Tag: beachhead studios

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.

I wrote an article investigating what exactly is Beachhead is doing; Is Call of Duty Elite an digital delivery service? In a word; affirmative. Its confirmed. However, the idea goes far beyond what we even imagined it would be. Because the service seems to provide more than just weapons, items, equipment, and possibly map packs; the service seems to deliver content. And when I say content, I mean articles that guides you from noob, to elite.

The service tracks how well you’re playing, and where your best moments are. On top of that, it gives you strategies on where to go, how to use the gun, and so on and on. The possibilities are endless. It gives game guides and expert players a run for their money. You can also compare your overall performance against allies and enemies alike.

There’s a group function that you can start a clan, a team and/or join a group. Your friends, your coworkers, your acquaintances, and whatnot can join this group with you however they like or up to your idea. If that’s not enough for you, there’s a theatre mode that allows you to record and upload your Call of Duty videos, you can edit, and share your video with facebook, twitter, and other sites. What’s more is that you can access any of these Elite features on any mobile device – tablets, smartphones, computers, etc.

And tournament fans are not going to be left out, because the service will have a feature a league of sorts – actual items will be at stake. You will be able to win prizes, however information regarding prizes are unknown. We’ll have to wait and see.

This will cost you a price tag if you want some of the features, and the first game to use the service will be Black Ops, it will be used for Black Ops, MW3, and beyond. Call of Duty Elite will be regularly updated. Stay tuned for more information as Activision unveils full details of Call of Duty Elite in the next 10 hours, as a press embargo is pressed on the members of the games media. However, there’s a leak making rounds on youtube:

If you want an high quality, high definition version, here it is:

Well, see you at 9am or later.