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Archive for the 'Activision' Tag

Xbox LIVE bans permanent; millions answer ‘Call of Duty’

November 12th, 2009, 1:40 pm by Jayson Peters

callofduty

Gamers by the millions turned out this week to trade their shiny gold rocks for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in what The Associated Press is calling the biggest-selling launch in the history of entertainment. Activision stock rose Thursday morning on this enthusiasm. And a reported million or so gamers remain banned from Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE service for modifying their hardware to play illegally copied software.

Microsoft told BBC News today that the banning is permanent, and that affected users will have to buy a new Xbox 360 console to recover their profiles and resume Xbox LIVE membership.

Read the rest of this entry »

No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani ain’t no ‘Honky Tonk’ girl

November 5th, 2009, 1:27 pm by Jayson Peters

nodoubt

The band No Doubt doesn’t like a feature in the new Band Hero video game that lets players control digital versions of real band members and change things up by making them sing other artists’ songs.

It’s called “character manipulation, and a lawsuit filed Wednesday against Activision claims this lets players have all sorts of bawdy fun by making lead singer Gwen Stefani perform suggestive lyrics from the Rolling Stones hit Honky Tonk Women, for example. It claims the band raised objections but they were not heeded, and the result is a “virtual karaoke circus act.”

No Doubt is seeking unspecified damages and an order barring Activision from using any band members’ likenesses with non-No Doubt songs.

Just a few months ago, the widow and former bandmates of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain railed against Activision for using the late grunge rocker’s likeness to play other artists’ songs in Guitar Hero 5. Before that, the company settled a lawsuit over Brutal Legend, a rock ’n’ roll adventure game starring Jack Black that the company tried to kill after it acquired a smaller developer. The game was published last month by Activision’s rival, Electronic Arts.

Via The Associated Press

Chill out: ‘Brutal Legend’ lawsuit settled

August 6th, 2009, 1:31 pm by Jayson Peters
Whew. That was close.

Activision’s attorneys have told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that they have reached a settlement with Double Fine Productions and no longer seek to stop the release of Brutal Legend, a video game starring actor-musician Jack Black.

Read The Associated Press story.

Brutal Legend Lawsuit
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‘Brutal Legend’ October release on track — for now

July 30th, 2009, 1:39 pm by Jayson Peters

A judge today refused to delay the October release of the Jack Black video game Brutal Legend, but he did delay arguments and a formal ruling in the lawsuit brought by Activision to prevent the launch.

Brutal Legend LawsuitThe Los Angeles Superior Court judge rescheduled arguments on Activision’s motion for Aug. 6 because he has a full calendar, according to The Associated Press

Last month Activision filed a lawsuit against San Francisco developer Double Find to stop the game’s release. Double Fine Productions then counter-sued, claiming the makers of Guitar Hero can’t stand a little competition in the marketplace.

Double Fine started developing the game for Vivendi Universal, which was acquired by Activision last year. That publisher killed the game — Double Fine’s suit claims it’s because efforts to turn the game into a Guitar Hero installment failed — but development continued for rival publisher Electronic Arts.

Hang on — this is going to get brutal

July 23rd, 2009, 12:12 am by Jayson Peters

Brutal Legend Lawsuit

For those about to rock — we sue you! (Image: Electronic Arts)

Last month Activision filed a lawsuit against a San Francisco company to stop the release of its video game Brutal Legend; now Double Fine Productions has counter-sued, claiming the makers of Guitar Hero can’t stand a little battle of the bands.

Brutal Legend, set for release in October, stars actor-musician Jack Black “as a heavy-metal roadie transported to a mythical ancient world to fight evil,” as described by The Associated Press. Read the rest of this entry »

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