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British MP Watson leading charge against Modern Warfare 2 media controversy

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 9th 2009 at 1:00PM }

Tom Watson, a member of British Parliament, has developed a sort of folk hero status among European gamers this morning. After his fellow MP, Keith Vaz, promised to decry the violence depicted in Modern Warfare 2 (specifically in that one scene) in the next session of Parliament, Watson publicly defended the game on Facebook and Twitter. He then kicked it up a notch and started a pressure group called Gamers' Voice on Facebook. The group's mission statement explains that its members will discuss "how UK video gamers can find their voice in newspapers and government."

It was a wise, pre-emptive move on Watson's part -- as promised, Vaz brought up the game during today's Parliament session, explaining that it's so violent that "even the manufacturers have put in warnings within the game telling people how they can skip particular scenes." He inquired how the government was planning on "protecting our children." Watson stepped in and dropped the timeless observation that the UK already has a game rating system which restricts the game's sale to minors, and that it's more important to protect the gaming industry than it is to "create moral panic" in the media.

If you want to stay informed of Watson's other heroic, industry-defending activities, you might want to join the Gamers' Voice group. (We hear that shortly after that Parliament session, he doused a burning orphanage, then ate an entire maple tree for breakfast. Seriously!)

Activision establishing 'Call of Duty Endowment,' donating $1 million to war veteran aid

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 9th 2009 at 12:00PM }

On the eve of Modern Warfare 2's official release, the game's publisher has announced intentions to donate $1 million to veteran-related charities through a newly created foundation. The "Call of Duty Endowment" (or simply "CODE") is said to "support other groups that assist veterans with their careers," reports the Washington Post.

Though he's mostly known for facepalm-inducing hard business quotes, Activision head Bobby Kotick thoughtfully commented, "How do you expect people to actually join the military if when they leave the military they can't integrate back into the free market they're supposed to be protecting? The joblessness rate that [veterans] should have should be far less than the national average, not more." The foundation's first donation will be for $125,000 to the Paralyzed Veterans of America and will go towards the opening of a vocational rehabilitation center.

For the UK's best Modern Warfare 2 deal, head to the grocery store

by JC Fletcher { Nov 9th 2009 at 9:30AM }

Grocery stores aren't typically known for great video game deals -- we can't remember any notable supermarket game purchases since our local Albertson's cleared out its NES rentals. But Sainsbury supermarkets in the UK have an offer worth noting: the retailer has cut the price of Modern Warfare 2 to just £26 ($43.76), an amazing £29 off the regular price.

Tesco is also offering a big price cut on Modern Warfare 2: it's £25 with the purchase of another bestselling game (The Guardian specifies "top-20" games), or £39.70 on its own. Tescos, which are open all the time anyway, will begin selling the game at midnight tonight, as will five Sainsbury's locations. Unless they're like stores in the US, in which case they began selling them last week.

Modern Warfare: Reflex footage inspires passionate comment

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 6th 2009 at 11:40AM }

"now all you 360 lovers can suck it!!!!! this game looks great." – natevberg, YouTube commenter

No insight from us relating to the recently leaked footage of the training mission from Modern Warfare: Reflex (and, prior to that, the original Modern Warfare) is required. Mr. natevberg seems to sum up the raw emotion of the video beautifully. To see the modern waggle controls in action, check out the video after the jump.

Continued →

Modern Warfare 2 refused by digital distribution retailers; Steamworks to blame

by JC Fletcher { Nov 6th 2009 at 9:22AM }

PC gamers aren't the only ones angry about the way Modern Warfare 2 is shaping up. PC retailers, starting with IGN's Direct2Drive download service, have made the bold move to leave piles of money on the table by refusing to sell it. It's not in protest of the dedicated server issue or the multiplayer cap, but rather the fact that the game relies on Steamworks for updates, saving and Achievements; and Direct2Drive isn't thrilled about selling a game that requires the bundling of a competitor's product.

"At Direct2Drive," the statement on what would be the Modern Warfare 2 product page reads, "we believe strongly that when you buy a game from us, you shouldn't be forced to install and run a 3rd party software client to be able to play the game you purchased." The site offers an Amazon link to purchase the game, and a $5 coupon for other Activision titles on Direct2Drive.

Impulse and GamersGate won't be offering the Modern Warfare 2 either. Impulse tells VE3D that "the most obvious issue is the forced inclusion of a competitor's store that blocks us from carrying the game."

[Via Gamasutra]

Modern Warfare 2 limited to 9 vs. 9 on PC

by Justin McElroy { Nov 5th 2009 at 7:40PM }

Poor PC gamers. First they hear the soul-crushing news that Modern Warfare 2 won't support dedicated servers, and now Infinity Ward has broken their hearts yet again. During a Best Buy online chat, the developer fired off a string of bad news, affirming a 9-vs-9 player limit, the inability to kick players from ranked matches and a lack of console commands. Ars Technica has laid out the full list of disappointments, if you've got the stomach for it.

We feel for those of you on the PC side, but largely because you haven't yet had your spirits broken like your console brethren. We don't even notice having our dreams shattered any more (in fact, truth be told, we think we're starting to like it).

Guitar Hero, Call of Duty franchises lead Activision's 'better-than-expected' Q3 2009

by James Ransom-Wiley { Nov 5th 2009 at 5:32PM }

Look, just feign surprise, it makes these financial posts so much more exciting: Activision today reported net revenues of $755 million (on a non-GAAP basis) in the quarter ending September 30, 2009 -- that's $55 million more than the suits hoped to stack, according to previous projections. While the blockbuster adaptation of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen might have played a part in this outpouring of our money, we're gonna go with Kotick's explanation: "Our performance was driven by 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."

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: World at War combined for total, world domination, becoming this year's "#1 and #2 best-selling third-party titles" in North America and Europe through September, according to Activision. Additionally, World at War DLC map pack sales continued to climb last quarter and have now surpassed 7.5 million purchases.

Needless to say, the publisher is not backing off of its prior financial outlook. Activision anticipates annual net revenues of $4.5 billion (on a non-GAAP basis) at the close of the year. Did you remember to feign surprise?

Hans Zimmer believes in the legitimacy of games, approached MW2 as a 'novice'

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 4th 2009 at 6:00PM }

Hans Zimmer may have a laundry list of feature films he contributed to on his resume, but the renowned film composer says he still had to approach his work on Modern Warfare 2 "truly as a novice." In an interview with USA Today, he speaks like a true convert. When asked about the legitimacy of games as an art form, he frankly states, "Absolutely, that we can't even question anymore."

Zimmer says his first experience working on a game has, unsurprisingly, been very different than working on a film. "I had never done this before, so it was nice to sort of go at it a little fresh." Due to the length of major video games (even the shorter ones), Zimmer was forced to create considerably more music than the average project. "I never added it up [because] then I would have panicked," he admits. Looks like that "ridiculous" budget was good for something!

Amazon ranks Call of Duty-est towns in America, large dining utensils in the lead

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 4th 2009 at 2:00AM }

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 national honors in the technology sector. However, according to online retailer Amazon, which has been vigilantly tracking the geographic location of Modern Warfare 2 pre-orderers, it's currently the Call of Duty-est town in America.

Amazon will continue to rank American cities based on per capita Modern Warfare 2 pre-orders until the game is released, and has agreed to ship a $5,000 gift card to a charity of its choosing which serves the winning town. We hope Grand Forks manages to hold its top position in the rankings, if only because it desperately needs something to put on its city limits signs. You know, something more inspiring than "Welcome to Grand Forks: We've Got a Pretty Good College, Here, We Guess."

Initial Modern Warfare 2 budget was 'ridiculous'

by David Hinkle { Nov 3rd 2009 at 7:30PM }

During an interview with Develop, Infinity Ward's front-line man, Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling, recalled the early planning stages of Modern Warfare 2. Unsurprisingly, publisher and owner Activision was eager to pour money into the development of the COD4 sequel, following the basic business formula: more money = better product = more sales = more money. Infinity Ward followed another school of thought: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

"Much like we don't let ourselves get distracted by hype, if you have excess you feel like you should use excess," Bowling said. Even though Activision "estimated out a ridiculous budget" early on, Infinity Ward "didn't let the budget affect [its] mentality." Since Infinity Ward apparently didn't take the money (or, at least, all of it), we do have a pretty good idea of what Activision spent it on: night-vision goggles for everyone!

Modern Warfare 2 is GameStop's most pre-ordered game ever

by Justin McElroy { Nov 3rd 2009 at 11:20AM }

Some may have been up in arms about arguably disturbing material and unarguably juvenile advertising in and for Modern Warfare 2, but it doesn't seem to be showing any signs of stifling anticipation for the game. In fact, GameStop told Game Hunters that Infinity Ward's baby is the most pre-ordered title in the company's history. Like ... ever. GameStop VP Tony Bartel told the site, "As of today, the number of pre-order reservations we've taken for the game is the highest for any title we've ever sold in our 6,200 store network."

So feel free to grouse all you want, but unless Activision replaces the FPS gameplay with first-person putting puppies into a wood chipper and renames it Osama bin Laden Pushes Jesus Christ Down a Flight of Stairs Made of Baby Skulls, we're not sure there's any amount of controversy that's going to slow Modern Warfare 2 down.

Rumor: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer disables Xbox Live party chat

by Xav de Matos { Nov 2nd 2009 at 8:00PM }

If rumors circulating around NeoGAF prove true, Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward won't be allowing the use of the Xbox 360's party chat feature during ranked multiplayer playlists in its upcoming title. Since a distinction in the post is made between different styles of online matches (ranked and social), we presume the function will not be utilized throughout all of Modern Warfare 2's online playlists.

Speaking with Joystiq, Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling said the company "can't comment on leaks," and was unable to confirm if the feature will, in fact, be disabled. "Players should reserve judgment until they get a chance to experience it for themselves on November 10 instead of viewing it out of context," Bowling added. Have an opinion on the matter? Sound off in the comments.

[Image Source: BL4CK HAWK 8]

Custom Modern Warfare 2 Xbox is riddled with bullets

by Richard Mitchell { Nov 2nd 2009 at 12:45PM }

Don't worry, no one actually shot an Xbox. No, this box was decoratively riddled with bullets. Specifically, notice that the face buttons on the controller as well as the buttons on the console are actually bullet shell casings. And let's not forget the custom Modern Warfare 2 artwork on the side, which is back-lit by LEDs inside the case. In short, it's a pretty nice mod. It was created by one Mr. Tornado and is featured at ModernWarfare2Forums.net. As you might expect, it's up for auction on eBay, and the bid is already over $200.

We think it would look great with the Prestige Edition of Modern Warfare 2 and, let's face it, if you can afford one of those, then snatching up this Xbox should be chump change. Hit the source link for more pictures.

Infinity Ward pulls 'Fight Against Grenade Spam' ad in light of backlash

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 1st 2009 at 5:30PM }

After having their game leaked to the planet's pirating populace and catching flak for some of the controversial secrets revealed therein, one could say that the folks at Infinity Ward are having a fairly rough week. However, they brought their latest batch of hardships upon themselves. A recent viral video for Modern Warfare 2, which featured Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels delivering a PSA (video NSFW) about overzealous grenade use, drew the ire of many of its viewers.

This wasn't due to the light swearing featured in the video, but rather, because of the name of the PSA's sponsor: Fight Against Grenade Spam, which, when acronym-ized, spells out an offensive slur. Following the inevitable backlash which occurred when the gaming community realized the slur's inclusion, Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling responded by Tweeting, "I think the core gag is great, the end is a bit too far from the intent of the joke & can appreciate the concerns. Pulled." True to his word, the video was soon yanked from the developer's YouTube channel.

The complaints from those who viewed the offending ad were two-fold: First, they didn't like that the slur (even in its spelled-out state) was used at all. However, the bigger complaint seemed to be that Infinity Ward was catering to the sensibilities of the foul, hateful underbelly of the online gaming community. What did you think of the video, dear readers? Let us know in the comments section, but please -- keep it civil.

COD4 on the cheap on Steam this weekend

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 30th 2009 at 4:40PM }

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 excellent electronic game cartridge, and it's easily worth the scratch. And seriously, at this point, there are approximately only twelve people that haven't played it.

So, we'd just like to congratulate Steam in advance for the $287.88 it will rake in this weekend.