Judge 'Not Inclined' to Delay Brutal Legend

Last week, we reported on developer Double Fine's countersuit against Activision Blizzard regarding the pending release of Brutal Legend (to be published by EA). Activision believes it should still have the rights to publish the title starring Jack Black, but Double Fine believes Activision is deliberately attempting to kill Brutal Legend in an effort to preserve its Guitar Hero franchise.

A hearing had been scheduled for July 30 on a motion by Activision to block the game's release. Today, however, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan said he's rescheduling arguments on the motion until August 6 in order to give attorneys from both sides time to fully argue their positions. 

That said, it's important to note that during the brief hearing today Karlan said his tentative ruling would be to deny Activision's motion to delay Brutal Legend's October release. According to the AP, Karlan told Activision's attorney's that he's not inclined to grant their motion because he doesn't think Activision can win the suit. "I can't say there's a likelihood of success here," he commented, adding that neither side really had an upper hand in the case. "This is going to be a close call."

Double Fine is on track to hand over a gold master of the game to EA on August 8. Electronic Arts reportedly has already spent millions of dollars promoting the game, so if Activision got its way suddenly, it would certainly come as a blow to its biggest rival.