Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 News Archive

Valve Admits Mistake, Gives Two Free Copies of Left 4 Dead 2

We've all made mistakes and most of the time, we feel better about owning up to them.  Valve recently had a little slip up when their anti-cheat software automagically banned 12,000 Modern Warfare 2 players from the PC version of the game.  Turns out though, they weren't cheating at all.

To make up for the little boo boo, Valve has responded in a big way.  They sent each and every user a copy of Left 4 Dead 2 as well as an extra copy to gift to a friend via Steam.  That's right, Valve gave away 24,000 copies of Left 4 Dead 2 because they are nice guys.  Talk about co-op!

The bans obviously have been reversed as well.  "This was our mistake," Valve President Gabe Newell wrote, "and I apologize for any frustration or angst it may have caused you."

26 Members of Infinity Ward Have gone Oscar Mike

You already know that former Infinity Ward heads have gone on to form Respawn Entertainment, partnering with Electronic Arts, the result of a much publicized legal extravaganza.  Since that time though there's been a steady stream of departures from Infinity Ward, some of gone on to other companies in the industry, but a lot of followed Jason West and Vince Zampella to Respawn.

In total, there's 26 employees who have gone on and departed to other gigs.  It's unclear how many folks worked on Modern Warfare 2, but I'd say that's a good 20% of the development staff at this point.  So why is everyone leaving?  It's not 100% clear, but a lot of it has to do with unpaid bonuses and the way Activision has handled the franchise.  

Action-Adventure Call of Duty Coming in 2011 from Ex Dead Space Developers

In a follow up to a story we posted yesterday, Activision has confirmed that they have let studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella go from Call of Duty development house Infinity Ward.  In the investor press release Activision also made a surprise announcement, a new Call of Duty game would be coming in 2011.  Not surprised?  What if I told you it wasn't a first person shooter.

Rumor: Activision Bounces Infinity Ward Studio Leaders

Infinity Ward, developers of the well received and best selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, might be in a bit of turmoil with their publisher Activision.  According to reports Activision is trying to get rid of studio founders due to "breaches of contract" and "insubordination."

Jason West and Vince Zampella both met with Activision on Monday morning, but neither was seen since that meeting by any Infinity Ward employees.  What makes matters more suspicious is that several "bouncer types" showed up at the IW offices throughout the day, and when approached, refused to answer why they were there.

Zombies Can't Survive Modern Warfare

Zombies and Helicopters don't mix.

Despite the success of Nazi Zombie's in Call of Duty: World at War, we won't be seeing the likes of the undead shamble across the modern battlefield.  While many had hoped to see a similar style mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it's been confirmed by community manager Robert Bowling that we won't be getting anything of the sort.

 "There will be no Nazis or zombies in any piece of Modern Warfare 2 downloadable content." 

The reason?  Most likely Infinity Ward is too busy patching their game from the constant griefers and cheaters that exploit it every week.  But perhaps if there's time we'll see some sort of new mode.  Maybe the psychotic Ooompa Loompa Survival mode everyone's been craving will finally see the light of day.

This Week In Co-Op: Modern Warfare 2 Spec Ops

"If you ever get some MW2 going when I'm on hit me up. I just got it the other day."

This is the Xbox Live message I received from our very own Jackel, whom I know as Dan. Someone who took a genuine interest in meeting the Co-Opticrew at PAX, he is easy to talk to and hang out with. Pile on the fact that he has a daughter of a similar age as mine and a very open mind...the possibilities are great.

Recently, we finally had the opportunity to be online simultaneously. Despite my unhealthy addiction to the ranked versus modes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, I proposed that we power through at least one Spec Ops mission, with success (Dan's a very agreeable guy).

Zero Punctuation Agrees: Modern Warfare 2 Should Have Had Campaign Co-Op

Screencap courtesy The Escapist.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sold like hotcakes, to be sure.  But that doesn't mean the game was perfect.  Though the Special Ops co-op mode is great, the real question is: why no campaign co-op?  We've said it many times before.  Apparently, we aren't the only ones that feel this way.  The Escapist has a Modern Warfare 2 review by the Micro-Machines Man-mouthed Zero Punctuation.  It's pretty hilarious, if NSFW, and one of the main points is the lack of co-op in the campaign.  For fans of Modern Warfare 2 who don't take the game so seriously, it's defintely worth checking out!
 

Snag Modern Warfare 2 for only $40

If Santa Claus didn't bring you Modern Warfare 2 for Christmas, you might want to slide on over to Amazon.com where the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of the game is on sale for $39.99.  Naughty list be damned I say!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 features a two player co-op mode called Spec-Ops that can be played locally via split-screen or online.  Want to know more?  Check out our full review.

4 of the 5 Best Selling Games of November Had Co-Op

Can't Stop the Modern Warfare Monster

The November NPD numbers are out, and with them we get the stats of the biggest shopping weekend of the year in the United States.  It should come as no surprise that Modern Warfare 2 topped the charts with 4.2 million copies on the 360 and 1.87 million on the PlayStation 3.  Rounding out the top 5 were Assassin's Creed 2 on the 360, New Super Mario Bros Wii and Left 4 Dead 2 on the 360.

It's good to see games with cooperative modes once again have a strong showing in monthly sales.  We'd like to think the co-op modes helped fuel sales, though in the case of Modern Warfare 2, everything fueled that unstoppable juggernaut.

System sales also saw a boost with the DS leading the Pack with 1.7 million systems sold, though the Wii sold a respectful 1.26 million units.  The 360 also led the PS3 in sales for the first time since the PS3's price cut, possibly fueled by the exclusive Modern Warfare 2 bundles.

Infinity Ward may Add Party Chat Options Back into Modern Warfare 2

Keep the pedal to the floor on those party chat complaints in Modern Warfare 2!  According to Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling, they hear you loud and clear on the complaints from the community.  Whether hearing is the same as acting, well that's yet to be seen, but for those of you annoyed by the lack of party chat options in certain multiplayer play lists on the Xbox 360 - scream to the heavens:  

"For the love of Soap MacTavish give us our party chat!"

The lack of party chat was done in part to prevent cheaters in different multiplayer game types.  Basically these punks would jump onto the opposing team calling out their teammates positions to their friends on the other team in party chat.  For most of us, we're unaffected by this decision because we're too busy playing Spec-Ops in co-op!