BadPower.com Blog

Scr-scr-scratched through all of DJ Hero’s tracks? Activision has announced a new DLC mix pack featuring Renegade Edition headliners Eminem and Jay-Z. The collection is scheduled to drop on Xbox Live, PSN and Wii this month and includes:

• “Shake That” by Eminem mixed with “Show Me What You Got” by Jay-Z
• “Without Me” by Eminem mixed with “Encore” by Jay-Z
• “Can I Get A…” by Jay-Z mixed with “Lose Yourself” by Eminem

The new tracks will be available on March 18 on Xbox Live for 640 ($8) and March 25 on PSN for $7.99. The tracks will not be sold separately for Xbox 360 or PS3. Each track, however, will be available for the Wii version on March 25 as a downloadable single for 300 Wii Points ($3); $9 for all three.

Eminem & Jay-Z all mixed up in new DJ Hero DLC pack originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

click to enlarge

After a five-year hiatus, free-roaming felony franchise True Crime is set to return (sans subtitle) in Fall 2010. United Front, which is also working on the upcoming ModNation Racers and houses veterans from games such as Bully, Prototype and Scarface, is developing the new entry for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Lead producer Jeff O’Connell describes it as a “more serious” reboot — and a story that’s more closely modeled after cop films. “It’s an opportunity to be an innately good guy,” he said of the undercover, under-pressure role you’ll assume. “That’s good drama.”

Inspired by films like “The Departed” (see: “Infernal Affairs”), True Crime follows undercover lawman Wei Shen as he infiltrates the triad, slow-mo kicks enemies in the chin, and completes objectives across the game’s new city playground. “Is it an accurate representation of Hong Kong?” O’Connell asked. “It’s not.” Despite referencing over 27,000 photographs, the city has been “tuned for gameplay,” eschewing a realistic, street-for-street recreation in favor of a more cinematic and moody Hong Kong.

Continue reading Impressions: True Crime

Impressions: True Crime originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The upcoming Singularity from Raven Software is supposed to give you the power to age objects just by gesturing at them, and it appears that ability is being tested on the game itself: Its release date has been slowly edging into the future, from early 2010 up into March and then on to June. But it seems like the timeshifting has finally come to an end, as both Amazon and Gamefly have listed the game as releasing on June 29th of this year.

Activision originally cited the delay as an attempt to keep the game away from a crowded slate of “competitive titles,” so perhaps the game will do better kicking off the dog days of summer. If Raven’s time-bending twist on the FPS captures your interest, it’ll be one more good reason to stay out of that hot, hot summer sun.

[Thanks, Shagittarius]

Amazon and Gamefly agree: Singularity out June 29 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

While Blur’s aesthetic is devoid of rainbow bridges and adorable car-icatures, it’s undoubtedly a kart racer — albeit one that feels like it was made for people who don’t like kart racers. Or those bloody blue shells.

The power-ups you’ll pick up on the track can still knock competitors straight to last place, but opponents’ fates aren’t immutable once you send pulsating red orbs or bolts of electricity their way. Power-ups can be dodged before they grow too large in the rear-view mirror, or cancelled out by the blast of another weapon. It feels considerably more balanced and less random than the likes of Mario Kart, and being granted some measure of recourse makes it less frustrating when someone sends you hurtling to the back of the racing pack.

Continue reading Hands-on: Blur multiplayer beta

Hands-on: Blur multiplayer beta originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

After much deliberation, Microsoft has changed its policy about self-identifying one’s sexual preference, race, religion or nationality via its Xbox Live online service.

In an open letter written Friday, Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten said that the Xbox Live Terms of Use and Code of Conduct will now allow players to “more freely express their race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation in Gamertags and profiles.”

Specifically, it is now kosher to use the words “lesbian,” “gay,” “bi,” “transgender” and “straight” in a user name or profile. The new policy does not yet outline proper uses for reference to race, religion and nationality.

Previously, Microsoft banned those expressions out of concern that they could be used as slurs. But an instance in 2009, when a lesbian gamer was banned for self-identifying as homosexual in her profile, resulted in a re-examination of the policy, executed in close collaboration with GLADD.

Now, perhaps Richard Gaywood — the gamer whose real name once ran afoul of Microsoft’s policies — will be able to get his old Gamertag back.

Image courtesy Microsoft

See Also:

• Xbox Live Bans Lesbian Gamer, Microsoft Apologizes
• Microsoft Forbids User's Name as Gamertag
• LGBT-Friendly Campaign Targets Insensitive Gamers
• Xbox Live Trash Talk Leads to Arrest

Beyond a statement released by ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella’s lawyer yesterday detailing the lawsuit the two are filing against Activision, we’ve seen little in the way of back history on the various events that lead us to the debacle we’re seeing this week. This morning, though, Joystiq obtained the entire 16-page court document (gallery-ized below for you) that details, among many other things, the ex-employees’ complaints about Activision in the wake of their untimely departure.

The initial claim of unpaid royalties is represented in the documents, even going as far as to claim that the publisher fired West and Zampella just weeks before having to pay out said royalties. “Activision fired them in hope that by doing so, it could avoid paying them what they had rightfully earned, and to seize control of the Infinity Ward studio, to which Activision had previously granted creative control over all Modern Warfare branded games,” the document reads. In the history lesson portion of the complaint, it’s revealed that Activision allegedly purchased the studio for just $5 million originally (in two different chunks), and the Call of Duty franchise (including Treyarch-developed titles) has earned over $3 billion since 2003.

Finally, the complaint claims that, before Infinity Ward agreed to develop Modern Warfare 2, the then-studio heads “were not eager to extend their employment” as Activision had apparently begun demanding a more constant development pace at the studio. “Despite assurances by Activision that West and Zampella would have complete freedom to run Infinity Ward as an independent studio, Activision had begun to intrude upon Infinity Ward’s ability to create quality games. For example, Activision forced Infinity Ward’s employees to continue producing the games at a breakneck pace under aggressive schedules, and West and Zampella were concerned that Activision was emphasizing quantity over quality.”

Regardless of the veracity of these allegations, it would certainly appear that the gloves have come all the way off. We’ll have a more thorough breakdown of the entire document later today, but for now you can see it in its entirety below.

Activision/Infinity Ward court documents detail ex-studio heads’ many, many complaints originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The lawsuit filed against Activision by two ex-Infinity Ward leads alleges that the publisher of its Modern Warfare games carried out an “Orwellian,” “pre-ordained” investigation designed to “manufacture a basis to fire” them in order to avoid paying them bonuses.

That suit, filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on March 3, was filed by founders Jason West and Vince Zampella in an attempt to be paid royalties earned from the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and to regain rights to the Modern Warfare line of games.

West and Zampella’s lawsuit claims that Activision is simply trying to withhold (or reduce) bonus payment on the billion dollar selling Modern Warfare 2. In a dig at the publisher’s CEO Bobby Kotick, the suit notes this is “not surprising, given that Activision is run by a CEO who has been publicly quoted as believing that the best way to run a videogame studio is to engender a culture of ’skepticism, pessimism, and fear’ and who prefers to pay his lawyers instead of his employees.”

The two are seeking “in excess of $36 million” in damages.

In the suit, Infinity Ward’s ousted founders claim that Activision refused to honor its agreements with the development studio, agreements that granted the Call of Duty creators creative authority over “any Call of Duty game set in the post-Vietnam era, the near future or the distant future” and any title under the Modern Warfare brand. No such game, the suit reads, “can be commercially released without the written consent of West and Zampella.”

That agreement, legally a Memorandum of Understanding, was signed by West, Zampella, and Activision Publishing president Mike Griffith in March of 2008. That MOU, the lawsuit explains, was signed to induce the two to continue as co-heads of Infinity Ward, grant certain royalty arrangements for Modern Warfare 2 sales and games built on Infinity Ward’s technology, and to “ensure that Infinity Ward employees received rewards for their hard work.”

The suit against Activision contends that the publisher opted not to honor the MOU or West and Zampella’s employment agreement, but to “launch a pre-textual investigation…to create a basis to fire the two co-heads of Infinity Ward before the first Modern Warfare 2 royalty payment would be paid…”

“From the very beginning, it was clear that the purpose of the investigation was not to uncover any facts concerning any actual wrongdoing, but to manufacture a basis to fire West and Zampella,” the lawsuit reads.

West and Zampella claim that the publisher refused to explain the basis of the investigation, insisting “in Orwellian fashion” that the two “already have a clear understanding of what they have or have not done.”

“Anything less than their full cooperation with the inquisition would constitute ‘insubordination,” which would justify the firing of Zampella and West.

“Activision conducted the investigation in a manner designed to maximize the inconvenience and anxiety it would cause West and Zampella,” the lawsuit claims, alleging that the two were “interrogated for over six hours in a windowless conference room” and that other Infinity Ward employees were “brought…to tears” by Activision investigators.

The ousted Infinity Ward heads believe that the investigation was “a charade,” citing “trumped up grounds for termination” and “charges that were disproved in the investigation” at the root of their March 1 dismissal. Activision, they claim, had “already made up its mind” to terminate the two in an attempt to deny them payment.

We’ve reached out to Activision reps for comment on the suit, but have not yet received a response.

To read the full court document filed by West, Zampella and their legal team, and obtained by Kotaku, head over here.

Harmonix launched the Rock Band Network music store on Thursday, featuring over 100 songs created by end users.

Rock Band Network works with the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band 2. From the average user’s perspective, it’s just another source of music; 100 more songs from obscure indie bands as well as acts like Flogging Molly and Steve Vai. But these songs weren’t created in-house; they were put together by independent music-makers using software provided by Harmonix, then peer-reviewed by their fellow indie developers. Artists get 30% of the take.

Harmonix says that a selection of Rock Band Network tracks will be brought to the Wii and PlayStation 3 platforms no sooner than 30 days after each releases on the Xbox 360.

Now for the million-dollar question: With the songs online and available to every Rock Band 2 owner, will these bands make a bunch of money? And what happens when the service inevitably balloons from 100 songs to thousands?

Image courtesy Harmonix

Evil publisher Activision has responded to this morning’s news that ex-Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella with an official statement, expressing “disappointment” over the decision, and essentially painting the fired studio bosses as the villains of the piece. Looks like this is going to get worse before it gets better, kids.

Activision is disappointed that Mr. Zampella and Mr. West have chosen to file a lawsuit, and believes their claims are meritless. Over eight years, Activision shareholders provided these executives with the capital they needed to start Infinity Ward, as well as the financial support, resources and creative independence that helped them flourish and achieve enormous professional success and personal wealth.

In return, Activision legitimately expected them to honor their obligations to Activision, just like any other executives who hold  positions of trust in the company.  While the company showed enormous patience, it firmly believes that its decision was justified based on their course of conduct and actions.  Activision remains committed to the Call of Duty franchise, which it owns, and will continue to produce exciting and innovative games for its millions of fans.

You’ve got the love the bitter little stab at the end, where Activision affirms that it “owns” Call of Duty. Regardless of Activision’s statement, the whole situation was revealed in such a controversial and frankly bizarre way that it’s difficult for the publisher to come out of this one smelling clean, and this is just round one in what is sure to be months of sh*t flinging.