patch

Hey Everyone –

Just as I called it, the Xbox 360 patch for Call of Duty 4 passed certification by the weekend, and started hitting consoles near you this morning. For those of you wondering what’s been changed, a full list of the newness is:

New Kill Cams - Everything that can kill you has a Kill Cam now. Grenades, Airstrikes, Claymores, C4, M203 Rounds, RPGs, anything. So jump online, get owned alittle and check them out. They’re awesome, especially Grenades and M203 shots that go across the map and through a window.

Host Migration - Host migration was added, so now when the host leaves you won’t get dropped back to your own lobby by yourself. Everyone will stay together. Host Leaves, everyone returns to lobby, selects next best host, and the game starts up again. No more re-inviting, re-partying up because a host ended the game.

Improved Sniper Accuracy - The Sniper rifle accuracy has been improved. No more, WTF? shots now. Your cross hair will be a better representation of where your shot will ultimately land. Try out a sniper class today, let us know how the new accuracy feels.

Improved ACOG Scope Accuracy - ACOG scopes accuracy on any weapon has been improved. Test it out, throw it on one of your classes and give it a go.

Upgraded Spectator Cam - Now when you’re a spectator you have the option to follow in 3rd person or 1st person. As well as rotate 360 degrees around the player you’re watching. Next time you’re dead in Search and Destroy and just watching your team mates do stuff you know you can do better, now do it in 1st person or rotate around them.

Quick Mute Option - Now you can easily and quickly mute players in-game without ever going through the Xbox Live blades. Just go to their gamertag on screen and hit ‘A’ to quick mute via the in-game scoreboard if playing. Quick. Easy. Salvation!

In addition to these feature additions there will also be:

Improved Network Performance For Larger Games - 18 player games now require more bandwidth to host, resulting in smoother performance for players.

Optimized Server Selection for First Match - Server selection is now optimized to select best bandwidth servers associated by LSP.

Fixed “Playlist Older Than Host” Error - Player will no longer get this error when entering games.

Additional Start Spawn Locations in All Maps - Added a minimum of 9 extra start spawns on each side of all maps.

Jump online, test out the new kill cams and features, and as always let me know what you think. We’re also going to be playing around with new playlists in the near future so I’ll keep you updated on those changes as they come.

The weekly battle for the “Most Played Game on Xbox Live” continues this week with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare still holding the #1 spot for 4 weeks straight and managing to keep Halo 3 from retaking the throne. I had a chance to talk with quite a few of the Bungie guys at GDC this past week, mostly at the Microsoft party, and I could tell that neither one of us were going to slip off the top of the charts without a fight.

With the release of our Feature patch and DLC coming closer and closer every day, and plenty of new playlist ideas being thrown around for Call of Duty 4 multiplayer I know we can keep the fight going for a long long time. I love these weekly number checks because it provides a great opportunity to give you guys a weekly update on how things are going here at the studio with those updates, so with that said…

I got word that the Xbox 360 Feature patch could be ‘very very close’, I can’t tell you exactly when because they haven’t passed on that information but apparently certification went fantastic and I was given the Green light to take care of some things that I have to do before it goes live to you guys, which means good things. I’m not going to get any hopes up, but I hope to be seeing some new Kill Cams by the weekend if we’re lucky. Don’t hold me to that though, but I have a good feeling about it.

The Ps3 Feature Patch has officially made it’s way off to Sony and has been going through the certification process, this one should be a rather quick turnaround hopefully so I’m not expecting too much delay on this at all. I will keep you updated as much as I can on it’s progress.

Hit the jump for DLC talk…

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Great News! The new feature patch I talked about last week (with new Kill Cams, Host Migration, and other new features) for the Xbox 360 has finished it’s internal testing and development and has officially been sent off to Microsoft for Certification. It’s only a matter of Microsoft putting it through the certification paces and it will be available for download for all Xbox 360 players.

If you forgot, keep reading to re-cap on all the new features this patch brings to players.

As for the Playstation 3 version of this patch, it’s currently finishing up it’s final internal testing (which I’m expecting to go very quickly) and should be heading off to Sony for it’s own certification in the near future, I’ll post that and full details on what that includes when that time comes.

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This week we’re seeing the result of Round 2 for the fight up the Xbox Live charts for the prestigious “King of Xbox Live” spot and according to Xbox’s Major Nelson, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has once again taken the #1 spot of the most played game on Xbox Live for the week of 1/28 away from Halo 3.

This battle for the #1 spot has been causing a surge of “Call of Duty 4 vs Halo 3″ articles and forum debates, and I don’t think the question is necessarily as easy as “which game is better”, because that’s all just opinions. Both amazing games, the question I have is who will stay on top, and do I think we can stay on top?

So can we stay on top? Yes.

Why do I think that? Well…

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Heads up for our PS3 players in European (and anywhere else besides Japan / Korea) as rumor out of SCEE today is that the EU Connectivity patch designed to optimize connectivity and matchmaking for users as well as allow them to re-connect to international friends has passed certification and could be on it’s way to EU PS3 users as soon as Friday the 8th. Don’t hold me to it, as I can’t speak for them, but that seems to be the goal.

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Hey Everyone –

Just to clarify on my last post, those Playlist changes mentioned apply to PS3 and 360 and should be hitting here soon (in December), but I wanted to make it clear that the patch itself with the other changes (i.e. Host Migration, Kill Cams) that are only for the Xbox 360 will probably hit after December, as that requires going through certification, while the Playlist changes we can change dynamically. I noticed it getting reported as the patch getting released in December, and wanted to stop it before too many hopes got up.

Now for the PS3: The PS3 Connectivity patch will be hitting in the very near future and is separate from the Xbox 360 patch. The PS3 (exclusive) Connectivity patch will include:

US Data Center For NAT Server

Will make all US players connect to US data center and EU users connect to EU data center. This will optimize performance for all users in those areas.

Fixed ‘Downloading Game Settings’ Error

Fixed error with conflicting packet interaction.

Port 3095 Issue Corrected

Players were required to have port 3095 open in order to host. Now players who have port 3095 blocked can still host matches.

Matchmaking Optimization

Server search will end upon acquiring a certain number of good servers. Added “prefer” servers with best ping, this will optimize and expedite players finding and joining good matches.

In short, the playlist changes for both consoles will be hitting very soon, however the Xbox 360 patch will probably hit after December once it goes through certification. The PS3 connectivity patch will be hitting very soon and is separate from the 360 patch.

Let me know if you guys have any additional questions, the PS3 will be getting another patch in the new year which will contain some of the same additions as the 360 one but not all.

Hey Everyone –

I wanted to give you the heads up on a lot of cool changes coming to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer for the Xbox 360. Before you ask, there is no ETA on these changes, most are included in the upcoming patch, with all the playlists stuff happening independently at some point in the near future. (AKA: Playlist changes will be in December, Patch most likely past December)

All of these changes are thanks to YOUR direct feedback and suggestions through Xbox.com forums, emails, IMing me personally, and any other way you managed to get your feedback to us. So what can you expect?

Multiplayer Playlist Changes:

The multiplayer playlists in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare are always evolving based on community feedback and stats we track behind the scenes. We’re focused on constantly keeping the game fresh and tweaking it based on your feedback, so expect the following Playlist changes to be hitting soon:

Team Deathmatch

* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Mercenary Team Deathmatch

* Brand New Playlists: No Clans / Parties allowed.
* Players who don’t want to be matchmade with clans (or people in parties) can team up with fellow lone wolves and play some TDM.

Free-for-All

* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.
* Score Limit Change: 100 Points

Domination

* Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now availalbe in map rotation.

Ground War

* No changes.

Sabatoge

* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Headquarters

* Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now availalbe in map rotation.

Search and Destroy

* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Team Tactical

* Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now availalbe in map rotation.

Hardcore Team Deathmatch

* Brand New Playlist: 100% Hardcore Team Deathmatch Only
* No longer switched between Hardcore Search and Destroy and Hardcore Team Deathmatch
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Hardcore Search and Destroy

* Brand New Playlist: 100% Hardcore Search and Destroy Only
* No longer switched between Hardcore Search and Destroy and Hardcore Team Deathmatch
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Old School

* Rule Set Change: Free-for-All Only w/ Old School Rules
* Increased Health (slightly)
* No Health Re-gen
* Score Limit Change: 100 points
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Cage Match

* Rule Set Change: No Longer Old School Mode
* 1 v 1: Normal Rules
* Map Added to Rotation: Countdown - now availalbe in map rotation
* Map Added to Rotation: District - now available in map rotation

Oldcore

* Playlist Removed

Team Objective

* Playlist Removed
* All gametypes included now available individually.

Upcoming Patch Updates (Seperate from above Playlist changes):

Addition of Host Migration

* If Host of lobby leaves, all players will be deposited back to the lobby where next best host will be selected before new game restarts. Players will no longer be kicked out of game entirely.

Improved Network Performance For Larger Games

* 18 player games now require more bandwidth to host, resulting in smoother performance for players.

Optimized Server Selection for First Match

* Server selection is now optimized to select best bandwidth servers associated by LSP.

Updated Spectator “Chase Cam”

* Change Spectator Mode: Switch between First Person and Third Person.
* 360 Degree rotation around character you’re spectating.

Fixed “Playlist Older Than Host” Error

* Player will no longer get error when entering games.

Optimized Corrupt Create-a-Class Handling

* Players will no longer be kicked from game when their create-a-class data is corrupted.

Added Kill Cam To Everything

* Kill Cam view Added: Air Strike Bombs (Follows bomb from plane to target)
* Kill Cam view Added: Grenades (Follows frag from hand to ground, then rotates to view target)
* Kill Cam view Added: RPGs (Follows RPG from launch to target)
* Kill Cam view Added: M203 Rounds (Follows round from launcher to target)
* Kill Cam view Added: Claymores (Views from behind claymore until explosion)
* Kill Cam view Added: C4 Packs (View from pack rotating to watch target)
* Kill Cam view Added: Martrdom (View from grenade rotating to watch target)

Optimized Old School Experience

* Added Unlimited Sprint
* Doubled Magazine Size
* Added Ragdoll Cam

Additional Start Spawn Locations in All Maps

* Added a minimum of 9 extra start spawns on each side of all maps.

Optimized Sniper Rifle / ACOG Scope Accuracy

* Sniper Rifles and ACOG scope accuracy improved due to fix.

Fixed Weapon Sprint Bug

* Bug which gave players more sprint when using particular weapons.

Thanks again for your constant feedback and support of the game, keep in mind that playlists are constantly evolving, so everything is subject to change based on feedback and results. If we feel something isn’t fun or based on your feedback we’ll continue to change it up and I’ll continue to keep you in the loop.

Thanks everyone.

(The Playlist changes apply to both the 360 and the PS3 versions, but the PS3 will have different patch changes)

Join in on the discussion here: Xbox.com - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare