Harmonix and MTV Games may have been busy little bees this morning holding important conference calls and making announcements, but that doesn’t mean third-party publishing juggernaut Activision hasn’t been working just as hard. Oh, but they have! In fact, as we speak, they are quite busy building their reputation as “most evil corporation in video games” (also known as “the new EA”). No, don’t worry, they’re not announcing a slew of new Guitar Hero games (they already did that, remember?). Instead, they’re rubbing salt in the recently-opened wound caused by the dropping of Brütal Legend from their slate. Now, not only are they not publishing Tim Schafer’s next game, but they’re actually trying to stop it from getting published at all.

According to Kotaku, the reason that the rock and roll adventure that doesn’t use a Guitar Hero peripheral (no wonder Activision was so against it) hasn’t found a new home is because Activision/Blizzard has been an “impediment” to the process of getting a new publisher. No actual reason has been given, but apparently the game’s former publisher have been, as the site so succintly put it, cock-blocking Brütal Legend—and that is just not cool. This game has been called a “creative risk”, as most of Schafer’s games have been—but guess what? Schafer’s games are also AWESOME.

Maybe I’m jumping the gun here and should wait for some hard evidence that this is actually Activision’s fault, but you know that no one loves speculation more than I do. Rest assured that I will keep you updated on the fate of Brütal Legend, since I have been waiting for it a long time. And as for you, Activision: come on, don’t be a dick.

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