IAMfourzerotwo

It’s getting closer and closer to, quite possibly my favorite holiday of the year, Halloween. While most chumps are putting up the same old tired Halloween decorations they’ve used every year up in the yard of ghosts, tombstones, and a talking skull that sings when you walk by the door step, Luke had different plans. More awesome plans. Plans that involved this awesome Call of Duty 4 carved pumpkin you see above.

Nice work Luke. You can check this out more over at Luke’s blog: http://dymndheartkilla.wordpress.com/

Check out these awesome Russian gas masks I found on eBay. They’re identical models to the ones we used in the game for the (above) Russian SMG character model. With a little color altering, they’ll be perfect. So why do I have them? Well, I’m working on a little side project, and I plan on creating a character bust from scratch, using real world materials. I figured, since all of our characters are based on real world soldiers and gear. I could easily re-create a bust using the actual gear it was referenced from. 

I figured I’ll just throw it all on this Indiana Jones bust that’s been creepily lingering around my house since I impulse bought it (also off Ebay)…. you know what. I really need to stay the hell off eBay and quit buying creepy shit on impulse. 

Regardless, I’m confident that all these random assortment of junk things off eBay, WILL result in something awesome when it’s finished. Essentially, I’m protoyping to see how cool a character bust of a real world character actually is. I mean, typically busts are cool for sci-fi stuff or fantatsy stuff, because it’s something you never see. So it’ll be interesting to see how cool this will be. If all else fails, at least I’ll have materials for a bad ass COD4 halloween costume in the wings. Although I’d much rather go as Green Man….
  

Unrelated to the busy, but still related to the prototype side-project. I also scored some of the real-world medals the Prestige Icons are based off. Including the Navy Commendation Medal and the Liberation of Kuwait medal.

The two medals which represent Prestige 1 (left) and Prestige 5 (right). I hope to mount these and add custom labels with the corressponding Prestige Level and include a message encouraging them to stop being pussies and keep prestiging for a few select community members. Essentially, they’ll act as prototypes, as if they look good and have a good response from the two I’m planning on sending them two, it may light some fires to get more produced. However, these I’m just doing by hand, and for the fun of it. Would any of you be stoked to receive one of these unexpectedly in the mail? 

Once I get it all done, I’ll be sure to post pics and details on how it went. I’m finally feeling up to par again as of today. The past week and a half I seriously thought I was dying. Constant headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, and fatigue. It was horrible. Essentially determined to be from an excess of sugar…. fyi Skittles and Dr Pepper for breakfast, lunch, and dinner will apparently kill you. So unless you have the will power of a 5 year old when it comes to sugar additictions like me, then you should be fine. Sadly though, for the time being until I get to a real doctor (not the Urgent Care fucks that looked in worse shape than me), then I’m officially giving up my Dr. Pepper (*sobs*). I almost don’t want to live in a world without it…. but I’m pushing through.  I’ll know next week for sure why my body hates me. I just want to give it what it loves, is that so bad?

Alright… I’m done. Off to enjoy a delicious h2o beverage and flavorful snack from mother nature. (shoot me)

The latest episode of Family Guy features a very special reference to Call of Duty 4.

I’ve been studying the Collector Editions and Premium Items of some of the top games that have come out recently and are coming out in the near future; attempting to get inspiration, ideas, and a grasp onto what makes a bad ass collectors edition. What, as a fan of a game, gets me hyped.  

Heads up marketing douches; this is an action figure done right!

..and guess what this is. That’s right. This is an action figure done WRONG!

For the most part, I buy the collectors edition for every game that offers them; for research purposes (or so I tell my wife). So I’ve seen my fair share of developers who “get it” and those who just let their marketing / brand team throw together a cluster fuck of pack-ins that seem “cool” with no regards to quality. 

Now I understand that my examples are a bit unfair, because the Gears figures are sold seperately where as the Brothers In Arms was a collectors edition pack in. So you have to consider they upfronted the costs and mass produced them for pack-in with all CEs - still, the quaility bar should be set high.

I bought the Halo 3 Legendary Edition w/ helmet, I bought the Gears of War 2 Lancer and Collectors edition, I bought the Amazon.com exclusive Survival Edition of Fallout 3 with the Pip Boy 3000, and hell I even bought the “ultra-rare” Dead Space collectors edition available only on EA.com without even seeing a picture. I’m a sucker for this shit. So when it comes time for our next game, I want to make sure we represent, and “get it”.

I’m not going to lie, I was extremely disappointed in our “collectors edition” for Call of Duty 4. It completely lacked that punch of awesome to make it great. Let it be known that it wasn’t for a lack of trying. I had all kinds of awesome in the works that somehow got lost somewhere between leaving IW going through Biz Dev and eventually dying somewhere between there and Activision. A mistake we won’t make twice. 

To me, there should be no modesty in your Collectors Edition. it’s all about the hardcore fan who is willing to spend a few extra bucks for something big and awesome. To me, if I’m paying extra for it, size matters. It’s all about going to the store and walking out with that huge ass box, while everyone else is standing there with their tiny little DVD-case feeling inadequate in their gaming; I’m walking out with a massive premium items. Something tawdry, gaudy, and completely big and useless but makes me feel like an elite fan of the game. It’s the video game equivelant of a pissing contest…. and it should be.

Which brings me back to the previous point of quaility. If you’re going offer a CE, then make a CE that your hardcore fans who buy it can be proud of. Give them something they want to proudly nerd out on. Gears has it right, that life-size Lancer is genius. I was even a fan of the “cat-helmet” for Halo 3 and proudly display one in my office (and another in my game room at home). 

So that begs the question…

WHAT MAKES AN AWESOME COLLECTORS EDITION? 

To me, anything with a figure is worth an extra $10 bucks. Hands down. Give me something to put on my desk and spark conversations about the game, and I’m in. Given that you have that quality bar I spoke of earlier. Bioshock did it right. Assassins Creed did it wrong (but made up for it with a bad ass NECA figure). 

Now what about this trend of super uber-collectors editions. The Survival Editions, the Legendary Editions, what have you. These super premium items like the Life-size Lancer, Master Chief Helmet, or Pip-boy 3000. The ones calling for an extra $60 and including 5 or six pack-in items? What’s it have to be to make doubling the amount of the game worth it?

Obviously I think the key is the multiple editions. Have the standard just game for the average gamer. Have a collectors edition with a high quaility pack in, but for the hardcore…. for the fanboys guys like me. What is that ultimate collectors edition?

I think it’s safe to say we’re leaving the era where “bonus DVD”s are out. Their a nice bounus, but lets not consider that anything special. If you’re paying nearly double the price of the game, you deserve everything all previous editions have, plus something amazing to top it off. Preferrably something with a limited run to add to the appeal. Unlike the Halo Legendary that is like $30 at Walmart now (sheesh - way to blow the “legendary elite” feeling there). I’m currently building a prototype of what I thought our last CE should have been to get the synapses firing and I’ll be sure to post up pics when it’s finished, but in the meantime I want your opinion.

If you could design a Collectors Edition, what would you put in it? What would be your ultimate pack in?

Are you an Action Figure fan?

More of a bust or statue fan?

Something less character driven? A fan of replicas? (i.e life-size Lancer)

Want something with more use? A branded accessory? Controller? Mic? 

Or nothing physical needed at all? In-game Content? Exclusive weapon, skin, map?

This is all hypothetical so the possibilities are endless, what is your ultimate CE?

Gah - I’m finally back to twittering and blogging again after being pulled into my shell for the last few weeks. The time spent away has been productive, regretfully not the kind of progress I can talk about, as the last two weeks have been mainly focused on meetings, planning, brainstorming, and work on our future project.

In regards to Call of Duty 4, we just finished up our latest promotion with the PS3 and 360’s Double XP and Variety Map Pack sale which was a huge success. It pushed us well over 2 Million Map Packs sold on 360 and made us the #1 most sold DLC on both platforms. Thanks to everyone who picked up the map pack. 

Oh, International PS3 users: I almost forgot. Our international users on the PS3, you have not been forgotten. We’re currently working on bringing the Half off Map Pack promotion to you as well, it’s just taking a bit longer to get it all set-up with SCEE and Asia but it is happening. Just so you know, you won’t miss out on the deal.

I also wanted to let those with the Game of the Year edition, who have been attempting to redeem your free map pack token, that we’ve been going back and forth with Microsoft on getting us those tokens to refill the database as fast as we can and discussing how they can improve their ridiculously complex and time-wasting token distribution system in the future. Essentially it’s the most needlessly bureaucratic and mindnumbling extensive procedure you’ve ever seen.  It’s a serious joke, and not the funny kind, but we’re doing everything we can to get more tokens from them and to you. I’m sure the process of creating randomly generated strings of numbers and letters is complex something well deserving of the month (and counting) it’s taken to supply them. On the PS3 side, no problems. Their token process was quick and painless and GOTY tokens are fully stocked. /rant

The last bit of COD4 news is the playlists; which are currently in a holding pattern in MP design territory. They’re working on the issues I spoke about several weeks ago where the gametypes needed some gameplay balancing (i.e. Spawn Camping in Second Chance SD, Round ends too quick in Sudden Death Sabatoge). So at this point, I’m not going to make the same mistake twice and just hold off on saying anything until they’re completly finished. So…. just know we’re working on them and once they’re amazingly fun and finished, I’ll let you know. they’re coming out. Bummer. I know, but despite my willingness to cave under the sheer crave for the new playlists the MP Design team refuses to let anything out of their grasp until it is completely up to standard with their very high bar of quaility for multiplayer in Call of Duty 4…. and I don’t blame them.

Starting this Thursday the 18th (and going till the 25th), we’re going to be kicking off a full week of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare promotions on PS3. Starting with the #1 DLC on PSN, the Variety Map Pack, dropping to $4.99 all week long. In addition, you’ll be able to rack up double XP and rank up all weekend from Friday - Sunday. I’m aiming to beat my personal best of 45 ranks in one weekend and aiming to rank up a over a full 55 ranks on PSN. I’ll be partying up with a few of the IW crew on Friday from Noon - 4 pm (PT) to take advantage of the double XP. Be sure to add the following PSN IDs to your friends list or send us invites if you see us online:

Fourzerotwoiw

COD4qaBurx

COD4qaEd

COD4artist_OLO

COD4qaNairb

COD4studioVince

COD4studioJason

While the official Play with Devs event is Friday, I’ll be playing all week long, so anytime you see me online drop me a line and let’s get some games going. 

This weekend was great! After lurking at Prestige 1 lvl 55 for nearly a year; the double XP this weekend enticed me to finally prestige again. That, coupled with watching 007 Casino Royale on Friday night, made me want to get to at least level 37 to unlock the suppressed G36c for some stealthy action.

All said and done, I was able to rank up 45 levels between Friday and Sunday night; I could have done a bit more, but that was without neglecting the family.

I experimented a lot with Perks I never used before this weekend and have found a pretty sweet combination for playing Hardcore Team Deathmatch and Hardcore Search and Destroy (which is where I mainly hung out this weekend).

First of all, screw the M16. I’m done with it. It’s dead to me. The G36c is where it’s at. 

Add a  little Bomb Squad for picking up enemy claymores in Search and Destroy so I can stay alive and warn team mates where to plant.

Some obligatory stopping power (although it’s not really needed in Hardcore); Once I unlock a more stealthy perk I’ll switch it out.

Finally, Last Stand. Which I never used before but have gotten damn good at this weekend. You couldn’t imagine how pissed off people get when they put you down and then you headshot with a pistol. Hilarious and makes you not so angry when you get killed. All in all, I was bringing my a-game most of the weekend with this set-up. 

So how did you guys do this weekend? Any one rank up an an entire 55 levels or more?

Now that the Xbox Live weekend is finished, we have the PS3 weekend coming up this weekend (I believe). We’ll have official confirmation on that soon and a full post detailing it, but I as I said before you guys can expect the same treatment for the most part. Minus the prestige picture pack, as regretfully PSN avatars are reserved to 1st party devs only :sadface:. I’ll get you PS3 players all the details on the weekend soon.

Heads up that this weekend from Friday the 12th - Sunday the 14th on Xbox Live (PS3 event will be later, closer to the 18th), we’ll be having Double XP all weekend long on every playlist. In addition, we’ll be doing some DLC promotion on the Xbox Live Marketplace that will allow you to download the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Variety Map  Pack for 50% off, which means you’ll be able to snag all four maps for just 400 MS points. 

That’s not all though, thanks to so many of you who have written in and requested; we’ve been able to work it out to get the Prestige Gamer pic pack back on the marketplace for download for all those who missed out on it’s limited offering during our last LIVE fire weekend. 

Some of the IW crew and myself will be jumping on this weekend to prey on all the new Variety Map Pack owners wandering lost in Chinatown, ripe for the picking. Be sure to add the following Xbox Live gamertags so you can join in on some of the games:

The official Play With Devs time is Noon - 4pm PDT on Saturday, but we’ll be jumping on and off unofficially all weekend long. This is all going down exclusively on Xbox Live this weekend, but don’t worry PS3 players, because we’ll be doing the same for you guys ; but due to schedule conflicts we couldn’t do them back to back so the PS3 weekend will be closer to Sept the 18th  (I’ll have a dedicated post for our PS3 users on that event), but you can expect some of the same benefits and festivities. 

This past week, one of Croatia’s largest and most beloved musical acts Dino Dvornik, seen above in his Croatian hit Jace manijace; sadly passed away. Thousands attended his funeral to pay their respects to one of Croatia’s biggest idols. We are extremely humbled to learn that one of his final requests, was to be buried with his favorite video game, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. An act that undeniably honors him with the title of our biggest fan, and us as just an equal a fan of his.

News coverage of his funeral:

http://www.24sata.hr/show/clanak/obrisali-suze-i-na-ispracaju-zaplesali-dvorniku-u-cast/79378/?context=naslovnica&web_page_id=main_page

RIP 

DINO DVORNIK

You will be greatly missed. 

Looks like one of our PC modders from Japan, by the name of Qrysalis on our forums, has found and re-constructed the files from our original training mission for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Ah, brings back memories. As you can tell, we decided to make it short and sweet for the final version of the game, but I do miss some of that choice VO (voice over). Nice work Qrysalis, as long as you don’t find our Brokeback Snipers / Hot Coffee moment with Price and MacMillian … then we’re all good.