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The media is abuzz with the Infinity Ward & Activision spat -- but let's not forget about more serious issues to address.

News Blips:

Former Infinity Ward (Modern Warfare 2) heads Jason West and Vince Zampella have filed a lawsuit against Activision. The lawsuit states that both individuals were terminated from employment before they were supposed to be paid significant royalties earned while under the Modern Warfare 2 contract. West said that he and Zampella were "shocked" by Activision's actions over the past days. I think Zampella put it best when he said, "After all we have given to Activision, we shouldn't have to sue to get paid." [PR Newswire]

Sony is developing a new smart phone capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games. The new device is one of many in Sony's upcoming line of portable gadgets -- including an iPad-like multifunction device -- that aims to challenge Apple's kung-fu grip on the handheld market. Let's hope that Sony doesn't follow Apple's aesthetic principles by releasing an oversized PSP. [Wall Street Journal]

Ubisoft has quashed rumors that its new DRM system has already been cracked. Reports of the just-released Silent Hunter 5 appearing on torrent websites without the now infamous always-online requirement are "false" according to the publisher, who added that "while a pirated version may seem to be complete at start up, any gamer who downloads and plays a cracked version will find that their version is not complete." But the real humor lies within the instructions for the cracked game: "Install game and copy crack, it's that simple!"  [CVG]

Zipper Interactive is developing SOCOM 4 after re-acquiring the rights to the franchise.  The new entry into the series will boast 32-player online battles. As for their recently released MAG, Senior Community Manager Jeremy Dunham assures gamers that Zipper is still "fully committed" to supporting its PS3 audience. As if we weren't already under a huge glut of military shooters. [PlayStation Blog]

Got any hot news tips? Send 'em over to tips@bitmob.com.

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Full disclosure: Activision provided me with roundtrip airfare and three days of hotel accommodations in Liverpool to attend a media event for Blur. They also paid for one of my meals along with the other attendees at the hotel restaurant. I wasn't asked to make an agreement on the amount of coverage I would provide, and I didn't receive any restrictions on what I can or can't say about the game.

One of the reasons why Activision had Blur’s recent press event in Liverpool, England, is because it’s where game’s developer, Bizarre Creations, is located. As part of the event, we went on a tour of the BC studios to get a firsthand look at what goes on behind the scenes.

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If Uncharted 2's Nathan Drake joined forces with Just Cause's Rico Rodriguez, the resulting high five could be heard from miles away.

Video Blips:

• The water is very pretty in this tech demo of Just Cause 2 for the PC. Wait a minute...am I judging games purely on the quality of their water effects now? [GameTrailers]

Continue after the break for a colorful trailer of Blur's upcoming multiplayer beta, a look into the lopsided battles in Fist of the North Star, some good old alien beatdowns in the debut trailer for Abducted!, and an abominable coupling of grunge metal and ice skating.

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Editor's note: Too many titles are content rest on their laurels when it comes to character development. Daniel argues that instead of constantly shuffling us from action scene to action scene, developers should spend more time giving us intimate depictions of the characters they present. -James

I opened my Heavy Rain review by noting that one of my favorite parts of the game is something that would be completely boring under normal circumstances. Despite that (or maybe because of it), it’s a thing that is sorely missing in games.

The scene in question occurs right after the prologue. In it, the main character, Ethan Mars, spends an evening with his son. You can let him sit there and watch TV while you have a beer, or you can look at a schedule of tasks and set him to dinner, homework, and bed.

This is exactly the kind of situation that I’ve heard a lot of people say they don’t want to see in games, but I think it’s necessary -- when it's done right.

One of Heavy Rain’s biggest assets over the usual game narrative is how it doesn’t hesitate to put players through the mundane parts of everyday life. While an NPC washes up in your apartment, you might fry her some eggs. Maybe mother is resting in bed for a minute, so you put the baby to sleep.

None of this stuff actually adds to the gameplay or the major parts of the storyline. All it does is help better illustrate the characters and their world. By spending a day in his home with his family, you get a better picture of who Ethan is, which hopefully makes it easier for you to connect with him. Try to count how many video games you can name that have protagonists you actually empathized with. Probably not too many.

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Editor's Note: I thought that I already held video games to high standards. After reading Cameron's article, I looked at some of my own work and realized I was guilty of using the "for a video game" qualifier too. I agree with this premise; we should start examining video games critically and not just in comparison to other games. - Jay

Video games comprise the only medium which serves as its own caveat. It's rare that critics explicitly qualify their praise with “...for a video game,” but they imply it whenever they let games off the hook for failures that would be inexcusable in other media. We have to stop doing this if we want games to get better. Video games don't exist in a vacuum. When we act as if they do, we perpetuate the myth that they're intrinsically inferior to other art forms. By refusing to raise our standards, we reinforce the worst stereotypes about video games and the people who play them.

As technology makes it possible to do more and more with games, their artistic deficiencies become increasingly evident. It's kind of like the uncanny valley effect, only for aesthetics. Back in the days when it was amazing that a programmer could get two little guys to run around a screen and shoot at each other, nobody was too concerned about the moral dilemmas those characters might be facing. In the rush to make the guys look more and more realistic, very few designers stopped to think about whether it might be more interesting if, for example, they looked like something out of a Paul Klee drawing. These days, programmers prove to us that they can render people shooting each other in amazing, lifelike detail. From a technological standpoint, that's truly impressive. However, if games can achieve that level of visual realism, there's no reason they can't push themselves in other directions.

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Reasonability isn't always your forte when your Xbox 360 suffers from the rage-inducing red ring of death. You get mad at Microsoft, you fume about how close your console is to being out of warranty, and you detest how long you'd have to wait to get back your system. When the Xbox is finally returned to you, the chance it could cease to function feels higher than ever before. You don't trust it now.... 

Technabob writer Jasper Stevens didn't want to play the ship-and-wait game with his red-ringed console. He opted to turn it into art [via Technabob]:

I might have considered this if my 360 hadn't gone so quietly. I began watching Chef on Netflix before work. When I came home with the intention of finishing that episode, the system flashed its little lights. No warning signs. No terrible sounds.... I felt sorry for my console and sent it away to get proper care.

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Isn't spring supposed to be happening soon? I'm tired of feeling chilled to the bone as I endeavor to bring the Community Spotlight to all of you on time with naught but a giant bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper as company....

Chris Cosmo Ross starts us off as he strips the Halo series of wasteful filler and boils the spectacle and strife of the games into one imagery-laden poem. Tobias Dodgen is next and wonders if a video game will ever achieve the seemingly endless success that Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon has.

Brian Shirk takes a look at Final Fantasy 2, and how this much-maligned game had a great deal of influence over the rest of the series. Finally, Andrew Hiscock conducts an interesting interview with that surly video game squirrel, Conker.

Game Poetry: Halo
By Chris Cosmo Ross
Poetry doesn't necessarily lend itself to video games, despite the often convoluted poetics of Solid Snake as he discusses love. Cosmo combines this sometimes challenging literary style with the Halo series.

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I say the following with the utmost sincerity and with no hint of irony whatsoever: I love the chicken wings at Hooters. And apparently, so does at least one jokester....

On this week's Mobcast, comedian and former 3DO/Sega/Sony PR dude Dave Karraker expressed his similar love for those hot wings, so we decided that we'd make Hooters the destination for Saturday night's Bitmob Meet-Up, right after the geek comedy show -- Cross Platform Comedy 3.0 -- down the street.

This is your last reminder to come join us for some nerd-humor laughs, a few drinks, and a few thousand pieces of meat that happen to be the same color as the waitresses' short shorts. Also: free stuff.

Update: Yes, we'll be giving away free stuff at the after-party. My apartment is overflowing with goodies (games, t-shirts, posters, etc.) that we've been saving for our fans, and I need to unload. East coasters, don't worry -- our own Brett Bates has you covered as well at our meet-up at PAX East. Uh, sorry middle-of-the-country people...but here's a bone for you:

If you help us promote the last two Mobcasts (which featured the comics from Cross Platform), you could win a download code for Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx or a free, random game from our pile, which we'll send to you.

Details on the contest and this Saturday night's events (including a promo code for a discount off the show) below.

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Something's wrong with Master Chief's auto-aim, because he can't seem to get his eyes off of this Stormtrooper. Well at the very least, they're both wearing protection [via Kotaku]!

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I feel like G4TV's Patrick Klepek deserves some type of journalism award for the outstanding reporting he's done on this Infinity Ward/Activision story. Or at least a hearty slap on the back, that'd be good too.

News Blips:

G4TV received an internal memo from Activision Publishing President and CEO Mike Griffith that states that developer Infinity Ward is "central to Call of Duty's future." He added that Activision "relies on the combined talent, expertise and leadership of the team there for its success." As you may know, studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella left Infinity Ward on Monday, allegedly due to a "breach of contract." If I fantasize about playing the next COD during my personal time, should I feel guilty?

Got any hot news tips? Send 'em over to tips@bitmob.com.

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Trying to keep up with all of the downloadable games and content that's out there these days is enough to make a person cry. But cry no more, because Download Lowdown is here to help. I'll sift through the good, the bad, and the weird to help you get the most from your game system of choice without leaving your house.

Today I destroy geometric shapes in everybody's favorite Xbox Live Arcade twin-stick shooter, Geometry Wa...er, Death by Cube.

Game: Death by Cube
System: Xbox 360
Price: 800 Points ($10)

The Lowdown:
If you asked me to condense Square Enix's Death by Cube into one word, I would say to you: hard. Two words? Really hard. Three? Really, really hard.

See, Death by Cube is for the old-school arcade rats who fondly remember pumping 15 dollars' worth of quarters into Ikaruga only to run out of change at the final boss. It's decidedly not for soft-bellied, checkpoint-craving fans of modern games -- gamers like yours truly.

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If you read our huge Blur preview yesterday, you already know that the game’s Xbox Live online multiplayer beta begins on Monday, March 8. But you can’t just go on Xbox Live and download the beta - you’ll need a key.

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