Newly released documents have given us a rare inside look at how gun manufacturers have tried to use videogames to promote their wares to younger people - specifically, players of Activision's original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, released in 2009. The memos and emails in question are from now-defunct US gun company Remington Arms, which was once part of the conglomerate Freedom Group. They've been disclosed by a lawyer as part of legal proceedings launched by the parents of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, in which 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people using a Remington-made AR15 rifle.
]]>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.
]]>I’ll be the first to admit it: I was too young to be playing this game when I did. Still though, when I opened my PS3 and me and my younger brother got Modern Warfare 2 alongside Little Big Planet, guess which one we were all over first?
]]>Call of Duty Elite, the social networking/clan-organising thingy for COD multiplayer, got a whole lot of backs up when it was unveiled the other week - the prevailing, Chinese-whispered sense being that we'd be expected to fork out to get the full CoD multiplayer experience. With the waters very much muddied, Activision seem to be in fire-fighting mode - now explicitly stating just what will be free. Activision also reckon that "we believe that the free elements of Call of Duty Elite will be superior to any free service currently on the market."
Oh, and they just called you a hater.
]]>It was always going to happen, and now it has. The nature of a corporation is never to sit still and be content with its lot - it's to forever look to ways to make more money from what it has. (If RPS had a scrap of sense, we'd have launched a couple of spin-offs by now, but a corporation we are not). Activision was never going to let the world’s biggest gaming franchise stay the same size - its duty to its shareholders, and to a far less extent to its employees, is to make its IP as profitable as possible. With several of its divisions and titles recently axed and even WoW subscriptions in decline (by an apparently tiny 5%, but the difference between revenues increasing and revenues decreasing is a fundamental one for shareholder confidence), the publisher is almost required to milk a little more out of its remaining cashcows. On the one hand, you can’t blame them for introducing Call of Duty: Elite, a premium subscription service (though its basic features are free) which adds various community and content goodies to its shooter series’ frighteningly popular multiplayer mode.
On the other hand, it’s hard to not to feel a little dirty about Elite, isn't it?
]]>So after waiting a few hours to scowl at the Wall Street Journal for breaking the embargo, Activision have now officially taken the lid off Call of Duty: Elite, which means its actual features, rather than a pithy, video-based glossing-over of them, can be listed. Here's the horse's mouth breakdown of what the service actually entails.
]]>The day has come: Activision has finally introduced Plan B. Plan B is much like Plan A, in that it also involves making an absolute crapton of money out of Call of Duty. This time, it's called Call of Duty Elite, and it's a social networking, clan-arranging, video-sharing, stat-analysing online service for COD multiplayer. Some aspects for it will be free; others will involve a paid subscription. The gaming world had a sharp intake of breath this morning, and you probably will too.
There's an *apparently* leaked YouTube trailer of Elite below, but as I believe the publications who Activision chose to show the service to are under some sort of embargo, you'd better hurry and watch it before it either gets pulled or just posted everywhere else anyway.
]]>Free Left 4 Dead 2 for people who got banned, eh? That sounds okay. You can read Gabe's letter of apology to banned people below.
]]>UPDATIER: See this.
UPDATE: Some consideration of whether this is actually a VAC problem, or simply MW2 being a bit nob, can be found here.
We're getting word that over the last week a slew of Modern Warfare 2 players have been banned from the game by Valve's Anti-Cheat software, or HAL VAC for short. You know, the same software found in Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2? The one that issues irrevocable bans that Valve will not remove or discuss "under any circumstances"? Well, a great deal of this freshly-banned crowd are claiming (screaming, really) that they've never cheated. Ever. Making this a bit of a sticky situation.
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.
]]>It's bullshit, isn't it?
]]>A videogame has been released. Also, the Beatles have split up and Kennedy's been shot. Hadn't you heard?
I haven't hurried, as such, to get my thoughts on this omnipresent game up on RPS, as it's not like it's going to affect anyone's buying decision after all that hype and backlash, is it? But here they are now, after having had some time to digest and absorb now the shouting's died down - for the singleplayer campaign, at least. Thoughts on the multiplayer will be along next week. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, then. Probably one or two things to say about it, I'd have thought...
]]>This is cute. News from Destructoid via Seniath... well, that No Dedicated Server thing? Well, those ever determined fans have worked out a way to get dedicated servers working on their lonesome. Amazingly, they're currently still ranked by IWNet. And the following video shows some of the stuff they've made the game be able to do.
]]>Just as a FYI. (Click for the full thing)
]]>You might have noticed. You might have queued up at silly o'clock to get a copy. You might even have got some sort of tattoo to commemorate how excited you are about the prospect of shooting virtual men of assorted ethnic origins. Aye, today was Modern Warfare 2 day - a game that, for a lot of the industry and its consumers, has managed to become pretty much the only game of the year. I was at the UK launch last night - some thoughts on that and some of the rolling PC version problems follow.
]]>The Big K has news that the major digital download services are boycotting troubled enormo-shooter Modern Warfare 2 because of the inclusion of Valve's Steamworks. Apparently Direct2Drive were first out with the news, saying they had "told publishers that they'd stop selling games bundled in such a manner until Valve "decoupled its retail marketplace" from Steam's other services."
]]>You know the scene in the Hobbit where they arrive at Beorn's house? Rather than the whole mass of 'em going in at once, they just send a couple in first, and then gradually reveal exactly how many dwarves are going to be scoffing his honeycakes. The idea being, that he'd tell them to sling their hook if they all marched in at once. Since the number of how many smelly, bearded bastards are going to be staying in his gaff creeps up on him, he rolls with it. I'm beginning to suspect Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare PC PR tactic is inspired by that. I'm also beginning to hope that the PC Beorn turns into a bear and eats them. Yes, it's been confirmed that the PC Multiplayer will be capped at 9v9. Perhaps predictable with the removal of dedicated servers, but yet more dwarves in our house. In brighter news, Zombiecow are trying to ease the wait for the faithful with a 50% discount off their Time, Gentlemen Please until it comes out. Go gets.
Oh - fancy seeing the launch trailer? Here you go:
]]>People looking to avoid Modern Warfare 2 spoilers should not read on. A remarkable video (below) of what's purported to be the beginning of Modern Warfare 2 has appeared. It's in French, and we've obviously no idea if it's definitely real at this point, but it seems to be showing the first level of the game, in which you play a terrorist mowing down innocent civilians in an airport.
]]>I've been primarily playing mods this week. This is the one has been eating most of my time. I mean that quite literally. I've been playing this most of my time. It's eaten mornings and afternoons and evenings I really can't afford to spend beating the hell out of Rhun. See! Rhun! Who the hell is Rhun? It's a Middle Earth Medieval II mod, and I'm happily fighting just some blokes with nary a whiff of Nazgul, Orcs or Hobbits.
]]>Game Informer were first in line with the responses from Infinity Ward, with this peculiarly unpleasant article by Adam Biessener. The Game Informer writer says of the general outcry about the news that MW2 would not support dedicated servers for online play: "Predictably, nerds across world took to the Internet with a wailing and a gnashing of teeth that would make the Left 4 Dead community proud." Or perhaps we - nerds or otherwise - were justifiably upset about a change to a proven way of doing things, a change no-one seems confident will be to our advantage. The article goes on to quote Infinity Ward's Jason West saying ""We're just prioritizing the player experience above the modders and the tuners... we thought maybe it would be cool if the fans could play the game."
]]>Hmm! Over at BashAndSlash, a Call Of Duty community website, Infinity Ward's community manager, Robert Bowling, confirmed there would be no dedicated server option for excruciatingly-anticipated super-shooter Modern Warfare 2. Really? Apparently so: dedicated servers will be replaced with a match-making service called IWNet. This will place you against players of your own rank, and remove dedicated server lists. There will also be options for a private matches. Take it with a pinch of salt, however, because the fact that it's the community manager making an announcement two hours into a fan-podcast suggests there's going to be some clarifying statements to follow. Bowling makes clear he's not totally clear on the tech aspects, but he does seem certain that everything will run through IWNet, in conjunction with Steam. That seems to imply no mod support.
]]>The all-seeing vid-eye of GameTrailers has nabbed some more Modern Warfare 2 footage, with explanatory chatter from the devs. It focuses on Spec-Ops mode, which is the co-op mode which consists in a whole bunch of independent missions that boast a modicum of internal variation. Not sure I quite understand what this chap is saying about alternative difficulty setting, however. He says the difficult effects the AI most, and yet you can both select different difficulty levels in the same co-op game? Hrm.
]]>Come on everybody! Climb aboard! This is the Angrytank Express, headed direct to Stop Screwing Over The PC You Massive Bastards city. Like pretty much every fuggin' thing that has a multi-platform release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on PC has, it now transpires, been delayed. Only by a fortnight, but still - for God's sakes. Toot toot! The Angrytank Is Go!
]]>Hype machine spooling up! Last night's Modern Warfare 2 trailer is pretty good, and you can watch it below. I've also posted some shaky cam footage of the first mission from some kind of game conference demo. The spoiler warning is this sentence.
]]>More online manshoot movie has emerged from the fertile innards of Infinity Ward, this time showing off some flag grabbing in Modern Warfare 2. I don't know if it's just me, but I find the idea of dudes running around with riot shields when there are rocket launchers and assault rifles on the field rather amusing. "My shield of reinforced plastic will save me!"
Modern Warfare 2 is scheduled for worldwide release on November 10th, and apparently has the most pre-orders of any game in Activision's history.
]]>An intensely shooty new trailer for Modern Warfare 2 has turned up, and I've posted it below. This one shows in-game footage from multiplayer, with its customisable killstreaks, and a glimpse of the AC-130 gunship. As aerial gun-platforms go, that's one of the best. I'm not really sure of the appeal of the killstreaks thing - are there any COD4 multiplayer types out there who can comment? Incidentally, it seems that Activision have added the "Call Of Duty" prefix back onto the game for launch, but we're not going to bother with it, because you guys probably know what we're talking about.
]]>As you'll have heard, there's a game called Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 coming out this Christmas. A game that's expected to be so huge that other publishers are hiding their games in cupboards until it goes away. Even publisher Activision doesn't want to launch its own games against it. But there's one country where consumers might be a little surprised when it comes out in November. That's the UK, where it's been given an RRP for £40 on PC, and a whopping £55 on 360 and PS3.
]]>Courtesy of the all-seeing eye of GameTrailers, we have several minutes of Modern Warfare 2 high-quality camera-shot game footage from the E3 presentation. It's heavy on the spoilers, showing a set-piece on an icy cliff, some combat, and some snow-mobile action. And that looks like all kinds of fun.
]]>Infinity Ward have been teasing us with er teasers over the past couple of weeks, and the now the full trailer is finally here. Modern Warfare 2 a first person shooter videogame, featuring the misadventures of unpleasant terrorists and the Men Of Action who intend to stop them. The footage is heaving with clues as to the kinds of scenes we can expect to see in the game - a street full of fleeing civilians particularly caught my eye, along with that zip-line to helicopter moment towards the end. Go take a look. The game is out on November 10th.
]]>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.
]]>
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