Horse and Pony Show

The Race Horse

Welcome to the Friday Horse and Pony show…it’s kind of like a “dog and pony show”. In fact it’s a lot like a Dog and Pony show because Infinity Ward vs. Activision, if not a circus act yet, is getting close to one – depending, of course, one whether you are the one who has to clean up the horse dung afterwards.

The total employees who have left Infinity Ward are now up to 13 (including Jason West and Vince Zampella who didn’t leave so much as they were pushed out the door of a C-130 troop transport from 10,000 feet).  In the unlikely event that you are scratching your head at this point saying “Infinity ward? Activision? You can start here.  Up to this point, upon Messers West and Zampella forming Respawn Studios, Electronic Arts (EA) hasn’t had much to say since their association with the new studio. 

Today the ice was broken, so to speak, by EA’s Director of Corporate Communications, as reported here. Sounding for all the world like a quote from Karl Urban in Star Trek 11, Jeff Brown had this comment about Activision’s announcement “raising its financial outlook on the back of strong Modern Warfare downloadable content sales”:

“This is kind of like announcing: The race horse I shot last month has won the Triple Crown!” – Jeff Brown, Director of Corporate Communications, Electronic Arts

My Pretty Starry Pony

Not to be outdone by Hasbro, Activision/Blizzard has just released their own “little pony” (see below right), and as well all know the internet is all atwitter about it, both pro and con.  Whether we agree with it or disagree with it is all a moot point.  Now that one estimation has it that Activision was making 2.5 million dollars an hour upon the release of its pretty starry pony, it is not only a done deal, but a trend for the future.

At first sight “my little pony” was the first thought that leapt into our minds (or should we say clawed).  That and expressions like “terminally cute”.  In case you are not up to the minute on your Blizzard pretty pony news, the Celestial Steed (or so they are called) costs $25.00 (here insert the term “a whopping” or “a mere” depending on your outlook).  Whether on ground or in the sky, the speed of the horse adapts to the speed of the fastest mount the player already owns. And that, at least for one member of the No Prisoners, No Mercy team, casts a whole new light on the situation.

Imagine if you will, you’re a mighty Tauren Warrior, or at least the player controlling said warrior.  You have worked your way up the ranks until you are “all that and a bag of chips” where tanking is concerned.  You have finally arrived.  But what is this noble warrior forced to ride? Barring reputation grinds that would make 40 years in the desert look like a day at the beach you are forced to ride a rhino…I mean a me a Kodo (which is basically the same thing).  Now ask yourself, what YOU would rather ride – a horse that looks as if a looks as if the constellation Pegasus sprang to earth, or a dinosaur? The answer we would give (unless we were back playing Age of Conan) would be the horse.

And as a side note at this point, it may be a good thing that Activision will have a bit of extra money set aside from the sale of Starry Ponies, because they appear to have lost the first round in No Doubt vs. Activision.

The Trojan horse

Our little horse and pony show wouldn’t be complete without a story about a Trojan horse.  Now we will all be the first to admit that we had never heard of “Hentai Games” before this story broke. It seems that said developer/publisher/slime pit (pick your term) sells pornographic anime (we had no idea there was such a thing). According to one report it appears that individuals who pirated “games” from the this company have been hit by a virus which is actually virtual extortion.  The virus publishes the users full internet history online, which is easily removed if you pay the creator (whoever that is) a fine of 1,500 Yen (we will let you look up the exchange rate for yourselves).  The article reports 5,000 people have paid the fee to date.

It all goes to show you that our grandmothers were right when they gave the advice “Always keep your genes zipped up in your jeans.”