Hey, You Got Kiefer Sutherland In My Call Of Duty 5

Activision's not-E3 presser was surprisingly mundane, considering they're North America's #1 publisher and all. One thing stands out for fans of 24 and Lost Boys the world over, however: it was announced by Treyarch that Kiefer Sutherland will be on voice-actor duties for the upcoming Call Of Duty: World At War. No specifics on which role, but if you presume he'll be a gruff-voiced American soldier and work from there, you should be OK.

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Don't Be Surprised If There Are RE5 Controls Surprises

The Resident 5 footage shown here at E3 is gorgeous. Jaw dropping, even. The game really looks like what people have been waiting for. What's not to like? The criticism level against the game has been the fact it uses Resident 4's controls. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you liked Resident Evil 4! But as RE5 producer Jun Takeuchi pointed out:

It's possible that a lot of people who play Resident Evil 5 may not have played Resident Evil 4. But they might have played Gears of Wars or Call of Duty. Those are both games that I and our team really, really like. So don't be surprised if at the Tokyo Game Show, the controls are different. For now, we have the control set up for RE4. I'm not confirming or denying anything, but we like to surprise people.

Another interesting tidbit: When Takeuchi saw Gears of War, he thought the guys that made it must really like Resident Evil 4. And when he met the Gears of War team, they told him, yes, they were big RE4 fans. And like that, we come full circle! Or something.

Ahead of what will no doubt be a big push for the game next week, Activision have released some new screens for Call Of Duty: World At War. Again, they're split between the Pacific and Eastern fronts, leaving us wondering when we'll get to see something from the British sections of the game.

Infinity Ward And Its "Unique New IP"

You know Infinity Ward for their work on Call of Duty, you love Infinity Ward for their work on Call of Duty. But nobody, not even Infinity Ward, can make Call of Duty games forever. It'd get boring. So it's nice to hear that, fresh off a re-up of its publishing deal with Activision, Infinity Ward has quietly announced that it's not only started on its "future project" (future? Like, sci-fi future?), but that it will also give the company the chance to build a "unique new IP by Infinity Ward, that we’ll have complete control over". Exciting! For Infinity Ward, that is. Sure the words "complete control" don't look quite so good to the "port it to everything!" crowd at Activision HQ.

The Future of Infinity Ward [IW]

Call of Duty: World at War Figures Show Off U.S., Brit Might

McFarlane Toys this morning announced that they will be making four toys based on upcoming shoot-fest Call of Duty: World at War. The toys, expecting to hit shelves this fall, will sell for $10 to $15 a pop.

The press release says there will be four soldiers:

Marine Infantry, Battle of Peleliu - Includes M1 Garand rifle and M1 bayonet

Marine Corps with Flamethrower, Battle of Peleliu - Includes M2-2 flamethrower with removable flame, and M1911A1 pistol & holster

Marine Corps with Machine Gun, Battle of Okinawa - Includes M-1928A1 machine gun w/20 round magazine and M1911A1 pistol & holster

British Special Ops, Battle for the Roer Triangle - Includes Mark II Sten gun

What? No bad guys? How am I supposed to reenact Operation Stalemate II without some Japanese figures to pack into my fortifications of coffee cups and DS cases?

Treyarch Offers Apologies To Gearbox Software

Just when we thought we were set for a good developer versus developer war of words, we find out that Treyarch has taken the high road, apologizing for remarks made about Gearbox Software and its Brothers In Arms series. You may remember that earlier we quoted Activision producer Noah Heller, who had a few unkind words for Hell's Highway in comparison to Call of Duty: World At War.

JD, Community Manager here at Treyarch wrote on the official Xbox forums of the Gearbox-aimed slam, "We want to let everyone know that we found those remarks offensive, and they do not in any way represent the feelings of any developer at this studio or at Activision. We hold all of our peers in the development community in the highest regard. We have nothing but respect for the guys and gals at Gearbox."

Hugs all around!

A Message from Treyarch [Xbox Forums - thanks, Beau!]

Activision Takes A Crack At Gearbox's Hell's Highway, A "Crappy War Game" [Update]

Some Infinity Ward Guy, Ladies Man

It's time to turn down the lights down real low. Set the mood, right. Previously, Microsoft exec and ladies man Aaron Greenberg talked up Bill Gates hot tub habits with two Penthouse Pets. This time it is Robert Bowling from Infinity Ward's turn. Robert Bowling? Yes, ROBERT BOWLING. He talks to the Pets about his part in Call of Duty 4:

Penthouse Lady: You are behind Call of Duty 4, right?
Robert Bowling: Uh, yeah. I'm the Community Manager for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warefare and Infinity Ward, which is the developer.
Penthouse Lady: Right on.

Phew. Good thing that wasn't all awkward. It sure could've been. These clips are from GDC and will never get old. Never.

In Bed With The Pets [Das Gamer via videogaming247]

Call of Duty 3 Needed More Time For Greatness

Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4 was fantastic. Treyarch's CoD3 wasn't as fantastic. Granted, it was pretty good! But honestly, not as good as Infinity Ward's CoD2. (See where this is going?) Says CoD5 senior producer Noah Heller:

I'd say that one of the things that's hard for a player to understand, I'm sure you guys can understand it because you have a lot more insight into the industry, is that Call of Duty 3 was about eight months end to end for development... And it's very hard to make a great game in that time. Call of Duty 3 is a very good game. It sold very well so a lot of people must have liked it... But it's not the game this team could have made if it had the time to polish to the level they needed to... Look at the great games of just this last six months or year. Look at Modern Warfare, look at BioShock, look at GTA 4. What these games have in common is enough time to polish and iterate on it, and I think as an industry we're learning how important that is... I feel like it's a little bit of an underdog story almost. Here's a team that's never had a chance to actually make a game with this much time. Modern Warfare comes along and raises the bar really high and now the team says, we've got to show what we've got, we've got to show up with a great game or else the players aren't going to want to play it. Expectations are so high.

They are, they really are. Treyarch was given a two year development cycle for CoD5, so hopefully that extra time in the oven will pay off. Willing to give World War II another spin if the game dazzles.

World at War First Look [Videogamer]

Yes. Not just screenshots, but details. Details like a confirmation that the game will be taking place in both the Pacific and European theatres, as you control not only the Americans fighting the Japanese, but the Russians on their advance towards Berlin as well. Again. More details: the game will boast four-player, drop-in-drop-out co-op play for the 360, PS3 and PC versions of the game (Wii owners, you get "a unique co-op mode for two players"). Oh, and the game will also feature a scaling difficulty curve, based upon "a player’s experience rank and rank of the player’s friends" (when playing co-op). Screens are below, concept art and presser after the jump.

An alleged insider allegedly with Infinity Ward allegedly told TalkPlayStation.com that the Call of Duty 4 developer is "currently working on a new sci-fi title." And then they clam up pretty fast, saying no more info is on the way and, conveniently, we "may or may not announce it at E3."

So there's a 50 percent chance this tip's got legs. As in, they're either making the game, or not. Computerandvideogames.com goes so far as to speculate it's a CoD/SciFi shooter. Granted, CoD is the studio's only title but come on. That's still like saying the guy that brought you "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is now making an Indiana Jones movie with aliens in it. Oh wait ...

COD4 Developers Making Sci-Fi Title [TalkPlayStation.com via Computerandvideogames.com]

Well, here you go. Our first look at Call of Duty: World At War. There's World War Two, explosions, American soldiers running around shooting bad guys. It all looks very nice, very moody, very well-lit. Before you start: we know, yes, it might not bring the Infinity Ward Shit like Infinity Ward did, but can we have one CoD5 post go by where people can at least give developers Treyarch the benefit of the doubt? It'd make a pleasant change. Thanks.

CoD: World At War Debuts On GameTrailers TV Friday

It's time to remember which channel Spike TV is on your cable box this Friday as GameTrailers TV features a world-exclusive first look at the next game in the Call of Duty series, Call of Duty: World at War. Developed by the people's second choice for CoD Treyarch, the game promises to redefine the WWII genre, which I really need to see to believe.

"Considering the incredible reception our hardcore gamer audience has given the GT Diamond Award-winning Call of Duty franchise, we are confident that they'll go crazy for this never-before-seen footage from Call of Duty: World at War," said Geoff Keighley, host of GTTV. "We are thrilled that Activision turned to GTTV to unveil this exclusive, reinforcing GameTrailers' tradition of bringing fans the best quality and most sought-after content."

This week's episode also features footage from The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and some sort of exclusive Star Wars dealie from LucasArts. As always, GameTrailers TV airs Friday night at 1am Eastern time.

Other nuggets gleaned from the ongoing mining of the Xbox marketing leak by Xbox 360 Fanboy:

• The next Call of Duty will be known as "World at War" instead of CoD5. There are five box concepts leaked. There's speculation that calling it World at War is an effort to keep the lifespan of hot-selling CoD4 running as long as possible.

• Forza Motorsport 3 is so huge that the limitations of the DVD format became an issue. It will include 400 cars, 100 tracks and must ship on two discs. Car deformation was also mentioned as a feature of the new title.

Possible CoD5 Rename, Plus Boxarts and pic [Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Forza Will Have 2 Discs, 400 Cars, More [Xbox 360 Fanboy]

The first details about upcoming Call of Duty 5 hit today. Unlike the modern CoD4, CoD5 will return to WWII. The game will be set in the Pacific Theater. Also unlike CoD4, the game won't be developed by Infinity Ward, but CoD3 dev Treyarch. The upcoming title will feature co-op — a first for the series. Also, multiplayer will feature vehicles and squad-elements as well. The game is truly multi-plat, and the Wii version is being developed by a separate Treyarch team and will support the Wii Zapper. The game is gritty, apparently. How gritty?

The opening scene of the first level we are shown is a Japanese commander stubbing a cigarette out in the eye of a prisoner before slitting his throat - the blood splatters and dribbles down the side of the tent you are being held in. He turns towards you to deal out the same treatment but help arrives just in time. Cue a daring level-long escape.

EWWW, GROSS.
First CoD5 Details [videogaming247 via Strategy Informer]

We think of games that sold a bagillion copies over the past few years, we think Halo 3. GTA IV. Wii Play. We don't normally think Call of Duty 4 (probably because its marketing didn't beat us to within an inch of our lives), but hey, maybe we should. As of today, Activision are reporting that they've sold ten million copies of Infinity Ward's materpiece. Ten. Million. They wouldn't/couldn't divulge the breakdown by console, but did say it had been "most successful" on 360.

'Call of Duty 4' hits 10 million units sold [Cnet]

PC Call of Duty 4 gamers can download four maps free in an NVIDIA-sponsored Variety Map Pack due to drop Thursday.

The four maps for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare are the Broadcast, Chinatown, Killhouse and Creek maps. Furthermore, PC players will get a patch that fixes a server crash, fixes some other bugs, adds in some things and, oh yeah, enables support for the new maps.

So, PC gamers, don't say nobody never did nuthin' for ya. Xbox 360 owners had to buy this. Enjoy!

Variety Map Pack Sponsored by NVIDIA hits PC June 5th [IAMfourzerotwo]

Amazon once again maps out an entire day of gaming deals, this time around giving the Xbox 360 fans a little bit of of the love they've been reserving for Nintendo gamers lately. Today kicks off with the Deal of the Day, which is the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition for only $39.99, a damn fine price for those couple of guys who don't already own it.

Meanwhile the Gold Box deals have kicked off with Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for $29.99, which is going pretty fast, to be followed up with Scene-It at 10 Pacific, possibly Madden at 2, and possibly Frontlines: Fuel of War at 6.

The fact that Amazon keeps cranking these video game day deals out means that the gamer response has been overwhelming, so as long as we keep buying they'll keep discounting until we form a giant, writhing, perpetual sale engine, which sounds terribly sticky.

Amazon Deals Of The Day [Amazon - Thanks Ben!]