The HXT set up did make for a fun little diversion, as that goofball smile on my face wasn't forced. The sensation of getting shot in the head without actually giving up brain matter is oddly exhilarating, if at times uncomfortable for the skull. The vest feedback wasn't as jarring and the TN Games team said they were planning on less intense "force cell" hardware for the final helmet, for those worried about too much cranial abuse.

It currently works with two titles, Call of Duty 2 and the company's own Incursion—which is not so good—but they're planning for support in a bunch of shooters, including Half-Life, Doom and Quake titles.

Infinity Ward, the team behind Call of Duty 2, is back in the saddle for the series' fourth installment. The game is cross-platform for the PS3 and the Xbox 360, and both versions will run at 1080p and 60 frames-per-second. Don't expect a Wii port (that's a mantra of late!), because if Infinity Ward ever decided to release a version for the Nintendo console, it would be built from the ground up. Instead of relying on World War II, Infinity Ward decided to shift the game to a modern setting. No Nazis? Who are we going to kill? Explains Infinity Ward's Grant Collier:

We really needed to create a bad villain, since we don't have Nazis to kill any more. In previous Call of Duty games, you could start off and know that those guys are bad — we need to kill them for X, Y and Z reasons. We spent a lot of time working on the storyline — we've hired Hollywood writers who are really great at creating cliff-hangers.

Interview With Grant [Spong]

What's the difference between Call of Duty 2 and its sequel? NASA, that's what. Game site 360 MONSTER got a sneak peak at the eagerly awaited FPS and reports that not only can you kill Nazis taking a leak (awesome!), but the game was made with NASA technology. Meaning uniforms were donned by real people and then scanned by the same scanner which looks for flaws in the foam on the bottom of the space shuttle. What does that mean? No clue! But it sure sounds neat. Brian Ashcraft

If It's Good Enough For NASA [360 Monster, Thanks Lee!]

Activision buzzed the red Kotaku phone, sending word that World War II first-person-shooter Call of Duty 2 has earned the distinction of being the first Xbox 360 title to move one million units in the United States. The game continues to sell well, which is a good sign for the upcoming Call of Duty 3 for the Xbox 360 and the PLAYSTATION 3. Hit the jump for the full press release. Brian Ashcraft

SALES OF CALL OF DUTY 2 FOR THE XBOX 360 TOP ONE MILLION UNITS IN THE U.S.

Santa Monica, CA - Sept. 12, 2006 - Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that Infinity Ward's critically acclaimed Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system has sold more than one million units in the U.S. alone, according to NPD Funworld.

The award-winning title is the # 1 best selling game on Xbox 360 and continues to be among the highest rated games for the platform, according to Gamerankings data.

"We are proud that Call of Duty 2 is the first title to sell over one million units on the Xbox 360 in the U.S." said Robin Kaminsky, executive vice president, Activision Publishing. "Activision has made a strong commitment to develop leading franchises for the next-generation consoles and we look forward to continuing that successful strategy with our titles launching on Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 and the Wii this fall."

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted net revenues of $1.47 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, Spain, the Netherlands and South Korea. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's World Wide Web site, which is located at www.activision.com.

There must be a simple explanation as to why WW2 first-person-shooter Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360 sold out at this Akihabara shop, like that store had only three copies in stock. Facing entrenched competition from Sony and Nintendo, the 360 has had an uphill fight in the Land of the Rising Sun. It hasn't been easy and will only get harder, but 360 keeps plugging away. My advice? More games and take heart Microsoft, it's the small battles that win the war. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [CoD 2]

Four Zero Two, community relations manager for Infinity Ward, drops the details on the upcoming Call of Duty 2 Invasion Map Pack set to hit Xbox Live Marketplace this Thursday.

The pack will include five new maps:
Antoville, France (Crossroads);
St. Louet, France (Newvillers);
Amaye sur Seulles, France (Normandy);
Alam Halfa, Egypt (Decoytown);
Rostov, Russia (Harbor)

The pack, which was initially rumored to be price-tagged at 900 points, will go for a mere 800 MS points, or about $10. That's a little better than the $15 charge for the GRAW pack, but I'm still feeling grumbly about it. Brian Crecente

Call of Duty 2 Invasion Map Pack [402]

Major Nelson posts that the Call of Duty 2 auto update hit the old Xbox Live today. Unfortunately the update doesn't seem to address the problems with CoD2's online play. Sad pandas in camo everywhere.

CoD2 Auto Update [Major Nelson]

I tried hopping into Call of Duty 2 on Sunday to get in an hour of headshots before cooking dinner.

Unfortunately, I couldn't join or create a game. I went to the Live forums and discovered I'm not the only one. It appears that the Call of Duty 2 online glitches are getting worse.

Let's hope that update really is just around the corner.

call of duty 2 error [Xbox Forums]

Intrepid Xbox 360 gamers have found a glitch in Call of Duty 2 that actually improves the multiplayer game, by allowing players to custommize multiplayer matches further than the built-in engine allows. There's a thread at the Xbox.com forums about how users can go about setting up a game using these "new unadvertised features."

Now, the question remains: If Activision fixes this glitch, which ultimately improves the multiplayer and makes it go away, isn't that fix just breaking the game? Maybe later today we can talk about which came first, the chicken or the egg.

300 Kills 30+ Time Limit [Xbox.com]

Not really "free" per se. Still gotta buy Call of Duty 2 for the 360 this week. But, it's better than a stick in the eye.

Best Buy [Official Site] Thanks, Cool Lead!

Panogames is a cool new site that does 360 degree panoramic screen captures from video games. The result is pretty amazing. So far the site has panocaps for Quake 4, GT Legends, Battlefield 2, GTE FIA GT Racing, Half Life 2 and Call of Duty 2.

Panogames [Official Site]

Call of Duty 2 is exactly what I expected it to be: More of the same, but still addictive.

The graphics are quite good and I found that the control layout was probably one of the best I've found amoung the 360's shooters. The only thing that hurts this title is that people who have played it on the PC won't find much new here.

The online play was typically smooth, but when it had problems, the problems were significant. Out of about a dozen online games, two of them had very significant lag issues. And when I say significant I'm talking dial-up modem significant. I was a little surprised that Live had these issues. I'm chalking it up to launch day jitters with hopes that the online play will smooth out as Microsoft works the kinks out of Live.

Has anyone else had Live issues with their 360?

I give Call of Duty 2 four out of five stars.

I managed to weasel my way into three newspapers today talking about the 360: The Baltimore Sun, The Seattle Times and the Patriot News. Links are below in case you are interesting in checking them out.

The Patriot News
The Baltimore Sun
The Seattle Times

The impressively authentic Call of Duty series is about to get even more real. Activision has announced a deal with the Military Channel to include short films in this fall's Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.

In addition to the vignettes, the Military Channel will air a special about the Big Red One, an elite fighting force in the military, that feature will also include segments on the making-of Call of Duty 2: Big Red One. Including documentary footage and realism to augment a game's presentation is something we've seen before, and as games strive to get more realistic (especially the overpopulated WWII-genre) we'll see more of these deals.

Military Channel to Air Call of Duty 2 Documentaries [Team Xbox]