News Blips: Dead Island’s sexist code, Max Payne 3 in March 2012, Activision settles MW3 website dispute, and more

Who says code monkeys lack a sense of humor? Oh, wait, I meant an intolerant sense of humor. My mistake.

News Blips:

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":688312,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"D"}']

A mysogynistic reference lurks within Dead Island's code. Rooting among the cryptic jungle of the PC version of the game's code yesterday, Steam user "AlekseiVasiliev" stumbled upon a line calling an in-game skill of female character Purna "Feminist Whore." Developer Techland released a statement to GameSpot apologizing for the offending piece of code, promising "professional consequences" for those involved. After seeing the game's flabbergastingly bad third-person animations, something like this was bound to happen. I wouldn't be surprised if similar "easter eggs" showed up in the future.

After multiple delays, Max Payne 3 aims its dual pistols for a March 2012 release. The third-person shooter sequel featuring the titular hardboiled ex-cop foundered in development limbo after reports of drastic re-writes and harsh working conditions at development studio Rockstar Vancouver last year. The game features an older, wearier Payne working the private security biz in Sao Paulo, Brazil with his trademark bullet-time dives and distractingly bald head.

Activision claims victory in a complaint filed against the owner of the ModernWarfare3.com website. Fusible reports that a three-member law squad of the National Arbitration Forum ordered registrant Anthony Abraham to transfer the domain name to the publisher after he used the website as a forward for Battlefield 3's official page. Now Activision has the perfect host domain for its "donkey shitting on the Battlefield 3 logo" Flash animation.

Activision Blizzard's three-year battle plan includes two expansion packs each for World of WarCraft and StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. Company COO Thomas Tippl told Citi 2011 Technology Conference attendees that Night Elf strip-dances and Zerg rushes will continue well into 2014, with a Diablo 3 expansion arriving within the same year. [GameSpot]

---

Got any hot news tips? Send 'em over to tips@bitmob.com.