Hi! I work in video games, and my life goes as such...
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With Modern Warfare 2 news officially going from a trickle to a steady stream of content and info, I want to make it clear how to stay up to speed with all the latest news.
The internet is your friend & no matter if you’re looking for up to the minute details on what’s happening behind closed doors at Infinity Ward studios, or looking for the latest video asset for Modern Warfare 2. I’ll keep you connected with every aspect of Modern Warfare 2’s development via my social media geek prowess.
The internet’s a big place, but here are the key places to look for your MW2 news fix.
Choose your poison:
Official Modern Warfare 2 + Infinity Ward Forums
Join the Infinity Ward forums to join in on MW2 discussions with fellow community members, sign-up and get details on upcoming Community Events, and earn badges for both in-game achievements and forum based participation.
Official Infinity Ward YouTube Channel
Subscribe to get the latest videos, official trailers, perk videos, and dev diaries. Help shape future trailers and video content we create by sending us suggestions and ideas on what you’d like to see us make.
Modern Warfare 2 Facebook Page
Become a fan of Modern Warfare 2 on Facebook to connect with fellow MW2 fans and discuss the latest MW2 news shared on Facebook.
Follow Modern Warfare 2 Updates on Twitter
Get up to the minute details on what we’re doing behind closed doors at Infinity Ward studios as well as official updates on Modern Warfare 2. From designing the collectors edition, to a breakdown of what’s happening behind the scenes at E3. Twitter is an information junkies fix.
As many of you know, once your on Twitter you can also participate in the MW2 Live Twitter Feed. Tweet your opinion to the latest questions, vote on other users ideas, and track answers on the leaderboard. Current Question: What kind of videos do you want to see on http://www.youtube.com/infinityward?
Connect into one or all of those, and you’re guaranteed not to miss a single Modern Warfare 2 detail. The Infinity Ward & Modern Warfare 2 community expands much further than just our forums & this blog!
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Subscribers of Game Informer will be getting their mailboxes hit with the first world-exclusive cover story for Modern Warfare 2 starting around May 15th (depending on where you live), with copies hitting retail stores anytime after that. The feature apparently is weighing in at around 10-ages. Having met with the writers for this piece personally, I know they’ve got plenty to show & tell. I can’t wait for these to start hitting readers as this is the best part of the job. To finally hear / see the first reaction to something the team has been putting so much work into for so long! I can’t wait to hear what you guys think when you read it and check out the first screenshots of the game.
May is a busy month and the hype machine is definitely in full effect. Cover story hitting mid-may, the first Gameplay trailer ever hitting May 24th and then E3 just around the corner the first week of June, I’m stoked. Can’t wait to FINALLY be shedding the shroud of secrecy and getting down to the good stuff!
If you need something to tide you over, here’s a 15 second preview of the upcoming gameplay trailer that will aire on the 24th!
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Day 4 - 12 meetings in 2 days and I’ve just finished the last. That means it’s my last night in Paris and I’m about 10% energy at the moment yet determined to see a bit of Paris before I’m off to Munich in the AM. If I’m to see the Eiffel Tower, it’s tonight or bust.
I had hoped to head out during the day but regretfully the moment I took a second to rest I passed out face down on the bed in the hotel. Woke up 3 hours later to housekeeping entering the room. I think I scared them off when I meant to simply say it wasn’t needing but came out “arghghirhr” as I lifted my face from the groove I’d formed in my coma.
Luckily I convinced myself that I HAD to get out and just hit the streets before leaving. So I headed down to the street and started walking. I made my way to the Arc de Triomphe just blocks from my hotel. From there, I could see the tip of the Eiffel Tower and started making my way through the streets in that direction.
Before long I was standing before it and it was glorious. I made my way up to the top to check the view and once back at the bottom was bombarded with hustlers selling cheap Eiffel Tower related souvenirs (lighters, glow up towers, keychains). They assault you with “5 Euros! 5 Euros!” as soon as you walk out and as you attempt to enjoy the sights underneath the tower.
I decided it’d be fun to turn the tables a bit so we haggled one of them down to 1 Euro for a lighter, a glow up miniture tower, and 2 Eiffel tower key chains. Once we had our loot in hand we made our way to the opposite side of the tower and anxiously awaited to be assaulted by another panhandler to buy some souvenirs. It wasn’t long before one came up shoving the Tower-shaped wares in our face asking for “5 Euros! 5 Euros!”. He was surprised when I pulled out some crappy souvenirs of my own and started offering to sell them back for 6 euros!
I was going for a 5 euro profit on what I’d paid for it all. It was great to see the table turn and him avoid me instead of me avoiding him, when I persisted, “Okay okay… good business… 5 euro… all of it for 5 euro!” before he ran away. Tables successfully turned.
Back at the hotel now (3 am) and have to be up by 7 am for a flight to Munich….. this will not end well. Damn that coma-nap mid day!
That said, I’ll see you in Germany. Goodbye Paris it’s been fun!
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I’m currently dragging myself across Europe. Check out @fourzerotwo for updates as they happen.
DAY 1 - Arrived in London around 4pm on Sunday. A good 7 hours of sleep on the plane had me prime and ready to kick off our over seas adventure and pumped to see the sights of London. So what’s the first thing I see out of the cab? G4 TV host Adam Sessler’s smiling mug outside my hotel. Totally random and unrelated to my purpose in London and totally ironic that the first thing I see in London is something I could have stayed in Los Angeles and see all I wanted.
I later found out that Bethesda was in London as well with a few aces up their sleeves as well. Apparently announcing their new game, “Fallout: New Vegas” earlier than they would have liked as word leaked from their press conference like a flood and after one journo breaks embargo, it’s the wild west of game journalism. I felt for the guys, as there’s an art to how and when you release information on a game your working on. Just like a great game, it’s all about the pacing. You don’t want to blow your load right out of the gate. You want to build up to the climax and tease first. Gain interest in your story and characters gradually before you give em’ the farm. (sexual innuendos are totally in YOUR head, not mine!)
With that said, I feel bad that their big announcement was leaked earlier than they planned, but ah well, I’M HYPED!
I did a quick site check at our hotel to make sure things were up to snuff before meeting some acquaintances for dinner in downtown London (Covent Garden area) before getting an impromptu walking tour of London’s major sites by fans that were UK natives. It was late, but I got a chance to check out Big Ben, Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, and Buckingham Palace. Standard tourist affair really but was a great to get it in before we kicked off the real work Monday morning, as I knew we’d have no time to rest once the week got started.
DAY 2 - Monday started early (a bit too early for me) and fast. Luckily though I got too meet up with some familiar faces to start off from our friends @OPM_UK (Official Playstation Magazine UK), PC Zone, OXM UK and many others. What exactly we talked about I can’t say. As I said, it’s all about pacing with this type of stuff and trust me, it works on in your favor in the long the run. While the middle of the day is under wraps, dinner that night introduced me to a new love of mine…. MEXICAN DONUTS. An absurdly delicious and near-deadly of donuty-powdersugared-toffeetdipped dessert served at the restaurant in our hotel. While 2 could probably be considered unhealthy consumption of sugar, I snuck about 8 more orders onto the bill and stuffed my face like I was dying the next day. (which I felt like doing after the 9th Mexican Donut)
Ah… gluttony. My old friend.
DAY 3 - After I awoken from my sugar coma, we rounded out our trip to London with 3 more meetings from our benelux buds before making a mad dash to the EuroStar. A 300 mph train that goes underneath the english channel and across the French countryside into the heart of Paris. An awesome trip. By Day 3 my body was starting to feel the effects of jumping time zones and non-stop activity, but once we arrived in Paris and were met immediately off the train by the sight of 3 French soldiers with FAMAS rifle’s strapped to their chest on patrol of the EuroStar, I got hyped and thus got my second wind. I was ready to see what Paris had to offer and prep for 2 more days of adrenaline.
We did a site check then headed to our hotel before dinner with the ATVI France team. I laughed when they gave me an English menu at the restruant and realized it was oddly different from the original french version everyone else had. It seemed I was being profiled as the first item on the French menu was “Frog Legs” whereas the first item on my menu was “Cheese - Burger w/ French Fries”. Really? Do I look THAT american that you assume I’ll just want a Cheeseburger with fries?….. well YOU’RE RIGHT! I did want that!
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure where French Fries got their name or if France is related at all really, but these will the most killer Fries I’ve ever had. Fantastic homemade french fries. I also got a desert of ice cream in the form of French Vanilla (honestly, I wasn’t just eating food with ‘French’ in the title on purpose, it just worked out that way…… REALLY!).
Ended out the day back at the hotel fighting with the local wifi to try and receive some assets from the guys back at IW studio for approval. Once that was done, it’s time to get some well needed sleep before another 7 AM start to the 2 days in Paris. Rinse and repeat then we’re off to Germany!
/end
>Updates as they happen<
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I’m apparently on the front of Inside Xbox in what appears to be the week of people with their mouths open.
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I’ve been getting a lot of messages regarding a fake quote on some PS3 forum which somehow got picked up as “news” on N4G and a few other sites. Basically, the quote (from a made up person named Todd Stevens) claims that PS3 is the lead platform for our next title and therefore will run smoother and look better on the PS3.
First off… we’re not talking in detail just yet on the development of MW2. However, overall, we dedicate the same development time to both consoles. Equality in dev time for all. So let’s put that to rest out of the gate.
Secondly, lol.
Seriously. A random forum guy on a PS3 exclusive forum makes up a quote saying essentially “PS3 roxors and 360 suxors” and that gets toted as news?
UPDATE: It’s come to my attention I’m guilty of the same thing as N4G here, not checking my facts. Looks like this fake quote was originally posted on some random forum, not on a PS3 forum. Sorry WORBBLY for throwing you under the bus.
Typically I just ignore these types of things, especially “news” from N4G, but since I’ve been getting so many messages regarding it I figured I’d put it to sleep now and throw up the “Come on… really?” flag early. Thanks to everyone who brought it to my attention.
From here on, it’s safe to assume if a quote doesn’t come from me, then more chances than not it’s just made up. You can always keep tabs on @fourzerotwo on Twitter for real news, or this blog, or Infinityward.com.
Lastly, if you ever do hear news or rumors that sound fishy, feel free to drop me a line and let me know or ask me a question. Either via email on my contact page, or via DM on Twitter. I’m always happy to take some time and let you know whats up.
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SOURCE: GAMASUTRA
Check out the most recent feature on Gamasutra.com where one of our lead designers and I discuss Achievements in games.
Achievements are “like a topping on a pizza,” explains Robert Bowling, community manager at Infinity Ward. They enhance the gameplay experience and reward dedicated players for their effort and skill.
That is why unlocking all the potential points in a Call of Duty game is such a grueling process. They are badges of honor — particularly achievements like “Mile High Club,” says Bowling.
In reference to the question, “Do you design the game first, then worry about achievements, or do you design around achievements from the start?” - Achievements are “like toppings on a pizza”, as to say they are purely meant to enhance gameplay, not determine it. You make the pizza taste fantastic with it’s core ingredients, then you work on how to enhance that flavor in the same way you make the core game great, then comes the process of adding the extras.
Only 2.8 percent of the 10 million Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare players who have ever logged into Xbox Live have earned the achievement, which is awarded for completing COD4 on veteran difficulty.
Achievements like “Mile High Club” should be rare — perhaps only one per game, Bowling explains. “It is one of the hardest achievements to achieve and you lose some of that weight when they are all that hard. It would be more frustrating than fun.”
Players, however, complained that the achievements in Call of Duty 2 were too difficult to obtain, says Call of Duty 4 lead designer Zeid Rieke. All but three of the 13 achievements had to be completed on veteran difficulty. So the studio compromised for COD4.
What are your thoughts on it?
Read more about what we said as well as input from several other great developers on Gamasutra.com - Unlocking Achievements: Rewarding Skill with Player Incentives
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www.ModernWarfare2.com is LIVE with the first teaser for MW2.
Post and track trailer discussion at http://twitter.infinityward.com
or
Discuss the teaser at http://www.infinityward.com/forum/
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The 2009 Game Developer Conference kicked off today and I’ll be flying up to San Francisco tomorrow armed with my new laptop to catch all the news coming out of the conference this week. So be sure to keep an eye on Twitter (@fourzerotwo) for up to the minute updates of what we’re doing at GDC all week long.
As always, drop me a line if you’re in San Francisco for GDC this week. Meanwhile, let me know in the comments what you hope to see out of GDC this year and if theres anything you want me to keep any eye out for!
