Tag Archives: Activision
The Death of ‘Call of Duty’
The Call of Duty franchise of games has been around for quite some time. While the buzz around Modern Warfare 2 might seem like it’s the first some people have heard of the game, it’s actually the sixth game in the series! If we’re lucky, it might also be the last.
In case you haven’t been reading the gaming section of the news (OK, it doesn’t exist, but it totally should), Infinity Ward has just lost two of their head execs; Vince Zampella and Jason West. Activision supposedly originally let them go for “HR Violations and insubordination”, however when it finally made a statement regarding the firings, the company made no mention of it.
Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest launch of any form a media EVER. It’s one of the top FPS shooters of all time, and is critically lauded for (of all things in a shooter) its incredible writing. So why should I feel that it should be allowed to die? The answer is very simple: “Let’s end on a good note.”
In Activision’s official statement, it’s revealed that the next Call of Duty game will be developed by Treyarch Games. That isn’t exactly groundbreaking news, as it seems every odd numbered CoD is from them (and sucks). However what was also released was that Infinity Ward (the company that makes the good CoDs) was to hand over the reigns to Sledgehammer Game Studios to develop the next in the series . . . an “action-adventure genre” game.
Yeah. Not joking.
Industry insiders all agree that this is in line with the overall belief that Activision is planning to create a separate brand/company around the Call of Duty franchise in a similar manner to Blizzard Entertainment. Also on the radar is a new subscription based version of CoD.
So let me run a little scenario past you: You are the head of a development team that has created what many consider the crowning jewel in the FPS genre. Your game has broken every sales record for any media type worldwide. Your game is SO popular that despite loads of controversy over anything from shooting civilians to dropping your PC-based servers, people still love you and foaming over the next sequel like they have rabies or something.
One morning, you walk into a meeting with your fellow department head and are told that they want you to rework the very nature of the game to be a third-person, action-adventure game (remember that FPS stands for “First Person Shooter”). Not only that, but they’d really like it if you could do that and also make it cost $15 a month to play.
What would your response be? I could tell you mine. It’d be “insubordinate”, to say the least!
Now, I can’t claim to know exactly why these people were let go. ”HR Violation” could mean they were sacrificing woodland creatures on their desks. Or it could mean they were stealing people’s lunches from the break-room fridge. Anything goes, really.
What I do know is that publicly axing two of the heads of the team in one breath and telling the world they’re changing the focus of the game in the next is a bit like Activision punching someone’s sainted aunt. Twice.
Oh this makes me happy!
When Blizzard and Activision merged earlier this year, they announced that they would not be continuing a couple of titles that were under development. One of them was Ghostbusters, and I weeped inside. However, the rights were bought up by Atari, and it’s back on schedule!
Hooray for voice acting from the actual actors and writing from the actual writers!
MR SPARKLE COMMANDS YOU!!!
I never played any of the Call of Duty series until number 4, Advanced Warfare. As I’ve stated on here before, it was one of the best shooters I’ve ever played; the story was entertaining, the difficulty was perfect, and the graphics were superb.
With this in mind, I happily downloaded and installed the new public beta to Call of Duty: World at War. Right off the bat I could tell there was something wrong, as Infinity Ward had nothing to do with this game. On top of that is the little issue I have with games trying to mimic the titles of other games just for popularity sake.
Now, I don’t typically believe in reviewing a beta because I don’t think its fair to judge something that isn’t finished yet. I think I’m ok with this post, however, since it’s not a true review.
The beta was for multiplayer only, which is understandable, though I don’t typically play multiplayer myself. After declining to install PunkBuster (I hate bloatware) I was informed I would be blocked from numerous servers who were ‘PunkBuster Hosted’. I’ve got news for everyone out there; it’s 2008, there are easier ways to tell if someone is cheating than to install a separate resource hog to run in your systray.
The only server I could find was unoccupied, which suited me just fine. I was dropped into a ‘King of the Hill’ style match with only myself and a rifle and a set of flags to capture. The computer automatically assigned me to the Imperial Japanese Army and started screaming at me.
“GO GET FLAG! GO GET FLAG FOR HONOR! YOU HONOR EMPEROR AND HURRRRRR……”
CAPTURE FLAG AND BANISH IT TO THE LAND OF WIND AND GHOSTS!
I don’t actually know what the last word was that my phantom squad leader screamed. I’d like to think that sound was him getting a bayonet in the back, but since I was the only one there and I know that I sure didn’t do it, he must have just had a stroke or something.
I tested shooting at some things, I jumped off a small bridge, switched weapons and reloaded, and even tested the map feature to capture a flag. Just when I thought I couldn’t get anymore underwhelmed with the design of the game, there was Mr. Sparkle to shout at me again.
“YOU BRING HONOR TO YOUR FAMILY! GO GET OTHER FLAG! GO NOW!”
I felt like I was being ordered around by some cross between a South Park character and a klingon, and it really wasn’t the best game experience I could imagine having.
Evidentally, this was the only research Trearch did in learning Japanese.
Now, as I said before, I’m not normally into multiplayer shooters, but I’d imagine that some of the fun you are supposed to get is from listening to your squad mates and victims . . . not from crappy voice acting. Was I wrong there?
Thankfully, from what I understand, Infinity Ward has signed on to develop Call of Duty 6. I hope it’s every bit as good as 4 was.
I miss my Mad Cat
An unpainted Mad Cat Mk II. 90 tons of fun!
I used to be a big Battle Tech fan. Not so big that I’d read the novels or anything (that was reserved for my friend “NightShadow”), but I’d get involved in huge map sheet battles and went absolutely giddy when the MechWarrior games came out for PC. I’m not joking when I say that I would spend hours in my room (with my mom of all people) painting and detailing my battlemech minatures.
There was a source book that my friends and I would use that detailed every rule and every stat on the battlefield. Like many tabletop games, it took forever; each full turn represented 10 seconds of actual battle, but would often take 5 minutes to actually perform. While my friends and I loved all the strategy and planning that went into a battle, we tired rather quickly of battles that would last for 4 or more hours.
It was actually BattleTech that got me into PC gaming in the first place. The first computer our family had couldn’t run much in the way of graphic-intensive games, but that was fine since at the time there were none anyway. Everything else back then was some sort of “click and choose” from Sierra that didn’t interest me in the slightest. Then came MechWarrior 2, and it changed everything for me. Now, I realize that many other games out there claim to be the first “3D game” ever, but that doesn’t matter to me; MechWarrior was my first.
It stressed my computer like nothing before had. The poor 166MHz Pentium had issues keeping up with game play. The ultra-advanced ATI Rage chip with it’s full 2MB of shared memory actually failed so hard that it would only report 1MB after playing the game (I never was able to fix that). Trying to play in multi-player was a joke since the internet was nothing but a bunch of virtual billboards at the time; I once tried connecting to a friend who lived down the street from me. The connection was so horrible that he couldn’t move from his starting point. It would have been an easy kill except his sister picked up the phone and started dialing before I could lay the final blow.
MechWarrior had two expansion packs as well; Ghost Bear’s Legacy (which rocked) and Mercenaries (which might have rocked if my computer could have played it). When I moved out and lived on my own, I bought a new computer for myself and a copy of MechWarrior 3. I quickly learned that this new version almost required a joystick, as taking the time to aim with a keyboard was a easy way to be killed. Multiplayer actually worked, and I remember hopping on and duking it out with up to 15 other people (while we all complained about lag).
I was never very good at the multi-player, so I often used the underhanded tactic of loading a 100 ton assault mech (an Annihilator in my case) with 16 ER Large Pulse lasers, shooting at everyone just enough to annoy them, then hitting the “Alpha Strike” (where you fire everything at once) at one person in particular. I’d typically blast straight through whoever was unlucky enough to get the Alpha Strike, but the real key was that so much heat was generated by my mech that its reactor would go critical and I’d blow up, taking everything around with me. One death to 15 kills is typically considered a win, but it got me booted from a lot of matches.
Fly my prettys!
MechWarrior 4 was the last. It was awesome as well, and played better than any of the previous games (with a noted exception of terrain damage, but I won’t go into that). And then . . . nothing. MechWarrior 5 was cancelled, and we’ve heard nothing since. MechCommander and MechCommander 2 came out for the Xbox, and while they were pretty, any true fan will agree that the experience was pretty weak.
What I don’t understand is, with how much computer technology has evolved in the last 5 years, why is there no new MechWarrior? Surely it can’t be from lack of interest! People are still actively playing MW4, and modding it to create a whole new game for lack of an official one.
It’s not like gamers are suddenly no longer interested in huge, walking, armored, machines of death. In fact, I think that’s part of the criteria for being a PC Gamer!
See? It's right there in the test!
I want a game that combines everything developers have learned from MassEffect, the GTA series, and detail accurate FPS titles (CoD4 and Vegas 2 come to mind) and actually revive the MechWarrior title. I believe the franchise deserves a fresh start, and want to hear other’s opinion on it!
