A couple of months ago, we learned that Raven Software lead designer Michael Gummelt had worked on a live service Call Of Duty zombies game before it got cancelled. Details were practically non-existent at the time, but YouTuber Glitching Queen recently interviewed Gummelt about what the game could've become. Fun surprises: It would've been a free-to-play live service game featuring coliseum battles. Unsurprises: microtransactions, seasons, general background shenanigans between Treyarch and Raven.
]]>I've always been convinced there's a way to speed up a multiplayer matchmaking system that's appeared to stall. Back in the Xbox 360 era, my friends and I held the X button one time and miraculously found a game in Gears Of War, having waited for ages. We grew superstitious. Later in our Call Of Duty sessions we'd hit matchmaking with reverse psychological techniques, saying stuff like "I bet we WON'T find a match", to in fact, find a match. Well, thanks to an official COD blog post, my heady beliefs have been hit with the equivalent of a precision air strike. Matchmaking cannot be gamed. It is all-seeing and all, sadly, science.
]]>Videos of a cancelled Call Of Duty game from the early 2000s have surfaced on Xwitter, with the name "NX1". In the footage, you see classic CODisms like explosions and a first-person view of a character wearily making their way through a disaster. While the accounts sharing the videos are anonymous, a former Neversoft developer has stepped in to authenticate them and share a few details about the project, a "futuristic CoD game" that was in the works prior to the development of 2013's Call of Duty: Ghosts.
]]>First reported by MP1st, Raven Software lead designer Michael Gummelt mentioned a couple of cancelled projects on his Linkedin page. One was a live service version of Call Of Duty's zombies mode, and the other, a revival of a classic Raven IP. I'm not sad about one and I'm mildly sad over the other, with the mystery not being too hard to solve.
]]>In an attempt to appease the UK’s Competition And Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft have restructured their proposed Activision Blizzard buyout. Should the deal finally close, cloud streaming rights to existing and future Activision Blizzard games released over the next 15 years will (surprisingly) fall under Ubisoft’s control. Those rights will then stay with Ubisoft “in perpetuity.”
]]>The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have lost their fight to block Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition in court. The legal proceedings led to juicy behind-the-scenes details about revenue shares, blockbuster budgets, and other potential acquisitions. But after listening to five days worth of testimonies, Judge Corley has decided to rule in Microsoft’s favour, allowing the company to close its $70 billion acquisition.
]]>Five days of verbal jousting and juicy internal documents later, the court battle between the US Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft is over. The FTC have worked to prevent Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard in court, and now the overseeing Judge will look back on the proceedings to make their final decision in the next few days.
]]>Microsoft’s proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard just received some good news. The European Commission have today approved the $70 billion acquisition, saying that Microsoft’s commitments “represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming.” That’s a markedly different tone to the UK’s conclusion last month, as the British regulator blocked the acquisition over concerns about the cloud market’s future.
]]>Yesterday, the US Department Of Justice filed a civil suit against Activision Blizzard, accusing the publisher’s Competitive Balance Tax of capping esports players’ wages and penalising Overwatch and Call Of Duty league teams if they exceeded the salary cap.
]]>Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is likely to be approved by EU regulators, according to a report by Reuters. Three people "familiar with the matter" have apparently said that the offer of licensing deals to rivals, such as Nintendo, Nvidia and Sony, have succeeded in addressing EU antitrust concerns.
]]>The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have released their provisional findings on Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition, laying out their concerns with the $69 billion deal. The CMA say the buyout “could result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers.” Since these concerns are provisional, both parties will have a chance to respond before the CMA makes its final decision on April 26th. Both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard believe the deal will encourage competition in the gaming space, rather than hinder it.
]]>Original story: A new week means one thing: another update on Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to a report from The New York Times, Microsoft is expecting the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to oppose the deal, after EU regulators issued their own antitrust warnings last week. Microsoft reportedly believes it can convince EU and UK regulators to accept their concessions and eventually approve the acquisition.
]]>Microsoft and Sony have been in a months-long back-and-forth over Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition and the issue of Call Of Duty exclusivity, and they’re not done yet. In a series of tweets published last Friday, Microsoft’s chief communications officer Frank X. Shaw said Sony were “briefing people in Brussels claiming Microsoft is unwilling to offer them parity for Call of Duty if we acquire Activision," but added that “Nothing could be further from the truth.” I would have thought that a legal venue would be a more appropriate place to air these grievances, but I suppose this gets the job done quicker. Either way, it’s a toffee popcorn-worthy accusation in the ongoing drama.
]]>Microsoft were hoping to complete their takeover of Activision Blizzard by the end of their financial year in June. That’s looking less likely now that the US Federal Trade Commission have published a schedule that sets dates for final hearings to decide on the merger, and they're going to begin on August 2nd. As this is just the kick off for hearings about the case, it’s likely that any FTC decision on whether the $68.7 billion (£56 billion) deal can go ahead will take some time to emerge.
]]>Two weeks ago, after much hoo hah, the Federal Trade Commision launched a lawsuit with the aim of blocking Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Yesterday, a bunch of CoD players did the same.
The private consumer complaint from the 10 #gamers claims the deal would give Microsoft "far-outsized market power in the video game industry". Power to 'em. Power to the gamers.
]]>Microsoft's proposed buyout of Activision-Blizzard is currently being scrutinized by competition regulators in various countries, but despite previous (and existing) objections the American Federal Trade Commision now looks likely to approve the deal. The news comes from the New York Post, who quote former FTC chairman William Kovacic as saying the deal is 70% likely to proceed.
There's a web of politics involved, but the short version is that insider sources say Microsoft have won over another member of the four person FTC panel, meaning any vote on whether to launch a lawsuit would result in an even split that would effectively OK the deal. That would reduce current FTC Chair Lina Khan's authority over the body, so to avoid that she might just let Microsoft have at it.
]]>Microsoft might consider offering Sony a 10-year licensing deal for Call Of Duty to persuade European Union regulators to approve their Activision Blizzard acquisition. Reuters report that sources familiar with the deal claim an offer could come ahead of the European Commission’s January deadline for their statement of objection, a formal list of the body’s concerns about how the $68.7 billion (£57 billion) buyout deal might affect competition within the games industry. If Microsoft show willingness to offer concessions and ease the EU regulator’s competition concerns, that could potentially speed up the regulator’s decision-making process.
]]>Activision Blizzard executive vice-president for corporate affairs Lulu Cheng Meservey has tweeted that the company “won't hesitate to fight to defend” Microsoft’s $68.7 billion (£57 billion) buyout of the publisher. The comment came after reports began circulating that the US Federal Trade Commission could bring a lawsuit against Microsoft over the deal. Anonymous sources claiming to be close to the matter also suggested that a lawsuit from the FTC might begin as early as December.
]]>The United States’ consumer watchdogs, the Federal Trade Commission, are considering filing a lawsuit against Microsoft over the company’s proposed $68.7 billion (£57 billion) buyout of Activision Blizzard. US newspaper Politico report that three anonymous sources with knowledge of the potential antitrust lawsuit have claimed it could happen in December, although any such lawsuit isn't guaranteed. The four FTC commissioners haven’t voted to decide on a complaint yet, and haven’t met with Microsoft or Activision Blizzard lawyers, two of the sources said.
]]>The EU’s business competition regulators are deepening their investigation into Microsoft’s planned $68.7 billion (£60 billion) deal to acquire Call Of Duty and Overwatch publisher Activision Blizzard. The intention to conduct an in-depth investigation was announced in a statement on the European Commission’s website, and will focus on how the deal will affect console and PC games, along with PC operating systems. This means that both the EU and UK are now holding further investigations into the potential buyout of Activision Blizzard due to concerns that Microsoft’s acquisition of the company could reduce competition within the games industry.
]]>CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer spoke about the possibility of price increases for consoles, games and Game Pass at the Wall Street Journal's annual Tech Live conference (thanks to The Verge for transcribing.) "We've held price on our console, we've held price on games and our subscription. I don't think we'll be able to do that forever," Spencer admits. "I do think at some point we'll have to raise some prices on certain things." He was quick to point out, though, that these changes wouldn't come into effect this holiday season, as Microsoft wants to "maintain the prices that we have."
]]>A new blog post detailing Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s Ricochet anti-cheat strategy has revealed that only PC players will be asked to register a phone number before they can play the game. This is different from the blanket phone registration requirements that Activision Blizzard implemented for Overwatch 2’s Defense Matrix at that game’s launch at the beginning of this month, before removing them for most players last week. Modern Warfare 2 players on both Battle.net and Steam will need to register a number.
]]>Call Of Duty fans are getting worked up about whether there’ll be a new game in the military shooter series next year, as a yearly instalment has been tradition since 2005. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has waded in to allege that, while there will be some fresh COD in the offing, it’ll be in the form of something like a paid expansion for the upcoming Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 instead of a full game. A Modern Warfare 2.5, if you will.
]]>You could see world-famous ballkickers Messi, Pogba, and Neymar battling in Modern Warfare 2 later this year if a Call Of Duty leaker’s claims are on the money. TheGhostOfHope has tweeted a list of what they say are upcoming operators for the military FPS sequel, launching later this month. Among the other spots are a potential return for the controversial Roze skin, and Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s protagonist Nick Reyes.
]]>Remember when Overwatch 2 launched last week and people were struggling to register their pre-paid, or pay-as-you-go, numbers so they could play the game? Well, now Activision Blizzard are planning to insist people sign up for two-factor authentication to play the upcoming Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, too. They’re also warning that players with pre-paid plans might not be able to get the process to work.
]]>It’s Call Of Duty season once again, which means that people are already speculating about the series’ future rather than concentrating on the game that’s about to ratatat out of the end of Activision Blizzard’s rifle. Ahead of Modern Warfare 2’s eruption on October 28th, rumours are circulating that Sledgehammer Games will return to the near-future world of their 2014 boots-off-the-ground instalment, Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare. COD help us all.
]]>The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have set a statutory deadline of March 1st for their investigation into Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, and any third parties submitting responses to the CMA have until February to do so. As detailed in an update to the CMA’s administrative timetable for their investigation, it might be the case that provisional findings are brought forward in January, a year after the deal was first revealed.
]]>Further investigation of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard is needed by the UK’s competition regulator, a statement on the government’s website confirmed today. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began the preliminary stage of their investigation at the beginning of July, with a deadline set for September 1st. That initial stage of investigation found that the deal could “substantially lessen competition in gaming consoles, multi-game subscription services, and cloud gaming services”.
]]>Microsoft have justified their $68.7 billion ($56 billion) purchase of Call Of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard by telling regulators that the company doesn’t produce “must have” games. If that’s making you ask why they’d stump up more than any other tech buyout in history for the privilege of owning a company that doesn’t have any killer apps in its stables, then you can line up right behind me, bosmang.
]]>Bestest monster frenemies King Kong and Godzilla will get to break stuff in season three of Call Of Duty: Warzone and Vanguard battle royale, Activision has announced. Cue much bellowing.
Dubbing Godzilla and Kong as ‘Titans’ of Universal Pictures’ Monsterverse, Call Of Duty is introducing the pair to the Caldera map in the time-limited Operation Monarch event beginning May 11th. According to the patch notes, Monarch is the name of the organisation that tracks down these cryptozoological Titans. Somehow there have been two movies starring the big ape-lad and the large dragon with bad breath now, one of which came out last year. I guess this is a tie-in to that one.
]]>Call Of Duty launching a new sequel every year is a tradition older than the CoD players who tell me they've had sex with my mother. But this tradition may break next year, according to an unconfirmed report. Supposedly Activision have delayed next year's game, leaving 2023 without a shiny new main series game. That doesn't mean 2023 won't have any new CoD, mind.
]]>When I held that monkey's paw and wished for more games to appear on Game Pass, I didn't mean like this! I don't know if anyone has been brave enough to come out and say this, but Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard is... problematic. Even before you consider the serious and unresolved allegations of workplace misconduct at ActiBlizz, there's no easy "this is good, actually" point of view to have here.
]]>Like a zipline descending into Verdansk, the quality curve of the Call of Duty campaign trends ever downward, year-on-year. Or so a casual observer might assume. But this is Task Force 141, soldier: we don’t do casual observation. Take my binoculars and you’ll soon see that the real story is far more complicated and compelling.
For every Ghosts in the graveyard of CODs past, there’s an unlikely space adventure to rival Titanfall. And no matter how many times Captain Price tells you to let ‘em pass, there’s always an experimental RTS mechanic or Hitman-lite stealth mission waiting around the next corner. Call of Duty has been far more brave and changeable than it’s given credit for, and while the best ideas haven’t always stuck, they’re still very much playable. What’s more, they rarely outlast a weekend - which counts for a lot in an age of life-consuming AAA releases.
Over 20 years of service, I’ve played every single COD campaign, and can share my intel freely with allies like you. So hop in for a ride through the ups and downs of the series. Just don’t take the helicopter - those things never land softly around here.
]]>As tired a phrase as "they must be hacking" is when getting bested in competitive shooters, sometimes other players really are cheating. There will be fewer of those now, at least for the time being, thanks to a lawsuit brought by Activision against a website selling cheat tools for Call Of Duty: Warzone and other Call Of Duty games.
]]>The usual annual Call Of Duty announcement, like everything, has been out of step this year. But there are signs that it's about to happen. An alternate reality game aimed at publicising what we believe will be titled Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has been solved, revealing that a reveal is to be revealed.
On Friday, something is happening, but nobody knows what. There is a hint, albeit slight, that this will mean something for Warzone.
]]>Oh, to be a Mac owner. Not that we've got it great on PC - my rig's been bricking it since last week's Windows update, after all - but it's been a long time since a big OS update killed half of my game library. Desktop gaming always gets around to leaving a generation behind, though. 32-bit applications have been on the chopping block for a few years - and with this month's "Catalina" update, Apple are making the first move towards killing them off for good.
]]>In the wake of two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump and members of the Republican Party are placing the blame largely at the feet of the video game industry.
]]>Development of next year’s entry in the Call Of Duty franchise seems to have gone through a significant shift this week, as reported by Jason Schreier at Kotaku. Apparently, publishers Activision have changed the studios working on the game, moving it from Raven and Sledgehammer to Black Ops developers Treyarch, who will be working to release Black Ops 5 a year earlier than expected.
]]>Not content with what Activision CEO Bobby Kotick referred to as “record results” in an earnings call yesterday, the World of Warcraft and Call of Duty publisher has begun plans to layoff 8% of its total employees. That’s around 800 people out of work, many of them speculated to be “among the company’s lowest earners”.
]]>There's a new Call Of Duty around the corner. Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out on October 12th, so I sat down with Treyarch's studio design director David Vonderhaar and Jason "Director of Zombies" Blundell to quiz them about the game's new battle royale mode, Blackout, why they've left regenerating health behind, and how they handled no longer making a singleplayer campaign mode.
]]>Time to sacrifice your bandwidth on the altar of public testing once more, especially if you like battle royale shooters. Right now, anyone with a Battle.net account can download the Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout beta, due to open tomorrow at 10am Pacific (6pm BST). Those who preordered the game can start playing today, but if you've more time than money there's another option.
Want to get into the beta right now? After linking your Battle.net and Twitch.tv accounts, tune into one of four approved Twitch streamers - Ninja, Shroud, Summit1G or TimTheTatman - between 10am PT (6pm BST) and 2pm PT (10pm BST) and stick around for an hour. You can find the full details here, and the beta will end after the weekend - 10am PT on Monday, September 17th.
]]>I didn't have much interest in Call Of Duty: Blackops 4 or its battle royale mode, but then it whipped out a grappling hook. The PC beta doesn't open until September 15th, but it might be worth taking a peek at other people playing before you decide if it's worth downloading. Fortunately, the internet is awash with streams from the PS4 beta.
]]>Treyarch have shown off their first trailer for Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4’s battle royale mode, which will be called Blackout. Take a peek at all the fire and chaos for yourself below:
]]>As twitchy as the Call Of Duty games have been since Modern Warfare, the series has built up a reputation as a console flagship series. Publisher Activision seem eager to break away from that impression with Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4, and to prove this, they've packed their Gamescom 'PC trailer' with as many buzzwords and high-end hardware concessions as possible. Blops 4 may not have a single-player campaign mode, but it definitely has support for 4k, ultra-widescreen, variable field-of-view and more. All good features to have, but I'm curious how many truly care.
]]>After so many Warfares of the Modern, Advanced, and Totally Wacky variety, there was something comforting about Call of Duty going back to World War 2. Playing Call of Duty: WW2’s multiplayer mode now, nine months after launch, is like slipping on an old boot — albeit a boot covered in mud, masonry dust, and the blood of tens of millions of people.
]]>We'll get to try the near-future face-shooting of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 in a free multiplayer open beta weekend in August, developers Treyarch have announced. No, this won't include that new battle royale mode, Blackout. As a casual observer of Cod I am sorry to see the antics of wallrunning and jetpacking removed this year, though it does have a grappling hook gun and I'm enough of a grapplefan to download the whole dang beta just to try that.
]]>Battle royale is indeed coming to CoD in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4, as had been rumoured, throwing together characters, weapons, and locations from across all the Blops - including the Zombies modes - in one big last-man-standing rumble. Activision today held their big reveal-o-rama event for this year's face-shooter, see, blabbing all sorts of details. They also confirmed the rumour that Cod Blops 4 won't have a traditional CoD story campaign. While it does have a few missions sprinkled around, the focus is on multiplayer, and I'm quite curious about how this will turn out. One unsurprising change: this time it'll run on Blizzard's Battle.net, not Steam.
]]>With a month to go until Activision start blabbing about Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4, the last annual sequel in their mega-blockbuster shooter series, the rumour mill is filling in the space. According to whispers on the wind, Cod Blops 4 won't have a traditional story campaign, scrapped because it wasn't going to be ready in time for the October launch, and will instead focus on multiplayer and the cooperative Zombies mode. Other whispers say that the game will have a battle royale mode too. Activision reply that they "don't comment on rumor and speculation." Believe as much or as little as you please.
]]>Surprising absolutely nobody, Call of Duty is getting another game this year, and as per Activision's alternating annual release schedule, we're headed back to the Black Ops side-series.
It's been too long since we've had a chance to use the most accursed of abbreviations, but Cod Blops is back, and possibly now the even more absurd Cod Blops IIII thanks thanks to the series apparently abandoning proper usage of Roman numerals.
The official announcement also confirms that Treyarch are back in the driver's seat for this one. After finding myself very pleasantly surprised by their previous Blops title, I'm eager to see what they've got planned.
]]>The manufacturers of Humvees are suing Activision over Call of Duty games featuring vehicles which, they say, look an awful lot like their own warcars. AM General claim that these Humvee-lookin' vehicles violate their trademark and Activision don't have permission, so they want CoD to knock it off and pay them damages. Their case pivots on several Call of Duty games, including Modern Warfare and Ghosts, featuring warcars which allegedly look close enough to Humvees to fall under their 'trade dress' -- a type of intellectual property covering what a product looks like -- and are sometimes called Humvees by name.
]]>Call of Duty [official site] is returning to its roots. No more orbital adventures and digital warfare, and little chance that the series will complete its full evolution into a sort of first-person Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Instead, the billboards that decorated E3 this year had a solemn air about them. "This," they wanted us to know, "is serious business."
We'll have to wait 'til CoD: WW2's singleplayer aspect is playable before we get a proper sense for the tone and the specific battlefields we'll be (re)visiting, but the multiplayer open beta is coming to PC in a couple of weeks. It's a little later than console and will run across the weekend, from the 29th September to the 2nd October. No real news on what exactly will be included yet but the announcement post gives a few more details.
]]>Activision have finally released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered [official site] by itself, no longer restricted to being an extra in an expensive edition of CoD: Infinite Warfare. Not that the revamp of 2007's seminal Call of Duty 4 is much more affordable now it's sold seperately, mind. If you want to relive the good old days, it'll cost you £35. And extra for the multiplayer map pack, of course.
]]>“Those who do not learn from from history, are doomed to make another World War II videogame.” A famous saying, and one we all know well. So when Activision hosted a live presentation for the reveal trailer of their latest shooter, Call of Duty: WWII [official site], I watched and felt nothing but a tired wave of low-burning resentment for everyone involved. During this presentation the word “visceral” was said a total of eight times and our own news editor Alice silently got up from her desk, walked solemnly out of her house, and never returned. If anyone has seen Alice, please call us.
]]>Activision Blizzard Studios are planning for potentially years of Call of Duty movies, drawing inspiration from the interwoven Marvel Cinematic Universe. Activision reckon that Call of Duty could carry a series, jumping between the first-person shooter's sub-brands for different perspectives on war. Chinny reckon.
]]>If the rumours are true, and they most likely are, this year we'll be seeing Call Of Duty: WWII. People have reacted with concern, but I'm here to argue it's the best possible news.
There was a time when learning a game was set in World War II was deserving of the heaviest of sighs. Not only did it mean that it would be one of seven thousand other games that year plundering the past for an excuse to bob a gun at the bottom of the screen, but it was more likely to be crass and ignorant than a tribute to the bravery and miserable deaths of our ancestors. We got well and truly sick of WW2 games. Then to save us, the march of the zombies began. We had a whole new theme to groan at, and the Second World War has had something of a break.
The temptation of hearing the rumours that the all-conquering shooter series is to return to its own origins is to start sighing once again. But there are some really good reasons not to. In fact, if there's anything that could save CoD from itself, it's heading back.
]]>Rumours of Call of Duty's return to World War 2 have circulated since, well, since Activision's mega-hit FPS series left it almost a decade ago. This time it's really for really real, folks including our chums at Eurogamer say. Whispers, rumours, and supposedly leaked artwork say this year's game will bear the rubbish name Call of Duty: WWII. Presumably this would mean a sad farewell to the wall-running and double-jumping of futureCoDs but the welcome return of the M1 Garand rifle's ping, the loveliest sound in all murderdom.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Call of Duty 2 [official site] tends to get forgotten about, sandwiched as it is between the huge success of Call of Duty and the truly gargantuan success of Call of Duty 4 (we don’t talk about Call of Duty 3 here in PC town). This is an unfortunate state of affairs, as it might just be the best game in the series.
]]>We’ve already aired our misgivings over Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s campaign mode but how does the multiplayer stack up? Does the space-future setting re-energise the arena, or is it the same as always with a fresh coat of silver paint? We threw Brendan into the murderfields to find out.
It has a fitting name, I’ll give it that. Call of Duty is the series that seems to go on forever – it never dies and it never changes. There is always a man and there is always a gun, to bastardise a phrase from another game concerned with the Infinite. This outing has taken the action to outer space but it has done so little with the opportunity that it is hard to recommend, even to those who have been with the series from its Modern Warfare glory days.
]]>Battlefield 1 may have fallen back to 1914 but the other first-person shooters of the year are marching on, towards militaristic futurewar. Titanfall 2 was released a week ago (inexplicably, in the gap between two monster franchises) and now Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare [official site] has rounded off the explosive triumvirate with more grenades, dogfights and tin men. It’s that final image – that of the tin man – which best sums up how I feel about the story campaign of Infinity Ward’s latest gunromp. Let me try to explain what I mean.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Like Graham, I’ve always felt bad for the Brothers In Arms series of games. The WWII shooter was well into its fatigue stage by the time these games got around to doing something intelligent with it. Rocking up to the beaches of Normandy in Medal of Honor or storming the streets of Stalingrad in Call of Duty were excellent set pieces at the time. But neither game came close to making you think about anything that was going on, it was run and/or gun. That's it. Brothers In Arms introduced a tactical element - and it was simple too. You just had to point at things.
]]>Gotcha. It's just a new trailer. Alongside a video of the upcoming Mass Effect spin-off, some footage for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare [official site] was also released during Sony’s dull as drapes news conference today. It shows a bunch of our friendly soldiers storming into an abandoned space facility where the sun outside burns at 900 degrees. It looks like it’s an asteroid mining complex. I can tell because of all the dissatisfied robot labourers.
]]>We've had a taste for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's [official site] story and the requisite zombies co-op mode (this time with wild '80s prints and the Hoff himself), but what of the multiplayer? How will we compete in this world of infinite war?
Luckily, Infinity Ward have the answers to your burning multiplayer questions in two new trailers. It all looks very classic Call of Duty, but with a cool futuristic aesthetic.
]]>Although Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare [official site] is sadly not the procedurally-generated Escherian Nightmare we might've hoped for, Activision's latest war-torn FPS is set in space and you'll be pleased to know its single-player campaign looks to be shaping up nicely. Don't take my word for it, though - cast your eyes over six new minutes of gameplay highlights below.
]]>Activision today announced Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare [official site], the latest in their long-running mega-hit military FPS series, and I am sorely disappointed. Firstly, today is a holiday in the UK, so I'm not even supposed to be here. Secondly, Infinite Warfare is about futurewar with spaceships and everything, not the Escherian nightmare that we were assured it would be. This 'real' Infinite Warfare does sound exciting, but I can only assume we were deceived as someone's idea of a 'joke'.
Activision also announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, a revamp of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - the game which defined the next nine years of CoD.
]]>Call of Duty: Space Wars. Orbital Ops, maybe. Post-Modern Warfare. Space Warfare? Probably not that one.
Whatever the name might be, there have been rumours and suggestions of a space-based Call of Duty for several years and it seems increasingly likely that this year's Infinity Ward release might be that game. I hope the moon explodes in at least one mission.
]]>This morning I have been documenting a fruit and vegetable market in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. I think I was supposed to be rescuing a president or something but the shiny fruit looked more interesting. I don't mean that as a sick burn or anything. I just got distracted by some nice fruit.
]]>Gosh! Is it time for the annual "Activision have confirmed Call of Duty [official site] still exists and is still getting its annual instalment" post already? But it was only just Christmas! Where does the time go?
Anyhoodle: Activision have confirmed Infinity Ward are working on Call of Duty 2016 and it will be released in Q4 (it's usually during the first half of November if you haven't been keeping track).
]]>Fail Forward is series of videos all about the bits of games which don’t quite work and why. In this episode, Marsh Davies discusses how Black Ops' segue into sci-fi marks new mechanical innovation in the military shooter - and suggests how it could go even further.
]]>I am a very Modern Woman. And by that I mean I have only played Call of Duty [official site] campaigns from Modern Warfare 2 onwards. But this year, instead of picking up Black Ops 3 and despairing over the sheer number of gadgets and grenades I must remember, I went back to the very beginning (a very good place to start). I am working my way through the original Call of Duty.
Well, original-ish, it's whatever the version of the 2003 game is on Steam right now.
I'm over halfway through the American campaign, having just taken out the German artillery at Brécourt Manor and couldn't help remembering how Adam put that level as one of the best the franchise has ever managed:
]]>Call of Duty: Black Ops III [official site] takes place in a future setting not quite close enough to describe as "near-future". It's somewhere in the middle distance, and while the concerns of military and intelligence organisations don't appear to have changed very much, the cyber-modifications available to soldiers promise to make the battlefield a place of superpowered clashes between robots, humans, and operatives caught somewhere between the two. With an arm full of not-plasmids and a sniper scope at the ready, I plunged into the campaign.
]]>Call of Duty: Black Ops III [official site] looks just about weird enough to be interesting. Whether it's Jeff Goldblum's zombie-splatting magician, the introduction of full-on Chaos powers or the general rocket-powered leap into a robo-soldier sci-fi future, BLOPS the Third does not appear to be constrained by reason. Of course, it may still be restrained by corridors but on the server and modding side we can expect some freedom. Treyarch have announced that modding and map-making will be coming to the game sometime next year.
]]>Alright, so we're not the sorts to post every Call of Duty: Black Ops III [official site] trailer, but we are the sorts to post things with Jeff Goldblum in. We've known he's going to be in Black Ops 3 since July, but now there's a new trailer explaining the set up for why he, playing a magician, is going to be fighting alongside a boxer, an actress and a cop in its co-op Zombies campaign mode, Shadows of Evil. Watch it below.
]]>As far as marketing stunts go, Activision's Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3 [official site] flurry on Twitter through the week was, how shall I put it, not very well thought out. Live-tweeting a fake-but-pretending-to-be-real crisis will turn heads, but what happened to simply showing off a trailer or dropping some screens? Don't worry, we've got you covered. RPS: serving you, minus the hysteria.
]]>Massively jetlagged as I am, I decided to ease back into the post-International real world by catching up with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 [official site] announcements from Gamescom. Either I am stuck in a MOBA fever dream or Blops 3 really is introducing a protect and ban phase to competitive play. Tell you what. I'm going to cover it as if it's real and then you can just let me know (gently) whether it's all just a big hallucination. I'm also going to put a wodge of new screenshots in.
]]>Level 28! No, the other kind of level. The type that you run around in, shooting people or jumping on their heads and that sort of thing. Adam, Alec, Alice and Graham gather to discuss their favourite levels and/or maps from across the vast length of PC gaming, including selections from Deus Ex, Call of Duty and Quake III. Someone even makes a case for Xen from Half-Life, and means it.
]]>Activision and Treyarch have announced the worldwide reveal date for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 - it's April 26th.
As you might expect from a teaser for an announcement, it's all swishy CGI and some echoey near future military-industrial philosophy wiffle and no actual game details. BUT you can watch it:
]]>Ah good, it's time to start talking about Next Call Of Duty and how it's probably going to be Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 because a Snapchat campaign - yes Snapchat, shut up - implies as much.
While streaming some Black Ops 2, YouTuber Drift0r picked up on the addition of one of those QR code ghost things Snapchat introduced so you can befriend #brands and #engage with their #content easily.
"I have a feeling this is going to be like a viral marketing campaign," he notes on the video. "Like in a couple of days if you follow the little ghosty you will get a picture of Black Ops 3 tweeted out or Snapchatted out? I don't really Snapchat so I don't know how that works."
He was right.
]]>Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare [official site] has introduced Master Prestige ranks which are another way to earn elite weapon drops and culminate in a Grand Master Prestige gear set which kind of makes you look like your character has been mistaken for a couch and upholstered.
]]>Activision have started vaguely muttering about this year's Call of Duty, which is the first from Cod Blops folks Treyarch on the series' new three-year development cycle. We knew that was happening, and all Activision had to say in an earnings conference call yesterday is that it'll be "loaded with innovation". Right-o. The FPS is now a decade into annual sequels and quite set on that path, so I wonder: what would you do with Call of Duty?
You can reboot, resurrect, reinvent, fragment, and spin-off all you like, but let's assume you won't get the green light from Activision without releasing a core FPS. Past, present, future, revolutions, invasions, operations, robots, dinosaurs, spacemen - go. Dream. Me, I'm thinking episodic.
]]>Heya, Call of Duty, buddy, how are you doing? Breakups are hard, aren't they? Ex-friends Respawn are off doing their own thing and that big bully Battlefield's still swanning about, making your life difficult. You wanna look cool and hip, so at Gamescom yesterday you showed off your hottest new clothes, spruced up versions of the last-season garbage those losers are wearing. Double-jumps and cloaking, maps that modify themselves over time - you've taken the best of them and mixed it in with your own feel. Plus, for some reason, Unreal Tournament dodging. That one's a bit off the wall.
]]>Finally! A new Call of Duty game! What has it been? Five years? Ten years? One whole minute? Never mind the agonizing wait. All that matters now is this perfect moment, this sweet embrace. Activision were planning to take the wraps off Call of Duty: Ominous, Obvious, Or Utterly Meaningless Subtitle (aka, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare) this weekend, but a couple of leaks have prompted them to offer a few early details. Foremost, this one is being developed by series first-timer Sledgehammer as part of Activision's plan to give each series entry a three year development cycle. Second, it's about Private Military Companies (PMCs) deciding to STOP TAKING ORDERS and START TAKING OVER and there's a brief SHOCK-YOU-MENTARY below. Third, there's also now a trailer and this time the villain is Kevin Spacey.
]]>Call of Duty has long shared development duties between multiple studios. Most obviously, it's operated under a two-year schedule, with series creators' Infinity Ward and Treyarch taking it in turns to work out which national monuments to make fall over. You might be less aware of the other studios who pitch in each year, including Raven Software, Nerversoft and Sledgehammer Games.
As reported by IGN, an Activision investor call mentioned that Sledgehammer are now working on a Call of Duty all of their own. That was already known, but it makes it official that Call of Duty is switching to a three-year development cycle.
]]>Here's the thing. The Call Of Duty modern campaigns really don't need to be dreadful. I think, after so many ugly, stupid attempts, there's a perception that it's just the way it is, the limits of the genre, the best you can hope for. And this simply isn't true. Sadly it isn't the case for the latest release, and I think I know why. There's a conflict that's gone missing, and they need to get it back.
]]>If you haven't read my thoughts on the first three hours of Call Of Duty: Ghosts, it's worth looking through those first. But now the single player campaign is finished, here's wot I think:
]]>Call of Duty: Black Ops. CODBLOPS. BLOPS. COD. Cod. Heh, that's a fish.
This is the exact process every human brain goes through upon trying to create an acronym for Activision's record-obliterating mega-blockbuster, so it's only natural that someone would eventually convert that lush, meaningful imagery back into a game. Thus, I bring you Cod of Duty. The basic premise? Evil fish terrorists are planning... something. It involves guns. And barrels. And being in barrels. Yes, this is a game in which you literally shoot fish in a barrel. The commentary, it is palpable. CODPALPS. Or something. I don't know. Join me for some crunchy, lightly fish-flavored discussion after the break.
]]>Recently, I got the chance to play a few matches of upcoming browser-based F2P multiplayer shooter Offensive Combat, and all told, I had a nice enough time. I ran, I jumped, I beat a man to death with a hunk of ham. Everything - a basic array of weapons, modes, experience unlocks, etc - functioned pretty much exactly as it was supposed to. Problem is, that's all it did. Even the game's "zany" sense of humor came across as relentlessly calculated, seeking refuge in the evergreen arms of "pwning" (an actual game mechanic in which you dance over an opponent's body for extra points), mash-ups of tried-and-true game settings, and pop culture references. U4iA CEO and former Call of Duty co-founder Dusty Welch, meanwhile, has no qualms with admitting that his latest project is steeped in business trends and careful analysis first and foremost. But he also adamantly contends that this style of game development doesn't compromise creativity.
]]>Amazingly, 'Call of Duty Online' didn't actually exist before now. They're surely the most inevitable word-sequence in the world, after all. Even so, "free to play micro transaction first person action game" CODO isn't for us. It's one of those bally China-only games that exist to cater towards a community that is even more steeped in internetiness than Western gamers are, and more to the point is also steeped in rampant piracy. A multiplayer shooter that only exists online is, then, a logical step towards capturing the sprinting money-goliath that is China's immense population. I guess it's not impossible it'll walk this way eventually, though for now I believe CoD: Elite is the spearhead of Activision's Western fortune-hunting interests.
]]>Call of Duty 9: Black Ops 2: Modern Warfare 4 was rumoured to exist but if you're anything like me, you'll be flabbergasted to hear that the series is indeed continuing and the website for the game is now live, although the trailer that takes centre stage doesn't work just yet. It's apparently due to be premiered (red carpet?) this evening during the NBA Playoffs. The website does reveal that the game takes place in the near future, during a 21st century cold war. I bet it's a cold war that involves surfing on top of a stealth fighter while shooting down a space shuttle full of nukes. November 13th is when the CoD blops once more. One more pic below.
]]>There's a new live action trailer for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. However, first of all, I've had enough of live action trailers for games. Secondly, it's embarrassingly rubbish. So instead, below, you can watch Oliver Sacks giving a lecture on hallucinations.
]]>This trailer is like a metaphor for Call of Duty: Elite, Activision's new enhanced online premium service package for the CODs. Is it supposed to be funny? You won't be able to miss the best jokes, because "theLEGENDofKARL" says "Haha, get it?" after them all.
]]>Someone's getting a) bollocked b) fired c) executed tonight, I'm sure. If Kotaku's sources are right, basically everything about this year's Call of Duty has just been blown wide open and revealed to John Q. Public some six months before likely release. It's Modern Warfare 3 and it's...
]]>Eurogamer are throwing caution to the wind, babies out with bathwater, and quite possible, down, by announcing that they keep hearing rumours of Call Of Duty's next release due on 8th November 2011. While Activision has yet to announce this year's inevitable blockbuster best-seller Christmas smash hit, everyone's expecting one, and expecting it to come from the rubbled remains of Infinity Ward. And according to a top secret internal Tesco database (has Tesco bought MI6?) it is currently named Call Of Duty: Project Collossus. Which would be a spectacularly terrible name (not least because it's spelt "colossus"), but is probably just the codename for the game while it's in development. I imagine they'll call it something crazy like, hmmm, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3? We don't know. And knowing you grumpy bastards, you don't care. But whether you like it or not, you stroppy thing, it'll be the biggest game of the holiday season. We're bound to find out more details at E3 at the beginning of next month.
]]>Update: As vaguely suspected, it's a hoax after all. A slightly boring hoax. Well done, boring hoaxers.
Surprise! I've just broken into your house and stolen all your milk. No, that's not the real surprise. The real surprise is that there's going to be another Call of Duty game this year. No, that's not a surprise either. The real surprise is that it sounds like we might see a bit of said game at GDC next week. At least, that's according to a new web intersite called FindMakarov. Makarov is, you may recall, one of the baddies in Modern Warfare 2, as well as That Guy, Him and Wossiface.
]]>Oh look, another headline with a question mark in the title. That's journamalisming for you. Can we have some less ambiguous news now please?
So - Black Ops 2, World At War 2, Modern Warfare 3 or some other two to three word summation of conflict? Until now, we had no idea what this year's Call of Duty game would be. We also had no idea there would be another Call of Duty game this year. It just seemed so very unlikely that this series would continue. Apparently it will, despite catastrophically low sales, rock-bottom reviews and perennially empty servers. Whouldathunkit. The LA Times thinks it knows what's up. Modern Warfare 3 it is, allegedly. So who's making it?
]]>My instruments are giving me mixed reports. Today sees Call of Duty: Black Ops, the year's biggest release, dropping onto international markets like a continent-spanning commercial panther. Now, I'm hearing that some Steam pre-order customers have had their game unlocked already, but Americans are having to wait until 10am Eastern time, our own Alec is having to wait until between 3pm and 8pm [Alec Update - no I'm not. If you buy it in the UK it seems to unlock just fine; my problem was related to my account apparently having US review code applied], and apparently although shop copies go through Steam, they'll work right away. Buh. Are you playing it, readers? Any impressions?
If you can't yet play Black Ops, and you're livid, and your existence has shrunk to a world containing only, Black Ops and sharp objects, I have a temporary solution. Below, courtesy of VG247 you can watch the first 13 minutes of the game. Spoilers, obv, but I will say this: It looks like a somewhat different beast from Modern Warfare.
]]>You'll probably have already picked up on the ongoing fallout from Tuesday's Activision-Infinity Ward oh-so-modern warfare, but as the talking point du jour we should probably cover it. The story so far: Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West didn't turn up to work after a meeting with the developer's owner Activision - but some hired muscle did. Shortly afterwards, Activision filed suit against the pair for "breaches of contract and insubordination", a charge that is yet to be explained. Since then, Zampella and West have filed right back at 'em, with accusations of withheld royalties and "Orwellian moves" to construct a case for their dismissal. Activision have duly refuted the claims, but it's increasingly looking like this stems from a tussle for control of the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare franchises. Oh, why can't more happy things happen in the videogame industry?
]]>Yeah, this is the definition of people spinning out a story from very little, but Massively report the LA Time doing an article the LA Times did on MW2's launch. Fairly standard fluff. Except at the end a source close to the company say that they're considering an MMO. Which is an interesting idea, especially tied to news that a third company are now working on Call of Duty franchise games. Of course, "considering" is a word which means little. You've got a franchise like Call of Duty? You at least consider it.
]]>GDC continues to out-E3 E3 with yet another incredi-announcment. This time it's Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2. Note that's not "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", just "Modern Warfare 2." Which is an odd choice. Is it fear of "Call of Duty 5/6" sounding too haggard and aged? Is it shame/annoyance at Treyarch's entries in the COD lineage? Or is it because they want to save "COD 5" for a different theme, as 4 was to CODs 1/2/3?
Anyway, atmospheric but possibly controversial teaser trailer beneath the digi-hurdle.
]]>Activision are the new kings of gaming hill, they claim - in America at least. They've just published their results for the last financial year, and, well, they've made lots of money. More than any other publisher. Primarily from Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty IV, by the sounds of it. Admittedly they're number one for console and handheld, not PC, but we can surely expect their swollen coffers to impact their future PC releases.
]]>This is a short piece that originally appeared in PC Gamer, recalling a key moment in my gaming life. While playing Call of Duty I experienced something horrific. I survived a level by hiding. It was humiliating, and with Call of Duty's emphasis on the cruelty of war, I felt broken. The piece was written for the Double Life section of Gamer, which adopts the voice of the character. Hence, it's melodrama. But it captures an honest moment of horror in response to my own instincts. Have games affected you this way? Revealed your weaknesses, or made you feel wracked with guilt?
All’s not fair in love or war
My name is Alexei, and I am a coward.
I’m a conscript, and I don’t want to be here. This isn’t my war, this isn’t my battle, this isn’t something I ever asked for. I am not a soldier. I’m not interested in being a soldier. When I was a child, the other boys would spend their afternoons chasing each other through the woods, shooting each other with sticks, practising for this. I sat in my house, the door closed, and only occasionally looked out of the window. That was where I was happy. That is where I would be happy now. Now I’m being shot at by men who don’t know me, men who look exactly like me.
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