“The women of New Vegas ask me a lot if there’s a Mrs. New  Vegas. Of course there is. You’re her. And you’re still as perfect as the day we met” – Wayne Newton as “Mr. New Vegas”

Live long enough in a relationship with anyone and you will learn that there are some questions to which the answer is always “no”…

…and chief among them is if anyone with whom you intend to keep having a relationship asks  you “does this make me look fat?”   It doesn’t matter if said person, whether male or female,  is wearing something that makes them look like the Aircraft Carrier Nimitz , the answer is a loud and resounding NO. 

This morning I received a phone call by a distraught Fran who asked me if she looks like a senior citizen.  The answer to the question is, of course, NO.

Interestingly enough there are some questions to which the answer had better not be no. When the guard dog wakes me up at 5:20 am each day go for a walk the answer had better not be “no”.  The simple fact of the matter is he will go on the lawn or on my bed and he leaves the answer up to me.

There are some questions to which the answer is usually no, even when it make sense for them to be yes…

Many years ago, I was in a night club in Toronto and I was privileged to hear the act of the first Ms. Lea DeLaria.  (Ms. Delaria set the entertainment world on its ear by appearing as the first openly gay comedienne on  late night television in 1993) That night she told the tale of working in a book store that gave a discount to lesbians.  Aside from the obvious joke of wanting to be the lesbian tester, she claims many women wouldn’t even claim to be lesbian for a few minutes just for a discount.

The reason or Fran’s distress this morning was because she wasn’t even given a chance to say no – the cashier just gave her a senior discount.

To add fuel to the fire (or perhaps inferno) I was recently mistake for the younger sister rather than a few years older.   The gasoline was tossed onto the bonfire this last weekend when the teenager behind the ticket counter at the local theater asked “two seniors or two adults?”  My advice to Fran under the situation was to look the cashier straight in the eye and say “Two children.” 

Those of you of similar age may remember growing up hearing the now famous expression “never trust anyone over 30”. It is a phrase which has been attributed to Bob Dylan, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Jack Weinberger and The Beatles – all of whom are so far over 30 they could only see it with a telescope.

As expected, the American entertainment industry seems to have an obsession with youth that often seems to spill over into the gaming industry.   Ask someone who has the most disposable income and you will get heated debates on most sides of the issue.  The image of the youthful male gamer is a closely held misconception by companies such as Activision who still languishes under the belief that women don’t buy games.  Ask the Entertainment Software Association and they will tell you the average game is 37 years old.  In fact a whopping fifty two percent of all gamers are women – and that much touted youthful male gamer under the age of 17 represents only 13 percent of gamers.

So while I won’t begin to tell you at what age you can trust someone, or even how old Fran looks, one thing is for sure…

…Activision is barking up a tree  with only half of the bear population.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

There is a definition of chutzpa that is as old as the hills – a man who is arrested for killing both his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.

The problem with Chutzpa and companies that develop what we here at NPNM call “The 800 pound gorilla attitude” is that no matter how big you are, no matter how tough you think you are, eventually there will be a David to your Goliath and kick you right in the gnads.  Those who read this web site and have listened to show 65  have been privy to our conversations sparked by this  interesting read over at We Fly Spitfires.  The real id fiasco (poorly thought out garbage if ever there was such) will no doubt one day be the first big “mistake” by Blizzard.  As for the Activision side of the house, if Kotick et al lose their day in court against Infinity Ward that will certainly be their first….

Or so I thought.

This  came across our news desk this morning via gamepolitics.com (another of our MUST reads).

While speaking to GamesRadar about his forthcoming title, Greg Hastings talked a bit about his time spent with Activision, and they are not fond memories. “I had to fire Activision for doing such a poor job,” said Hastings.

He continued, “Within 24 hours of me shipping my PlayStation 2 game, Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball Max’d, they sent me a letter and they said, ‘We feel you’ve abandoned your franchise, and we’re going to commence making games called Greg Hastings Paintball without Greg Hastings.’ – Via Gamepolitics.com

I had to read that last line several times before I believed that any business executive anywhere would be brave enough to pen the words without sufficient legal standing to back them up…

“…and we’re going to commence making games called Greg Hastings Paintball without Greg Hastings.”

Wow. Just Wow. Talk about colossal arrogance. Uttering such claims with nothing to back them up is like a gun slinger in the old west who is using a cap gun. This, dear readers, is a pile of chutpa that would make the mighty Mount Everest pale into insignificance.

Fortunately Mr. Hastings won his day in court stating “A Billion-dollar company tried to steal my identify, and I was able to fight and regain my identity. That’s why I’m on cloud nine; I was able to fight the giant and I am a success story against Activision.”

Between Mr. Kotick’s recent loss in court as reported by Gamepolitics.com (which did not involve Activision) as part of a sexual harassment law suit, Infinity Ward, and now this, Activision’s reputation for honest dealing might just end up sinking like the Titanic.

There is a peanuts cartoon where Charlie Brown looks at Linus and says “That’s just an old wives tale” – to which Linus replies, “I don’t know, some of those old wives were pretty sharp.”  As trite as some of us think “old adages” are, the thing about them is that they are based on some truth.  Had they not stood the test of time they wouldn’t be “adages” at all.  Yet as old as many adages are, we keep repeating them. Why? Simply because they teach lessons that many people are too hard headed to learn.

And there seem to be hard heads aplenty over at Activision these days.

Many of you may have noticed how much we seem to favor the independent developer here at No Prisoners, No Mercy.  This isn’t simply because the big fish like Time Warner continue to acquire smaller fish like Turbine Studios, resulting in far fewer smaller studios.  As true as this might be, this is simply because we appreciate the willingness of the independent developer to be part of the community that constitutes their customers.  While Activision COO Thomas Tippl is busying telling us all how well they treat their developers  things aren’t as rosy as Activision continually tries to paint them.  No matter how the lawsuit between West and Zampella vs. Activision turns out, the stream of employees leaving Infinity Ward has become a raging torrent – now totaling 26 as reported by Gamasutra .  This all seems to have Dan Amrich, Activision Social Media Manager, confused.

“I’m confused, because by leaving, they are giving up their bonus—and the more people that leave, the bigger the bonus gets for the people who stay. I’d think if you are young and hungry and have a vision for a new game, IW would be a really good place to be right now.” – Dan Amrich, Activision Social Media Manager

It’s too bad Dan Amrich doesn’t read Arstechnica like we do.  If he did, all he would have to do is read a recent article by Ben Kuchera, and page half way down for his answer under the heading, “So why are people leaving.”

“The problem with Activision management is that it often comes down to money over talent, and no one realizes that the promise of hypothetical future bonuses isn’t enough to get people to stay.”  – Ben Kuchera, Arstechnica

Even those who have given the tale of two studios, Activision vs. West and Zampella, even passing attention will see that the bonus that Dan Amrich feels former Infinity Ward employees are leaving with Activision are actually being left with the courts.

In the end, even if Activision doesn’t end up killing the proverbial goose that laid the golden egg (the Golden Egg being talent that created the Call of Duty games in this case) they are hemorrhaging talent. Oddly enough, it is a wound that could have been staunched with the application of a bit of courtesy and kindness. In other words, be nice to the people you meet on the way up, you will meet the same people on the way back down.

The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team

Update:

Contrary to what Dan Amrich may feel, it appears that at least one group of Infinity Ward employees, both past and present, are not quit leaving bonus’ on the table as he thought they were:

“The ongoing friction between Activision and its internal development studio Infinity Ward has reached new heights, as several dozen current and former Infinity Ward employees have banded together to file suit against Activision, claiming breach of contract and seeking unpaid royalties and bonuses. According to documents obtained by G4tv.com blog The Feed, the suit is being collectively filed by the “Infinity Ward Employee Group,” comprising 38 developers.” – Gamasutra,  Infinity Ward Employees Group Up to Sue Activision for Compensation

A couple of items in the news this morning had a quote from the old Marlon Brando movie popping right into our collective heads – “I could have been a contender.”  The reason for this, is that both stories seem to place at least someone involved as a serious contender for the Darwin Awards. The current purveyor of the Darwin Awards can be found here: .   Now we are aware that there are many places that have awarded “Darwin Awards” and we don’t know if this site originated the concept.  However their description of the award is apt:

‘The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who   
accidentally remove themselves from it…” – www.darwinawards.com

The first contender nearly did remove themselves from the human genome. The second contender, as you will see, may not be in danger of removing themselves from the human genome, but depending on the outcome, one of the parties involved in serious danger of finding themselves in the lower end of said gene pool.

A very serious contender…

While Ubi Soft, publisher of games with what we call the “posterior push” digital rights management (always connected or the game won’t work) tries to recover its reputation with a “Green Movement”  (read no paper game manuals and recycled game “boxes” their New Zeland distributor is busy undoing all there good work by proving they are in serious running for the next Darwin Awards: . 

“According to the New Zealand Herald, a man dressed as Fisher, with bandages wrapped around his hands and a fake gun, pointed his weapon at bar goers in Auckland’s Viaduct Basin. Someone thought the weapon was real and yelled a warning, causing the people in the bar to take cover. Police were called, and even though they thought the gun was real, they managed to diffuse the situation without hurting anyone.” – Gamepolitics.com

Whoever the person they convinced blackmailed or got stoned enough to run into a bar somewhere with a fake gun, we can only point out that he should “thank his lucky stars” as grandmother used to say, that he did so in a place like New Zealand.  If the same incident had taken place in Chicago (where there have been times in the city’s history where the only way to tell the cops from the robbers is with a program) the distributor would have been planning the actor’s funeral.   On a positive note, no matter what impetus, we are happy that the result was Ubisoft doing something for the environment. After all, in our home, we are so conscious about recycling that Fran makes the dogs use the same bark twice.

Someone here is in the low end of the gene pool…

…We just aren’t certain who.

Meanwhile the “good” folks at Activision (no doubt worried that they are also in running for the Darwin Awards) are trying to recover their reputation via COO Thomas Tippl by telling the LA times” We treat our developers extremely well” in an interview here:

On a personal note, we here at No Prisoners No Mercy wonder when interviews that are reported to have been more like interrogating prisoners, interrogating employees for six hours over a holiday weekend in a windowless room and attempting to seize personal computers, all the while bringing employees to tears become the definition of “treat our developers extremely well”. We are thinking that perhaps Activision COO Tippl should have qualified his statement by saying  “We treat our developers extremely well NOW”.  The employees themselves, however, seem to be painting a picture with a somewhat different brush, as related by Edge Online :

“They’re scared shitless,” the source said of Activision management. “They never saw this coming. They can’t believe what’s going on. At first they gave us some bullshit about moving up payments of all the money they owe us to sooner increments. That was when [designer] Todd [Alderman] and [engineer] Frank [Gigliotti] left. But with the announcement of Respawn and all the people leaving, they just got their heads in their hands.

“They fired the two most amazing leaders we’ve ever seen, and then shafted us all out of a lot of money that was promised to us… there is nothing they can do to gain our trust or respect. And I’m pretty sure they know it now… I w as you know it is dead… and it will continue to crumble. There are a lot more veterans who are definitely going to leave.”

It seems that the COO of Activision and some of the employees are not only painting different pictures, but Activision seems to be using some sort of magical paint box where everything is rose colored and the general public are all imbeciles.  Time will tell, and as they used to say on the old Perry Mason show, “The truth will out”.

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.”

There are some lines that you can’t cross and some that you can.  In Washington D.C., for example, you don’t threaten social security and expect to get re-elected to any position short of dog catcher. There are other lines you can cross, but like a dog who gets beat, you can only beat him so long before he will bite you back – and that is what Bobby Kotick, et al, have been finding out lately.

You can only beat a dog so long…

I wouldn’t exactly call it an “exodus”, as does Arstechnica.com, however  as we reported on Tuesday more important than how many people have left Infinity Ward is  who has departed for sunnier climes.  If nothing else, the message is clear – even in a down turned economy, even if you are the 800 pound gorilla on the block, you can only throw your weight around so much. 

It appears that some of the more naïve (and blasphemous)  elements of the blogosphere feel that only a fool follows the splinter group…you know, splinter groups like, oh say, the United States of America.  If no one followed that splinter group we would still be sending our 1040 forms to London. Fortunately tort law, and not history, will determine the success or failure of messers West and Zampella versus Activision. No matter how you look at the situation with Infinity Ward and Activision, it only matters what messers West, Zampella and Kotick (and those working for or with them) think – the rest of us are merely spectators. There is one sage observation to be found over at Indie Game Producer in the article West and Zampella vs. Activision part 2:

“What’s conspicuously missing is the explanation that Jason and Vince were warned that their behavior was unacceptable and that their jobs were in peril as a result. The reason that doesn’t look good for Activision is that Activision is asking for reimbursement of everything Jason and Vince have been compensated since they first demonstrated the alleged disloyalty and insubordination.” -  Indiegameproducer

Indie Game Producer goes on to point out, “If the insubordination was so dire and obvious, then they could have fired Jason and Vince long ago, or at least warned them. Instead, they kept them on, and Jason and Vince delivered the best-selling console game of all time.”  In short, everyone is entitled to due process .

Another line you don’t cross, or at least create, is one that leaves a “paper trail” back to you, even if that “paper” is electronic.

The Hartford Courant, via Gamepolitics.com, reports that “23-year old Anthony Hayward was arrested in New Haven last year for allegedly having drugs and a stolen gun in his car…”  After he posted $75,000 bond Hayward is reported to have logged in to his Xbox live account and threatened a witness saying “rats die slow” and referring to the witness as a “dead man walking”.  

Not so much a line as line of red tape…

Reports from Gamepolitics.comhave it that “The USA Today piece reported that Erskine Bowles, who’s heading up President Obama’s ‘war on the federal deficit’ talked to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about making a video game that would let anyone ‘take a stab at balancing the budget.’”  While it is all we can do to hold our collective tongues at No Prisoners, No Mercy might we humbling suggest that Mr. Bowles seek the services of Sid Meir whose “Civilization” series has enthralled us for more hours than we care to admit publicly.

The Line between “spirited” and “mean spirited”

“They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.” Sean Connery as “Malone” in The Untouchables

It was not that long ago that we read how the organizer of  certain in game Eve Online player event admitted he did so because he was “evil and mean spirited” – and then marveled at why so many players reacted the way they did.

Having recently returned to Eve Online, our own Julie read a similar letter marveling at the reaction of someone they had “podded” which consisted mostly of the pirate being told to “know thyself” but in the biblical sense.   The difference in this case is that the letter was addressed to a member of a corporation (the equivalent of a guild for all you World of Warcraft players out there) who’s CEO (read guild master) is an acquaintance of our own Julie.

Craig Zinkievich, Executive Producer for Star Trek  Online was quoted as saying, “we don’t want you to spend 80 hours getting that Sovereign class vessel, get owned, and then lose that ship.” That is, of course, one of the dividing lines between Star Trek Online and Eve Online. In fact on Show 57 their marketing specialist, Joe Blancato, spoke about this indicating the two markets are not the same.  As regular readers and listeners know, both Fran and Julie enjoy spirited PvP – but it is always consensual.  But where is the line between consensual and non-consensual pvp?  Certainly one can say the Eve Online event vaguely hinted at above (ok perhaps not that vaguely) is non-consensual.  There will be some players that say anyone who takes their ship out of the hanger is “consenting”. Others will argue that anyone who ventures into unprotected low security space (below .5) is consenting.

Where is the dividing line?

The ships that get blown up in Eve Online may be pixels but the players behind them are real, as are the hours spent training to fly the ship and earning the money to build or buy it.  Is it all in good fun? Perhaps. We all have images of pirates created by actors like Johnny Depp and further back Errol Flynn. But if it is all in good fun then why don’t the victims dismiss it off hand?  More often than not, the attitude involved in organized corporate warfare (which is planned for in Eve) is similar to the one espoused by “Malone” as played by Sean Connery.  Piracy in Eve Online, on the other hand, is about little more than who can bring a gun to a knife fight – the battles are decided before they start.   Pirates, of course, come in many varieties; the more cowardly are those who roam the asteroid belts stealing from miners as they fill local chat with taunts such as “come teach me a lesson mofo.”  What if you or I join a pirate corp and only prey on those who venture into low security space? Are they fair game? Do they have it coming? Again is it all in good fun?

Where ever the dividing line may be in this case, there IS one line we are absolutely sure should never have been crossed – and whoever designed Sean Connery’s costume for the movie Zardoz crossed it.

The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team

When someone acquires a business, usually through sale but not always, part of the value of the property in the transaction is “good will.”  Basically this accounts for the value of the business beyond its physical assets.   Now some of you may say at this point “what has that got to do with anything?”  Well, when you are in the same business as Activision that is a very, VERY large part of their value.  That is why, of course, they were so keen to protect the intangible assets that constitutes Infinity Ward.  The problem is, of course, that the value of Infinity Ward goes far beyond Intellectual Property (IP).  To be blunt, no matter how good an IP may be, without the proper talent to carry it forward, as grand dad would have said, “it isn’t worth a tinker’s damn”.  And there, as the immortal bard put it, “lays the rub.”  Without the talent that made the Call of Duty Modern Warfare series great all you have is the equivalent of the proverbial “dumb blond”…

…she may look good for awhile. She may be fun to have on a date the first few times, but once you have had a bit of fun she is going to one boring individual to be around.

Think of it as the problems that has beset one corner of the produce industry (huh?). Yes, another tangent.  For some time now, those growers who produce the “red delicious” apple where so concerned about the way it looks that they began to ignore the way it tastes.  So what you ended up with was something that was all polish and no substance.  Start to ring a bell now does it?  Activision may be famous for putting polish on their products but no amount of polish will make up for a lack of substance.  Now mind you I am not saying the Call of Duty series lacks substance. Far from it – not after $1 Billion in sales.

But as Bobby Kotick et al may be finding out these days, while you can acquire a business, that doesn’t mean you acquire all the talent that goes with it and in this business that is a very large part of the value (see the term “good will”).  After all, that nonsense went out with the emancipation proclamation.

The news feed this morning contained word that two more Infinity Ward employees have left the company, bringing the total to six.  Perhaps not to shocking on the face of it, but when those two happen to be programmer Jon Shiring and lead designer Mackey McCandlish it’s worth taking some note.  When the six names of departed employees also include lead designer Todd Alderman and lead software engineer Francesco Gigliott  it just might be time for Activision to start looking for a ladder to start climbing down off its pedestal.  If the litigation between Activision and messers West and Zampella do not resolve in Activisions favor, and do resolve in the full light of day without the words “out of court settlement” then Activision may end up with so much egg on its face that it would take a bucket of cleanser so large that it would float the aircraft carrier Nimitiz to clean up its reputation.  

In the mean time it might behoove Bobby Kotick to begin pondering how many boots over at Infinity Ward are made for walking.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

(posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster)

It’s hard to imagine that anyone who reads this web site (there are some of you out there we can hear you breathing) hasn’t heard of all that has transpired between Activision and the two former heads of Infinity Ward Jason West and Vince Zampella.  For those of you who have not heard of the suits, and counter suits that began with lengthy interogations and the seizure of computers by Activision (or at least the attempt) you can catch up with it all here in a source that comes to us via Scott Jennings Broken Toys Website with an analysis by of the legal proceedings here.  The claim by Activision studios is that “”West and Zampella’s misdeeds formed an unlawful pattern and practice of conduct that was designed to steal the [Infinity Ward] studio”.  The counter claim by messers West and Zampella is that Activision fired them as a way to deprive them of royalties earned from the sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

West and Zampella, apparently not to the surprise of Activision, have gone on to create the aptly named  Respawn Entertainment and have signed a deal with Electronic Arts.  In an article over at Arstechnica.com available here  Vince Zampella had this to say:

“Respawn Entertainment marks a fresh start for Jason and me,” said Vince Zampella, General Manager of Respawn Entertainment. “For the past decade we led a great development team and poured our hearts into creating an epic game franchise. We’re very proud of what we built—and proud that so many millions of fans enjoyed those games. Today we hope to do it all over again—open a new studio, hire a great team, and create brand new games with a new partner, EA.”

The right or wrong of it will of course, be decided by the California court system.  The response from Activision, cited in the La Times Business section noted above, is as follows:

“West and Zampella’s misdeeds formed an unlawful pattern and practice of conduct that was designed to steal the [Infinity Ward] studio, which is one of Activision’s most valuable assets — at the expense of Activision and its shareholders and for their own personal financial gain.”

Activision was  quoted as saying, “We look forward to continuing to work with Infinity Ward’s deep bench of proven talent on exciting new projects”.  Of course, there is little doubt that there is alot of talent over at what is left of Infinity Ward.  Still, Activision is starting to look like a guy who hires someone to go on a date with him at a restaurant  where he knows he will see his ex-girlfriend, so the ex will know “I am doing just fine without you.”

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick once said he would raise the price on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (which has already exceeded the $1 Billion sales mark) “if he could”. Now, if the article over at Arstechnica (available here ) is correct, we may see subscription fees for the Call of Duty Franchise soon, as Kotick is quoted as saying, “If you think about the success we’ve had in other product categories on subscription, you can get a sense of the direction that we want to take that franchise”. No matter how the litigation turns out, right or wrong, Activision comes off a lot like the Gordon Gekko character in the movie Wall Street of whom Bud Fox asks “How many yachts can you water ski behind?” There are, of course, enormous sums of money involved. And considering we live in a society where there are businessmen would sell their mothers into prostitution for an extra dollar, the whole thing is starting to sound like the days of our childhood when “Oh ya? Well your mother wears army boots!” would have been shouted across the playground.  Now that I am older, hopefully wiser, and also a veteran my answer (where the claim actually true) would of course be…

Damn straight she does!

See you online

Julie Whitefeather

(posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster)

Well there, as the immortal bard once said, “lays the rub”.  For those of you not already in the know, I give you paragraph 32, page 10 of the law suit brought against Activision by Mr. West and Mr. Zampella, (via Indie Game Developer, you can read the entire article here)

Activision conducted the investigation in a manner to maximize the inconvenience and anxiety it would cause West and Zampella. On little notice, Activision insisted on conducting interviews over the President’s Day holiday weekend; West and Zampella were interrogated for over six hours in a windowless conference room; Activision investigators brought other Infinity Ward employees to tears in their questioning and accusations and threatened West and Zampella with “insubordination” if they attempted to console them; Activision’s outside counsel demanded that West and Zampella surrender their personal computers, phones, and communication devices to Activison for review by Activision’s outside counsel and, when West and Zampella asserted their legally protected privacy rights, Activision’s counsel said that doing so constituted further acts of insubordination.

For those looking for some additional background into the matter you can find it over at Jakeworld:  The IW/Activision Spat )

Beyond the two infinity ward former studio execs violating  Non-disclosure agreements (NDA) and their Contracts, Activision has been silent on the matter to date.  On the face of it, everyone outside Activision/Blizzard (and at this point that is everyone writing about the incident) will read about “interrogated over six hours in a windowless conference room” and Activision Interrogators bringing Infinity Ward employees to tears and feel outrage.  We can read about Activision counsel demanding that “West and Zampella surrender their personal computers, phones and communication devices to Activision” and it will, no doubt, summon up images of criminals in 1960’s black and white film, in darkened rooms, with searing white light shining in their faces.  However, without knowing the other side of the story, just developing an opinion based half the facts has the very real possibility of leaving any author writing about the issue with a heaping pile of crow to eat, depending on the outcome of the lawsuit.  While many of us will point out that everyone is entitled to “due process” it is easy to forget about “just cause.” 

It is at this point that many people will instantly leap to the defense saying, nothing justifies treating employees or anyone in the manner described in the law suit.  Keep in mind, however that anyone can ALLEGE anything, factual or not.  And before you say “nothing justifies” keep in mind what the circumstances may or may not be.  Yes, it could be as much of an outrage as circumstances appear.  However, what if Activision, as tight lipped as it always is about their business, has a whole deck of Aces up their proverbial sleeves?  

Still, it leaves a question that goes begging…do the professional and personal actions of someone in any aspect of the entertainment industry affect how we feel about their work?

When Paul Reubens, otherwise known as “Pee Wee Herman” was arrested for indecent exposure in an “adult” movie theater it all but killed his career, taking 20 years to get any public “exposure” of his work.

When Tonya Harding was concerned about competition from Nancy Kerrigan in 1994 she hired someone to attack her.

When Mel Gibson was arrested for driving under the influence of Alcohol he made anti-Semitic remarks to arresting Officer James Mee, saying, “Fucking Jews…Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” (source) .  Aside from the heinous nature of the statement (for which he later publicly apologized) this is also a statement made, ironically, by the same man who brought us the movie entitled “The Passion of the Christ”.  What do you expect from a man who obviously didn’t bother to read the gospels before he made the movie (for some twisted reason he portrayed Mary Magdalene as a prostitute – she was nothing of the kind. Read Luke 8:1-3)

In the end we must each ask ourselves if the behavior of an actor, or even a game developer affects our patronage.  Would you still see a Mel Gibson movie if he insulted someone of your ancestry?  Now that Paul Reubens is trying to rekindle his career would you let  your children see one of his performances? And what if the treatment of Jason West, Vince Zampella, and Infinity Ward employees turns out to be an overreaction tantamount to dynamiting open a can of beans? Will you still purchase any of their games? Will you cancel your World of Warcraft account?

See you online

Julie Whitefeather

(posted for Julie Whitefeather by the Webmaster)

Give us a big smile

There is an old joke that can be applied to just about any area of business – in this case it would go something like this…

Question: Why don’t sharks eat business executives?

Answer: Professional Courtesy.

In the world of business, you never know if the big smile that greets you in the morning actually hides a row of shark teeth. Likewise, you never know if someone’s bark is MUCH worse than their bite.

When I was in the military I got to know the commander of the United Nations Honor Guard off duty.  Off duty he was the nicest guy you ever want to meet – on duty he would have made General George Patton cringe in fear. In the end, you never know if the “face” that someone presents you is what a friend of mine called their “date face”.  The idea is that someone puts on a show, some behavior that they want you to see, that isn’t the real person.

I also had a boss I worked for in the military that described himself as “little Hitler” for reasons of what we shall facetiously call his “sunny disposition.”

 So the demeanor that Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision/Blizzard, presented at the “Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference (at least as far as an article at Gamespot.com presents – available here) may be Bobby Kotick’s “date face”.

Let’s hope so.

The article is business as usual until it gets to the end. Then, in what seems to have swiftly become what we can expect from Mr. Kotick, he throws us a few zingers:

“We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games.”

“The executive said that he has tried to instill into the company culture ‘skepticism, pessimism, and fear’ of the global economic downturn, adding, ‘We are very good at keeping people focused on the deep depression.’”

Yes friends, this is the same Activision/Blizzard executive that just a short while ago confronted the protestations of their customers over the high price planned for their upcoming “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare”  release by telling us all that if he had his way he would have raised the price even further. 

It seems that Bobby Kotick may just be the impetus behind the drive for profit over at Activision/Blizzard these days. Now you might respond to this last sentence by replying, “What’s wrong with a little profit?” My answer would be “absolutely nothing.” I might even quote J. Paul Getty who once said, “Money is only dirty when it is somebody else’s.”

Nope, nothing is wrong with profit. Not just so long as I don’t have to be the person who is, presumably, the beleaguered soul who works directly for him. I really feel for that person, whomever he or she is.

I feel like I have been pimp slapped and I don’t even work there.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather