Although we still don't know definitively who's developing Call of Duty 5 (rumors suggest Treyarch), Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith said the next game will be changing settings again. In a conference call yesterday (35:00 mark), he said, "We'll bring the intensity of the recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare title to a new military theater."

Also confirmed were plans to launch "on all four platforms we've participated on in fiscal 2008" -- that's Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows and DS -- as well as PS2 and Wii. We're hoping the "new military setting" isn't related to World War II as the recent Treyarch job listing suggested.

We know this runs the risk of sounding like a bad game of Telephone, but here it goes: We heard from Next Gen that they heard from an ex-Activision employee (who was formerly part of Underground) that they heard that Call of Duty 4 developers Infinity Ward recently renegotiated its contract with parent company Activision. Aside from finally getting casual Fridays and that margarita machine that Debbie in accounts receivable has been asking about, IW also reportedly got the right to be the exclusive developer of all things Call of Duty.

If true, that would edge out Treyarch (which made the 3rd numbered game in the series) after they complete work on the CoD game that they're unofficially working on. With as much love as IW put into the excellent CoD 4, we can totally understand why they don't want Uncle Treyarch to babysit the series every other weekend. But, as we've pointed out, this is just hearsay at the moment. We'll let you know if we hear something official.

Update: Activision has responded, describing the rumor as "erroneous information regarding the CoD franchise."

Here at Joystiq, we've always felt that the intense, highly realistic military action of the Call of Duty games would be better captured by a card game. Thankfully, someone at Upper Deck had the same idea, because the company announced the Call of Duty Real-time Card Game at this weekend's New York Comic Con.

MTV's Stephen Totilo got an early demo of the game, which comes off as a mix between the Pokémon TCG and the traditional card game Spit. Players lay down soldiers, protective cover and weapon cards as fast as possible, until someone plays a "freeze" card and all the damage and effects get tallied up. The game will be based on the non-modern Call of Duty games (sorry, COD4 fans) and could possibly include special cards that unlock in-game content for Call of Duty 5 (much like similar cards in the World of Warcraft card game) -- though this feature isn't yet confirmed. Look for it in stores this Fall.

Read - MTV playtest impressions
Visit - Official Upper Deck game site

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 Variety Map Pack has emerged triumphantly from the PlayStation 3 certification process and will become available for download next week on the North American PlayStation Network. Infinity Ward's Community Manager, "Fourzerotwo," has updated his blog with the news, confirming the $10 DLC's arrival on April 24th. Unfortunately, European gamers will have to wait an extra week (until May 1st) before gaining access to the four new multiplayer maps.

We recommend you frolic through the maps on the Double XP weekend for North America, which will run from 12:01 AM PDT on Friday, April 25 to 11:59 PM PDT on Sunday, April 27. Infinity Ward developers will also hop in front of your crosshairs on Friday, April 25 from 5 PM to 8 PM PDT. Finally, Europe will receive a Double XP weekend, running from 12:01 AM GMT on Friday, May 2 to 11:59 PM GMT on Sunday, May 4, with developers joining on Friday, May 2 from 7 PM GMT to 10 PM GMT. Did you get all that?

[Thanks, Lucas]

And what such a prestigious achievement amounts to is, well, an awfully large amount of money. You see, the Develop 100 aims to rank "the world's most successful game studios" based on the revenues earned by their products at UK retail. Leaping to the top of the list for 2007 is Nintendo, its titles earning £129.83 million ($256 million) and boasting a significant lead over the £68.78 million ($136 million) belonging to number 2 producer, EA Canada.

Other notable studios in the top ten include Ubisoft Montreal with £52.17 million, Konami with £41.67 million and Maxis, which raked in £36.84 million. You'll also spot Infinity Ward with £39.6 million and Bungie with £31.45 million, both of which coasted in on a single game.

[Final "million" word count: 9. 10 if you count that "million." Oh, great, now it's 11.]

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.)

Well, someone in Sony's software certification lair is having a blast. Infinity Ward community manager "fourzerotwo" has noted on his blog that the $10 Variety Map Pack for Call of Duty 4, which hit Xbox 360 last week, has entered the certification process for PlayStation 3. Unless it's discovered that the downloadable content melts console innards, the "monstrously huge" number of PS3 players shouldn't have to wait much longer before getting shot at in the four new environments.

Though further details should become apparent later this week, expect the map pack to arrive alongside the PS3 version of Call of Duty 4: Game of the Year Edition.

Looking for a good way to plan Call of Duty 4 strategies while you're away from your Xbox 360? Our sister site Xbox 360 Fanboy has put together a 5 1/2-minute walkthrough of the new Variety Map Pack, which includes Broadcast, Chinatown, Creek and Killhouse.

As for the future of the Variety Map Pack, Infinity Ward blogger extraordinaire Fourzerotwo has commented on his blog that the dev is now focusing on bringing the maps to the PlayStation 3 and PC. No specifics for the PC version, but the PS3 maps are due out at the end of April.

If you've made it this deep into the weekend without purchasing the new Call of Duty 4 "Variety Map Pack," why not hold out a little longer? Leave a comment naming your favorite multiplayer map EVAR on our giveaway post for your chance to win the map pack -- for free! You've got until 1200 hours tomorrow, soldier.

[Update: Entry period is over, folks. We're selecting our winners and contacting them by email, so go check!]

What a lovely ravine ... to die in. Take the tour (of duty) on us! Joystiq is giving away five download codes for the brand-new Call of Duty 4 "Variety Map Pack" on Xbox 360 (valued at 800 Microsoft Points / $10). Just follow these 5 simple rules for your chance to win:

• To enter this giveaway, leave a comment naming your favorite multiplayer map of all time (any game)
  
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
  
• Limit 1 entry per person per day. If you enter this giveaway more than once each calendar day you'll be automatically disqualified and forced to, well, pay for the map pack!
  
• This entry period ends at 12:00pm ET on Monday, April 7th. We'll randomly select 5 winners at that time (please check your email!)
  
• For complete rules, click here

Psst, hey, one more thing: GameDaily is offering up five additional codes, right here.

Infinity Ward spokesman "fourzerotwo" (or Robert Bowling, to his parents) has announced that the new Call of Duty 4 map pack will arrive at 6:30 PST, or 9:30 EST or, to put it in terms we can all appreciate: In 30 minutes. So watch a video or flip through the gallery, do whatever you have to do to prepare yourself. What's that sound like blood pumping out of your ears? That's you getting totally, absolutely pumped. ... Oh, also, there's blood pumping out of your ears. We should probably get you to a doctor. Think we can be back in a half hour? Come to think of it, can you drive yourself?

Once the maps drop (and you part with 800 points/$10) try to pull yourself away for a few minutes to come back and share your thoughts.

[Thanks, Lucas]

So it turns out the Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack is coming out this week, after all. Despite the official COD4 Game of the Year website decreeing an April 10 release date for the downloadable content, Infinity Ward's blogger extraordinaire fourzerotwo posted reassurances today that the map pack is "NOT delayed" (his emphasis) and that there's a good chance the maps will be available tomorrow night or early Friday.

"For those of you asking when you should take off work, I'd take off Friday," he said. It's a good thing we at Joystiq can work and play Call of Duty 4 (we're spoiled like that ... and ambidextrous). For those with the Game of the Year Edition, the provided tokens will work as soon as the maps become available.

The Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack will not hit this week like planned. Instead, that April 3 or 4 date has been pushed back to April 10, according to the official Game of the Year Edition website. We're betting this is the real deal, despite today's notoriety. If it's Activision's or Infinity Ward's idea of an April Fools' prank, then we're a bit disappointed by the lack of effort.

[Via X3F]

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?