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Call of Duty 4 maps coming to PC June 5

by Griffin McElroy { May 31st 2008 at 2:30PM }

Those on active virtual duty in Call of Duty 4 have seen combat in all manner of locales during their tours -- though earlier this year, their theater of operations saw a major expansion with the "Variety" map pack, allowing them to get their war on in four new exotic, terrorist-rich locations. Unfortunately, these lush warzones were only available to those playing the game's console iterations, and devout WASD-ers were left out of the new territories.

Fear not, mousegrabbers, your day has come -- or rather, it is coming on June 5, according to Infinity Ward figurehead fourzerotwo. As expected from a map pack that's been available on other formats for nearly two months, the pack will be free to download on PC thanks to a sponsorship from NVIDIA. Little has changed for the PC versions of the four maps, though we find it regrettable that "Chinatown" is now known as "NVIDIAtown" and the Spetsnaz have been renamed the "GeForce Freedom Fighters".

[Via Evil Avatar]

PS3 Call of Duty 4 Map Pack finally hammers down solid release dates

by Majed Athab { Apr 17th 2008 at 9:45AM }

Apparently, there was nothing to worry about. The Variety Map Pack will hit the North American PSN on April 24 as previously scheduled. European Call of Duty 4 fans can pick up the downloadable content from the Euro PSN on May 1.

Double XP weekend for North America will commence on Friday, April 25 at midnight Pacific Time. It will run through Saturday until Sunday, April 27 ending also at midnight Pacific Time. "Play with Infinity Ward" will be on Friday, April 25 at 5-8pm Pacific. As for Europe, Double XP weekend begins Friday, May 2 at midnight GMT and will end Sunday, May 4 at midnight GMT. Europe's "Play with Infinity Ward" is on Friday, May 2 at 7-10pm GMT.

Call of Duty 4's Map Pack is ready, release date uncertain

by Majed Athab { Apr 15th 2008 at 1:00PM }

It turns out that the previously posted date of April 24 is not the finalized date for Call of Duty 4's Variety Map Pack. Infinity Ward's Fourzerotwo, on his personal blog, has divulged that the new downloadable content for the PSN is "taking a bit longer than expected."

Essentially, all the logistics for the DLC have been worked out, and it's just a matter of waiting on an official release date. Fourzerotwo stated, "I got word today that the Variety Map Pack for PS3 has went amazingly well through Certification at Sony and they plan on having it available on the brand spanking new PSN store in the coming weeks."

Fourzerotwo also assures PS3 gamers that the "Play With Infinity Ward" and "Double XP" weekend events will be coming along with the launch of the map pack. ~~There is still no word on the PS3 GOTY edition.~~ A PS3 Game of the Year edition is coming, yet no word on its release yet.

Call of Duty 4 online play is 'monstrously huge'

by Majed Athab { Mar 31st 2008 at 10:00PM }

PS3 Fanboy's 2007 Game of the Year sure is a giant when it comes to online play. How huge is it? "Monstrously huge," according to Call of Duty 4 producer Mark Rubin. Although he was vague about the actual daily count of PSN CoD4 players, we imagine that the exact number shouldn't be too far behind the 1.2-1.3 million players on Xbox Live every day.

He stated that "PS3 numbers are monstrously huge. No other game has come close, either online current, or total unique users in a day." He continues to say that this trend has been carrying on for the past couple of month, seven days a week. Since Mr. Rubin can't provide a number for us, we'll have to start tallying for ourselves. How many of you are feeding the monster?

[Via Joystiq]

Frontline footage from Call of Duty 4's new Broadcast map

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 30th 2008 at 6:30PM }

Those who played through Call of Duty 4's somewhat punishing campaign will probably recognize the locale featured in the newest downloadable multiplayer map, "Broadcast", as the theater of operations for the single-player level "Charlie Don't Surf". While we wonder how the stage's apparent indoor focus will affect the usefulness of helicopters and airstrikes, we definitely dig the idea of having a stage dedicated to more intense close-quarters encounters.

If you haven't played the game, and all this photorealistic gunplay bothers you, just imagine that the bullet-riddled station featured in Broadcast has a programming schedule composed only of "The Nanny" reruns and the few episodes of the short-lived prime time trainwreck, "Viva Laughlin". It makes all the violence a tad more justifiable.

Call of Duty 4 DLC is coming in late April

by Majed Athab { Mar 28th 2008 at 6:30AM }

We've got some good news and some bad news regarding the upcoming DLC for Call of Duty 4. The good news is that Infinity Ward's Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling confirmed on his personal blog that the PS3 variety pack will indeed be coming to the PSN next month. The bad news? Owners of the PS3 version will be getting the DLC on April 24 -- three full weeks after the Xbox 360 version goes up.

Now those extra three weeks shouldn't be too hard to stomach, right? After all, shouldn't you be used to this kind of treatment by now? In any case, it won't be difficult to make enough money in time to purchase the variety pack; it'll only cost a measly US$10. For those who are not aware of what's inside this DLC update, let it now be known that it's comprised of four maps: Creek, Broadcast, Killhouse, and Chinatown.

[Thanks John! Via Joystiq]

Call of Duty 4 map pack comes to PSN late April

by Ross Miller { Mar 27th 2008 at 6:55PM }

Infinity Ward' Fourzerotwo has announced on his blog that the Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack is coming to the PlayStation 3 approximately 21 days after the Xbox Live release. Given the 360 pack is expected April 3 or 4, that puts the PS3 release on or near Thursday, April 24.

PlayStation 3 owners will pay the same $10 price for the four maps: Creek, Broadcast, Chinatown and Killhouse. Fourzerotwo also said they were working out the logistics to bring the maps to the PC. No word on a Call of Duty 4 "Game of the Year" edition for PS3 owners.

Call of Duty 4 GOTY edition, map pack DLC coming April 3

by Ross Miller { Mar 19th 2008 at 4:58PM }

A new site just sprung up on Xbox.com announcing the Call of Duty 4 variety map pack will arrive Thursday, April 3 for 800 MS points (US$10). The pack includes four new maps: Creek, Broadcast, Chinatown and Killhouse. The page also confirmed that Call of Duty 4 Game of the Year Edition is also coming April 3. No word yet on the equivalent PS3 release, for either GOTY or the map pack. We'll update when we find out.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Gallery: Call of Duty 4: Variety Map Pack

Gallery: Call of Duty 4: Collector's Edition

Gallery: Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat

Call of Duty 4 landed in the top ten in our 2007 Game of the Year Awards, but who filled the other nine spots? We've got Halo 3, Portal, Rock Band, Peggle (yeah Peggle), and more. Take a look.

Call of Duty 4 gets 'Game of the Year' edition next month

by Justin McElroy { Mar 17th 2008 at 12:15PM }

It's a scientific fact that there's no reason you shouldn't have bought Call of Duty 4 yet. What, you don't like shooters? Too bad. Get motion sick while playing FPSs? Take a Dramamine. Don't have a next-gen console or PC? Get a second job. Not only do we think it's one of the year's best, you're possibly the only person who hasn't purchased a copy yet.

Keeping all that in mind, if you haven't bought the game, you may have good reason to hold off, if only for a bit longer. MCV brings word that Activision will release a Game of the Year edition of the game next month. Aside from new packaging, expect a token to allow you to download the forthcoming map pack for the game. Not exactly earth-shattering, but (depending on the price) this sounds like the only version of CoD 4 you latecomers should be looking for.

At the moment, MCV's only reporting on a 360 version of the GOTY edition. Activision tells us that more details should be coming this week, we'll let you know when we hear if PS3 owners will be getting some love.

Gamespot gets hands-on with new Call of Duty 4 maps

by Justin McElroy { Mar 13th 2008 at 9:00AM }

Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling ("fourzerotwo" to you Call of Duty 4 fans) promised us something different from the game's first map pack, and Gamespot recently got a hands-on with two of the maps to put that to the test. The first map is called "Broadcast," set in the TV station from the single-player mission "Charlie Don't Surf." The largely indoor level has been expanded significantly from the single-player campaign though.

Next up is "Creek," a sprawling outdoor map full of natural cover from foliage and (you guessed it) a creek. There will be two more maps in the final pack, "Chinatown" and "Killhouse," which is apparently inspired by the single-player campaign's training level. You can read more about all of them right here.

Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 get celebrity love on Conan O' Brien

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 1st 2008 at 12:30PM }

If the annual shame parade known as the Spike TV Video Game Awards have taught us anything, it's this -- famous people love video games. Take, for example, "Arrested Development" star Will Arnett and "SNL" funnyman Jason Sudeikis, both of whom outed themselves as FPSophiles last week on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien".

While we were amused by Arnett's endorsement of Call of Duty 4 and his tales of domestic disrespect, we think Sudeikis pulled away with a higher chuckle per joke ratio. You can watch his entire interview after the break -- jump to 4:17 for his gaming testimonial, or to 5:48 to watch a grown man demonstrate Halo 3 teabagging in front of a live studio audience.

[Thanks, Colin.]

Continued →

Call of Duty 4 feature patch is now live

by Justin McElroy { Feb 29th 2008 at 9:00AM }

You may remember last week when we told you about the chock-full feature patch that would be hitting Call of Duty 4 sometime in the near future. Well, friends: The future is now. ... At least, it is for Xbox 360 owners. We're assuming PlayStation 3 players will be getting it soon if they haven't already, we just haven't had a chance to test yet.

In case you missed the post (for shame!) expect host migration (even when a host drops teams stay together), better accuracy for snipers and ACOG scope users, an expanded Kill Cam that includes claymores, airstrikes and grenades, nine new spawn points on each map, quick mute and some other tweaks. ... Well, what are you waiting for? Go play already!

Ex-Marine goes missing supposedly after Call of Duty triggered flashbacks

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 10th 2008 at 5:30PM }

Eric Hall, a 24-year-old Floridian and retired Marine, has now been missing for a week. His friends say that shortly after playing Call of Duty (4, we assume), Hall "just got up and said that he had to go." He was last seen departing his home on a motorcycle, which was later found on the side of a road. The local sheriff's office claims that the man was suffering from hallucinations and flashbacks to his time spent serving in Iraq, where he was injured during a patrol by an exploding bomb, which did tremendous damage to the left side of his body, and reportedly decapitated Hall's best friend in front of his eyes.

It's not exactly confirmed that Call of Duty was behind Hall's disappearance -- after all, we found the story on Fox News, who has a less than objective view of video gaming as a whole. Regardless, we wish Hall's family the best of luck in locating him, though, as Hall's father pointed out, it's tough to find a Marine that doesn't want to be found.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Call of Duty 4 dubbed game of the year at Interactive Achievement Awards

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Feb 8th 2008 at 10:10AM }

Despite nabbing 12 nominations for the (deep breath) Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, BioShock was bested in the Overall Game of the Year category by cinematic tour de force, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Both games were awarded four, err, awards at this year's event, held alongside D.I.C.E. at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Orange Box's Portal made off with some shiny statuettes, as did fake instrument extravaganza, Rock Band. Super Mario Galaxy was deemed the best "adventure" game in absence of a "platformer" category (a sad commentary in itself), while Assassin's Creed got a hearty stab pat on the back for its fancy animation. The complete list of winners can be found after the break -- a list of whiners is sure to follow shortly.

Read [PDF link]

Continued →

Activision Q4 sales up 80% to $1.48 billion

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Feb 8th 2008 at 5:00AM }

One of the nice things about being the top US publisher in a booming game industry is that it affords you the privilege of announcing record holiday sales. Activision's third fiscal quarter, stretching from October to December 2007, saw the publisher's sales increase by 80% over the year prior to $1.48 billion, with profits amounting to $272.2 million. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare are the key titles to praise if you're Activision and blame if you're a consumer wondering where all your hard-earned money went.

Activision anticipates a further $350 million in sales to originate from its fourth fiscal quarter (ending in March), ultimately contributing to a projected $2.65 billion for the entire fiscal year 2008. As long as shootin' and shreddin' remain popular and the upcoming Vivendi merger stays on track, we don't expect to put "bankrupt" and "Activision" in the same sentence for a very long time. Well, not unless one those words is preceded by "creatively."