Infinity Ward has the cure to MW2 players Mapathy with its Stimulus Package, due out on March 30th for Xbox only. The new map pack will include 5 maps, three of which will be new, two of which will come from COD4.
Old maps include:
Crash
Overgrown
New maps include:
Bailout - "a multi-level apartment complex"
Storm - "an open industrial park littered with heavy machinery"
Salvage - "a snowy junkyard fortified by stacked debris and crushed cars"
There have been no dates announced for the availability of the map pack for PS3 and PC. The Stimulus Package Map Pack DLC will be available on March 30, 2010 for Xbox only, and will cost 1200 MS Points ($15).
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After months and months of playing the same maps on Modern Warfare 2, do you suffer from Mapathy? Worry not. Infinity Ward will cure what ails you soon enough. If you're an Xbox 360 player. Infinity Ward tweeted Mapathy.com, a site dedicated to the awareness of Mapathy defined as:
Mapathy (n.) [map-uh-thee] (often expressed as, "How the hell did you know I was there?!") is a state of indifference to the same old maps one has been playing for the last several months. The Mapathetic individual no longer derives pleasure from blowing up people hiding in the cockpit or on top of the crane. More than 20 million people may be at risk for Mapathy.
If you, or someone you know suffers from any of the aforementioned symptoms, please visit HyTek Gamer for more information.
The cure is coming, March 30, 2010.
MW2 DLC is known to cure symptoms of Mapathy players in Xbox 360 players. The DLC is not to be taken by PC or PS3 players until further notice. MW2 DLC can cause sleepless nights, mood swings, and sometimes violent behavior towards television sets. Please do not take MW2 DLC if you value your job or are in the presence of small children.
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Hackers in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 have figured out the ultimate win: stealing XP. The new glitch in the game causes players killed to lose all of their XP and send them back to Level 1, and the killer gains 5,000,000 XP.
The glitch appears to be only on the Xbox 360 and might only work in hacked, private matches. This is all according to some forum posts and a video posted on YouTube.
We'll keep an eye out for word from Infinity Ward who has been contacted about the matter.
Activision announced today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sales hit the $1 Billion (US) mark in worldwide sales. In a statement made by Activision/Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has exceeded our expectations and shattered theatrical box office and video game records. There are only a handful of entertainment properties that have ever reached the $1 billion mark, which illustrates the power of the Call of Duty franchise and mass appeal of this game."
Modern Warfare 2's release on November 10, 2009 was hailed as the "biggest launch in history across all forms of entertainment" with estimated sales of $550 million US in the first five days alone.
Multiple DLC packs are in store for the billion dollar game later this spring. Microsoft's Robbie Bach at the CES stated, ""This spring, the first content packs for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from Activision will be available, again, exclusively first on Xbox 360."
Infinity Ward is testing another patch to address more Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game glitches. The patch will fix infinite ammo glitches, private match exploits, eliminate the prestige hack in the PS3 version, the texture hack in the PC version, and balance the Model 1887 shotgun. This comes after a patch earlier this month to address the Javelin glitch in which players became human bombs upon dying.
The private match exploits has players joining hacked Private Matches with custom rulesets when attempting to search for public games. The infinite ammo glitch, where the ammo counter completely disappears, has been experienced by Xbox 360 users.
More details and full patch notes are expected shortly on the new Modern Warfare 2 Status Updates area of the Infinity Ward forums.
While Infinity Ward is working on a fix for the exploited "Javelin" Glitch, Xbox Live policy director Stephen Toulouse stated that those caught exploiting the glitch in the game will face bans of 24 hours of more. PSN users can breathe a sigh of relief as a Sony representative stated, "I don't believe we are banning people for using the glitch."
The Javelin glitch exploits use of the game's grenade/rocket/missile launchers causing players to explode when they die, taking out people around them. If you've been playing MW2 and have seen a player careening around the map sprinting, jumping, knifing, (nothing out the ordinary) and ultimately exploding as they die (not something you see every day), you've experienced the Javelin glitch. Despite the name, the glitch works with all of the launchers in the game. Details on HOW to use the Javelin glitch are being kept locked up to keep griefers from having a field day.
According to Robert Bowling, the glitch fix in test was successful and once it's clear they will push it through Sony and Microsoft certifications to update the consoles as soon as possible. The PC version of the game will get the fix immediately after it's finalized.
If you're REALLY curious about how to exploit the glitch (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR XBOX 360 USERS! WE CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF YOU GET BANNED FOR EXPLOITING THE GLITCH), this was found with a corresponding video on YouTube.
For PC and PS3 users-
1. Have javelin (or other launcher) in your hands
2. Hold down grenade button (semtex or throwing knife)
3. While still holding grenade, hit your switch weapons button
4. Now your launcher should be back in your hands and you can let go of the grenade button
5. You are ready to explode, you can knife, sprint, and jump, but anything else you do cancels it and the process has to be repeated.
According to Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling (fourtwozero) the Steam ban hammer came down on about 2,500 confirmed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 cheaters. The tweet from last Friday does not offer more detail than that on the bans.
Infinity Ward claimed that the use of IWNet and VAC, and the end of dedicated servers would provide a cheater-free experience. VAC is an automated banning system, however, and can take longer than manual methods. These are the first known bannings since the games release nearly three weeks ago.
So what are Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 protestors playing? It would seem that a number of them are playing the very thing they protested. The count of signatures, to date, on the Modern Warfare 2 protest reached 222,181. The protest gained a lot of attention, and by PC sales numbers, it seemed to have worked, initially. Not true, according to Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling. Though the PC sales of Modern Warfare 2 only accounted for 3% of the games total sales, those numbers still were more than its predecessor CoD4's LIFETIME PC sales.
From the Official Infinity Ward Forums:
Yes, PC is the smallest percentage in terms of how much sold on each platform but that hardly means anything other than the PC is just the smallest market.
The PC version of Modern Warfare 2 has actually outsold the PC version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in its first week. Making it the most successful PC version.
No wonder company officials were not worried about the "little" protest.
Some facts and figures are in after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's first day on the market. UK is reporting a record-breaking 1.23 million in sales, grossing £47 million (roughly $78.3 million) and smashing Grand Theft Auto IV's first-day sales record of 631,000 (3.6 million U.S. and UK).
Gamestop announced before the game's release that COD MW2 was its number one pre-order game of all time. Amazon is reporting the same success, announcing that the game is its biggest selling pre-order of all time, dethroning previous title-holder, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
But that's not what takes the cake. VGChartz's preliminary figures put worldwide sales at over 7 million copies with a breakdown of around 55% of sales on Xbox 360, 33% on PS3 and the remaining 12% on PC. According to VGChartz "Based on the day one figures and the Tuesday release, week one figures should come in at close to ten million units which smashes the 5.92 million week one record set by Grand Theft Auto 4 last year and positions Modern Warfare 2 as the most successful game launch of all time."
UPDATE: Activision announced that 4.7 million copies sold in the first 24 hours belonged to the UK and U.S.
This highly anticipated game was predicted to be a best-seller. Though it was not without controversy, initial reports seem to indicate that analysts were correct!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Our favorite man of the day, Robert Bowling, tweeted that PS3 servers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 were starting to come back up. According to Bowling, "PS3 Update: MP Servers gradually coming back online. Some users may still experience issues. Also, EU Players get Trophy patch tonight."
The outage was caused by server overload, which was not surprising if you visited your local Best Buy, Gamestop, Target, Walmart, etc. yesterday or have seen facts and figures from its first day sales.
UPDATE: Following Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling's tweets, it seems that it was the amount of connections at once that killed Demonware's servers (third-party server hosting for PSN) and ultimately PSN connectivity to Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer. They're enabling 20,000 users at a time to connect. He assures us that Demonware/Sony will be working on fortifying the infrastructure until the issue is solved.
UPDATE 2: Multiplayer on PS3 is available due to a server side fix, but the party system will still not be functional until a patch is issued on Friday. Patience is a virtue.
This is a much better outlook than the Friday forecast given earlier.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 caused problems for PS3 players on its first day. A fix was issued to correct a trophy problem, which solved one problem and created another. (UPDATED to reflect that the problem was caused by server overload and NOT the trophy fix) A multiplayer issue. A big one. Users are reporting all multiplayer activity "killed" with players unable to join games and get past the matchmaking screen.
[UPDATE: According to a a tweet from Activision support, "We don't have a hard ETA on the servers coming back up, but the outage is totally unrelated to the patch." It seems a fix may be in store sooner than the doom and gloom forecast of Friday.]
[UPDATE: Robert Bowling added on his Twitter account, "It's a server overload not a bug in the code,", and that a patch won't fix immediate multiplayer problems. "They're working to have servers back up ASAP." "Xbox Live servers are maintained and ran by Microsoft," Bowling explains. "PSN servers are ran and maintained by 3rd party companies hired to do so." He says that Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer "will be available as soon as Demonware gets the servers back online ASAP."]
According to Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling, PS3 owners can expect a "party invite update by Friday". PS3 owners are stuck with the campaign mode until then.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been gracing the news nearly every day since the announcement of lack of dedicated server support. It's no different on the eve of its release.
Reports are surfacing that some naughty GameStops in OH, NY, and PA are breaking the street date and letting rabid fans get their hands on a copy early. Robert Bowling put a kabosh on PC users dreams of an early view of the game by Tweeting: "If you bought a retail copy on PC, you can play it on 11.10.09." It seems PC play may have been clamped down due to illegal versions flooding torrents.
An arrest of an 18 year-old was made after investigators followed the pirate trail. It started with a Craigslist post two weeks ago for Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundles. Blizzard called in IPCybercrime to put a stop in the leak. Investigators called the Craigslist poster and negotiated a price and a meeting when another listing popped up. Investigators used social networking sites to reveal that the first seller and second seller were friends, and the second seller had his job listing as a “box boy at a major retail chain.” When approached, the Craiglist sellers admitted they had stolen a crate from the stockroom at a retail store. The investigators turned them both over to loss prevention at the chain to deal with the theft.
It was then discovered that a user, cdelamo815, had posted a message on xbox360iso.com regarding the Xbox 360 bundles. cdelamo815 was asking for donations to buy one, and would in turn provide people who had donated with a copy of the game. Investigators started off by looking at social networking sites, trying to match the email the user used with an account. They found an anonymous Facebook account using the email address that offered "modding services". The account listed a cell phone number for customers to text. Investigators contacted the person via text message and negotiated a business deal. At one point they even got the user to call them with a cell phone, from which they were able to obtain a business address. Meanwhile, the user has posted on the forum that they were able to get a copy of the game and began making copies. The copying process uses a ripping code flashed onto an Xbox 360. A few days later, digital copies of Modern Warfare 2 began flooding torrents.
A closer look at the business address revealed it belonged to suspects father. They determined that the hacker was indeed the son of this business owner; an 18 year old known modder that had a site for selling modded Xbox 360 hard disks on iOffer.com, an eBay-like site. The modder advertised 250-gigabyte Western Digital hard drives, loaded with 125 copied games to be burned onto disks for Xbox 360, for $150
The business deal sting operation went off without a hitch. The modder sent a "runner" to make the delivery. The "runner" gave investigators a disk with the Modern Warfare 2 limited edition image on it meaning the modder was not only capable of making pirated digital copies on DVDs, he was also sophisticated enough to know how to make disks look like legitimate copies. On his Twitter account, the modder was in a conversation with an underground hologram maker (holograms can be used to make the disks look like legitimate copies of the game). After interrogating the "runner", police were lead to the home of the 18 year old modder who was then arrested.
The whole operation was fast-moving and took less than a week, but was still not in time to prevent massive copying of the game on torrents.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is expected to be one of the best-selling games of the year. It will be available tomorrow, November 10th for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Infinity Ward delivered another blow to the potential PC-user base of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in announcing that multiplayer would be capped at 9v9, like the console. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, with dedicated server support, allowed matches with up to 32 players.
"The max number of players on all platforms are 1v1 through 9v9. This is the number of players we focused on when we were balancing map size, perks, classes, challenges, etc.," explained developer Mackey McCandlish in a developer chat from Tuesday, November 3rd.
Large clans for MW2 on PC can plan on playing in separate games with this news.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will be 40% off for Steam's Weekend Deal. This brings the price of the popular PC game to $23.99 from $39.99. COD4: MW has both single-player and multi-player modes and was released November 2007.
If you haven't had a chance to pick up the game yet, or are not planning to buy Modern Warfare 2, this weekend at this price is a great time to do it.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/7940/
Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling has seen a lot of time in the news lately, and today is no exception. Robert Bowling confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would be getting a third-person view mode after a homemade video was leaked this morning showing the third-person view. The third-person view mode will have limited use, though.
"It's not something you can toggle on and off in ANY game," said Bowling. The special mode can only be played in private matches -- toggled on or off just like "Hardcore" settings -- or in playlists that are designated for third-person play. According to Bowling, everyone playing in a third-person playlist will be restricted to the viewpoint. "This is just another cool way to play the game," he said, "you obviously will still have the option to play gametypes normal as well."
UPDATE: More information was made available today about the third-person mode, via Kotaku. According to Robert Bowling, "3rd Person is a new playlist mode in Multiplayer,""So you can play your favorite playlists [or] game types, like Team Deathmatch just standard, or in Hardcore mode ([with] limited HUD and increased bullet damage) or in the new 3rd Person mode, which means you and everyone in the game is in 3rd person."
The highly anticipated Modern Warfare 2 is still facing a lot of controversy even after the announcement that it would ship with Steamworks. The internet petition has now reached over 160,000 signatures.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be released on November 10th for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Activision and Valve announced an agreement to get Valve's Steamworks on the PC version of upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
According to the release, "All PC versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be powered by Steamworks, providing gamers with auto-updating, anti-cheat technology, Steam Achievements, and the recently introduced Steam Cloud."
MW2 will come loaded with 50 Steam achievements and will be accessible from any computer with Steam Cloud.
"Steam is the hands down leader in offering a community focused experience on PC and the inclusion of Steamworks has allowed us to deliver the most feature-rich PC version to ever come from Infinity Ward, which at the end of the day will mean the most to our fans," said Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling.
"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may be one of the biggest releases in video game history," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "Having a game as significant as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 using the suite of back-end services in Steamworks is a signal to us that we're making the right kinds of choices for triple-A developers like Infinity Ward."
Also, starting today, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be available for pre-order on Steam.
On a side note, the minimum PC requirements for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 were also made public today hours before the Steamworks news.
OS: Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Windows 95/98/ME/2000 are unsupported)
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor or better supported
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT or better or ATI Radeon 1600XT or better
DirectX: Microsoft DirectX(R) 9.0c
Hard Drive: 12GB of free hard drive space
Sound: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Internet: Broadband connection required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet Connection required for activation
Some people may be wondering what all the hubbub is about Infinity Ward's decision to not support dedicated servers for upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. After it let slip that there would be no dedicated support, there was a public outcry followed by a petition which currently holds nearly 145,000 votes. Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling issued an explanation on his blog, but that was not enough to appease the protesters.
So why are people protesting the new IWNet so much? It offers a matchmaking service to match up players according to skill and level, and players will not be forced to play with random others. One of the biggest features is using the Valve-Anti-Cheat feature. It's all good, right?
Wrong.
The Gamestop Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Pre-order page has seen over 20 comments on boycotting the game, and cancelling pre-orders. Amazon has 30 open discussions littered with full clans cancelling their pre-orders. Here are some of those comments:
"No reason to purchase this game on PC if you are interested in Multiplayer. Without dedicated server support we will not have those long lasting great community servers we all know and love. Good luck getting 10+ players in one game to have a good reliable gaming experience. More than likely you will have latency issues galore. Just look at Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. No dedicated servers for that game and everyone lags like crazy since the hosting is done on the client machine." Gamestop.com
"It uses some lame matchmaking system, very much like the lousy matchmaking on the XBOX 360." Gamestop.com
"This essentially kills everything PC gaming is about (including Mods)." Gamestop.com
"a decision of pre-ordering 30 copies has been taken back, thrown in toilet and flushed!" Amazon.com
"My clan has canceled also. 78 members, rented 2 servers just for this release now gone!!!!" Amazon.com
"MP will be run "console-style" where players PCs connect to one another instead of a single dedicated server. Make no mistake, this will result in higher pings and laggy gameplay." Gamestop.com
"No more custom maps and gametypes. People have also been speculating that IW.NET (the name of the service that is replacing dedicated servers) will be a channel for paid PC DLC. Instead of getting maps free (albeit later than our console brethren) we will now be forced to pay for them." Gamestop.com
"I decided not to buy it when they raised the price to 60$. I thought that was bad, but then I hear they wont have Dedicated servers and I just laughed at how awesome it was going to be when the COD community ripped Activision and IW apart." Amazon.com
"20 person clan, all preorders cancelled. A patch would be ok, or even delayed release... but no dedicated servers is not ok. This is a clan killer." Amazon.com
"You are also forced to pay for downloadable content every time it comes out if you want to play online. This, because IW system will conveniently point you to a game that HAS downloadable content, but because you CANT choose the servers you are stuck with it." Amazon.com
"My 28 person clan has also cancelled their orders; we had been linking MW2 videos on our clan site and planning one or more dedicated servers to this game. When the fact that the game developer has decided to turn their backs on PC gamers and attempt to "consolize" this game became known over the weekend, people were very angry. I for one hope that the modders out there who have put a great deal of energy into COD4 will simply keep developing this game and forget about MW2, regardless of the graphic eye candy Infinity Ward has added to it. No more IW products for me." Amazon.com
"Our 20 plus member clan is dropping them like a New Coke!" Amazon.com
"Just read up on Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and it sounds like they will be providing the ability to use dedicated servers. Its worth waiting for and after this poor judgement call by Activision I bet EA will gladly take thw gap in the market left behind by CoD MW2" Amazon.com
The good, the bad, and the ugly. Infinity Ward announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will not be delayed for the PC. Infinity Ward announced they will be using a new matchmaking service called IWNet giving the developer "a lot more control and structure", and ending the ability to play on dedicated servers. Fans doth protest, with 25,000 signatures on the first day of the online petition, over 100,000 signatures today, its second day.
According to Infinity Ward's Robert "FourZeroTwo" Bowling, "IWNET is an improvement" over the dedicated server options PC gamers have become accustomed to. Bowling posted details today on his website to try to quell the uprising.
He cites making playing COD: MW2 user-friendly: "IWNET takes the benefits of dedicated servers and allows them to be utilized and accessed by every player, out of the box, while removing the barrier to entry for players unaware of how to maintain a server on their own".
On questions and outrage on the matchmaking service and gameplay he writes:
"When you want to play a multiplayer game on PC, in the past, you’d have to scroll through a Server Browser which listed every available server which was hosted by individual server admins. Each had their own private rules, mods, or ways of playing the game. Most players would also use the server browser to find just the best quality game (based on PING). With IWNET matchmaking, it takes all that into account for you. All you have to do is select the playlist (pre-set gametypes with custom rules) that fits the style of play you are in the mood for. When you do, it will automatically find you a game with the best performance, ping, and preferences based on your location and individual connection as well as matching you with players of your same SKILL. So you’re always guaranteed the best game performance for where you are and what connection you’re playing on as well as an equal game with other players of your same skill level, not rank, but skill level. It doesn’t mean you’ll just be thrown into a random game! It will put you in the game that will give you the smoothest gameplay possible without you having to manually find a server with the best ping."
Players will still be able to create Private Matches where they will gain control over rules, who can join, the ability to boot players and ultimately "tweak it to your liking". "This now allows you to play custom games out of the box without the need to install mods, find a modded server with the rules you like, or worry about not being in control of the match.
On friends and party systems, Bowling writes:
"Modern Warfare 2 on PC also makes it much easier if you want to party up with your friends, or again, with your clan for a match. You can utilize the friendslist to see when your friends are online, and invite them to your Party. A Party allows you to move from game to game as a group. It’s great for clan matches, because you can party of with your clan and move from public game to public game together. Or if you’re doing a scrim, party up and invite the other clan (who is in a party) and they’ll all join at once. Set up a private match together and play. It makes setting up scrims or games with friends easier and hassle free."
According to Bowling, the biggest benefit from IWNet will be the use of VAC (Valve-Anti-Cheat) system. Players will no longer have to worry about joining a game full of cheaters or rely on server admins to police it.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be available November 10th for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The Prestige Edition of the game (available for PS3 and Xbox 360) features working night vision goggles.
To see the full post from Robert "FourZeroTwo" Bowling: http://www.fourzerotwo.com/?p=745
To view the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?dedis4mw
As mentioned in a previous article, the Prestige Edition for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 really is limited. The version of the game including real working night-vision goggles is selling out rapidly. Amazon and Gamestop have confirmed that they have sold out of their allocations of the PS3 version, however, Amazon reports they still have allocations left for Xbox 360 users.
Gamestop has not listed the PS3 version out of stock on their website, cut calls to the retailer from GamerDeals.net report that they are indeed out. The Best Buy website is also not listing their PS3 Prestige Edition out of stock.
Infinity Ward previously stated that they would not be increasing the production of the Prestige Edition.
No lies. Unlike the infamous Halo editions, the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Prestige edition is to be very limited. According to Infinity Ward manager Robert Bowling they've already been asked by retailers to up production of this Prestige Edition, a request that was promptly denied.
There will only be one run for the Prestige Edition and according to Bowling it is meant for hardcore fans and early adopters. The limited packs will be individually numbered.
Featuring working night vision goggles instead of a normal trinket and special case, the Prestige Edition will retail for $150.
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