Seriously Viacom and Activision…WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

Sometimes, I just don’t get the game industry at times. You’ve seen my criticisms over the years about how some high quality, well thought out games are left untouched, but others that are simply drawn up to earn a quick buck are successful. Or how certain RPGs that I dare not mention for Fear of Fanboy rage (hint, hint) are heralded as much as the latest Harry Potter release.

Even more, I don’t get the big gaming companies at times either. Look at John Riccitello, an individual I’ve despised for quite a while.

Why you ask? Surely you forget his claim that "the dollar we spend on a Dreamcast title is one less dollar for our PlayStation 2 marketing strategy." I really hate when all they think about is the almighty dollar, and not for the interests of the gamers.

Look at what companies such as EA are even doing with new retail titles. They are actually forcing you to register a NEW game in order to get all the features online. Either that, or you have to pay a charge to access them. All in an attempt to ruin used game sales, or even renting games via Gamefly, just to make a little more money.

Corporate greed rears its ugly head way too much, but nowhere did it hit as hard as what happened this week.

For starters, Viacom is in talks to sell Harmonix. Yes, that same Harmonix that is responsible for arguably the best rhythm game franchise in Rock Band, and Viacom thinks of them as just a liability. Their excuse is that they do not have the expertise that other game companies have. After all, they used Electronic Arts to distribute the Rock Band franchise, while Dance Central was published by MTV Games. Still they claim that they will support Harmonix while the sale is in progress, but why do I get the feeling they will not do that at all? And why now when they have two hot titles out on the market?

Even worse news came just yesterday (at the time of this writing) when Activision announced that they are closing down Bizarre Creations, and possibly selling them as well. This one really irks me, because we all know how great the Project Gotham Racing series was on the Xbox and 360, and then Bizarre decides to join up with Activision in 2007. Granted they only did one racing game with Activision, but it was the excellent Blur, a title that many of my friends still play today. They also developed the recently released 007: Blood Stone.

But as always when corporate greed is involved (especially from certain individuals such as one Mr. Bobby Kotick,) that’s not enough. To them, Bizarre Creations is an asset, one that can easily be purged or sold, and it looks like they are going that way. Which is a shame because like Harmonix, Bizarre makes some excellent games and I’m hoping both developers can obtain a new suitor. Maybe Microsoft can pick them up. It would be nice to see a Project Gotham 5 developed by the original studio.

Or heaven help me, a 360 exclusive Rock Band 4?!? I’ll at least try to dream up something positive out of this mess.

Currently Playing: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (XBLA,) Call of Duty Black Ops (360)

Waiting For: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (360. Unlike what Ubisoft wants you to think in their ads, it’s NOT a PS3 exclusive!), Fallout: New Vegas (360, whenever Gamefly decides to send it to me.)