cod4

The MTV Game Awards is this weekend in Berlin, Germany and we’ve been invited to attend thanks to our nominaton for the “Let’s Play Together Award” for Best Multiplayer Game. Regretfully, we won’t be able to make it out to Berlin for the live show, but we’ll be recording a little video tomorrow morning to show our appreciation and thanks to all of our German players who voted and supported the game in the awards, just in case. So if you’re part of our German game community, be sure to check the show this weekend, more info here www.mtvgameawards.de.  

My Fallout 3 character. (Feral Mask + Chinese Spy Uniform)

Over 60 hours of gameplay later, and I’ve finally finished Fallout 3 this weekend; Holy hell was that an amazing game. You can definitely beat it in half that time, but I savored the gameplay, and completed every main and side quest before beating the main story line - as well as maxing out my character at the level 20 cap. I love the amount of detail and thought that went into every aspect of this game. Bethesda did a great job of really immersing you in their world and I’m kind of depressed it’s over. I still need to find a few bobbleheads and do a few random achievements, but for the most part it’s over, and I’m gonna miss it. 

Although, thankfully I can get back to living a productive life now that it’s over, not to mention focus on finishing up Gears of War 2 (on the last level) and Mirrors Edge (on Chapter 6).

Hopefully I can finish them both up before Friday, because my entire weekend is being spent in Vegas. I’ll be flying in to attend the first ever LIVE tournament for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at the MLG’s National Championships. There will be over $340,000 in cash prizing up for grabs overall this weekend - which will promptly be blown on hookers and blow immediately following the event. So be sure to drop me a line if you’re in Vegas or competing in the tournament. I’ll be held up at the Hard Rock where the event is taking place, so stop by and say hey. We can get together and gamble our life savings away in a horrible drunken rage. 

Friday went by pretty quick today. It kicked off with our standard weekly Leads meeting, where all dept. leads sit down and talk about what’s happening in their individual deprtments; but once that was wrapped, I headed to the lobby to meet up with this years World Series MVP and Phillies pitcher, Cole Hamels. Seen above (on the right) with one of our resident baseball fanboys and animators, Chance Glasco (left).

For being the most highly sought after player in league right now, after securing the MVP award at the World Series recently, he’s an extremely down to earth guy and a most importantly a huge gamer as attested to by his wife who confirmed he’ll disappear for days only to reappear fully bearded from a week of uninterrupted gaming. A life style I can relate to.

Although, from talking to Cole, it seems those game-a-thons are few and far between, especially when preparing for the World Series. He said gaming during the season is typically reserved for the early hours of the morning after games, when him and fellow team mates jump on. So if you’re playing between 11pm - 2:30 am and hear an abnormal amount of baseball talk, then you know why.

We gave him a tour around the studio while he was here, and it was especially interesting when we were showing off some of our Motion Capture. Cole started talking about how he’s done it before, but not for a game. He uses Motion Capture to record and analyze his pitching form, so that they can determine how to further improve his pitching and prevent injuries.

It was a good visit. It’s always nice to meet fans of the game, especially if were fans of theirs. Cole admitted he’s not alone in his COD4 addiction, saying he typically parties up after games with fellow team mates like Adam Eaton or teams they’re facing that day like the legendary Ken Griffey Jr. 

Just goes to show, you never know who you’re going up against when you log on. 

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)

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. 

Back from PAX means back to work, and while it’s a short week thanks to Labor Day it’s the one time I wish it wasn’t because I have a lot of stuff to get done. I’m currently working on getting everything organized and together for an upcoming Xbox Live / PSN promotion we have coming up the weekend of Sept. 13th - 14th. Which isn’t this weekend, but next weekend. I will have exact details on what it is in the near future but I have a gut feeling it’ll have Double XP attached to it for all those hungry for some power-leveling on Call of Duty 4.

Currently working on designing some Xbox Live banners to promote it on the marketplace and attempting to get everything together for it on our end. This promotion is technically unrelated to the new Playlists, but I won’t lie that my hope is to finish them up in time so that we can make it all one big promotion. How epic would that be? Our awesome QA team and producers are helping me push hard to make it happen by the weekend of the big promotion, no promises, but as always I’ll keep you updated on the progress.