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The wheels of justice continue to turn (sort of) this week, with the conclusion of two big wrangles that games industry watchers have been, ah, watching.

The biggest news is the settlement between goliath publisher Activision/Blizzard and former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella, both of whom were abruptly fired in March of 2010. West and Zampella sued, claiming A/B owed them monstrous royalties for Modern Warfare 2. Activision/Blizzard countersued, claiming that West and Zampella were stupid-heads, and the whole sordid affair dragged on for a while.

Bad news trickling in from the vine indicates that Emergent Game Technologies, creators of the popular middleware GameBryo engine, are being forced by their investors to sell the technology along with most or all other assets and IP.

So I guess someone spilled some oil in the Gulf of Mexico recently. Unlike Dr. Robotnik – who always saw fit to implement a new plan when an old one had failed spectacularly – BP has essentially given up trying to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf, and is just waiting around for the big relief wells to be dug, sometime in August – smack in the middle of the Gulf hurricane season. …

I bought Gears of War 2 on launch day and took it over to my friend Pete’s house, where me, he, and yet another Pete played through the entire thing splitscreen over a period of 48 frenzied alcohol- and Red Bull-fueled hours. As one Pete put it, “it was like a day and a half of chainsawing aliens, broken up by a nap and a walk.” So, the verdict? Gears 2 is excellent. I recommend …