IW ex-heads respawn as Respawn!

Little girl with a big gun, Part 1

The big CoD-related news, of course, is the announcement by Jason West and Vince Zampella of the formation of their new game studio, Respawn Entertainment, as part of Electronic Arts. Judging by the number of "exclusive" interview links, there must have been a revolving door of gaming media people over at the Respawn digs. As noted in the links below, other key Infinity Ward personnel are submitting resignations and moving on.

    Today's featured vid is a 5 on 1 clutch on Favela S&D by OpTic DTreats recorded by fellow OpTic Nation team-mate xKaRmyy. With the rest of the team already eliminated, DTreats gets the clutch with some masterful Intervention work. Next up is TetraNinja's self-immolation via claymore-generated gas station explosion. He blowed up real good! Third up is a blast from the past: a CoD4 no-scope/hard-scope montage from Sandy Ravage. (Incidentally, when you need a quick Sandy Ravage fix, you can visit the new page on the blog, currently linking Booster Justice 1 and Booster Justice 2.) Finally, if you want to know how to lock down an area in a FFA match, watch the vid below by TheDrunkenCanadian, aka IAmTheLiquor on the 2Old2Play CoD forum. On to the links:

• AustralianGamer: Oz review of the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package.
• Ars Technica op-ed: Ben Kuchera considers Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare single player game a 'masterpiece'. Certainly is, especially when compared with its "the whole not equal to the sum of the parts" follow-up.
• IndustryGamers (linked from Blues News) has an interview with Jason West and Vince Zampella on their move to EA and their new development studio Respawn Entertainment: Modern Warfare Devs: 'The Sky's The Limit'. Most interesting are hints that Respawn Entertainment's next IP might not be a shooter.
• GameInformer: Interview with West and Zampella.
• GamaSutra: Interview with West and Zampella covering much of the same material. "Getting back to doin what we love." Making bundles of cash?
• IGN: Infinity Ward Founders Developing A 'Big Blockbuster'.
• 1Up: Games Industry Responds to Respawn Announcement. Best quote FTA: ""This is the ultimate screw-you to Activision -- and the ultimate screw-you to EA. By going to EA now and getting paid up, they say, 'you're finally paying us what we're due. EA are being the bigger people here. They're not wounded at all by the fact that they lost these guys and the Medal of Honor brand deteriorated." -- Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter (via GamaSutra) "
• BASHandSlash: More defections at Infinity Ward. FTA: "Aside from West and Zampella, Todd Alderman, West's right-hand-man and Lead Designer left last week along with Francesco Gigliotti, Infinity Ward's lead software engineer. A few hours ago, IWSlothy (Jon Shiring) also announced his resignation."
• VGChartz: New MW2 glitch - a 9 plane Harrier strike - alleged. Nine Harriers?!? Yikes!

Featured MW2 YouTube Video

• Gametrailers: Gears of War 3 trailer. And, now, female COGs.
• GameSpot: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier first look.
• Edge Online: Console Crysis. Video interview on CryTek's adaptation of its graphics engine for consoles.
• Kotaku: "Brutality" Of Console Gamers Sharpened Crysis 2, Didn't Dumb It Down.
• DevelopOnline: CryTek, developers of the Crysis franchise, are planning release of a free version of their game engine, CryENGINE 3.
• Kotaku: Why the Halo MMO was canceled.
• GamesRadar: The top 7 original Xbox games we'll miss.
• IGN: Daily Fix for 12 April 2010 with the luscious Jessica Chobot.

• Gizmodo: Bad 3D Will Be the Death of 3D.
• GameInformer: Netflix streaming comes to the Wii.
• IGN: Are iPhone games still fun on the iPad?
• MaximumPC: Asus to Ship Eee Keyboard by End of April. The Tom's Hardware article and YouTube vid were linked in yesterday's blog.
• HealthZone.ca: No “Double Down” sandwich at KFC in Canada. What are they missing out on? Have a look: