The official reveal for the next Call of Duty, known the world over to be a sequel to 2010′s Treyarch produced Black Ops isn’t supposed to happen until later on tonight during the NBA playoffs, but the UK Call of Duty site seems to have spilled the beans a bit early.

While all of the game’s media like trailers and screens are blocked by a big “Coming soon” banner, the site does give a bit of info on the title. ”Pushing the boundaries of what fans have come to expect from the record-setting entertainment franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 propels players into a near future, 21st Century Cold War, where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare. Pre-order today.”

Apparently, the game seems to be a vast departure from the previous Black Ops game as it’s set in a “near future” and two leaked screens seem to show L.A. getting attacked.

We’ll update later on tonight when the first trailer becomes official.

Hey guess what, there’s going to be a new Call of Duty game this year! Okay, so maybe that’s not the biggest surprise in the world, but that won’t stop the world from tuning in on May 1 when the next installment in the long running mega shooter series gets its world wide reveal during the NBA Playoffs on TNT.

While we don’t know exactly what will be revealed, the smart money is on the much rumored Black Ops sequel finally seeing the light of day. The title has been all but confirmed, seeing leaks (including Treyarch employees listing it as a current project) and rumors spread wild over the last few months. It’s a logical choice as well, as traditionally, the series has switched developers between Infinity Ward and Treyarch, and since last year’s game, Modern Warfare 3 was developed by Infinity Ward, Treyarch would be next.

Retailers have also let slip that Black Ops 2 will be the next game in the series, even going as far as to give the game a November release date; which would again stick with tradition, as each of the last few Call of Duty games have been released early in that month.

Looking for something to read while waiting for the announcement? Here’s what we thought of the original Black Ops, and here’s what we said about Modern Warfare 3.

Call of Duty Creative Strategist and Infinity Ward lead Robert Bowling has announced via his Twitter that he will be leaving the studio and Activision as a whole. ”Today, I resign from my position as Creative Strategist of Call of Duty, as a lead of Infinity Ward, and as an employee of Activision,” Bowling wrote earlier this morning.

Bowling has been a long time employee of Activision and Infinity Ward, serving as the studio’s community manager and more recently, has been the figurehead for recent game launches, playing an integral part in several launches and media events.

Though Activision has not announced a replacement for Bowling, they offered kind words via this written statement; “We sincerely thank Robert for his many years of service. He’s been a trusted and valued member of the Infinity Ward team. We wish him all the best on his decision to pursue future opportunities.”  Infinity Ward offered similar sentiments, tweeting that they “wish Robert all the best.”

Bowling has not announced his future plans and no — we don’t know if he’ll join former Infinity Wards heads Jason West and Vince Zampella at Respawn Entertainment.

Former Infinity Ward members Jason West and Vince Zampella formed Respawn Entertainment back in 2010 after a nasty and very public split from Activision. Now, nearly two years later, all we’ve seen from the new company’s first game was a set of blurry images, and an announcement that the game would in fact be multiplatform, but we may finally be getting a possible release window.

According to a reportedly leaked  marketing EA calendar and posted by French site Hardgamers, the publisher expects the company’s first game to hit sometime in the year 2013.  EA hasn’t commented on the rumor, we’ve reached out them and Respawn, but don’t expect comment.

We all knew that last week’s release of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 would be big, but none of us expected this. The release of the latest chapter in the blockbuster shooter series has broken movie box office, book and game sales records for five day worldwide sell-through in dollars.

Grossing more than $775 million in its first five days, Modern Warfare 3 eclipsed $650 million record set by last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops and the $550 million one achieved by 2009′s Modern Warfare 2.

“Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for three consecutive years across all forms of entertainment,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.

Not only did Modern Warfare 3 make a huge dent in sales, it also made a huge splash on Xbox Live. Not only did the game finally dethrone Call of Duty: Black Ops from its spot atop the activity boards, but it’s reported that 3.3 million users were online playing Modern Warfare 3 simultaneously on November 8th, marking a new record for the service. That doesn’t impress you? How about the fact that over seven millon multiplayer hours were logged on the game in its first day available.

Hype is a funny thing. It can build anticipation for something, and it can also turn people against it. Uniquely, in the case of Modern Warfare 3, it’s done both.  The Call of Duty series is known as one of the 800 LB gorillas of the gaming universe and is guaranteed to sell a ton of copies each time a new game releases, and Modern Warfare 3 was everywhere. At the same time, its annual release frequency, combined with the soap opera like events that ousted former Infinity Ward (the studio behind the Modern Warfare games) heads Jason West and Vince Zampella have led to some calling the series stale (in not as polite words).

After all of the hype, all of the smack talk and all of bickering, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is more than worth the hype. Yes, the engine is beginning to show its age and yes – there are some hiccups; hell you can even make the argument that this has all been done before, but this is what it boils down too — Modern Warfare 3 is a mechanically sound, fun and fluid shooter that does a lot more right than it does wrong.  Detractors or not, with its much more streamlined campaign and remarkable online play, Modern Warfare 3 is the best Call of Duty yet.

For the last ten years, the world has been gripped by fear and Modern Warfare 3 is the realization of those fears. Picking up directly after the events of Modern Warfare 2, the world has erupted into full scale warfare. Captain Price and his squad are wanted men as they chase down Makarov, the man who ignited this global conflict.  It’s a campaign that will bring you from a war torn Wall Street to the streets of Paris and everywhere in between. Just like in previous games, the story shifts from character to character, location to location, even nationality to nationality, but Infinity Ward has done a great job making this a much more focused endeavor than in years past. In games like Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 it was easy to forget where you were, what you were doing and just why you were doing it, but Modern Warfare 3 rarely loses sight of its goal, and why it’s telling the story that it is, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s all that interesting.

What results is a passable story that serves as a reason to visit some extremely large fire fights.  From the previously mentioned Wall Street mission to a tense mission in the London subway and even a battle aboard the Russian President’s hijacked plane, Infinity Ward and Activision know their audience.  There’s no shortage of Michael Bay style testosterone fueled moments, and they’re incredibly fun thanks to the game’s tight controls, remarkable pacing and fine tuned tweaked mechanics that feel just about as good as they ever have. I was a bit surprised at just how dumb some of the enemy AI is. I may have an unarmed vehicle firing rockets into each and every one of your fellow troops, but sure, just run on out with them, showing total disregard for your personal safety. This happens much more often than you’d think, and it seems like the developers chose this to ensure that the game keeps its high octane level throughout the experience, but it’s a highly noticeable flaw.

Regardless, Modern Warfare 3 is easily the best looking Call of Duty to date. Running at a buttery smooth 60 FPS, Modern Warfare 3 handles the majority of its frantic action and over the top spectacle with little to no damage via lag or other issues that usually effect games like this. Infinity Ward must also be commended for how they used impressive animations and these large set pieces to create a truly engaging experience.  It may not compare to the visuals produced by the Frostbite engine in Battlefield 3, but the burning buildings and full scale firefights are done well enough to keep you interested and keep move the story along.

Let’s be honest though; the good majority of you aren’t here for the single player, you’re going to get the game and dive right into the multiplayer, and thankfully, its easily the best the series has offered. Of course, the core mechanics remain the same as it has in previous games, but Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer suite is a much more streamlined and persistent experience than those that came before it.  Each of the sixteen new maps are worth checking out, and the constant progression feels immensely rewarding.

Killstreaks and perks have been reworked to be more beneficial to players of all different skill levels. Yes, you can of course still unlock rewards by racking up kills, but there are now support packages that allow those who aren’t as skilled as the others. This goes a great length in making the suite more accessible for newer users, who can then go in and get as addicted as the rest of us are. Its really a great new feature that encourages cohesive teamwork between all squad members.

Also new to the experience in Modern Warfare 3 are weapon perks. Where before you would unlock weapons by leveling up, Modern Warfare 3 adds a new level of depth to the mix with the ability to level up each weapon, adding a whole new level up depth and customization to the experience. You could change the kickback, the amount of ammo it holds or a slew of other options. This means one player using the same weapon may have a completely different strategy and experience than the next. It’s a great addition and should add tons of extra hours to an already deep experience.

Special Ops also makes it return and should serve as a distraction when players want a break from the online multiplayer suite. The challenges in Special Ops are interesting enough, from disarming a bomb to taking over a plane, there’s a lot of replayability here, and even more so when you add in the new survival mode. Survival doesn’t offer anything truly innovative, as it’s pretty much the zombie mode without the undead, but it does serve as a cool new way to get together with your friends, and since it can be played offline, it’s also a great way to learn the multiplayer maps.

The Blast Factor: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is an incredibly solid shooting experience. The campaign and the engine behind it may show its age at certain points in the game, but they are few and far between. The story is much more focused, the weapons have more weight and the stellar multiplayer suite has been fine tuned and tweaked. A game like Modern Warfare 3 will always have its detractors, but it’s their loss, they’re missing one hell of an experience.

This weekend, EA really wants you to play Battlefield 3, so much so that they’re willing to offer you the chance at cash, trips and prizes just for playing.

Users who play Battlefield 3 online this weekend will be automatically entered into a sweepstakes for three pretty heavy prizes. The grand prize allows the winner and three friends the chance to visit the DICE studios in Stockholm, Sweden, a trip which includes air and hotel accommodations. Second prize is $5,000 in cash and third is the choice between an Xbox 360, a PS3 and an Alienware PC. Players can earn one entry for each day they log in.

Of course, the timing of the sweepstakes is no accident, as Battlefield’s biggest competitor, the much anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launches this Tuesday and is sure to take away from Battlefield 3′s share of online competition.

Okay, we get it, you’re excited for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3; but this is a little excessive. Someone on eBay just payed over a grand for an Xbox 360 copy of the game; $1,725 to be exact. Here’s the kicker, the game comes out in 4 days and the listings says that it should take 3-4 business days to arrive, meaning that whoever shelled out the cash should be getting it Monday morning. Maybe.

The copy is likely one of the many sold early at K-mart stores nationwide. It seems the boxes containing the much anticipated shooter were not marked with a street date, and were rushed to the sales floor. Don’t get any ideas, once the company found out (after selling more than a fair amount), K-mart pulled the copies off shelves until Tuesday morning.

It’s not like those getting the game early will get a jump start on multiplayer, Activision has commented that playing the game early could get you banned from Xbox Live. So good luck.

We’re exactly one month away from the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Check out the new redemption trailer below!

EA has announced that Battlefield 3′s highly anticipated open beta will kick off next week for both PC and console platforms.

Kicking off September 29 and running until October 10, and set in Paris on the Operation Metro map playing the game’s Rush mode, the beta will give players an opportunity to explore the game, as well as Battlelog, the game’s social networking and matchmaking service.

Xbox 360 and PS3 owners must log on to their console’s digital marketplace to download the beta, while PC owners must install Origin to play the beta. Those who bought Medal of Honor’s special edition or pre-ordered the game on Origin will gain access two days earlier, on September 27.

Over the last year, there’s been a lot of talk about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 VS Battlefield 3. Who’s got the better engine? Who’s got the better multiplayer? Which one is going to sell more when they release within mere weeks of each other this fall. You know who doesn’t care? Infinity Ward — developers of Modern Warfare 3.

Speaking to IGN at an event to promote the game in Sydney, Australia, Robert Bowling, Infinity Ward’s Director of Communications and Community Manager, said that the studio isn’t focused on anything but getting the next Call of Duty ready.

“There’s no buy in on that sort of stuff,” says Bowling. “We don’t care about sales numbers, we don’t care about competition, we don’t care about beating anyone. Our 100 per cent focus is making a game that we’re going to love to play, that we’re going to be proud of, and that we know that our fans are going to play. To us, we don’t care if there are three people playing it or 30 million people playing it. If there are three people having a great time then we’ve done our job correctly and we will be happy.”

The war of words between EA, who is developing Battlefield 3 and Activision, who is developing Modern Warfare 3 has been anything but passive. Both companies (but admittedly EA a bit more) have taken potshots at the other, and there’s even rumors of CEOs of both companies being told they couldn’t see each other’s game at E3. Then again, reps from both companies did play nice at this year’s GamesCom, taking to Twitter to praise their rivals.

Battlefield 3 releases on October 25, with Modern Warfare 3 following behind it on November 8.

The last two Call of Duty games have featured three editions — the standard, the prestige and the hardened editions. Well, my middle of the road friends, you’re going to have to choose, as Infinity Ward Creative Director Robert Bowling answered a fan question regarding the lack of news for the Prestige Edition announcing that there isn’t one planned.

LOS ANGELES — It was supposed to be a regular mission. Get in, intercept the truck and its contents. Get out. Something went wrong, very wrong.  The suspects fled on to a train and as I chased them through London’s subway system, I watched everything around me started to crumble, and the train started to take out the subway’s support system — sending everything crashing down in massive fashion.

This is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s level Mind the Gap and it illustrates just what the teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games are aiming for with the highly anticipated sequel –”it’s got to be bigger.” Blast sat down with the team working on the newly revealed game at this year’s E3 to talk about the game.

Modern Warfare 3 picks up almost directly after the events of the last game. Captain John “Soap” MacTavish, former SAS Captain John Price and Russian informant Nikolai are on the run after killing rogue Lieutenant General Shepard. Russia has continued its invasion of the United States, but has also expanded it’s efforts to the European territory, invading countries like England and France.

Infinity Ward promised that what we saw toward the end of Modern Warfare 2 is nothing compared to the “full scale warfare” that Modern Warfare 3 will feature. “This is no longer just about the United States and Russia, this is World War III, this is what we’ve been building up to.”

Activision, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer are hoping that seeing the United States in destruction, most notably on the New York City level shown during Microsoft’s E3 press conference is enough to create an emotional bond with players as they play through the game’s single player campaign — a feat for a series known for it’s multiplayer suite. “We’re taking it to an entirely new level,” says Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling in a recent interview. “We’re taking players into the heart of major cities all around the world, delivering urban combat in places like Manhattan and London. We’re also going throughout Europe, to Russia, parts of Africa, and the Himalayas – you will travel the world.”

Even with the new focus on telling a grander story, the development team’s true goals aren’t hard to see. Huge set pieces, like the London scene and the stunning New York scene  are common in the game, and though the development team won’t reveal any information on other locations in the game, they do promise that gamers will be surprised where they’re going when they find out.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 hits shelves for pretty much every platform you could imagine on November 8.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before — Modern Warfare 3 may be revealed soon. Now I know you guys have seen everything from a countdown clock to possible magazine reveals, but this time Kotaku seems to have gotten a bit of actual information on the highly anticipated yet as of this writing unconfirmed title.

First, the image to the right is apparently the game’s box art. Nothing has been confirmed, but Kotaku’s sources, who they claim have seen the game in motion supplied it.

Also, according to Kotaku’s sources, the next Call of Duty game raises the bar for the series in terms of both scale and ambition. Reportedly, the game will take a much wider scope, and feature large destructible environments (in a possible attempt to take some of the thunder from rival Battlefield 3.

Modern Warfare 3 will continue the story played out in the first two games, and will reportedly feature a more domestic setting, much like the American levels of Modern Warfare 2; but don’t expect Homefront.

Take it for what it’s worth, we’ve seen a ton of these supposed Modern Warfare leaks before. It’s looking more and more likely that Modern Warfare 3 will be revealed at E3 next month in Los Angeles (if we even have to wait that long). Stick with Blast for more info on Modern Warfare 3 and all the E3 announcements.

UPDATE: Activision tells Kotaku that its a hoax and they have nothing to do with the site. Truth or viral marketing?

You know what the gaming industry loves? Countdown clocks teasing things.

The latest, which sprung up today over at findmakarov.com is counting down to next week Wednesday at about 10am, which just so happens to be right smack dab in the middle of this year’s Game Developer’s. Conference in San Francisco. Just what is the site teasing? Its obviously something Call of Duty, but the smart money is on the official reveal of the heavily rumored and inevitable Modern Warfare 3.

The saga of Call of Duty, and the Modern Warfare series in particular has been well documented over the last year, following a developer Infinity Ward’s messy divorce from publisher Activision.

Stick with Blast for all of the up to the minute news on Modern Warfare 3.

If a new online rumor is to be believed, Infinity Ward’s next entry in the Modern Warfare series will be a prequel that details just how Ghost (pictured at right) became the masked soldier he is in the first two games, much similar to the story from last year’s comic.

The rumor, stemming from an unnamed source speaking with thisisxbox.com. While it may not sound like a reliable source, the unnamed informant is said to be the same one who supplied the first details on last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Reportedly, the game will feature locales and situations from the first two Modern Warfare games seen through a different point of view. The report comes hot off the heels of news that Activision is demanding that Infinity Ward deliver Modenr Warfare 3 by the end of 2011, but has chosen to take a different course due to major layoffs at the studio, including last year’s departure of West and Zampella.

Update: EA has  indicated the previously announced announcement will not be taking place.

The news surrounding the recent and very public falling out between Activision and Infinity Ward has died down slightly, but will get an infusion during E3 next week. You may remember that IW studio heads Jason Ward and Vince Zampella were ushered out of their offices in March by Activision heavies amid accusations of breach of contract and insubordination. The story culminated in numerous lawsuits. Initially, Ward and Zampella sued Activision for breach of contract, at which point Activision counter-sued. This was followed by a mass exodus of IW talent to the pair’s new studio, Respawn Entertainment, and a second lawsuit against Activision filed by 38 current and former IW employees based on essentially the same complaints levied by the ex-studio heads.

According to the pair’s Facebook page, we can expect something serious at E3. Since the studio is brand new, there is likely no game to be shown, but expect something big none the less. Color me excited.

Source: G4

On the heels of the gargantuan success of “The Stimulus Package” downloadable content, Activision today announced and dated the second batch of DLC for the Modern Warfare 2, “The Resurgence Map Pack.”

Like the one before it, this map pack will feature five maps and will arrive first on Xbox Live on June 3.

New maps inbound

Double Experience Weekends for Modern Warfare 2 beginning May 28 and June 4 were also announced.

The name “Resurgence” would lead us to believe this DLC will follow in the footsteps of the “Stimulus Package” and include Call of Duty 4 map re-makes, but no official mention was made.

Finally, Activision did not disclose the price of “The Resurgence Map Pack,” but, again, with the “Stimulus Package” selling as incredibly well as it did at $15, we can expect more of the same with the new DLC.

With the incredible success of last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, you would have never thought the development studio behind the game, Infinity Ward, would want to do anything more than create the next game and swim in even deeper piles of 20s. But it wasn’t the case.

In fact, Activision fired Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella and in the ensuing months, the duo formed their own studio, Respawn Entertainment (under the banner of rival Electronic Arts), and dozens left Infinity Ward for it.

In all this time, we’ve heard sprinkles of sentiment from Activision and EA executives, but today, Activision president and CEO Robert Kotick issued a lengthy statement, detailing the move to fire the two, the ensuing fallout and why the Call of Duty brand can never die.

Since we terminated the two executives at Infinity Ward, approximately 35 others have resigned and it is likely that a few more people will leave, as well. Many of these people have been recruited by other studios because of how talented they are. We are obviously disappointed about this and we wish we could have convinced some of these incredibly talented people to stay.

The decision to terminate the two Infinity Ward executives was not done lightly. It was not done to deprive them of their bonuses, nor was it done without a great deal of deliberation about the consequences.

The background leading up to our decision to separate the two former Infinity Ward executives for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty is outlined in our cross complaint that we filed in April, which I’m sure many of you have read.

Against this background, we felt we had no choice but to terminate the two Infinity Ward executives. We did this to protect the company’s assets and the interests of our shareholders. I personally considered the two of them friends and their conduct was a compromise of our friendship, which was equally disappointing. Once we began to understand what had occurred, there was no gray area. There was nothing that would have allowed us to retain their services, as talented as they might have been.

This is an example of our commitment to pursuing the difficult right, rather than the easier wrong. Our actions were firmly rooted in our longstanding values of integrity and an expectation that our employees, who signed and acknowledge our code of conduct, will behave with the highest ethical standards.

We have a great team in place at Infinity Ward, which continues to work on downloadable content and the studio’s next unannounced project. We continue to support the culture of excellence that has defined Infinity Ward and we’re already strengthening the studio with additional talent and financial resources.

Source: Kotaku

It’s one thing to get sued by 2 people you fired. It is quite another to get sued by almost 40 former and current employees all claiming that you bilked them out of the royalties from the biggest (and arguably best) game of last year. But that is exactly what happened yesterday in LA Superior Court when 40% of the crew behind MW2 sued Activision for between $75 and $125 million in unpaid royalties and potentially more in compensatory damages.

Of the 38 plaintiffs in the new lawsuit, 17 still work for IW/Activision. The suit reads, “Activision engaged in this inappropriate course of conduct in an attempt to force employees of Infinity Ward to continue to work at a job that many of them did not want just so Activision could force them to complete the development, production and delivery of Modern Warfare 3.” It claims Activision owes Infinity Ward employees a bonus pool of at least $118 million, of which $82 million is supposed to go to employees other than West and Zampella. It also claims that Activision told IW employees that they would have received bonuses that were 2.5 times higher than they did on March 26th, had studio leads West and Zampella not been fired.

This all being said, Infinity Ward should prove a very interesting office environment as proceedings move forward.

Regardless of whose side you are on in this crazy Call-of-Duty soap opera – or even if you don’t care – you have to admit that the news is pretty megaton boom-boom. The implications from what takes place in these cases will reverberate throughout the industry for years to come.

Because the new suit is based on many of the same claims West and Zampella filed previously, the lawyer for the 38 asked that the two cases be combined.

Here is the unsurprising response to the news from Activision:

“Activision believes the action is without merit,” a company spokesman said in response to the suit. “Activision retains the discretion to determine the amount and the schedule of bonus payments for [Modern Warfare 2] and has acted consistent with its rights and the law at all times. We look forward to getting judicial confirmation that our position is right.”

Source: LA Times

It was a big day in Infinity Ward resignations yesterday. Following news earlier this week that seven ex-Infinity Ward staffers had joined ousted studio leads Jason West and Vince Zampella’s new studio Respawn Entertainment, G4 now reports that seven more IW staffers resigned yesterday. This is the largest number of employees to leave the company in a single day since the scandal originally broke in March.

No word yet if these latest departures will follow suit and sign with Respawn, but I think the writing is on the wall at this point for IW and Activision. Although Activision is the world’s biggest publisher and they have vast resources from which to fill the gaps left behind by vacating IW-ers, there are very few left out there who believe that this mass-exodus of top talent from one of the world’s best developers will not translate into declines in quality for forthcoming IW projects.

Source: G4

Bobby Kotick snapped during a happier moment...

A total of seven recently former employees of Modern Warfare 2 studio Infinity Ward have joined fired bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella at the duo’s newly formed, Electronic Arts-label studio, Respawn Entertainment.

According to G4, Former lead designer Mackey McCandlish, programmer Jon Shiring, software engineer Rayme Vinson, lead animator Mark Grisby, lead environmental artist Chris Cherubini, lead animator John Paul Messerly and lead designer Todd Alderman have all left Infinity Ward for Respawn Entertainment.

Respawn, formed weeks ago, is an independent studio that signed a deal with the EA Partners program to exclusively publish and distribute globally whatever game they’re working on.

Activision remains steadfast in believing the Call of Duty brand will live on, and plans to release 3 Call of Duty titles in the next two years.

Source: G4

One of Kotaku’s Infinity Ward sources recently told the website that Infinity Ward, as it was previously known, is “dead, and will continue to crumble.”

Events at the troubled company have accelerated since last week’s announcement that fired ex-IW heads, Jason Ward and Vince Zampella, would be forming Respawn Entertainment.

“They’re scared shitless,” a source told Kotaku. “They never saw this coming. They can’t believe what’s going on. At first they gave us some bullshit about moving up payments of all the money they owe us to sooner increments. … But with the announcement of Respawn and all the people leaving, they just got there heads in their hands.”

Including the terminated West and Zampella, 13 Infinity Ward team members have left the company since March 1.

Kotaku reports that Infinity Ward Lead Designer, Todd Alderman, and Lead Software Engineer, Francesco Gigliotti,  have left the company according to posts on their Linkdin profiles. They cite a source indicating that the 2 have resigned:

Though it is impossible to tell, at this point, if these departures are related to Activision’s sacking of studio heads Ward and Zampella a month ago, it would be quite a coincidence were that not the case. Alderman and Gigliotti had been with the company for roughly 8 years each and were very senior. Rumor has it that many IW staffers have remained in the wake of the ugly goings-on at the famed developer as the result of a typical IW contract structure which relies heavily on game royalties – royalties which, for MW2, reportedly have been intentionally delayed by Activision as a means to keep the team in place.

Hopefully, more of this story will reveal itself in the coming days and weeks. Activsion and Infinity Ward have yet to comment publicly on these most recent departures.

Tonight at the Penny Arcade Expo in Boston, Infinity Ward’s Robert “FourZeroTwo” Bowling commented on the current state of affairs involving the fallout between publisher Activision and the studio, which led to the firing of Infinity Ward founders Jason Young and Vince Zampella.

Bowling adamantly affirmed to the audience that whatever we’ve heard, whatever we think we know, it’s not actually factual and morale at the studio is just fine.

“Infinity Ward is 100 super dedicated people. Vince and Jason, love those guys. Important thing to know is that there are 100 guys who slave over these games. And they’re still there.”

He went further, saying there’s nothing to fear.

“You don’t have to worry about anything. The map pack is still making its release date. News stories sensationalize it. Moral is good at Infinity Ward.”

Whether or not he’s being forced to regurgitate PR spun answers is one thing, but if he’s not lying, this is great news.

Tonight at the inaugural Penny Arcade Expo East, (PAX East), Xbox Live’s Major Nelson and Infinity Ward’s community man, Robert “FourZeroTwo” Bowling, sat in on a “Traversing The Twitterverse” panel.

Subject matter was supposed to involve, you guessed it, Twitter and its involvement in the evolving gaming sphere. But with the Infinity Ward representative present, and an audience driven Q+A session, the focus immediately changed to Modern Warfare 2.

Bowling immediately responded to a question concerning next week’s Stimulus Package DLC and its gargantuan $15 price tag.

He said Activision decides the price point, that Infinity Ward itself had no say, and that no additional Special Ops modes or maps were included, because the essence of Modern Warfare 2 is its multiplayer.

“Activision is the one that sets the price for DLC. We focus on what goes in it. We hear the feedback. We have our own personal opinions. The map pack is awesome. It’s worth the money. We raise concerns to our higher-ups but ultimately the decision is out of our hands,” said Bowling.

Major Nelson was a shade more realistic about the price. He said it doesn’t matter what publishers decide to charge, because at the end of the day, gamers buy it.

“At the end of the day, the number is going to speak for itself. A certain subset of the audience believes it’s never going to be cheap enough until it’s free,” Larry Hyrb, or Major Nelson, said.

With the new DLC out next week, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Will gamers actually boycott the DLC and prove these men wrong? Or will they reach into their wallets and hand money to a smiling Activision? We’ll find out next Tuesday.

Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward has patched up its game, this time fixing a ‘super speed’ glitch plaguing the online battlegrounds.

Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling has stated, via Twitter, that a fix for the Xbox 360 version is on the way, soon to eradicate the issue.

The glitch, as it sounds, exploits the speed of a player in a match, allowing him or her to zip around the environment, knifing enemies at will and acting as a target too quick to hit.

Glad to see it’s gone, especially as the game’s first DLC, the “Stimulus Package” hits Xbox Live a week from today. It bears a $15 price tag, an unprecedented figure, and will be interesting to see how many boycott it.

Source: Robert Bowling’s Twitter feed.

In this garbled mess of a court battle between Activision and Infinity Ward, Activision is seeking internal documents that would implicate fired founders Jason West and Vince Zampella’s intent to pack up and move to another rival, most likely Electronic Arts.

According to G4TV, who cites an unnamed source close to the matter, Activision’s accusations of “insubordination” may have stemmed from the two founder’s attempts to shop around  with any of Activision’s many competitors, including the most likely one, Electronic Arts.

Activision is now seeking any Infinity Ward documents that mention any past, current or future projects, including Modern Warfare 3. What’s more, the publisher is looking for “documents regarding West and Zampella’s communications with Activision’s competitors, including but not limited to Electronic Arts.”

Remember those “bouncer-type” security folk camped outside Infinity Ward’s studio on Monday? Perhaps these documents were so important to Activision’s case against Zampella and West that protecting them was of the utmost importance.

Source: CVG

The Web site is now up and running. No idea why it was down for such a long time, but will update again when news becomes available.

And the Infinity Ward vs. Activision fiasco gets stranger.

G4TV.com, the Web site that broke the story initially, is completely inoperable. It won’t load and hasn’t for upwards of 7 hours now.

Just what the hell is happening?

Very good question. Could be a simple bug, or G4′s servers might be unable to handle the exponential growth in page views this week, or it could be something even more sinister. Either way, it’s intriguing.

Go ahead, try to load www.G4TV.com and see what happens.

Activision, the world’s largest publisher, didn’t take a royalty lawsuit from Jason West and Vince Zampella sitting down. The company lashed out against the departed duo this afternoon in a wordy press release saying it was “disappointed” with the lawsuit and felt it was “merit-less.”

“Activision is disappointed that Mr. Zampella and Mr. West have chosen to file a lawsuit, and believes their claims are meritless,” the company told games site Kotaku today. “Over eight years, Activision shareholders provided these executives with the capital they needed to start Infinity Ward, as well as the financial support, resources and creative independence that helped them flourish and achieve enormous professional success and personal wealth.

“In return, Activision legitimately expected them to honor their obligations to Activision, just like any other executives who hold positions of trust in the company. While the company showed enormous patience, it firmly believes that its decision was justified based on their course of conduct and actions. Activision remains committed to the Call of Duty franchise, which it owns, and will continue to produce exciting and innovative games for its millions of fans.”

This back and forth is only going to get muddier and more dramatic as the weeks unfold, are we ready?

Recently fired Infinity Ward founders Vince Zampella and Jason West are suing Activision for unpaid royalties.

According to a press release explaining the case, Activision was scheduled to pay the two “substantial royalty payments,” but were let go before it could happen.

“We were shocked by Activision’s decision to terminate our contract,” said West.  “We poured our heart and soul into that company, building not only a world class development studio, but assembling a team we’ve been proud to work with for nearly a decade.  We think the work we’ve done speaks for itself.”

Zampella added, “After all we have given to Activision, we shouldn’t have to sue to get paid.”

“Instead of thanking, lauding, or just plain paying Jason and Vince for giving Activision the most successful entertainment product ever offered to the public, last month Activision hired lawyers to conduct a pretextual ‘investigation’ into unstated and unsubstantiated charges of ‘insubordination’ and ‘breach of fiduciary duty,’ which then became the grounds for their termination on Monday, March 1st,” said attorney Robert Schwartz.

What’s more, besides demanding the royalty payments, Zampella and West are seeking to regain the rights to the Modern Warfare brand, which they had before being let go, in the suit.

Ladies and gentlemen, get some popcorn and soda, we’re in for some high drama.

Vince Zampella and Jason West, the two Infinity Ward bosses fired by Activision yesterday, according to CVG, said today that they had to “push” Activision to allow them to make the original Modern Warfare.

Activision cited insubordination yesterday and fired Zampella and West, but the two said the publisher and the studio never got along well.

Infinity Ward. What's next?

West said in an interview last year that Infinity Ward had to “fight for everything” with their owners, Activision.

According to CVG, Zampella took it further and expressed how Activision really didn’t want Modern Warfare originally.

“Activision also did not want Modern Warfare. They thought working on a modern game was risky and [thought], ‘oh my god you can’t do that, it’s crazy!’ They were doing market research to show us we were wrong the whole time,” he said.

With the two Infinity Ward bosses gone, what does the future hold for the studio? Scary thought, huh?

Source: CVG

It has long been rumored that Infinity Ward, Activision’s crown jewel development studio, had its sights on something other than “Modern Warfare 3.” Today, those thoughts may have come to fruition as Activision is rumored to have fired two key, top-level personnel at Infinity Ward, citing insubordination.

Jason West and Vince Zampella, two lead designers at the studio, reportedly met with Activision Monday and when they did not appear back at work and bouncer-types showed up on Infinity Ward’s site, the scene got really tense, really quickly.

However, any thoughts of violence were quickly erased, as this Activision SEC filing surfaced, telling us what happened.

“The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward,” Acitivsion stated in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company.”

As this remains a developing story, check back today for updates and hopefully more rigid clarification from Activision or Infinity Ward.

Source: Kotaku

Busting the brains out of Nazi Zombies was so very fun in “Call of Duty: World at War,” but “Modern Warfare 2″ developer Infinity Ward today said gamers should not expect zombies to come to the modern day shooter.

Can't have it. Says Infinity Ward.

Robert “FourZeroTwo” Bowling, speaking with IGN, said when this Spring’s “Modern Warfare 2″ downloadable content rolls out, zombies will not be included.

“There will be no Nazis or zombies in any piece of Modern Warfare 2 downloadable content,” Bowling adamantly stated at a “Modern Warfare 2″ tournament last weekend.

So guys and girls, let’s put those Zombie inklings to rest and gear up for whatever Infinity Ward decides to offer as DLC this spring. What do you want? More maps? More unlockables? I want both.

Source: IGN

All aboard the rumor train. Today has been quite a doozy in the uncertainty and speculation department in terms of Infinity Ward rumors.

First we hear the team isn’t developing Modern Warfare 2 and is instead building an entirely new game, and now we learned (through rumor) that the game is a massively multiplayer online title, an MMO, like World of Warcraft, if by name only.

According to industry sources leaking information to Destructoid, Infinity Ward is in the process of hiring individuals from Sony Online Entertainment, one of which worked on Everquest II, and are under the watchful eye and trusted resource of one, if not more, Blizzard employee.

No idea if this rumored MMO is of the Call of Duty nature. It’d make sense, but with rumors this wild, really, who knows?

Also, whatever the case, the Call of Duty name, and FPS game series, is more than likely to remain solidly intact, only that Infinity Ward may be building this new title, while another studio heads the Modern Warfare movement.

Source: Destructoid

According to sources that can’t be confirmed (or denied), Activision’s money-making studio Infinity Ward will not develop Modern Warfare 3 and are instead working on something “completely new.”

But what about Modern Warfare 3 then? Surely Activision will want to cash in on the already monetarily-proven franchise, so if not Infinity Ward, then who?

More rumors from over the summer indicate Activision has built and is funding yet another studio, which could possibly develop a third Modern Warfare, while Infinity Ward makes an entirely new game.

Whatever the case, this is very intriguing news. A Modern Warfare title without Infinity Ward attached? Weird man. And just what the heck is IW making if not Call of Duty? Strange times these are.

Source: Destructoid

It’s funny how similarly movies and video games can evaluated; both can be judged based on action, suspense, storyline, acting and, most of all entertainment level. Yet, when it comes to the creation of sequels, films consistently get worse and worse as the try to build on the residual plot, while video games seem to only get better.

Case and point (at least for the video game side of things): Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Perhaps 2009′s most anticipated game, this Infinity Ward production has only gained hype as the holiday season approaches nearer and for good reason: Modern Warfare was a hit, both in the multiplayer and campaign aspects. However, fans and critics seemed to agree that Infinity Ward would be able to step up their (ahem) game with the second title in the series, even given the seemingly flawless initial release.

And, for the most part they were right. Modern Warfare 2 makes improvements in almost every way. Though covering every new feature and wizbang would be impossible, I do want to focus this review on the three main game modes: Campaign, Multiplayer and Special Ops, a new mode introduced in Modern Warfare 2.

First, lets start with campaign. Infinity Ward made the very wise choice of making Modern Warfare 2 a continuous plot and storyline from the first game, beginning five years after the conclusion of the initial events. Starting with a quick montage filled with video and sound clips from the original release, players will get a quick reminder of the events that took place earlier (though, folks who skipped playing Modern Warfare 1 may be a little lost on the outset of things).

Players take control of multiple soldiers within the campaign (the most memorable of whom is Gary “Roach” Sanderson), while also being whisked away to various exotic settings. Being trained and mentored by high profile NPCs (such as everyone’s favorite Scottish killing machine, Captain MacTavish), the characters in Modern Warfare are quite diverse and offer a wide variety of experiences that players will have to adapt to. Needless to say, Modern Warfare 2 takes care of the goal of making the game challenging and interesting very quickly.

Relative to Modern Warfare 1, the sequel has a much more intense story that goes beyond the standard themes of war, death and ultimate loss. Modern Warfare 2 puts players in the most realistic conflicts and impossible decisions that I’ve seen in a first-person shooter to date. Take, for example, the airport mission. Being enlisted as a undercover agent to befriend the most dangerous terrorist in the world, Vladimir Makarov, players must take part in the most heinous attack I’ve ever witnessed in a video game to preserve your false-identity. This part is so gruesome and powerful that Infinity Ward actually had to make sure to implement a waiver that all players must agree to in order to prevent their customers to get too offended. Given that this waiver is presented when one pops in the game for the first time, players should know right away that they are in for a wild ride.

The campaign continues from the airport mission to follow the events and repercussions that Makarov triggers, letting players contribute to the anti-terrorism actions from around the globe. Though, sadly, you never get to be quite as undercover as when you take part in the airport mission, there are plenty of tense missions, expanded gun repertoire and snow mobile chases that are sure to keep players entertained throughout the entire game. I expect some of the sequences and missions will stick in players’ minds for an unhealthy amount of time.

On the whole, the campaign defines what Modern Warfare 2 is: an intense, incredibly detailed game that is full of weapons and unique features. The story in this title is like nothing I’ve ever seen from a FPS and is clearly superior to the very well made original Modern Warfare campaign in almost every way.

Let’s move onto the bread and butter of Modern Warfare 2, the multiplayer mode. When first writing this review, I just didn’t know where to start due to the incredible amount of features included in this mode. So, instead of mentioning every single one, I’ll just do a brief review of my person favorites and least-favorites.

For the pros of multiplayer, Infinity Ward seemed to do a complete upgrade of everything graphical. From the player models to the environments, Modern Warfare 2 blows its predecessor away in the visual department. I was sure to take notice of the shading and texturing of various obstacles (an area I felt was a bit lacking in the original) and, wouldn’t you know it, the game was completely upgraded. Instead of grey, often boring colors, Modern Warfare 2′s multiplayer levels are full of eye-popping colors from every part of the spectrum. Even the bullet hole that players can put in walls seem to have been revamped; that’s how completely improved the game is visually. I honestly think it is worth it to rent Modern Warfare 2 just to appreciate what was done to visually improve it.

The creators of Modern Warfare must have saw the added replay value of incorporating challenges and upgrades in multiplayer modes because this sequel is full of them. Every gun, sidearm and even perk is linked to a few challenges that players can pursue. Also, instead of having a standard amount of upgrades for every weapon, Infinity Ward was sure to differentiate each gun and weapon class more distinctly by not only adding more upgrades, such as thermal scopes and heart beat monitors, but by also encouraging players to test each upgrade out by linking challenges to them. For instance, I recently completed a challenge that involved me getting a certain amount of kills with the heart beat monitor upgrade. Without that challenge, I may never have had a chance to appreciate or even use this unique upgrade.

With the release of Modern Warfare 2 pegged at less than one week away, we’re ready to call this new video the “launch trailer” for the game, even if it’s not officially dubbed it.

The new trailer seemingly shows off every last bit of frenzied mayhem gamers will experience in next week’s shooter.

From underwater, to desert, to snow, to even outer space, Infinity Ward’s “Modern Warfare 2″ has it covered.

Have a look, and grab a copy of the game for yourself Nov. 10 at retail everywhere. And yeah, that’s Eminem and Nate Dogg you hear.

Those lucky/good enough to rack up 25 straight kills without dying in next week’s Modern Warfare 2, will enjoy the beefiest of killing options.

A tactical Nuclear weapon is yours to drop when you’ve amassed 25 brain-drilling kills in a row, but be warned, you won’t survive its unholy wrath either.

Take a look.