Today's round-up includes news of a countersuit from Activision against developer Spark Unlimited, a particularly malicious trojan for the PSP, and a new indie titles making its way to the Xbox 360 Live Arcade service, as well as today's new product news, Letter To The Editor missive, and job postings.
- Consumer site GameSpot has learned that Activision is countersuing Spark Unlimited, developer of
Call of Duty: Finest Hour, in response to
Spark's allegations of breach of contract. Activision's countersuit charges Spark with fraud, breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, trademark infringement, false advertising, and false destination of origin. The publisher claims Spark misrepresented its team members' importance in creating EA's
Medal of Honor: Frontline, leading to a rocky and troubled development cycle for the
Call of Duty title.
- Anti-virus software producer Symantec has identified a Trojan going around the PlayStation Portable homebrew community, the first Trojan to affect video game consoles. The Trojan is a file that can be downloaded to the PC and then applied to the PSP called "EXPLOIT 2G PSP Team v1.rar," which deletes important parts of the firmware on the affected PSP instead of patching it correctly. "It goes to show malicious code writers aren't just targeting personal computers and aren't just trying to get some replicating code to infect the machines," Chien said. "Anything that can run code is potentially being targeted."
- GarageGames has announced that
Marble Blast Ultra, a new installment in one of its more popular casual game series, will be released through the Xbox 360 Live Arcade. "Having high quality games like
Marble Blast Ultra in Xbox Live Arcade during the Xbox 360 launch window demonstrates our commitment to the wide spectrum of games available on the system," said Xbox Live Arcade group manager Greg Canessa. Like other Xbox 360 games, the exact release date of
Marble Blast Ultra has not yet been pinned down, but it should be available "around the launch of the Xbox 360."
- Also updated today: product news including
Virtools and Studica's launching of a student game competition and e-on's
shipping of Vue 5 Easel, as well as a new,
sharply critical Letter To The Editor, and
today's Gamasutra jobs, including positions from Activision/Toys For Bob, Blizzard Entertainment, Blue Fang Games, CMP Media, Epic Games, Gas Powered Games, High Impact Games, Irrational Games, Pandemic Studios, THQ, and Vancouver Film School.
