post reads. "I don't know if that number is large or small, but I know as a fact that every one of these announcements was a presentation of a new gaming paradigm from me to all of you. This time, it is no different."

Rumor also has it that Nintendo's stocking a surprise for its E3 presentation. We've heard about the 3DS and some sites report that the next major Zelda game is confirmed -- so what else could it possibly be? A new Star Fox?

UPDATE: An unnamed EA official apparently told MTV Multiplayer the Respawn announcement is in no way official. Take that as you will -- we're not sure what to make of it.

Sources:
Vince Zampella and Jason West [Facebook]
"Itagaki's Thought" [Valhalla Game Studios]

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Not exactly news: Linden Lab CEO resigns, artist M.I.A. dislikes kids playing violent video games

The week after E3 is a brutal time for news -- there's just not that much of it. This morning, it's particularly bad with so many people lined up for a new iPhone 4. Even so, we've got a couple of newsy tidbits to distract you while we wait for the post-E3 lull to blow over.

Not exactly news #1: Linden Lab CEO resigns
Why it's news: Linden Lab recently cut 30 percent of its staff and before that it got slapped a series of virtual property-related lawsuits. With now-ex-CEO Mark Kingdon out and company founder Philip Rosedale in as interim CEO, it's going to be pretty interesting to see what happens to Second Life.
Why it's not, exactly: We've know for a while that Linden Lab has problems, so this latest twist isn't surprising. Also, the move has zero short-term impact on Second Life.
Source: Press release

Not exactly news #2: Singer M.I.A. (whose real name is Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam) reacts badly to kids playing violent video games
Why it's news: It's not, really, but the media has a habit of reporting the opinions of celebrities. Artist M.I.A. is a particularly interesting celebrity to quote on violence and video games because of her upbringing in conflict-ridden Sri Lanka and because she has a young son whom she assumes will absorb the violence in video games. The following quotes are attributed to her:

"My kid's gonna see it, but he's gonna see it in computer games. I don't know which is worse. The fact that I saw it in my life has maybe given me lots of issues, but there's a whole generation of American kids seeing violence on their computer screens and then getting shipped off to Afghanistan. They feel like they know the violence when they don't. Not having a proper understanding of violence, especially what it's like on the receiving end of it, just makes you interpret it wrong and makes inflicting violence easier."

Why it's not, exactly: The opinions of celebrities rarely if ever have any impact on the making, buying, and selling of video games.
Source: Interview with Connect magazine, reported by CVG

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Friday morning gossip -- Pac-Man 3D cartoon, Blizzard backing down, and more

Sometimes gossip is news and other times it's just gossip. Rather than let some of this sit for today's daily stale bread, we'll bring you three fresh pieces for your consideration.

Pac-Man 3D Cartoon coming in 2012
Word comes by way of Namco Bandai's Japanese website that a 26-episode 3D Pac-Man series kicks off sometime in 2012. Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft speculate that this is the series currently in development under Marvel's Avi Arad.
Our question: Would you watch it?

Blizzard backs off on RealID
Earlier this week, Blizzard caused a stir by announcing plans to require forum users to post under their real names. This happened before over at Linden Labs with Second Life -- and just like that time, too, Blizzard backed off after a massive outcry from the community. Standby for an analysis story from GamePro on how anonymity affects online communities.
Our question: Would you really stop playing Blizzard games over RealID?

Star Wars: The Old Republic goes into testing phase
We know that Old Republic likely won't arrive before 2011, but we'd brave even the worst beta bugs for a look at the BioWare massively multiplayer online game. Our chance -- and yours -- is right here.
Our question: Would you rather wait for the final product so that the beta bugs don't spoil your impression?

Final Fantasy XIV beta happening now
Another bit of MMO news this morning comes from Final Fantasy XIV's Twitter account (both the English and Japanese versions). The epic MMO is set to begin its beta this Saturday.
Our question: Seriously, how would Move work with an MMO?

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New developments in Infinity Ward/Activision drama

Lawyers for dozens of Infinity Ward employees (past and present) seeking millions in damages and unpaid royalties from Activision filed an addendum to their complaint today, knocking down their original demand from $500 million to $216 million.

Kotaku reports that the addendum was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court today as a trail date of May 23 was set for the original Infinity Ward wrongful termination suit brought against Activision by Vince Zampella and Jason West. A judge will hear arguments in early August about whether or not to consolidate all related cases to the Infinity Ward/Activision drama into one trial.

We've contacted the lawyer that filed the addendum and Activision for comment on the matter and will update this story as necessary.

Source:
Lawsuit: Activision Created Modern Warfare "Police State" [Kotaku]

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Here's something that's not Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood... Wait, yes it is

Ubisoft Montreal hits Twitter this morning with a teaser for a secret project that apparently isn't related to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. It sure looks like it's related to assassin's though. Judge for yourself:

For crying out loud, the file name is 'Assassin' -- what do you think this game is about?

The image showed up on the newly-created UbiWorkshop Twitter account this morning after award-winning illustrator Cameron Stewart apparently Tweeted something he wasn't supposed to late yesterday that outed fellow artist Karl Kerschl as a collaborator on some "secret project."

Alright, Internets, time to do what you do best: speculate.

UPDATE: Ubisoft shot us a press release announcing a San Diego Comic Con panel unveil of a new Assassin's Creed comic book mini-series. Being that Stewart and Kerschl are the panelists, we daresay mystery solved.

Source:
Ubisoft Teasing Another Assassin's Creed Already [Destructoid]

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Who could Guillermo del Toro be working with to make games?

Speaking to MTV News, film director Guillermo del Toro said he plans to announce a deal with a video game studio "soon" to make games. There are a few clues as to what kind of game he'd like to make -- but not many on with whom del Toro could make them.

Games blog MTV Multiplayer has the thought that the mystery "big company" could be Irrational Games -- since that studio has plans to unveil their mystery game in August. MTV also points out, however, that del Toro wanted to do a Hobbit game once upon a time ad we doubt that Irrational managed to score that contract without J.R.R. Tolkien fans finding out about it.

So who could it be? Activision, EA, maybe even Sony? Hopefully we'll find out sooner rather than later.

Here's del Toro's full quote in the MTV News interview:

"One of the things we're announcing in the next few weeks is a big deal with a big company. We're going to do games that are going to be technically and narratively very interesting. It's not a development deal. We're going to do it. We're doing them. And we're going to announce it soon enough."

Source:
Guillermo del Toro Has Multiple Games In The Works With A 'Big Company' [MTV Multiplayer]

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Force Unleashed 2 producer walks UPDATE

IGN reports that Haden Blackman -- executive producer and writer on The Force Unleashed 2 -- has left LucasArts after 13 years at the company. Specifics aren't clear, but LucasArts says development on FU2 won't be affected.

Blackman's statement to IGN reads:

"I've had a fantastic time working with the team at Lucasfilm and am really grateful for their ongoing support. While the decision to leave LucasArts did not happen overnight or come easily, I really feel that now is the best time for me to move on and explore new creative challenges and I look forward to the next phase of my career."

We've contacted LucasArts for clarification on the situation and will update this story as necessary. Blackman's work on the Star Wars franchise at LucasArts stretches well beyond The Force Unleashed games and it's not clear if he will continue to contribute to that body of work.

Source:
Force Unleashed Producer Resigns [IGN]

UPDATE: LucasArts responded with the following statement -- "After 13 years of service, Haden Blackman has resigned from LucasArts. From launching Behind the Magic to delivering Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I and II, Haden has been an invaluable member of the team during his tenure with the company. We are extremely grateful for his many contributions, fully support him in his new endeavors and wish him all the best in the future."

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Lord British wins $28 million in NCSoft lawsuit

Game developer Richard "Lord British" Garriott won a $28 million lawsuit against former employer NCSoft today for breach of contract. The Korean-based software company fired him while he was in space.

No, seriously -- Garriott took a leave of absence from NCSoft (which bought Garriott's company, Destination Games, in 2001) during the year of 2008 to pursue his dream of space flight. After traveling with Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, he was informed during post-flight quarantine that his time at NCSoft was up.

At issue in the lawsuit is whether or not NCSoft violated their contract with Garriott about what to do with his stock options in the company if he ever left. The contract said his stock options were supposed to remain in place "in the event of his termination by the company, but would expire within 90 days in the case of his voluntary departure."

NCSoft claimed Garriott left voluntarily, thus forcing him to sell his stock options early in a lousy market (think mid-recession), which cost him millions of dollars, Garriott's lawyers argued. The jury agreed that the contract was breached and awarded Garriott $28 million in damages.

Not like he needs the money, but firing someone while they're in space and then saying he left voluntarily is a raw deal. Sure, he technically did drop off the face of the planet, but it was a planned leave of absence.

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Daily (Stale) Bread: The news we didn't post on August 17th, 2010

Despite our best movie-going efforts, Scott Pilgrim doesn't do too well at the box office, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm gets a collector's edition, and Persona 3 gets a mobile-phone spin-off.

Geeks on a bad streak at box office
AJ: This isn't directly game-related but very interesting. Apparently, geeks won't shell out to see movies, but older chicks will, so Eat, Pray, Love kicked the shit out of Scott Pilgrim at the box office despite Scott Pilgrim being the better film in the eyes of critics

Will: I would Eat, Pray, Love to head-butt Julia Roberts until she exploded into coins.

Dave: I saw Scott Pilgrim on Saturday at noon at a divey San Francisco theater. The venue and time may have played a part, but there were only six people at the show.

AJ: Our theater was half-empty, too, but everyone cheered like crazy.

Will: Mine was pretty packed, and it was on a Sunday night.

AJ: Will lives in a cool neighborhood.

Will: *pops collar, puts on shades* Deal with it.

Blizzard unveils collector's edition of 'World of Warcraft: Cataclysm'
Will: There's something horribly daunting about the Cataclysm Collector's Edition box.

Tae: What, like all the souls soon-to-be lost to its infinite glory?

Will: Something like that.

Persona 3 Social Announced For Mobile Phones
AJ: Dammit -- I read this thing about Persona 3 social on phones and got all excited, but then I realized they cut out the dating sim segments, so, you know, what's the point?

Will: The game's story and engaging characters?

AJ: Ha, yeah, right, but seriously...

Will: ...

AJ: Okay, I'm off to my doctor's appointment.

Dave: I give you this blessing:

Tae: Awesome. Now I'm protected against laughing.

Dave: That clip has falsetto, a fake mustache, and weird religious tribalism. According to my math, it's hilarious.

Tae: Carry the one, Dave, and you'll see it actually results in negative hilarity x infinity.

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LucasArts confirms staff layoffs

Reports this morning say there's a 30 percent staff reduction at LucasArts going into effect today. We got confirmation from LucasArts with the following statement:

"LucasArts is reorganizing its teams to better address the needs of the internal studio. Unfortunately, this means adjusting staffing. LucasArts continues to be committed to creating a first-class internal studio – and to fostering relationships with trusted external partners – in order to deliver quality games that amaze and inspire fans."

The representative we spoke to declined to name the total number of staff gone, or which departments suffered the most drastic cuts. The initial report began at Kotaku as a rumor a little over two weeks after Haden Blackman left the company.

GamePro will continue to follow this story as it develops.

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Gamer banned for having 'Fort Gay' in Xbox Live profile

The town Fort Gay sits in West Virginia near the Kentucky border. The area was first settled in 1789. In most respects, it's an unremarkable burg. But a town with a name like Fort Gay could land you a ban on Xbox Live.

According to the report from the Associated Press, 26-year-old Josh Moore recently saw his account suspended by Microsoft for a few days for violating Xbox Live service's code of conduct. Although his account has been restored and Microsoft has apologized for this unique situation, the incident brings into question how much wiggle room Microsoft has built into policies intended to protect players from harassment. Would a gamer from locations with suggestive names such as Beaver, Arkansas, Gayhead, New York, Intercourse, Alabama, or South Dildo, Newfoundland and Labrador receive a ban as well?

We left messages seeking comment from Stephen Toulouse, the director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live, and are waiting for a call back.

According to the AP, Moore attempted to explain that Fort Gay is indeed a real town to Microsoft. But the customer service representative that he talked to allegedly wouldn't check and warned Moore if he returned "Fort Guy" to his profile that Microsoft would cancel his account and keep his Xbox Live fee, which he had already paid for two years of service.

Also according to the AP, the situation began when an Xbox Live agent received a complaint about Moore's account for review. Toulouse rescinded the suspension when it was brought to his attention, says the AP.

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Who could Guillermo del Toro be working with to make games? THQ, duh

Film director Guillermo del Toro previously hinted to MTV that he and a "big company" were talking video game deals. Today, he comes out and tells them it's THQ.

In an interview with MTV News (via MTV Multiplayer blog), del Toro said, "With THQ we're looking at around a three year developing deadline for each game. Big games. More details forthcoming, but we are truly exploring them in a serious manner. Expect the first game, best case scenario, 2013."

THQ isn't one of the studios we originally imagined when del Toro first hinted at the project, but given the publisher's commitment to off-beat projects like Double Fine's Costume Quest and to transmedia intellectual properties, it seems like a good fit. THQ's 2011 lineup includes Homefront, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Red Faction: Armageddon, WWE SmackDown vs Raw Online, a de Blob sequel, and Saints Row 3.

The director said to expect a formal announcement in the next few days. Beyond that, he said of the mystery game, "It's horror...but it's a very different type of horror game. It's not survival horror. It's truly a strange, geeky mix. It's a Lovecraftian thing. Let's leave it at that."

Representatives from THQ did not respond to request for comment on this story.

UPDATE: THQ shot us the following response, "At THQ, we are focused on the highest level of creative development by putting artists first. Guillermo is one of many creative artists that we respect and would be interested in working with. However, at this time, we do not have any formal announcement to make."

Source:
Guillermo del Toro Confirms, Details THQ Game Series [MTV Multiplayer]

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Industry reacts to "EA Louse" blog post

An anonymous blog poster calling themselves "EA Louse" (get it?) dominates video game industry gossip today. Here's the breakdown of reactions.

ETA: EA Louse claims they're about to be dismissed from BioWare Mythic (and we can infer that they're in the art department, although we don't know in what position), the studio that produced Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Among other claims in the blog post (like the one about Star Wars: The Old Republic costing EA $300 million in development so far), Louse says that the game failed due to incompetence of their superiors.

1) The media: (Mostly) hated it
Gossip is fun to write about, but with no verifiable facts on which to base a straightforward report, most media sites like Gamasutra, Kotaku, and Joystiq avoided EA Louse (so far). As of press time, only Develop, 1UP, and VG247 picked up the blog post to run as a rumor story around some of EA Louse's more outrageous claims about layoffs and EA's development costs.

2) The developers: Hated it
Count on God of War developer David Jaffe to let loose wherever he sees injustice. Rather than coming down on EA's management, however, Jaffe sides with the so-called "higher-ups" EA Louse calls out in his original blog post. "What the f*** is it about making games where it brings out the worst, most immature, most obnoxious sides of certain types of people on a team?" Jaffe's blog post reads. "Everyone thinks they always know better than the people in charge."

3) The publishers: No comment
We reached out to EA for comment this morning and discovered that its public relations arm was unaware of the post. After waiting for publicists to see the material in question, we received the following response from Tammy Schachter, vice president of public relations: "Sorry but we don't respond to rumors or anonymous blogs." Other larger publishers, notably Activision, have also avoided public comment.

4) The audience: Loved it
With over 600 comments less than 24 hours after its posting, it's clear EA Louse struck a chord with people. Though there's no definitive explanation for what that might be, we have some ideas. First, notice how EA Louse has about four times the number of comments the Wives of Rockstar San Diego blog letter generated on Gamasutra in January. Comparing the two works reveals a pattern: Louse names names while the Wives speaks in general terms; Louse's post is easy to read and contains striking words like "f***," "fail," and "joke" while Wives are formal to the point of obscurity; Louse complains about a job they already lost while Wives complain about people who still have jobs.

Whether you loved EA Louse or hated it, you can find the post here. If you want an idea of what might happens as a result of the post, check out our analysis on the Wives of Rockstar letter. Also, for a fun experiment, see how this alleged Valve employee blog post filed today does in the wake of EA Louse.

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Wall Street Journal: Zynga gave advertisers user info

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that all 10 of the most popular apps on Facebook transmitted user IDs to outside companies in violation of Facebook's privacy policy -- and sometimes even their own.

Included on that list is Zynga, operator of FarmVille, FrontierVille, and Texas Hold 'Em Poker. The Journal alleges that Zynga transmitted personal information about its users' friends to outside companies. The article does not say to which companies this information went, though it does call out LOLapps for transmitting user data to profile-selling site, RapLeaf.

Toward the end of the article, an unnamed Zynga spokeswoman told the Journal that Zynga has a strict policy of "not passing personally identifiable information" to third parties. Nowhere does this spokeswoman address the Journal's assertion that Zynga did.

We've reached out to Zynga for clarification on the issue. Study up on the Facebook privacy policies here and Zynga's privacy policy here.

Source:
Facebook in Privacy Breach [The Wall Street Journal]

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Yes, John Romero's new game is a Facebook game

Fun fact: While still employed at the place that canceled his massively multiplayer online game, developer John Romero consulted with LOLapps to make a Facebook game called Ravenwood Fair.

If you've been following the news, you'd know that Facebook turned off LOLapps in the wake of a privacy breach scandal uncovered by the Wall Street Journal. According to VentureBeat, this means John Romero's new game is officially delayed until LOLapps sorts out its privacy issues.

Ravenwood Fair is a Facebook social game where players build thriving Renaissance fairs in a fairy tale forest filled with mythical monsters that need ass-kicking. Think FrontierVille meets Sim City.

It's a far cry from Doom or Quake, but in his interview with VentureBeat, it sounds like Romero sees social games as a natural evolution for game developers. They are called "games," right?

Source:
Creator of the fierce Doom and Quake games tries his hand at a cute Facebook app [VentureBeat]

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Fallout parent acquires Vanquish dev's studio

ZeniMax, parent company of Fallout and Oblivion developer Bethesda Game Studios, announced the acquisition of Shinji Mikami's studio today.

The new deal brings Mikami's Tango Gameworks under the ZeniMax umbrella, which current covers Bethesda, id Software, and Arkane Studios. Mikami maintains headman status at Tango.

A statement given with the press release from Mikami says that the developer is excited to join ZeniMax, given its history with AAA titles. "It's refreshing to find a publisher who understands, trusts, and supports the development of blockbuster games and works to make it a collaborative effort," his statement reads.

Mikami is no stranger to AAA titles himself, however, with the Resident Evil series under his belt. His work with fellow developer Goichi Suda at Grasshopper Manufacture on the upcoming Shadows of the Damned also speaks to his taste for high profile games.

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Here's what Will Wright is up to these days

What's The Sims creator Will Wright doing these days? Making "community developed television" about a mystical watering hole at the edge of the universe.

Wright's new show is called Bar Karma and the only reason you can't watch it yet is because you -- the community -- haven't created it yet.

Bar Karma runs on a platform called Current TV out of its Creation Studios channel. The idea is that viewers influence and even change Bar Karma episodes by pitching their own storyline ideas and storyboards. The community then votes on the one they like best and the producers go out and shoot it. There's a bit of a gray area between producer and community in that the producers probably have to adapt and edit the community ideas -- but it's still supposed to be a 30-minute television episode invented entirely by a community.

If the Spike TV Awards bestowed a "So Meta" award, Wright probably deserves it. Now if only he could adapt the idea to video games...

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Christopher Nolan's Inception video game UPDATE

Director Christopher Nolan revealed Inception video game ideas today at a press event for the movie's release in Italy, covered by film industry publication, Variety.

If you saw the film, this meme is hilarious.

The summer blockbuster starring Leonardo DiCaprio grossed $753 million worldwide ($285 million domestically, $468 internationally), according to Warner Bros. Studios. Inception also has the distinction of being the only summer movie to hold a top 10 spot in the American box office for 10 straight weeks. The film hits 600 screens in Italy this Friday.

Nolan said at the press event, "One thing we are looking at doing is developing a video game based on the world of the film, which has all kinds of ideas that you can't fit into a feature film. That's something we've been talking about and are looking at doing long-term, in a couple of years."

It doesn't sound like he speculated on what form an Inception game might take, but Nolan did talk about his fears that the film would be misinterpreted as "puzzle-like." That's probably not something he'd have to worry about in a video game, especially if he's going for mass market appeal.

Right now, the star director is busy on a script for Batman 3.

UPDATE (Dec. 1, 2010): Nolan told Entertainment Weekly blogger Jeff Jensen that the game is officially in the works:

"I always imagined Inception to be a world where a lot of other stories could take place," says Nolan. "At the moment, the only direction we're channeling that is by developing a videogame set in the world." He declined to elaborate on details or time table, only to say that he was developing the game with a team of collaborators and that it was "a longer-term proposition." He calls the medium of videogames "something I've wanted to explore" — and certainly a veritable massive multiplayer online role playing game (as imagined by Carl Jung) would seem to be a perfect for the interactive, non-linear dream world of Inception.

Source:
'Inception' grosses $753 mil worldwide [Variety]

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