The World at War Map Pack Bundle collects all three of Treyarch's expansion packs for the latest World War II iteration of Call of Duty, which could be very convenient for those players who are showing up extremely late to the zombie Nazi party. The pack retails for $24.99 on the PlayStation Network and 2000 Microsoft points on Xbox Live, which works out to a savings of $5 either way you look at it. Okay, technically it works out to a savings of $4.98 on PSN, but pennies aren't real money anyway.

The pack will be available worldwide today for the Xbox 360 and in North America for the PS3, going up on the European PlayStation Store on January 7th.

Call of Duty: World At War: Zombies consists, according to the official description, entirely of the 'Nacht der Untoten' map that Call of Duty: World At War fans are likely familiar with. For an asking price of $9.99 USD, that may be asking a lot. We'll be testing it out shortly to see how much content one gets for ten bucks.

In addition to single player Nazi zombie extermination, the iPhone version supports four players via Wi-fi and two players via Bluetooth connection, promising a "silky smooth 3D environment" in which to gun down rotting Nazi officers. Achievements, leaderboard support and downloadable content in the form of new maps are all promised.

Call of Duty: World At War: Zombies [iTunes]

Activision Blizzard had kind words for the Guitar Hero and Call of Duty franchises, which apparently many of you bought over the last three months, helping Acti-Blizz zoom past its projected $700 million quarter. CEO Robert "Bobby" Kotick pointed to "positive audience response to Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero 5, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and the Guitar Hero and Call of Duty franchises, as well as Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft."

The company also claimed that in September " sales of music games in the U.S. increased 72% in dollars year over year, which demonstrates the sustained interest in this new and important game category." So, nothing to worry about!

Kotick seemed similarly pleased with the company's expected ability to "deliver record non-GAAP operating margins based on the strength of the Call of Duty franchise and high consumer anticipation for Modern Warfare 2, which we project could be the largest entertainment launch of the year."

No one can deliver non-GAAP operating margins like these guys. No one.

Activision Blizzard Announces Better-Than-Expected Third Quarter CY 2009 Financial Results [Activision Blizzard]

More than 1.2 million votes were cast for this year's Golden Joystick Awards, representing a 47% jump in votes over the previous year, and a great many of those voters were Activision Blizzard fans. While Bethesda's post-apocalyptic epic took home top honors, five of the fifteen awards announced last night went to Activision Blizzard games. Call of Duty: World at War took home awards for MSN Multiplayer Game of the Year and Nintendo Game of the Year; Guitar Hero World Tour snagged the Rampage Soundtrack of the Year award, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was named the ShortList One to Watch. With those four under the company's belt, it comes as no surprise that Activision Blizzard were named Publisher of the Year as well.

Other notable awards include Fallout 3's PC Game of the Year award, Left 4 Dead's Online Game of the Year, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars' Handheld Game of the Year win.

Check out the full list of awards and their winners below.

Family Game of the Year: LittleBigPlanet

Bliss Handheld Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Retailer of the Year: GAME

Mobile Game of the Year: Metal Gear Solid Touch

Nintendo Game of the Year: Call of Duty: World at War

MSN Multiplayer Game of the Year: Call Of Duty: World At War

The Rampage Soundtrack of the Year: Guitar Hero World Tour

Xbox Game of the Year: Gears of War 2

PC Game of the Year: Fallout 3

Amiqus Games UK Developer of the Year: Jagex

PlayStation Game of the Year: Killzone 2

Publisher of the Year: Activision Blizzard

Online Game of the Year: Left4Dead

ShortList One to Watch: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Ultimate Game of the Year, together with Zavvi.co.uk: Fallout 3

Map Pack 3, of course, includes the multiplayer settings Battery, Breach and Revolution, plus the Nazi zombie map Der Riese. Unlike the consoles, however, PC players get this for free.

There are some other exploit fixes and issue correction. Additionally, Olin says Treyarch does "expect a concurrent release of the Mod Tools 1.4 package, Linux dedicated 1.6 bins, and the Steam 1.6 day-of-date with this patch." Full details at the link.

Patch 1.6 Details [Call of Duty Community Forums, via Blue's News]

In Wales, the 200th U.K. soldier to die in the Afghanistan conflict was memorialized this weekend. Pvt. Richard Hunt would have been 22 today, Hundreds came to pay their respects.

His father Phillip, enjoyed playing Call of Duty: World at War with his son. He left a copy of the game at his grave (along with a wreath and many other memorials). It bore the note: "Happy Birthday 'Hunty'. Play you again one day. Dad."

Hundreds Join Tribute to Soldier [BBC via GamePolitics]

The seven-figure weekend brings to 6.5 million the worldwide downloads of World at War map packs, Activision said in a news release. At $10 a pop, roughly, that's some nice jing in their pockets.

The statement didn't break out the number of free downloads of PC versions of Map Packs 1 and 2, or specify whether they're included in that 6.5 mil total.

Map Pack 3, in a story last week in which I royally screwed up community manager Josh Olin's first name, has been confirmed for the PC, along with a version 1.6 patch. No word yet on when that arrives.

This is what he had to say:

As with the previous two Map Packs, Map Pack 3 will indeed be coming to the PC – the team is hard at work on it and I'll let you know when it's in test.

As such, there will be a Patch 1.6 as well, which will address some additional game issues. When I have details on what else will be included in the patch I will be sure to post them.

We appreciate your patience as always, and look forward to its release as much as you do!

Map Pack 3 & Patch 1.6 Details [Call of Duty: World at War Forums, via VG247]

The franchise just dropped its third map pack - for the PS3 and Xbox 360 - but the first is still lurking out there for the PC version - and you get it for free, with your $25 purchase.

Call of Duty: World at War on Steam [Steam, thanks Ryan R.]

We've got five Playstation 3 codes and ten Xbox 360 codes. I've decided to bury the codes in two old posts on Kotaku. You'll just need to find them.

Here's a clue:

He was one of the main voice actors for Call of Duty: World at War

Good luck, and when you find a code make sure to hop back here and let us know. Don't forget to activate the code first though.

Update: The codes are all used up. Sorry!

Honestly I haven't had much time to play World at War outside of the initial launch and our video podcast with the developers, so I might be a bit late in saying this: all games should include explosive monkeys. I'm not sure how the monkey figures into the three new multiplayer maps and one new zombie map dropping in tomorrow's Map Pack 3, but it's reassuring to know it's there.

The app, which can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store as of yesterday, offers Call Of Duty: World At War who take these things seriously on-the-go access to game related news, World At War career stats, leaderboard access and more. That fun statistical data is carried over from the official Call Of Duty: World At War site, should you be a registered player.

Details on the Companion, straight from Activision, are as follows.

• Stat-Tracking: Check your rank on key stats like K/D ratio, win/lose record and more.
• Performance Tracking: Gain quick access to all of your weapon usage.
• Link with Friends: Monitor online activity, and the stats of friends with linked accounts on www.codwaw.com to compare progress.
• News: Access the latest news/blogs, Treyarch's community Twitter feed (Twitter: @JD_2020), as well as the latest on new maps, double XP weekends and contests.

Sounds like a nice freebie, something we hope other developers and publishers latch on to.

Grab the app from iTunes for your iPod Touch or iPhone, should you crave this sort of constant contact with your virtual WWII vet.

Call Of Duty: World At War Companion [iTunes]

"Acquire Waffle Weapons!" is earned once you pick up the "Ray Gun," "DG-2" and "Monkey Bomb" at the same time. There's also a mention of a teleporter. I haven't played CoD:WaW in a while, but this is the first I've heard of any ray guns. Sounds like the game's getting a little pulp science-fictiony with secret weapons of the Third Reich.

The full list is below. They went up on the official site July 23.

• 40 Knives!:
Kill 40 zombies with the bowie knife.
• Acquire Waffle Weapons!:
Obtain the Ray Gun, DG-2, and the Monkey Bomb at the same time in a game.

• Der electrican!:
Link all teleport pads before round 7.

• Frequent Flyer!:
Use the teleporter 8 times.

• Locksmith!:
Open all doors in the map.

• The Might of the Monkey!:
Use the Monkey Bomb.

• Perkaholics Anonymous!:
Survive untill round 20 without buying a single perk.

• Pack Addict!:
Upgrade 5 weapons at the Pack A Punch Machine.

• Wacker Packer!:
Upgrade any weapon in Pack A Punch.

• Elevate Your Senses!:
???

The 10 New Achievements/Trophies for Map Pack 3 [Call of Duty.com, thanks The Whitedwarf]

The pack is expected to be priced at 800 Microsoft Points.

Three screens accompanied today's announcement, showing off the three regular multiplayer maps coming as part of World at War's third dose of downloadable content. Battery, Revolution, and Breach were co-developed by Treyarch and partner Certain Affinity, each providing lovely new places for players to mercilessly slaughter one another.

Here's a shot of Revolution:
And here's a shot of Battery: As for the new Zombie map, Der Riese...well we're just going to have to wait and see. It does sound like the undead are once again Nazi's at least, so all is right with the world as far as I am concerned.

Attribute it to rampant zombie madness or just plain love. The second map pack for Call of Duty: World at War saw more than one million players forking over cash or points to download the four new maps to their PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Of course they are counting the weekend as June 11th through the 14th, and my weekend certainly didn't start on a Thursday last week, but still, mighty impressive numbers.

So who here picked up the pack, and how many of you only did it for the new zombie map?

The game got off to a damn good start during the pre-Christmas season, selling more than 1.88 million units in its first month on sale, adding another 1.86 million sales the following month. Sales appear to have held pretty steady after that, averaging about 1.2 million copies of Call of Duty: World At War sold each month in 2009. None too shabby!

World At War's first downloadable map pack is also helping to pad the publisher's coffers, having been snapped up some 2 million times.

Clearly, Activision sees some worth in these crazy Call of Duty games, as the next iteration, Infinity Ward's more current Modern Warfare 2, is penciled in for a November 10th release. We're sure some Activision publishing executive is desperately hoping for a proper World War III to break out by 2011.

CoD:WaW Surpasses 11 Million Units! [Call of Duty: World At War HQ]

Shi no Numa is the map that proves that Japanese World War II soldiers can be the living dead, as can dogs. Consider it the great equalizer. Everything dies; and everything can rise from the dead. This, along with three not nearly as interesting normal maps will be available tomorrow for $9.99 on the PlayStation Network and 800 Microsoft points via Xbox Live Marketplace.

Treyarch's return to World War II is the latest Steam Weekend Deal, marked down 50% on Valve's digital distribution service. That translates to an asking price of just $24.99 USD for Call of Duty: World at War. A temporary steal for the PC version.

Also newly cheap is PlatinumGames' MadWorld. GameStop is chainsawing prices on the Sega title, blowing it out for just $29.99 USD. Given that the Wii game sold a seemingly paltry, but still Sega-expectation-meeting 66,000 copies in its first month on the market, one might think that's a reaction to underperforming sales.

But MadWorld is simply joining a long list of Sega titles that get heavily discounted weeks after their release, a proud tradition that includes Sega Superstars Tennis and Golden Axe: Beast Rider.

Oh and Empire: Total War, which GameStop is also selling for just $29.99 as of this weekend. Granted, these deals have almost no relation to a mini-mall, but they're still good!

Call of Duty: World at War [Steam]

Dead Rising. Left4 Dead. Nazi zombie mode in Call of Duty: World at War.

More Nazi zombies in the first World at War map pack.

And next, in June, Imperial Japanese zombies in a swamp shamble through he second map pack for World at War.

Gamers love their zombies, but maybe they've been smothered by one too many? Enough with the zombies?

At 6:56 seconds of the 5/12 Giant Bombcast gaming podcast, Treyarch community lead Josh Olin, who is hyping the June map pack, says:

"Out of fear of showing my zombie nerd-ism I will contend that zombies aren't saturated at all. I could play zombies for the rest of time. But people thought that about the World War II genre, right — that that was saturated? And I think that with World at War at least our hope was that we would come out with something that was new and different that people haven't been used to playing before. Hopefully that's been proven by the success of these map packs."

Zombies are forever?

05-12-2009 Giant Bombcast