Crysis 2 running in DirectX 11
Real life Call of Duty convention happening in LA in September
Call of Duty XP 2011 will be a two-day convention for Call of Duty fans, taking place at a secret location in Los Angeles on September 2-3 with space for more than 6,000 attendees. Tickets will cost $150, with the proceeds going towards helping real war veterans through the Call of Duty Endowment nonprofit which helps former soldiers transition to civilian life, and ticket sales start on July 19th.
The convention itself is the FPS equivalent of the events familiar to a lot of MMO gamers, such as Blizzcon, which is now part of Acitivision Blizzard, and runs for World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo fans. But there’s not many conventions that include a real-life paintball version of two Call of Duty maps.
A full scale version of the Scrapyard map from Modern Warfare 2 will be used as a ‘paintball theater’, along with the chance to run through a real-life version of ‘The Pit’ time course. You’ll also get to attend panels and keynotes about Call of Duty, see some ‘triple a’ closing acts, and be among the first to try out the new Call of Duty Elite online service. And of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s multiplayer will be revealed. Attendees will get to try out the new Special Ops mode and some new innovations in the traditional multiplayer mode.
More familiar to FPS gatherings is a massive 32-team bracket Call of Duty tournament, which will feature a $1 million prize co-sponsored by Xbox 360. To qualify, you’ll need to compete at regional promotions and competitions, and there will be a ‘select,on-site/at-large qualification’.
Food won’t be included, but you’ll be able to buy supplies at a replica of Burger Town, and browse a Call of Duty armory and museum.
So would you pay for a Call of Duty convention? Or is that something best left to World of Warcraft fans? If you can’t make it, apparently much of the entertainment, keynotes and panels will be streamed online… And do you think they’ll reach the target of 6-7,000 attendees?
Call of Duty: Blacks Ops is biggest selling UK game – ever!
Call of Duty: Black Ops has become the biggest selling game in UK history, and the biggest selling entertainment of any kind in the UK last year.
Black Ops actually went past the previous gaming record holder, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in the week ending June 5th, which meant it achieved the record in just 30 weeks, compared to the 41 weeks it took Modern Warfare 2. And by June 25th, Black Ops has racked up an amazing 3,722,411 sales.
Add in the three map packs, which collectively cost almost as much as the game itself, and you can understand why Activision-Blizzard are so keen on the Call of Duty franchise. Not only is Modern Warefare 3 due to arrive in the next few months, but Black Ops developers Treyarch have hinted that there might even be some more downloadable content for the current game. Treyarch’s David Vonderhaar apparently hinted to Digital Spy when he said ‘I can’t talk to anything beyond Annihilation, but keep your eyes peeled…’
So could there be another map pack to wring the last possible value out of the Black Ops title before MW3 hits? Another map pack would be a record fourth for Black Ops, compared to two for Modern Warfare 2 and three for World at War. Then again, with Call of Duty Elite already well known, and seemingly every spare studio working in some capacity on the Call of Duty franchise already, could Treyarch already have some extra maps in the bag somewhere, or something equally interesting?
Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation DLC – First Impressions
Annihilation, the third DLC map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, is now available on Xbox Live, and we’ve been indulging in some Team Deathmatch to give you our first impressions.
Overall the response to Annihilation is pretty favourable, and it’s possibly the best of the three Black Ops Map Packs. There’s more variation in the layouts, and as a result, the gameplay seems to allow everyone the chance to play to their strengths, rather than promoting sniping or ‘run and gun’ techniques.
Hazard:
If you aren’t familiar with Cliffside from World at War, you’re basically looking at another variation on a long, thin central strip which is only useful for end-to-end sniping (See also Berlin Wall, Convoy, etc). And two side passages filled with cover to give you a chance to getting up close and personal.
The fact that it’s a smaller map than Berlin or Convoy actually makes it far more enjoyable – there’s nothing worse than spending a couple of minutes skirting round a central snipper zone only to get killed with a headshot when you finally spot the enemy. The golf course setting is fun, and the lawn sprinklers at least provide the hope of getting off the greeen without getting shot if you’re unfortunate enough to spawn there. There’s a couple of good spots for those non-snipers, and we’ll be testing them out a little more before sharing them (One seemingly good spot is the house on the lower side of the fairway)
Silo:
Everyone we spoke to seemed to really enjoy Silo. It’s a sizeable map, and as a result, long distance weapons can do well from several spots, but the amount of cover and winding pathways and tunnels mean you can close on the enemy or practice hiding until they get bored and come looking for you.
Oddly enough, the look and feel is somewhat reminiscent of ‘Quarry’ from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, with the map sloping towards one end area, and a couple of cylindrical towers in the centre of the map, plus a multi-level building at the top with a reasonable outlook over the lower area.
Whether it’s just the fact Annihilation has been released so late in the Black Ops lifespan, the sniper points do seem pretty dangerous to try and hold, as most players seemed to be clued up about them and can take you down pretty quickly.
Hangar 18:
One school of thought is definitely to hold the hangar and impressive looking Blackbird plane, which is certainly possible if you’ve got a good party together, but is also quite a risky approach if your friends are the kind of people who get caught out by headshots as they sit on the plane itself.
The other technique is to skirt around the hangar to pick off anyone going in and out, and this definitely works well with some handy cover nearby. Probably my least favourite of the four maps so far, but definitely not a bad map.
Drive-In:
My most anticipated map as I’ve recently rediscovered my love of Nuketown. After all, if you like really big maps, you’d be playing Battlefield! The central screen and projector tower seem to remain a magnet for people imagining they’ll hold it for sniping, but there are enough routes in and out to take them down before camping becomes much of an issue. Some of the smaller side buildings provide excellent places to hang out and pick off people as they go for more obvious areas, and there are a couple of ledges which you can climb to good effect to surprise people.
It’s not as immediate as Nuketown due to the larger side of the map, but certainly sits between it and Stadium. It might just be the style of the level, but Modern Warfare 2′s Trailer Park springs to mind.
Total Annihilation:
Overall it’s a pretty strong map pack. First Strike featured Kowloon and Stadium, but didn’t quite match them with Berlin Wall and particularly Discovery, which doesn’t really gel. Escalation followed up with Zoo and Stockpile, which were pretty good, the Rainbow Six lookalike Hotel, and Convoy, which channeled Berlin Wall once more. So if you’re nodding your head right now, then Annihilation could be the pack for you, as all of the maps are better than the weaker pairs from previous DLC map packs.
Of course, there is the question of spending 1200 MS points on just 4 multiplayer maps and one zombie map, particularly if you’ve bought the previous 2 packs and plan on getting Modern Warfare 3 in just 3 months. But then again, if you’re one of the many people who seemingly only plays Call of Duty: Black Ops and the occasional game of Fifa, then you’re getting your money’s worth. And if you still haven’t reached 15th level prestige and plan on trying before MW3, then you’ll definitely get the value out of adding 4 new maps to the familiar existing rotation.
We’ll add some more specific tips for the Annihilation maps shortly, but the basic principle at the moment is to take it slow and steady, and check those corners!
E3 Award winners include Bioshock Infinite and Battlefield 3
Every year around 35 judges from North American videogames publications vote on the best games showcased at the E3 trade show, and this year is no exception. The winners have been revealed with Bioshock Infinite taking four awards, and Battlefield 3 taking two.
The full list of winners is:
Best of Show
- BioShock Infinite
- (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Original Game
- BioShock Infinite
- (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Console Game
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda for PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Handheld Game
- Sound Shapes
- (Queasy Games/SCEA for PSVita)
Best PC Game
- BioShock Infinite
- (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Hardware
- PlayStation Vita
- (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Best Action Game
- Battlefield 3
- (DICE/EA Games for PC)
Best Action/Adventure Game
- BioShock Infinite
- (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Role Playing Game
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Fighting Game
- Street Fighter X Tekken
- (Capcom/Capcom for PS3, Xbox 360, PSVita)
Best Racing Game
- Forza 4
- (Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
Best Sports Game
- FIFA Soccer 12
- (EA Canada/EA Sports for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Strategy Game
- From Dust
- (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Social/Casual Game
- Sound Shapes
- (Queasy Games/SCEA for PSVita)
Best Motion Simulation Game
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo for Wii)
Best Online Multiplayer
- Battlefield 3
- (DICE/EA Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Downloadable Game
- Bastion
- (Supergiant Games/WB Games for PC, Xbox 360)
Team Fortress 2 – now free to play…
There’s some good news for PC and Mac gamers who fancy a bit of Team Fortress 2 – you can now play it for free! It was originally released back in 2007 as part of The Orange Box compilation for Xbox 360 and PC, followed by a PS3 version later the same year, and a standalone PC game in 2008. Finally the Mac version arrived in 2010 shortly after Steam appeared for Mac OS X.
And now it has switched to a freemium model to coincide with a big content update, allowing gamers to play for free, but paying customers will get access to extra features such as rare items, more storage space, gifting and improved special abilities. Interestingly though, Valve have made is clear that all the game modes, classes and maps are available for everyone, and nearly every weapon can be gained by non-paying players though achivements, drops or crafting.
New themes include the Mafia (With The Heavy and Spy classes), War (The Medic) and Tumbuktu (The Sniper and The Demoman). Plus The Scout has also appeared as an Easter Egg reveal.
Black Ops Annihilation DLC adds 5 new Shangri-La Zombie Achievements
The new Annihilation DLC Map Pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops is released on June 28th, and details of five new Xbox Live Achievements have bee confirmed, adding up to an extra 150 Gamerscore points to complete.
As always, the achievements focus on the Zombie addition to the game, with all five achievements being given for tasks in the new Shanri-La map:
- Time Travel Will Tell (75G) – In Shangri-La, acquire the focusing stone.
- Blinded By the Fright (30G) – In Shangri-La, kill a Shrieker zombie while blinded by it.
- Zomb Disposal (30G) – In Shangri-La, dispose of a Napalm zombie without it harming any players.
- Monkey See, Monkey Don’t (5G) – In Shangri-La, get something from the monkeys.
- Small Consolation (10G) – In Shangri-La, use the 31-79 JGb215 on each type of zombie.
So if you want to have completed rinsed Black Ops, it’ll be time to get back to zombie killing on June 28th!
Black Ops lagging? Virgin Media blames the game
Although gamers using UK ISP Virgin Media definitely aren’t alone in experiencing problems with lag playing Call of Duty Black Ops (We can testify to that ourselves!), the number of complaints by Virgin subscribers has led to many gamers complaining for months, and tech site The Register investigating.
Virgin told The Reg that they’re aware some customers are experiencing issues, and also posted to the main complaints thread on the Virgin Media forum, saying that they can’t find issues with their service, and their attempts to contact the Xbox Live team have met a ‘dead end’, so they’re also trying to contact developers Treyarch.
But it appears Virgin Media customers have also been experiencing problems with various other games, and particularly with Xbox Live. Multiple posters also claim that switching ISPS solved many of their issues, and if you’re an existing subscriber or want to see what other customers have posted, check out the thread.
It’s not the only problem Black Ops has had with lag – back in February, the release of First Strike seemed to cause major issues, and PS3 owners have felt strongly enough about their connectivity problems to report Activision to the Office of Fair Trading.
While we doubt that we’ll ever find out the full story behind any specific connection issues, particularly when they relate to ISPS throttling traffic, and the increased likelihood of this also becoming more prevalent as an anti-piracy measure, we can only hope that the amount of problems Black Ops has had in particular might mean Activision work to improve things for Modern Warfare 3 by either solving issues at their end, or working with the bigger ISPs in the most relevant locations.
Call of Duty Black Ops – Annihilation DLC Map Pack Multiplayer Trailer
Kinect support for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary edition
During Microsoft’s E3 conference, we were greeted to Halo 4. We were also presented with a lovely surprise in the form of an old classic given some extra love in time for it’s tenth anniversary.
The original Halo makes a return this year in the form of a remake but this time developed by 343 Industries and not the Bungie team who initiated the now Halo legacy.
Not only will Halo: Combat Evolved be polished up for high definition visuals, it’ll have added Kinect support. Added that is, not infused with the standard controls.
Editor Patrick Klepek from GiantBomb.com contacted Microsoft to question the added Kinect support for the title, only to be informed that the ‘Kinect features we’re exploring with Halo: Anniversary are additive and will not affect the core gameplay experience…‘.
Not only that, 343 Industries community manager, Jessica Shea, continued these remarks on the Halo Waypoint message board, reaffirming that the Kinect controls are optional and the anniversary edition will be a recreation of the original.
Are you going to pick up the remake once it’s released? What’s your take on Kinect for FPS’s? Leave your thoughts below.
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