JD_2020 is no longer Treyarch's community manager. He was the better one.

_{by John Gaudiosi}

The second annual 3D Gaming Summit: Gaming and Beyond expanded its scope to include fast-growing segments of the games industry like cloud gaming, mobile gaming social gaming, and the impact augmented reality will have on games moving forward.

Highlights of the jam-packed one day conference included an Opening Keynote Interview by David Maisel, Senior Advisor to Rovio creator Angry Birds, conducted by John Gaudiosi, Gaming Summit Senior Content Advisor & Co-Founder of Gamerlive.tv; and a featured Interview with Vince Zampella, (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare) General Manger of Respawn Entertainment, conducted by USA Today's Video Game Editor Mike Snider.

The Summit was kicked off with opening remarks by Bob Dowling, followed by a research session with Dan Casey, SVP, Strategy & Analysis, Interpret, LLC. Casey's research suggested that gamers are the single most important market segment when it comes to increasing sales of 3D televisions, displaying nearly double the interest in purchasing a 3D set than non-gamers, and that, contrary to current perceived wisdom, 60% of gamers were unfazed by the need to wear glasses.

In his Keynote, Rovio’s David Maisel examined the challenges of leveraging a casual gaming brand in the merchandising and licensing world and offered his vision of what the in-development Angry Birds movie will look like. Maisel said making the CGI Angry Birds movie in stereo 3D is "obviously a no-brainer."

In his interview, Respawn's Vince Zampella reported that the company, which will retain ownership of all its games (and be distributed by Electronic Arts?) had already ramped up to 60 employees and predicted that both 3D games and social gaming were in Respawn's immediate future. "We're keeping a close eye on what's developing and where it makes sense," said Zampella about 3D's use in gaming.

"Right now, it's an option, but in three to five years, it won't be"

This is what Activision's Digital vice president Jamie Berger said in a recent interview with MCV.

Activision's first foray into the social network sphere, CoD Elite, deploys in November alongside Modern Warfare 3.

However, it is by no means planned to be the last...

"We believe that a 24/7, year-round services strategy that broadens the game experience beyond just playing is going to be a necessity. To support a diverse player base, you will have to have a services and ongoing content strategy. I don't see how games are going to manage without that. CoD Elite is about 'CoD being bigger than ever' five years from now and laying the groundwork for that."

We, from MapModNews, have no idea what this man is talking about.

A necessity for who ? Them or us ?

CoD Elite will have free service features and a Premium component that is priced at $50 a year. Those who subscribe to CoD Elite Premium will gain free access to all 20 pieces of the MW3 downloadable content. Activision gave this DLC a $60 pricetag and so the non-Premium-subscribers have to pay 60 dollars for their download. So the Premium subscription saves you 10 dollars.

But Jamie Berger stated; "CoD Elite is laying the groundwork for something bigger".

And suddenly it gets clear to us; the Subscription business model !   

- The customer that receives value is more likely to renew the subscription and possibly at an increased rate. -

So it is more a necessity for Activision !  Gaining more profit from one game.

And all this underlines what we already stated in an earlier article.

"With a successful start of CoD Elite, Activision is one step closer to the subscription service they have in mind."

Next to selling the game and let gamers "buy" all DLC upfront; it also paves the way for selling in-game knickknacks.

And that's their ongoing content strategy.

Update: We found an interesting video-interview with Jamie Berger at CoDXP.  It's in read more.

During the last couple of years the Call of Duty Franchise has been divided in two groups; the Xbox gamers and PS3/PC gamers.

The more important Xbox 360 users are the ones with lots of pre-release game information, fast post-release game patches and always get DLC first; the PC gamers are the ones who have to wait till the last week before release to receive important game details, have to wait weeks before errors get fixed and receive their DLC one month later...

But change is on its way.

According to NVIDIA, PC gaming will beat console gaming by 2014 and will in-fact be generating $24 billion by 2015, which will mean that it’s nearly doubled in less than 10 years.

The PC, possessing fundamentally better technology, simply lacks enough quality gaming titles to make it a serious contender in today's gaming market.

One reason why PC gaming revenue is set to rise rests with distribution. Digital downloads, from the likes of Steam, are now the most-popular method of obtaining PC games.

Activision's new online distribution system, CoD Elite Premium, already seems to be build to give Activision an opportunity to sell extra content without using third-party digital distribution platforms.

With all this, the PC version of future Call of Duty titles can become their number one priority again.

Today an US Judge has set the Zampella and West vs Activision trial date on May 7, 2012.

It will be the start of the biggest legal battle in Video Game History and hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake.

On May 7, the two fired Infinity Ward Founders, Jason West and Vincent Zampella will finally meet the world's biggest Game Publisher in court. And they hope it will get clear that Activision still owes them royalties from Modern Warfare 2.

“I’m really looking forward to having our day in Court,” said Zampella.

What happened ?

A month after being fired by Activision for "illegal dealings with rival Electronic Arts", West and Zampella sued Activision for millions. The two men believe to be fired because this was the only way Activision could legally deny any further contract claims. 

When victorious, there is even a chance West and Zampella will become co-owners of the Modern Warfare Franchise again and will get the ability to make new games within the Modern Warfare series. Even getting a piece of the CoD: Modern Warfare 3 earnings is one of the possibilities.

It doesn't help Activision that, right after West and Zampella were fired, the majority of ALL Infinity Ward employees also quitted their jobs. They started their own lawsuit against Activision. This group is now suing Activision for $125 million.

And Bobby Kotick ?  The CEO of Activision is expected to appear for some questions about his part in all this...

Seems the Official EA Store, named Origin, is more than just an attempt to undermine Steam.

This Electronic Arts service has upset gamers since it reserves the right to act like Spyware, allowing EA to look around on your hard drive as explicitly stated in the terms of service.

The EULA states that EA is allowed to identify your computer, operating system, installed/uninstalled software/hardware, and use all this information for marketing purposes and share it with third party companies...

If you don't want that Electronic Arts does this, your only option is not to install the Origin software.

But no Origin means you can't play Battlefield 3 on a PC.

Today is the official opening of Gamescom 2011; world's largest trade fair and event for interactive games and entertainment.

Offizielle gamescom Kanal bietet dir spannendes Material zu gamescom 2011, die vom 18- 21 August für Publikum geöffnet ist

The gaming world is feverishly awaiting the innovations and highlights of gamescom 2011. An impressive host of exhibitors will be in Cologne from 17-21 August to present hundreds of World, European and German premieres.

This year, the gamescom awards will be presented in a total of eight categories. The award ceremony will be held on August 17 as part of the official opening and in the presence of prominent representatives of the international Game Industry. The 2011 gamescom awards will honour : Best PC Game, Best Console Game, Best Mobile Game, Best Online Game, Best Browser Game, Best Family Game, Best Hardware/Accessories and Best of gamescom.

And Modern Warfare 3 is nominated for Best Online Game. Click on read more for all nominees and their categories.

We don't know how a game can be nominated and even honoured when it isn't released yet... Modern Warfare 2 was an online nightmare till they fixed it; but that was, for PS3 and PC, months after its release.

_{by Claire Claws}

- Ex-G4TV Abbie Heppe will be the Respawn Community Manager.

With their new San Fernando Valley, well equipped, offices and very informative website online; Respawn Entertainment seems to be ready to go after something which they strongly believe is theirs; proofing to be the real geniuses behind the multi-million dollar blockbuster Call of Duty. The only way they can do this is by creating a new video-game and show.

Respawn is developing a multi-platform game and has a publishing deal with Activision's rival Electronic Arts Inc. 

With a big team of game designers, artists and software engineers who already created Call of Duty, plus hiring the best developer talents; Respawn Entertainment is convinced it has all what it takes to create the next hype. 

Respawn’s Art Director will be Matt Codd (Saving Private Ryan, Cowboys and Aliens) and already there has been an audio recording session on the Piru Rifle Range. So far, this is ALL we know about Respawn Entertainment's debut title....

_{by Vrandas}

Activision, making millions with their video games, forgot to secure the domain names for their future CoD titles.

Guess what happened..... For just a few dollars someone else simply "bought" the modernwarfare3.com domain. So recently Activision's sloppy marketing department got unpleasantly surprised when they noticed that the modernwarfare3.com domain was re-directing visitors to EA’s Battlefield.com.  

And what do you do when you are a multi million dollar company?  The biggest gaming company in the world has now filed a domain name dispute with the National Arbitration Forum. This official complaint costs Activision $2,600 USD, just to file for a three-member panel (plus, off course, the costs of the legal advisers Activision had to hire... again.) The 11-page legal document, includes among other things, reasons by Activision as to why the respondent has no right or legitimate interest to the name.

Activision states, “It appears that the Respondent supports the game Battlefield from the game developer Electronic Arts (“EA”).  EA is one of Complainant’s principal competitors in the video game industry, and Battlefield game competes in the marketplace with Complainant’s MODERN WARFARE games and its other military-themed shooter games in the CALL OF DUTY series.”

But when you forgot (or didn't want to) to buy all relevant MW3 domain-names for no more than $100 USD, don't blame others that they got "your" modernwarfare3 domain.

So we say: “Grow up. And buy the domain back with an offer no one can refuse.”

Because Activision now acts like a sore loser and in gaming ALL whining losers get mocked.....

 The video now showing on the modernwarfare3.com domain

A judge decided that Jason West and Vince Zampella, the co-founders of Infinity Ward, have a case against their former employer, Activision.

  _{Jason West                    Vince Zampella}

When this case does go to court it will be several more months before this happens. But when they win.... they become co-owners of the Modern Warfare franchise and have the ability to make new games within the series.  Plus they can also claim their piece of the CoD: Modern Warfare 3 earnings.

The entire situation has been a complete mess; with both sides throwing out allegations at one another. Activision's "reasons" for firing West and Zampella was that the duo were in "breach of contract" and "insubordinate".

The two Infinity Ward co-founders claimed that the Game Publisher Activision committed "breach of contract" along with other various accusations. Later on West and Zampella also added "fraud allegations" on top of the "breach of contract" suit; because they got fired just before they were supposed to be paid a large amount of royalties from the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sales.

Against Activision's case is, after West and Zampella were fired, that also the majority of ALL Infinity Ward employees quitted their jobs and they started their own lawsuit against Activision. This group is suing Activision for $125 million.

When the West and Zampella case goes to court, then Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, will be brought in for questioning......

Update :  Zampella and West vs Activision trial date on May 7, 2012.

More : Activision fired West & Zampella and Infinity Ward lost ALL their Lead CoD Designers.