EA and Activision have reached a settlement in a lawsuit that began two years ago, pertaining to the departure of Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince

Zampella. EA had been accused of secretly recruiting the pair while they were still at Activision. No details about the settlement are currently available, but both companies said today that they will file a settlement agreement in Los Angeles' California state court. Former Infinity Ward developers Jason West and Vince Zampella sued Activision in 2010 after being fired, claiming damages of $36 million from unpaid royalties associated with Modern Warfare 2, which launched in 2009. After leaving Activision, the pair began their own studio, Respawn Entertainment, and inked a publishing deal with EA. Since then, West and Zampella's claim rose to $1 billion and Activision countersued with EA as a defendant. Activision recently paid out $42 million to the Infinity Ward Employee Group, though not as a settlement; IWEG said it would pursue litigation and is still scheduled for trial May 29. The settlement news comes the same day as a report on Activision's "dirt"-digging tactics has surfaced, stating that Activision launched an information-gathering IT spree on West and Zampella just before the launch of Modern Warfare 2, intended to see them both fired. Activision called it "Project Icebreaker." No joke. In Project Icebreaker, Activision's George Rose asked the IT department to access West and Zampella's email, voicemail and computer without anyone's knowledge, a court filing given to Giantbomb by West and Zampella's attorneys shows. The orders reportedly came from Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. Activision attempted to use third-party security specialists and threw around the idea of staging a fake fumagation to get into West and Zampella's offices, the report says. But now the case is settled -- any verdict on the level of sanity of gaming companies is, however, still out.

Source: http://www.joystiq.c...wsuit/#comments

Common to most games nowadays, Rainbow 6 Patriots’ release date has been slipped before it was made official. This time it is the boys and girls over at Amazon who’ve jumped the gun, adding the game to their site a bit earlier than everyone else.
Up until now we knew we’d be seeing the next instalment to the Rainbow 6 franchise some time in 2013, but that was it. Whether it be purposefully or not, Ubisoft’s iron lips have been prised open and we now have a New Year’s Day release to look forward to. A Sound thing to spend your hard earned Christmas money on, by all means.
Apart from the release date and a scant few screenshots what we know is pretty thin on the ground, however with E3 coming ever closer, I’m pretty certain we’ll see an influx of info shortly.
How do you guys feel about the new Rainbow 6 game and its January 1st release date? Thanks to the festive period, postal services and midnight launches are likely to drastically reduced. Similarly with all the January sales and whatnot I can see getting your hands on this game first thing to be a little harder than usual. That being said, is the New Year really the best time to see another Tom Clancy game? With Ghost Recon Future Solider just hitting the market now it seems a little soon to me. Voice your opinion on the matter below.

Microsoft has started sending limited editions of the game Halo 4 to gaming stores across America this week. You can pre-purchase today at GameStop! There is quite a bit of extra stuff you get when you pre-order this version of the game. The price of the limited edition is $99.99 USD.

Limited Edition Contents

• War Games Map Packs: The Limited Edition includes access to nine maps - three future competitive multiplayer map packs, each including three locations, available for download post-launch on Xbox LIVE.
  
• Specializations: Receive early access to six Specializations, available at launch on Xbox LIVE, and use them, one at a time, to achieve higher ranks in your Spartan career. In addition to gaining access to new ranks, Specializations unlock new customization options.
  
• The Special Edition of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, a 90-minute extended version of the live-action digital series which will take fans back to the terrifying beginning of the Human/Covenant war, when the Master Chief inspired a young cadet who would eventually become a leader aboard the UNSC's greatest vessel ever: the UNSC Infinity.

Digital content also included:

• Bonus in-fiction bonus content expanding the characters and stories of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and their connections to Halo 4
  
• Special Featurette: Bringing Gaming into Reality
  
• Making of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

Bonus digital content through Xbox LIVE:

• Unique in-game Spartan IV armor skin
  Unique in-game weapon skin for the Assault Rifle
  
• An exclusive in-game emblem
  
• Xbox LIVE Avatar prop*
  Xbox LIVE Avatar Spartan IV armor set
  
• The Limited Edition also contains the UNSC Infinity Briefing Packet which includes a Spartan armor customization schematic, an introduction to the massive ship UNSC Infinity, and insight into what it means to be one of humanity's finest warriors: The Spartan IVs.

Key Features

• The Reclaimer Saga Begins: Experience the dawn of an epic new Halo adventure, solo or split screen with up to three friends
  
• Go Beyond the Story: Halo 4's Infinity Multiplayer features a vastly expanded suite of multiplayer modes, weapons, vehicles, armor abilities, a new loadout and Spartan IV player progression system.
  
• Spartan Ops: Extend your campaign experience in a massive-scale adventure that builds upon the "Halo 4" Campaign. Receive a weekly series of cinematic episodes on Xbox LIVE followed by new game play missions, played solo or cooperatively with up to three friends - effectively delivering two campaign experiences in one game!
  
• War Games: Battle the competition in fresh, immersive new game modes and strategies.
  
• Track your groups, stats and scores on HaloWaypoint.com
  
• Edge-of-your-seat Entertainment: Immerse yourself in Halo 4's graphics, sound and epic game play including a mysterious and deadly new class of enemies

Read all Halo 4 Limited Edition previews

I will be pre-ordering the limited edition for sure. What do you guys think? Is it worth the 100 dollars?

There have been a lot of rumors about the next version of Microsoft's Xbox console. Officially, the company isn't saying anything about its plans for the next Xbox and they have also said it won't be talking about it at E3 2012 in June. However, a new rumor claims that Microsoft could be thinking of an interesting name for the next hardware iteration of the Xbox. The fan site ThisisXbox.com, citing an unnamed source that recently worked at a "well known combined Publisher and Developer", claims that Microsoft is contemplating calling the next Xbox "XBOX 8." That name certainly would be in line with Microsoft's other big product launches for 2012; namely Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. The same story claims that Microsoft is working on an enhanced version of Xbox Live, code named "Infinity", that would handle downloads and apps for "XBOX 8", Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Microsoft has already announced that Xbox Live will be integrated into Windows 8 when it launches later this year but details about that integration have yet to be announced. Finally, this same story claims that Microsoft is working on having some kind of backwards compatibility feature for "Xbox 8" for Xbox 360 games, under the code name "Xbox Loop". None of this is official, so take it with a huge grain of salt. However, Microsoft has admitted that it is making an effort to link many of its products together, especially with its Metro interface, so this rumor isn't outside the realm of possibility.

Source: http://www.neogamr.n...ext-xbox-xbox-8

It is a good day for Halo 4 fans; check out the game’s cover art and marvel at some mysterious new enemies. Microsoft released a set of 32 images which Halo Waypoint users pieced together into the image below; Microsoft has since confirmed that this is Halo 4′s cover art. Nice. Meanwhile, AllGamesBeta posted a photo of the back of a box of halo action figures, showing two mysterious new enemy types – the Crawler and the Watcher. 343 Industries had hinted heavily that Halo 4 will see diversification of enemy types. The anticipated Xbox 360 exclusive drops during November.

Source: http://www.vg247.com...types-revealed/