The legal fight between Modern Warfare creators Jason West and Vince Zampella against Activision has been given a court date. The sparks will begin to fly on May 7... provided, of course, the parties involved don't come to some sort of settlement before then.

At stake is potentially millions and batwillions of dollars. The parties are fighting over Call of Duty royalties, bonuess and a host of other contentious legal issues. In other words, it's probably going to get ugly; make some popcorn.

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Activision and Bobby Kotick may be headed to trial over Call Of Duty, as a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that there were enough facts supporting the alleged defrauding of ex-Infinity Ward, now Respawn Entertainment developers, Jason West and Vincent Zampella, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

For those in the dark on the lawsuit, you can catch up with our Fall of Duty stories, but here's the short version:

• After an internal investigation that turned up alleged violations of insubordination and breaches of contract, Activision terminated West and Zampella.
• West and Zampella filed suit that their wrongful termination cost them over a hundred million dollars in CoD royalties. Activision countersued the pair, painting a picture of the duo being "Motivated by envy and personal greed..."
• Additionally, Activision added Electronic Arts as a co-defendent to their countersuit, claiming $400 million dollars in damages due to alleged tampering by EA's top executives.
• In March, Activision was found to have had sufficient claims against Electronic Arts.

So now with a fair amount of alleged dirt on everyone supported by the Superior Court, it's only going to make further revelations from these various lawsuits all the more interesting. That is, if this ever goes to trial. I can't imagine EA or Activision wanting a lot of the more gory details to ever go public, but considering what's at stake, a settlement's not going to come easy.

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In a complaint filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 creators Jason West and Vince Zampella allege that Activision prepared to fire them while they were developing Modern Warfare 2. The suit contends that the pair's termination after the game's completion was part of Activision's game-plan.

According to the suit, West and Zampella were first promised that it was "impossible" for them to be fired, and that Activision would not release any games "associated with the Modern Warfare brand" or Call of Duty games "set in the post-Vietnam era, near future, or the distant future" without the consent of West and Zampella.

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The "Fall of Duty" lawsuit that pits Electronic Arts and ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella against game publisher Activision will continue, according to California Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle. Berle ruled that Activision provided enough evidence to allow its $400 million lawsuit against EA to go forward.

Activision's suit alleges that Zampella and West conspired with EA to help Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at the expense of Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Jeff Brown, a spokesperson for EA, said that the publisher had never spoken to West and Zampella before their newly formed Respawn Studios signed up with its EA.

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Emails that were previously redacted from the ex-Infinity Ward and Activison lawsuit allegedly show EA discussing their intentions to delay Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's first map pack until after the release of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Documents from the lawsuit include an email from EA's senior director of global marketing Lincoln Hershberger and was sent to several high ranking members of EA including EA's senior vice president of marketing, EA LA general manager, EA's senior vice president and the executive producer of the Battlefield franchise. The email's subject was "The Fall of IW?"

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Activision has recruited Sledgehammer Games to help Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 meet its November release date, according to the LA Times. Last March the heads of Infinity Ward, Vince Zampella and Jason West, were fired, taking many of IW's talent with them. They started a new company, Respawn Entertainment, leaving what was left of Infinity Ward to develop the annual Call of Duty in time for November. Sources close to the situation say Activision has asked Sledgehammer Games to help finish Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

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Another twist in the tortuous case of Infinity Ward (and maybe Electronic Arts) Vs. Activision: According to documents obtained by Kotaku, the legal case is taking a financial toll on Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella.

According to the documents, Activision knew of EA's alleged involvement in the case for half a year, and that the company only waited until December to try to add the company to the case in a try to get the case pushed back further.

Vince and Zampella say they'd like to get the case up and running faster, they'd like EA not named as a party to the matter as they "are paying for this litigation from our own funds" and that to date the cost of the case has "[exceeded] our combined annual salaries."

Worse news for gamers: Zampella and West say that the case could delay ReSpawn, as "any delay of the trial in this lawsuit would increase the financial and non-financial burdens and would continue to distract us from running our business and earning a living."

Source: Kotaku

In a statement issued to the L.A. Times, Electronic Arts responded to the claims filed yesterday by Activision in the lawsuit concerning the creators of Modern Warfare, Jason West and Vince Zampella's exodus from Acitivion.

"This is a PR play filled with pettiness and deliberate misdirection. Activision wants to hide the fact that they have no credible response to the claim of two artists who were fired and now just want to get paid for their work."

In the complaint filed yesterday in Los Angeles, Activision said it is looking for $400 million in damages and penalties from EA, West and Zampella. Read the whole complaint here.

Barring any kind of settlement between the parties, the ball is in the court's hands: They're expected to rule on whether EA will be included in the case sometimes in January.

Source: LA Times

The Activision/ex-Infinity Ward lawsuit is heating up again. Activision has filed an amended cross-complaint in the legal case between Call of Duty publisher Activision and Call of Duty creators (and Infinity Ward co-founders) Jason West and Vince Zampella. In the complaint filed today in Los Angeles by Activision's representative, the company amended their initial counter-claim to add Electronic Arts, asserting that EA "conspired" with West and Zampella to "derail Activision's Call of Duty franchise, disrupt its Infinity Ward development studio, and inflict serious harm on the company." The suit alleges a systematic "pattern of deception" by EA to "hijack Activision's assets for personal greed and corporate gain."

Activision is seeking at least $400 million in damages from EA, West, Zampella and other parties, as well as a declaration that West and Zampella are prohibited from soliciting Activision employees, and an injunction against EA using any Activision confidential information.

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Black Ops glitches exist (see the Floating Apple!), so don't let our cavalcade of Call of Duty features fool you that it's a perfect game. It's not; it's incredibly addictive and a blast to play, but CoD is not without its problems. So for once, instead of highlighting the awesome, I'm going to walk us through some nitpicks and problems in my multiplayer sessions. Whether you agree or disagree, I would certainly welcome your thoughts.

Thankfully, Treyarch has responded with a slew of fixes in the Black Ops title update, some of which should address the issues we've had to date...but the rest is just inherent to human behavior.

1. Nobody Shoots Down The F**king Helicopters

The majority of my classes have a Strela-3 on the back. Why? Because there's nothing worse than a Hind or Huey laying waste to your team, and as the title suggests, NO ONE shoots down helicopters. I've played hundreds of games at this point, and I can count on one 3-fingered hand the number of times a teammate shot down a helicopter or even helped shoot one down.

Is it the same logic that keeps a sniper embedded when the enemy is capping a Domination point not to far away? "Someone else will get it. I need to preserve my K/D." Hey, I don't like getting popped in the back either while I'm trying to shoot down a heli, but I'm doing it for the team. Why does this selfish behavior continue exist in CoD BO? Are you guilty of such a sin? Atone!!

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When we last spoke to former Infinity Ward leaders Jason West and Vince Zampella, the duo promised a video game that will "make [gamers'] heads explode, and get them completely excited and give them a ton of fun."  

As for what that game will be, and when our heads will explode, we still don't know, Zampella and West aren't the only ones who are expecting greatness, though. EA Partners GM David DeMartini expects big things too.

“We’re highly, highly confident of what they’re end product is going to be,” said DeMartini of Respawn's upcoming game, in an interview with gaming blog VG247. “They’ve told us that when they’ve got something great, they’re going to show us something.”

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By this time tomorrow, you’re going to be up to your elven cosplay ears in G4’s Comic-Con 2010 coverage, and while I would say I’m sorry, there isn’t really anything to be sorry about, since it just means you’ll have offensive amounts of Comic-Con info to consume at your leisure without the need to brave the interesting smelling crowds of the convention yourself. That’s our job, and we cherish it. But seeing as Comic-Con proper doesn’t kick off until tomorrow, we’ve decided to put together a very special pre-Comic-Con Feedback for you this week featuring the countess of comics herself Blair Butler chatting about all of the week’s biggest game news, and, of course, the big CC, with host Adam Sessler, Abbie Heppe, Matt Keil, and, for the first time, G4tv.com’s features editor Kevin Kelly.

Hulk might prefer to smash, but here on Feedback, we prefer to discuss...and then smash:

• Microsoft announced this week that Kinect will retail for $150, and will come bundled with Kinect Adventures. They also revealed a new 4GB Xbox 360 console, and Kinect bundle.
• Connecticut has joined 11 other states in support of legislation proposed by California to restrict sales of violent games to children. Needless to say, this whole situation disturbs us quite a bit.
• And speaking of things that disturb us, there continues to be chatter about Activision considering the idea of introducing a subscription model to future Call of Duty games. Despite what Treyarch says, the decision is ultimately Activision's, and that's definitely cause for concern.

Feedback: All of the heroic potential of the Fantastic Four, only we're sometimes more than four, and quite a bit less fantastic.

The AUDIO MP3 of this episode of FEEDBACK is available here: Right-click and Save.

Last week, we brought you word that industry analyst Michael Pachter thinks Call of Duty's multiplayer will soon cost something to play, and that the release of Black Ops will likely bring this nickle and diming to us all. Obviously, gamers were upset.

Today we have a YouTube video that purports to show a MW 2 menu reading "no memberships available at this time." Check it out:

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Update 11:57 AM: A source close to the Respawn tells us that this is a fake account, and in no way indicates whether they plan to announce anything at E3. We're guessing they won't. So, ignore the story below; it is hogwash.

Respawn Entertainment, that game development company started when the creators of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 left Activision, has something big up its sleeve.  According to the facebook page of Vince Zampella and Jason West, we should be ready for a..."big time announcement at E3 next week. stay tuned, kiddies!"

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After the fallout that resulted in Respawn Entertainment, Infinity Ward needs some new recruits. Despite the recent troubles, it's a developer Activision apparently intends to stick by and restaff. Here's what's available at Infinity Ward and what it might tell us about their next Call of Duty.

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