Valve's Steam store continues its trend of weekend deals steals, offering the PC version of Call of Duty: World at War for half-price from today until the final minutes of Sunday, May 17. Regularly priced for download at $49.99, the game -- which includes the recently released Map Pack 1 -- is bargain hunter bait at $24.99. Activision's WWII-era FPS joins the cuddlier likes of Telltale Games' Strongbad and Sam & Max series, which are also 50% off until the 18th.

It's eight minutes footage of next month's Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2! Alright, alright, it's not the entire map pack, but it does feature the Russian trainyard themed, "Corrosion," as well as "Sub Pens," a map based in a submarine pen.

Sure, we'd love to see video of the purported "hell hounds" coming to "Shi No Numa," the Nazi zombie infested part of the DLC, but wouldn't everyone? We're just going to have to wait until some more video hits the webs from WaW developer, Treyarch. For the whole schebang, hit the break and have a ball!

Update: The YouTube video after the break has been replaced by a couple of GameSpy videos. Check out all their Map Pack 2 videos right here.

[Thanks, John H.!]

Duty is a hell of a thing. It's always calling you to it, and it would appear that Activision is already in production of the Treyarch follow-up to Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2, as is the company's pattern. And that's where David Kim's LinkedIn profile comes into play (check out his personal site here), which mentions that he's currently working as senior animator on Call of Duty 7.

With Modern Warfare 2 expected to deploy this holiday season, though, we likely won't hear anything substantial on this new Call of Duty for some time. But, considering how Activision likes to pump out the sequels to its key franchises, it's probably a safe bet to expect Call of Duty 7 sometime in 2010. We actually knew that before this listing popped up.

[Via superannuation]

As per this month's Modern Warfare 2 cover story in Game Informer, details of the piece have surfaced over at GiantBomb. A smattering of new revelations are covered, including the flat-out refusal of co-op play in story mode (said to break the narrative experience). Additionally, Captain "Soap" MacTavish returns, bringing with him distinctly more open-ended gameplay, and a significantly fleshed out "special forces" mode (one that will mimic and expand upon the final "Mile High Club" airplane battle in CoD4).

If you want more, you're just going to have to snag a copy of this month's GI. We'll be honest with you, though -- at this point, we expect greatness from the veteran development team at Infinity Ward. Luckily, from the looks of things, the game's release on November 10 will bring ever-widening smiles to the faces of existing fans and reignite our already burnin' love for the series.

[Thanks, Sage]

Brace yourselves. As the headline makes abundantly clear, Activision may be considering turning Guitar Hero into a television show -- a reality TV show, as rumor has it. Furthermore, the company is looking at creating a concert tour based on the series as well. According to Reuters, Activision CEO Robert Kotick acknowledged the rumor prior to the company's Q1 earnings call, saying, "It might make for a good TV show or a good concert tour."

Another rumor floating around -- about which Kotick declined to comment -- is that Activision is also prepping a film adaptation of the Call of Duty franchise. Call of Duty just might actually make a good movie, as Hollywood already has a general template for decent war movies. The only question: Would the film be based on a Treyarch-developed Call of Duty, or one developed by Infinity Ward? Flame war: Commence.

[Via Eurogamer]

Activision just sent word that the multiplayer map DLC for Call of Duty: World at War (otherwise known as Map Pack 1) has surpassed a combined worldwide download milestone of 2 million units across the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Needless to say, Activision seems pleased ... and why wouldn't it be? Map Pack 1 already broke Xbox Live sales records, selling one million units in its first week of availability.

Treyarch studio head, Mark Lamia, took a moment to comment on the "milestone," thanking the loyal community of World at War players for supporting the game -- and presumably, for not being completely tired of World War II themed shooters. Lamia also reminds gamers the World at War team expects to deliver new DLC sometime this June.

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 ...

Treyarch's Noah Heller mentioned shortly before the release of Call of Duty: World at War that the developer was probably going to lay off World War II for a while, leaving many to wonder what the stage of operations for the next CoD would be. If a report from That VideoGame Blog proves accurate, Activision may be taking the franchise to a much groovier era -- the 1960s. (Anno Domini, that is -- though who are we to assume 1960 B.C. wasn't equally groovy?)

TVGB is reporting that an anonymous, "trusted" source informed them Activision's been looking to license "Vietnam War era tunes, as well as Cuban, African, and Soviet Union music." The source mentioned that Heller (and, assumedly, Treyarch) is involved in the aforementioned license hunting. As with all rumors spawned by anonymous tipsters, we encourage you to take this rumor with a two-ton boulder of salt -- just to be safe, we've contacted Activision for a comment.

Activision Blizzard officials took time out of their busy schedule counting money to let the world know that the conglomerate is not only filthy rich, but expects to stay that way. The company notes that its financial take for the most recent quarter is tracking ahead of its own expectations, thanks to what it calls "better-than-expected" sales of its games at retail.

Prior guidance had the company pegged to bring in a hefty $860 million in revenue for the period, though it's unclear how much this figure will inflate in the wake of "strong" sales of Call of Duty and Guitar Hero titles, as well as World of some such. Actiblizzard CEO Robert Kotick noted that this "bodes well" for the company's upcoming releases, which include a salvo of games "inspired by theatrical feature films," colorful prose we're sure was inspired by the bulge in Kotick's wallet.

DLC can expand a game in many ways. Not only can it expand the experience offered by a title, but it can also expand your wallet, take out your money, and place it in the hands of publishers and developers. And, by 2010, EEDAR predicts that "the average AAA title should be able to earn an additional 10% in revenue by releasing additional content through digital distribution."

It's not a hard pill to swallow; DLC packs such as The Lost and Damned and Call of Duty: World at War's Map Pack 1 have been selling like virtual hotcakes, and Sony has been milking LittleBigPlanet in all the appropriate ways. Also, let's not forget about Criterion Games, the company that has been adding value consistently to its Burnout Paradise game. Of course, gamers have been complaining about paid DLC just as consistently.

Newsflash: Developers and publishers want you to buy their games. Doubly so if they plan to release their wares during the year-end holidays, as is the case with Modern Warfare 2. In fact, Activision brand manager Simon Wells told MCV that the company hopes Modern Warfare 2 will be the "biggest selling video game of all time," beating out the high sales figures of Call of Duty 4 and Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War.

We're not going to say that people aren't excited about Infinity Ward's sequel (our tips inbox proves it), but we're going to need more than a teaser trailer if we're to board the hype train. Although ... the inclusion of teddy bears does help.

So, we've got good and bad news for you. First, the good news: A study conducted by the University of Rochester has found that "the very act of action video game playing enhances contrast sensitivity." Rather, playing lots of Call of Duty might actually help keep your eyes in shape and the contrasts in color sharp as you age. But now, the bad news: Those 100+ hours you sunk into Fallout 3 may not have helped.

The study explains that, of the "expert video game players" tested, the "VGP group" (group playing "action" games Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty 2) exhibited "enhanced contrast sensitivity" versus the "NVGP group" (the folks playing "non-action" game The Sims 2), especially in the light of the population differences' interactions with spatial frequencies. Wait, WHAT?!

In so many words, majority percentages of the "VGP group" were clustering together on the high end of the scale while "NVGP group" numbers were clustering on the other end. Professor Gary Rubin, of the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology, sums up these findings rather nicely, saying, "This is a small study, showing a small effect, but it was carefully done, and merits further investigation."

[Via BBC]

Aside from, uh, gameplay footage, the one thing that was deemed conspicuously absent from Modern Warfare 2's explosive teaser trailer was the Call of Duty branding. Whether developer Infinity Ward is still debating the nested sequel's final title or simply hopes to distinguish its next FPS from the other 37 Call of Duty games on shelves is up for speculation, but it's hard to argue the independent prestige that lies behind Call of Duty 4's "Modern Warfare."

An Activision spokesperson seems to agree, telling Joystiq, "At this time, all we are free to say is that Modern Warfare has taken on such a life of its own, it has become our focus now." Since Modern Warfare 2 is almost certain to spawn another iteration after it releases this November, it may be best to ditch the Call of Duty brand before we end up with something like Call of Duty 17: Modern Warfare 6: Moderner Warfare 3: Lasers are Bad News: Aerosmith.

Update: Activision has just officially announced the November 10th arrival of "Modern Warfare 2" -- sans "Call of Duty."

Even without all of the perks, ranks, prestige ranks and zombified Nazis, the original Call of Duty still holds up as one of the most compelling shooters we've ever played. Activision is apparently hoping that the gaming community still holds a special place in their collective hearts for the best-selling 2003 title -- according to a PEGI (a European game ratings board) rating, the original Call of Duty is on its way to PSN and Xbox Live. Oh, and also, it apparently contains blood and violence.

Somewhat confirming that the PEGI rating wasn't just a cruel joke being played by sinister European masterminds, the ESRB has updated its rating for the PC version of Call of Duty to include Xbox 360 and PS3 tags. We've contacted Activision for further details -- we'll let you know whether you'll be busting out those old beach-stormin' shoes sometime soon.

[Thanks, Squeedom!]