Ugh…the new “season” of Modern Warfare 3 starts January 24th (for 360 owners at least). Maybe Infinity Ward can spend the offseason coming up with some marketing angles that aren’t ridiculously stupid and unrelated to the game in every way. Or better yet, maybe they can make a better game with simple and intuitive online leagues so that it actually makes sense to have a “season.”

Share/Save

“Someone just fell out of the sky and landed on a guy and ate him.” There’s really nothing more to say after that.

Share/Save

Maybe it doesn’t want to wantonly destroy everything that moves for the simple purpose of achieving a higher kill/death ratio and unlocking better stuff to kill with. Oh, who am I kidding? This is Modern Warfare 3, where you have perks, your guns have perks, and pretty soon the bullets will too! Remember the olden days when a player could jump into a deathmatch and not feel like he’d entered the introductory sewer levels of an RPG? Actually…if they start adding rodents of unusual size to Call of Duty, I might have to get back into the franchise.

Share/Save

What you see above is a trailer for Modern Warfare 3, the game that Sledgehammer helped to develop after the highly publicized mass exodus of Infinity Ward employees left that studio reeling in the midst of development. And for what it’s worth, the branching Point Streak concept sounds like a pretty cool development that will reward varying play styles, though the Specialist sounds a bit overpowered to me. But how have Sledgehammer’s redirected efforts affected the Third-Person Call of Duty Action-Adventure that they came to Activision to work on?

Well, according to a recent interview with studio head Glen Schofield, the studio will “probably cancel it.” Schofield says that “[Activision] gave us the choice of: Do you want to work on Modern Warfare 3 or do you want to continue working on this? And we really liked that. We liked what we were doing. It’s third person, probably set at a time that might have ‘niched’ it too much. I bet that if we had kept going, within a month or two, I probably would have switched the time period but kept the gameplay. It had some really cool stuff.”

I’m not entirely sure why they can’t just go back to it now and change the time period, or what time period they possibly could have been working with that would have been too “niche” with the Call of Duty name behind it, but it sounds like the studio that created Dead Space is moving on. Schofield goes on to say that the studio, now over 100 strong, will most likely work on its next project alone, as opposed to collaboratively with other Activision teams (which is becoming more and more common for that company). He also says that it’s up in the air whether that next project will be set in the CoD universe, though he does flatly state that “I plan to continue working on Call of Duty.” We can only hope that the studio’s creative talents are put to use on a game as imaginative as Dead Space.

Share/Save

Doin’ its thang.

Next-gen Call of Duty in the works at Treyarch?

Share/Save

If too many years of annual releases haven’t left you searching for a magic pill to reinvigorate your virtual bloodlust, then you might perk up at the thought of all the hot action above taking place between 32 players. According to sfx-360, the pussy’s out of the bag on Modern Warfare 3‘s biggest secret.

The site reports on a YouTube video (which has since been taken down) that was allegedly posted by someone who snuck into the upcoming Call of Duty XP event in L.A. This agent of espionage is said to have “gained access to the Xbox 360 systems they’re [Activision] using for the tournament.”

As you can see in the image above, the game seems to support up to 32 players on some maps and/or modes now. You can also see the game-type “Bomb,” a new entry to the series. Additionally, the video lists the game’s 13 competitive maps: Carbon, Coast, Dome, Exchange, Hardhat, Interchange, Lambeth, Meteora, Mogadishu, Paris, Plaza, Radar and Seatown.

Of course, we’ll have to wait until the actual Call of Duty XP event this weekend to find out for sure. But the screens from the video certainly look legit. If Modern Warfare 3 happens to be your particular fancy, then that should certainly be enough to get the ole blood pumping.

However, if you’re the type who just can’t lock yourself down to one familiar, predictable game, then you’ll be disappointed to know that Sledgehammer’s long-rumored Call of Duty Action-Adventure was put to rest a little prematurely. According to Sledgehammer’s Michael Condrey, they had put in about six months of work and even had a prototype to show for it before opting to go assist Infinity Ward with Modern Warfare 3 (after the great mass exodus of 2010). If you’re curious as to what sort of game they were working on, Condrey gives a hint when he says, “There are a lot of fans out there who enjoy games like Uncharted, so you can imagine that genre meeting a world-class franchise.”

Personally, if that was the direction they were taking, then it’s no hair off my back. I don’t really want to play a military-themed Uncharted. And how do those climbing mechanics make any sense for soldiers? And wait a minute…did he just imply that Uncharted isn’t a world-class franchise? This guy needs to stop taking those bloodlust pills and think with his head!

Share/Save

Okay, you might be a little confused by that headline. To be fair, the video above has nothing to do with it; that’s just a little sample of Modern Warfare 3‘s “Survival” mode. But onto the good stuff!

As you may know, former Arrested Development star Will Arnett (Gob Bluth) is a huge CoD fan. Apparently, his love for the series (and I’m assuming money has something to do with it too) has led him and former co-star Jason Bateman (Michael Bluth) into a deal with Activision to “create original video programming” that will be exclusive to the Call of Duty: Elite service. That’s the sort of thing that could make a person actually care about the premium service.

Share/Save

Yes, it looks fantastic for what it’s trying to do, but what it’s trying to do has been done for the past four years. I honestly don’t understand the hype for Battlefield 3 (well, besides the massive marketing budget).

I think I’d rather just watch the movies again than play any Lord of the Rings game, but I know at least one guy that’s looking forward to War in the North.

Once again, I don’t see how Spider-man: Edge of Time is a step forward from last year’s Shattered Dimensions, but it certainly doesn’t look bad.

Prototype 2 is looking pretty insane. Kind of makes me want to see an Akira game…TETSUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Share/Save

I’ll give you a hint: the movie’s called Moneyball. This well-known gaming personality is notorious for how much he loves money. The trailer starts at 0:48.

Okay, so you watched the trailer and you’re not quite sure who you were supposed to find. That’s okay. At least you got to see a trailer for what looks like a fairly entertaining movie. Now go back to the 1:00 mark and pause it. Play it from there and listen closely to the owner of the Oakland As’ voice. What you’re hearing right there, friends, is none other than Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.

Yeah…this hasn’t been officially confirmed, but it sure as hell looks and sounds like the man. Kotaku‘s Luke Plunkett seems to be convinced. Do you think Brad Pitt will make a cameo in Modern Warfare 3? Is your mind too blown right now to even comprehend how asinine that would be?

Share/Save

Pretty much what you’d expect–nothing more, nothing less. If you aren’t burnt out on the series’ standard gameplay by now and you still care what happens to the characters, then I’m sure Modern Warfare 3 will offer some of the most exciting set pieces in the business along the way. If you’re looking for something a little more fresh, then you might want to buy $60 worth of fruit while you wait for the FPS to pursue some new avenues. You might want to spread that $60 out over a few years, though.

Share/Save