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UPDATE ** September 3rd, 2011 – Part III – Videos!
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Just a reminder that we have some videos from the event located here
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UPDATE ** September 3rd, 2011 – Part II – PICTURES!
In the second update for today, I thought you might enjoy some pictures with descriptions. So enjoy.
This is a long view of the complex on the inside. If you can squint your eyes to the very back you’ll see a hanging projector screen. That screen is as big as the ones you see at the forefront on the right/left. Just an enormous place. On a side note, this is the same sound stage that James Cameron uses to produce his films, including films like Avatar.
If you haven’t already guessed, this is the Xbox 360 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 edition. It comes with a custom made body and when you press the power button it has that well-known MW sound — tough to describe when you write it. The bottom picture is the custom made MW3 controller and bluetooth headset.
Another shot of gamers and this picture gives you a feel for how each segment of the complex was structured. Plenty of room for each gamer and very comfortable seats. You can’t really beat that. Notice the ginormous screen in the back left.
This was a neat event this weekend. This is the Pros vs. G.I. Joes area. Stars from the NBA would come in and play Call of Duty with troops located in Afghanistan and the Middle East. There were multiple LCDs inside and outside the area. Today Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Chris Bosh (Miami Heat) were set to play.
Sorry in advance for the dark pictures, but this is the Scrapyard Paintball area that Activision put together. Players divided up into two groups and went head-to-head against each other. The paintball matches lasted somewhere between 15-20 minutes.
Once again, this is a giant picture on a giant building. Like I stated earlier today, Activision did a good job with this event. Yesterday they had 5,000+ people show at the event and they were expecting to double that today (I wouldn’t be surprised — lots of people waiting this morning). The night will conclude with Kanye West, as will the event.
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UPDATE ** September 3rd, 2011…
About the Event
Yesterday we focused on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘s multiplayer, its new engine and a few other things. This morning I thought we could discuss the actual event a little. Since this is the first time Activision has put this event on it’s interesting to see what they have done for the fans who have paid $150 for the ticket. Like I stated yesterday, the proceeds go to the Call of Duty Endowment (all the proceeds, every cent), so it’s not like this was a money driven idea. This seemed purely for the fans.
Activision did a good job with setting up plenty of events for their fans to take part in. There were quite a few outside events, as well as inside events. Activision seemed to spare no expense for it’s (roughly estimated) 5,000 attendees. They even replicated things like the Scrapyard map and applied paintball to it. Fans stood in line to go team-to-team with each other on an open level paintball course. Packed with music and powerful voice overs from the game, the experience seemed to be fun (though this editor didn’t get pictures for that particular event — that will change today).
They also recreated The Pit map for players to run through and try their shooting skills. Packed with pop-up targets and a reserve soldier that followed the player around, the players were competing for the best time. Don’t worry there wasn’t live ammo involved; it was paintball as well. The best time in the course yesterday was 37.8 seconds, which was a remarkably fast course record (at the time I left). It was neat to see and it had a very long line just like the scrapyard map.
One of the cooler, though a little scarier portions of the event was the zip line, which started at the top of the giant complex the event was held at and swung over pretty much all the outside crowd. I’m not sure I would have done it, but it was just as packed as the rest of the events. 
(yes, these people are crazy… but they’re happy)
Outside of zip lines, paintball and timed events, there were also several military vehicles available to get in and just explore. Mostly giant Humvees, they were neat to see up close and personal. The outside events provided a fun, realistic military/gaming experience. Most people outside didn’t seem to mind the long lines, though that was the main gripe at the event.
Inside the event was a different story.
The complex inside was an old sound stage that was the length of two airplane hangars. From one side to the next, the complex was full of Xbox 360s (donated by the Xbox folk). Each section was packed with large tables where teams, as well as individuals, could compete against each other on multiplayer maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Unlike E3 or the Tokyo Game Show where there are just dozens upon dozens of people waiting to play a game, Activision seemed to have their set-up pretty much ready for the crowd. Lines were moving pretty darn quickly and there was always something going on around whatever line a gamer happened to be in. If you need an example, please feel free to enjoy the picture below of two grown men sumo wrestling for a MW3 Jeep.
One of the biggest reasons why people attended Call of Duty XP was to show off their skills. There were many different competitions going on around the event. One of the biggest was a team versus team tournament. If you ever wanted to see focused gamers who were willing to put their sleep and pride on the line to win money that topped one million dollars then you’re in the right place.
Everyone seemed ready to game. It was neat to see such passionate players ready to give their all to try to win a tournament. Below is merely a tiny segment of what this complex contained. Each station was packed with a 24-inch screen and Astro headsets for each gamer.
Other than this, the inside also contained a nice armory full of every type of weapon known to man (and one that wasn’t known to man — I don’t think that one was real, though). It also sported a large hall where the keynote from yesterday was given. Finally it also had various things like face painting, food, and a Call of Duty store. Again, there was a lot going on and no one inside ever seemed to be bored, which is always a good thing.
With that said, again the only gripe that people had was the lines outside of the event leading to the zip line, the pit, and whatnot. If Activision only has that issue then they’re going to be golden in years to come. It’s not a tough thing to solve, as they could probably stand to add a few more outside (or inside) events to compensate for the crowds. We were told that Activision hopes to make this an annual occurrence. Much like E3, things can only get bigger and better with the increasing size of the Call of Duty crowd. If they keep doing this much for the gamers, including providing the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition with the ticket (a $99 gift) then they’re going to be successful.
In my opinion, this event ran smoothly. I’ve been to such events as TGS, E3, CES and a various amount of other events put on by single companies and this seemed to be one of the most organized. If your hardcore gamers are happy, and they seemed to be at XP, then who can argue? As I’m about to embark on the final day of the show, which features a concert by Kanye West, I will leave you with this wonderful picture.
Yep, it’s real. Yep, the actual guy in the commercial was there. Sadly, no explosions.
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UPDATE ** September 2nd, 2011
New modes, Elite, IW 5.0 — OH, MY!
What Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer put together for the MP was nothing short of impressive. We had the opportunity to play Team Deathmatch and new games called Team Defender and Kill Confirmed.
Let’s start with the latter, Kill Confirmed. In this game you treat it like Deathmatch. You have two teams that are facing each other and the objective is to take out the other team to score points; nothing new there. What is new is that once you kill an enemy you have to collect their dog tags in order to score points for your team. You get points for each dog tag retrieved and you can prevent the other team from scoring points by retrieving the dog tags of your fallen comrades. It’s a unique spin on team deathmatch and one that will have you looking around for enemies as you run in to retrieve dog tags. Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer were hoping that people will use the deaths of their enemies to lure other enemies into retrieving dog tags, thus opening them up to getting shot as well. While the strategy probably needs to develop a bit when the final game is released, no one playing last night was interested in such a well thought out advantage.
Still, the game was fun to play and it certainly made the gameplay really fast.
Team Defender has the basic concept of Capture the Flag. The difference is that more you protect your flag carrier the more team points you can earn. It’s going along the lines of what Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer are trying to get the gamers to do, which is work as a team. Team Defender is fun, and will make you a nervous wreck, but it does a great job with wanting you to protect your teammate. It was fun to play, so hopefully nothing changes between now and November 8th.
As fro the maps that you’re playing on they are much bigger in scope than MW2 and Black Ops. Here’s what I played (I haven’t been able to locate the names for these yet, so I did my best):
– Paris: Fighting in the streets of Paris is a bit ironic, but jokes aside it is a nice place. Picture the Cuba level in Black Ops. Take that, add a lot of details and a lot different nooks and crannies and you’ve got yourself Paris. Tons of buildings to run into and hide. Plenty of up and down, curvy streets to run through. Lots of vehicles to use as wonderful explosives. The place is nice and fun for a good shoot out. It’s perfect for Capture the Flag.
– African Village: This is probably my favorite map out of the bunch. It’s an enormous map that weaves through run down villages and into waterfall laden caves. Much like Paris, it has some an up and down landscape. There are plenty of places to hide/surprise enemies when they run around the corner. There are so many advantages to this map that it will be interesting to see what the regular players of CoD do with this layout.
– London: For players looking for a compact, yet very multi-leveled map then look no further than this. Half of it is damaged train carts, which you can jump up on and dive into a nice prone position (sniper friendly!) and the other half is the rest of the train station area which includes indoor paths, offices and outdoor parking. It’s more vertically large than horizontally, which is fine. You also have some really cool bridges that cross above the trains and lead into offices. It’s a very neat place, but it will feel very compact.
– Mall/Plaza: I played an objective based mission in this map. You only had one life, but the purpose was to grab a bomb and set it on explosives that were placed randomly through the map. Once you died then you would have to wait until the next round (best two out of three, I believe). The map was a multi-leveled mall that resembled the train station. It’s compact, but vertically big. You can weave in and out of shops and there were plenty of places to hide. The first go around with this level was quick, but the second go around no one wanted to move much. In the middle of the mall is a giant glass window that can be fired upon; good for nailing people who are in a hurry. Again, an excellent map that was detailed to the last drop.
While there are certainly a lot more maps to try out at the XP event (I tried out these four and only these four), Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer seem to be heading in the right direction when it comes to depth and variety with what they were showing at XP. The maps we played with were very sniper friendly, which has been an issue with Black Ops. They also provided an even balance to all class of characters. So, you wouldn’t have a clear advantage with one class or another.
Details, details, details… and lighting
Switching gears, let’s talk about the IW 5.0 engine. The engine hasn’t made a dramatic jump since Modern Warfare 2, as that was the introduction to the IW 4.0 update. In fact, if you’re a hardcore fan of the series then you know that Black Ops actually went backwards to the IW 3.0 engine when it was developed, which in hindsight was just a modified version of the World at War engine.
The IW 5.0 engine has improved upon the very pretty, very reliable IW 4.0 engine. The new IW 5.0 sports the same framerate you would expect from the series (60 fps), but now it sports incredibly detailed environments and realistic character models.
Starting with the characters, you get full facial features, better textures and proper limb movement/reaction. Typically, the single player modes of Call of Duty featured detailed faces, bodies and movements. You always get things like stubble on the face, crinkled clothes that flow with the body movement and visible personality that fits the character’s profile. Multiplayer typically drops a level or two in details because the engine needs to make more room for larger environments and tons of bodies fighting in non-NPC fashion; so details are generally an afterthought. Well, that’s not the case with the IW 5.0 engine for Modern Warfare 3. You get the same well-placed details in the character models. You can see teeth (not just flat cardboard teeth, but actual teeth), the whites of a players eyes, proper movement and very intricate clothing details. It looks really well done and doesn’t miss a beat graphically. When we saw the MP presentation prior to playing I was thinking, no way this can be done and look that good. When I played on the 360 it really delivered what it advertised. Excellent character models.
Another neat thing is the environments. You don’t simply get the flat, sometimes blocky environments that were found in Black Ops. While I can say they were big maps I certainly can’t say that they were as detailed as other games of its type. The textures were good here and there, but they weren’t as detailed as they could have been. Medal of Honor maps were detailed to the last drop with accurate, visually compelling textures. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 the IW 5.0 engine does excellent work with adding more details to insignificant objects (such as a well cushioned couch or a hilly, grassy, sometimes muddy African landscape) and makes the environment around you seem like its been through hell and back. One of the stronger things the IW 5.0 engine sports is an improved lighting/shading system. When a character has on a hat you can still see part of their face (depending on which way they’re angled with the sun),while the other part is properly shaded; you can still see their eyes, nose and mouth. When you’re running through dark areas the lighting is properly placed on the body of the character and the lighting hits the floor where it should hit the floor (with small artifacts floating through it — depending on the map of course). The lighting/shading was noticeably well done and it all made sense if these maps existed in our world. Folks, it’s a considerable upgrade.
The IW 5.0 engine seems to also allow for a bigger environment that reacts well to what’s going on around it. For example, if the wind is kicking up due to a helicopter flying over head then you’re going to get dust particles kicking up with it. The dust gets in the way of the gameplay, which is fantastic when you think about it (but rather annoying if you’re trying to kill someone). This type of environment reaction isn’t something new to the CoD series, but it isn’t as well done prior to the IW 5.0 engine.
In the end, IW 5.0 does a better job than 4.0 and isn’t simply an update. You’ll see come November 8th.
It might not be bad to be ‘Elite’
One of the subjects that has definitely been either an exciting topic or a sore spot with CoD fans is the announcement of Call of Duty: Elite. Fully integrated with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Elite will offer up some extended value for the series. Here’s the breakdown:
– The cost for a year of Elite is $49.99 (under $5 a month)
– Premium members will get DLC before non-premium members and they will get it monthly.
– Daily contents/events will be available to premium members that include the possibility of winning virtual and actual prizes (iPad anyone?)
– Premium members will have the ability to level up clans
– They will have 8 times more video capacity for storing game videos
– Access to expert strategy
– Access to Call of Duty Television and the ability to have their videos possibly voiced over by Will Arnett and Jason Bateman’s N00bTube.
There is also a strong mobile connection to the game, which includes a fully integrated Facebook component. You’ll be able to create groups and find friends who play MW3 and actually use that group inside of MW3. Kind of like finding a group of people you like and creating a team from them via FB. There are also mobile apps on the way that allow you to check stats and break down MP gameplay.
For those purchasing the Hardened Edition of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, it comes with a free year of Elite premium membership.
Other things to note:
– Killstreaks have been expanded/altered with Pointstreaks. One of the things that Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer wanted to do is bring a more balanced, cohesive experience to their multiplayer gameplay. Pointstreaks allow players to gain more points through completing objectives and assists. So, if a douchehat wants to go Rambo during Team Defender then they aren’t going to get as many points as the players who helped out during the mission to actually capture the enemy’s flag.
Personally, I like that concept, as some of the best MP experiences that I’ve had over the years are more team oriented rather than individual.
– Strike Packages is a new addition to the game. There are an abundance of Strike Packages you can earn. You have three categories to choose from: Assault, Support, Specialist
Assault — Pointstreaks within this package chain. Designed for more damage (I.E. Predator, helicopter, etc).
Support — Pointstreaks that don’t chain. This one is more ‘support’ oriented and involve UAV, Counter UAV, and SAM turret. Does not reset on death.
Specialist — Pointstreaks that eventually equal out to additional perks. Lasts until death.
– Some perks have been removed including One Man Army, Commando, and Last Stand (there are more…)
– You can access all perks in the game with an 8 kill streak. Once you die, you will lose all the perks.
– Nuke killstreak is gone.
– There is a new option called Weapon Proficiency. This allows you to upgrade and customize your weapon to make it specialized. Basically, you’re leveling up a weapon and making it more powerful. During the multiplayer session I ended up taking out a developer who was playing and picking up their very leveled up piece. I’m not sure what was upgraded, but the sucker took out a lot of people with a minimum amount of ammo. Imagine the possibilities.
– Speaking of weapons, how your body reacts to the weight of the weapon you’re carrying is significant. If you carry a large weapon then don’t expect to jump high. It’s a neat little thing.
– Spec Ops leveling up and perks just like in multiplayer.
– There is a Prestige Shop where you can spend points.
– DLC / Add-ons will launch first for 360 owners.