There's not really much more to say, is there? Publisher Activision notes that the 8 million folks dabbled in Modern Warfare 2 during its first week of release, which outnumbers basically every major organized army on the planet, Activision gloats. Obviously, the publisher forgot to factor in Antarctica's Grand Army of the Penguins' Republic, currently numbering in the tens of millions but, in the interest of celebration, we're willing to overlook this oversight.

On a side note, this is good news for Electronic Arts, because there's obviously a market for these newfangled war games.

When Square Enix enlisted to localize Modern Warfare 2 for Japan, the publisher went above and beyond the call of duty. The game would be issued a complete Japanese-dialog makeover -- whereas the first Modern Warfare localization was simply subtitled -- in response to a "strong desire from Activision to widen the entrance for beginning FPS players," as Square Enix told Famitsu. However, some gamers are reporting that the extra effort has fallen short, citing numerous translation errors in the localized game. [Insert your Bill Murray joke here.]

Additionally, Japanese site My Game Flash has rounded up other complaints about the localization, most notably an alteration to the sensationalized "No Russian" mission. Rather than delete the mission (as in the censored Russian version), Square Enix had the Japanese version of the mission adjusted to restrict the player from participating in a terrorist assault on an airport. If the player does engage civilian targets, it's game over.

Square Enix has posted an update on the Modern Warfare 2 Japanese site describing the full Japanese language and subtitle tracks and warning of the "No Russian" edits, but has not announced plans to patch the translation errors or change the limitations on the censored mission. The publisher has cited technical limitations, which prevent selectable English and Japanese language tracks. Head past the break to see some footage of the Japanese version of MW2, courtesy of andriasang.

[Via andriasang]

Source - My Game Flash [machine translation]
Source - Famitsu [machine translation]
Source - Modern Warfare 2 Japanese site

Oh, you think it's funny, making your virtual soldier explode with the force of a small supernova every time he gets killed? Yeah, we suppose it is. Know what else is funny? Getting banned from Xbox Live. Oh, wait, did we say funny? We meant really unpleasant. However, according to Xbox Live's Director of Policy and Enforcement, Stephen Toulouse, using Modern Warfare 2's Javelin glitch (an unsavory practice demoed in this video) is cheating, as defined by the service's Terms of Use. According to Toulouse, anyone caught self-detonating will be banned for 24 hours, or if caught repeatedly, two weeks.

For us honest folk, it seems the wait for a patch, which will cull the kamikaze epidemic, will be short. Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling tweeted yesterday that a fix is currently being tested, and, "once it's cleared, we'll be urging it through Microsoft & Sony certification as fast as possible." Keep the fire, troops. We can make it through this thing together.

What do you do once you've directed actors for a game that's piled up millions faster than pretty much everything? Well, if you follow the Keith Arem School of Thought, you move on to directing in film. Variety reports that Arem's just signed on to direct upcoming action-thriller Frost Road -- the story of a man who awakens from a car crash to find the world is infected with a deadly disease to which he is inexplicably immune.

Moving on to movie making is not much of a stretch for Arem, who was the talent director responsible for rounding up actors and coordinating their efforts in Modern Warfare 2. He also penned the script for Frost Road, so we're totally expecting the protagonist to have one bitchin' mustache.

If you've played any of the recent Call of Duty games -- and chances are good that you have -- then you'll be right at home with Call of Duty Classic, the latest release on Xbox Live Arcade. Of course, there's also a good chance that you're still knee-deep in Modern Warfare 2. So, the question you have to ask is how much do you want to take in some gaming history? If that desire is equal to or greater than $15 (1200), then go right ahead.

Shortcut: Download the trial version of Call of Duty Classic [Via Xbox.com]

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If you've been sitting around on your fat stacks of cash, waiting to pick up an extra DJ Hero controller then now is the time, friend. Activision sent along a press release stating that the turntable controllers are now in stock at the Guitar Hero Store for $70 a pop, $40 cheaper than the regular, game-packing bundle.

With a weak showing on October's NPD charts and UK retailers slashing prices, we can't say we fully understand Activision's decision to charge so much for the turntables. From our vantage point, it looks like this: if Activision came down on the price a bit, more people would buy a second controller and have their friends try the game. Then, maybe those people would go out and buy their own set-up. Isn't that a novel idea?

Erik Estavillo has been given a handful of nicknames by the press recently – he listed "Professional/PSN Plaintiff," "The Serial Suer" and a few others when he spoke with Joystiq this morning. He assured us though, time and time again, "That WoW lawsuit, that's my final lawsuit. So people know, I'm not suing any more companies." In case you missed it, Estavillo is currently engaged in four separate lawsuits – one with Microsoft, one with Nintendo, one with Sony (in both Federal and State court), and one with Activision Blizzard. "One lawsuit for each major console maker and one for the PC, so four total," he clarified to us.

Aside from seeking money (anywhere from as low as $180 to $1 million, depending on the case), we asked Estavillo what his intentions were behind launching the multiple lawsuits. "What I wanted to do was exploit the weakness of each console and show that they're not impervious to flaws ... each console has a flaw and they should fix it," he said. During the interview as well as in some of his court filings, Estavillo claimed to be suffering from a variety of psychological maladies, and has repeatedly stated that he uses online gaming as his primary form of communication. "I told this other interviewer and it's true – I actually have no friends. I rely on online gameplay for socialization."

Though he's yet to win a case, his first (by default) could come as soon as December 3 – the end of Sony's 30 days to respond to a summons. If he does, that would mean $180,000 and a "no contest" ruling against Sony. Though he said he'll keep some of the money he may win, he noted that, "Half the money I get is gonna go to God. I'm giving half the money I get to CBN [Christian Broadcasting Network], local churches, charities, or poor people on the street."

We talked to Estavillo about a variety of other topics – from what games he plays to why he's subpoenaing celebrities instead of experts – but due to sheer length we've broken the rest of the interview out after the break.

Update: Erik Estavillo emailed us this evening to say that Sony has responded to his summons, thus closing out the possibility of a default settlement. The first hearing will be in early 2010.

And there it is, people: The second "mystery" teaser for this year's Spike VGA award show, shown first here on Joystiq. (The first, you'll recall, was 2K Games' franchise reboot of Spec Ops). Since we don't have any insider info on the developer or the publisher behind the game, we'll simply share what we know: This is a new, unannounced game that will be revealed for the first time at the VGAs; the trailer's narration is delivered by a "well-known actor" (Tom Wilkinson?); and the reveal at the VGAs will have actual gameplay.

Share your best educated guesses in the comments below and we'll bubble the best to the top. We'll start you out: That's a Hong Kong police badge, so we're saying True Crime 3: Hong Kong.

[Update: Internet sleuth superannuation posits that this mystery title is none other than Black Lotus, the as-of-yet-unnamed Activision-published, United Front-developed action title announced earlier this year. Just about the only thing we know about the project on the record is that it's "a new action-based game set in Hong Kong" by the studio working on ModNation Racers. Do we have a winner?]

Activision is pulling out a majority of the stops for the last month of 2009, adding a highly varied assortment of tracks to Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero throughout the next 31 days. Included are track packs from OneRepublic and The Fall of Troy, an "Indie Rock" pack which includes songs from Spoon, Pavement and Nada Surf, a "New Years Rock" pack which features music from Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and No Doubt, and finally, a totally free song which will arrive shortly before the holidays: Steve Ouimette's version of "Hark The Herald Angels Sing."

These songs follow the franchise's usual DLC pricing structure: Each single track will cost 160 ($2, 200 Wii Points), while each track pack will cost 440 ($5.50, 550 Wii Points). For a full list of song titles and release dates, just click past the break.

Activision announced this morning that, according to data garnered from the NPD, ChartTrack, GfK and internal estimates, the Call of Duty franchise has accumulated $3 billion-with-a-b in sales over its lifetime. As all but the densest among you have likely deduced, CoD was put over the top by the release of Modern Warfare 2, which moved $550 million in its first five days on sale.

For a bit of perspective, $3 billion is pretty darn close to the gross domestic product of the Kingdom of Swaziland, a comparison that's especially appropriate when you realize that 54 percent of Swazis have a Gamerscore over 20,000. ... Oh, wait, this doesn't say "a Gamerscore over 20,000," it says "access to clean water." Sorry, smudge on the page.

We all have guilty pleasures, this much we all know. But some guilty pleasures are too guilty. Case in point: Michael Bay's Transformers movies. We bring this up because some new Avatar items based on his work -- and consequent games -- are now available for purchase on Xbox Live, including the Optimus Prime and Megatron helmets you see above, as well as several branded t-shirts. Now, if you want to run to your Xbox and drop some real money on these fake duds right now, fine, more power to you. However, if you expect to still be on our friends' list afterward, well, we should probably talk.

Now that Modern Warfare 2 has smashed launch records -- raking in serious cash in the process -- the way is paved for inevitable downloadable content. DLC will likely rake in serious cash of its own, according to Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter, who tells IndustryGamers that DLC could bring in an additional $100-140 million in revenue next year. The figure is based on the DLC attach rate for the previous Call of Duty title, World at War, which sold 0.625 downloadable map packs per copy, according to Schachter. At $10 each, that means every copy of World at War generated an additional $6.25 after the initial retail purchase.

Assuming there are 14-16 million copies of Modern Warfare 2 in players homes by the time DLC launches, Schachter says the content could generate up to $140 million, minus the portion Activision has to pay to platform holders that host the DLC. Schachter also believes DLC will go beyond map packs, theorizing that Infinity Ward could offer in-game items, new game modes and new missions (more co-op sniping, please). Of course, expanded DLC content could result in higher prices this time around.

Only time will tell how well Modern Warfare 2 does post launch but, regardless of what kind of content is on offer, we imagine it will probably do okay.

War Child International is a coalition of organizations that seeks to aid children affected by war. Activision UK and GAME have decided to pitch in and are joining up to host an online event next weekend in Modern Warfare 2, asking that UK citizens play a bit of the game on Xbox Live. The more people enlist for action online, the more Activision UK will donate to the charity.

If you're looking for more information on the event, there's a Facebook page and a Twitter account set up to help coordinate. If you've got a busy weekend ahead of you on December 4, try to make time for at least one online match. It's not every day you can make someone else's life better just by playing a video game.

The release of Call of Duty: World at War Zombies on iPhone seems to prove the sales power of the Call of Duty brand. FingerGaming reports that the $10 app topped the iPhone sales chart this week, dethroning Bejeweled 2. Or perhaps it's the combined influence of the brand and making a gam3 with Z0MB1ES!!!1

We have to wonder, however, who is the audience for this game? Presumably It would appear from sales that everyone interested in playing Call of Duty was busy playing Modern Warfare 2 last week.

... Oh, no. You guys aren't playing this in the bathroom between Modern Warfare 2 missions, are you? Don't tell us.

We're so proud of the individuals who managed to play through the pain radiating from their twisted, throbbing ankle, and craft a review for the latest (peripheral-infused) installment in the Hawkman's gaming franchise, Tony Hawk: Ride. Here's what these brave, persistent critics had to say about the experience.

• Game Informer (5.75/10): "As a skateboarder and as a gamer, Tony Hawk: Ride is a curious idea but a letdown in practice. The huge level of frustration is not worth the time it takes to master the awkward gameplay idiosyncrasies."
• IGN (5/10): "The idea? A more immersive skateboarding game that would ride the recent wave of hit games featuring their own custom controllers. The result? An expensive proposition that neither casual nor hardcore gamers will get much out of."
• GameSpy (2.5/5 Stars): "As expected, Tony Hawk Ride is an experiment -- an interesting and ambitious experiment, but one that doesn't come together as a fully functional experience. I love the basic feel of the board, and had occasional bouts of fun amidst frequent frustration, but THR's gargantuan buy-in price is an awful lot to ask of an effective guinea pig audience."
• Giant Bomb (1/5 Stars): "While the Tony Hawk franchise has been down on its luck lately, and was probably in need of a reboot as dramatic as this, the execution is such a miserable failure that it manages to splash even more mud on Tony Hawk's legacy. I'm left with a firm belief that whichever side of the Tony Hawk/Activision partnership has the out clause in the contract should just exercise it and part ways for good. Enough is enough. "