Before anyone has a go at me, the following article was copied from Gamespot, thanks to them for the effort with the article while noobs like me with no insider information get to copy/paste and make it look like we're "in the know". <3
Security Appears At Infinity Ward, Studio Heads Missing, Activision Investigating "Insubordination"
In 2008, anyone who would've said Activision would be culling the studios behind the Guitar Hero and Call of Duty franchises would've been laughed off as a lunatic. However, last month Neversoft's staff was drastically trimmed as part of a large wave of layoffs and the Guitar Hero IP handed over to Vicarious Visions. RedOctane, which Activision bought for $100 million in 2006 so it could own the Guitar Hero brand, is apparently also being prepped for all-but-complete closure.
Having just finished developing the $1 billion dollar-grossing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward was considered safe--untouchable, even. However, Monday afternoon, Activision amended its annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission to include a notice that two top members of the studio are being fired.
The filing read, "The Company [Activision] is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company." (Emphasis added.) Activision bought Infinity Ward outright in 2003.
The SEC filing appears to coincide with the sudden departure of Infinity Ward president, game director, co-CCO, and CTO Jason West. The veteran developer's Linkedin profile lists the studio under "past employers" and his end date as occurring in "March 2010." West helped co-found the studio in 2001.
West's departure was backed up by an unconfirmed screenshot of his Facebook page (sent to gaming blog Kotaku) that lists his status as "Jason West is drinking. Also, no longer employed."
Deepening the mystery is an as-yet unverified G4 report that paints a sinister picture of the day's events at Infinity Ward. Citing an unnamed source, it claims several weeks of "tense" interaction between Infinity Ward and Activision culminated in a meeting this morning between several studio heads and some publisher brass. Those heads included West and co-founder Vince Zampella.
After said meeting, the Infinity Ward heads reportedly vanished--and a group of gruff "bouncer types" suddenly appeared on Infinity Ward's campus outside Encino, Calif. The source allegedly said the men refused to say why they had shown up unannounced, leaving the developers "freaked out."
According to Zampella's LinkedIn status, he is still employed with Infinity Ward. However, the iconoclastic developer has often criticized his corporate masters in the press, publicly declaring last October that "Activision…did not want Modern Warfare" and pressured the studio to make more World War II games.
If confirmed, Zampella's departure--combined with West's--would cast doubt over Infinity Ward's upcoming "unique new IP" for which they signed long-term contracts with Activision in 2008. It would also lend credence that another studio is working on Modern Warfare 3, possibly the recently founded Bay Area shop Sledgehammer Games. Activision has confirmed another Call of Duty game will arrive during 2010, believed to be a Vietnam- or Cold War-themed title from Treyarch (Call of Duty: World at War).
As of press time, Activision corporate communication reps and the lead spokesperson for Call of Duty had not responded to requests about the developing situation at Infinity Ward. The studio's director of communication, Robert "FourZeroTwo" Bowling, offered the following non-comment via Twitter: "I should also say, while I appreciate all the calls, tweets, messages and hearing my ringtone a lot. They're in vain--as I have no info."
Now we are marketing ourselves as a multi-gaming community so I think it is vital to appeal to gamers of all genres. With this in mind I am pleased to bring you news of a fascinating game that was brought to my attention by T0m
Forklift Truck Simulator 2009
"Take on the role as a forklift truck driver and take your place in these highly detailed vehicles. In “Forklift Truck Simulator 2009” your task is to master different missions in varying environments. For example you must load and unload trucks and trains within a time limit or store goods in the big warehouse. Different vehicles from the company STILL are at your disposal in the vehicle park.
An extensive training mode allows you to get acquainted with the controls of the vehicles and acquire the license necessary for missions. A free mode where the player chooses himself what to do with the forklift and the goods finishes off this simulator. With “Forklift Truck Simulator 2009” you get a realistic forklift experience on your own PC."
>> Special Features <<
> Original STILL forklift truck models
> 6 challenging missions
> Driving license Training Mode
> 3 different forklift trucks with individual characteristics
If this interests you then ACT NOW as Play.com reports: "Temporarily out of stock. This item will be dispatched as soon as it arrives." and get your order in ASAP. :P
From 12:15am this morning, the data centre that houses Phoenix had a planned downtime, however when it came back online, I forgot to start up all the services and this resulted in our CSS servers, Radio broadcast and TeamSpeak 3 server being offline all day.
I am really sorry about that!!! It's all online now and working correctly.
Ok guys, we are now offically using TS3 as our source of voice communications. There are still user permissions that need to be sorted out, but it's easier to test them with users connected rather than just myself.
IP: ts.loxtech-gaming.co.uk
PORT: 9987
This is running off our dedicated server, and is subject to H.I.N.K security. More information on what HINK is will be released shortly.
Following a successful test this morning of the New VOIP solution TeamSpeak 3, LoxTech-Gaming will be moving over to that as it's primary source of voice communications. TeamSpeak 3 offers the great functionality of TS2 (with additions) and the superb sound quality of Ventrilo!
Not only this, but the TS3 server is hosted on phoenix (The dedicated server) which gives us ultimate control over its hosting and setup etc, without having to worry about 3rd party support.
We moved over to Ventrilo primarily because of sound quality, however TS3 now provides us with that, and great user functionality! For the time being LGC will remain on Ventrilo until server settings for TS3 have been finalised and are good to go. Moving voice comm programs like this usually results in a few members going AWOL for what ever reason. I hope this isn't the case this time as we have built an awesome community from the ground up over the years, and we value each and every member equally!
A download for the TeamSpeak 3 client will be made available on the website shortly for both 32-bit and 64-bit windows machines, and the connection details released once we are ready to switch.
London Time