Badges awarded at Call of Duty XP [above] give an idea of the activities that expo attendees enjoyed over the weekend. Kotaku spent the past two days the inaugural gathering for fans of Activision's combat shooter, where the publisher revealed more details about the premium Call of Duty Elite subscription, we spent time with the game's multiplayer offerings, and everyone gazed at a massive display of firearms. All that and more is here for you now:
Call of Duty Elite 'Premium' Membership Costs $50 A Year, Includes All This and More
At the Call of Duty XP gathering, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg finally put a price on the premium subscription it plans to offer to Call of Duty Elite members: $50 USD per year. That's ten dollars less than the cost of purchasing a year's worth of downloadable map packs at $15 a pop, Hirshberg says, which millions of Call of Duty fans seem content to do annually. More » [Michael McWhertor]
How Modern Warfare 3 Changes the Call of Duty Multiplayer Game Yet Again
Year after year, how can Call of Duty's massive online shooter remain fresh? With Modern Warfare 3, the game's developers have focused on what works-player progression, extensive customization, tons of maps and game modes-and are blowing it out. More » [Michael McWhertor]
Gallery
Guns! Guns! Guns! A Tour of the Call of Duty XP Armory
The various arsenals of many Call of Duty games are represented at the XP expo's Armory, from Call of Duty: World At War to Modern Warfare 3. Men dressed as Vietcong, men dressed as Navy SEALs and men dressed as Makarov thinly populate the Armory, intimidating you with nasty looks and huge rifles. But it's all in good fun. More » [Michael McWhertor]
Call of Duty XP's Real-Life Achievements and Badges of Honor
Activision has a long and storied history of making some of the best video game patches in the business. Or at least they did during the Atari 2600 era. At Call of Duty XP, Activision returned to its patch-making ways, rewarding XP attendees for braving real-life and virtual challenges. More » [Michael McWhertor]
Video
How You'll 'Connect' to Others in Call of Duty Elite
Activision's social network and stat-tracking service for the Call of Duty enthusiast, Call of Duty Elite, may become your preferred way to meet and play against your fellow first-person shooter fans. It does a whole lot more, but let's take a look at what Elite's Connect feature suite is all about. More » [Michael McWhertor]
Find Makarov: Operation Kingfish Is More Explosive Than Your Average Call of Duty Fan Film
Operation Kingfish is the sequel (of sorts) to Find Makarov, the fan-made short film based on the Modern Warfare series-the mini-movie that fooled us into thinking a Modern Warfare 3 announcement was imminent in February. Not sure we can call this over-the-top action packed short a fan film, though, as it has the official backing of Activision. More » [Michael McWhertor]
Call of Duty XP 'Juggernaut Sumo' Pits Grandpa vs. Grandson
One of the many activities on hand at this weekend's Call of Duty XP event-activities that earn attendees badges of honor-is Juggernaut Sumo. The game? Put on a bulky fat suit gussied up to look vaguely like a Juggernaut from Modern Warfare 2's Spec Ops mode and... fight! More » [Michael McWhertor]
More Call of Duty Coverage
A Stroll Through A Bullet-Riddled Parisian Neighborhood in Modern Warfare 3
The record, they tell me, is level 28. We're nowhere close to that when death comes quickly to both of us. That's the way you die in Modern Warfare 3's Spec Ops Survival Mode: In pairs. Death can come to the two players one at a time, but typically it's sudden and bunched up. At least that's my experience every time I've played the ever-escalating, increasingly difficult cooperative mode of the soon-to-be released Call of Duty. More » [Brian Crecente]
Modern Warfare 3 ‘Hardened Edition' Details Leak, Includes Year-long Elite Membership
The "Hardened Edition" of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 appears to have had its contents outed earlier than officially planned, contents that include a one year membership to Activision's Call of Duty Elite service and other virtual goods. More » [Michael McWhertor]
Enjoy, Modern Warfare 3's New Multiplayer Trailer
Say what you will of the basketcase this franchise's singleplayer has become, one thing it still does very well is multiplayer. Which, you know, is the reason 95 percent of people buying this game buy this game. More » [Luke Plunkett]