Crispy Gamer News

Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling has a message for Activision’s Noah Heller: talk about your own game, not his. His issue? The constant comparison of his baby to Treyarch’s upcoming game. Basically Bowling, in very blunt words is telling Activision to talk about games they have actually worked on:

“If I see one more Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare google alert come through my inbox, that ends up being a COD:WaW article that is only showing up because YOU referenced Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare more times than you mention World At War,” said Bowling on his blog over the weekend.

“Especially when you’re pulling shit out of your ass,” he continued. “Come on man, interview about your game. Not OURS! Call of Duty: World at War can stand on it’s own merits, leave ours out of it.“

what’s funny about all this is that Heller works for the company that owns both Treyarch and Infinity Ward. What’s not funny about it? Being called out in public. Bowling’s language gets a bit stronger as the post continues:

“Can you guys please stop interviewing this guy, talk to someone who actually works on the Dev Team at Treyarch and knows what the fuck they’re talking about. Not Senior Super Douche Noah Heller from Activision - who apparently has never played the game and doesn’t even work at the developer.“

Ouch. Someone is going to need a hug after this but i’m not sure who that is. Can’t we all just get along?

Source: FourTwoZero

In an interview with Develop Magazine, Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski said that the Call of Duty method of developing games convolutes a franchise. Bleszinski made the comments in reference to a question about outsourcing Gears of War 2.

“We’ve got a lot of ideas about where the franchise will go. But sometimes I feel a franchise loses something when it’s shifted off to another shop,” said Bleszinski. “You get the primary studio that really understands about the franchise, and sometimes the other studio that takes it over can do well, but there’s something lost in translation, like the game’s soul has gone.”

The Call of Duty method he refers to is the switch-off between two of Activision Blizzard’s two internal studios: Infinity Ward and Treyarch, who have taken turns developing the franchise over the years. While there is some merit to the comment, Epic has certainly had its share of outside help in developing some of its prior core franchises like Unreal Tournament and Unreal. The company’s first title in the Unreal series had a lot of serious help from Canadian developer Digital Extremes, who also helped the company develop Unreal Tournament.

Still the point is valid. When publishers own IP rights they also have the power to decide who develops sequels and follow-ups. For example BioWare’s Neverwinter Nights 2 and Knights of the Old Republic 2 were developed by Obsidian Entertainment. While these games were certainly solid endeavors they didn’t quite stand up to the level of the BioWare originals.

Perhaps Bleszinski is simply looking forward, instead of back. You can read the comments in the full context at Develop Magazine.

Activision and developer Treyarch are planning for Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer betas in October for the Xbox 360 and on Windows PC. These betas will serve as an early chance for players to test the game’s new squad system, as well as perks and kill streaks.

To get tokens for the Call of Duty: World at War Xbox 360 multiplayer beta, players can register at www.callofduty.com or pre-order the game at any GameStop retail location in North America. Hopefully the beta will give players a chance to check out the most promising feature of the game 5 player coo-op.

Call of Duty: World at War will be released to retailers nationwide on November 11.