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EA Partners has sign up to publish 38 Studios' single-player role-playing game, codenamed Project Mercury.

The game is in development at the recently acquired Big Huge Games, under the leadership of Elder Scrolls lead designer Ken Rolston, and based on the fantasy world of RA Salvatore and comic book artist Todd McFarlane.

"From day one, 38 Studios has been focused on creating the next generation of entertainment experiences that embrace all mediums, including film, television, comics, novels, toys and, of course, games," commented Curt Schilling, founder of 38 Studios.

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Call of Duty publisher Activision has dismissed as "meritless" the lawsuit bought against it by two founders of Infinity Ward over unpaid royalties and the right to creative control of the Modern Warfare brand.

According to a report by the LA Times, Vince Zampella and Jason West are seeking upwards of $36 million, the right to creative control over all Modern Warfare games and that Activision may not release any Call of Duty titles set after the Vietnam war without their approval.

"Activision is disappointed that Mr Zampella and Mr West have chosen to file a lawsuit, and believes their claims are meritless," said the publisher in a statement to the press.

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Sacked Activision duo Jason West and Vince Zampella could veto the planned release of downloadable content or future releases in the Modern Warfare series, if the legal issues with former employer Activision are ruled in their favour.

That's according to Jas Purewal, English lawyer and litigation specialist, who said that the duo's claim of creative control over the Modern Warfare brand could have very serious consequences for the future of Activision's war franchise.

"This is potentially explosive," wrote Purewal on his personal blog Gamerlaw. "West and Zampella are arguing they have contractual creative control over the Modern Warfare brand.  The details will have to come out in the litigation, but it could see West and Zampella demanding a veto over Modern Warfare 2 DLC as well as any other Modern Warfare games."

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Rockstar's newest game, Red Dead Redemption, is unlikely to be profitable for publisher Take-Two, due to its protracted development and the high marketing budget ear-marked for its release.

The game was delayed yesterday by three weeks, pushing it out of the publisher's second quarter and into the third, and highlights the company's inability to be profitable during years when it does not release a console instalment in its market-leading Grand Theft Auto franchise.

"Red Dead Redemption was delayed into Q3, which ironically we believe actually helps Q2 earnings as it is unlikely to be a profitable title given the over 3-4 years of development costs and very heavy marketing spending," wrote Todd Greenwald, of Signal Hill Capital Group, in a note to investors.

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EA Partners has sign up to publish 38 Studios' single-player role-playing game, codenamed Project Mercury.

The game is in development at the recently acquired Big Huge Games, under the leadership of Elder Scrolls lead designer Ken Rolston, and based on the fantasy world of RA Salvatore and comic book artist Todd McFarlane.

"From day one, 38 Studios has been focused on creating the next generation of entertainment experiences that embrace all mediums, including film, television, comics, novels, toys and, of course, games," commented Curt Schilling, founder of 38 Studios.

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The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences is to offer a new academic scholarship in honour of Mark Beaumont, the former COO of Capcom North America and Europe who passed away suddenly on February 23.

The endowment, established by the AIAS Foundation, will award four yearly $2500 scholarships to students attending accredited universities.

Beaumont had worked in the games industry for almost 30 years and been with Capcom since 2005, serving as senior VP and executive VP before being promoted to COO in April 2008. Prior to his time at Capcom, he served in roles with Midway Games, Time Warner Interactive, Activision, Sony's Psygnosis and Atari.

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Ubisoft has revealed that the problems with the company's newly implemented DRM solution for new PC titles are due to ongoing attacks from hackers and not as a result of high demand, as previously implied.

According to the latest Twitter updates the servers were under attack again yesterday, with some users experiencing trouble signing in. Ubisoft claim that 95 per cent of players remained unaffected and that login servers were fully re-established at 1am CET.

Ubisoft also claims that Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 "are withstanding the efforts to crack them" and that "no valid cracked versions exist". Most torrent sites do contain links to both games, but Ubisoft claim these are incomplete versions.

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