Story by: CritiKiL

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 doesn’t come out until Nov. 8. But pirates have already obtained the video game — one of the most-anticipated of the year — VentureBeat has learned. The PC version of the game, or at least part of it, has been circulating among pirates in the U.S., who illegally copy and share it without paying Activision Blizzard or its retailers. That’s a big problem, as Activision Blizzard is expected to sell more than 20 million copies of the game in 2011 alone, according to Arcadia Research. That amounts to more than $1.2 billion in sales at retail. Piracy has always been a problem with video games, especially for PC titles. But the pirates go after Call of Duty because it’s the big prize. Every year, a cat-and-mouse game ensues. Activision Blizzard closely monitors manufacturing in the weeks leading up to shipment, since it only takes one stolen disk to set off the viral spread of pirated copies. But it’s hard to stop inside jobs.

Evidently, pirated discs began to spread quickly after an employee at a shipping warehouse (run by a huge shipping company) in Fresno, Calif., stole one disc. It’s not clear how many full copies spread this way, as the disc that was stolen was apparently Disc 2 of a two-disk set for the PC. Security may have been too tight for the thief to steal the other disc. The same course of events happened before last year’s launch of Call of Duty Black Ops and the year before that with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. But sales of the franchise keep climbing.

Investigators are using the same tactics as last year, knocking on doors around the country and asking people nicely to turn over and delete their pirated copies of Modern Warfare 3. Rather than face fines, many complied. A Modern Warfare pirate who was caught posted a message (below) yesterday on Craigslist. In it, the person warns others not to buy MW3 before the release date because “they will come get you.” The post says “you will be fined $5,000″ and it could result in permanent banning from online play. Then the person adds, “I already went through it.”

Story by: CritiKiL

Story by Call of Duty Community.com.

Anyone who plays Call of Duty, knows that Custom Matches are a big part of why we play, from proving your point in a 1 on 1 quick-scope battle, to laughing at your friends in Mike Myers. This year, Modern Warfare 3 will take the Custom Match experience to a new level, allowing some new and some fan favorite game types to come to the field. They are:

One in the Chamber

Infinity Ward is bringing back this fan favorite to satisfy the needs of those craving the wager match, although it is worth mentioning, that this time there is no prize. Just the knowledge that you are better than your comrades.

Gun Game

Again, another fan favorite and something I’ll be falling over myself to play when the game is released to see which guns I like to play with. Definitely something to look forward to.

Infected

An age old game mode that never ceases to amaze, this is by far the best way to find out the best hiding spots in the game and how to get there. An aside to this, is that this has been called several names over the years. Mike Myers is one of the names, and also Zombies was a name given to it.

Drop Zone

Almost like Headquarters, except that it’s call Drop Zone. Oh, and given that it is called that, Care Packages drop to the glee of the team in command of the zone. I have visions of horrific “death by box” kills in killcams on this one.

Team Juggernaut

Didn’t get a lot of information on this one, but as far as we can tell, it’s Team Death Match with a Juggernaut on your team. Pretty straight forward huh?

Juggernaut

Now, this also sounds like a “Pro” version of Mike Myers. 1 person is a Juggernaut, your job is to kill him, then you become the Juggernaut. Easy right?

If you rather watch someone explain these game modes to you, have a look and see what WoodysGamertag has to say about the game modes.

I can definitely see some awesome lads (or ladies) nights in where these game types are put the test. Personally, I think this will really make for a better game as far as Modern Warfare 3 is concerned as it will mean a longer shelf-life!

As you can see, Infinity Ward have taken on some fan favorites, and produced some fine sounding other game modes. It really shows that they have taken some time to make sure that the Custom Matches are as good as the online ones. If you have any questions, please feel free to visit us at the forums: www.callofduty-community.com/forum/

Story by Seeson @ blogs.battlefield.ea.com.

Thank you for playing the Open Beta and making the final game better!

We are very excited to see so many gamers join our Battlefield 3 Open Beta. Here’s an update on the Open Beta from DICE General Manager Karl Magnus Troedsson.

I want to give you an overview of how the Open Beta is helping us shape a fantastic final game, what we are implementing based on your feedback, and how the Open Beta will help us deliver a robust gaming environment from day one.

The Open Beta is a true Beta

The Battlefield 3 Open Beta is based on software that is more than one month old. We need to test the new back end dedicated server structure we’ve built. Not only have we built a new game engine, but an entirely new back end system so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of dedicated servers on all platforms.

Just like normal procedure when releasing a game, the Open Beta has had long lead times due to testing, certification, and setting up. This means that the code you are now playing is actually quite early and not representative of the final game.

We had to do this in order to have as many people testing as possible, in order to ensure a top quality experience when the game is released. However, we’re confident in the Battlefield formula and confident that our fans will support us in order to make Battlefield 3 better.

Dedicated servers require dedicated testing

The biggest reason for running the Open Beta is to stress test our servers and back end. Already, we are seeing 6 times the number of simultaneous players in the Battlefield 3 Open Beta compared to the Beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2! The fact that Battlefield 3 is clearly our biggest game launch ever by a magnitude of 6 makes it doubly important to test everything.

We are constantly updating the News section on Battlelog with information on what we are fixing from Open Beta to final. We appreciate your time and your feedback. The data and feedback from the Open Beta will not only directly affect the final game of Battlefield 3, but its future development and support.

We’re heading out on the road this week to let journalists experience all aspects of Battlefield 3. Stay tuned for their previews, and stay tuned for the final game on October 25th. The final game will look, play and sound better than the Open Beta. You have helped making sure of that.

Karl Magnus Troedsson

General Manager, DICE

Story by Scott Grill @ Examiner.com.

If you’re taking a break from playing the Battlefield 3 beta, you may want to take a look at this Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 video showing gameplay from the Spec Ops Survival mode on the Paris map.

The Paris survival mode gameplay footage definitely shows off the arcadey side of Modern Warfare 3 as the player one of two players charges opponents by jumping on top of cars and taking them down with the shotgun. It also provides a glimpse at some of the items that can be purchased from the equipment armory such as the Sentry Grenade Launcher.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is scheduled to release on November 8 for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Grenade Launcher Sentry Gun = SWEET!!! (Nemesis)

Story by Owen Good @ Kotaku.com.

About a week before the Battlefield 3 beta began, the game’s community manager had decided he’d heard enough shrill complaining about the fact that “Operation Metro” and not some other map would the only one playable. And so he went off.

Rewind: Operation Metro was revealed to be the beta map on Sept. 20. Apparently, large numbers of forum goers thought some other map would be used, like one that allowed up to 64 players. The choice of Metro did not sit well with many, and the Battlefield forums were filled with great anger and profound disappointment. This is what Daniel Matros, DICE’s global community manager for Battlefield 3, had to confront at the end of the day.

“Right now, I am not in the mood to even browse in here and check out most parts of the forum,” Daniel Matros began on Sept. 20. Saying that “the beta is a privilege, not a right,” unless you got a key with a pre-order, Matros ripped into the whiners, still with a measured tone that suggests he had to choose his words carefully.

“The vibe I’m getting now is just that tons of ungrateful people don’t understand how much work we are putting on this game how many overtime hours we are doing and also how many meetings we are in to ship a game like this.”

Matros thanked those who did provide constructive feedback. “To the rest of you—grow up.”

Two replies later, proving his point, someone wrote: “Why aren’t you releasing Caspian Border in the beta?”

It should be noted that although this thread no longer exists (a cache of it does) even a cursory Google search of the forums turns up threads backing Matros.

As for why they went with Operation Metro, not something else, well, it’s a beta. “We have already showed this map and made some big changes to it to enhance gameplay as well as get it more fluent than in the Alpha,” Matros explained later. “Lots of new things have been added in closer to launch. Our rank progression system as well as customizations have made their way into the beta and it´s very important for us to test these things before we launch. That is the purpose of the Beta as well as combining it with Battlelog and all of the features there. If you feel that this isn´t the right map for you, then perhaps we don´t really agree on what maps we want to see.”

It is indeed hard not to be sympathetic. These games are not made by elves. We’ve heard plenty about “crunch” at the end of a development cycle, I’m sure the last thing anyone wants to deal with, amidst all of that, is inconsiderate sniping and snide questions from some entitled dickbag who is unhappy that the free thing he’s being given isn’t optimized for his comfort.

It is, however, rare to see this kind of thing play out, probably why the thread is gone. The Battlefield 3 beta runs until Oct. 10. I hope everyone survives.

Story by Michael McWhertor @ Kotaku.com.

At the risk of sounding overhyped about DICE’s Battlefield 3, the latest batch of unofficial screens from the game’s ongoing beta are (mostly) about its UI, which are beautiful and even a little bit informative.

Screengrabs from Battlefield 3‘s beta, courtesy of Battlefield forum goers, show off some multiplayer options, win/lose screens and the myriad graphic options for the PC version of the game. Very handsome, very option-heavy.

Story by Mike Fahey @ Kotaku.com.

As promised last week, EA delivers the full version of its “99 Problems” Battlefield 3 TV spot today, unveiling never-before-seen gameplay footage and a new tagline aimed right between Modern Warfare 3‘s eyes.

At this point we’ve accepted that Battlefield 3 looks gorgeous, so we’ll not harp on the visuals. Instead, let’s turn our attention to the new tagline at the end of this TV spot. It reads “Above and Beyond the Call”, an obvious dig at Call of Duty, the Activision franchise EA hopes to unseat as king of the military online first-person shooters.

How should Call of Duty fans react? I’d suggest measured, focused rage. Don’t fly off the handle; stay firmly planted on the handle and toss your vicious retorts with military precision.

As for Activision, I’m hoping the company reveals the new tagline for Modern Warfare 3 to be “Fuck Battlefield in Its Stupid Ass”, which is probably why I’m not in marketing.

Story by Mike Fahey @ Kotaku.com.

In this teaser trailer for a full length ad to run on television September 27, rapper Jay-Z explains that while Battlefield 3does have (at least) “99 Problems”, not one of those problems is a bitch. And here we were all worried!

But when EA’s Battlefield team teases something, there’s generally something interesting waiting on the other end. My guess? Jay-Z is lying to us, and one of Battlefield 3‘s problems is indeed bitches.

Story by Kirk Hamilton @ Kotaku.com.

The Riddler and The Penguin may get increased stage-time in Batman: Arkham City, but the latest trailer for Rocksteady’s upcoming game is all about our old friend The Joker. Looking quite a bit the worse for wear after his misadventures in Arkham Asylum, the J-Man sounds like he’s enacting another big, complicated plan to ensnare the Bat. Big surprise, that.

Also featured: a healthy dose of Harley Quinn’s accent, some giant goon named “Mr. Hammer,” and some fairly serious-looking lava and explosions.

Batman: “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

Joker: “Nice of you to say, but you of all people should know, there’s plenty wrong with me.”

Story by Brian Crecente @ Kotaku.com.

Battlefield 3′smuch-anticipated open beta starts on Thursday, Sept. 29, the publisher said this morning.

The beta will run until Oct. 10 and will give players a chance to check out the game and the social platform Battlelog, according to the post on the official website for the game. The beta is set in Paris on the Operation Metro map playing the game’s Rush mode.

If you pre-order the PC digitial version of Battlefield 3 on EA’s Origin store before Sept. 25, or if you bought Medal of Honor: Limited Edition/Tier 1 Edition, you will get 48 hours early access to the Beta, meaning you can start playing Tuesday, Sept 27.

For Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, the open beta will be visible on the consoles’ digital marketplaces under Battlefield 3. For PC, you need to install Origin and download the Open Beta from within the Origin application.

Story by Fahed @ MP1st.com.

I don’t think we can wait any longer for the Battlefield 3 Beta, and DICE has just hinted at a big announcement coming tomorrow.

After weeks of denying many beta rumors, DICE has stirred up the pot with 3 hints. On the official Italian Battlefield page, DICE teased “guys, tomorrow follow us, there is news about something you have been waiting for a long time.” However, the teasing didn’t stop there. Dainel Matros, Battlefield’s global community manager, tweeted “this week is going to be off the hook BF3″, and his coworker, David Goldfarb, reassured that this week is “gonna be a great week. BF3″. 

My guess is that the long-awaited Beta will go live tomorrow or will be announced tomorrow to go live next week.

If you were wondering whether you’re going to get a taste of the singleplayer in the upcoming beta, DICE’s Ian Tornay re-clarified “BF3 beta is multiplayer only. There are some rumors to the contrary circulating.” 

Story by Greg Miller @ IGN.com.

Save the world without spending a dime.

If the proposition of buying DC Universe Online and then paying a monthly fee has been keeping you away from Sony Online Entertainment’s MMO, prepare to enter Gotham City next month. In October, DC Universe Online goes free to play.

Both PlayStation 3 and PC players will be able to download and play the game for free. Three tiered levels will act as the game’s revenue source from there along with in-game microtransactions. Here’s the official breakdown from SOE.

Free
New players will now have access to the current gameplay in DC Universe Online (including Gotham City, Metropolis, and all current raids and alerts), with the ability to create two characters, join a league and many other benefits. Free level players will be able to purchase downloadable game packs/updates, additional character slots, powers and more through microtransactions.

Premium
Any player who has spent at least $5 (including former paid subscribers and new players who have purchased $5 of in-game items) will qualify for the Premium access level. Premium level players will have more benefits available to them than the Free level player, including additional character slots, additional inventory slots, and higher cash limits. Downloadable adventure packs, additional character slots, and more can be purchased in-game.

Legendary
Maximum features and benefits are included at this level. Loaded with enhanced additional features, Legendary access will be available for a $14.99 monthly fee and includes all DLC packs at no cost, more than 15 character slots, more than 80 inventory slots, the ability to form unrestricted-sized leagues, and many other benefits.

If you’ve already paid for a PC lifetime subscription or a PS3 plan, that deal still stands when this switch happens in late October. This event also marks the end of DCUO’s mandatory auto-renew feature. In the past, the game would automatically resubscribe you when your subscription lapsed. That’s still an option, but it’s no longer mandatory — a result of the more than 40 percent of people who quit EverQuest II and complained about the auto-renew in a SOE survey.

“We decided ‘Let’s listen to them’,” said John Smedley, SOE president. “I don’t know about you, but my credit card statement every month is this amalgam of s*** of MMOs that I’m too lazy to cancel. What we want is to offer people a way to not worry about that.”

The announcement of the free to play move comes just seven months after SOE released DC Universe Online. SOE wouldn’t go into the exact number of subscribers currently playing the game, but Smedley said numbers are up since the move to megaservers and that free to play was not in response to subscriber numbers.

“In terms of ‘Is it a result in a drop in subs’ – absolutely not,” he said. “This is the right business model. If I can be honest, the game ended up costing a lot more than we thought it would, and this was our preferred business model from day one.”

If you’re a stickler for fair play, SOE said you don’t have to worry about microtransactions breaking the game. Super-powerful items such as Superman’s raid suit will not be purchasable and experience won’t be for sale in October. The experience will be similar to Free Realms’ free to play model, SOE said, and you can expect to see it in games that are out now and future releases.

“We are really seeing the benefits of free to play, and we’re really liking it,” Smedley said. “Needless to say we’re paying close attention to it and maybe looking to make some surprise moves a little later.”

Today Team 17 announced the release of Worms Ultimate Mayhem on Steam for the PC, which is scheduled for release on 28th September 2011. Worms Ultimate Mayhem will allow Worms fans a level of customisation like never before, there are over 100 items available including a huge selection of silly hats, hands, gloves, moustaches and glasses. Another great feature is ‘Wormpot’ which allows even more game style adjustments, with over 1,000,000 possible combinations. If you want to take a look there is an official trailer showing the customisation on Team 17 YouTube channel.

Courtesy of Team 17

If all that wasn’t enough, there will also be a Weapons Factory that allows you to build your very own weaponry so you will have endless possibilities for fancy dress and destruction.

More information about the multi-player content and other improvements in the game will be released by Team 17 soon. Fans can pre-order Worms Ultimate Mayhem for the PC from Steam now.

Images by: CritiKiL

Story by Johnny Cullen @ VG247.com.

Following a teaser last week, EA’s launched a fully-extended trailer of Battleifield 3′s Operation Guillotine.

The trailer, which comes in at a fairly decent 1:42, contains footage captured from the Xbox 360 version of the DICE shooter.

This was the mission shown to us when we were at the developer in Stockholm earlier this month. Expect a writeup on that from us next week before we head to Eurogamer Expo.

This is seriously properly amazing stuff. Why on Earth this isn’t on your wanted list yet if it isn’t already is, quite simply, mind-boggling. Get watching below.

Battlefield 3 launches on October 25 in the US and October 28 in the UK for PS3, 360 and PC.

Story by Brian Crecente @ Kotaku.com.

The first thing I notice when I maneuver Sgt. Henry Blackburn, 1st Recon Marine, through the smoking door frame of the Tehran apartment complex isn’t the smoldering bodies lying on the ground nearby, it’s the piece of paper drifting through the room.

I follow it with the tip of my gun, watching it drift around the run down entry way, past an old wooden chair, a slightly flattened box, chipped and dirty walls. Someone took the time to create this piece of imaginary paper and the path it takes as it floats on imaginary crossdrafts in a video game about a future fictional battlefield in Iran.

I stop to jot down a few notes.

“Make my way to the apartment entrance,” I write. “Kinda skudgy. Debris and trash lying around. Paper fluttering the air. Carpet on the floor is rolled up in one corner. Old mattress lying in the hallway.”

Played on a Playstation 3, Battlefield 3 is a solid first-person shooter with tight controls, immersive sound and a hectic, driven storyline. But it’s the density of the game’s visuals that always stand out to me when I play this game.

This morning I had a chance to play a snapshot of the game, a ten minute or so demonstration of a level called Operation Guillotine. Hours earlier Luke Plunkett played and enthused about his time with the very same demo in Tokyo. So when I take the PS3 controller in hand here in New York I decide to meticulously pick my way through the brief time with the game.

Battlefield 3 takes place in a 2014 where the U.S. Marine Corps is fighting along the Iran-Iraq border. This particular missions opens up on what appears to be the evening of Oct. 31, 2014.

Blackburn is hunkered down among a group of other members of Misfit 1-3 preparing to storm a city in Iran’s Tehran Province. The particular build I’m playing on is a couple of weeks old, but still more than a month newer than the one Plunkett and I played in Germany at Gamescom.

The level opens with a low whistle. One of the other marines, looking with me at a massive city lit by bursts of gun fire, flak and explosions says, “That’s a big city. No gun truck yet.”

“Nope,” another marine says. “The wheels of change move slow.”

Seconds later we get the call to move down the hill, into the outskirts of the city and take the Khojir Apartment complex.

These opening, controllable moments of the level don’t give me a chance to fire a single shot. Instead I’m running down a hill with a mortar in both hands.

Explosions shake the ground as I run, some hit so close that I can feel the force of them pushing Blackburn slightly off course, like a boat hit by an unseen wave. Trees shudder in the wake of the blasts, some trees topple over, others burn, their leaves engulfed in flames, their trunks checkered with red embers.

The screen is flaked with smudges of dirt and mud.

Blackburn makes it to a clearing near a wall and drops the mortar on a spot, watching another marine drop a round into the tube. The round launches into the air, lighting the sky with a floating green flare.

I run Blackburn to the wall, to a man with his back against it, and press a button to get a boost over.

When Blackburn lands on the other side he’s got his weapon out. Down a hillside I can see marines in a firefight with opposition across a small gully. The enemy have taken up positions on a road, firing off pot shots at the men below.

I drop Blackburn to a knee and sight down the gun. I fire off three bullets, taking out two enemies with head shots and apparently winging the third. I’m aiming for a third headshot when another marine takes him down.

Moving Blackburn down the hillside I notice a group of enemies setting up much further down the gully, setting up an ambush along the path I’ll be taking once I get him to the floor below.

I drop Blackburn to his knee again and take aim. I squeeze the trigger and run into the only disappointment I end up finding in the brief demo. The bullet seems to miss. I aim carefully and fire another headshot. Nothing. I pump out an entire clip in short bursts at the distant enemy. Nothing.

Later I mention this to the public relations folks manning the demo. What’s the distance of rounds fired in Battlefield 3, I ask. The answer is a little vague and involves mentioning that the developers brought in ex-SAS operator Andy McNab to help with things like firing distance. In theory, rounds can’t go forever in the game. But I’m not convinced they lose trajectory over time. It felt more like they hit an invisible wall. EA says they’re looking into it for me.

It was a very distant enemy and not something I suspect you’d run into much in the campaign, so it felt more like an oddity than a problem.

Back in the game, I push Blackburn down the hill, into the gully and around the bend to face off with the enemies lying in wait. Running toward the enemies, a nearby blast momentarily blackens the screen, but I manage to take the enemies out quickly by switching to a shotgun.

Running Blackburn up a set of stairs out of the gully culvert and within sight of the target apartment complex. But first there’s a group of enemy shooting at us from a sandbox foxhole.

I take them out and proceed to the outskirts of the apartment complex.

Running up the entrance stairs, I’m walking toward the doors when another marine runs up and tosses a grenade through a side window. The blast shoots three or four bodies through a wall of windows. A second later the door bursts open and a burning man runs into the clearing dropping to my feet before dying.

I walk through the door and for a moment I’m distracted from the death, the gunshots, the timbre of war, by a floating piece of paper. I take my notes and then push Blackburn forward, down a dirty hall littered with newspapers, boxes, mattresses, furniture. I move him toward a door, noting for a second the bugs flying slowly around the light.

At the door, the game tells me to press a button to knock it in. When I press it, the door kicks not in, but back toward me, knocking Blackburn on his ass. Time slows for an instant and I see another man, not a Marine, standing over me with a rifle, he’s moving it down toward me, when I hear a gunshot and he’s blown off his feet and back.

As I fell I apparently pulled the trigger in surprise and hit the guy in the chest. Laying on my back I aim and take down two other men in the hall before getting back up.

I run through the hallway, past the dead and through a back door. A humvee awaits me. On the ground nearby a marine is on his knees leaning over the prone body of another, slowly, methodically giving him CPR. I count to 15 chest compressions in my head before turning away and boarding the vehicle.

Story by Stephen Totilo @ Kotaku.com.

Grant Theft Auto IV. Red Dead Redemption. L.A. Noire. For the last few years every console game from Rockstar Games has been a big deal, creatively and commercially. Next up: Max Payne 3, whose debut trailer hit today and you can see right here.

GTA is Rockstar’s baby. Red Dead and L.A. Noire were the types of games no other studio was brazen enough to try. Max? That’s a shooter. That’s the kind of game everyone is trying to make. So can Rockstar’s be special? Can it be great and important?

Max Payne 3 will be out for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC in March of next year, nine years after the last Max Payne was released. Rockstar is developing without the involvement of original series creators Remedy. The trailer implies that Max’s signature bullet time is back and it sure looks like this game is going to be all about the gunplay and hard-boiled crime. Graphically, it looks superb.

Max Payne fans, do you like what you see? And can you spot any small details us non-experts may not have caught?

Story by Stephen Totilo @ Kotaku.com.

The next Counter-Strike, the one coming out early next year called Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, won’t be called Counter-Strike 2, because that game would be “something different”, two of Valve’s top people on the new game recently told Kotaku.

“A lot of Counter-Strike: GO is taking Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike 1.6 and melding it into a product that every side likes and also expanding the base by putting it out on the consoles,” Valve’s Chet Faliszek said, referring to the two most popular incarnations of the game. “Whereas Counter-Strike 2, at least internally, we think about as something different.”

During a recent interview at Valve headquarters in Bellevue, Faliszek and CS: GO project lead Ido Magal let me play Counter-Strike: GO (for an hour) and then helped me narrow in on what the new game is and isn’t.

It’s clear that the new game, which will be released as a downloadable title for PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 early next year, isn’t a full-fledged sequel.

“Counter-Strike: GO has this kind of objective of homing in,” Magal said. “We’re taking that competitive experience that’s very hard to organize in Counter-Strike: Source… We’ve taken that and let everyone experience the fun of a five-on-five [game] where everyone is equally matched. The product doesn’t span all of Counter-Strike. Counter-Strike is zombie mods and all these different things. This is more narrow.”

The new GO will feature several classic maps, new weapons and tweaks that range from modified maps to a new casual mode that removes the in-game money restrictions on which weapons and items players can buy. It also will be supported by Valve’s in-house match-making, an option that allows Valve to promise a controlled, predictable multiplayer experience for all gamers.

GO is being developed in concert with Hidden Path Entertainment, which is located just a couple of blocks from Valve HQ. That team was initially been assigned to work on a straight Xbox Live Arcade port of 2004′s Counter-Strike: Source.

“We wanted to see what that would look like,” Magal said. It looked good.

“We realized there was something more there that we could do, something that the community would be interested in,” Faliszek said.

“And we got excited,” Magal added.

Valve had expected the 2004 Source version of the game to replace the previous year’s 1.6 iteration, itself a successor to a game that had been evolving since the late 90′s. But many of 1.6′s most ardent fans, including those who played it competitively, as a sport, resisted the Source version. Source “didn’t do what we thought it would do, but we weren’t disappointed about what it did,” Magal said. “We thought Counter-Strike: Source would replaced Counter-Strike 1.6 but instead it generated a community just as large as the 1.6 community on its own.”

Faliszek called it “an amoeba-like split.”

GO is supposed to bring those crowds together and rope in console players who have only had an original Xbox version to choose from. Valve also assumes it has lost some computer Counter-Strike gamers who have moved away from PC gaming and wants to reach them on the consoles those gamers may have moved to (fittingly, the PS3 version of the game will even include mouse and keyboard support; and all players on PS3/PC/Mac will be match-made against each other.)

The Valve guys describe two of the goals for GO as lowering the skill floor—making it easier for newbies to have fun with game, hence the casual mode—and raising the skill ceiling—making meaningful, subtle changes to maps and mechanics that only pro-level players will notice and appreciate.

Valve is not trying to necessarily turn GO into an e-Sport. “That requirement doesn’t exist,” Magal said. “If it happens, that’s nice.” They do want to make sure those highest-level players can enjoy GO, though, so Valve is launching a PC beta for the game in October and having what Magal calls an ongoing “dialogue” with hardcore CS players “to fix the things that everyone agrees is an issue.” For example: “The way the smoke grenades used to work in Counter-Strike: Source. We changed the rate at which it blooms and dissipates and everyone preferred it.” And another example, also from Magal: “The maps Dust and Aztec aren’t played competitively at all because they were so imbalanced in Source. We feel very bullish on changing them, so we did. Dust 2 is a wonderfully balanced map that we didn’t need to change. We just gave it a visual upgrade.”

And then there are the Halo and Call of Duty gamers out there, the FPS hordes who may wonder why a new Counter-Strike is at all relevant to them. What’s the appeal of CS:GO for that crowd who already have plenty of first-person shooting to do in their favorite series? CS may have sold 25 million copies already (according to Faliszek), but Valve might still have trouble pulling those folks from their beloved franchises. What’s a CS have to offer those people?

Magal describes the essence and value of CS in one word: skill. “I think where Counter-Strike differentiates itself is what impact skill has on your success.”

It’s the way skill factors into a CS match that makes it feel different from other shooters, Faliszek added. “It’s clean. You died because you made the wrong choice.” He explained that beginner CS players tend to use lots of grenades, but that veterans don’t since it is “super-easy” to kill a player who is holding one. “There’s not a lot of spam in there,” he said. “There are a lot of clean kills. Most kills are gun kills. And it’s about, ‘Oh I didn’t check that corner before I entered this room. I made the bad choice of trying to defuse the bomb before clearing the area. We rushed around this corner and we got ambushed.’ It’s always about making those kinds of decisions and not about, ‘Oh man, why did I die? What the hell? That’s bullshit kind of thing.”

“A small difference in skill between two players, the impact of that on the game will be accentuated,” Magal said. “My experience in other games is that’s not the case.”

That’s what Counter-Strike is: a game of skill. And this is what CS:GO is: an effort to put anyone who has or should play Counter-Strike into the same game. That’s a big enough goal but not a grand enough one to merit the name Counter-Strike 2.

As we discussed possible names for this new Counter-Strike, I had to ask if they’d considered one other name, one that would be an inside joke for fans of Valve’s Half-Life series whose third episodic sequel has been missing in action for years. Did anyone suggest, during those brainstorm sessions, Counter-Strike: Episode Three?

“No,” was Faliszek’s quick reply. Then a quick inhale of breath. This new GO may not be a full-fledged Counter-Strike sequel, but it’s no joke.

Story ‘Repeated’ by: CritiKiL

Story by Kirk Hamilton @ Kotaku.com.

In preparation for the November 15th launch of Ubisoft’s upcoming open-world stealth/action/swarthiness-simulator Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, the publisher will be running a multiplayer beta for the game from September 3-11th. However, the beta is exclusive to Playstation Plus members as well as “select Playstation 3 Uplay members.”

Multiplayer in the new title will be much the same as the surprisingly enjoyable cat-and-mouse of last year’s Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, though with the expected number of new modes and maps. More information can be found at Ubisoft’s official Revelations beta webpage.

Story by Luke Plunkett @ Kotaku.com.

Say what you will of the basketcase this franchise’s singleplayer has become, one thing it still does very well is multiplayer.

Which, you know, is the reason 95% of people buying this game buy this game. So…it doesn’t really need a trailer at all! But thanks for making one anyway, Activision. Appreciate it.

Story by Michael McWhertor @ Kotaku.com.

Year after year, how can Call of Duty‘s massive online shooter remain fresh? With Modern Warfare 3, the game’s developers have focused on what works—player progression, extensive customization, tons of maps and game modes—and are blowing it out.

Activision offered a first look at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 the night before Call of Duty XP officially kicks off. I liked what I saw, even if I’m not the kind of Call of Duty player capable of a 15 kill-long killstreak.

It’s still the same hyperfast, 60 frames per second kill or be killed war game at its core: lots of guns, plenty of carnage, tons of explosive action. But developers Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer games are experimenting with a few new gameplay innovations that are designed to both deepen the experience and make playing multiplayer a little bit easier on the casual Call of Duty fan.

Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling promised “more changes to the core experience than we ever have before” and “the most balanced multiplayer experience we’ve ever done” at a preview of the game at Call of Duty XP. He and Sledgehammer’s Michael Condrey blazed through a long list of new additions and tweaks to the very successful multiplayer formula of Call of Duty.

They even dove deeply into the waters of Call of Duty Elite, which you can read about right here. On the multiplayer side, here’s what’s new in Modern Warfare 3.

Modern Warfare 3′s New Strike Packages and Pointstreaks

Before I get into the meat of what Strike Packages mean for Modern Warfare 3, say goodbye to the killstreak. And say hello to pointstreaks, all 28 of them. No longer will player kills be the only way to build up streaks. Sure, kills still count, but in MW3, completing objectives in gametypes like Capture the Flag and Seek and Destroy will reward players with points they can cash in to call in recon drones, attack helicopters, sentries and other power-ups. Kill assists count toward pointstreak numbers too, letting supporting players, not just the dominant virtual marksman have all the fun.

Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling explained the change at Call of Duty XP, saying “the killstreak system was optimized for one game type: Team Deathmatch.” Now, players will be rewarded more handsomely for actually completing each gametype’s objectives.

Modern Warfare 3‘s pointstreaks come in three groups, dubbed Strike Packages. Players can customize their classes with one of three Strike Packages, adding a new layer of personalization to COD multiplayer. The three types are Assault, Support and Specialist. Each has its own list of ‘streaks. Here they are.

If you like “big body counts, the Assault package is for you. With Assault, you can call in UAVs and care package drops, naturally, but this is also where the big guns live: assault helicopters, AC130, Predator missiles, mortar strikes, Juggernaut suits. Assault brings the pain. Your streak count will reset every time you die, if you go for the Assault Strike Package.

Support is about “helping the team win,” not just stacking your body count. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? For the less aggressive team player, Support deals in ‘streaks that lean more defensive. This includes the option to drop a remote gun turret, call in a hacked airdrop, deploy ballistic vests to your team, drop an EMP or, ultimately, call in an Osprey gunship that also delivers five airdrop packages (one of them hacked). With Support, your streak count will not reset upon death.

Finally, Specialist is all about perks. Become a super soldier with Specialist, which lets players stack on additional perks. You’ll get up to six perks—including Sleight of Hand, Hardline, Recon, et al—as the ‘streaks pile up. After your eighth kill, however, you get every perk available to you. You become a monster.

Here are a few of the new perks coming in Modern Warfare 3.

• Recon – Explosive damage paints the target on the mini map
• Blind Eye – Undetectable by air support/sentries
• Assassin – Undetectable by UAV, portable radar, thermal, heartbeat
• Quickdraw – Faster aim down sight
• Stalker – Move faster while aiming
• Marksman – Identify targets at longer range

Some perks you wont see return in MW3. “No One Man Army, no Nuke, no Commando and no Last Stand,” Infinity Ward promises.

New Progression

Another big change to Modern Warfare multiplayer is Weapon Proficiencies, a new leveling system for firearms. Basically, the more often you use a weapon in MW3, whether it’s an assault rifle, handgun, shotgun or sniper rifle, the better that weapon gets. In real terms, this means players can reduce gun sway, decrease recoil and add more attachments over time—among other things.

Click pic below for the Gallery @ Kotaku.com.

Modern Warfare 3′s New Gameplay Modes

Competitive multiplayer in Modern Warfare 3 will be expanded with at least two new prominent gameplay modes, Kill Confirmed and Team Defender.

You may have seen a snippet of Kill Confirmed in the leaked-early multiplayer trailer. That’s the one with the big glowing dog tags that drop from corpses. Those dog tags are how players confirm kills in this Team Deathmatch variant. Kills don’t count as a point for your team until you or one of you allies grabs a dead man’s dropped dog tags. That adds an intriguing layer of strategy to Team Deathmatch, as opposing players can grab the dog tags of their fallen teammates before you do. And if they see one of their comrades lying dead, dog tags floating above their body, they’ll know where your headed if you want to score.

Team Defender, which I didn’t get to preview, is a Capture The Flag variant, just without the flag return. Hold onto an enemy flag for as long as possible, sticking together as a team to survive.

There will also be new Private Match game types added to MW3, each of which has been “significantly enhanced to allow players to create new, customizable game modes” that they can share with friends. “Through [Call of Duty Elite], subscribers can vote on favorite new modes and those modes could make their way into public playlists,” Activision says. Here are those new Private Match modes.

• Infection – The infected kills enemies to recruit them for the infected team.
• Drop Zone – Hold the Drop Zone for Team Points and Care Packages.
• Team Juggernaut – With the support of a juggernaut, kill players on the opposing team. The first team to reach the score limit wins.
• Juggernaut – Kill the Juggernaut to become the new Juggernaut.
• Gun Game – Be the first to dominate with every gun.
• One in the Chamber – Gain ammo by eliminating enemies. Be the last to survive.

We’ll have hands-on time with Modern Warfare 3 (and much more) from the Call of Duty XP convention this weekend.

Story by oferrar1o @ SFX-360.com.

The list of Hardened Edition extras in the photo that Wired.com (See Pic Below) received includes:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game with unique disc art.
One year of membership in Call of Duty Elite.
“Founder status” on Elite with exclusive in-game emblem, player card, camouflage, clan XP boost and other exclusive benefits.
SteelBook case.
PlayStation Network exclusive: “Animated Timeline Theme.”
Xbox 360 exclusive: “Special Ops Juggernaut Xbox Live Outfit.”
Limited-edition “field journal” with more than 100 pages of “authentic military sketches, diagrams and written entries.”

Story by Nemesis.

Here is a new video interview of Robert Bowling telling us a little more about Spec-Ops Survival Mode and the various Perks, Armory, and Weapon Upgrades that you can purchase with the COD Dollars that you get within the game mode instead of ranking up. Modern Warfare 3 will be out on November 8, 2011 for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and the Wii.

Thanks to GamerSpawn for the video.