When you hear cries and rants against bandwidth caps, which are becoming more popular in the US but standard in Canada, it is usually from people like myself and others that depend on web access; and lots of it, on a daily basis. The argument used by the ISPs to back up this ridiculous state of affairs is that they are just trying to protect their networks from undue congestion caused by the bandwidth hogs.

As cute as that argument might be it is also a fallacious argument that unfortunately is swallowed by the majority of people, so it was really nice to read this smack down of ISPs by Mark Rubin, executive producer at Infinity Ward; one of the video game companies responsible for the Call of Duty video game franchise.

In the post at Huffington Post Rubin says that ISPs are holding back innovations with their predatory practices.

Mark Rubin, executive producer at Infinity Ward, the studio behind the ‘Call of Duty’ series, says Internet service providers are holding back innovation with restrictive practices. Both usage-based billing, where customers receive monthly download limits, and throttling, where certain applications are slowed down, are proving to be obstacles to the games industry’s advancement.

“We’re trying to progress and move into those new areas of downloading content and full games and streaming live. We’re pushing forward and it seems like they’re going backwards,” Rubin said in an interview at this past weekend’s inaugural Call of Duty XP fan convention in Los Angeles.

“I don’t know what they’re afraid of that they have to do all this capping. If they have serious problems with bandwidth, they need to solve that because society is moving forward.”

It is one thing for people like myself and other tech writers to decry things like caps but it is another thing altogether when the man responsible for one of the most successful game franchises, and part of a company that makes billions of dollars due to people being able to access the web, says it.

‘Call of Duty’ chief smacks down ISPs says they are moving society backwards is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to the leak the third map pack will be much like the previous two and contain four new competitive multiplayer maps and one new map for the Zombies mode.

The information comes via an alleged GameStop promotional poster sent to fansite Black Ops 24/7 and outlines the map names: Hanger 18, Hazard, Drive-in, and Silo.

It could very well be a fake picture, but information found in a Black Ops PC patch in early May indicated an upcoming level would be called Silo. Of course, someone looking to make a forgery would know this too, so it doesn’t prove the image is real.

via 1UP.com

There has been no word from Activision or Treyarch to confirm or deny the rumor.

LEAKED: Possible new Black Ops map pack could be on its way is a post from: The Inquisitr

A few of the new Call of Duty Elite service’s features were shared when it was announced, but it left a lot of us – myself included – wondering the extent of what we’d get out of it if we opted not to pay the monthly premium.

Fortunately for us, Activision has went ahead and updated the Call of Duty Elite FAQ with the full list of free features included in the service. Here’s some of what you can expect, courtesy of said FAQ:

• Access Elite through the web as well as Elite’s free custom iOS and Android applications for smartphones and tablets
• Communicate any way you want across mobile, console and the web with your friends
• Track and share thousands of stats with friends – k/d ratios, score-per-minute, win % and loads more, all represented in easy to understand charts and infographics
• Create your own custom leaderboards to track friendly rivalries – who is moving up and down in your group of friends?
• Analyse advanced heat maps detailing your match-by-match performance – where you killed or got killed, when it happened, and more
• Analyse your weapons performance – which weapons you are best with in which situations
• Upload and share videos of your greatest moments through our exclusive theater mode with the touch of a button
• Customise your loadout – search through all the weapons, attachments and perks, and push them directly into the game menu from the web or your mobile device with the touch of a button
• Join dozens of groups and find other players with common interests to play with and compete against
• Create a Clan with players who share your interests and taste for competition
• Bring your Facebook friends right into the game, easily taking your existing network into the Call of Duty experience.
• Seamlessly be placed into Groups with those who share your affinities and interests based on your Facebook profile.
• Start tracking your Call of Duty career – everything you wanted to know about your performance across the franchise starting with Black Ops

If you’d like to learn more about the service head over to the official Call of Duty Elite FAQ. Now that you know what some of the free features are, are you more interested in the premium offerings?

Call of Duty Elite’s Free Features Detailed is a post from: The Inquisitr

The news on Call of Duty Elite, Activision’s web-based subscription service for Call of Duty, broke first in a story ran by WSJ. Contrary to what the initial rumors had us believe, Call of Duty Elite is more akin to Halo: Waypoint or even Bungie.net than it is anything else; Activision isn’t looking to charge you for multiplayer. The service is said to keep track of your stats in Call of Duty games utilizing the service, offering a thorough breakdown of your playstyle, most effective weapons, and so on.

The price has not been revealead and, if Activision is to be believed, hasn’t even been decided internally yet. What they’re apparently shooting for, however, is a ‘minimal’ monthly fee along the lines of what, for example, Netflix charges for their instant streaming-only service ($7.99).

One of the more interesting features of Elite is the service’s Group feature. Rather than being forced to participate in the game’s already established skill-based matchmaking system and being subjected to a torrent of profanities and slurs, you can instead opt to play against only those in a Group that you’ve joined. If you’ve joined a Group dedicated to your favorite movie on the service, for instance, you can choose to only play people also in that group. For the casual player intimidated by the more competitive matchmaking options, this concept could go a long way towards keeping that crowd interested in multiplayer in the long term.

Another interesting, competitive feature revealed today is the web service’s “Compete” section. Through Compete, you and your clan can arrange matches with other individuals and clans. Should you win the competition, you could earn things like trophies to be proudly displayed through your Call of Duty Elite stats page, and even one of those Black Ops edition Jeeps.

Most of the service still appears to be in fairly early development stages and is subject to change when it officially launches (no word on when that is, unfortunately), but what has been discussed so far actually sounds pretty neat. We still have no idea on just what exactly you’ll be paying for, but it is known that Call of Duty Elite won’t be closed for non-subscribers. In fact, Activision has already confirmed that stat tracking and Group features will be completely free for all.

If you’d like to know more about the service, head over to Joystiq’s preview here.

Call of Duty Elite Gives COD Fans Their Own Social Network is a post from: The Inquisitr

The new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 trailer has only been out 48 hours, but already one UK newspaper is kicking up a fuss because there’s an attack on an underground train in the video and London’s real underground was attacked in 2005 and that’s a bit like this and oh god I don’t know the sheer idiocy is making my head throb.

Games THAT ARE RATED FOR ADULTS have long attracted poorly researched criticism from cheap scare newspapers. Because of its popularity, the Call of Duty series is often a target. Right on cue, the Daily Mail today described one scene from the Modern Warfare 3 trailer (which you can see in full here) as “a chilling echo of the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London.” The scene in question shows a truck driving in front of a speeding underground train, causing it to derail.

Even though that’s NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN LONDON, the Daily Mail calls for Modern Warfare 3 to be banned, and quotes a lady from Mediawatch UK as saying, “In light of the fact we have just had the 7/7 inquests, it is in incredibly poor taste.”

This anti-videogame agenda is nothing new, yet remains flawed. Aside from the significant fact that the game is ENTIRELY FICTIONAL, what really gets me is how presumptious the Mail is being here. After all, the trailer gives us zero context in this scene: is this an underground train full of innocent commuters, is it completely empty, or is it loaded with, say, a bomb? Nobody outside Activision or Infinity Ward truly knows. Least of all the Daily Mail.

Anyway, please excuse all the UNDERLINED CAPS. I’m keeping things nice and simple for any stray Mail readers we get here.

[Via Daily Mail]

Modern Warfare 3 already compared to London terrorist attacks is a post from: The Inquisitr

Activision has released the first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 trailer with actual gameplay, and predictably enough it looks nuts and also the nuts – this is the videogame equivalent of all the Die Hard films to the power of Steven Seagal.

It’s World War 3 in Modern Warfare 3, and it’s probably taking place somewhere near your backyard. In this trailer alone, we see battles taking place in the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany, and other locations in the final game will include India, Russia, and more.

Anyway, it’s all efficiently pretty, though I still narrowly prefer Battlefield 3‘s bleached-out destructible settings. Take a look for yourself:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 hits stores on November 8th!

[Via press release]

[VIDEO] Your first proper look at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a post from: The Inquisitr

The PlayStation Network is slowly creaking back into life, and Call of Duty: Black Ops maker Treyarch wants to make up for those 25 days you were separated from your beloved.

Hence, from 1.00pm EST on Friday, the PlayStation 3 version of Black Ops will see the start of a double XP weekend, giving you a chance to accelerate your leveling up. The double XP period will stretch through to 1.00pm EST on Tuesday, according to Treyarch’s Facebook page.

A shrewd move by Treyarch, I’d say – especially with the ‘Escalation’ downloadable map pack on the horizon for PS3.

As for when the rest of the PlayStation Network is back up (the PS Store, for example), Sony’s still aiming for the end of May. Just remember that you’re entitled to other freebies if you were one of the 77 million gamers frozen out by the PSN downtime – details are here!

[Via Treyarch Facebook page]

PS3 Call of Duty players welcomed back with double XP weekend is a post from: The Inquisitr

Aaaaaand, just as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘s story details leaked across the ‘net, here’s the first REALLY REAL SUPER OFFICIAL trailer for what will almost certainly be 2011′s best-selling game.

There’s no gameplay in this 35-second Modern Warfare 3 teaser, though there are plenty of hints of what we can expect, including a Russian enemy, and an attack on New York City (Brooklyn and Manhattan are both namedropped in the voiceover, while the Hudson River is clearly visible).

[VIDEO] First Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 trailer is a post from: The Inquisitr

The popular blog has gotten its hands on a whole bunch of Modern Warfare 3 plot details, with locations, characters, and weapon details all discussed at length. There are also a few screenshots, seemingly taken from an early build of the game, and a repeat of the already-rumored November 8th global release date.

Kotaku’s full report can be found through HERE, though it goes without saying this is packed with SPOILERS. For those who wish to maintain their innocence, I think it’s safe to know the following:

♦ There are new and returning characters from previous Modern Warfare games
♦ At least ten different countries feature in the game’s levels
♦ You’re still buying this for the multiplayer, right?

Since Kotaku’s story went up, Activision executive Robert Bowling has tweeted that the information was partly accurate, partly not, and urged fans to wait for a full, official reveal of the game. That’s expected to take place early next month at the E3 expo, the world’s biggest games show.

See also: [RUMOR] The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 cover. Possibly.

[Via Kotaku]

Spoilers!: Full Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 plot leaked is a post from: The Inquisitr

We just don’t know, you see. A Kotaku tipster sent this to the blog – supposedly the leak first appeared at the Electric Hydra Forums.

With no official confirmation we’re left to guess, but the tell-tale signs are all there. There is a man with a gun. The words ‘Call of Duty MW3‘ appear on the box. You can’t train these powers of deduction. They’re a gift.

So, let’s assume this is the Modern Warfare 3 cover – any good, you reckon?

[Via Kotaku]

[RUMOR] The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 cover. Possibly. is a post from: The Inquisitr

“The creative excellence and sheer scale of the game we are making, and the unprecedented online universe that will accompany it, will reset the bar for this genre, giving players a new level of immersion, connectivity, community and, of course, epic action. [...] On our last call, I told you that we had formed a wholly-owned development studio called Beachhead to lead the creation of an all new connected digital universe to the Call of Duty franchise. This platform will include a suite of services and content plan that will unite and ignite the community like never before. The platform will support in-game integration and bring online experiences and console play together for the first time. It’s been in development for almost two years and we’re very excited about the increased value and excitement we can bring to our community through this platform.”

ORIGINAL STORY: It will almost certainly be 2011′s best-selling videogame, but the next Call of Duty has not even been announced yet. However, according to ‘multiple sources’ close to Eurogamer, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will launch on November 8th, just six months from now.

Meanwhile, an entry on the store of UK supermarket Tesco (since removed) has listed the game as Call of Duty: Project Collossus.

November 8th is not exactly a wild guess. Indeed, as previous Call of Duty launch dates have shown …

Call of Duty: Black Ops — November 9th, 2010
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 — November 10th, 2009
Call of Duty: World at War — November 14th, 2008
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare — November 9th, 2007

… November 8th is a highly likely release date for Modern Warfare 3, or whatever the next COD may be called. In the coming hours, Activision Blizzard is announcing its financial results for Q1 2011, so there’s every chance we’ll hear more then – I’ll keep this post fresh and updated, so check back!

[Via Eurogamer]

[RUMOR] Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launches November 8th is a post from: The Inquisitr

Call of Duty games have been hogging top spot in the lucrative first-person shooter genre for years now. Call of Duty: Black Ops took $400 million in revenue on day one. Pretty soon after that, it passed $1 billion. Big numbers. Hence why EA – rival to Call of Duty publisher Activision – really, really wants to beat Call of Duty.

The game that’s going to beat it? Battlefield 3.

Speaking at the AdAge Conference in New York, EA boss John Riccitiello talked up this upcoming battle even more. He started the prick-waving by asserting the combined marketing cost for both publishers will be around $200 million. Then he came out with a fairly direct admission that Battlefield 3 serves only one purpose:

“[Battlefield 3] is designed to take [Call of Duty] down. If you’re looking for a battle of the titans – Red Sox vs Yankees… Microsoft or Google – and what the tip-off point is for this holiday season, this is it.”

Strong words, but will Riccitiello and Battlefield 3 be eating dust later this year? My hunch is yes, probably, if only because the Call of Duty brand is so phenomenally strong.

Battlefield 3 looks like the bee’s knees (see here), but as the previous Battlefield game has LIFETIME sales of 6 million compared to Black Ops‘s DAY ONE sales of 7 million, EA has set itself one hell of a task.

[AdvertisingAge, via Eurogamer]

EA: ‘Battlefield 3 designed to take Call of Duty down’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Furthermore, where are all the great British villains? We’re highly bloody villainous, I’ll have you know! Head to Complex.com to see this in Big-O-Vision while I get on with cackling nefariously.

[Via Complex]

Here’s where your videogame villains come from (Spoiler: not the west) is a post from: The Inquisitr

Videogame sales body The NPD Group has just confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops has now sold more copies in the U.S. than any other game ever.

Though it’s yet to spill exact figures, the shooter topped the U.S. sales charts for February, and surged past Nintendo’s Wii Play to the top of the all-time sales list:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
2. Wii Play (Wii)
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox)
5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
6. Wii Fit (Wii)
7. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3, Xbox 360, DS)
9. Madden NFL 07 (PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2, PSP, DS, GC, GBA, Wii)
10. Call of Duty: World at War (PS3, Xbox 360, DS, Wii)female writer/poet sites, etc.

This happy news for Activision shareholders comes after it was revealed Black Ops became the quickest game to make $1 billion in December 2010.

[Via press release]

Call of Duty: Black Ops becomes best selling game ever in the U.S. is a post from: The Inquisitr

Someone get this guy a damn job: an actual letter sent by a COD fan to Robert Bowling, creative strategist at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare studio Infinity Ward.

That‘ll teach George Washington.

[Robert Bowling's Twitter, via Kotaku]

Letter of LOL: Call of Duty fan has big ideas for franchise is a post from: The Inquisitr

Buy the goddamn kid Black Ops, he deserves it!

[Failbook]

Little kid makes court-worthy COD case on Facebook is a post from: The Inquisitr

The online mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has never been short of problems with hackers and other ne’er-do-wells. However, things have apparently turned extra sour since some young scamp ejaculated the PlayStation 3 jailbreak code all over the Internet’s face.

But lo! Here comes developer Infinity Ward on a white horse with a security patch tucked in its tunic. This new update for the first-person shooter will launch soon for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, and will address “security issues that have affected online play”, according to Infinity Ward community bloke Robert Bowling.

Only last month, Bowling took to the Infinity Ward message boards to explain how the PS3 hacks had “resulted in games [becoming] exposed to exploits and hacks,” with online statistics and player progress apparently affected.

The patch will also sort out a “small geo exploit on the map Fuel”. Players exploited said bug to climb inside a rock that lay outside one of the game’s map. Honestly, hiding in virtual rocks, kids these days, etc.

[Infinity Ward forums, via Eurogamer]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 getting security patch soon is a post from: The Inquisitr

Via The Escapist

Call Of Duty Black Ops Stats is a post from: The Inquisitr

In what is becoming International Blame Videogames For Everything Day, sections of the Russian media have linked Monday’s terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport in Moscow to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The 2009 shooter famously featured a stage in which the player could gun down civilians in a Russian airport. The ‘No Russian’ level (video below) wasn’t the smartest thing Infinity Ward ever did with the Call of Duty franchise, but to idly pin the blame on a videogame is yet another example of lazy mainstream journalism where games are concerned.

Russia Today, a government-financed satellite channel, has featured a report that combines footage of the Domodedovo attack with scenes from Modern Warfare 2. According to the New York Times, the report was keen to emphasize that the game was developed by Americans, and included an interview with Fox News favourite and so-called terrorist expert Walid Phares. Here are his pearls of wisdom:

“I think those who have been radicalized already — let’s suppose in this case jihadists, Al Qaeda or [some] other kind — they look at the games and say these games will serve them to train.”

Yeah, right, as opposed to all the world’s openly available shooting ranges featuring real guns. So far, so monumentally stupid, but then the report tries to claim the real-life suicide bombing “mirrors” the video game’s scenario.

Watch the video of the game below, and it’s plain this is a complete fabrication. Whereas the game portrays a commando raid, witness reports from Domodedovo suggest something far different. The only coincidence here is that the videogame also features a Russian airport – an incredibly tenuous ‘link’.

[Via New York Times]

Russian media pins blame for suicide bombing on Call of Duty game is a post from: The Inquisitr

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is due to release in November 2011. However, it looks like Infinity Ward – or what remains of Infinity Ward after this fall-out – is struggling to finish the game in time.

The LA Times reports that publisher Activision has called for help from two of its other studios, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software. According to the paper’s sources, Sledgehammer and Infinity Ward are sorting out the single-player mode, while Raven is in charge of developing the game’s online functionality.

The LA Times‘s mole adds that Sledgehammer personnel have had to be taken from a different Call of Duty game, an adventure spin-off. Activision is, for very obvious reasons, desperate to see Modern Warfare 3 out this year – even if that means delaying a side project for the main attraction.

[Los Angeles Times, via VG247]

Reinforcements called in to finish Modern Warfare 3 on time is a post from: The Inquisitr