Do you remember that rumored third-person action-adventure Call of Duty title Sledgehammer was supposedly working on? It’s been confirmed the title WAS a real thing —but its since been canned. You see, the studio was offered to work on another game called Modern Warfare 3. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
“The opportunity to work on the biggest thing in the industry with Infinity Ward, that’s demonstrated that they know how to do exceptional software, was just an opportunity we couldn’t [miss],” co-founder of Sledgehammer Michael Condrey told Gamespot.
In a separate interview with Gamerzines, founder Glen Schofield revealed that the shelved title had an atomsophere similar to Dead Space. “It had a lot of atmosphere like, I should say Dead Space a little bit because you were underground in some places. You know, war is hell, war is scary and that’s what we were trying to get across. We did a ton of research.”
Interesting.
While the idea of a third-person action-adventure Call of Duty shooter sounds rather funky, I can’t help but wonder if it’d be a nice change-up to the CoD franchise. Maybe this is just me and my casual CoD self talking, but all of these Modern Warfare/Call of Duty titles are becoming a bit dull in some respect. Yes, the pretty cinematics and explosions are eyegasm inducing, but it’s all REALLY starting to feel all the same.
I gotta admit, it is amusing to think of a Uncharted-esque Call of Duty title. With necromorphs. HA!
I TOTALLY relate to this. In fact, my endeavors last night were a perfect example.
For the past several nights I’ve been staying up until 2am working on side projects. The only minute problem with this is that I have to wake my butt up at 6am formy “real” job. I can’t run on four hours of sleep forever, so yesterday I promised myself that after work I would come home, relax, and put all side projects on hold for a day.
And it started out perfect. I indulged myself in greasy food and reality shows. I took a nap. I woke up and watched a few episodes of Death Note. PER-FECT.
Then I wanted to game for a while. And I thought to myself, why not Black Ops?
Heh. I should have known better…
See, FPS and I get along just fine, but they’re one of my weakest genres. I get so twitchy and antsy. But I LOVE them. I die several times, but I keep playing. I get frustrated. But. I. Can’t. Stop.
So needless to say, by the time I was done I looked just like this:
How big is Call of Duty? It’s freakin’ huge. Huge enough that Milo.com has created a graphic showing just how huge it is. Can I say huge one more time? Huge.
If I were to upload the entire photo this website, I’m 62% sure it would cause an unearthly imbalance which would lead to the inevitable demise of the planet —Oooh. So THAT’S Activision’s plan! HA. Well I won’t fall for it!
Instead, head over here. It will show you all you need to know. And then some.
Sometimes I wonder where video game research analyst Michael Pachter is coming from. While I enjoy reading most of his theories/predictions (if anything, they’re generally interesting enough) some of them make me want to repeatedly bash my head into a wall.
::stretches fingers::
In July, Pachter released a statement stressing the necessity for publishers to implement an online subscription service because gamers are spending too many “free hours” playing online. According to him, this is preventing players from purchasing new games and ultimately hurting the industry.
Pachter’s bottom line: Where’s the revenue?
“We see this as a continuing problem, and think that unless and until the publishers come up with a business model that appropriately captures the value created by the multiplayer experience, we are destined to see a migration of game playing away from packaged goods purchases and toward multiplayer online.” Pachter said in July.
“We think that it is incumbent upon Activision, with the most popular multiplayer game, to take the first step to address monetization of multiplayer. It is too early to tell whether that will be a monthly subscription, tournament entry fees, micro transaction fees, or a combination of all three, but we expect to see the company take some action by year-end, when Call of Duty Black Ops launches.”
And the rumors began running wild. Did Activision really have the you-know-whats to begin charging an online subscription fee? To add fuel to the fire, supposed “footage” of an in-game screen prompting a player to add Microsoft Points for an online membership surfaced, and Activision was forced to debunk the rumors twice; once in July and again last month.
“Are we going to be charging for multiplayer? The answer is no,” Activision CEO Eric Hirshberd stated in November.
“The experience you have out of the box, connecting with the online community to play Call of Duty is absolutely integral to the experience and we’ll never charge for that. It’s not going to be something we’ll attempt to monetize; it’s part of the package.”
Thank GOD, because I sensed a revolt on the horizon. But back to Pachter. What does he have to say about all of this?
“We were disappointed to hear Activision’s new head of publishing flatly deny the company’s plans to charge for multiplayer. We firmly believe that until the publishers address monetization of multiplayer, game sales will continue to be challenged by the publishers’ altruistic decision to provide significantly more entertainment value per hour than ever in history.”
Okay, good sir, what else would you like to charge us for? Or better yet, maybe we should have developers abolish all side quests in their games, because those take up time too. Think of it! Fallout 3 could be finished in no time flat! And afterwards, people could move onto another game! The industry would flourish!
- Call of Duty: Black Ops full game - Premium, special-edition SteelBook™ case - Limited edition Black Ops collector’s medal w/display case - 4 additional co-op maps not included in the standard edition of the game - Special Black Ops Xbox Live or PlayStation Home avatar outfit
Prestige Edition:
The Prestige Edition is what every hardcore Call of Duty fan needs. It includes everything in the Hardened Edition, along with a real remote-control vehicle modeled after the in-game RC-XD killstreak reward! The RC-XD’s features include:
- Video & audio sent wirelessly to remote transmitter (200 ft. range) - 2” backlit TFT 220 x176 color screen built into RC controller - Digital proportional steering and throttle - Independent suspension - High and low speed settings - Custom pistol grip style RC controller - Display stand
A remote controlled vehicle? Yes please! It will look just dandy sitting next to my remote controlled zombie.
Speaking of the brain eatin’ pusbags generally referred to as zombies, earlier today Best Buy’s Canadian website listed “Four Zombie Maps Pack made famous from COD: World at War” under the things to be included with the Hardened edition. It has since been pulled, but if true, expect the zombie map packs to be included with the Prestige edition as well.
Something tells me Best Buy got a very unhappy phone call from Activision!
This is a rap on Persistance Records’ youtube channel about a man who struggles in his relationship with his girlfriend because of MW2. I would say theres truth to it, buuuuuuut I’ve never encountered any problems like that, obviously. So I don’t really know. But why is this guy dating a girl like this anyways? Aren’t you supposed to have common interests?
I dig it, but I don’t get why the girlfriend wont just play with him, that would solve all their problems. I should be a relationship counselor. “He doesn’t tell me I’m pretty!” “ITS CAZ YOUR NOT!” “She says I’m lazy..” “THEN GET OFF YOUR ASS!” So productive!
