Call of Duty: Ghosts was the biggest (and one of the only) gaming pitches Microsoft made at its Xbox One announcement. Activision has once again thrown its lot in with Microsoft for exclusive content, and Activision Publishing head Eric Hirshberg has talked about how it plans to leverage some of the console's features.
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Infinity Ward has been working on an all new engine for Call of Duty: Ghosts, and while we discussed it our our first preview of the game, a picture--or trailer--is worth a thousand words. Activision has released a new video comparing the current graphics to Modern Warfare 3.
Activision deliberately crossed everyone up when it announced the next Call of Duty as Ghosts instead of Modern Warfare 4 on May 1. It was a calculated attempt to reboot the franchise with a new generation of consoles on the horizon. But no matter what it was called, the company was confident the next game would be popular no matter what.
"I plugged in Modern Warfare 4 into Google on my phone and saw there were 122 million search results for the name," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "Just for fun, I plugged in Dark Knight Rises, which does exist, and there were 116 million results."
More details have finally been revealed for Call of Duty: Ghosts, courtesy of the Xbox One reveal event on the Microsoft campus. All DLC for the game will launch exclusively first on Xbox One.
It is expected that Call of Duty: Ghosts will be a big part of the Next Xbox's reveal tomorrow. But if you need a rather tiny glimpse of what to look forward to, developer Infinity Ward has released a micro-video onto Vine.
If Activision didn't abandon Call of Duty's numbering scheme with 2008's World at War, this year's Ghosts would be Call of Duty 10. Ever since 2008, Activision's FPS franchise has seen an annual release, and against all odds, has managed to continuously grow its sales numbers. Even before an official reveal, the franchise has developed a loyal fanbase willing to buy new Call of Duty games, sight unseen. We talked to a number of Call of Duty fans about why they're still interested in COD a decade in, and what Activision can do to keep them playing for years to come.
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Updated with more official details and comments from Activision.
Lo and behold, the rumors are true. Activision has gone to Twitter to confirm that Call of Duty: Ghosts is, indeed, this year's entry in the long-running COD franchise. The tweet describes the game as "the next generation of Call of Duty."
According to Activision, Ghosts will be powered by a "new, next-gen Call of Duty engine," likely the DirectX 11 engine leaked last year. In addition to PS4 and next Xbox versions, Ghosts will also be available on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Those versions will be available on November 5th. (Next-gen consoles have yet to be dated.)
Call of Duty Elite's launch last year was by no means smooth. In fact, Activision offered an olive branch for fans that struggled to access the for-pay services, as the servers were hammered by hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic Call of Duty fans. Elite memberships were extended by 30 days to account for the long service outage--an offer which Activision has oddly expanded.
Infinity Ward has shot down speculation regarding Modern Warfare 4, denying any contact with the purported source of the rumor. Word began spreading yesterday, after a report that claimed voice actor behind Captain Price had said he was signed on to the next project.
Look, there's going to be another Call of Duty game next year. But what will it be? Given the trend, smart money would be on an Infinity Ward-developed Modern Warfare 4--and that's supposedly what we'll be getting.
Activision has temporarily pulled the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer level 'Favela' from the map rotation following complaints that a quote attributed to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad was written on a texture used in a bathroom. As you may imagine, some took issue with hanging holy words above a toilet.
The "season of content" for Modern Warfare 3 is about to end--just in time for the release of Black Ops 2, of course. Collection 4, aka "Final Assault," contains five new maps: Gulch, Boardwalk, Offshore, Decommission, and Parish. Call of Duty Elite subscribers on Xbox 360 will be able to download their final maps on September 5th, while regular Xbox 360 players will be able to get the content one day later, on September 6th. PS3 and PC players will have to wait, of course.
Activision has released a new trailer, showing off the game's final maps. We wonder: will Black Ops 2 players be so lucky to have 24 pieces of post-release content as well?
Hey Xbox 360 owners! Perhaps you've been too busy playing games like Fez and Spelunky. But, it would be such a travesty if you ignored this indie gem. It's called "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3." Just in case you haven't heard of it, Activision is releasing a demo on Xbox Live. Please check it out!
Fresh off revealing that the third round of DLC for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will introduce a proper pilotable helicopter, Activision has dropped more info on the rest of that DLC as well as the fourth and final pack. While the third pack brings Special Ops missions, the fourth packs five new maps for straight-up multiplayer murdering.
It appears Call of Duty may finally shed its aging engine. If so, Black Ops 2 will be the last game to use the IW engine, which has its roots in id Tech 3. Based on the resume of an Infinity Ward engineer, Activision's other Call of Duty studio is working on a "new high-end DX11 code base."
"...and how exactly is that? It's probably still all scripted."
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