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Call of Duty Elite app gets Black Ops 2 support on iOS, Android
The Call of Duty Elite app has been updated on iOS and Android to support this week's monolithic debut, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. You can use the app to check your career stats and recent match performances, edit your classes, and search for and apply to Clans – pretty much the same stuff you can do with the app via Modern Warfare 3.You can also use it to stream Call of Duty Elite TV, access multiplayer guides, and track challenges. The iOS app is universal and compatible with all iDevices running iOS 5.0 or greater; however, the app does not have iPhone 5 screen support.
Call of Duty Elite subs getting four more pieces of unnamed MW3 content this year
If those 20 pieces of planned DLC for Modern Warfare 3 weren't enough for you, perhaps four additional bits will do the trick. Activision is sharing the four-piece bonus with Elite subscribers throughout the coming months, but isn't saying exactly what the content will be. All we know is that it'll be interspersed throughout the planned Elite content "season."Elite's platform ubiquity is increasing as well, with the service's planned launch on tablets coming in the near future. Nearly 2 million folks have already snagged the app across both iOS and Android -- that's quite a few, considering approximately 7 million folks are Elite users. Activision promises a variety of (specified) updates to Elite's functionality over the next few months.%Gallery-150792%
Call of Duty Elite Clan Operations 'closer every day'
Until now, it's been difficult for Elite users to level up their clans in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. That appears to be changing in the near future, with the arrival of the long-awaited Clan Operations feature, which allows clans to take part in competitions for fun, experience, and even prizes.Beachhead posted a preview of the Clan Operations interface on the Elite forums, detailing how users will choose Operations, and what kind of information they'll see (how much Clan XP an Op is worth, their current enlistment status, and start and end dates). Users can also browse each Op's prizes ... like the Call of Duty Elite skateboard shown in the example.While this progress is promising, Beachhead still hasn't put a firm date on this feature's launch. "We're currently putting all Clan Operations through extensive testing," the company noted, "and while we can't give you a date on when it will be ready, it is getting closer every day."
Activision: Call of Duty Elite to be up and running by Dec. 1
While it's been a rocky start for Activision's Call of Duty Elite service, it would appear that there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. Speaking with G4, Activision's VP of production, Daniel Suarez, said that the current goal is to have Elite online for everyone by December 1. "They kind of have to bear with us while we bring this all back up, but for us it's literally 'Give us those couple weeks, we're giving those to you for free and come December 1 the goal is that we'll have everything up and running,'" Suarez said. Activision's previous effort to quell concerns of subscribers included a free extra month of subscription to the service, while Beachhead currently works to get Elite, well, working. And while Beachhead monitored the beta for months, admittedly it couldn't foresee just how many users would sign up. But hey, we finally have some kind of promised timeline for full functionality. Let's just hope Beachhead and Activision can honor that promise.
PSA: Call of Duty Elite now available on Xbox Live
You may not be able to buy copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 just yet (well, not all of you), but you can always get yourself queued up for battle with the game's Elite application, which is already available for download via Xbox Live Marketplace. Coming in at just under 100MB, it ... uh ... doesn't do very much until you have a copy of MW3 and some multiplayer under your belt, as we were met with a prompt on load asking us to do as much before jumping into Elite. The client has yet to arrive on the PlayStation 3's PSN, but we're betting it'll be available tomorrow at some point alongside the company's weekly content update. Unfortunately for PC users, Elite won't be available at launch tomorrow, but instead will arrive "when it's ready." And in case you haven't been paying attention, the game launches tomorrow on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
Call of Duty Elite for PC won't be ready at launch
Call of Duty Elite, the ambitious stat-tracking and community service that will launch with the console versions of Modern Warfare 3 next week, will not be available for PC at launch. Developer Beachhead notes that the PC is an "insecure platform" (as the PSN quickly looks to the sky and whistles) and that its uncomfortable with giving away prizes "when people can easily cheat their stats." The developer notes that without a central, trusted resource for stats, a lot of the competition features become unfair. "We're as committed as ever to the PC, but the need to ensure a safe PC environment is greater than ever. It's really extensive. We need more time to get there, so Elite on PC will not launch on Day 1," Beachhead Studio head Chacko Sonny told Activision social media manager Dan Amrich. "We're working our butts off to make it happen, but we won't release it until we know that PC gamers can enjoy Elite as it's meant to be." When will Elite launch for PC? Chacko is using the old Blizzard stand-by: "It will be ready when it is ready."
Tour Call of Duty Elite's virtual world through the eyes of Modern Warfare 3
Worried about Mom on Facebook infiltrating your super elite squad of Modern Warfare 3 multiplayers? It looks like that won't be an issue with Call of Duty Elite's Facebok integration into MW3, though that guy from high school you don't wanna talk to might end up bugging you constantly. The good with the bad, folks.
Infinity Ward on the 'natural progression' of Call of Duty franchise development
"I can only speak on behalf of Infinity Ward, but I think it's a natural progression of how things have been going in general," Infinity Ward Creative Strategist Robert Bowling explained. We spoke last week during a Modern Warfare 3 preview event in Manhattan, in a hotel about 60 blocks north of the Wall Street setting in the game's campaign. I'd asked Bowling about the upcoming Call of Duty XP extravaganza, the variety of devs working on Modern Warfare 3, and if those things are an indication of a more unified franchise development structure -- a structure perhaps forged out of necessity, given the staff losses IW has seen over the past year. "We're at a state now in the Call of Duty franchise, where you have several teams working on CoD that have their own very distinct styles on what type of gameplay they deliver," he continued, in reference to Sledgehammer, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Beachhead all working on various Call of Duty projects. "And I think that's a great thing for Call of Duty in general, especially if you're having games come out every year. To have very distinct flavors and to have very distinct styles, it allows us to innovate in different ways and not feel forced to innovate in the same ways and build on the same interactions in the other games." Infinity Ward was showing off the newly added Spec-Ops Survival mode at the event as well, where I was handily carried on Bowling's back through eight waves of enemies before a juggernaut murdered us both. Much like Gears of War's Horde and Halo's Firefight modes, Spec-Ops Survival is, by Bowling's own description, an "infinite wave-based mode." A lot like the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty "Zombies" mode that has thus far missed inclusion in any Modern Warfare release. While Bowling won't deny the allure of adding a Zombies mode to the Modern Warfare titles ("It's a stellar game mode!"), he believes that his branch of the franchise wouldn't be the right fit for it. "I think it comes down to design philosophies. Each game has its own personality and voice. Ours typically stick to the authentic/fun aspects, where there's goes in a different directions that's still fun, but unique to Treyarch's voice and their design sensibilities," he explained. He wouldn't outright say whether or not Spec-Ops is exclusive to IW/Sledgehammer, or if Zombies mode is exclusive to Treyarch, but it seems to be heavily encouraged that it stays as such. But then, he's only able to speak on behalf of Infinity Ward.
Call of Duty Elite invitation-only beta begins July 14
Activision's stat-tracking and community service, Call of Duty Elite, has yet to receive a firm launch date, but this morning we learned that Elite will enter "invitation-only" beta starting on July 14. Though Elite won't be fully functioning until Modern Warfare 3 drops in November, the beta will launch first on last year's Call of Duty: Black Ops. After opening the registration site last week, Activision says "over 1 million" Call of Duty fanatics have signed up for entry into the beta thus far. The company has yet to fully detail the differences between the paid version of Elite and the free one, but the beta announcement ambiguously notes it'll "give users a taste of the experience." Sounds ... elite?
Kotick: Microtransaction-based Call of Duty 'just for China' [update]
The microtransaction-based Call of Duty game Activision is making for China, first announced in a February investor conference call (and in the presentation that went along with it) is, at least for now, unlikely to leave China. Though, of course, the door's open. Answering a question during an investor conference call, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick called the game "specific for the Chinese audiences," and clarified, "The product that we announced today is being developed just for China." Kotick added, "That's not to say it might not have applicability elsewhere, but what we're doing right now is focused on China." The "applicability" could refer to integrating the free-to-play model with other, Western-focused iterations of Call of Duty (which would make sense given the Beachhead-developed "digital platform" in the works) -- or even an eventual localization of that game. [Update: A previous iteration of this post, published before Kotick made these comments, presented the free-to-play Call of Duty as a new announcement, when it had actually been first announced in February.]
Beachhead studio to work on Call of Duty 'digital platform' [update]
Did you know "about as many people have played Black Ops as there are members of Netflix?" That should, hopefully, put into perspective how massive the Call of Duty audience is -- and why Activision's Bobby Kotick is so focused on "the sustained online engagement and enjoyment of Call of Duty audiences." Map packs have been generating big bucks for the company, so it's no surprise that Activision has created a new "wholly owned" studio, Beachhead, to work exclusively on "the development of an innovative new digital platform and special services for our Call of Duty community," Without going into specifics, Kotick said that Beachhead's role would be to "[focus] on the delivery, digitally, of new, innovative Call of Duty content and services [that] will enable tens of millions of players around the world to continue to enjoy the experience that Call of Duty offers." This sounds like a potential subscription service, something Activision has expressed interest in the past. Since then, the company has promised "never" to charge for multiplayer. So, what could this possibly mean? More map packs? Or is Activision proving Pachter, who has long predicted subscription fees for the franchise, right? Update: Kotick described "Project Beachhead" in further detail. The full quote is offered after the break.
