Late last night, Activision fired the heads of their biggest money maker. Jason West and Vince Zampella of Infinity War have been released, with the mega-publisher citing “insubordination”

Indeed, its now well known in the industry that Infinity Ward was fighting for creative freedom, asking to do Modern Warfare back in 2004 (it finally came out in 2007), and negotiated that they be the sole developer Call of Duty (later settling for just Modern Warfare). Apparently lately Infinity Ward wouldn’t even speak to Activision reps, and were bitterly trying to develop a new game they would own. Kotaku has the details here.

But now Activision has new plans for Call Of Duty, handing it off to Sledgehammer Games, made up of former members of EA’s Redwood Shore team (makers of Dead Space).

Two weeks ago, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stood in front of an industry crowd and lamented that they bought the Guitar Hero name but not the studio Harmonix that made the games. He freely admitted that was a mistake, and that the brand name with different people behind the wheel wouldn’t match that critical success.

It appears Activison hasn’t learned much. Not that the artists now responsible for Call of Duty and Guitar Hero aren’t capable of making great games, but the senseless shuffling and replacing of talent can’t make the new developers feel very confident about their long term job stability.

For those wishing to switch from COD, may I humbly suggest:

MattyCollector.com curbs your buying habits. Mass Effect 2 curbs your romance options. Are you enthusiastic about the shakeup at DC Entertainment? Is this tease shameless punnery?

Direct Link: Powetcast Episode 28: Down the Digital River

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(Have you tried using MattyCollector.com? Any theories on what Nintendo could announce at E3? Leave a comment below!)

Show notes after the jump!

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A lot of stuff gets posted to Powet.tv, and you might have missed a lot! If you’re new to the site, or just haven’t been around in a while, take a look at all of the amazing stuff.

February was a short month. Combine that with most of the staff either caught in snow, preparing for life changing events, or gearing up for a big spring full of conventions, and this was a light month. We still managed to get several great text features from Will, Crazy, and Sindra; three hilarious and informative podcasts, and kicked off a new season of videos. Enjoy, and don’t forget to share on your favorite social media sites using the links below! The more clicks we get there, the more we know you appreciate what we do, and we’ll keep doing it!

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Ever since its arcade debut, Shinobi stood alongside Ninja Gaiden (and to some extent Strider) as the king of video gaming ninjas, and the series only got better on the Genesis. Shinobi 3 was the follow up to the awesome Shadow Dancer, and it really pushed the envelope on the Sega Genesis, as it’s visuals were so awesome that you’d think you were playing an SNES game. There isn’t much of a plot (the big evil organization is back, and our hero is back out to stop it) then again who needs one? You basically make your way through several stages kicking ass. Sometimes you ride on horseback, and you’ll battle everything from Ninjas, to soldiers, to bio-engineered freaks. You have your throwing knives, sword, and ninja magic to help you. It’s one of the finest examples of 2D action on the Genesis, and one of the finest games of the 16-bit era. It’s available on the Sonic Mega Collection disc for Xbox 360 and PS3, the Sega Genesis Collection on the PS2 and PSP, and the Wii Virtual Console.

Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

Surely Indiana Jones belongs in any list of the greatest characters ever put on film. Aside from the role as the (also list worthy) Han Solo, Indy is what defines Harrison Ford as a tough, charismatic actor.
He was introduced in the film “Raiders of The Lost Ark” and thats a great movie. But I’m going to focus on the movie where the character’s name actually appears above the title, “Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom”
I know this article series is supposed to focus on a lot of stuff that we as geeks either do or should respect. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is maybe the antithesis of that. We must know it so that we may learn its mistakes.
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Activision by way of GTTV on Spike has released footage of the next Transformers game. Looks like action gets pretty heavy with huge boss fights! Spot any favorite Generation One characters? Certainly looks like Ironhide doing that take down at about 1 minute in! A good mix of shooting and hand to hand combat will be key for this game, hopefully the promise of this trailer is realized when the game releases in May.

SoulCalibur 4 marks the current generation debut of Namco’s Hack ‘n’ Slash fighting game series. While the game has been enhanced in some areas (notably graphics and online play), the game tends to be somewhat lacking in others (story and single player content). Even so, fans of SoulCalibur will once again have a chance to enjoy another installment of the fun and fast paced action that the series in known for, and there are even a few surprises included as well.
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