This is a look into what Lucas Joiner knows about the past 10 years of Game Industry History.
Created by flipmanic13 on Sep 20, 2010
Last updated: 09/22/10 at 03:01 PM
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Q1: What were the details of the event?
Blizzard sued Scapegaming for making money off of privately owned World of Warcraft servers. Blizzard would win the lawsuit and the site's creator, Alyson Reeves, would have to pay Blizzard 88 million dollars.
Q2: Why was the event important to the industry?
Not only did this show that Blizzard took its MMORPG hit, World of Warcraft, serious, but it also shows how powerful a company can be. Activision-Blizzard was banking in 100 million dollars a month, just from World of Warcraft.
Reference:
Thorsen, Tor. (2010, Aug 16). Blizzard wins 88.5 million World of Warcraft lawsuit. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from http://www.gamespot.com/news/6273581.html?tag=result;title;0
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6273581.html?tag=result;title;0
Q1: What were the details of the event?
Infinity Ward and Call of Duty creators were fired from Activision after allegedly trying to start up their own company and sign a new contract with Electronic Arts.
Q2: Why was the event important to the industry?
The fact that these two guys, Vince Lampella and Jason West, put a lot of hard work into Modern Warfare 2, and not get paid for it, is absurd. It could either mean that Activision is very money hungry, or these two guys screwed up bad. The two men would later try to sue Activision for breach of contract, but it was never taken to trial. Lampella and West now have their own independent game company and is signed with, who else, Electronic Arts.
Reference:
Takahashi, Dean. (2010, July 10). Fired Infinity Ward founders and employees accuse Activision of running a police state. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/10/fired-infinity-ward-founders-accuse-activision-of-running-a-police-state-in-amended-lawsuit/
http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/10/fired-infinity-ward-founders-accuse-activision-of-running-a-police-state-in-amended-lawsuit/
Q1: What were the details of the event?
Bungie, the company that created the Halo series, would leave Microsoft and sign a 10 year publishing deal with Activision-Blizzard.
Q2: Why was the event important to the industry?
Though the agreement was mutual, Microsoft would retain the rights to the Halo series. This would also give Activision-Blizzard another company in which great games are made. Another point is the fact that if another Halo game is made, it won't be from the people who made it so popular and revolutionary.
Reference:
Kohler, Chris. (2010, April 29). Bungie, Activision sign 10-year publishing deal. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/04/bungie-activision/
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/04/bungie-activision/
Q1: What were the details of the event?
A survey reported that 5,000 console owners report that over half of Xbox 360s "red ring."
Q2: Why was this event important to the industry?
The choice between an Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii has been going on since they came out. This was an on going problem for Microsoft with 54.2 percent of their hardware just dying one day. The dreaded "red ring of death" is one reason why most people do not purchase an Xbox 360.
Reference:
Thorsen, Tor. (2009, August 19). Xbox 360 failure rate = 54.2%? Retrieved September 20, 2010, from http://www.gamespot.com/news/6215590.html?tag=result;title;1
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6215590.html?tag=result;title;1
Q1: What were the details of the event?
The Electronic Entertainment Expo goes private, downsizing the attendance of big game companies such as Activision-Blizzard and NCSoft.
Q2: Why was the event important to the industry?
E3 was closed to the public for the first time, which means that the consumers wouldn't be able to get their hands on some of their favorite upcoming games.
Reference:
Magrino, Tom. (2008, May 2). NCsoft, Foundation 9 bypass E3 '08. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from http://www.gamespot.com/news/6190330.html
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6190330.html
Q1: What were the details of the event?
Activision and Vivendi games merged together and was renamed to Activison-Blizzard.
Q2: Why was the event important to the industry?
The merge between these two companies created the biggest independent game publisher in the world. The company would put out great game series such as Call of Duty, Tony Hawk, Warcraft, Starcraft, etc.
Reference:
Thorsen, Tor. (2007, December 2). Vivendi merges with Activision for 18.9B Deal. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183557.html?tag=result;title;1
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183557.html?tag=result;title;1
Q1: What were the details of the event?
The popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft, passes 5 million active subscribers.
Q2: Why was the event important to the industry?
This number would only continue to grow as Blizzard found the ancient formula of video game addiction. I believe the number is up to 13 million players worldwide and a new expansion of the game on the way.
Reference:
Klepek, Patrick. (2005 December 19). World of Warcraft Passes 5 Million. Retrieved September 22, 2010, from http://www.1up.com/news/wow-passes-5-million
http://www.1up.com/news/wow-passes-5-million
Q1: What were the details of the event?
18 year old kills three police officers and says Grand Theft Auto inspired him.
Q2: Why was the event important to the industry?
Yet another murder connected to video games, even though the investigation showed no connection between the murder and video games. It actually says that the young man suffered major child abuse growing up, which would be the more likely scenario rather than, "Grand Theft Auto killed those 3 officers."
Reference:
Smith, Tony. (2005 August 11). Grand Theft Auto cop killer found guilty. Retrieved September 21, 2010, from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/11/gta_not_guilty/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/11/gta_not_guilty/
Q1: What were the details of the event?
A Korean couple left their baby in the car while they spent 5 hours playing World of Warcraft in an internet cafe.
Q2: Why was the event important to the industry?
The basic headline was "Child dies because of video games." In my opinion, I think it's because that those parents were crappy parents. Sure a video game had something to do it, but you don't go out and blame the game itself.
Reference:
Kuchera, Ben. (2005, Jun 21). Neglected child dies while parents play World of Warcraft. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2005/06/547.ars
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2005/06/547.ars
Q1: What were the details of the event?
Hackers hacked into the computing system of valve software and took enough components of the game to make their own build and release it to the public.
Q2: Why was the event important to the industry?
This game had been in development for nearly 6 years at this point. Someone took the game and leaked it to the public, while the people who have spent the past 6 years making this game, tried to make it as secret as possible. The entire industry would crack down on hackers leaking information in the future, all from this example.
Reference:
Morris, Chris. (2003, October 7). Thieves steal playable version of Half-Life 2. Retrieved September 21, 2010, from http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/07/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/#TOP
http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/07/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/#TOP
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