call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3
Latest
Amazon: Buy One, Get One 50% Off on MW3, Skyrim, Arkham City, Uncharted 3, and more
Amazon calls this deal "Buy One, Get One 50% Off" but we prefer to think of it as "Get Two $60 Games for Just $45 Each." Normally, these kinds of deals have perhaps one marquee title playing the role of siren, calling your wallet-shaped ship to its rocky, mediocre-game covered shores; however, this deal is different. Blockbuster titles like Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3, Rage, and more are available choices, with some junk like The Black Eyed Peas Experience and Go Vacation, just to keep us on our toes. With this many options, we're more inclined to think of it as a "Buy Three, Get One Free" deal. This offer is good for a "limited time," which we think means "not long."
Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 tech compared by Digital Foundry
Denizens of the internet have pitted Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 against each other in all manner of arenas -- story, multiplayer, level design, slow-motion door breaching sequences -- but what about WHO HAS THE BEST INTERFACE LATENCY? Digital Foundry tackles one of gaming's fiercest rivalries in a way that's more educational than incendiary, focusing on the ways in which the technology powering each franchise has evolved over the years. With sophisticated lighting techniques and more granular destruction, DICE's Frostbite 2 engine seems primed to embrace a next generation of systems, while Infinity Ward's slick performer maintains its seductive framerate on consoles and lightning-fast controls. It's presented as another round between two shooter giants, but the commentary on the underlying technology, which is demonstrably different despite similar scenarios and subject matter, is a good reminder of how much time, research and investment is poured into EA and Activision's flagship products -- beyond the boisterous marketing.
Modern Warfare 3 nukes UK charts, many seek refuge in Skyrim
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the game that sold 6.5 million copies on its first day, couldn't help but be at the top of the UK charts last week (filed under: duh!). In the region, MW3 had sales that put it on even footing with last year's Call of Duty: Black Ops in terms of units sold, but it grossed more revenue in its opening weekend than the prior entry. It's not all modern warfare -- there's also plenty of the fantastic, medieval variety going on. Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim placed second, but merely because it launched in the shadow of MW3. Skyrim sold twice as many units as Fallout: New Vegas, the publisher's previous largest launch. Skyrim also became the fifth largest launch of the year, follwing MW3, FIFA 12, Battlefield 3 and slightly behind Gears of War 3. Find the UK top ten after the break.
How Beachhead is putting Call of Duty: Elite back together again
With Call of Duty Elite still struggling to serve its much-touted blend of stats and features to the throng of Modern Warfare 3 consumers, we asked Call of Duty VP of Production Daniel Suarez to explain the outage, what Activision and Beachhead Studios are doing to fix it, and when we might finally be able to see what Elite is all about. After months of hype, confusion, controversy, and promises, the ambitious web service has failed to launch and, in so doing, has failed to silence the skeptics. It didn't take long to realize Elite wouldn't hold up to the traffic. Beachhead Studios chief Chacko Sonny posted a notice on the Call of Duty Elite status page in the early morning hours of launch day, but the game had been in consumers' hands for some time. "It's a worlwide launch for MW3 and Elite, so we had a launch occuring Monday late afternoon with Australia and then everything kicking in into Europe and then into the East Coast in the US and then the West Coast," Suarez recounted. "So the launch of MW3 had been huge and we knew it would be huge, it just translated into a tremendous amount of traffic to Elite. And we anticipated it to be big, it just turned out to be even bigger than that." The problems began at the earliest stage of the process: registration. "The high demand from the console application and registration on the website from the PC really crippled the registration and login process which then translated into the backend servers being slammed," Suarez explained. "So we've been working around the clock to alleviate access into the system and we've had a large number of people now able to register. We've resolved that piece of it and now we're actually working on getting the service back up and running to a point where poeple can then enjoy it."
The Joystiq Show - 012: Desert Bus to Skyrim
Big games are still hitting shelves, and at least one member of this episode's Now Playing segment would argue that one of them is a hurdle to marriage – see what you've done Todd Howard? It's not all Justin pouring love on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim though, Griffin has a few things to say about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Richard has some kind words for Rayman Origins. In Part 2 Richard chats with Jamie Dillion, Project Manager at Child's Play. If you are not familiar with this Penny Arcade-founded charity for children's hospitals, you may just be a bad person, but here's where you can turn it all around. This week's show final segment continues the philanthropic trend with an interview with LoadingReadyRun's Graham Stark, Paul Saunders, and Kathleen De Vere about their annual masochistic charity drive, Desert Bus for Hope. Part 1 (1:40) - Now Playing: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Rayman Origins Part 2 (47:22) - Interview: Child's Play Part 3 (1:04:09) - Interview: Desert Bus for Hope Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast in iTunes [Zune] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Host: Richard Mitchell (@SenseiRAM) Guests: Jamie Dillion, Graham Stark (@graham_lrr), Paul Saunders, and Kathleen De Vere (@kathleen_lrr) Producer: Jonathan Downin (@jonathandownin - Game Thing Daily) Production Coordinator: Richard Mitchell Music: Trash80 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim View the full guest list and stream the show after the break.
Activision donates $3 million to Call of Duty Endowment
We suppose when your latest product launches to the tune of $400 million in a single day, you can afford to be generous. Tucked away in the press release announcing the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launch day sales numbers, Activision also revealed its latest donation to the Call of Duty Endowment, which is devoted to assisting various veterans organizations. The company donated $3 million to the endowment, noting that it has previously donated $2 million and that the endowment has "provided more than $1.5 million in grants and scholarships to veterans' organizations across the country" since it was founded in 2009.
Modern Warfare 3 sells 6.5M in biggest day-one ever
We all need some extra cash in the holiday season, and if you're looking for someone to hit up for a loan, we'd recommend your rich Uncle Activision. The company just announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sold 6.5 million units in the US and UK on its first day, good for $400 million. To put it in perspective, that's the biggest day-one for any entertainment product ever in history. This tops previous records set by Modern Warfare 2: a paltry $310 million and Black Ops, estimated to have made $360 million in its first day. Of course, analysts had pre-orders pegged at roughly 9 million, so you know what that means to Battlefield 3 fans. Yes, Modern Warfare 3 is a huge disappointment falling well short of expectations. See, internet? Everybody wins!
Call of Duty Elite still 'intermittent,' annual memberships bumped to 13 months
While Modern Warfare 3 appears to be continuing the trend of stable, successful Call of Duty multiplayer launches, the much-ballyhooed Call of Duty Elite service hasn't fared so well. Despite a beta and a solid indication of the platform's requirements, Elite has been down since launch day. While Activision and Beachhead Studios continue to toil away on the problem, they've added another update to the CoD Elite status page letting eager gamers know what's what. "And for our premium members who are Founders, know that granting your status and delivering your in-game benefits in MW3 is a priority," the statement reads, addressing the early paid adopters of Elite. "Also, to ensure that every premium member receives their full money's worth, we are immediately and automatically extending your membership to Call of Duty Elite by 30 days at no additional cost." So that means your one-year membership is now a thirteen-month membership. But what if you haven't bought Elite yet? "If you're still considering becoming a premium member, we're going to extend Founder eligibility until the end of the month," the statement continues, "and you will also receive the additional 30 days of access." So that's thirteen months of Elite and a one-month extension on Founder eligibility. A decent enough consolation package for premium members, but the free users will have to simply wait for Elite to get back online before they can start tweaking their loadouts from work. Stay tuned for an interview with Activision on what's happening with Call of Duty Elite.
Metareview: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
We said that "Modern Warfare 3 is a great Call of Duty game, just as every other entry in the franchise is a great Call of Duty game." It's not perfect, but it's the best at what it does... and what it does best is make a whole ton of money. Here's what others had to say: OXM (95/100): "Sure, we can come up with a list of things we'd love to see from the series - whether it's a revamped campaign approach or a revitalized game engine and aesthetic - but when everything here is this well-executed and offers so many enduring thrills, it's hard to knock it too much. MW3 absolutely delivers." Game Trailers (93/100): "As attention spans dissipate, games like this strike the sweet spot of time spent versus reward gained. Yet there's also an extremely deep multiplayer experience where the changes seem minimal but pack a big punch. If you're expecting a huge departure from what's come before you'll be disappointed, but fans will get exactly what they're looking for. World War III shouldn't be this fun." Gamespot (85/100): "Whatever diversions or innovations may lie in Modern Warfare 3's future, the competitive multiplayer still offers the same sweet satisfaction you've come to expect from the series. This is some of the best online shooter action around, and with the daunting challenges of Spec Ops and the exciting, globe-trotting campaign, Modern Warfare 3 stands tall as another great descendant of the game that changed a generation. " Eurogamer (80/100): "Whatever next year's entry brings, some measure of reinvention will be essential. For now, its exuberant blend of testicular bravado and blockbuster gloss ensures that Call of Duty retains its crown as the shooter genre's biggest, boldest rollercoaster ride for at least one more year."%Gallery-138663%
All of Modern Warfare 3's intel already catalogued
You haven't found all the intel in Modern Warfare 3 yet? What's the holdup? The game has been out for, like, hours. WikiGameGuides has the locations of all 46, available in both video and text form. In case you're slow to conclusions as well, we'll warn you that there are spoilers here.
Modern Warfare 3 pre-orders near 9 million, analyst says
According to Lazard Capital Markets' Atul Bagga, as reported by GameSpot, pre-orders for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 were nearly three times that of Battlefield 3, which pegs Activision's shooter at around 9 million pre-orders. The estimate puts Modern Warfare 3 pre-orders roughly 70 percent ahead of those for Modern Warfare 2 and 55 percent beyond Call of Duty: Black Ops. Furthermore, the analyst expects Modern Warfare 3 to move a full 20 million copies by the end of the year. Those aren't exactly outlandish estimates, given the success of the franchise. Perhaps a more interesting study would be to gauge how many people are skipping work to play. Frankly, with Skyrim launching later this week, we fear worldwide productivity will flatline forever.
Activision: Call of Duty Elite capacity increasing to serve user rush
Wouldn't you know it? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and its premium "Elite" service are damned popular. And somehow, much like EA with every Battlefield ever, Activision has been caught unawares by just how popular it is, warning potential users that "Registration requests for our new live service Call of Duty Elite are exceeding even our most optimistic expectations, which is creating a bottleneck and some players have not been able to register." Beachhead studio head Chacko Sonny (writing from the beach, we hope, for symmetry's sake) assured players in this status message that their "gameplay data is safe" and will be right there when they finally manage to get signed up for Elite. Activision and Beachhead are working "around the clock" to increase Elite capacity. Of course, when more people get in, it'll stop being elite. More like Call of Duty Inclusive.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's Hardened Edition, unboxed
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is finally out and available in stores, and if you're considering picking up the Hardened Edition (available in most places for $99.99, a mere $40 more than the standard edition), boy do we have a gallery for you to browse through. Below, you can see exactly what's in that box, including a collectible case, a "Limited Edition Field Journal" featuring sketches and materials associated with the game and its story, and the special card and manual that comes with the free year of Call of Duty Elite (and "Founder" status). Sure, it doesn't have quite as many dragons as Skyrim's Collectors Edition, but that Call of Duty Elite membership will come in handy (not to mention it'll save you the $49.99 that you'd usually pay per year for the service's premium features). Enjoy. %Gallery-138747%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review: Firing down the sights
The narrative around Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is competing at this point for attention with the game's content itself. This is the title that Infinity Ward was working on when the famous split between Activision and studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West went down. The game was subsequently developed by not one but three different studios from then on (and according to the game's credits, Neversoft and Treyarch helped out as well, which makes this practically an all-hands-on-deck effort for Activision). And then there's Call of Duty Elite, and all of the questions about which of its online features would be placed behind the paywall. There are the comparisons to Battlefield 3, EA's similarly lauded shooter-blockbuster. This will undoubtedly be the biggest game release of 2011, following up two of the best-selling games of all-time, produced by some of the biggest traditional console developers around. All of that attention is distracting -- there's a lot going on with this game that has nothing to do with the game itself. When you take away all of the sturm und drang of the franchise and its developers, what you've got left is just a video game. Just an experience, with a six-hour (or so) campaign, a deep and compelling multiplayer match system, and a set of co-op missions paired with a survival mode. The bombast which surrounds Modern Warfare 3 distracts from what's important about the game: It is, put simply, one of the best shooters around.%Gallery-138663%
Call of Duty and Battlefield face off in timeline
A new infographic by Visual.ly does a good job comparing the success of the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises. We use the term "comparing" here very loosely, as when the two are put side to side, there is no comparison when it comes to sales, despite EA's (recently toned down) rhetoric on the subject. The timeline covers the sales and Metacritic ratings of the two franchises' multiple iterations over the near decade of their existence. It ends with EA's reported 5 million sales of Battlefield 3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launches tomorrow and, if recent history is any indication, it should be another Battlefield-obliterating sales juggernaut.
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.
Report: French delivery truck hijacked, 6,000 copies of Modern Warfare 3 stolen
A delivery truck in Créteil, France carrying 6,000 copies of Modern Warfare 3 was hijacked and stolen on Saturday by two masked people, French news outlets TFI and Ultimate PS3 reported. The truck crashed with a car, and when the truck's drivers exited, two people in masks tear-gassed them before taking off with the games, TFI said. The shipment was reported to be worth 400,000 euros ($551,000). If you're in the Créteil area and happen to see two people in a delivery truck grinning like maniacs and most likely high-fiving a lot, you may want to contact the authorities. And everyone -- let's settle down. Modern Warfare 3 comes out on Tuesday. It's not worth jail time to play this one a few hours early.
Modern Warfare 3 live-action video prepares the vet and the n00b for war
Are you ready for Modern Warfare 3? No, really -- are you ready? After almost a full year of trailers, conventions, in-fighting and speculation, we don't think you're fully prepared for the game to launch on Tuesday. We think you need one more video, this time in live action and featuring Jonah Hill, Sam Worthington and Dwight Howard. Are you ready now?
PSA: You [probably] won't be banned for playing MW3 early - we think
At this point, you'd be forgiven for not knowing up from down with regards to early copies of next week's Modern Warfare 3. Is it safe to play online? Will you be banned? Where could you even find a copy of Modern Warfare 3 early? We can't blame you. Even we haven't even been sure – after some vaguely foreboding comments from Xbox Live's Stephen Toulouse earlier today, we felt compelled to warn you all that maybe, just maybe you should put that $1700, three-day early copy of Modern Warfare 3 on the shelf until Tuesday. But, in the event your neck isn't sore from all the back and forth over the last 36 hours, we've got the final definitive word from Activision itself... we hope: "We value and appreciate the community's support. We have no interest in banning legitimate copies in these last few days. We just ask for everyone to wait for Tuesday when everybody can play the game together." So, we guess you can play Modern Warfare 3 – assuming you've committed the dark retail magic necessary to acquire it early that it. Us? We'll be over here in the corner, where we don't have to look right or left for a while.
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."
