Hot on the heels of Activision announcing that the next Call of Duty game would make its public debut this weekend, came Newsweek tech editor N'Gai Croal's bilious reaction to the game. That is, the game's title.

The name Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare doesn't just inspire the jaded eye-rolling of yet another military FPS. It causes Croal (and presumably countless others) to yawn with boredom and type angrily "enough is enough." With a name that smacks too closely of EA's Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and is nearly indistinguishable from Medal of Honor, Band of Brothers, Company of Heroes, and Hour of Victory, something's gotta give. This is probably the easiest part of game development, so why do these names suck?

Honestly, I can hardly tell any of these games apart anymore. When THQ announced Frontlines: Fuel of War, I was sure someone was joking. The answer isn't more colons and ofs, guys, it's fewer.

Can anyone out there come up with anything original anymore? Are publishers writing scripts to generate these dull brands? One thing's for sure, don't hire N'Gai to come up with your title. While it would certainly be interesting, there's no way in hell it's fitting on the box. Michael McWhertor

Critical Hit: Day of Disgust, or, Why Can't Publishers Come Up With More Original Titles for Their Videogames? [N'Gai Croal's Level Up]