Raven Could Be Making Call of Duty Titles [Rumblings]

Some might say that Activision is in crisis. Their “A Team”, Infinity Ward, has been emptied over the past month or two since Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired, and the legal fallout came to light.

Activision has three Call of Duty games that we know of. There’s Black Ops, in development at Treyarch, and there’s an untitled CoD game by Sledgehammer, which sources say could be something like ‘Future Warfare’, ‘Advanced Warfare’, ‘Secret Warfare’, or ‘Space Warfare’, according to recent discoveries based on domain and trademark registrations by Activision. The third is obviously Modern Warfare 3.

There’s a rumour floating around the internet that Raven, another studio owned by the publisher, is going to be making DLC map packs for Black Ops.

But the question that everyone wants to know is: who the hell is going to work on Modern Warfare 3? Bungie certainly made it clear that they don’t want to.

Now, I must be honest when I’ve made clear my impressions of Raven titles in general. They’re good – just not great. Look at Wolfenstein or Quake 4 to get my drift. But their latest effort, Singularity, when released, might be the telling factor in whether it would be a good move to potentially let them handle Modern Warfare – Activision’s most profitable franchise.

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Sources:

Rumor: Raven Working on New Call of Duty [Shacknews]

Trademark and Domain registrations [Superannuation]

Raven Could Be Making Call of Duty Titles [Rumblings]

Call of Duty: The War Collection for Sale at Amazon

Something was witnessed on Amazon as well as GameStop just the other day, and that thing was Call of Duty: The War Collection. It’s a pack which includes most of the WW II themed Call of Duty titles that have been released over the years. It has Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, and Call of Duty: World at War. It’s lacking the first Call of Duty though.

Call of Duty 2 was developed by Infinity Ward and released in 2005, but the other two were developed by Treyarch, while IW moved on to develop the Modern Warfare series of games. Treyarch is now working on Call of Duty: Black Ops.

This bundles seems to be for the Xbox 360 only at the moment, with a PS3 and PC version speculated to arrive later on, but it might just be an exclusive. The release date is scheduled to be somewhere in June 2010, and should sell for $59.99.

Sources: Amazon - CVG

Call of Duty: The War Collection for Sale at Amazon

New Bungie IP Possibly an Action RPG, not Call of Duty

Recently Bungie signed a ten year publishing and distribution deal with the antichrist of video games publishers, Activision - even despite all the legal issues going on between it and Infinity Ward.

Something caught my eye the other day, and that was their new IP that they’re working on other than Halo Reach will actually be something new, for the first time in who knows how long. And it’s rumoured to be an Action RPG, similar in style to Mass Effect or even Deus Ex.

The studio is currently looking for a lead writer for the storyline of the game.

"Can you inspire artists to create whole worlds and races of creatures with a few, quality keystrokes? Your words will help define Bungie's next game universe."

It looks as though they heeded the words of the all knowledgeable Randy Pitchford a while back, who urged Bungie to do something other than Halo for a change.

Bungie has made it clear though that this new title will not be Call of Duty, even despite the terrible situation involving Activision “shooting the race horse” that was IW, putting the Call of Duty, and Modern Warfare, series in jeopardy.

In related news, the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta is now live, and it can be accessed through the Halo 3: ODST disc, if you have it. The download “weight” is 1.15 GB. The beta runs until May 19.

"The download process may be subject to extended wait times. Server load is expected to be extremely high, especially during the first few hours and days of Beta availability. Please bear with us and stay tuned to Bungie.net for news and information."

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Sources:

New Bungie IP to be an action RPG, suggests job listing [VG247]
Halo: Reach beta is go, go, go! [VG247]
Bungie: 'No interest' in tackling Call Of Duty [CVG]

New Bungie IP Possibly an Action RPG, not Call of Duty

Call of Duty: Black Ops Official Reveal, Trailer

The future of Infinity Ward is shaky, what with all the legal actions, lawsuits, and what not flying around, with some analysts saying the studio will be closed this year. This obviously must impact the future of Modern Warfare 3. Great going Activision.

Another worst kept secret in the world right now. Many people thought that this latest offering from Treyarch, the “B team”, would be called Call of Duty: Vietnam, even until just a few days ago. But it turns out after the official unveiling just recently, that Call of Duty: Black Ops is the name of the game – just like some other rumours suggested.

And possible locations that will be present in the game have also been revealed, with some sources saying Cuba, South America, the Arctic, Iran, and the jungles of Vietnam will be on display for players to run around in. The story has been said to feature black ops missions from WW II right through to present day. This will be the first Treyarch-developed CoD title to venture outside of WW II. Their last effort was World at War in 2008.

“We at Treyarch are excited to reveal our latest development – Call of Duty: Black Ops! Be sure to head over to CallOfDuty.com/blackops as more details begin to unfold! Follow @JD_2020 and @Treyarch on Twitter for the latest news & discussions regarding Black Ops.”

"We can’t wait for our community to experience Call of Duty: Black Ops. We have focused our entire studio on this game, with dedicated multiplayer, single-player and co-op teams creating the most intense, gripping and riveting experience possible for our fans on all fronts."

An official website has been set up for the game, with a release date set for 9 November 2010 – a year after Modern Warfare 2.

Retailer GAME says the following:

"Call of Duty Black Ops is the next instalment in the thrilling Call of Duty franchise. Packing an amazing singleplayer story that will see you fight across the globe in locations such as Cuba, Vietnam and the Arctic."

"Now you will witness the birth of the Elite Special Forces and take part in off-the-record missions using unconventional weaponry to get the job done!"

The game also has preorder pages at Amazon, for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions of the game.

Even a trailer for the game has been released, with some websites dissecting it to squeeze more information out of it.

They say that the game will be one big flashback, with the person telling the tale being tortured. The trailer shows snowy environments [the Arctic, or Siberia perhaps?], UH-1A Huey helicopters [made famous in the Vietnam War], some guns like a silenced Steyr Aug, a parachuting mission similar to games in the Medal of Honor series, and the most interesting of all: an SR71 Blackbird with the pilot in space suit, flying in sub-orbit.

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Source: callofduty.com/blackops [official website]

Call of Duty: Black Ops Official Reveal, Trailer

Activision Fires Infinity Ward Heads, Talks About Future Call of Duty Games

The big news that has swarmed all over the net lately is that there’s been a feud of sorts between Activision and Infinity Ward, the developers of Modern Warfare 2, and most other Call of Duty games.

Reportedly the President, Jason West, and CEO Vince Zampella, of the studio have been fired for "breaches of contract and insubordination”. Security guards escorted people out of the office too. The LinkedIn and Facebook pages of both guys confirms the rumours, and have left IW. Some rumours suggest that it was due to IW not being paid royalties from Activision.

Steve Pearce and Steve Ackrich are the new interim heads at the company.

The infamous Bobby Kotick of Activision has apparently also held a meeting or two with the remaining staff. People all over are not only attacking Activision, but reckon that the situation is far from resolved.

But the development of Call of Duty games goes on, as there will be two expansions or DLC packs for Modern Warfare 2, set for release this year, a Treyarch developed game supposedly set in Vietnam, and now another Call of Duty game said to be an action-adventure game, developed by Sledgehammer games, formed by the heads of Visceral Games (developers of Dead Space), Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. And that still leaves another Call of Duty game probably coming next year, which must be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, by IW, if things settle down within the company.

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Source: G4tv

Activision Fires Infinity Ward Heads, Talks About Future Call of Duty Games

Modern Warfare 2 to Have Third Person Mode

How long has it been since I played a FPS that has third person mode without having to type in a cheat in order to get it? Third person mode is fun to use in games like Oblivion or Fallout 3 to see what nice armour you're wearing. Well, when it comes to Call of Duty games, this is a first. A video on YouTube has shown this new feature, although it's been said that this is a leaked version of the game, being shown off by a pirate, although others say it's an Infinity Ward employee. Anyway, somebody played the game, and now community manager Robert Bowling has stepped in and confirmed that this new gimmick will feature in the game on release.

It may not be as practical as the feature which allows you to use two pistols simultaneously, but still, interesting.

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Modern Warfare 2 will feature third-person mode for playlists
Is Modern Warfare 2 Out Already?

Modern Warfare 2 to Have Third Person Mode

Modern Warfare 2 Boycott

Speaking of L4D2, remember the L4D2 boycott? It has thousands of gamers who refuse to buy Valve's latest game in development when it comes out. It's up to 41,192 Members since June 1st, 2009.

Well, now there's a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 boycott as well. This boycott exists because of the ridiculously high price of not just the standard game, which is higher than the norm, but the special editions, the Prestige Edition in particular.

I reckon there should be a petition to get Infinity Ward or Activision to get the Prestige and Hardened Editions released on PC anytime now.

Source:

About This Nascent Modern Warfare 2 'Boycott' (Tales Of The Pissed)

Modern Warfare 2 Boycott