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Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling 'happy' with MW3 holiday sales, sees the game as closure to Soap story
Robert Bowling, Infinity Ward's creative strategist and face of the Call of Duty series, is excellent at his job, in that he knows how not to answer questions directly. It's a skill set shared by all variety of politicians, and not one prized among journalists. Why bother explaining this? Because when I asked Bowling about holiday sales of his studio's latest game, Modern Warfare 3, I wasn't surprised when he gave the company line ("I don't have any numbers I can share with you"), though he did allow, "I'm happy." Presumably we'll find out just how happy Bowling is when last month's NPDs arrive in a couple weeks. Rather than push the unspeakable, I turned my attention to more open topics, such as Modern Warfare 3's finale wrapping up the story of series leads John "Soap" MacTavish and Captain John Price. "Our goal with Modern Warfare 3 was definitely to get some closure on the story that we started with Call of Duty 4, and I think we've achieved that," Bowling said. While he wouldn't put a definitive end to their inclusion in the series, he did admit that MW3's campaign was intended as closure on the duo's story. That said, Bowling doesn't want to say "never" to the concept of either character reappearing in future CoD entries. "I never like to speak in definites when it comes to story design, because you never wanna not have an opening or an out," he told me. And hey, if Danny Trejo can appear as a DLC character, anything could happen, right?
Tour the killing fields of Modern Warfare 3's first DLC with latest media
You've been shooting dudes for nearly three months since Modern Warfare 3's early November launch, but that Elite pass has yet to offer more than a chance to watch your buddy Tim's lame gameplay clips. That's all about to change! The first DLC is nearly upon us, and here is your first tour.
Five Modern Warfare 3 DLC drops planned for next three months, 20 total over next nine months
On January 24, this year's Call of Duty DLC season kicks off on Xbox Live with other platforms to follow. Elite subscribers on Xbox 360 will have first access the new content as part of their paid membership. Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling confirmed with Joystiq the content schedule for Modern Warfare 3 and it's unsurprisingly extensive. Following the first multiplayer maps later this month ("Liberation" and "Piazza"), the plan is to offer five total DLC packages over the course of the next three months. Within the next nine months, up to September, there should be a total of 20 pieces of downloadable content available to players. A "Content Collection" in March will bundle the previously released DLC on Xbox Live for non-Elite users. "The first pack is traditional multiplayer maps, but we want to do Spec Ops missions, missions, Spec-Ops Survival, new game types, new game modes, and really look at adding things that we've never done before," Bowling said. He said that the focus across all three studios involved -- Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software -- has been to experiment with the formula this time around, to offer players content other than map pack dumps. "We said just do what you think is gonna be good. Do what's fun and, as long is fits in the Modern Warfare universe, try it! Experiment with it, and we'll take the best of the best and start polishing it up and releasing it. So that's really where our focus has been," Bowling concluded.
Best of the Rest: Arthur's picks of 2011
Battlefield 3 I love Battlefield 3. I love it almost as much as it seems to hate its players. At least, that's the way it feels sometimes, trying to get into a game, trying to get correctly squaded up, trying to find a server with room, having to use a server browser on consoles in 2011, downloading 2 GIGABYTE patches ... y u no luv me, BF3? But when it does love me, it loves me so well ... and there I go, into that cycle of abuse again.
12 Days of Joyswag: Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition and Munitio headphones
Another year, another 12 days of holiday giveaways! Between now and Christmas Day, we're doing the one thing that makes us feel truly alive: giving. Specifically, we're giving you fine folks some of the swag we've managed to collect in our cluttered home offices. And the good will and merriment doesn't stop here! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for even more chances to win! Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It's the biggest game of the year but something tells us that at least one of you still hasn't picked it up. And for that person, we've got the Hardened Edition on Xbox 360 along with a pair of MW3-themed Munitio headphones which, while they won't work with your console at all, will illustrate your brand allegiance to everyone outside your home.
Modern Warfare 3 update addresses lag, certain glitches
Good news, soldiers: The multiplayer component of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has received its sixth title update since the game's launch; a patch which addresses lag and a number of glitches players have been exploiting for their own nefarious, personal gain. Gone are the days of melee-jumping, as well as clan tags which use the controller's symbols to spell dirty words. (Bal[LS] indeed, sir.) A number of guns have also been tweaked (see: nerfed) as hotfixes introduced to the title. You can check out a full list of these readjusted armaments after the jump, and pray that your precious, precious firearm evaded the developers' all-seeing eye.
Modern Warfare 3 and the rest of the CoD family on sale today at Amazon
Many, many people have already picked up copies of this year's Call of Duty entry, Modern Warfare 3. This we know. But what about those of you hoping against logic that the game -- one of the fastest selling media properties of all time -- would drop its price relatively close to launch? Bizarrely, your time has come, with Amazon offering Modern Warfare 3 for $50 (10 percent off) across Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, today only. In fact, the entire stable of Call of Duty titles are on sale (not to mention various DS and Wii iterations) going all the way back to Modern Warfare 1. Amazon promises a day of Assassin's Creed savings tomorrow, so perhaps holding off on a purchase of Revelations this afternoon would be a smart move.
Activision trumpets $1 billion for Modern Warfare 3
As Bobby Kotick nestles himself between a cloud masquerading as a mattress and a gold-trimmed white goose down duvet (the goose has the gold trim, not the duvet), his mind can gently waft into unconsciousness, accompanied by the pleasing crackle of bloggers typing "one billion dollars." Activision announced the enormous sales figure for Modern Warfare 3 this morning, claiming the milestone flew by within 16 days of the game's launch. We hope George Michael was adequately rewarded for providing his flattest cover yet. The information is derived from retailer sell-through data and the UK's Chart-Track service, and is positioned in comparison to entertainment nemesis Hollywood, where 2009's Avatar took longer to reach the same sales (19 in total if you ask Wikipedia). James Cameron's 3D spectacle rested on an awful lot of noses and eventually reached $2 billion worldwide. Alas, that's an indication of Modern Warfare 3's diminishing returns in the news sphere. Next year, we want to see two billion bucks before we commit a sentence.
A Thanksgiving weekend close-up for Call of Duty Elite's second take
When we last spoke with Call of Duty VP of Production Daniel Suarez two weeks ago, just after the record-breaking launch of Modern Warfare 3, things weren't going so well. Sure, MW3 sold 6.5 million units in a single day, but Activision's high-profile Call of Duty Elite service fell squarely on its face. Now, two weeks later, Elite is operational and Suarez says Activision is confident the service can withstand not only the Thanksgiving holiday but a potential post-Black Friday surge. "It was a lot of hard work from where we were two weeks ago, which was an embarassing place," Suarez confessed. "And now we're at a place where we're confidant people will be able to enjoy the service." And while Elite is operational or, as Suarez put it, "up on its feet," the team continues to push out new builds almost daily. "We still have some bugs and some kinks to work out," he said. "We've been pushing out fixes everyday to address people on Twitter" and elsewhere.
GameStop moves 600K Call of Duty Elite subscriptions, a 'top 10 launch' this year
Wondering how Call of Duty Elite is doing? Well, stability-wise it's still a touch-and-go mess. But sales wise, you could call it a "hit." During an earnings call today, GameStop prez Tony Bartel said, "In the case of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, we worked closely with Activision, Sony and Microsoft to pre-order and deliver nearly 600,000 instances of the Modern Warfare Elite DLC to date." So a single retailer delivered 600,000 paying subscribers to Call of Duty Elite, on the back of 6.5 million day one purchases across all retailers. That sounds significant, right? Bartel says, "This places the launch of Elite as one of our top 10 launches of the year so far." We followed up with GameStop for some additional color, and were told Call of Duty Elite "is the most successful DLC launch of all time," for the retailer. Still think Elite was a bad idea? [Image credit: bfads.net]
Activision: Modern Warfare 3 sales reach $775 million in five days
Right on schedule, Activision announced today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has broken five-day sales records for any movie, book or video game that has come before. MW3 grossed over $775 million worldwide, beating last year's $650 million record set by Call of Duty: Black Ops and the $550 million by Modern Warfare 2 a couple years back. The game also broke Xbox Live records, with 3.3 million concurrent users on November 8, up from the 2.6 million by Black Ops. Last week, the company announced day-one sales of MW3 reached 6.5 million units in the US and UK, for a cool $400 million in 24 hours. Think they'll make another one?
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!
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%
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%
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.
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.
Kmart sold Modern Warfare 3 early, copies wind up on eBay [update 2: pre-release probably OK?]
Rumors have been circulating today that Kmart stores have been selling copies of Modern Warfare 3 prior to its official debut next week. It's clear that a handful of copies were definitely sold, as several eBay listings for the game have been popping up (and taken down) all day. At least one listing that is still active does indeed include a picture of a Kmart receipt. It seems the company got wise to the error, as all the locations we called reported the November 8 release. We suppose if you really want MW3 five days early, you might be able to snag one. Of course, that's assuming you're willing to pay upwards of $100 and the listing survives underneath eBay's watchful gaze. Incidentally, if you find yourself with a legitimate retail Xbox copy, don't worry about playing it early. Stephen Toulouse, Microsoft's Xbox Live guru, has given the all-clear on Twitter. Update: Stephen Toulouse has posted a new update on Twitter, stating that Activision has not authorized pre-release play of Modern Warfare 3. According to Toulouse, "Playing early may impact your account!" Seems a bit unfair to anyone who may have legitimately purchased the game from a retailer, but there you go. Update 2: Now Both Infinity Ward Community Dude Robert Bowling and Mr. Toulouse have clarified that players with early copies of Modern Warfare 3 will not be banned or otherwise punished for playing the game online. We think. Who can tell at this point? [Thanks, Mike]
Walmart hosting Modern Warfare 3 tournaments prior to midnight release
You can go ahead and cancel that intricate, Ocean's Eleven-style Gamestop heist you've been planning -- we've discovered a sure-fire way to get your hands on Modern Warfare 3 before its release. Just roll on up to your nearest (participating) Walmart at 8 p.m. on November 7, and you'll get to participate in a Modern Warfare 3 tournament, the winner of which will get a free copy of the game. The losers? They'll probably get those Walmart smiley face stickers. It's win-win! Sure, that just gives you four hours with the game before you can play it indefinitely in the comfort of your own gaming cave. Still, have you played competitive Call of Duty at launch before? Four hours of extra insight is enough to turn the tide of any given match. Like the Joes say, knowing is half the battle, and the other half is having ninja-like reflexes and an unending pool of tolerance for having slurs hurled at you by sixth graders.
Modern Warfare 3 blows past Deathmatch in latest multiplayer trailer
When Modern Warfare 3 deploys to retail in a few weeks, multiplayer-centric CoD fans are gonna have much more than Deathmatch to enjoy. Project co-lead Michael Condrey is happy to explain those very modes in the latest dev diary, as seen above.
The grizzled guns and leaping explosives of Modern Warfare 3
In the latest dev diary showcasing upcoming FPS blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, project leads Mark Rubin and Michael Condrey drill into the game's weapon leveling system. But while it's thrilling to learn about the game's customization updates, we're most excited by that jumping explosive. Jumping explosives!
