MW3Blog

Beachhead Studios recently released Content Collection 1 on Xbox Live. Shortly thereafter, Activision, and Sledgehammer Games held an event to promote Call of Duty: MW3′s Content Collection 1. The event featured NFL football players and ahem, Major Nelson was on hand to help ask NFL players questions about what they thought about MW3 and Content Collection in general. The video was published on Inside Xbox.

At Activision’s event in Los Angeles, Xbox Live’s Major Nelson interviewed Ahmad Bradshaw, a New York Giants player. NY Giants won the Super Bowl this year, so it’s a pretty big deal what he says. Anyway, let’s cut to the chase, shall we?

You can get the 6 maps from Xbox Live now. PS3 and PC gamers are going to have to wait for this collection to really enjoy it.

Activision & Beachhead Studios kicked off the Content Season in January. The first Content Drops were “Liberation” and “Piazza.” In February, the second Content Drop called “Overwatch” was released. A week ago, a trio of maps were released. They are called “Black Box,” a Multiplayer map, and two Spec Ops maps “Black Ice,” and “Negotiator.” All of these Content Drops so far have been released to Call of Duty Elite members, but what about those who don’t have a Call of Duty Elite subscription? Well, Activision is answering that question with a map pack of sorts.

On March 20th, which should be by the time you read this. You can purchase the Content Collection 1 on Xbox Live, and it’s being hailed as the “biggest Content Pack in Call of Duty history.” As you recall, COD4′s Variety Pack featured 4 maps, while most of MW2′s map packs had 5 maps each. Both MW2 map packs featured at least 2 re-made maps. This Content Collection of maps is full of fresh content.

Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, and Raven Software talked about the Content Collection in their behind-the-scenes look at the package.

Shortly thereafter, Activision released a video showing off the contents of MW3 Collection 1. Enjoy!

Sorry, PlayStation 3 and PC gamers you’re going to have to wait a while for this content to arrive to your device.

As reported before, Activision had broken day-one records with Modern Warfare 3. How about what did the first week sales look like for Modern Warfare 3? Activision posted a press release today talking about the sales metrics for Modern Warfare 3. Activision also received day-one metrics from Microsoft and SCEA about Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network total logins, and plays.

According to the stats given by Microsoft and SCEA, more and more people want to play an online Call of Duty game. Even more so a Modern War game. In the next few months, we’re going to see a rise in players since after all, Christmas is just around the corner.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Sets New Five-Day Entertainment Record Grossing More Than $775 Million Worldwide

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Becomes Best-Selling Video Game Launch of All Time at Each of the Top-Five Retailers in North America

Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has shattered theatrical box office, book and video game sales records for five-day worldwide sell-through in dollars. The game established an all-new five-day worldwide sell-through record of more than $775 million, exceeding the record of $650 million set a year ago by Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops and $550 million two years ago for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information.

“With $775 million of sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in its first five days, 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 Robert Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. “Life-to-date retail sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded $6 billion worldwide, which makes Call of Duty one of the most valuable entertainment properties in the world. We expect continued sales momentum, as reviews and audience enthusiasm suggest that this is the best Call of Duty game that we have ever made. Online play for Modern Warfare 3 is at record levels and we continue to see high online play for both Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which ranked as the #2 and #4 top-played Xbox LIVE games for the week of November 7, according to Major Nelson.”

“As I have said all year, we have been singluarly focused on making a spectacular game for our fans, and nothing else. Our incredible teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have done just that,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO, Activision Publishing. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 continues to thrill core gaming enthusiasts as well as draw new people into the medium, which is not an easy balancing act. But it takes more than a great game. I would also like to thank our incredible team for the pulling off the launch of the year, as well as our retail partners around the world. But most of all, I want to thank our fans. They are our toughest critics, and our biggest supporters, and none of this would be possible without them.”

In addition to beating all previous first-and five-day theatrical box office, book and video game sell-through records, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 set two new records on Xbox LIVE.

According to Microsoft:

1.  More than 7.0 million multiplayer hours were logged playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 by the end of launch day, November 8, a 19% increase over last year’s 5.9 million multiplayer hours logged playing Call of Duty: Black Ops last year’s launch day.
2. More than 3.3 million unique gamers played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in one day on November 8 up from 2.6 million unique gamers for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 set a new record for concurrent players on Xbox LIVE with 3.3 million simultaneous users on November 8.

“The Call of Duty franchise returned to Xbox 360 this year with another record-breaking launch. More than 7 million multiplayer hours were played on Modern Warfare 3 on day-one of launch on Xbox 360,” said Don Mattrick, president of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft. “And with the exclusive first access to new multiplayer content, we’re proud Xbox 360 is home to the largest and most engaged Call of Duty community.”

The game also set a new franchise mark for the number of simultaneous online gamers playing Call of Duty on PlayStation Network on its first day, and was the best-selling video game launch of all time in North America on Amazon.com and at Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Walmart.

“In just over a week, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has been hugely successful on PlayStation 3, and continues to drive millions of gamers globally to PlayStation Network with its unprecedented and engaging online multiplayer experience,” said Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA). “The Call of Duty franchise is one of the biggest entertainment brands on the planet, delivering gameplay experiences like no other which is why we’re also excited to bring the Call of Duty franchise to our highly-anticipated next generation portable, PlayStation Vita, where we expect fans will continue their dedication to the most amazing Call of Duty experiences whether in the home or on the go.”

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is rated “M” (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence and Strong Language and is available now for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC. For more information visit www.callofduty.com/mw3 and www.callofduty.com/elite.

There has been rumors about a possible PlayStation Vita version. That had been speculation up until that press release up there. That alone confirms that PlayStation Vita is indeed getting a Call of Duty game. We don’t know what game it’s going to be at this point.

PlayStation Vita releases February 22nd, 2012 in the United States. There’s also no date for the Call of Duty game, so everything’s up in the air.

We have come a long way since Call of Duty Elite was revealed to the public. The Call of Duty community has been confused by Call of Duty Elite until the reveal, to ease this confusion, Beachhead Studio talked about their inspirations behind CODElite in three different videos that you’ll see below.

Call of Duty Elite’s marketing slogan is “Play together better.” And likewise, “Connect. Compete. Improve.” is Activision’s Call of Duty Elite message. As such, they’ve outlined it all. See for yourself…

Call of Duty Elite – Connect: Connect with your fellow Call of Duty players. CODElite started in beta phase with Black Ops, so when the platform goes live in 4 days, the service will support Black Ops, and MW3. That’s over 20 million gamers combined. CODElite’s integration with facebook will open the market to 800 million users worldwide.

Call of Duty Elite in a nutshell is a social network for gamers. Allowing you, the player to connect with other like-minded players. You can also create, and find like-minded clans.

Call of Duty Elite – Compete: You can compete with your friends, your clan members, like-minded clans, and rival clans. You can compare your stats with your friends, and compete for fun. Get better with each day you play COD games.

Call of Duty Elite – Improve: Call of Duty Elite also helps you strategize with your friends and clan members by answering these crucial questions:

Where is the hottest places to do battle?

Which weapon is my most proficient weapon?

What can I do to get better at Call of Duty?

…And more…

With Call of Duty Elite, you can integrate your facebook account with your COD Elite account. You can log-in to Facebook through the MW3 screen. The integration goes further than just logging in and connecting your FB account to your CODElite account. You can also see who’s who on CODElite and Facebook right next to each other. The platform also shares your CODElite info straight to your FB account, so you can tell your friends you want to party up.

Just an FYI: The PC version of Call of Duty Elite has been delayed due to security concerns that may be plaguing the PC version of CODElite. To learn more about Call of Duty Elite, click here.

Stay Tuned as we get closer and closer to Modern Warfare 3 world-wide launch on November 8th, 2011! That’s 4 days away!

Call of Duty XP is over now, but content from the event doesn’t seem to stop. Everyone wants to find out more about the Multiplayer aspect of Modern Warfare 3.

I posted Separate Multiplayer Briefing videos and recapped what was revealed during CODXP. But for some reason, Activision thought it would be nice to release a full-length recap of the whole briefing. For those of you who want to see the video in it’s entirety…

We still have more Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 information to come.

8,000 gamers attended Call of Duty XP to see the various events that took place there, see the world premiere of Modern Warfare 3, and not the least; the $1 million tournament. Gamers from all around the world traveled thus far to watch all this happen. All walks of life have seen Call of Duty XP…

Activision held a one million dollar tournament at Call of Duty XP. 32 teams participated in the Call of Duty tournament. The road was long and hard for some, but only one team came out at the top. Activision set up a collection of footage documenting the players and what it takes for a team to get from the bottom to the top. Enjoy…

But who won? It boiled down to Team Infinity against Team OpTic going for the championship gold: 400,000 dollars. If you do not know who Team OpTic is; Team Optic is one of the most well known, one of the most revered online gaming clan in gaming history today. OpTicGaming rose from the pits of Call of Duty 2 online gaming, to stardom with their YouTube channel called OpticNation. They went on to Call of Duty XP against 32 other teams, and won the tournament. The video below is the last 5 minutes of the World Championships tournament…

Congratulations to Team OpTic for their teamwork!

OpTicGaming: We’re #1!

At Call of Duty XP, Eric Hirshberg, the new C.E.O. of Activision kicked off the event and talked about multiple topics. Eric welcomed the Call of Duty fans to CODXP 2011, he discussed where the money gathered from Call of Duty XP attendees will be going – the Call of Duty Endowment, which is a non-profit charity to help former, on-duty, or after-duty military personnel find jobs in today’s economy. He talked up about how Call of Duty fans play a role in bringing about record-breaking sales with their passion surrounding Call of Duty. He also revealed that the one million dollar tournament is going to pit pros against G.I. Joes. Finally, he unveiled the fan-made sequel to Find Makarov [movie here] called Operation KingFish. We’ve got to find Makarov! And soon!

If you’ve seen the Multiplayer reveal last week shortly before Call of Duty XP went live, then you’ve already seen the following….

Next up, Robert Bowling, and Michael Condrey, the co-founder of Sledgehammer Games talked up how the teams at Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games have taken Call of Duty fans’ feedback and try to make MW3 a great game it is shaping up to be.

KillStreak Rewards are now Strike Packages
3 classes in all: Assault, Support, Specialist
Each have unique killstreaks for you to use in multiplayer modes
In MW2 it was difficult to stick with only 3 killstreak rewards, but now you can chain your killstreaks on 3 different classes – which you can customize to fit your weapon class which in turn fits the multiplayer mode you play frequently
Michael talks up weapon proficiencies which allows you to upgrade your weapons, and these proficiencies are like perks for your own weapons such as [2] attachments, reduced recoil, and so on.
They also showed off detailed matchtype options – possibly for private lobbies
Kill Confirmed is a match type in which you collect the most dogtags for your team
Once you kill a player, he drops a dogtag, you’re to collect them
You can collect your team-mates’ dogtags to help complete that match
Prestige Shop is revealed – It allows you to:
Purchase an Extra Custom Class
Reset All Stats
Get Double XP
Get Double Weapon XP
Unlock Gear
Gain Challenges 1
Gain Challenges 2
Gain Challenges 3
Earn Title and Emblem 1
Earn Title and Emblem 2
Earn Title and Emblem 3
But they’re not free. You have to buy them
Friends list is in
Call of Duty Elite Features are as follows:
You can integrate your username with your facebook account; in fact you can log into facebook with CODElite
It shows your user identity, which platform, and what is your Facebook name
It shows if what you’re doing, where you are at right now
Groups are in; they’re called Elite groups
You can join any type of group, and they use hashtags to find your similar taste
You can create a clan; you can also manage a clan
There’s a player list for clans so you can invite people you want to your party
Elite Console App allows you to check up Elite stuff straight from your console
Elite Mobile App allows you to see your stats, prepare for your match, etc.
The slogan for Call of Duty Elite is “Play together better”

In the wrap-up of Call of Duty XP’s MW3 Multiplayer Briefing, Eric stressed that most of the features on Call of Duty Elite is free. On top of that, all of the DLC’s that are available through Call of Duty Elite are free. See for yourself…

Clan challenges are in
Friday night Fights is in
What started as a meme for Call of Duty games, becomes a feature of Call of Duty Elite
Call of Duty Elite costs $49.99 per year, and people seem excited
Chris Ellis comes out and introduces the custom-made Modern Warfare 3 Jeeps
The vehicle will also be in Modern Warfare 3
Chris talks up the features of the Jeep, and what not
The presentation wraps up and the Tango Down Trailer is shown

Stay tuned for more about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as we approach November 8th!

GameSpot always brings out exclusive footage before anyone else. At Call of Duty XP, it was no different. They were on-location to bring us the low-down of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. But what’s so sepcial about this “trailer” is that they spent 45 minutes with Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer. That is what you want, right fans? Righty so!

The footage features commentary of the multiplayer segment by Activision Executive Producer Mark Rubin and Associate Producer Vince Fennel. Enjoy!

What we see so far:

The multiplayer map we’re now seeing is “Village” and it looks like an African location; since most of the characters are black – meaning more diverse characters
The perks looks revamped; the icons are different than COD4, MW2, Black Ops, etc.
Sleight of Hand returns
Hardline returns
Stalker is in, and it’s a perk
Scavenger returns
Overkill returns; new icon
Steady Aim returns
If you get hit hard; your screen flashes red, with some splashes of blood
Directional UAV returns
Kill Confirmed earns you 50 points per kill and collection of dogtag
If you collect someone else’s dogtag, you still get the 50 points; it shows at 4:12 or so – It’s not limited to just who you kill, but those who have just fallen in your team
Think of it like team deathmatch and a little bit of sabotage but with the scavenger perk
UMP45 returns; rapid fire returns
They gave the first look at the multiplayer weapon select screen
When you select a weapon type, it shows what kind of weapon to expect from that group
It shows what challenges you at least completed, and gives you the option to show that weapon’s challenges a-la COD4
6 Weapon classes in all: Assault Rifles, Sub-Machine Guns, Light Machine Guns, Sniper Rifles, Shotguns, and of course; Riot Shield
There are Weapon Proficiency classes, too.
6 classes in all:
Kick – Reduces recoil when firing
Impact –
Attachments –
Focus -
Breath – Holds your breath while aiming down the sights (ADS)
Stadility – Reduces your sway while aiming down the sights (ADS)
These “proficiencies” will be stacked alongside your overall perk list when you are getting ready to roll, or when the killcam comes on
They tried another level, called “Resistance”
Assists earn you 10 points each
Marksman is actually a perk
DeathStreaks returns; Juice is a deathstreak that allows you to move a little faster once you spawn
You have 0:06 seconds to use the deathstreak
Offense returns
AC130 returns
3 Strike Packages available: Assault, Support, Specialist
Each package type allows you to chain your killstreaks; there wasn’t a name for them in MW2, it’s called “Strike Chain” in MW3
Much like weapons, you can upgrade your killstreaks with ‘at least’ completing challenges; it also allows you to see what challenges you unlocked
You can choose which “strike chain” to use in your weapon class selection once you start a game, but it has to be set with your weapon class before you start a game
Each of your weapon is upgradable via levels of weapon proficiency.
Payback returns; once you die the money comes out just as in MW2
Blast Shield is in; not to be confused with Juggernaut KillStreak or Riot Shield – Blast Shield is a protective shield perk
Buzzkill is 250 per kill
You can change sights from top to bottom – I mean, if you have two different sights on top of one another, you can change the sight type just as you could switch on and off sights – it’s not limited to just how many attachments you have on rack of your gun, you can have a scope and a Red Dot Sight (RDS) attachment, too
Paybacks are 250 per kill
Comebacks are 150 per kill

Stay tuned for more as we get closer and closer to the release of Modern Warfare 3.

Modern Warfare 3 Blog is not done with information. We’ll have more. Much, much more!

At Call of Duty XP last week, Modern Warfare 3′s anticipated multiplayer reveal was met with a lot of fans trying to get information, leaks, and trailers out. It was hard to keep up and keep track of the news. It was crazy.

Basically, it was information overload. Instead of joining the crazyness, I decided to wait a little longer. For the sake of bringing you quality articles, and detailed look at each trailer released.

This is what we know from the trailer:

Dual Wielding returns; FNG9 is an automatic weapon
Kill Confirmed is a multiplayer matchtype; I’ll get to that later
M1BA4 is in
Your Callsigns are smaller, but is more useful this time around
Blind Eye Pro is in
Quickdraw Pro is in
Steady Aim Pro is in
There’s this “kick” symbol? Is this a new killcam feature?
Not sure what it does, but there’s an Escort Airdrop killstreak (18 points)
You gain points for “bullseye” kills; 500 points a pop
If someone plants a bomb, the HUD tells you so, it’s not limited to just bombsite indicator
First Blood returns
Headshots are 500 points, also
Payback also nets you points; 250 a pop
CM901 is in
Buzzkill returns; they’re 200 points each
There’s a 2 point streak class; Stalker killstreak is unlocked at 2 points, in the video they’re using the pro streak
Remote Turret is in
M16A4 returns
Remote Missile Launcher is in, and you have a choice between a machine gun or a missile
SCAR-L is in; in MW2 the model of the SCAR was SCAR-H
UAV is upgraded with “Advanced UAV” KillStreak (11 points)
Remote Helicopter is in
I stress that Juggernaut is a killstreak, there are two levels of Juggernaut:
1. Equipped with M60E4 LMG and MP412 handgun, you are now in a juggernaut suit, and you have a riot shield too. Your vision is now limited. Very limited (15 kills)
2. Equipped with a USP .45, you [once again] are in a juggernaut suit, and you also have a riot shield (18 Kills)
They are both in two different Strike Packages; Assault Strike and Support Strike Packages.

Stay tuned for more about Modern Warfare 3 as we get closer, and closer to the release of MW3.

Call of Duty XP will have a lot of events going on. You can go into life-size Scrapyard, Training Pit, and Zipline. You can also tour the armory, and life-size Burger Town. You’ll be able to meet Robert Bowling, Major Nelson, Dropkick Murphys, and Kanye West! You’ll be able to buy beverages, and food. You have a chance to win some amazing prizes in Black Ops competitions, and there’s also a $1 million Call oF Duty tournament taking place at CODXP. Most of all, you have a chance to receive a free copy of MW3 Hardened Edition, and be the first to play Modern Warfare 3!

Without further Ado, the Zipline!

There was a teaser for this event at CODXP, but no one really knew what it entails:

I thought it was going to be a part of a game reveal, but guess not, eh?