Crazy Week For The Video Game Industry

DRAMA.

This was one intense week in the video games industry, which affected game developers and gamers like you and I. Former CTO Jason West and president Vince Zampella of Infinity Ward, the makers of the cash cow that is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, were fired by their employers at Activision for "insubordination." Activision, one of the most successful video game publishers in the world, is currently searching for documentation linking West and Zampella to Electronic Arts with the possible creation of a studio outside of Activision. West and Zampella shortly after filed a lawsuit against Activision for unpaid royalties from the success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and for the rights of control to the Modern Warfare 2 brand. As of now, there is nothing new to report while the two parties flex their muscles, but it would seem like both companies would want to settle this very quickly as they sit on such an important game brand.

Also this week - PS3 APOCALYPSE!!

Okay, the picture is misleading. Shoot me. Wait, don't. Just hit me real hard. Anyway, this past Sunday night, "fat PS3" owners were greeted with a trophy error screen which made them unable to play certain games even if they were offline. According to Sony, "the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model, recognized the year 2010 as a leap year." Sony said the problem would be fixed within 24 hours and that PS3 owners should avoid turning their systems on until the issue was resolved. Fulfilling their word, Sony fixed the glitch and said "having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1, we have verified that symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally."

I can only imagine the stress and yelling going on at Sony while they were fixing this issue. Even though the glitch is fixed, it raises a new issue of our hardware connectivity to other networks. Online servers going down should be expected, but what really scares me is when that problem effects my single-player experience even if I'm not online. This will definitely affect the thought of all digital formats. Should we really put all our trust in a system that has the potential to fail even when we're not connected? Is there more value in analog devices like CDs or even **gasp** cartridges?