Unlike the former execs at Infinity Ward, seem to have seen a side of unfamiliar to the rest of the world - their good side.

Co-lead designer on Blur, Gareth Wilson, told CVG of Activision's soft and fuzzy side.

Wilson explained: "You hear a lot of horror stories about Activision being this publisher that just churns shit out, but they certainly weren't like that for us. They were great. Really, really good."

"We were having to make compromises to hit the release date," added Wilson. "We really wanted to expand on the mods, improve the visuals, get the splitscreen stuff looking really good, make the power-ups ace... and we just weren't there. We went to Activision and said: 'We don't think the game's up to our quality level.' It was totally shippable - it was OK - but we would've like to have had more time. They went, 'OK'... which was great."

By Ewan Aiton