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Joystiq
Joystiq (culture.joystiq.com) has great Call of Duty news, photos, videos and more
Today
Select GameStops in NY, OH and PA selling Modern Warfare 2 already
Poor, poor GameStop. As the gaming public's anticipation for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 approached critical mass, they faltered in their loyalty, and took their business to small "mom and pop" game retailers who had broken the game's street date. Fortunately for the retail juggernau...
Thursday, Nov 5
Guitar Hero, Call of Duty franchises lead Activision's 'better-than-expected' Q3 2009
In fact, the CEO called Guitar Hero the year's "#1 best-selling third-party franchise in North America and Europe" through September, claiming that U.S. sales of music games increased 72 percent year over year in September. Last year's big-band-box edition, World Tour, and Call of Duty:...
Wednesday, Nov 4
DICE receives fan letter in thanks of Bad Company 2 dedicated servers
Edward of New Jersey was so happy with DICE's decision to support dedicated servers for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 that he sent the company a $60 check. Although it's pretty hard to look up the family of New Jersey to ask Eddie why he sent the money, we'll guess it had something to do with Infin...
Tuesday, Nov 3
Amazon ranks Call of Duty-est towns in America, large dining utensils in the lead
Grand Forks, North Dakota is a small city with a population just over 51,000 -- a large portion of which are students at the University of North Dakota -- that's tucked within a much larger rural portion of the state. It's not the first city to come to mind when you think of prestigious nationa...
Monday, Nov 2
Deal of the week: 50% off CoD 4's Variety Map Pack
This week, Xbox 360 and PS3 gamers will be able to snag Call of Duty 4's Variety Map Pack for half off, Activision announced. We've seen this with car dealers a million times. With next year's model -- Modern Warfare 2 -- about to hit the show floor soon, Activision is looking to get as much as it c...
Saturday, Oct 31
Xbox Live Top 10: Halo 3, Trials HD continue to dominate
Surprising no one, Major Nelson's weekly list of most-played games on Xbox Live showcases Halo 3 and a double dose of Call of Duty on the top of the charts, with Modern Warfare and World at War grabbing second and third, respectively. XBLA top-seller Trials HD continues to lead the download...
Friday, Oct 30
Joystiq is undecided about Wal-Mart's Modern Warfare 2 ad
The company ran similar ads for Madden 09 and Madden 10, which certainly don't need in depth advertising to get people excited. Has Call of Duty reached Madden levels of recognition? Is the name the only marketing it needs at this point? Apparently, Wal-Mart thinks so. See the ad after the br...
COD4 on the cheap on Steam this weekend
Just in time to wring a few more sales out of Call of Duty 4 before Modern Warfare 2 hits the market, Steam is marking the game down to $23.99 through Monday. We're told that's a 40-percent savings, which we're also told is rather considerable. What we know, however, is that Call of Duty 4 is an exc...
Thursday, Oct 29
Pre-order Modern Warfare 2, trade it in by Dec. 13, get $40 from GameStop
GameStop would like to rent you a copy of Modern Warfare 2, it seems, as the company has revealed a trade-in plan for the standard and Hardened editions of the game. If you pre-order the game through GameStop's site, you''ll be eligible to get $40 back should you trade it in before December 13....
Wednesday, Oct 28
New Modern Warfare: Airport Murder Simulator 2 video game glorifies terrorism
Sorry, mainstream press, but we already beat you to the headline! Much like the level of anticipation amongst us gamers, controversy is set to reach uncomfortable levels when Activision and Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 starts shooting up the sales chart (and the airpo...
Tuesday, Oct 27
Survey says, yes, teens and tweens still want video games this holiday
What we want to know: If 86 percent of surveyed youngsters are asking for at least one video game this holiday gift-getting season, what miserable manner of childhood have the other 14 percent been living? No doubt leading a crusade to bring joy to teens and tweens everywhere (and, uh, rec...
Monday, Oct 26
Modern Warfare 2 will feature third-person mode for playlists
You never want to bring a third person along on a date -- not unless that date happens to be November 10th. Infinity Ward's community manager Robert Bowling (A.K.A. fourzerotwo) has taken control and confirmed that a third-person camera viewpoint will be available in this holiday's monolit...
Infinity Ward's fourzerotwo thinks devs should 'take control' of marketing
With the release of the highly anticipated Modern Warfare 2 just over two weeks away, Infinity Ward's Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling has been quite vocal with the press. Speaking with MCV, Bowling unequivocally states his opinion that game developers should retain control of marketing...
Friday, Oct 23
PC Modern Warfare 2 gets Steamworks, Steam Cloud, Steam Achievements
It'll likely be of no consolation for PC players irked by Infinity Ward's decision to forgo dedicated servers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to learn that the game will connect to Steam's servers for automatic updates. Nor will the fact that, as a result of IW and Valve's team-up, MW2 wil...
Thursday, Oct 22
Ubisoft: Assassin's Creed 2 is 'awesome' -- there's no room for bad games
Internally, Ubisoft has set its standards high -- two years ago, the first Assassin's Creed moved 2.5 million units in its first month at retail to become the fastest-selling new game IP in U.S. history. Of course, two years ago, Call of Duty 4 was claiming records of its own. Ubisoft would not da...
Kojima and Desilets trade praise over Assassin's Creed 2 and Peace Walker
Assassin's Creed 2 head Patrice Désilets and MGS: Peace Walker head Hideo Kojima had a war of compliments in the most recent issue of Famitsu. It seems that the two gentlemen have a bit of a game industry bromance going on, lauding the other's current project in a back and forth translated by...
Wednesday, Oct 21
London's Leicester Square to host Modern Warfare 2 midnight bash
Late-night revelers and iron-sight junkies situated near London should note that Activision plans a proper launch for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at Leicester Square, on the night before the game's November 10 launch on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Hip square visitors to-be can gap...
Report: Average CoD World at War player has spent $9 on DLC [update]
If there were any doubt left in your mind that Call of Duty is a popular franchise, a recent report from Gamasutra should firmly cement the fact in your mind. According to the piece, Call of Duty: World at War's three DLC packs digitally pushed 6.5 million units between March and mid-August of...
Monday, Oct 19
Opinion: Petition for dedicated servers in Modern Warfare 2 growing rapidly
As is often the case with instances of internet democracy, it's impossible to know whether or not the petition will influence Infinity Ward to reverse its dedicated server policy. We've contacted IW's Robery Bowling to see if the petition has at least made a blip on the developer's sizabl...
Saturday, Oct 17
Modern Warfare 2 PC won't support dedicated servers
Whatever goodwill may have been garnered by Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling's announcement that the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 wasn't delayed has been stripped away by an interview which surfaced later in the day. On the latest podcast (around the 1:41 mark) of Call of Duty fansite Bas...
Modern Warfare 2 PC not delayed, getting Steam support
Earlier this month, we received a ton of tips pointing to various stories claiming the release date for the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had been pushed back to November 24. Infinity Ward frontman Robert Bowling recently dispatched a 140-character missive that should soot...
Tuesday, Oct 13
Xbox Live Top 10: Lucidity's success is unclear
While our Live Top 10 posts are usually reserved for the endless slap fight between the Halo and Call of Duty franchises -- Halo 3 remains on top, if you must know -- our attention was drawn directly to Xbox Live Arcade this week. Major Nelson reports that South Park: Let's Go Tower Defense Pla...
Friday, Oct 9
GTA IV, Dead Space coming to Xbox 360 Games on Demand this month
The Xbox 360's Games on Demand service is getting quite the booster shot this month, as Microsoft has announced six new titles coming to the service in October. The festivities kicked off earlier this week with the release of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Call of Duty 3. Here's what the rest of this m...
Tuesday, Oct 6
Xbox Live Top 10: Halo 3, Trials HD, Forza 3 demo
As our more astute readers likely gathered from this very post's headline, another week has gone, so it's about time we checked in with Major Nelson to see what made his list of the most-played games on Xbox Live. Unsurprisingly, Bungie's dynamic duo of Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST managed to do we...
Activision files trademark for Call of Duty film adaptation
Perhaps the reason why video game-to-film adaptations have failed so ubiquitously is because none of them were of a truly epic scale. Perhaps what the ailing genre needs is a massive, Saving Private Ryan-esque cinematic endeavor -- which might just be coming in the form of a movie based on...
Monday, Oct 5
Call of Duty 3, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 added to 'Games on Demand'
Major Nelson brings word that the troops of Call of Duty 3 and the elite squad of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 have infiltrated Xbox Live's "Games on Demand." Both titles go for $30 each in the US, but check your respective region for pricing. Add Call Of Duty 3 to your queue
Sunday, Oct 4
Washington D.C. burns in newest Modern Warfare 2 trailer [update]
We know, we know -- you've been sitting patiently on Joystiq for around 50 hours now, constantly hitting refresh in hopes that the newest Modern Warfare 2 trailer -- codenamed "Infamy" -- from Sunday Night Football would greet your eyes. And here it finally is! Found over on developer Infi...
Modern Warfare 2 Achievements and Trophies revealed
Our fingers have turned to goopy nubs as a result of our transcription of the Achievements and Trophies in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. We didn't keep an exact tally of the accomplishments therein, but we're fairly certain the total number approaches eight skajillion. You'll find the ef...
Monday, Sep 28
Infinity Ward has no plans for a pre-launch Modern Warfare 2 demo
If you're on the fence about your purchase of Infinity Ward's infinitely intimidating shooter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, you should probably get comfortable with straddling said pickets -- Robert Bowling recently confirmed via Twitter that the title wouldn't receive a demo bef...
Tuesday, Sep 22
Xbox Live Top 10 is calm before the ODSTorm
The Xbox Live charts have been fairly stable for a couple of weeks. Halo 3 managed to snag the top spot from World at War two weeks ago, and the top six have remained unchanged since then. For the week ending September 14, the top slots are Halo 3, Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty 4, Gears of W...
Monday, Sep 21
Blur crossing finish line in 2010
Activision still has plenty on its plate this holiday season with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and DJ Hero. Then again, with the early part of 2010 as packed as it is with pushed releases, who knows what delays are still lurking. Gallery: Blur
Friday, Sep 18
Kotick's 'Skepticism, Pessimism, and Fear' become custom classes at Modern Warfare 2 event
Gallery: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (LA Multiplayer Event: 09-16-09)
Thursday, Sep 17
Wii's Call of Duty 4 now dubbed 'Modern Warfare: Reflex'
Activision: Yeah, we think we're going to call the Wii game just "Modern Warfare," so people know it's the same game you guys made a couple of years ago. Acti: Yeah, yeah, just right now, just this second. And we decided we should call it Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex, just so there's no c...
Thursday, Sep 10
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Mad Catz peripherals, accessories detailed
Peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz is going all out for sure-fire holiday hit Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2: Call of Duty 4 Some More. The product range, which includes specially designed controllers for each of the destination platforms, should be available just as you go out to inevita...
PS3 sales up 300% for first week following price cut in US
The hardware maker also noted that, as of August, five of consumers' top 10 most-wanted games (as surveyed by OTX's GamePlan Insights) -- Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Assassin's Creed 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- are on PS3, in case you somehow didn't know th...
Monday, Sep 7
The Batman remains atop UK sales charts
The real beneficiary of Sony's slim console is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which shot up seven spots on the charts with a 128-percent increase in sales. The PS3 versions of COD: World at War and Fight Night Round 4 also got a bump after the drop.
Friday, Aug 28
Square Enix teases Modern Warfare 2 release in Japan
The latest Square Enix teaser site is quite the puzzle. It's got a big "2" in it like the one in the Modern Warfare 2 logo, it features a rotating display of famous quotations about war, and it has Activision and Call of Duty trademark information at the bottom of the page. We're stumped -- we're...
Thursday, Aug 27
Splash Damage has big plans for Brink franchise
We already have big plans for that," Ham said. He hopes that Brink's integration of online play -- a combination of Burnout Paradise's freeburn mode and an FPS -- will best reigning multiplayer kingpins Halo and Call of Duty. Of course, upcoming new entries in each of those franchises are ce...
Monday, Aug 24
Assassin's Creed 2 ain't afraid of no Call of Duty
Assassin's Creed 2 creative director Patrice Desilets recently stated in an interview with VG247 that Ubisoft isn't afraid of the latest Call of Duty title's proximity to its own holiday offering. He explained, "the first [Assassin's Creed] game we released two weeks after Modern Warf...
PLAYSTATION 3 logo replaced due to 'visibility' issues
The system wasn't the only thing that got smaller when Sony officially unveiled the slimmer PS3. The entire PlayStation branding has been reworked: the system is no longer PLAYSTATION 3 (all caps), it's PlayStation 3. The logo no longer uses the Spider-Man font to spell out the entire syst...
Monday, Aug 3
Patch to fix Call of Duty 4 multiplayer exploit 'in the works'
There's good news and slightly-less-good news for the many fans of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's multiplayer. The good news comes from Infinity Ward community manager Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling via his twitter feed: the developer is onto the recently discovered multiplayer expl...
Thursday, Jul 30
Zombies run amok in Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 3 trailer
If thrashing guitars, zombies and Call of Duty: World at War are all things you enjoy, we have a treat for you! The above trailer for Map Pack 3, a new set of maps featuring three locales for multiplayer and one zombie-specific map, incorporates all of these things while highlighting the ex...
Tuesday, Jul 28
DIY: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Prestige Edition for $110.40
You're probably just dying for the Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition that everyone's drooling over, and we can't blame you. But your friends at Joystiq are here to tell you that there's no need to wait! You can make your very own set right now with all the same components and save $40 in the pro...
Saturday, Jul 18
Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition exclusive to HMV in UK, GameStop in Ireland
UK retailer HMV has secured an exclusive on the Prestige Edition of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. (Y'know, the one with the night vision goggles.) The chain's online store confirms availability of the title on November 10 at a price of £149 ($243). It's noted that the edition will be in limit...
Thursday, Jul 16
Call of Duty: World at War PC patch 1.5 arrives tomorrow
Downloadable content sure seems to move along a lot faster without all that pesky "certification" getting in the way, huh? It seems like only yesterday that we heard about patch 1.5 for the PC version of Call of Duty: World at War -- an update that would bring along the Map Pack 2 DLC that conso...
Sunday, Jul 12
Next World at War PC patch adds Map Pack 2
If your devout WASDing-and-mousing ways have turned you into a frequent player of Call of Duty: World at War on the PC, you'll be pleased to know that Treyarch hasn't forgotten about you. The oft-downloaded Map Pack 2 that hit Xbox 360 and PS3 last month will be making its way to PCs in World at...
Thursday, Jun 18
Modern Warfare 2 launch aims to eclipse Halo 3, GTA IV
Activision already has great expectations for Modern Warfare 2, but outselling all previous Call of Duty titles is just the beginning. The publisher has hired marketing firm TWBA/Chiat/Day and given it marching orders to deliver the "biggest entertainment launch of all time."
Friday, Jun 12
The Great Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2 Code Hunt [update]
Yeah, we're still work-shopping the name. Anyway, Activision sent a bunch over for the 360, and we thought we'd pass them along to you, our trusted friends. So here's the deal: We've got seven codes, and we've hidden them in other Call of Duty-related posts from the past (just to make things i...
Thursday, Apr 30
Next Call of Duty: World at War map pack coming in June
What do you do after selling one million Call of Duty: World at War map packs during their first week of availability? You make more. And, lo, Activision and developer Treyarch are doing just that, prepping a second salvo of DLC for a June release.
Thursday, Apr 2
Activision hopes Modern Warfare 2 is 'biggest selling video game of all time'
Newsflash: Developers and publishers want you to buy their games. Doubly so if they plan to release their wares during the year-end holidays, as is the case with Modern Warfare 2. In fact, Activision brand manager Simon Wells told MCV that the company hopes Modern Warfare 2 will be the "bigg...
Thursday, Mar 26
Original Call of Duty rated for PSN, Xbox Live
Somewhat confirming that the PEGI rating wasn't just a cruel joke being played by sinister European masterminds, the ESRB has updated its rating for the PC version of Call of Duty to include Xbox 360 and PS3 tags. We've contacted Activision for further details -- we'll let you know whether...
Monday, Feb 23
Father knows best: Son can play Call of Duty (by Geneva Convention rules)
Hugh Spencer is an awesome dad. Not only is he active in his son Evan's life, but he's a pretty funny guy. When Evan told him he wanted to play Call of Duty: World at War, Hugh eyed the T-rating for the game and worried that the content might not be suitable for his son. So he thought of a compromise.
Tuesday, Mar 18
Call of Duty 4 patch now available for PS3
Infinity Ward spokesman Robert Bowling ("fourzerotwo" to the l33t kids) let fans of the game know that PS3 players should be receiving a new feature patch for Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat this week. But according to a few tipsters and ...
Wednesday, Feb 20
GDC08: Plenty of changes coming with Call of Duty 4 feature patch
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, GDC The first in the pipeline is a feature patch that's just been sent to Microsoft for Xbox 360 certification and will soon go to the PS3 for certification.
GDC08: Plenty of changes coming with Call of Duty 4 feature patch
Make no mistake, Call of Duty 4 players: Infinity Ward is listening. If you need evidence, you need look no further than the slew of updates and changes that are coming to the game in the coming months, which we talked with IW community ...
Wednesday, Feb 6
Opinion: Zero Punctuation hears the Call of Duty
The Call of Duty 4 fans demanded it and this week Zero Punctuation finally reviews one of the best games of 2007. Yahtzee isn't keen on Americans or patriotic "gun wank" games, so it probably speaks to CoD4's amazing design that he actually seemed to care during that scene (watch the review i...
Monday, Feb 4
New Call of Duty 4 maps 'on the way'
So anyway, Activision has announced that new downloadable multiplayer maps for its smash-success shooter, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, are "on the way" to the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network. Questions regarding release date, price and quantity went unanswered by th...
Thursday, Nov 8
X3F Week in Review: November 2, 2007 - November 8, 2007
We're back again with the X3F weekly roundup of news and community happenings. Rather than rehash it all in this paragraph, we suggest you simply scan the neatly organized list below. We're also going to stress that we're giving away a free copy of Call of Duty 4 this week. Is Joystiq doing that...
Tuesday, Nov 6
Opinion: Today in Joystiq: November 6, 2007
New PS2 coming to Japan: same price, same size Red Spiderman 3 PSP for Europe and red PSP for Japan Activision hits Q2 financial high, Guitar Hero fuels sales PC Engine devotees arrested in Japan Microsoft talks Xbox 360 lifespan, fails to see irony
Nega-review: Call of Duty 4
Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters While Modern Warfare finally brings the Call of Duty series into the present day, "the story itself ... isn't exactly cutting edge." (2) "The story unfolds from an unapologetic 'us versus them, and they are wrong...
Tuesday, Sep 12
Call of Duty 2 is first game to sell 1M units on Xbox 360
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, BusinessActivision announced today that Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360 (average review score of 90%) has sold over a million copies in the US making it the first game to do so on Microsoft's next-gen platform. The World War II first-p...
