broadcast

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.496893&w=425&h=350&fv=] from www.gametrailers.com posted with vodpod

Looks like the official release time for the new Variety Map Pack DLC for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is going to be 6:30 AM PST Friday morning. It’s currently 11:47 PM Thursday night at the time of this posting, so only 6 more hours to go before we can jump on the new maps. To go along with the news of the exact release time, Gametrailers has posted up two new videos that we shot yesterday at the Infinity Ward studios about the map pack. There should be one more in the pipeline for Chinatown, meanwhile enjoy the new Broadcast and Creek videos where I lay out some of my favorite strategies for the new maps as well as a general overview of what you can expect after 6:30 AM when the maps are available for download via Xbox Live!

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.496901&w=425&h=350&fv=] from www.gametrailers.com posted with vodpod

In addition to the map packs hitting, I hear there may be a little extra XP up for grabs this weekend when playing on the new maps. So I’ll definitely be online this weekend to play the new maps.

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As promised this past weekend, a full preview of the upcoming Variety Map Pack for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare went live today on IGN, TeamXbox, and Gamespy. Along with four new exclusive gameplay footage videos. You can check out the Creek video above courtesy of IGN, and a Chinatown video below courtesy of Gamespy. For videos of Killhouse and Broadcast be sure to check out the full articles on the sites below.

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The IGN, TeamXbox, and Gamespy crew were here last week and spent the entire day playing through the entire Variety Map Pack. So what did they think? Be sure to check out the full articles on their respective sites but here are some excerpts from each:

IGN Says:

Of the four maps that we tried, Broadcast was probably my personal favorite. It seemed to do a good job of providing players with different outlets to try and get the upper-hand. I never found myself pigeon holed into going the same route over and over and the skylight certainly provided us with plenty of harrowing moments.

He’s def right about the alternating routes. Broadcast is all about the alternating routes and is a huge map. We received a lot of demand to play in the TV station from single player in multiplayer, so we took that and ran with it, but don’t expect a copy / paste from Single Player as this level has been completely reworked. We kept the signature large center room everyone loved in SP and fully opened up the rest of the station. So you can explore multiple floors, shoot from window vantage points for floor to floor combat and make your way throughout the entire station as well as outside area with surrounding buildings (one with a great sniper spot to shoot inside the TV Station) and side rooftops.

Gamespy says:

The first map we checked out was called Creek, and it’s one of the largest Call of Duty 4 maps to date. Creek is an asymmetrical map that features a multi-building village on one side and a farmhouse on the other. Despite the trees and bushes that dot the landscape, it’s actually possible to see a fairly long distance, making this a great map for those players who love to snipe. Separating the two landmark areas is a dry riverbed that lies in a valley between a gently sloping hillside and a steep cliff with switchback trails cut into it.

TeamXbox Says:

Chinatown has the look of an inner-city neighborhood. Again, mixing the outdoor areas of the street and alleys with the two-story indoor areas of the building makes for a very nice mix of close quarters and long-range style fighting.

Again, be sure to check out the full articles as they go indepth on everything you need to know about the upcoming new maps. In addition it looks like we’ve finally been able to narrow down pricing and a closer release date for the map pack with it hitting in early to mid-April for 800 MS Points with similar pricing for PS3.

Update: I just noticed one of the articles mentioned Hardcore playlists would be condensed. That’s not accurate. We will not be removing or condensing any Hardcore playlists, if anything we’ll add more.

Gamespot.com’s Brad Shoemaker stopped by the studio last week to check out the new DLC we’ve been working on and posted up his impressions today along with some of the first screenshots to ever go public from the new maps. There will officially be four new maps in the map pack, and Brad goes over two of them in depth, including the new map Broadcast and Creek.

The second map we played is entirely new, and it’s named Creek. But there’s a lot more to it than a simple babbling brook. This is a very large-scale outdoor map with a small cluster of houses on one side of it. In the middle, there’s a huge ravine circling the perimeter with multiple levels of pathways up its side. Down below, the trail leads along the eponymous creek bed to a waterfall. Elsewhere along the base of the ravine, there’s a lengthy and winding cave that cuts underneath the hill then out to the other side. As big as it is, there are a lot of places to go on this map; from prone sniping atop the cliff face to hiding out behind a rock in the tunnel, you never know where an opponent will be attacking you.

For the full article with full details on both maps, as well as some tidbits on the remaining two maps in the map pack (Killhouse and Chinatown), and two of the first screenshots from the new maps, be sure to read the article over at Gamespot.com right now:

Call of Duty 4 DLC Map Pack Hands On

Also, Spike TV will be airing a special episode of GametrailersTV this Friday at 1 AM that will have the world exclusive unveiling of the third map in the upcoming Variety Map Pack for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. So be sure to check out that episode which will include exclusive gameplay footage from the map as well as an interview we did with them at GDC this year.