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  • Black Ops’ Map Pack 3 is Annihilation

    Black Ops’ Map Pack 3 is Annihilation

    Well, after the release of First Strike, and Escalation. Call of Duty fans were expecting it, and they’re getting it. It started out as a leak through youtube, which you will soon learn. The Map Pack was originally thought to be “Retaliation.” As you can see, it is shown via an Xbox Live user who found it as a glitch.

    A very popular Call of Duty: Black Ops site called Digital Warfare 24/7 broke the story to the world when they stumbled across a GameStop promotional poster, but another website got a-hold of a better picture:

    Black Ops: Annihilation
    Call of Duty: Black Ops Map Pack 3

    Notice that the poster shows the exact date for the launch of Black Ops’ new Map Pack: June 28th, 2011. That’s roughly a week from now. This means an announcement is just around the corner.

    There seems to be 5 maps included in this map pack: Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo, Hazard, and an extra map for Zombie fans. Are you ready to back into Black Ops again?

    Another thing to consider is that this Map Pack seems to coincide with upcoming Call of Duty Elite beta coming in July. [MW3Blog article] CODElite applies to Black Ops, in fact, the beta will work with Black Ops, and the full launch of the service will go live alongside MW3 release.

    Just remember, the Map Pack will release on Xbox Live first. Microsoft and Activision signed a multi-year contract. [article]

  • New MW3 Cinematic Footage

    New MW3 Cinematic Footage

    CapsuleComputers was at E3, and they filmed a footage of Activision’s E3 booth. The booth has these giantantic theatre-like screens and it starts out with a timeline of the Modern Warfare series. You can’t really make out much of it because it is off-screen, so the highlight of the footage isn’t the timeline, instead it features footage that did not make the cut for the Reveal Trailer.

    I know its not much, but you can still make them out, unlike the timeline presentation. Anyway, enjoy!

    Source: CaspuleComputers

    I really like what they’ve done to the booth, it makes me feel like I’m in a 3D room. Electronic Arts usually does this at E3, but this is a whole another level.

  • Late Night with Jimmy Warfare 3

    Robert Bowling spent the weekend answering questions about MW3. [article] He says that the Spec Ops mode is the mode with the most improvements. A lot of websites are getting a hold of information and some impressions of MW3′s new and improved Spec Ops mode. Bowling also said he’ll get some new Modern Warfare 3 Spec Ops gameplay ready, some are below, and there’s more to come.

    Robert Bowling went on-stage of Jimmy Fallon to show off MW3’s new survival mode. It is below, Enjoy!

    That is a few minutes of raw Spec Ops Survival Mode gameplay. You will notice that the character is holding a pistol – presumably a new type of pistol, and you will also notice that a Model 1887 laying on the ground. One of the first things confirmed is that instead of not knowing how many waves and how many enemies to expect, it shows the information on the lower left corner. A leak speculates that there will be 5 survival modes for Spec Ops.

  • New MW3 Spec Ops Gameplay

    New MW3 Spec Ops Gameplay

    Robert Bowling spent the weekend answering questions about MW3. [article] He says that the Spec Ops mode is the mode with the most improvements. A lot of websites are getting ahold of information and some impressions of MW3’s new and improved Spec Ops mode. Bowling also said he’ll get some new Modern Warfare 3 Spec Ops gameplay ready, some are below, and there’s more to come.

    There was an event showing off Modern Warfare 3 Spec Ops, and MSNBC recorded a bit of gameplay footage:

    Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    I know its not much, but there you have it.

  • MW3 Questions Answered

    MW3 Questions Answered

    E32011 had a lot of Modern Warfare 3 information released. But fans still asked for more. There are still questions left hanging, and still in the air. Over the weekend Reddit asked Mr. Bowling to do an Q&A session with the greater MW3 community. 500 conversations took place in the Reddit AMA comments.

    For those of you who do not know who Robert Bowling is, he’s currently Infinity Ward’s Creative Strategist. He broke into the team as Infinity Ward’s Community Manager, and has been giving valuable feedback to the team at Infinity Ward for quite some time. He uses social media, and community forums to track what players want from Call of Duty, and using Reddit as a “forum” for questions, comments and whatnot brought us some nice information. Just keep in mind, I am only going to use the top 200 Q&A’s. Ready?

    First we have t3hb4tman asking what is being done about players who do not “complete” the objectives, but racks up kills. He was concerned that Call of Duty is a series that’s supposed to be focused around team-work. Yet team-based modes favors selfish players who racks up the kills and end up on top because of his score. Robert Bowling answered:

    I completely agree and we have changed a lot of how XP, match bonus, challenges, rewards, and other incentives are distributed in objective gameplay, much on how we are encouraging gun on gun gameplay in TDM modes, in objective modes we are making it so being an objective focused player in objective gametypes.

    Furthermore, we have focused a lot of the new equipment additions in multiplayer to make sure were giving the objective player just as many tools to be better at playing the objective focused gametypes as we do a TDM player.

    Its not all about kills, we have to reward the defender of a bomb site, the flag runner, and the guy covering the flag runner, more so than the guy just getting kills and never going near the objective points.

    I read you loud and clear and while I can’t go into further detail, this has been addressed.

    I’m a hardcore SnD player and a Dom player after that.

    I disagree with one of the ideas because us players do not want any help with being better at playing objective games. I’m an objective player, when I am in an objective team-based game like Search and Destroy, or Sabotage I expect to be rewarded for what I have done to contribute to the objective. I often see players running around, killing players left and right, and STILL rank higher, yet when I defuse the bomb, or plant the bomb – I hear players bragging about how they’re better than me because they’re right on the top. Even though that I defused or planted their bomb. Other players camp throughout the entire game, and not even contribute to either objective, killing or whatever the multiplayer mode asks you to do. That was t3hb4tman’s concern.

    Moving on; CRIP4LIFE asked if customized controls are in MW3, Rob answered:

    Yes sir, and this is something I’ve sat down and talked with our control programmers about early on when you request came in.

    We worked with N0M4D as well as got a full list of “ideal” controls from several disabled members of our community to try and make sure that the game controls were as accessible as possible for our community.

    I’m afraid we never got to the point of fully remapping of controls, but have taken every step to make it as accommodating as possible. I just met up with N0M4D yesterday at E3 to talk about this very thing.

    Next up, masonvd asked what is the story in MW3, and also asked what MW3 is going to do to differentiate itself from other COD games, Rob answered:

    From a story stand point, Modern Warfare 3 is a direct sequel – picking up just hours after Modern Warfare 2 ended.

    the big difference, from a single player campaign standpoint, in Modern Warfare 3 is the scale of the levels you’re fighting in. Like going through the streets of Manhattan both on foot and in-air, or Paris, or London, or parts of Africa. The sizes of the campaign levels are massive, which required a lot of work in terms of advancing the streaming tech to not only get to that level of scale but to maintain the game running above 60 fps at all times.

    From a multiplayer stand point its all about polish and balance. Taking all the feedback from Modern Warfare 2, building up from the core design philosophy of Call of Duty 4 (the simplistic beauty of fast paced gun on gun focused gameplay), keeping what we loved, losing stuff we (including you) didn’t, and adding in stuff that will change up the way we play.

    ProbablyHittingOnYou also chimed in about story, and how “open” the campaign is, Rob went into detail:

    The single player campaign is all about delivering a cinematic experience with set piece moments and massive action. However, we know you want open (let me decide how to tackle this) gameplay and that is where we’ve really expanded on Spec Ops in allowing you to play out missions with objectives in more open areas that are not tied to the story. Furthermore, you can play every Spec Ops survival mission on ALL multiplayer maps that are completely open.

    milesabove asked what are the hated or liked things that are probably be removed from MW3, Rob laid it out:

    Loved: High gun damage, gun on gun focus, depth of features but simplistic in design.
    Less-loved / removed: OMA, Commando, Overpowered Explosives, Nukes, Last Stand aka Second Chance perk.

    Nathan-NL knows that Electronic Arts is trying to take on Activision for FPS supremacy, so he asked why he should buy MW3 instead of BF3, Rob went neutral by saying the following:

    You should be buying both because they both will be stellar games. I refuse to say one ill word of Battlefield 3 or DICE because I think they’re both fantastic and am good friends with several of the guys on the team.

    If you are a shooter fan, they are both fantastic games to own because of one reason. They are different.

    Each do their own thing in a fantastic way and it is refreshing to have the option for both styles.

    loladelrio had just seen the BF3 tank demo that shows a dinosaur toy at the beginning of the trailer, Rob joked:

    The severe and insulting lack of dinosaurs in Modern Warfare 2 was embarrassing and a black mark on my career. The addition of Dinosaurs and turtles (the modern day dinosaur) are a high priority on the feature list of Modern Warfare 3.

    Jimmythejet asked Rob if he was surprised with the reactions to CODElite, and also what he felt about the similar service offered by EA, Rob answered:

    I was not surprised at all, because it positioned poorly and misunderstood.

    If I thought I had to pay for stats, groups, clans, the ability to change my class on the fly online or on my phone, and all the other features they announced. I’d want it for free too.

    Luckily, all that IS free for everyone, but people didn’t know that.

    I think these are services that all shooters should eventually have one day, and I’m stoked we’ll have them free to everyone for MW3 and am glad that DICE is doing the same.

    JohnSmith11 asked what Bowling was thinking when the Xbox 360 controller was disconnected during the Microsoft conference, Rob answered:

    I thought it was hilarious. We had been rehearsing everyday, all day, all weekend long. It was something that happened the first day on the first rehearsal, my mark on stage was exactly out of the range of the console. They brought in new hardware that extended the range and we never had the problem again all weekend it went flawless.

    My rule of thumb is, if your last three rehearsals go flawless, then the live demo will go wrong. My theory holds true.

    needhelponatest asks about the new engine, I wrote an article going deep into this subject, and so Rob confirmed exactly what I said:

    This runs on the MW3 engine, which would typically be named IW5 but out of respect of our co-development partners at Sledgehammer games we are simply referring to it as the MW3 engine. It is upgraded from the engine we used in Modern Warfare 2. There have been a lot of advances, mostly in streaming tech to allow us to get the scale of levels we’re doing in Modern Warfare 3 and maintain gameplay consistency with the framerate and smoothness. We’ve got a lot of audio stuff mostly adding situational awareness like bullet wizzbys and other subtle upgrades. A lot of lighting stuff updates as well.

    There you have it, its called the “MW3 Engine” ladies and gentlemen.

    tkupsick asked if there’s going to be a MW3 beta, and Robert responded with a resounding maybe:

    There will definitely be an internal one, but we haven’t decided or confirmed if there will be a public one. A public multiplayer beta is a give / take in terms of development schedule. It takes a good month out of your schedule to prepare it for public consumption and actually have time to incorporate the feedback.

    In the meantime, while that’s decided, I’ve been flying community members out to Infinity Ward to see the game (not play yet) but to see and discuss it and give feedback. Furthermore, we will fly out members of our glitcher community to give the MP a run through its paces later in development to try to find map holes, glitches, and other exploits prior to release. We also have a full-time QA department.

    BlueInq asked what changes are there going to be between MW2 and MW3 multiplayer, Rob tells it like it is:

    From a design philosophy point of view, we are building up from Call of Duty 4, bringing the stuff we liked from Modern Warfare 2, losing the stuff we (and you) universally did not but overall focusing more on the gun-on-gun fast paced infantry combat, less relying on air support, but still using it as its intended (to aid in your fight, not supplement it).

    I can’t give too many hard facts on multiplayer at this time due to the fact that we’re very much still balancing, tweaking, and adding to it daily.

    For sure things I have confirmed is the fact that we removed One Man Army, Commando, re-balanced all explosives, maintained high gun damage without relying on Stopping Power to keep firefights fast paced but closer to COD4’s balance.

    bennihana123 asks a similar question, and it’s about looking at the competition, Rob responds:

    I personally play everything and am always looking at how other games implement a feature and think about how that could work in our series. No feature is typically universal, to where it could work exactly the same in another game, but you can typically boil it down to it’s core value. What does this feature add and what problem does it solve? Okay, lets figure out how we can take that aspect, and incorporate it differently to work in ours.

    I was just having this same conversation with Cliff Bleszinski the other night about this very thing. Particularly crediting them on the LB “show all team mate” feature in their multiplayer games. In a game that relies so heavily on team oriented gameplay to win, being able to quickly and subtly keep tabs on your team mate general position is essential.

    compliments1 asks what’s the best improvement in MW3 so far, Rob responds:

    Spec Ops by far. Adding in the matchmaking, progressive ranking, killstreaks and unlocks, and wave based modes have made Spec Ops everything we always wanted it to be when we first introduced it.

    Also, returning to gun on gun focused multiplayer is a big thing for me.

    Primey0 asks if there’s longer after-launch support for MW3, Rob answers:

    Yes. This has been an extremely major focus for us after MW2 and we’ve spent the last two years building our infrastructure in a way that will allow us to extend our post launch support. Increasing not only frequency (if needed) but speed of them as well as how we can expand the ability to hot fix and playlist updates to address concerns when possible while an full patch goes through the certification process.

    Rotaz asks a similar question, and Rob goes into detail:

    Spec Ops Survival mode, solely because it brings a lot of stuff to the game that we’ve never done before, plus you get to use a lot of Multiplayer features without worrying about them being over powered (since its co-op and not competitive MP), so you get to do shit like have an awesomely powered ACR and take on bomb dogs with Juggernaut and it doesn’t matter if its completely ludicrous since it all takes place outside the story mode. Its all about just having fun.

    mattryanharris asks if there’s quickscoping, Rob confirms it:

    Currently, you can still quick scope in Modern Warfare 3. Keep in mind though, multiplayer is always changing at this stage (new perks, new balancing, new everything all the time based on feedback), however our philosophy on that hasn’t changed since MW2.

    nmpraveen asks when we can expect a multiplayer reveal, Rob says that there will be more information in the coming weeks and months:

    There is no date yet for Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer reveal yet. I hope, starting today with this thread, to start addressing hardcore community questions regarding the direction multiplayer is taking, and hopefully start revealing things that won’t change (like certain weapons, features, etc), however we can’t start showing multiplayer until we get a little later and have it in its final iteration.

    To be fair, a MW2 Multiplayer Event took place in September, at that point there were a lot of trailers uploaded to youtube, and then in October, Infinity Ward released both the teaser trailer and the reveal trailer in October.

    DavidFlannagan asks a similar question, but this time for Spec Ops survival mode, and Robert goes deeper:

    Soon. Now that E3 is wrapped I’m working on getting a Spec Ops gameplay trailer made for you guys, as well as have some planned TV appearances where I hope to show it off. Follow my Twitter to keep updated on WHEN that stuff gets confirmed.

    And so, there you have it, we’re going to see some new gameplay soon, very, very soon. Are you ready!?

  • E32011: MW3 Trailers Analysis.

    E32011: MW3 Trailers Analysis.

    E32011 is done. Now that E32011 is over and behind us. I’m going to break down what’s been revealed so far. What we do know is that MW3 takes place in New York. [article] And we have seen partial trailer from “Black Tuesday.” [article] But both articles has early gameplay trailers, the ones I’m about to discuss is much, much more clear, and legible. And not only that, they have footage that is NOT found in the original trailers posted.

    Hunter Killer: This is the same section that was shown during the Microsoft Conference. You begin in underwater rubble. You’ll no doubt find the beginning funny since Xbox 360’s controller happened to go bonkers, but the first thing confirmed is that the traditional Modern Warfare pause screen returns. You must make it to the submarine, the mission’s target. Along the way, you’ll see small details such as dead people, you can flicker on and off the meter, and flashlight. Once you make it to the surface you’ll see that New York is in shambles. The weapon that you’re holding is probably the new MP5. By the end of your time in the submarine you’re going to breach and enter, and you’re going to use a shotgun of sorts. I’m not sure which one. You will now be in the midst of a war against Russian ships, aircrafts and what have you. You will have to follow your comrades into a gunship standing by awaiting your arrival. For more details about the trailer, follow this link.

    Black Tuesday: This section of the MW3 campaign has been aired on Spike TV, and a lot of youtube’ers have been uploading this section to help provide new information about MW3, and show off the gameplay in full. The previous article showed much of this, but the trailers that I’m seeing now shows an alternate route. It does not have the “In the interest of time…” in one of the sections, so this means that if you go to a particular route, the game gives you a new perspective. Meaning that you alter the events of the game a bit. That’s all just speculation at this point.

    You start out inside a military Humvee; a truck utility vehicle. Your utility vehicle was toppled over in a battle. Your team is Delta Force. You will rise up and see a missile crashing into one of the buildings, and a piece of the building’s wall will come crashing down a few feet from you. At the outset, you are carrying an assault rifle, presumably an AK47. You will start out with not one, but two attachments. One of them is Red Dot Sight, and the other is a typical military scope. As you start walking into battle, a military tank will roll their engine, guiding you through battle. At some point, the player switches his scope from the side to the middle, so this means you can switch scope on and off. You will see that AK47 is laying on the ground, and go to broken wall, you will back out, and find a P90 laying down with ACOG sights on. When you finally get behind your comrades, you will see yet another AK47 with a silencer and an ACOG sight. Once you see enemies come into intense battle again, this time, a jeep with a turret will collide with you but you kill him. You will then meet another one of your battalions, and follow them. While you do so, you will come across an M4A1 rifle. Several soldiers lying dead have M4A1 rifles. You will now throw a grenade. And then another one at the jeep ahead of you. You will now retreat and be hit by enemy fire, an enemy helicopter comes and ejects a missile behind you, and destroys one of the tanks that you’ve just followed.

    Now you’re moving into the building right in front of you. At this point, the game goes tactical. You meet with your comrades again, and see the news of New York being in shambles. You’re now in a broadcasting station. You go upstairs and enter a rubble’d building, you will now see helicopters moving through your eyes. You will now move into an office at the end, and you will see a breathtaking view of the Financial District with the american flag being held up. Once done with the area, you will go down the stairs.

    In the previous video, this part promts the “In an interest of time…” But not in this trailer. It lets you go down the stairs, once at the bottom of the stairs, your comrade tells you to throw a 9bang. When you do it, the bomb starts exploding as if it was a firework. However, once you start to check out the scenary, it gives the “In the interest of time…” again. You’re back on the ground of the Financial District. This time you sneak through and pick up an AK47 with a grenade launcher and a special scope. We don’t know yet what it’s called this time. You move, and you will come across another familiar weapon: The AT4. Now instead of going up the ladder, you’re going into the lobby of the Stock Exchange. You will come across an opportunity to reload your weapon. From here, you’re going into an elevator shaft. You’ve now reached the Stock Exchange. You will now engage in an intense battle in the Stock Exchange room. You’re now to go to the roof of Stock Exchange.

    Once you get to the second floor, you are going to use the scope to take out the remaining enemies in Stock Exchange. Once you finish, you will climb the ladder to meet the top of the Stock Exchange, from here, you see helicopters flying, with chaos ensuing all around you. You will now lounge your knife at an enemy and pick up an holographic P90. You will also come across a SPAS shotgun.

    Finally, you reach the next destination, where you’re to arm the communications tower. Once it’s torched, it falls. Boom!

    You battle against the enemies that lie in wait on rooftops, and afterwards, you’re going to be in an epic helicopter ride that ends with a frantic, an epic helicopter firefight, a series of them in fact. At this point the video ends with a helicopter hitting your helicopter, and your character is obviously pushed against the machine gun, and you see the helicopter crash and burn before your very eyes.

    How you like it so far!?

  • E32011: New MW3 Footage.

    E32011: New MW3 Footage.

    E32011 continues. More footage of Modern Warfare 3 has surfaced onto the internet. This footage is directly from the Modern Warfare 3 demo that’s being on exposition at E3 as we speak. You begin in the streets of New York in this demo, its kind-of hard to make out letters as most of the letters are “blurred” at the moment, because this what we have so far.

    Anyhow, you will be able to fight enemies from cars, from trucks, military jeeps, and you will be able to fight against a helicopter at some point. Once you’ve reached to a new point, you will have to go into a nearby building. This building looks to be a company headquarters. You will fight enemies in hiding, and you’ll also come across a view of the financial district, you’re across the street from that famous American flag building that is in the official trailer. From here the game skips the part with these “In the interest of time…” You’re now on the ground, it seems like you’re going to play a new character each time this happens. So, like MW2 before it, more than one protagonist is going to be a theme in MW3 in some chapters of the game. Unlike it, though is the frequency of the switches. This happened in the previous trailer that was shown during Microsoft’s presentation.

    Now, you going to go into a heated battle in financial district, this time, your job is to sneak up on your opponent – at least that’s what the demo showed. You’re going to pick up a weapon with a rocket launcher and a new type of scope. You’re now going to run to a ladder and battle it out in the rooftops of New York, this is where things get really crazy. At this point, you’re to battle through a lot of soldiers shielding this communications tower. Once the satellite is torched, you’re now going to battle enemies on other rooftop, at this point the Predator Missile returns to help you in battle.

    After a bit, you’re going to go into the helicopter! Whee! And you get to handle the machine gun, unlike Black Ops’ limited machine gun movement, you can move the gun all the way to the left or the right. You’re going to have a firefight against a few helicopters with each one of these helicopters shooting these missiles everywhere. Its crazy. In fact; Awesome. You’re going to be in a firefight with this particular helicopter like a boss battle, an epic one, at that. You don’t see many firefights like that; rotating around an unfinished building – shooting and stuff. I must say I like it. A lot. At some point though, the helicopter explodes and goes a-flying and hits you. Your character dies, but you get to see the destruction from his eye, as if he was watching his last 5 seconds of glory. This is where the trailer ends.

    One last thing, I looves the music. Epic. Fabulous. Fitting.

  • E32011: MW3 begins in New York.

    E32011: MW3 begins in New York.

    E3 has begun. Microsoft kicked off E3 with Robert Bowling taking the stage. Modern Warfare 3 begins as you plow through a broken bunker of sorts, underseas. All this beautiful water, mesmerizing! You’ll notice that Sledgehammer Games has added some of their talents to the scenery. You’re on top of a mobile submarine. You will converge onto cracks of rubbles befalling on you. Eventually, you’ll meet up with your buddies and …a huge submarine that’s about to be bombed by you. You wait, and then you look back, this same submarine starts to explode, and you climb to surface. You’re now in the midst of a War in New York. You will come back to this in a second. For now, you’re going inside the submarine that you’ve just exploded a moment ago. You drop into the hole, and you’re raring to go. Robert Bowling starts to shoot enemies on-sight. You’ll come across an AK47 on the ground, a P90 being dropped, and G18 being dropped, too. At some point you’ll come to a door in which you breach and clear a room, a MW2 mechanic. You’ll now hijack the submarine from going a specific direction, AND launch missilies to help your comrades in war. You’ll now escape the submarine. You will now be on the harbor.

    You’re now outside of the submarine, you’ll see New York again: Lots and lots of firefights taking place, lots of ships all over the place, buildings are in shambles. You’ll now be on a military raft specifically designed for these epic wars. You’ll even converge into the middle of a bunch of airstrikes dropping, air battles taking place, and in the midst of all of this action, you will find that you plow through two battleships. You will eventually battle a mobile ship. Your next destination is to follow your buddy, you will now enter a docking bay of sorts. Hm. Not sure, I could also see it being a freeway, but since its far away from the skyscrapers, I fail to see it being a freeway, so I’ll stick with docking bay. You will now converge into a gunship/heli. You will now see New York in full scale. The presentation ends here.

    I’ll find a video to show you exactly what I saw this morning! Stay tuned!

    Here is what I can find so far:

  • MW3 MythBusters

    MW3 MythBusters

    There’s a lot of information being mis-used over the last few weeks. Everyone is spreading mis-information, and rumors. These rumors have been rampant for a least a year or more. So, I’ve been collecting information for some time.

    Yo! Modern Warfare 3 is going to have vehicles!
    In the reveal world premiere trailer, vehicles are shown to be moving through terrain. A lot of people, myself included thought the game will allow you to drive a tank. But most of them thought the vehicles will be in multiplayer, too. Robert Bowling said most of the footage were from Single Player. He also denied vehicles being in multiplayer, as well. [source]

    Man, did you know that the reason why the Xbox 360 version of COD is better? Because Infinity Ward loves being in bed with Microsoft!
    Ah, fanboy wars. Well, Microsoft and Activision have been in bed for quite some time. Activision has been Microsoft’s biggest suppoirter via commercials and exclusive content. The trend continues with Modern Warfare 3, because its on Hulu and at the end you will see the Xbox 360 advert. For the longest time, Xbox 360 has been the lead development for most COD games, most notable of them would be starting from COD4 to World at War to Modern Warfare 2. But, on the flip coin Black Ops didn’t really have a lead platform, it was developed between two different teams to handle each version. However, many gamers say that the PS3 version of Black Ops is inferior to the Xbox 360 version. Robert Bowling said that there is no lead platform, both versions will be identical, the PC version is the one with “advantage.” [source]

    Did you know that we’re only going to fight in London and Manhattan? Its distasteful!
    Okay, people like you are the reason, why back in 2001, a scene was removed from MGS2 depicting a crash into Statue of Liberty. Now we have an epic-less ending. A genius must find it cool to call MW3 “distasteful” because of the inclusion of London. [source] Hold on for a second here, about 10 to 20 percent of the games released thus far has been in London, and you picked Modern Warfare 3 to be angry about? Okay. Moving on. In an interview, Robert Bowling said the game’s story will have a huge role, but you won’t just be battling in London or New York, you will also be fighting across England. [source]

    Dude, they’re just going to make Modern Warfare 3 shiner! Its probably going to be on a new engine to compete with Battlefield 3.
    In the beginning, everyone were saying that Infinity Ward needs to make a new engine from the ground up. But Robert responded on twitter that it would be counter productive. Robert have been very adamant that the engine is based on an pre-existing engine. There were more rumblings about the engine, and so a user asked if the engine is new or not, Robert responded saying that the engine goes one step above. Some people assumed it would be a new engine others thought he was lying that the engine hasn’t moved past the quake engine. MW3’s engine is built on the IW4 engine, which is a modified Quake engine. Its gone above: IW5. [article]

    Call of Duty Elite will be hacked to shreds. I mean, look at MW2, and World at War. I don’t even want to mention COD4, that’s an awesome game that doesn’t deserve the talents of these hackers.
    In recent months, Infinity Ward has been patching COD4 and MW2. But you do have real pressing concerns, because PlayStation has recently been hacked. It was a historic event that has sent shockwaves throughout the world. However, Chacko Sonny, a staff member at Beachhead Studios said that they hired a dedicated staff specifically designed for CODElite’s security. [source] The price is on premium security. [source] Because according to the article, the service will kill cheaters, and the community that infested cheating on Call of Duty. Two birds with one stone, if you will.

    Modern Warfare 3 has the shortest development time of any COD game to date.
    This is wrong according to an interview with Mr. Bowling. MW3 started development a short time before Modern Warfare 2 was released to retail, that’s roughly two years. [source]

    Meh. Halo Waypoint is better than Call of Duty Elite because is nothing but content, stats, and stupid stuff nobody cares about. Halo Waypoint is free for the same digital content.
    Ah. Fanboys again. CODElite is free to everyone, but some stuff such as in-game weapons, equipment, and items – has a price tag on them. Activision is not only open to traditional map packs for Elite, but also exclusive stuff only available in Elite. [source]

    Did you know that Activision is going to charge just for playing multiplayer in MW3?
    Ya know, this is the most popular speculation there is surrounding MW3. A lot of people thinks that just because CODElite is a subscription model, that MW3’s multiplayer is “pay to play.” This started when Bobby Kotick said that he wants to monetize Call of Duty because of how much time players spend in the game(s). [source] Everyone assumed that because Kotick wanted to exploit the market, everyone thought the new COD games will be pay to play. But time and time again, both Treyarch and Infinity Ward have been denying “pay to play” for multiplayer. And someone high up even stepped up to the plate to put the rumor to rest. Jamie Berger, the Vice President of digital said that gamers won’t have to pay for access to multiplayer. [source]

    Did you know you could use Call of Duty Elite for Black Ops?
    Actually, yeah. To test the market, CODElite will debut as beta during the summer, no date has been given. But the beta is only to receive testing results, and feedback from the general Call of Duty market. [source] To join the Call of Duty Elite beta this summer, you’ll have to sign up here.

    Any questions? Drop a comment below, or head over to CODForums.

  • Call of Duty Elite announced.

    Call of Duty Elite announced.

    I confirmed this yesterday, but the news was officially announced by Acitivision yesterday:

    Call of Duty Elite Will Unite and Ignite Gaming’s Largest Online Community
    Activision’s New Service Will Offer 30 Million Call of Duty Players Innovative Ways to Connect, Compete and Improve

    Will Launch With This Year’s Most Anticipated Release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on November 8, 2011

    May 31, 2011 – The world’s most passionate online gaming community can now connect, compete and improve their Call of Duty multiplayer experience through Activision’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) innovative new online service, Call of Duty Elite.

    Developed from the ground up by Activision’s new Beachhead studio, Call of Duty Elite offers cutting-edge features that significantly enhance the franchises’ multiplayer experience and deliver a new level of social engagement that will unite more than 30 million players worldwide. Additionally, the service will offer exclusive, high-production value, original entertainment programming designed exclusively for the Call of Duty community.

    “The average Call of Duty player spends 58 minutes per day playing multiplayer. That is more than the average Facebook user spends per day on Facebook. And yet, right now, there are very few tools to unite and super charge that social community,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “Whether it’s allowing you to connect with your friends, or people of a similar skill level, people who live in your city, people who share your favorite passions, join competitive clans or social groups, or upload, view and comment on the incredible mass of player-generated content, or watch and comment on exclusive created content, Call of Duty Elite will give people more ways to connect with fellow players than ever before. Elite will also allow players of every level to improve their game with an intuitive suite of tools, and compete in tournaments for both real and virtual prizes.”

    Call of Duty Elite will include several industry-first innovations, and is designed to reset the bar for what players can expect from a multiplayer experience for this year’s most anticipated game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Elite will offer two-way communication between the service and the game, so that the choices and decisions that players make in Elite through the mobile and web interfaces will affect their in-game experience. The service will be fully integrated into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and will launch alongside the game on November 8, 2011.

    Call of Duty Elite‘s features and services engage the community in three key ways:

    • Connect: Call of Duty Elite gives players unprecedented control over their multiplayer experience, transforming it into a true social network. Players can compete against friends, players of similar skill levels and players with similar interests, join groups, join clans, and play in organized tournaments. They can also track the performance, progress and activity of their entire network, both in the game itself, as well as through mobile and web interfaces. Elite will be an “always on” way for players to connect with the Call of Duty community.
    • Compete: Call of Duty Elite establishes the most exciting, competitive environment in a multiplayer game.  Players will have available a constant stream of events and competitions, tiered to group them with those with similar abilities. Both in-game and real-world prizes will be rewarded to all skill levels.
    • Improve: Call of Duty Elite is like having a personal online coach. It provides players with a dynamic strategy guide that tracks their statistics and performances down to the most minute details.  It can show gamers how they stack up against their friends or others in the community. Tools and information are provided so players can learn and up their game.

    Carrying forward to future Call of Duty games, Elite will chronicle a player’s gameplay history in a cohesive career record, keeping track of every kill, every game and progress.

    “Call of Duty Elite has been tailored for Call of Duty’s diverse base of players — hardcore gamers, casual weekend warriors and even beginners — and additional features will be revealed when we premiere Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer later this summer,” added Hirshberg. “Over 7 million gamers play Call of Duty online each day logging hundreds of hours of multiplayer per player per year.  Of course, the out of the box Call of Duty multiplayer experience that gamers have come to love and expect will continue as is.  However, for those players looking for more, Call of Duty Elite will supercharge their experience.”

    Many key features of Call of Duty Elite will be available to Call of Duty players free of charge. Additionally, for players who want to up their game, Call of Duty Elite will offer a premium membership with a wide range of state-of-the-art services, exclusive entertainment programming and all-inclusive game content for less than the cost of any comparable online entertainment service currently in the market.

    The service will be accessible on a number of platforms — via web browsers, mobile devices, through game consoles and within the game interface itself — so that players can connect with Call of Duty Elite whenever and wherever they want.

    Call of Duty Elite will launch this fall with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. However, to test the scale of the service, Activision will hold a public beta this summer for Elite with Call of Duty: Black Ops.

    Source: Activision Press Release

    To see the service in action, the official trailer released by Activision is below:

    I have been seeing a lot of mis-used information across the internet, I will write an article about all of these rumors, and I will try to debunk them. A lot of people seems to think that Call of Duty Elite is an pay to play service that constrains your multiplayer experience to a month to month basis payment, much like WoW. The service is just a digital distribution service for “extras.” Once again, I will do another article to talk about all of this.