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Call of Duty 4 maps coming to PC June 5


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]

9 million answer Call of Duty 4, DLC breaks records


Oscar, Mike, Golf! Infinity Ward announced today that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has sold over 9 million copies worldwide since release. The company followed up that news by stating the new Variety Map Pack (costing $10) allegedly set a new Xbox marketplace record by having over 1 million downloads in its first 9 days of release. The map pack will be available on the US PSN next Thursday, Europe on May 4.

Infinity Ward also released some statistics (we lovez numbers) that over 30 million sessions and 30 million hours have been logged since the new maps released, which is about 1.9 billion minutes of nuggets noob tubing lost to the ether. COD4 has been in a battle for Xbox Live supremacy against Halo 3, with the two titles switching first and second place over the last couple months.

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

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.

Family Album: Activision

Thanks to a pending merger with Blizzard, the Activision family is going to be growing in the near future, but a look at its current development resources reveals that the company already has a pretty diverse galaxy of stars. With such a variety, how will you ever keep track of all the devs under the Activision bumbershoot? Worry not, dear reader.

We've got you covered.

(Also: Check out our other family albums.)

Call of Duty 4 online play is 'monstrously huge'


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]

Call of Duty 4 multiplayer boasts 'monstrously huge' numbers


When Infinity Ward producer, Mark Rubin, told Eurogamer that the number of online users for the PS3 version of Call of Duty 4 was "monstrously huge," we can only assume he was referring to a beast of significant size and infinite terror -- which pretty much rules out those Pokemon things. Indeed, the multiplayer monster appears to be of the house-trampling, child-eating variety, with Rubin having declared, "No other game has come close, either online current, or total unique users in a day."

The battle between Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 for Xbox Live supremacy was also mentioned, with the former shooter's "between 1.2 and 1.3 million users every day" trumping Bungie's slightly more spartan servers. As for the percentage of total game owners (over seven million at last count) that have taken their tactics online, Rubin describes the number as "startling." Who knew statistics could be so scary?

Call of Duty 4 DLC is coming in late April

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 GOTY edition, map pack DLC coming April 3

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!]




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


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.

CoD4 overtakes Gears of War, Infinity Ward planning update


We like us some Call of Duty 4, and based on Major Nelson's top ten Xbox Live titles for this past week, so do a lot of other gamers. The game placed second in the rankings, right below Halo 3, and right above a certain quartet of steroid infused, uber-masculine gunhavers.

Infinity Ward isn't resting on their digital laurels, it would seem. Though the game has only been out eleven days in the states, they're already talking updates. The biggest change in their first planned update is a fix for the game's often fickle matchmaking and host selection, one of the few black marks against the title. Also, games will no longer end abruptly if the host drops out, and server performance on games with large numbers of players will supposedly improve. You can read the full list of gameplay changes after the jump.

Continued →

Infinity Ward reaches out to EA Chicago devs


After publishing giant EA shut down its EA Chicago studio amidst profitability concerns, many employees found themselves burdened with the unenviable task of seeking employment elsewhere. 1UP points out that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward may just suffice as a potential "elsewhere."

Over the weekend, a helping hand was extended through the World War Now shooter's "Message of the Day" screen: "EA Chicago: Infinity Ward is hiring. jobs@infinityward.com."

Infinity Ward addressing Call of Duty 4 PS3 matchmaking issues


Spare a thought for Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4 server team, which has been tweaking PlayStation 3 server performance all weekend -- and we're fairly sure that's just as exciting as it sounds. The developer's world-famous community relations manager, Mr. "fourzerotwo" has posted an update on the Infinity Ward forums regarding some stability issues encountered by the incoming glut of players. "The server team has been working on this all weekend, and will be working through the night," it reads. "They're upgrading all server hardware as well as dedicated an individual database to each functionality to improve performance and handle the traffic hitting the servers. (i.e. Database for Matchmaking, Database for Leaderboards, etc.)."

The end result should be better speed and stability -- at least when it comes to matchmaking. They can't help you if you're still dropping grenades on your toes.

Last chance: win Call of Duty 4


Okay kids, as of this posting, you have exactly two hours to submit your final (and hopefully third) entry in our Fanswag Weekly giveaway. Should you win, you will receive a brand spanking new copy of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. We know you all like shooting things and occasionally blowing them up as well, so we suggest you make your entry posthaste. To do so, simply head over to the official giveaway post and follow the super easy instructions. It's so easy a highly trained monkey could do it.

Reminder: win Call of Duty 4 from X3F


Just a quick reminder that we're giving away a copy of Call of Duty 4 to one lucky winner for this week's Fanswag Weekly. We've changed things up a bit this time, allowing readers to submit one entry per calendar day (Eastern Time). So, if you haven't entered yet, you're already behind! Hurry up and enter today! If you have already entered though, now is your chance to enter again and maximize your chances of winning. Head over to the official giveaway post to submit your entry.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare deploys on Steam Nov. 12


If you're not keen to engage in the sort of modern warfare that comes from navigating shopping aisles during the holiday months, you now have the option of downloading Infinity Ward's latest thrill-a-minute first-person shooter, Call of Duty 4, from Steam. It amounts to roughly 360 thrills, excluding any thrills experienced during hectic multiplayer shootouts!

Modern Warfare is already available for pre-purchase at $49.95 before its digitally distributed November 12 launch.

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