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Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack Coming June 3rd

On 05.13.10, In Video Games, By AC Slater

And just like that we have another 5 "new' maps coming to Modern Warfare 2 on June 3rd in the form of the Resurgence Pack. And that's really all we know at this point. There's been no word on whether it will be all new maps or a combination of old and new like the Stimulus Pack was, all we know is that it will come out on June 3rd. We're not even sure if this will be Xbox exclusive to start like the last one or if all consoles/PC will get it right away. We also know that there will be two double XP weekends surrounding the launch of the map pack, the first one being the weekend of May 28th and then June 4th.

We'll keep you posted when we get more details, like what maps they are and what the price point will be.

UPDATE: Here are the details of the new maps, and again it's 3 new maps and 2 from CoD4 and yes the price point will be $15.

Vacant -- the wide open Russian office complex from CoD4

Strike -- the urban town surrounded by hotels from CoD4

Carnival -- an abandoned carnival area with a Ferris wheel, fun house and other attractions

Trailer Park -- full of "super tight corridors" and featuring a pool ("Mobile Estates," Bowling calls it)

Fuel -- a "sniper haven" based in and around an oil refinery

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Playstation 3 2009
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US $30.00

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 2009
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US $15.50

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 game SKIN 6 for Xbox 360
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US $9.95

The End of Call of Duty As We Know It

On 04.29.10, In Video Games, By AC Slater

I'm sure you're all aware of the lawsuits between Infinity Ward and Activision these days regarding unpaid royalties for Modern Warfare 2, but did you know that it could lead to the demise of Infinity Ward as we know it? According to some analyst named Mike Hickley, he believes that once the next map pack for Modern Warfare 2 is completed by Infinity Ward, Activision will absorb the studio into them and spread the work on Modern Warfare 3 between other studios that haven't had anything to do with the Call of Duty franchise. Of course we'll still see the usual sub-par entries into the series from Treyarch (sorry guys, decent games but they don't live up to the quality of the IW ones), as well as Sledgehammer's "innovative take" on the Call of Duty series (possible MMO?).

So basically the Call of Duty series is never going to be the same. Now I won't say that it's going to suck balls, but it will definitely be different. Treyarch will still push out their release this fall so Activision can pad their pockets a little more, but I wouldn't expect Infinity Ward to put in significant work on Modern Warfare 3. And I'm sure there are some of you out there that would be happy to see another studio take the reigns, based on the amount of ridiculous complaints you guys have with the game.

What I'm hoping will happen with all of this is that Infinity Ward will be closed by Activision and hopefully most of the team will move over to "Respawn" which was created by the 2 former heads of Infinity Ward, and Respawn will release a first person shooter that makes you wonder how you ever played the call of duty games, which in turn will absolutely crush Activision's profits from Call of Duty, which is one of their biggest money makers. I think the future of gaming is going to be downloadable games, you see it right now with Microsoft putting older games up for download on their Xbox Live Marketplace, and with that will come a way for smaller studios to release their own games without the help of a publisher. Of course it won't be easy and there's still going to have to be investors involved for marketing, etc, but publishing companies like Activision will not hold the reigns of these developers anymore.... or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part, but look at Apple's App Store and the boom it's given to smaller developers. Anyone can code a decent game and make big money, can you imagine if a gaming company like Respawn released a ridiculous FPS on their own? They would probably stand to make a huge amount of money. Look at Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, he dropped the record label and now gives away his music for free, only charging for special editions and he still makes quite a bit of money.

Now I understand that this method is ok for already established artists who have a following to support them, but I really think things are changing and the entertainment industry tycoons are going to lose their grip on artists whether it be music or video games, or anything really. But I guess the point of this post is that I kind of hope that the news of Activision closing Infinity Ward is true, if only to send shockwaves through the gaming community and make people hate Activision even more. It does suck for all those directly involved, so I hope that Respawn tries to snatch up their old team if they can, but ultimately I think it will be for the best. The only concern is that most people don't read all this crap on the internet or even know what studio is releasing a video game. I bet you can ask 100 people if they knew that half the Call of Duty games were developed by a totally different group of people and they would have no clue what you're talking about. But I guess for now we'll just have to wait and see how this all plays out. Hopefully all this controversy also causes Activision to price the 2nd Map Pack around the $10 mark instead of $15...

source: World of Tech and Gaming

Tagged with: activision • infinity ward • lawsuit • map pack • respawn

Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Pack Breaks Records

On 04.08.10, In Video Games, By AC Slater

Looks like all those complaints and boycotts did a lot of good in sending a message to Activision regarding the pricing of the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Pack.... Not really. The $15 map pack that everyone was bitching about went on to sell 1 million copies in it's first 24 hours and 2.5 million in it's first week. This could work one of two ways, either Activision decides that since so many copies of the first map pack were sold they will lower the price of a subsequent map pack as a thank you, or the more likely situation, they see that people are willing to pay $15 for 5 maps and keep that has the standard pricing from now on (which is what people boycotting this are afraid of).

Like I said before, I don't think $15 is too high for 5 maps, would I have liked to pay $10 instead, of course, but I paid $10 for 3 maps in Call of Duty: World at War... twice, so I don't feel very cheated here considering the number hours I have already put into the new maps.

Tagged with: activision • dlc • infinity ward • modern warfare 2 • mw2 • stimulus pack

Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package Launch Experiencing Problems

On 03.30.10, In Video Games, By AC Slater

It only seems fitting that after all of the controversy and backlash regarding the pricing of the new Modern Warfare 2 DLC, there would be issues with the download this morning. I also find it very amusing that almost everyone immediately pointed the finger at Infinity Ward. The fact of the matter is that the problem you guys are experiencing this morning is a MICROSOFT issue, it has nothing to do with Infinity Ward. Microsoft was supposed to push out a title update to Modern Warfare 2 this morning to coincide with the release of the Map Pack, but they some how messed it up. Something didn't get pushed out the way it was supposed to and since the title update added support for the new maps to MW2, you can't play it.

So in actuality all the fingers people are pointing at Infinity Ward regarding the Stimulus Pack should be pointed elsewhere. The price point that everyone has been bitching about is most likely Activision's call, not Infinity Ward and the botched launch this morning is a Microsoft issue. Now those of you that have a problem with glitches, balancing and whatever other problems with the actual gameplay itself, that is Infinity Ward, but don't be so quick to point fingers on everything MW2 related when you're not aware of the circumstances behind them. If you want constant updates on the status of this issue follow @MajorNelson on Twitter.

Either way I will still be downloading the map pack when I get home today and will continue to support Infinity Ward.

Update: The title update issues are now fixed and it is now rolling out to everyone. If you can't get it yet, Major Nelson says it will be available in all areas shortly.

Update 2: It appears that there are now some issues in the Xbox Live Matchmaking which is causing it to be nearly impossible to get into a game... strike 2 for MS and Xbox Live? At this rate the Stimulus Pack will come out on PS3 and PC before anyone on Xbox gets the "exclusive".

Update 3: Everything is back to normal.

Tagged with: dlc • infinity ward • map pack • microsoft • modern warfare 2 • mw2 • problems • stimulus pack

Call of Duty: Black Ops?

On 03.29.10, In Video Games, By AC Slater

Could this be the title of the new entry in the Call of Duty series? Various websites are reporting these latest rumors for the Treyarch developed game. If you're a fan of the Call of Duty series you would know that since Call of Duty 3 Infinity Ward and Treyarch have switched off in the development process essentially giving each studio a 2 year development calendar, but still giving Activision a CoD game to release each year. Infinity Ward was the developer behind Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 where Treyarch has developed Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War. This latest entry, Call of Duty: Black Ops, is rumored to take place between World War II and present day, meaning that we will travel all over the world and fight battles throughout history and could be a "Cold War-era" based game.

This isn't the first rumor surrounding the next installment in the series, earlier this year there were rumors of a Vietnam based game which would still give us that nostalgic feeling that Treyarch has always given us, but without a World War II setting which I think everyone is just about sick of (or at least I am).

I will be honest, I've never been a huge fan of the Treyarch developed Call of Duty games. I thought Call of Duty 3 was a huge disappointment coming from the amazing CoD2. And then when Infinity Ward gave us Call of Duty 4 the bar was raised even higher. Although I will say that World at War wasn't nearly as bad as CoD3 was. I actually played through the entire single player and then stuck with the multiplayer for a good amount of time after getting sick of CoD4. But again, when Modern Warfare 2 came out I completely dropped World at War, even going so far as to sell it on eBay, so I'm still a little skeptical when we are on"Treyarch Years". But we'll see, I really just want something different, I feel like we've been fighting World War II for longer than the actual war lasted... time to move on.

So again, these are all just rumors nothing official has been announced so take it with a grain of salt. The only thing that is official is that we will get another Call of Duty game this Fall and it will be developed by Treyarch.

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