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Call of Duty Rep Stole from Activision to Pay for Engagement Party
An Activision PR manager who stole nearly $30,000 from the launch budget for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2‘s UK release and used it to finance her engagement party avoided active jail time in a sentencing hearing today, reports The Daily Mail. Kathryn Kirton, 35, stayed out of prison because a judge noted her prosecution…
By Owen Good Published April 22, 2013 -
No, His Mom Isn’t Making Him Apologize to You on Xbox Live
Much as we’d all like to think this is true at face value, it isn’t. It’s a proto-meme, bubbling under the surface of the Internet for a few years. It popped up again this weekend. If you receive this message, you’re being double-victimized. First, some a-hole unfurls a homophobic slur at you in Call of…
By Owen Good Published April 20, 2013 -
Kotaku East
The Bizarre Japanese of Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s Newest Map
The Japanese language and Call of Duty have never gotten along. But in the past, that’s been simply due to translation mistakes. That might not be the case here. In the latest downloadable content for Black Ops II, the in-game Japanese is both strange and funny. The downloadable content features four new multiplayer maps, including…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 17, 2013 -
One Hour of Call of Duty Warfare In Real Life Sure Would Be Expensive
Call of Duty warfare would also cost a ton of lives—enough that, if it went on for six days, there would be no humans left on earth according to Vsauce3. Really, getting into the nitty gritty details of how many (fake) resources we use in Call of Duty is intense and ridiculous: thank god it’s…
By Patricia Hernandez Published April 15, 2013 -
Is the Decision to Buy Call of Duty or Battlefield a Moral Choice?
Before you skip everything in this video and run straight to the comments, understand the question: Many (not “most”; not “all”) shooter video games feature licensed, real-world firearms. Gunmakers are compensated for the appearance of their brands as much as the NFL Players Association is paid for its members appearing in Madden. Does this present…
By Owen Good Published April 13, 2013 -
Call of Duty Too Realistic For You? Well, They’re Now Pitting Hollywood Mobsters Vs. Zombies
If Far Cry 3 can have its insane Blood Dragon DLC, then Call of Duty: Black Ops II can get Mob of the Dead, one piece of the new Uprising downloadable expansion to Activision’s blockbuster first-person shooter. The mobsters here are controlled by you and three other friends in the game’s co-op zombies mode. They’re…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 11, 2013 -
Activision’s Next-Gen Soldier Graphics Have Crawled Straight Out Of The Uncanny Valley
During a talk at GDC earlier today, attended by GameSpot, Activision artists showed off what they think/hope next-gen character models will look like. While stressing that these are just exploratory models, and not in-game assets, the fact this is Activision, and that there’s a soldier there, will still be pointing towards the obvious: your next…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 27, 2013 -
Watch These Top-Level Call of Duty Players Go Apesh*t
If you’ve played a game online, chances are you’ve experienced ragers in their full extreme, screaming glory. So it shouldn’t be surprising that even top-level players rage, as Eurogamer discovered. Here is a compilation of (sometimes celebratory!) rage moments during a European Call of Duty championship. One of the competitors notes that raging is done…
By Patricia Hernandez Published March 21, 2013 -
Believe It Or Not, There Is Actually More Than One Way To Play A Game
Breaking a habit is no easy thing—even when a game designer does their best to give players options. Take Call of Duty: Black Ops II, for instance. Few things are as seductive to a CoD player as perfecting their kill/death ratio, and little about the game is designed from the ground up to encourage anything…
By Patricia Hernandez Published March 18, 2013 -
Microtransactions for ‘Customization Items’ Come to Black Ops 2 on Xbox 360
Beginning Wednesday, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will begin offering “personal customizations” on the Xbox 360, the game’s community manager said this morning. The items don’t affect gameplay—they’re items like weapon skins, targeting reticles, and player calling cards. Moreover, the multiplayer map Nuketown 2025, originally a preorder incentive back in November, will be made…
By Owen Good Published March 12, 2013 -
Five Things That Make For A Good Power Weapon
Competition demands dominion. Dominion begets power. And, if you’re serious about keeping that power, chances are power weapons come into the picture. Power weapons are tools that allow us to deal immense damage. Think stuff like sniper rifles, or even vehicles like tanks. These can dictate the entire flow of the match, so it’s not…
By Patricia Hernandez Published March 11, 2013 -
You Can Play An Infinite Game of Catch With A Live Grenade In Black Ops II
Sure, shooting people is an option in Black Ops II, and that’s plenty of fun. Or, you can play catch with your enemies. With a live grenade. Don’t worry, it won’t go off. Here’s how. The folks over at defendthehouse found that, if two people have the “fast hands” perk—which allows you to throw back…
By Patricia Hernandez Published March 7, 2013 -
Call of Duty Co-Creator Jason West Has Left His New Studio [UPDATE]
Jason West, a co-creator of Call of Duty and co-founder of video game studio Respawn Entertainment, has left the company he helped found, two sources have informed Kotaku. The departure was amicable. West, who left because of family issues, has been gone since last May, according to one reliable source who asked not to be…
By Jason Schreier Published March 3, 2013 -
Cryptic Infinity Ward Messages Show off Branded Mini-PC
Call of Duty makers Infinity Ward posted two telling photos to Facebook and Twitter this week, showing off what appears to be an Xi3 Piston PC, one of Valve’s adorable prototype Steam Box devices, with the company’s logo plastered on it. (UPDATE: Or any of the other Xi3 mini-computers—the Steam Box is just one possible…
By Mike Rougeau Published March 3, 2013 -
This Real-Life Version Of Black Ops 2 Reminds Me How Violent Black Ops 2 Is
It can be easy to become desensitized to Call of Duty‘s brand of realistic-yet-cartoonish violence. As motion-captured video-game dudes blow each other away over and over again, whatever I’d normally feel at watching that kind of carnage melts away. I see the game for what it is, and it stops having an impact. Videos like…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 1, 2013 -
This Type Of Kill Cam Shows An Amazing Yet Lame Way To Die In Call of Duty
Lame or anticlimactic kill cams aren’t so rare: in fact, I’d bet that most of the final kills we view at the end of multiplayer matches aren’t noteworthy at all. But there are weak endings to matches…and then there’s this. Dying by way of care package also isn’t new—heck, there are medals for it in…
By Patricia Hernandez Published February 28, 2013 -
The People Who Created Call of Duty Imply We’ll See Their Next Game At E3 [UPDATE]
Vince Zampella, one of the studio heads of Respawn Entertainment, says his team will “be” at E3 this year, presumably showing off whatever kind of game you make next after you make Call of Duty the biggest thing going. We scoff at most announcements of announcements, but this is a special one. After all, one…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 25, 2013 -
This Call of Duty Harlem Shake Just Wants The Meme To Die Out Already
Maybe you’re sick of all the Harlem Shake videos (they almost never have the real Harlem Shake, dang it!) This take on the dance by SanchoWest knows your pain, knows it well enough to take matters into its own hands and destroy the jerks that are running the meme into the ground. Boom. Gone. If…
By Patricia Hernandez Published February 19, 2013 -
Activision Lays off About 30 People, Saying There Will Be Fewer Licensed Games This Year
Even the massive money-making game publisher Activision lays off people from time to time, as the company confirmed today that they’ve cut about 30 jobs from their global work force. Kotaku first heard that the cuts were affecting Treyarch, the studio behind Call of Duty: Black Ops II, but a spokesperson for Activision said that…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 19, 2013 -
The Most Amazing Snow Levels And Zones In Video Games
Barring timed underwater escort missions, snow levels, with all their slippery ice and falling rocks (not to mention the fog), are probably the deadliest. Yet it’s easy to find enjoyable—or at least memorable—ones, even if we disregard games where the entire setting is snowy (We’re looking at you, Skyrim). Assault On The Control Room (Halo:…
By Gergo Vas Published February 7, 2013