PlayStation LifeStyle » Call of Duty

Call of Duty on PS Vita a “Game Changer,” Due This Fall

Heath Hindman — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:46:54 +0000

It was recently revealed that the Vita would be getting support from some huge franchises, popular shooter Call of Duty being among them. In an interview with GameTrailers.com, Senior Vice President of PlayStation Brand Marketing Guy Longworth dropped an interesting news bit for series fans, saying that Vita’s first Call is currently expected to arrive this fall. They should call it Fall of Duty. And that right there is why I’m not the Senior Vice President of PlayStation Brand Marketing.

Naturally, as it’s the man’s job to point out the positives and create some hype, he has high expectations, calling the upcoming title a real “game-changer.” Whether he just means a fun game or he’s actually alluding to some Vita-specific features spicing things up was sadly not specified.

We’ve seen all kinds of innovations come from the Vita, as the machine already houses — and enhances — beloved franchises like Lumines, Uncharted, Katamari Damacy, and WipEout. It’s done all that in its first couple of months of existence, so it certainly has potential for big things in the future. What do you think things like augmented reality, the rear touch pad, and other Vita features could do for Call of Duty?

New Rumors Point Towards Next CoD Being Black Ops 2

Tony Wibowo — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:32:20 +0000

With the first Black Ops breaking all kinds of sales records (later broken by MW3), it’s no surprise that yet another Black Ops is probably in development. But if looking at Activision’s track history at repeatedly reiterating a sales hit wasn’t enough, new rumors also point to a 2012 release of BO2.

Gameblog.fr reports that Amazon France published a page on their website about the existence of Black Ops 2, which was then quickly removed. After reporting about the post, Amazon France ordered the site to take down the story. A little later, Joystiq also noticed Call of Duty: Black Ops on a developer’s LinkedIn, further solidifying rumors that kicked off after Activision registered the domain blackops2.com a few weeks ago.

If the past is anything to go by, expect CoD: BO to release this November – to record sales.

Modern Warfare 3 Development Team Hiring for Unannounced Title

Jonathan Leack — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:38:16 +0000

Following the collapse of Infinity Ward, which wasn’t too long ago, a new development team was born. Named Sledgehammer Games, the team was constructed specifically to follow in Infinity Ward’s footsteps, a team that produced four extremely well-received Call of Duty titles. Now that they’ve released their first title with success, it appears that they might be looking to expand their portfolio.

Sledgehammer Games is currently hiring a Senior Online Engineer. The recruitment post on Gamasutra states:

We are actively recruiting top talent for our Call of Duty development team.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 just came out last month, and given that Treyarch is currently producing the next Call of Duty, which will come out in roughly a year, it’s unlikely that an Online Engineer would be required for anything outside of maintenance including patches and Call of Duty Elite work. This leads me to believe that they’re working on another title outside of the next Modern Warfare, especially with a team size of well over 100 members.

If this is true, the possibilities are limited. Activision is very careful with funding, and is primarily concerned with high profitability. As a result, it’s either something that will be familiar, or yet another Call of Duty title that’s beginning production early. Whatever the case, we probably won’t find out until a few months into 2012.

What do you think Sledgehammer Games is working on? Is it just another Call of Duty release? Share your response in the comments below.

Call of Duty Elite Facing Server Issues

Tony Wibowo — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:47:57 +0000

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is arguably the year’s most anticipated game, and is expected to break sales record set by Call of Duty: Black Ops last year. Along with MW3, Activision has introduced Call of Duty Elite, a combination of free and paid stats tracking system, but many who tried to sign up for the service today were greeted with an error. Servers stress from high demand has been blamed for the trouble.

Today, Beachhead Studios’ Chacko Sonny released a statement regarding the situation on behalf of Activision:

Registration requests for our new live service Call of Duty Elite are exceeding even our most optimistic expectations, which is creating a bottleneck and some players have not been able to register. We have already registered hundreds of thousands of players and we are working around the clock to increase our capacity as quickly as possible.

Sonny also said that players will not lose any of their stats during the downtime:

Please be assured your gameplay data is safe and that whenever you successfully register for Call of Duty Elite, all of your data will be waiting for you. So enjoy the game, start ranking up and we assure you we are working around the clock to accommodate every player who wants to be a part of Call of Duty Elite as quickly as possible. We will update you frequently to keep you informed.

Have you experienced any problems? Let us know in the comments below.

Modern Warfare 3 Gets Its Own Live Action Trailer

Tony Wibowo — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:41:06 +0000

Hot off the heels of Battlefield 3‘s live action trailer, Modern Warfare 3 gets one of its own. Activision did not mess around by getting some unknown actors, instead it splashed the cash on big-name actors such as Sam Worthington and Jonah Hill, while Dwight Howard featured as a cameo at the end of the 90-second trailer.

The trailer is titled “The Vet & The N00b” and it shows how a veteran soldier teaches a “n00b” soldier to be like him, with obvious real-world parallels.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What do you guys think about the trailer? Do you ALSO think Jonah Hill looks weird?

Engage In Modern Warfare For a Deal

Josh Fernandes — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:42:16 +0000

We’re less than a month away from the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 and there are millions of gamers who can’t wait. EA and Activision have waged a verbal war over which game is the ultimate shooter and deserving of the consumers’ cold, hard cash. Gamers strapped for dough and having a hard time choosing can head over the Newegg to save a little money and might be able to afford both games.

In addition to the recently revealed offer on Battlefield 3, Newegg is offering to drop the price of pre-orders of Modern Warfare 3 to $47.99. The discounted price will appear when customers enter the promotion code EMCYTZT832 at the checkout screen. Shipping is free, but take note that it’s three-day shipping. With so many games coming out this Fall, gamers need to save as much money as they can. So, don’t worry about having to sell your brother’s games or getting a job cleaning bathrooms; you can save money just by buying either or the two above shooters here.

Modern Warfare 3 Emphasizes Story, and Aims to do it Better than Battlefield

Jonathan Leack — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 01:14:11 +0000

The first-person shooter genre has been filled to the brim with an array of titles this generation, many of which fight to differentiate themselves to stand out from the pack. The Call of Duty has been the best-selling in the genre, while offering little in the way of difference, but has routinely delivered a polished experience that leaves consumers satisfied. However, the series’ campaign modes have a history of not only being confusing, but redundant as well. With Modern Warfare 3 on the horizon, will it continue this disappointing trend? Its development team doesn’t think so.

Sledgehammer Games General Manager Glen Schofield had a lot to say during his latest interview with CVG, much of which shared his team’s desire to deliver a captivating single-player campaign. When speaking about what makes Modern Warfare 3‘s campaign better than previous releases, Schofield stated:

We spent a lot of time on it, there’s some great stuff in there, the character development, some great dialogue. That’s not innovative in itself but I think it’s new for the series.

He continued:

Basically, we sat down, talked to each other and one of the things we came out and said was: ‘We want to tell a story. We want to tell a good story, we don’t want it to be confusing, I want to know who I’m playing.

Schofield shared some interesting thoughts on how the Call of Duty has compared to others on the market, namely EA’s rivaling Battlefield series. He thinks consumers prefer the Call of Duty campaigns, and said the following:

I don’t know if we have scientific data, but I know that people have talked to me about it and have said it’s pretty 50/50. One of the big differences is that we had numbers at EA… like 50 percent of the people that played a game, you know, went to level three, but finishing the game, like ten percent. One of the things I heard with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is that when people start playing single-player they’ll finish it. I think this is sort of a testament to the good ramp in gameplay and the excitement of continuing.

Not many people purchase these games for the single-player experience, but the additional content is always welcomed. This year, Battlefield 3 will even treat players with the option to play through the entire campaign with a friend, making what could be a memorable experience even better. Surprisingly, Call of Duty won’t follow suit, and instead will return to the Spec Ops content we saw in Modern Warfare 2. Nonetheless, both development teams have been pouring resources into making their story as powerful as possible, and even though many buyers won’t start up the campaign, what is there has taken lots of effort to engineer.

Pachter: GTA Won’t Maintain Position as Biggest Mainstream Franchise

Zak Islam — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 08:44:18 +0000

Grand Theft Auto is arguably the biggest mainstream franchise in gaming, but with Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops outselling GTA IV and the franchise raking in billions, its position is in jeopardy. Analyst Michael Pachter believes that, with the Call of Duty series receiving such success (especially with a yearly installment), Rockstar’s GTA IP will lose its place as the biggest mainstream franchise in the market.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter confidently told IndustryGamers:

Call of Duty is bigger, and GTA will not maintain its position as the world’s biggest mainstream franchise.

Pachter then said:

Eventually, Call of Duty may suffer from fatigue, and GTA could keep chugging along, but it will be 8 years before we can make that call.

The yet to be announced Grand Theft Auto V is largely believed to see a release in 2012. Analysts predict that the game will launch in late 2012 at the very earliest, and it’s hard to argue with that as it’s difficult to see Rockstar releasing the game near Max Payne 3‘s scheduled March, 2012 launch.

EA Says Battlefield 3 Has No Chance Against Modern Warfare 3′s Popularity

Jonathan Leack — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:08:18 +0000

The Call of Duty and Battlefield series have been competing for years now, but this year is different. The upcoming Modern Warfare 3 has been the target of skepticism, while Battlefield 3 has been garnering unprecedented pre-release attention. This extremely apparent behavior would make you think that EA has the upper hand this year, but you’ll be surprised what corporate has to say.

During a recent investor’s meeting, EA Chief Financial Officer, Eric Brown, shared some uncharacteristic uncertainty in Battlefield 3‘s ability to compete with the Call of Duty series.

Just to be clear, the [Call of Duty] franchise did about 23 million units worldwide. We don’t expect to surpass them with this year’s Battlefield 3, just to be very clear.

He has a good point in that during this day and age it’s just about impossible to sell better than Call of Duty, but the tides can change. Brand name is in Call of Duty‘s favor, but the entertainment value of each can play a big factor when word of mouth comes into play. Also, Battlefield 3 releases two weeks sooner, so EA has some time before the multi-million dollar advertising campaign appears for Modern Warfare 3.

If you’re planning to pick up either of these titles, share which one you have your eyes on in the comments below.

[Source]

New HD Modern Warfare 3 Images Awaken Reminiscence

Jonathan Leack — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 21:24:29 +0000

Up until now, all we’ve seen from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are flashy trailers and a couple of obscure screenshots. Activision is finally beginning to release some media in an attempt to combat the overwhelming hype for Battlefield 3, and today we have several gameplay screenshots to show for it.

Check out the five latest Modern Warfare 3 screenshots below:

As we detailed in our E3 Impressions article, the game looks and feels identical to both previous releases by Infinity Ward: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, both of which received a hefty amount of praise. The guns above include the increasingly popular ACR, a modified M4A1, akimbo Desert Eagles, and what appears to be the return of the Model 1887 shotgun which plenty of people are still having nightmares about, but don’t fret, Activision has done away with the Commando perk… for now.

Activision has just announced the pricing and features which will be available for the world’s first first-person shooter subscription model: Call of Duty Elite. Be sure to read about it and comment on how you feel about this major development in gaming.

EA Plans to Give Call of Duty Serious “Competition for the First Time”

Alex Osborn — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:30:57 +0000

EA sure knows how to build attention for their game. By essentially declaring war on the most popular franchise in the industry, the studio has captured the attention of the entire gaming community. It looks like EA’s Labels boss Frank Gibeau is at it again, this time claiming the reason that the Call of Duty franchise has found so much success over the past few years is due to a lack of competition.

We don’t take things lightly. If we’re going to go after a category, we intend to lead. We have a very big competitor there but they’re going to get some competition this Christmas for the first time in a long time.
We’re all in. We’re going for it. How you measure victory, I don’t know. What I’m curious about is how the game is going to finish from a quality standpoint – I think it’s going to be great.

He went on to further hammer the point, explicitly stating that Battlefield aims to take down the Call of Duty franchise by chipping away at its audience.

We’re going to take share from them and I think we’re going to grow the business significantly. We’re going to give them competition for the first time that they haven’t had.
We like to think that we’ve got a pretty powerful game offer with the technology base that is brand new, next generation and should set new standards for what happens in FPS. We’re excited about and we’re really proud of the Battlefield 3 game. It’s coming together very well and the quality and technology is something that you can just see on screen. The DICE guys have the pedigree of building some spectacular games.
This Christmas we’re definitely going to take market share in the FPS category from those guys. Customers like competition, they like these kind of heavyweight fights so we’re going for it.

Well there you have it. EA is throwing down the gauntlet. Activision, consider yourself warned.

[Source]

Black Ops Successfully Produces Over 18 Million Sales of Overpriced Map Packs

Jonathan Leack — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:31:27 +0000

Since its inception, the development of downloadable content has been a mixed bag for the gaming industry. While consumers are enjoying additional content for many of their favorite games in ways that previous generations were unable to provide, publishers are finding tricky ways of using it as a way to generate significant additional revenue without much effort, with some even referring to it as ‘milking’. The Call of Duty series has been arguably the most controversial due to the extraordinarily high price point of its DLC, and it isn’t uncommon to see a pack of less than half a dozen maps fetch $14.99 on the PlayStation Store. A vocal few have protested against this trend, but numbers show that they aren’t having much impact.

The latest official numbers released from Activision reveal that Call of Duty: Black Ops, last year’s holiday blockbuster, has already accrued more than 18 million sales of DLC alone. It’s only been around nine months since it debuted, so the numbers will continue to grow leading into 2012, and given the pricey and profitable nature of Call of Duty DLC, this will be sure to cause other publishers to follow suit. Not only has Black Ops been able to completely overshadow other releases in the past year in terms of sales, but its DLC has generated over $270 million by itself, a number that a great number of retail titles only dream of achieving.

How do you feel about DLC and the trends we’ve seen with it this generation? Share your thoughts, concerns, and experiences in the comments below.

[Source]

Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition Details Captured

Josh Lewis — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:13:50 +0000

It was previously announced that attendees of the Call of Duty XP event would receive a voucher for the Hardened Edition of the game when it launches on November 8. However, until now people have had no idea what extra goodies would be included. A European advertisement has been leaked revealing the extra content. You can check out the photo below:

Based on the advertisement that has been leaked, the Hardened Edition includes:

The package will also entail content that is exclusive to each platform, with the PS3 version including an animated timeline theme. It appears that the cat has been let out of the proverbial bag, but look forward to an official announcement during the Call of Duty XP event which takes place starting September 2nd.

[Source]

PS3′s Aging Hardware is Limiting Call of Duty Says Sledgehammer CEO

Jonathan Leack — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:26:58 +0000

The Call of Duty series may be the best selling franchise in recent times, but plenty of gamers reckon that it hasn’t changed much over the past few releases. Many are quick to say that it’s the fault of the developer, but it appears that the developer is blaming the hardware.

Glen Shofield, CEO of Sledgehammer Games, had a lot to say to GameTrailers about the development of the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and among them were his concerns of current-generation console hardware limiting its potential. During a face-to-face interview this week, Glen stated:

We have so many ideas that don’t get into the game.

He continued:

Some things are just too big for the consoles that we have right now. We always want to throw in one more tank in there or 10 more different types of enemies. There’s a lot more that we can add but we have a long way to go.

The PlayStation 3 released nearly five years ago, and in that time technology has improved substantially. In terms of graphics processing alone, the PS3 is using architecture that is now four series behind what is globally available on the market for a reasonable price. Sony argues that a successor to the PS3 won’t be revealed until the PS3′s power has been fully utilized, but several developers are already having to make compromises to release a product that has stable frame-rate. Heck, even Sony recently surrendered after a four-year battle of trying to implement Cross Game Chat, ditching the idea and throwing it onto the upcoming Vita instead. Whether it be the HD DVD format of the Xbox 360, or the 256mb of system memory on the PS3, current consoles are becoming more of a challenge as time goes on and development teams have larger visions for their product.

Would a new PlayStation console really be the correct move right now, and more specifically, would it allow the Call of Duty series to evolve? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation DLC Dated For PS3, PC

Sebastian Moss — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:07:53 +0000

Love it or hate it, Call of Duty: Black Ops is the biggest game on PS3, having drawn in millions of players in record time and fans having put in “billions of hours” of playtime across the game’s various map packs. While Microsoft may have secured a timed exclusivity deal for CoD DLC, PS3 owners will finally be able to get their hands on the latest DLC, with Activision announcing Annihilation‘s release date.

The third DLC for Black Ops, Annihilation features four new multiplayer maps – Silo, Hangar 18, Drive-In and Hazard, as well as the Zombie map Shangri-La.

Mark Lamia, Treyarch Studio Head, said:

With Annihilation,the team at Treyarch and Activision has shown its continued commitment to bringing new and unique content to our fans.
Players are getting four of the best multiplayer maps to date with Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo and Hazard. They also get a brand new dose of thrills in Shangri-La, our latest Zombies offering, packed with deadly traps and dark secrets buried within the shifting walls of an ancient and mysterious temple.

Annihilation will be released on the PS3 and PC on July 28th and the weekend that follows will offer all players double XP to celebrate and promote the map pack.