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Will Call of Duty Get Standalone, Pay-To-Play Online Multiplayer?
Call of Duty publisher Activision has been talking about new ways to make even more money from its shoot ’em up cashcow for years. A new report makes it sound like a new way to play Call of Duty online is imminent. The analysts at Wedbush Securities believe that Activision is set to reveal a…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 3, 2011 -
Call of Duty Players Log More Than 600 Million Hours In 45 Days
Lending weight to CEO Bobby Kotick’s claim that Call of Duty is as much a social networking phenomenon as it is a video gaming one, Activision released numbers boasting of online time that, per user, surpasses the Facebook average. More than 20 million users on Call of Duty: Black Ops logged more than 600 million…
By Owen Good Published December 30, 2010 -
Call of Duty: Black Ops Nabs ‘Most Pirated Game of 2010’ Distinction
Not only is Call of Duty: Black Ops one of the fastest selling video games of all time, racking up more than a billion dollars in sales in 2010, it’s also impressively enough one of the most illegally downloaded. According to a report from BitTorrent news site TorrentFreak, the PC version of Black Ops has…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 28, 2010 -
Activision CEO Sees Call of Duty as a Form of Social Media
Speaking to CNN earlier this week, Activision’s CEO noted that more people play Black Ops, daily, than watch the late night hosts Leno, Letterman and Fallon, combined. No offense, but that would seem to be an easy goal to beat. No, network television isn’t the yardstick Bobby Kotick uses to measure Call of Duty as…
By Owen Good Published December 26, 2010 -
Call Of Duty In Real Life Looks Hard
Internet video superstar Freddie Wong, fresh from showing us how to do a real-life Rocket Jump, now shows us what a futuristic round of Call of Duty would like. Spoilers: it has great lighting, but strange character design. It’s funny, the whole time I was watching it, I was thinking: this looks great on camera,…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 23, 2010 -
Call Of Duty Is Nothing Like The Real Thing
I’ve been a long-time advocate of somebody making a war game that plays like an actual war: one where you fight in real battles, not battles from a video game based on an action movie. This is what I mean. This clip, posted on military site TheBrigade.com, depicts a US infantry squad in combat in…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 22, 2010 -
The Modern Warfare Fight: Your Guide to Activision Vs. Infinity Ward
The ongoing legal tussle between Call of Duty: Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward and publishing giant Activision is full of intrigue, accusations, lawsuits, a mass exodus of key staffers from the studio behind the game and, now, allegations of sabotage. Updated with recent developments. At stake is the future of Infinity Ward, the studio behind…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 22, 2010 -
Call of Duty Giant Suing Rival Over Modern Warfare Meltdown, Paints Uglier Picture
The nasty lawsuits between Call of Duty publisher Activision and the ousted lead creators of that hit series got nastier today with accusations that the president of rival EA was instrumental in trying to “hijack” the Call of Duty developers. And there’s more mud being slung. Activision also says the makers of Modern Warfare gleefully…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 21, 2010 -
Black Ops’ First Downloadable Content Is Oscar Mike
The first downloadable content for Call of Duty: Black Ops has been revealed. It’ll go on sale on the Xbox 360 on February 1, and cost $15. The DLC comes in the form of a multiplayer map pack, containing four “regular” levels and one for the game’s zombie mode. Two of the regular maps are…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 20, 2010 -
Modern War Gear Solid 3: Revenge of Kotickovich!
Metal Gear’s “Solid Snake” and Modern Warfare 2’s “Ghost” join forces once again in the third chapter of epic crossover parody Modern War Gear Solid. Can they finish the fight? Can you see where this is going? In the third and perhaps the most impressive fan film from Beat Down Boogie, Snake and Ghost face…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 14, 2010 -
LEGO Black Ops Is Too Gory To Ever Be A Video Game
Will we ever get a Call of Duty game for the kids? Not if it’s as bloody and gory as LEGO Black Ops, the stop motion animated elimination bloodbath from YouTube movie maker Keshen8. You won’t find much in the way of killstreaks, perks or outrageous tomahawk kills, but LEGO Black Ops, via FourZeroTwo’s Twitter,…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 13, 2010 -
What’s Modern Warfare Doing In A Special Needs School?
That’s what parents near Sacramento, Calif., want to know and, you know, I do, too. Officials at East Valley Education Center in Oakdale, Calif. refused to appear on camera, but it sounds like they were using video games as an incentive or a reward to help kids with developmental difficulties socialize. That’s well and good…
By Owen Good Published December 11, 2010 -
Black Ops Has Probably Already Outsold Your Favorite Video Game
Call of Duty: Black Ops was released a month ago today. In that time, it has already sold more copies in the USA than games like Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Kart and Halo 3. Looking for specifics? That’s 8.4 million copies sold. In just the United States. Of course, it helps that the game…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 10, 2010 -
Call of Duty “Phenom Booter” Use Lands British Teen In The Slammer
A U.K. teen using a tool called “Phenom Booter” to kick players off Call of Duty servers back in September is now enjoying a stay in jail following an investigation by the Manchester police department. Phenom Booter, which triggers a denial-of-service attack that can clear a server of specific users, or all of them, is…
By Owen Good Published December 9, 2010 -
NSFW: Can Trashtalking Rattle A Real Soldier?
Morons yammering away in your headset can be off-putting to the average gamer toiling through a round of Call of Duty online, but how does it affect the combat capacity of an actual, trained soldier in the field? Machinima specialist Rooster Teeth’s new series Immersion seeks to find out, having US Special Forces veteran “Shane”…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 2, 2010 -
Activision: Call of Duty Boxed Copies Will Never Have Subscriptions
The Call of Duty experience you have now, the one that includes Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops and future Call of Duty boxed games, will never include a subscription fee, Activision tells Kotaku. “We will never charge for multiplayer for Call of Duty,” Eric Hirshberg, newly appointed CEO of Activision Publishing, told me as our…
By Brian Crecente Published November 24, 2010 -
Call of Duty Creators Infinity Ward Have Been ‘Reconstructed’
The studio that started the Call of Duty phenomenon fell to pieces earlier this year with the firing of its co-founders and the following mass exodus of pissed off Infinity Ward employees. With enough money, you can recover from that. And when you’re Activision Blizzard, you can put Infinity Ward back together again. You can…
By Michael McWhertor Published November 19, 2010 -
Black Ops Is Making The Rolling Stones This Much Richer
That Call of Duty: Black Ops ad featuring Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel is selling more than just copies of Treyarch’s war game. It’s also bringing in cash for The Rolling Stones, thanks to the spot’s use of “Gimme Shelter.” Billboard runs the numbers of the Stones uptick in sales, noting that track sales of…
By Michael McWhertor Published November 19, 2010 -
Ice-T: From Cop Killer To COD Killer
When I was thirteen, Ice-T was the baddest dude on the planet, rapping about pushing dope and killing cops. There were no musicians who seemed as hard as him. The guy was scary. Now? Even as he eases into middle age, Ice-T still seems like someone you wouldn’t want to set off, but over the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 12, 2010
