Joystiq

Call of Duty: World at War confirmed to deploy Nov. 11

Randy Nelson — 2008-09-04T18:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

A couple of weeks back during X08, we learned that the "fall" release time frame Activision had been giving for the latest Call of Duty installment actually meant "November." Today, the publisher narrowed it down even further to November 11. That's the date all console versions of Call of Duty: World at War will rumble into retail - except, of course, for the never-to-be PS2 version. Those hankering for an earlier taste of multiplayer flame thrower action should hit our post from earlier today on the upcoming October beta.

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Call of Duty: World at War beta hits 360, PC in October

Randy Nelson — 2008-09-04T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, Online

In what has to be the most totally original pre-order bonus ever, Activision is going to let anyone who "reserves" Call of Duty: World at War into a multiplayer beta planned for sometime in October. Oh, that's everyone except PS3 owners. The beta will be available only on Xbox 360 and PC, giving ~~lucky~~ paying entrants a chance to try out the game's new perks and squad system.

In "no purchase necessary" style, those not feeling the pre-order itch can try their luck by registering for a beta token lottery on the official Call of Duty site - that is if they can navigate through the Web 2.0 minefield of way too much stuff on the page.

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Michael Phelps gets CoD: World at War early, but not really

Kyle Orland — 2008-09-01T20:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, First Person Shooters, Fashion

As if winning eighteen thousand gold medals at the Beijing Olympics wasn't enough, swimmer Michael Phelps got a further reward for his awesomeness on last Thursday's CBS Early Show -- an early copy of Call of Duty: World at War provided by publisher Activision. But all was not as it seemed. As developer Treyarch revealed on its blog, the box Phelps was handed on live TV actually contained an I.O.U. card for the final version of the game, which is still in production. It's not all smoke and mirrors, though -- Phelps has been promised "the first disc off the production line ... later this year." We suppose that's understandable. Michael Phelps may be amazing, but it seems even he can't change the laws of time and space (or can he?) (no he can't).

Check out a video of the "giveaway" after the break (jump to 3:28 for the moment of falsehood).

[Via MTV Multiplayer]

Watch CBS Videos Online

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Craig, Dench on board for Quantum of Solace game

Justin McElroy — 2008-08-21T09:50:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

We're happy to report that when James Bond returns to video games this fall with Quantum of Solace he'll be voiced by our new favorite 007, Daniel Craig. But we're a little worried about how we're going to focus on the game when our undies continue to spontaneously drop to the ground, coaxed off by Bond's baritone brogue! The game will also feature Judi Dench as M and new additions Mathieu Amalric and Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko.

... Listen, did we type that part about our undies dropping out loud? No? OK, thank goodness.

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See Call of Duty: World at War's co-op gameplay

Randy Nelson — 2008-08-08T16:45:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360

Activision and Treyarch told us about their co-op multiplayer plans for Call of Duty: World at War following the game's unveiling back in June. Now they've put their promises into video form - although the roughly five minutes of footage is entirely focused on two-player action (the final game is pegged to support four-player teams through the entire campaign).

So far it looks to be ... pretty standard fare. Still, with the historically high intensity of COD's firefights, it will be a huge plus to have as many as three buddies backing you up in battle. Also, as nice as co-op is, we're extremely eager to see what Treyarch is working on to (hopefully) out-do COD4's stellar competitive mutliplayer modes.

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See Quantum of Solace in action

Justin McElroy — 2008-07-09T17:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

After the glut of James Bond games earlier in the millennium, we'll admit it: We got spoiled. Now, after a long absence and a changing of hands, the Double-OG is back and we can't help but wonder: Does this Quantum of Solace gameplay video really look as good as we think it does?

Because we're going to be honest: It looks really good to us. The Daniel Craig model is spot on, the destructible environments are solid and the Call of Duty 4 engine is under the hood. We're stirred ... and a little shaken. Are you as excited as we are? Or are we just in denial?

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Joystiq interview: Treyarch's Jeremy Luyties on James Bond

Kevin Kelly — 2008-07-03T08:29:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Interviews

During out whirlwhind tour through the new Quantum of Solace game, we were able to spend a few minutes speaking with Treyarch's Jeremy Luyties, who serves as design director on the title. Luyties has worked on everything from Return to Castle Wolfenstein to Call of Duty 3 to the heavily Bond-influenced classic No One Lives Forever. Find out what secrets he spilled about the new Bond title after the break.

Gallery: Quantum of Solace: The Game

How final is what we saw, graphics wise?

It's still got a bit to go, it's still a work in progress. It's definitely moved along, but we'll be going through optimization tweaks, texture changes, things with sight and vision. There's definitely a lot more to tweak to get more out of it, but you can already see the texture and depth in the carpet, the shining of the wood panels, the bump-mapping with the lights, and so on.

You've said that you're taking roughly 50% from each movie, but you're also playing with the continuity of the films quite a bit. For instance, the shootout in the spa. Are you stretching the plot at all?

"First and foremost, this is a game."

Yeah, we had a really great collaboration working with the movie guys, and we really sat down and looked at what we thought would be the best. Look ... it's a game. First and foremost, this is a game. It's about a movie, but people are going to play because they want to play a game. They want to have fun.

The producers of the movie gave us a lot of freedom in picking and choosing the types of spaces we wanted to play in, and the types of gameplay mechanics we wanted to push forward with. For instance, there's no mini poker game in the Casino Royale levels of the game, there are other areas of the we decided to focus on instead of something like that.

Was there anything the producers didn't want you to do with Quantum of Solace?

Sure, there's actually a James Bond bible. It's this worksheet of things like, "James Bond bad guys don't do this ..." and "James Bond wouldn't do this ..." A funny anecdote to this is that in one of our early levels, we had a bum in it. The bum would sort of bump into Bond and fall to the ground and say something like "Get away from me!" The producers told us, "James Bond doesn't live in a world where there are bums." So we had to work around that. There are definitely rules to follow, but they were very forgiving with us. They definitely understand that this is a game, and that people want to have fun.

Is this due to come out day-and-date with the movie?

That's something we're very excited about. This is the first time we'll ever be able to come out directly with the movie. Obviously, that's a lot of pressure for us, but also it's really exciting. If we can maintain the integrity of the franchise by putting out a game that's respected, that could put it into the position of one of the most powerful movie/video game situations.

The gold standard for movie video games is still GoldenEye, and that wasn't because it looked like the film, but because of the gameplay. Do you guys feel pressure to live up to that?

Well, there's two ways to look at it. One way is to see it as pressure, and the other way is to look at it like... what other video game could you ever work on that people have been playing for more than 10 years, and use that to learn from? I think it's a huge advantage.

**"We're very influenced by GoldenEye, and we're also very thankful that a game like that came out."**

Is the pressure there? Sure. That's cool. I mean, we're very influenced by GoldenEye, and we're also very thankful that a game like that came out that we can learn from. You'll see a lot of little homages in the game, like when you bring up the map, you'll see your hand come up, almost like the watch in GoldenEye. There are a lot of little hidden things like that in the game. They're like little messages from us as a developer, saying "Thank you guys for creating such a great game. Here's our respectful take on that experience." What a huge opportunity.

The Bourne series of films are really the only movies closest to the Bond series, and they recently released a game as well. Did you have a chance to look at that?

Of course. We would always do our due diligence in looking at everything else that's out there, because it's important as a development team that we're exposed to all of the different techniques and gameplay mechanics that people are trying, including storytelling techniques. When we originally sat down and came up with our full design, we weren't exposed, nor did we have any idea what the Bourne game would be. We basically knew they were coming out with a game, and we knew we had to work on our game, which was also representing a long-standing series of well-loved films.

What interface are you using for in-game elements for Bond? It looked like he was pulling out a cell phone.

That's basically his cell phone. What happens is, you hit the Back button and it brings up your cell phone. Like, when I did the lock hack (in the demo they showed us), he's connecting his cell phone to the lock. We don't really have gadgets, they just aren't in the new Bond. What will happen is that when you're in stealth situations, it will give you a resource to open up and check out maps to see if there's someone around the corner.

We've tried to satisfy the guys who like to power through levels, the ones who like to stealth, and the ones who like to do a mix of the two. The cell phone does that by allowing you to pick up secret information in some levels, to find out about a hidden weapon, and so on.

We noticed during the demo level that as Bond was progressively injured more and more, the famous gun barrel opening shot from the films was beginning to appear around him. Is that similar to the Gears of War red screen when you're injured?

Yes, it's a re-gen system. We thought what better icon to use than to simulate the blood/gun barrel for a re-gen system. When that comes up, you instantly know what game you're playing. With that and with many other sequences in the game, it was important to us to create something that you'd recognize as James Bond if you were walking past a game store window.

Activison "shared" the James Bond license with EA for a short period of time, and now they are the sole license holders. Was it always the plan to make the first Bond game in conjunction with this movie?

No, the plan was always for it to come out with the film, and to match up with the content of the film. We started working on this about a year ago, so it matched up perfectly.

You're going to record lines with Daniel Craig soon. Will he have any say over what Bond says, or is it rigidly scripted?

Sure, I mean just like anyone on our development team, even though we have different disciplines, we're all designers. Just as much as Daniel Craig is doing voiceovers, he's a part of helping make this game great, just like everybody else. So yes, of course, please. Anything he says, we'd take that down the pipeline.

You guys know what happens in the next film, will you still be able to enjoy the movie when it comes out, or do you want to tell everyone what happens?

Well, I'm a fan, and I want to watch it when it gets done, just like you guys want to play games when they're finished. I'll lose a little bit in the movie, because I'm not getting in there to get the full experience ... but I'm also very good at forgetting stuff. So hopefully I'll be able to focus on something that will take my mind off of it, then I'll be able to go see it and experience it like it's something new.

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See Bond run in Quantum of Solace: The Game screenshots

Christopher Grant — 2008-07-02T14:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360

click to enlarge

You can't tell much from one lousy screenshot so we thought we'd share the following eight screens, recently declassified by Activision. Want to see how the Call of Duty 4 engine looks powering the first-person slash third-person Bond title Quantum of Solace? Here you go. Uninterested in pretty pictures, just want to read words about the game? Well, we've got you covered there too.

Gallery: Quantum of Solace: The Game

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Joystiq eyes (only) on: James Bond in Quantum of Solace: The Game

Kevin Kelly — 2008-07-02T14:23:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure

James Bond, always too busy to stop and smell the flowers.

James Bond returns to movie theaters this fall in Quantum of Solace, and this time he'll be back in video game format as well. Treyarch has been developing a Quantum of Solace game in conjunction with the new flick, enjoying carte blanche from the producers to photograph and use everything from the movie in the game, including blonde Bond Daniel Craig. You can count on his stoic visage making an appearance, not to mention his recognizable voice. Find out what we learned from this first peek at the game, freshly declassified.

Gallery: Quantum of Solace: The Game

It has been three years since a James Bond game hit store shelves: EA's From Russia With Love, which was based on a Sean Connery Bond film from 1963. Now that Activision has wrested sole control of the James Bond license from EA, it's finally releasing a game based on the new Bond, beginning with Casino Royale and its upcoming sequel.

Quantum of Solace, the film, is set one hour after Casino Royale ends, making it the first true direct sequel in James Bond history. Quantum of Solace: The Game, however, spans both films, and you'll play through scenarios and levels from Casino Royale, like the Venice collapsing house and the chase through the construction site, as well as scenes from the new film.

The game runs on top of the Call of Duty 4 engine which Treyarch is also using for Call of Duty: World at War. The developer is calling it a "first-person action game" although, throughout the game, you'll transition from first person to third person, depending on the situation and the actions you're going through. Need to stealthily sneak past some guards? You'll be in a third person. Want to go in like a crazy hard-charger? First person for you. If you're looking for something comparable, it's pretty similar to the system used in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas.

We watched Jeremy Luyties, the design director for the game, take a spin through the Venice collapsing house level, and it was pretty impressive. The sound alone made us feel like we were right there with exploding air bags, goons taking shots at us, and the rumbling sounds of a house made out of stone about to crumble to bits all around us. It has contextual music as well, which plays a sped up version of the Bond theme when he's in trouble, or when something notable is about to happen.

Treyarch has spent a lot of time making Quantum of Solace run on top of the CoD4 engine, adding a cover combat system, updating the A.I., and keeping what it calls a "Persistent Bond" (the look and feel of James Bond) running through the game. The second level we were shown had Bond trailing Le Chiffre (that bastard!) during a break from the poker game in Casino Royale, with the warlord Obanno's men crawling through the hotel. You can stealthily make your way through, or come in guns blazing. We were shown both options and, in this case, stealth looked like the way to go.

Treyarch has added a picture-in-picture function, which pops up at various times, normally while in stealth; for instance, in this level, Bond was perched on a ledge outside a window in the hotel, and the PiP feature let us see from inside the room, seeing Bond in both screens. It's a neat twist that answers the "can they see me from in there?" question while also making things a bit more cinematic.

Bond continues trailing Obanno's men into the hotel spa, where a massive gunfight ensues. Naturally, there's plenty of steam, water, pieces of destructible scenery, and a steady stream of gun-toting goons. If you have a pulse, that probably sounds like great news, but this brings us to one of the always-present problems we have when developers twiddle with movie-based games: continuity. Bond gets into this massive gun battle in the hotel spa, yet security never pops in to see what's going on, and the poker game later continues as normal? Call us crazy, but we think that a pileup of dead bodies and fireworks might warrant some sort of police intervention. Maybe we're just nitpicking [Not at all! Bond movies are known for their unwavering realism! - Ed].

Throughout the game, Bond uses his cell phone as the interface to hack locks, check out 3D maps, save/load the game and get mission updates. It generally serves as the only real gadget in the game. Like the new Bond in the movies, an emphasis is placed on the man himself, not all those funky thingamabobs. This time, it's all about the guns special Bond "takedown" moves that pop up during melee combat, God of War-style.

The developers have had several visits to the Quantum of Solace set, and the art directors and wardrobe coordinators have sent them hundreds of high-res photos of everything used on the movie, perfect for scanning and duplication. They also showed an early development kit version of the game to Daniel Craig, who loved it and asked to keep it so he could show it to his friends (we show our fingernail collection to our friends). He's also a huge Guitar Hero fan, and plays it during downtime in his trailer. Licensed to Rock. No word on whether or not he likes other games that aren't published by Activision.

The game is still in very early stages, but it looks pretty impressive (thanks CoD4 engine!), and the digital likeness of Daniel Craig is uncanny, right down to his blue-eyed icy stare. Ray Park (Darth Maul in Star Wars, Toad from X-Men, Snake Eyes in the upcoming G.I. Joe movie) did a lot of motion capture work on the game, at times playing Bond, and at other times playing someone trying to kill Bond. Judi Dench is also providing her voice to her virtual version.

Considering that there won't be several different James Bond games to choose from, and that it's been several years since we've even gotten one at all, we hope that Treyarch can deliver on its promises. But we just can't be sure; not only did we not get to actually play Quantum of Solace, but we didn't see what Treyarch is calling an "unparalleled Bond multiplayer experience." We hope to know (and play!) more at E3 this month.

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Activision producer: Gearbox making 'a crappy war game' [update: Treyarch responds]

Justin McElroy — 2008-06-30T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

Update: We've clarified that, while Treyarch is owned by Activision, Heller is in fact an Activision - and not a Treyarch - employee. To that end, Treyarch's Community Manager posted a classy message on the Xbox.com forums distancing their team from the Activision rep's comment and stating, "We have nothing but respect for the guys and gals at Gearbox." Nicely handled, Treyarch!

Original: We normally don't like it when developers start taking potshots at each other, it's really not the sort of -- oh, who are we kidding? We love it when developers take potshots, it's one of our absolute favorite things, and this video interview from Eurogamer has a doozy courtesy of ~~Treyarch~~ Activision senior producer Noah Heller.

When asked about Gearbox's forthcoming Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, Heller said they didn't consider it during development of Call of Duty: World at War, dismissing Hell as "a crappy war game." Continuing the burnination, Heller added that Gearbox "isn't even the same league" as Treyarch's effort. You might think we're misrepresenting the quote by taking it out of context, but it's somehow even more MEGAowch when watched in context (at about 1:00 in).

[Thanks, Jordan]

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Joystiq interviews Mark Lamia of Treyarch and Call of Duty the Fifth

Kevin Kelly — 2008-06-24T10:10:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Fighting

Mark Lamia with all the games he's worked on.

After having a good look at Call of Duty: World at War, we decided to hurl some questions at developer Treyarch's studio head, Mark Lamia. Find out what we learned from the guy who has worked on everything from CoD5 to Santa Fe Mysteries: The Elk Moon Murder, after the break!

So, Call of Duty 2 sold really well when it launched, and then CoD3 didn't do so well, then Modern Warfare came in and cleaned up with awards and sales, and now it's back to you guys for Call of Duty 5. How do you address that?

So, here's what I have to say. First off, with World at War, these guys are out to make the best game of their lives, and hopefully what you saw today shows that the quality of the game is on par with anything out there, and any Call of Duty experience anyone's ever had.

Having the experience they'd had working on so many Call of Duty games leading up to this, the Call of Duty 4 engine really letting the designers only worry about the next-gen platforms...

There's no PlayStation 2 version at all?

No. And the Wii has a team that's dedicated to it. The game designers don't worry about any of the platforms. There are designers that are dedicated to the Wii platform, because they're trying to make it for the controls and different stuff, so we have dedicated engineers, artists, and designers associated with the Wii platform, so we have a ton of resources and a stable platform to start with while we're making that thing. But, it will be the exact [same] experience except for the changes that we need to make for the controls and everything else.

Now, when we were making a game that had to run on the PS2 with Call of Duty 3 and everything else, it did affect your design decisions that you're making, which we don't have to deal with on this one. Next-gen only, baby! And no small thing is also -- United Offensive: one year, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, one year, Call of Duty 3: one year, cross generational launch title for PS3 and Wii! I don't even know if there's another studio in the industry that would sign up or let alone get that done in that time frame. This is really about what these guys can do.

What was the time frame on this one?

Two years. They started it right after Call of Duty 3, before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had come out. There was no Modern Warfare. Since we're taking two years to make it, which is the amount of time CoD2 and 4 had, and having that stable platform to work on, it's really no comparison. Hopefully that gives you guys a good idea of why we're able to do what we're doing right now, and how we're going to be able to make sure that World at War is the most kick-ass WWII game.

Some people say 'So why are you going back to World War II?' Well, we don't really look at it like we're going back to WWII, because the game that we're making ... these guys didn't want to make the same game either. They've been making WWII games for a long time, and Call of Duty has done awesome. It pretty much is the standard for WWII games. But, they're creative and they really wanted to do something new and different. Because they don't have one year, they can actually experiment and go in new directions and pick on themes and different things inside the war. There are totally different things [in this game] that people haven't played before in any game or in any Call of Duty game. When you've got one year, you do what you know, and get it done well, don't mess around. When you've got two years, you have a chance to introduce new gameplay, new elements, a new physics system to allow for new weaponry, new vehicles, or new A.I. Introducing new co-op play, no small feat. So for them, it's totally new. It's not like any of the other World War II stuff.

You mentioned that it's a different team on the Wii, is that an internal team? What else have they worked on?

Yes. Some of them have worked on the other current-gen Call of Duty titles, but some of these also worked on the Wii version of Call of Duty. We also work with a company called Exact that we worked with on Call of Duty 3 for the Wii, but they're a company that works with us. They're in this area here. But, we have our own team associated with it, with content people. So I think we're probably the first shooter team to create two Wii titles. We've got the benefit on that platform ... because when you're making a launch title it's pretty challenging, so we have the benefit of already having launched and released and kind of learning about the platform. It's our second time around.

Will there be online with the Wii?

Yes, there will be. [Then we had to cut this line of questioning short, thanks to the PR rep in the room. Curses.]

We've heard the rumor that Infinity Ward will be producing all of the Call of Duty titles after this, and all of Activision's shooters. Is that true?

I've heard that same rumor and no, it's not true. They're one team. Their last two games they've been taking two years to work, and they're on their next game now.

How soon did you know you were going to be using the CoD4 engine?

It was a big discussion. Wrapping up on Call of Duty 3, we do production planning for our next games to figure out what technology we're going to use. We evaluated all the technologies, and already the team was very familiar with Infinity Ward's technology with working with United Offensive, our design team in particular. They already understood that. While we did some due diligence on it, it really wasn't much of a choice. It was a great piece of technology, it's a Call of Duty game, the team is very close, a lot of the guys know each other on the teams. It was more like, do we keep going with something that we started with here, or do we keep going.

In approaching this in a brand new theater, did your team consider the cultural differences and sensitivity between the United States and Japan? Do you address dropping the bomb?

It's the end of the Pacific campaign, but we're not doing that part of that. There's not much gameplay associated with that and and that's something that we never tried to focus on. We are making a game, we're not making a political statement. What we try to do as we strive for authenticity is: well that was part of the war. The Imperial Japanese were different than the current people who run the country, and to sanitize that situation, to actually not show that they had this honor and code that these soldiers fought with would have been a dishonor. We just tried to tell a story about a part of the war that actually happened.

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Call of Duty: World at War is 'next-gen only baby!'

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-06-23T18:15:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360

Variables
a = Call of Duty: World at War for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 & PC
b = Call of Duty: World at War for Wii
c = Call of Duty: World at War for PlayStation 2

Proof
If a=b, and variations of c have been known to equal corresponding variations of b, then does a=c?

... Yes? Well, the problem is c doesn't exist. Call of Duty: World at War will be "next-gen only baby!" Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia confirmed with Joystiq, correcting an earlier report that the game would mark a return of the series on PS2; the first since Treyarch's Call of Duty 3. Despite claims that World at War is "not a different game on Wii" (with, um, a few exceptions) -- and therefore, wouldn't be all that different of a game on PS2 -- Activision and Treyarch have apparently retired PS2 from duty ... for good.

Check out our full interview with Treyarch right here.

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Call of Duty: World at War producer on why it's not 'CoD 5'

Christopher Grant — 2008-06-23T16:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Business

Wondering what happened to the number "5" trailing Call of Duty and preceding World at War? Senior producer Noah Heller offered some insight into its absence, saying, "We're getting rid of the number in Call of Duty for a very specific reason: It's because we want you to know that when you're playing Call of Duty: World at War you're playing the best shooter, the best WW2 game ever. Likewise when you're playing Modern Warfare, likewise when you play any game that will be called Call of Duty."

Now, a handful of us have tried to parse that quote and, no matter which angle we take, it proves elusive. Is he saying that Modern Warfare didn't have a number in the title (because the game's box clearly says otherwise)? Is he saying that future Call of Duty installments, including whatever Infinity Ward is presumably working on, will also be sans number? Or perhaps, as rumored, Infinity Ward has renegotiated their relationship with the flagship title and any numbered sequels (all future sequels?) will be saved for them to develop?

We've sent our own inquiry into Activision for some clarification. We'll let you know what it throws back.

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Treyarch: Call of Duty isn't going 'back' to WWII

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-06-23T15:45:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

Call of Duty: World at War began life right after Call of Duty 3, before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was released. So, following this logic, "there was no modern warfare" when World at War was conceived, Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia told Joystiq, responding to skeptics who fear that the series' return to World War II will be a return to mediocrity. In fact, Call of Duty's ~~"B Team"~~ alternate developer doesn't consider its next entry a rehash at all. "We don't really look at it like we're going back to World War II," said Lamia. "For [Treyarch], it's totally new."

Lamia pointed to World at War's two-year development cycle as a key factor; a full 12 months more than the team had to complete Call of Duty 3, which, while by no means a commercial or critical failure, stands as a definitive low point for the franchise. "When you got one year, you do what you know, and get it done well -- don't mess around. When you got two years, you have a chance to introduce new gameplay, new elements."

Check out our full interview with Treyarch right here.

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Joystiq impressions -- Call of Duty: World at War

Kevin Kelly — 2008-06-23T14:45:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Fighting

By now, you already know that Call of Duty is indeed coming back, though not in the Modern Warfare variety you've come to know and love. You know, that edition which sold over ten million copies and was developed by another studio. No, Activision has handed the reins back to Treyarch to create Call of Duty: World at War, which returns the franchise to the WWII genre, albeit in a new theater: The Pacific. Find everything we know about Call of Duty 5, err, Call of Duty: World at War, after the break.

Gallery: Call of Duty: World at War

We'll get the big news out of the way first: CoD:WaW is only being developed for "next-generation" console systems and the PC. Treyarch said it was slowing down the development of the game, and since it was on a tight schedule, the older systems got jettisoned. The game will be out on the Wii ("next generation" flamewar: engage), and according to Treyarch studio head, Mark Lamia, it will "not be a different game on the Wii."

Sadly, this does mean no Call of Duty: World At War on the PlayStation 2. Treyarch felt like it was being held back by an attempt to shoehorn a modern game into an older generation system, so the platform was abandoned altogether. With the massive PS2 install base that's out there, this seems like quite a gamble, and we can't imagine too many PS2ers being thrilled about the decision, especially if that means they have to plunk down a load of cash on a new system.

Also in the big news department: The game is using the CoD4 engine. Literally every person from Treyarch who talked about the game made a point of mentioning how great the CoD4 engine was to work with, how it let them jump right into the development, and yadda yadda yadda. We're not complaining since yes, we loved it too. They've added some physics elements to it, and a lot of flame-based weapons as well, which we'll discuss more in just a bit. We were shown an early build, which we hope eventually manages to overcome a current case of "teh jaggies."

What was noticeable right away, especially in multiplayer, was how much the gameplay mirrors CoD4. You can unlock perks, call in air support, recon planes, etc. Treyarch has focused on adding some destructible environments too -- the first level we were shown has you escaping from a Japanese POW camp, which then gets blown up and set on fire, complete with plenty of soldiers set ablaze and running around. Using this destructability, you can create exits in buildings. One on-screen soldier got trapped in a burning, wooden building, but he was able to shoot through one of the walls and hop out safely.

Treyarch also showed us, in extensive detail, some of the rope physics that have been created for this game. Apparently, Japanese soldiers would lash themselves high in palm trees and wait for troops to approach underneath before unloading on them. If you take out some of these tree-bound soldiers, they endure a brief drop and a short stop, getting caught up in their own ropes and dangling from their precious trees. We were also shown dead soldiers hung up as warnings, log traps (woo, it's Return of the Jedi!) and signs suspended from trees. Naturally, you can shoot the ropes to disarm traps and inconvenience soldiers lying in wait.

There was a considerable amount of time spent showing off the game's love of fire, fire, fire. Beavis definitely would have loved this game. You can now carry flamethrowers in the game and we have to say, they're pretty impressive. You can use them to set entire fields and structures ablaze, with fire behaving realistically and changing direction according to the wind. The developers haven't yet decided if you'll be able to pick up ammo for these guns, or if you'll simply discard them when your tank is empty, but they are extremely high-powered weapons at close ranges. You can also toss Molotov cocktails for some fire-based fun, and look forward to eventually seeing full-on flame tanks rolling through the levels

Treyarch's military adviser, Hank Keirsey, has worked on the Call of Duty series since the first game, and he stressed that the story of the United States fighting in the Pacific is largely an "untold story." He spun a few war stories about the U.S. facing insurmountable odds against Japanese soldiers who fought by the Bushido Code, "death before dishonor." As a result, U.S. victories tended to be lopsided, since almost every single Japanese soldier would fight to the death, even when faced with certain defeat.

As a result, Treyarch had to design a "seemingly alien fighting force" for the U.S. to fight, which had some people erroneously thinking that the U.S. would literally fight aliens (from space!) in CoD5. This is definitely not happening, which would have indicated a major case of shark jumping. No, they meant a new foe in a new environment. The Pacific setting also allows you to swim in the water, even getting shot at while you're submerged, with bubbling bullet trails zipping past you. Although we weren't shown any, we were told that there would be bunker and tunnel systems in the game as part of being historically accurate.

Interestingly, Mission Briefings are being dropped altogether, with the story advanced with some cutscenes that look like a mash-up of old-school newsreels and over-the-top graphic treatments that shows like Futureweapons have. Sort of a News-O-Graph-A-Charticle that tells you what's going on in the war effort and around the world. It was actually pretty sweet looking, and definitely would have made a lot of people pay more attention in school.

The game will also feature co-op campaign gameplay, playable in split-screen with a friend, or with up to four players online. There are vehicle-specific multiplayer maps, as well as a new "spawn influencer system" which will spawn you out of danger and near your friends on the map. If you're the squad leader, you can also set down waypoints on the map as rally points, which everyone else can see. There will be regular online multiplayer as well, allowing you to deathmatch to your heart's content while waving a flamethrower around.

Overall, it's hard to say right now where this game will end up. It's very interesting (and heartening) that the CoD4 engine is being used, but we're also still stinging from the experience that was CoD3. Purists will appreciate the return to WWII, and welcome an entirely new theater and foe (you can also play as the Russians later in the game), but we think it'll just make us ache for Modern Warfare 2 that much more. We'll spend some more time with this at E3, so stay tuned for more info.

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Call of Duty: World at War 'not a different game on the Wii'

Kevin Kelly — 2008-06-23T14:40:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Action, Fighting

Treyarch has ambitious plans for Call of Duty: World at War, namely in making sure that the Wii version is "not a different game," according to what Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia told Joystiq. "We have dedicated engineers, artists, and designers associated to the Wii platform. So we have a ton of resources, stable platform to start with while we're making that thing -- but it will be the exact experience except for the changes we need to make for the controls and everything else."

Everything else, eh? Aside from Waggletech(R) and Overpriced Plastic Shell(R) integration (yes, Zapper support confirmed), expect the Wii version of World at War to feature some significant scaling back in the graphics department, and co-op and online multiplayer modes. So, same game? Or just the same name?

Check out our full interview with Treyarch right here.

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Call of Duty: World at War screenshots

Christopher Grant — 2008-06-23T13:24:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

click to enlarge

You've already seen Call of Duty: World at War's trailer and read about the game's four-player online co-op, but maybe you just want to see what it looks like when not moving and being, y'know ... interactive. We totally understand and we've painstakingly assembled a gallery just for your kind. Click through and use your powers of imagination to render these seven stills into a glorious animated tableau.

Gallery: Call of Duty: World at War

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Call of Duty: World at War co-op multiplayer detailed

Jason Dobson — 2008-06-23T08:15:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

There are times when going at it alone just isn't enough, and you want a buddy by your side to help make it through to the day, not to mention help soak up enemy bullets. For this, Activision has revealed how co-op multiplayer will be handled in Call of Duty: World at War, in which players will lace up in the military boots of either U.S. Marines or Russian soldiers in both the South Pacific and European theaters of war.

Specifically, the Treyarch-developed shooter will include four-player online co-op for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, while the console versions will also allow soldiers to pair up offline for local split-screen gameplay, with "a unique co-op mode for two players" reserved for soldiers waggling on the Wii. However, the game's online focus won't end with simply gunning down enemy soldiers and offering moral support to buddies trying to make it through the game's "darker themes." Activision notes that Call of Duty: World at War will shell out persistent experience points to players participating in both competitive and cooperative online battles, as well as a difficulty curve that will scale depending on "a player's experience rank and rank of the player's friends."

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Spider-Man: Web of Shadows combat preview looks astonishing

Griffin McElroy — 2008-06-22T13:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

We've had a love/hate relationship with past iterations of titles featuring our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, though one aspect of every title that we felt was never quite right was the manner in which the beloved web-slinger placed the beatdown upon unsuspecting thugs. Sure, certain games have had entertaining, intuitive combat systems, but none truly captured the way the arachnid protagonist whips up on baddies as he does on ink and paper.

However, a recently released video from Shaba Games, developer of the upcoming Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, has boosted our spirits significantly, displaying the kind of aerial acrobatics and swift brawling we've always hoped to see in a Spidey title. Now, as long as they can avoid any glaring graphical issues or frequent cutscenes showing Peter Parker bawling his eyes out, Web of Shadows could be one of the better adaptations of the Spider-Man comics to ever hit the market.

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Here's the Call of Duty: World at War trailer

Christopher Grant — 2008-06-21T08:15:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

This is it: the moment of truth, folks. With this - the debut trailer for (the notably unnumbered) Call of Duty: World at War - Activision is essentially asking for feedback from every gamer on the planet. Can Call of Duty return to World War 2? Can alternating series developer (read: not Infinity Ward) Treyarch deliver a solid CoD title?

You can keep an eye out for our impressions (and our attempt to answer these same questions) early next week; however, in the interim, hit up this first piece of the puzzle after the break. Alternatively, for the HD-minded amongst you, check out GameTrailers or Xbox Live. Regardless of how you consume said trailer, we still want to know what you think. Sound off.

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