Without warning, a number of security guards turned up at the Infinity Ward offices yesterday afternoon. Information was hard to come-by as they would not disclose why they had arrived at the offices.

Apparently Activision had held talks with the top 2 at IW, Vince Zampella & Jason West, that morning. This following accusations that the business relationship between the 2 companies has been "tense."

A source claimed that the atmosphere & mood around the IW offices is that of one which is confused & freaked out. That same source then went on to say they "only want to make [their] games", possibly implying that Activision may pull out of their deal with Infinity Ward.

Six Dutch Call of Duty legends have regrouped to create a team for The Mesmerize Cybersports Association.

The MCA have every intention to make a big name for themselves in the Benelux gaming scene. They have obtainedthe second best Dutch Counter-Strike: Source team and have struck deals with sponsors such as Tweak and now, they announce their Call of Duty 4 team. And what a team it is!

The MCA.CoD4 lineup is:

Kevin "svotoe" de Groot
Niels "zemme" van Steenbergen
Pieter "pietje" Bijl
Youri "kasparov" Mohrs
Dominique "yallie" Schurink
Alex "mofje" Kuiper

As most of you know, Multiplay's i38 LAN was home to the FIRST EVER Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Tournament.

Fnatic.MSI took the win. And deservedly so!

The game mode was different to the usual Search & Destroy that the COD scene is used to. This time, Capture The Flag was the choice of mode to be used.

The 1st map was Sub, chosen by Fnatic. Dignitas seemed comfortable & in control until Fnatic managed to even the scores up.

There was a slight delay as some of the players had technical problems with their PCs between maps, but this didn't put Fnatic off their stride.

The second map was Quarry, picked by Dignitas. Quarry is quite a large map with lots of high ground and sneaky hiding spots. Surely Dignitas' Blackmane would be rubbing his hands with glee at the though of getting his hands on a sniper rifle. He did just that making a few decent shots but nothing spectacular. He then decided to pick up a Riot Shield and try to ram his way through Fnatic. However, this ended up with him being stabbed numerous times. It was quite clear he wasn't taking it serious.

So, congratulations Fnatic.MSI on their well-deserved win!

Lineups, scores & some more links can be found on the original newspost in the source link below!

Source

The non-existant console for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has now, somewhat, been unveiled! However, this isn't an official change to the game. MW2 fanatic, AgentGOD, has spent time "breaking" the game & coming up with a great little application. This allows the player to tweak his/her config via the console in-game. Just like in previous versions of the Call of Duty series.

However, AgentGOD does issue a warning with his smart application:

Quote

By using this program, you agree that any consequences of usage
shall not be imposed on the programmer (AgentGOD). Use at your
own will and risk! I, the programmer, will NOT be held responsible
in the event that you are banned by VAC.

With that in mind, the program should NOT trigger a VAC-ban, but I cannot
make any guarantees.

Just a day ago it was reported that Modern Warfare 2 smashed sales records all across the globe in a matter of hours. The most anticipated game of the year had certainly got off to a great start but at the Newbury Racecourse hundreds of gamers would beg to disagree. Advertised as the first ever Modern Warfare 2 tournament in the world, this would be the first of many competitive Modern Warfare 2 tournaments. Held at the famous i-series LAN, organizers Multiplay were confident that this was going to be a success story from the start. Signing a deal with Activision months ago to hold this tournament, the community was geared up for the prospect of a great competitive game and a decent prize purse.

Activision Blizzard had one mission in mind when launching "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2:" To make the videogame the largest entertainment launch in history.

After only one day of sales, the heavily hyped military actioner seems to be closing in on its target, with an estimated 4.7 million units sold in the U.S. and the U.K. alone, generating $310 million for the gamemaker.

Read the restComparably, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," the top pic of the year at the box office and on DVD, opened with $220 million in its first weekend, and sold 7.5 million DVD and Blu-rays, in its first week. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" still has the top opening weekend of any pic to date with a $394 million worldwide haul.

The strong performance for "Modern Warfare 2," released Tuesday, should provide the videogame industry with a much needed boost as it heads into the holiday season, given that the overall biz is down for the year. October sales figures will be announced later today.

The games biz likes to set benchmarks to beat, and Activision's very vocal topper Bobby Kotick had spent months touting the potential for "Modern Warefare 2" to topple previous records not just for a game, but "any media."

Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto IV" had broken previous industry records when it bowed in 2008, selling 3.7 million units on its first day, and generating more than $500 million in revenue by the end of its first week, from 6 million units sold worldwide.

Before that, Microsoft's "Halo 3" had set the number to beat in 2007 with 3.3 million units in 24 hours and $300 million in its first week.

While many of Activision's sales were generated in the U.S., with millions of pre-sales contributing to that figure, "Modern Warfare 2" also sold briskly overseas.

In the U.K., for example, the game moved more than 1.2 million units in its first day, twice the 631,000 units that "Grand Theft Auto IV" sold.

The previous installment of "Call of Duty" sold 13 million units in 2007.

Analysts had predicted "Modern Warfare 2" to sell nearly 12 million units during all of October through December.

Source

Still unsure if you want to own a copy of this game? Check out Krosan's news post here which includes links to numerous reviews of the game.

Call of Duty community manager Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling has just posted a link to an article on his Twitter account

Read the articleI recently broke news on a PC community member';s podcast that Modern Warfare 2 would be introducing a completely new backend infastructure called IWNET that would allow matchmaking for multiplayer games on PC. The news, by default, means no more browsing through a Server List for a server with the settings / ping you want among other things, and sent shockwaves through the hardcore PC community, leading to many more questions than answers as to 'HOW' this would work, and if it would really be better for the PC community as a whole.

Questions, assumptions, and speculation I intend to dispel.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is actually the biggest investment Infinity Ward has ever made into the PC version of our games. It's also the most feature-rich PC version we've ever made. 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.

How does it do this?

Matchmaking & Smoother Gameplay:
When you want to player 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.

Playlists and Private Matches:
As I described above, Playlists are pre-set game modes and gametypes for public games. If you just want to jump into a public game of Search and Destroy or Hardcore Search and Destroy and you don't care about fully customizing it, then you can utilize playlists to do that quickly for you. However, say you're in a clan and you want to play a Clan match with another team, or you want to practice for an upcoming tournament that has specific rules in a private game. Then you can start a Private Match (which is essentially like running your own private server) where you have complete control over the rules, who can join, boot players you don't want, and essentially control the entire game or tweak it to your liking. Once the rules are set, you can invite the other team in or just start it up with your clan to practice with the custom rules before the match. 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.

Party System and Friendslist:
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.

Cheat / Hack Free Games:
The biggest benefit of using IWnet by far is the fact that you don't have to worry about joining a server full of aim-bots, wallhacks, or cheaters. Or relying on the server admin of the server to constantly be monitoring, banning, and policing it. Modern Warfare 2 on PC allows us to control the quality of the game much more than ever before as well as utilizing the VAC (Valve-Anti-Cheat) system to keep games clean of hackers and cheaters.

All in all, IWNET adds a load of new features that the PC version of our games have never had before and allows us an infrastructure to continue to update and improve on the game post-launch.

The bit that we're most likely to be interested in:

Quote

As I described above, Playlists are pre-set game modes and gametypes for public games. If you just want to jump into a public game of Search and Destroy or Hardcore Search and Destroy and you don't care about fully customizing it, then you can utilize playlists to do that quickly for you. However, say you're in a clan and you want to play a Clan match with another team, or you want to practice for an upcoming tournament that has specific rules in a private game. Then you can start a Private Match (which is essentially like running your own private server) where you have complete control over the rules, who can join, boot players you don’t want, and essentially control the entire game or tweak it to your liking. Once the rules are set, you can invite the other team in or just start it up with your clan to practice with the custom rules before the match. 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.

Source: http://www.fourzerotwo.com/?p=745

A HUGE announcement has just been made over at TGL!

Quote

Activision, Intel, and the Total Gaming League are proud to present the Wolfenstein Championship.

This single elimination 5vs5 tournament will begin on September 30th, with worldwide registration closing on September 28th at 9:00 PM Eastern.

While registration is open to participants worldwide, all matches will be played on US based Intel servers at 9:30 PM US EDT on designated match nights regardless of the team's geographical location.

Prizing includes $10,000 cash to the top five teams, along with 12x Intel® Core™ i7 920 Retail Processors, each valued at $399, and 3x Intel® Desktop DX58SO Mother Boards, each valued at $299.

Prizes for the top 5 teams:

• $3500
  
• $2500
  
• $1750
  
• 4th $1250
  
• 5th $1000

Signups: Click
Prizes: Click
Source: Click

Hello & welcome to the 2nd edition of this Wolfenstein cup.

After the great success of Season 1, we've decided to create another cup for this coming Sunday!

To compete in this cup, you need a working copy of Wolfenstein for the PC, a team, WolfPro 0.1b & sportsmanship.

The cup will begin at 19:00 CET on Sunday 6th September 2009. We're aiming for 32 teams, if not, then 16. It's single elimination. There will be 1 map per round & the maps will be played in this order:

• Round 1: mp_bank (19:00 CET)
  
• Round 2: mp_facility (19:30 CET)
  
• Round 3: mp_manor (20:00 CET)
  
• Round 4: mp_hospital (20:30 CET)
  
• Round 5: Each team will pick a map from the maplist (21:00 CET)

Hello & welcome to the 1st edition of this Wolfenstein cup.

It's been a while since there's been any sort of cup in the Wolfenstein scene so together with Sui & FimS, I have decided to create this 1st season.

To compete in this cup, you need a working copy of Wolfenstein for the PC, a team, WolfPro & sportsmanship.

The cup will begin at 20:00 CET on Wednesday 2nd September 2009. We're aiming for 32 teams, if not, then 16. It's single elimination. There will be 1 map per round & the maps will be played in this order:

• Round 1: mp_manor (20:00 CET)
  
• Round 2: mp_bank (20:30 CET)
  
• Round 3: mp_hospital (21:00 CET)
  
• Round 4: mp_tesla* (21:30 CET)
  
• Round 5: Each team will pick a map from the maplist (22:30 CET)

* If mp_tesla is causing crashes on any of your players' PCs, then let a cup admin know & mp_canals will be played instead

There will be prizes!