Dearest Lorraine,

Microsoft's Major Nelson has brought us another annual status report on enemy movements throughout Xbox Live, and it's not pretty. Conflict has surrounded us, as the enemy, Call of Duty: World at War, has spread like wildfire, becoming the most-played game last week. We tried to flank it with our platoons of Halo 3 and Gears of War 2, but, alas, the enemy had reinforcements in Call of Duty 4. Hope has diminished, and one only needs walk by the injured tent to feel the full force of the enemy's cruelty.

Lorraine, I know not if I will return home. I have managed to live longer than most, but, I feel there's that one bullet out there with my name on it, relentlessly pursuing its new home. Please, take care of my Gamertag when I am gone (I think my Gold subscription ends next month, so look into that), and be sure to earn as many Achievements for me as you can. I suggest you start with Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Yours Truly,
Gus

According to the most recent data, Call of Duty 4 has sold nearly 3 hojillion units since its 2007 release, and Activision says that a fifth of Call of Duty: World at War players were new to the franchise. By its math, that means Modern Warfare 2 is poised to become the biggest-selling Call of Duty game ever.

We don't want to be jerks about this, and we know it's not really the point but at what point does this stop being a Call of Duty game? Like, is the absence of the words "call," "of," and "duty" from the title not enough to separate it from the franchise? At what point to restraining orders need to be involved?

With the release of the recent full-length trailer for Modern Warfare 2, the gaming populous' attention has been turned away from the original Modern Warfare (considering the game's getting a follow-up, we think its Modern-ness could be disputed by this point, but we digress). However, Infinity Ward community commissar Robert Bowling (a.k.a. fourzerotwo) recently stopped by Major Nelson's podcast to explain why CoD4 shouldn't be ignored quite yet -- it just hit the remarkable 13 million player mark on Xbox Live.

This number is impressive for two reasons: First, it's two million more players than the last Xbox Live total we heard for Modern Warfare back in March. The second reason has been mentioned by a few gaming blogs already -- it's surpassed the total number of World of Warcraft players. Impressive? Well, yes -- though nobody is forced to subscribe to Call of Duty 4. As far as pure, lucrative retention is concerned, we think WoW still takes the cake.

It's good to be the king, and no other title would know that better than Halo 3, which still reigns supreme at the top of the Xbox Live activity charts. According to Major Nelson, the latest figures show Bungie's crouching-on-dead-enemy-faces-sim beating out other fan favorites, Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty 4.

On the XBLA side, the dual release of Virtual On and Banjo-Tooie proved to be quite the alluring mix, as both titles populated the top of the XBLA list. Now if only we could get a game that combines birds, backpacks, bears, and gigantic death machines ...

According to @fourzerotwo, Infinity Ward is in the final stages of crafting a patch that will take aim at cheaters on the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty 4. The patch is in the certification process right now and should hit the battlefield soon, so if you've found yourself on the receiving end of a nasty cheat (with 15 million players, odds are you have), know that reinforcements are on the way.

For an almost two-year old game, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare still possesses an uncanny amount of pluck. It's become a bellwether for judging modern first-person shooters, and still regularly places high in the Xbox Live activity charts. However, Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling recently revealed the most convincing testimony of the game's success while accepting CoD 4's three BAFTA Awards in London earlier this week -- according to Bowling, the game's online multiplayer component has played host to just over 15 million players.

Bowling clarified that 11 million of said players joined CoD 4's ranks via Xbox Live, while over four million entered the fray on PSN. He didn't even mention how many PC gamers had gotten their war on, though we're sure that when combined with the console players, CoD 4's total online population would rival that of many average-sized countries.

Our very personal bestest friend, Major Nelson, has posted Xbox Live activity for the week of March 2nd. Halo continues its never-ending battle with Call of Duty with Halo 3 nudging World at War from the top spot. Call of Duty 4, Gears of War 2 (somehow) and GTAIV round out the top five.

The Halo series receives some backup this week, with newcomer Halo Wars debuting at number six. On top of that, the Halo Wars demo inched up the top ten, moving from the ninth most played to the eighth. FIFA 09 moves up a notch to number 9, shoving Street Fighter IV to the tenth spot.

Considering the limited edition of Halo Wars including the Mythic Map Pack, it might have had something to do with Halo 3 reclaiming the top spot. The big question now is whether or not Halo Wars can maintain its momentum. As one of the few RTS games to make a big splash on consoles, you can bet Microsoft is watching it closely.

Call of Duty 4's own Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling just posted that, all next week, there will be a huge CoD4 celebration. One that's full of money savings, experience earning and new playlist playing.

Beginning Tuesday, February 24, the Variety Map Pack will be priced at 50% off the normal 800 / $10 admission fee. Then, on Friday, February 27, Infinity Ward will welcome gamers into the multiplayer mix by flipping the CoD4 double XP switch to the "ON" position. Finally, fourzerotwo himself will be pulling an all-nighter Friday night and adding a new Hardcore Headquarters playlist for the double XP killing shenanigans. It's a week-long Call of Duty 4 party, just without the booze, party streamers and all the post-party cleanup.

Chew on this: Call of Duty: World at War had greater combined US sales on current-gen consoles in its first three months of release than did Call of Duty 4. World at War achieved this milestone despite COD4 outselling it by nearly 400,000 Xbox 360 units during the comparable months. A rise in PS3 sales from COD4 to World at War -- just over 130,000 units -- helped to slightly offset this difference, but the introduction of a Wii version of World at War (COD4 had no such entry) tipped the scales in favor of the latest Call of Duty entry. In December alone, the Wii World at War (pictured) sold more than 366,000 units.

This trend spotting is a result of analyst Matt Matthews' work (published on Gamasutra) and seems to indicate that Wii is a profitable platform for third-party publishers; at least, for Activision, which had two multiplatform titles with Wii versions in the January NPD Top 10. As for our Xbox 360 and PS3 sales assumptions, uh, analysis? Gears of War 2 and Left 4 Dead definitely hindered World at War sales on Xbox 360 from November through January, while on PS3, there simply wasn't a strong resistance to choosing World at War as the holiday's go-to shooter. Will Modern Warfare 2 follow suit? We expect a surge in both PS3 and Xbox 360 enlisters -- but we're not sold on the concept of modern warfare on Wii ... and neither is Infinity Ward, we imagine.

Alright, perhaps "debate" is a somewhat enthusiastic label for a question none of us have ever seriously considered. Which is more worthy of a prestigious award -- the cratered theater of war in Activision's Call of Duty 4, or the smiling planetoids of Super Mario Galaxy? We can't come up with a way to decide, which is precisely why we're grateful that the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards (for games that are sold by GAME) have decided to lump both into the "Best Game" category:

• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Fable II
• Fallout 3
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Rock Band
• Super Mario Galaxy

Before you object to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' seemingly outdated choices, note that the period of valid entries spans October 26, 2007 to December 31, 2008 due to an earlier delay in ceremonies. The messy result, of course, is two Novembers duking it out. You'll see the rest of the quality-riddled categories after the break.

Call of Duty 4 community manager fourzerotwo decided to post some statistical CoD4 fun. And after some quick number crunching, we learn that (on the Xbox 360 alone) over 10 million unique players have logged onto Xbox Live to game it up on CoD4 since launch. Not too shab. Taking into account the PS3's unique player numbers, CoD4 has logged over 14 million players total.

Look below for more statistical CoD4 number fun, including the number of gamers who have completed Airplane on Veteran difficulty. Mr. Xav de Matos wanted us to point out that he helped contribute to the 2.8% completion rate. He so l33t.

• 71.1% have completed F.N.G.
• 68.8% have completed Cargo Ship
• 46.5% have beaten the game on any difficulty.
• 2.8% have completed Airplane on Veteran difficulty.

Infinity Ward Community Manager Robert Bowling Fourzerotwo has released some player statisticalz from a little game called Call of Duty 4. The data, pulled on Jan. 3, reveals that 10 million unique users have played CoD 4 on Xbox 360 and connected to Live "at least once" after playing.

Going deeper down the fox hole (yes, it's called a mixed metaphor), Infinity Ward checked specific data on certain levels:

• 71.1%, or 7,111,508 people have completed F.N.G.
• 68.8%, or 6,886,509 people have completed Cargo Ship.
• 46.5%, or 5,654,643 people have beaten the game on any difficulty.
• 2.8%, or 283,632 people have completed Airplane on Veteran difficulty.

Comparatively, pulling the multiplayer numbers from PSN revealed 4,381,276 unique users. Now we just want to know how many tries it took that 2.8% to complete Airplane on Veteran.

That Combustible map pack didn't seem to ignite much passion into Gears of War 2, as the shoe-in for Best Shooter Involving a Chain Saw-infused Rifle Award remains numero quartro on the Xbox Live activity chart for last week. The game was also 4th place the week prior, and 3rd place for two consecutive weeks before that. Far from being a bad position, but it's certainly not dominating the service like its predecessor.

Staying strong at top is Halo 3, followed by the Call of Duty: World at War and CoD4, respectively. The promotional Dash of Destruction managed to take 6th place, and somehow bumped Fallout 3 from 8th to oblivion. Full list after the break.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Gears of War 2 continues slipping down Xbox Live's activity chart, according to Major Nelson's latest report. For the week of Dec. 8, Marcus and company are at the #4 spot, behind top dawgs Halo 3, CoD: World at War and Call of Duty 4.

Feel free to let the theories fly as to why the mega-hit title, which holds most of its value in the multiplayer, has slid so fast. Perhaps the new maps and matchmaking server tweaks will bring players back in the coming weeks?