interview

Seriously man…. You’re killing me!

If I see one more Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare google alert come through my inbox, that ends up being a COD:WaW article that is only showing up because YOU referenced Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare more times than you mention World At War….

Especially when you’re pulling shit out of your ass. Come on man, interview about your game. Not OURS! Call of Duty: World at War can stand on it’s own merits, leave ours out of it. Like this gem of a quote from today’s article on CVG…

“In the previous Call of Dutys it might take three or four shots from a bolt action rifle,” he explained. “We made sure that a single shot centre mass would kill that opponent because that’s the expectation of the player.”

WTF are you talking about?! “in previous Call of Dutys blah blah blah”. First of all, you didn’t work on “previous Call of Dutys”, so don’t talk as if you’re down with how / why things were designed the way they were. Second, you’re completely fucking wrong.

Bolt Action rifles are one hit kills in every Call of Duty we (Infinity Ward) made!!

I won’t compare it to World at War’s Bolt Actions, I can’t speak to that because I don’t work there. Just like you don’t work here, so please stop talking about our games.

A rule of thumb I like to use is…. when promoting your game. Promote YOUR game. Don’t compare it to another game, or reference what OTHER games did in the past, pitch YOUR game. I mean, you have lots of cool things you could talk about… like Nazi Zombies….

Can you guys please stop interviewing this guy, talk to someone who actually works on the Dev Team at Treyarch and knows what the fuck they’re talking about. Not Senior Super Douche Noah Heller from Activision - who apparently has never played the game and doesn’t even work at the developer.

Alright, I’m done ranting… but I can’t take another google alert of garbage coming through my inbox with bullshit quotes from this guy.

[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.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.486307&w=425&h=350&fv=] from www.gametrailers.com posted with vodpod

As promised, here is the world exclusive unveiling of the new multiplayer DLC map Chinatown which appeared on SpikeTV Friday night. What’s so great about Chinatown? Well among being a beautiful map set in the downtown district of Chinatown under the lighting of a full moon and decorative laterns in the rain soaked streets of the city…. it’s a classic Call of Duty remake of Carentan! One of the most popular and most demanded maps from the previous Infinity Ward Call of Duty games is back with a complete visual over haul and design elements.

So far you’ve seen three of the four new maps in the upcoming Variety Map Pack, with the Gamespot article showing you Broadcast and Creek and now Chinatown on Gametrailers, don’t worry though, as Monday is going to have a load of new visuals and information on ALL FOUR maps in the upcoming DLC pack. With all new gameplay footage on every map and some brand new screenshots as well coming Monday you’re about to get a information overload next week from IGN, TeamXbox, and Gamespy who came down this past week and spent the entire day playing multiplayer with the team and I at Infinity Ward on the new maps.So be sure to check out those sites on Monday, I’ll post a re-cap on here most likely and if you have questions about the maps in the meantime or afterwards be sure to let me know and I’ll try to answer anything you might have. Meanwhile, let me know what you think of the maps so far, how’d you like Chinatown? Thoughts on Broadcast or Creek? Let me know.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.480890&w=425&h=350&fv=] from www.gametrailers.com posted with vodpod

Last week was a busy one, with me being in San Francisco for GDC all week long. While I was up there though I had a chance to talk to a lot of people about the upcoming DLC we’re working on. The overall news of them all though is that there are Three (3) New Maps coming out in Spring for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and most importantly these maps are 100% community inspired. Those who frequent the blog may remember a bit back when I announced we were even working on DLC, I asked you for your input. I said, if it was up to you, what would you like to see?

I’m happy to say, as I’ve been playing the new maps over and over again here at the studio and at home during play tests that a lot of you are getting exactly what you asked for. I can’t wait till I can go into detail about the specific maps, but I can proudly say that your feedback made it in. Another thing I like about this map pack is the fact that it’s bringing completely new locations to the game, so we’re getting away from more desert towns or Russian villages and want to bring you something that brings more variety to the map rotation. You guys are going to love these maps. I tried to drop as many hints as to what you can expect in the following interviews without giving too much away and ruining anything, I’ll be talking a lot more in the future about what you can expect as we start finalizing details and release dates. Right now we’re working on some video stuff for one of the maps and I’ll keep you guys informed on more when I can.

Hit the jump for the a partial interview list from last week.

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I did a quick video interview with Marc Ecko’s Complex Magazine this past week that will be going live in March. We discussed Call of Duty 4, First Person Shooters, and video games in general for the interview. I’ll be sure to post the actual video when it goes live later in March, meanwhile you should check out their latest issue with Olivia Munn from G4 TV and enjoy the pic the producer snapped after the interview.

This is my first change to sit down and blog all day, but the day is going great. Later tonight I’ll collect all the links and interviews that have went live so far and post them so you can keep track of the interviews.

Just got back from 1up / EGM / GFW studios over at Ziff Davis Media where I sat down and talked a few of their reporters and participated in the 1up Yours podcast. It was a good show where we talked about a lot of FPS-centric community items, such as “what keeps a community involved over a long period of time” , “How to keep the game fresh”, and “how to not intimidate new players once it’s already popular”.

Also did a great interview with Playstation Universe, international press, and a few others.

while on the show floor I also ran into Devin from 360sync.com and sat down for lunch and a quick interview to chat about the community, Call of Duty 4, and gaming in general.

Gotta run, have a TV interview at 5:30 a few blocks away, I’ll write more tonight after the GDC Choice awards!

I recently talked with IGN’s Hilary Goldstein regarding the development of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare; taking a look back at what could have been, why we chose to make it how it is, and changes that you may see in the future to the game. We touched on a lot of great subjects from vehicles in multiplayer to how the team finds inspiration for missions and future DLC maps.

Bowling revealed that there were once vehicle mission in the game and even Humvees in multiplayer. He went on to explain what was coming in the next patch and explained the process for creating multiplayer maps.

Check out the full 4-page interview at IGN here: IGN: Call of Duty 4 Post-Mortem

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is coming up next week and I’ll be in San Francisco all week. While I’m up there though I’ll be stopping by the 1up Yours Show along with Bungie’s community manager Brian Jarrard to talk video games…. and stuff. I plan on playing it by ear for the most part (those tend to be the most entertaining interviews) as well as discussing community involvement I’m sure.

1up Yours plans to be doing daily shows the week of GDC and look to have a lot of great guests all week long. Details on the show below, and hit the jump for the full schedule straight from the producer’s blog.

WEDNESDAY, 2/20

1UP Yours: “Shoot ‘em Up”
Robert Bowling, Infinity Ward & Brian Jarrard, Bungie

With our two games respectively battling it out for the #1 spot on Xbox Live, I’d say it might be an interesting show to see the different approaches each of our studios take. I’ll of course have a recap next week after the show.

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The Un-Official Gears of War blog has apparently been playing some Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which led to me doing what I think turned out to be a really great interview with site owner Tyler Bleszinski (Papi blez) and Gears of War designer Cliffy B’s brother; which is now up for viewing on their site.

We were able to delve into some good topics, such as matchmaking (Rank vs Skill), the Party system (Dropped? Why?), and some insight into why we did what we did on certain levels / scenarios in the game. All in all it’s a good read, so check it out over at their site here:

Gearheads Interview Infinity Ward About COD4

Looks like we may have to throw down with the Gearheads in some Search and Destroy in the near future, so expect a post after that recounting our glorious victory and triumphant domination of them. (just adding fuel to the fire) . Thanks Tyler!

Was MIA this weekend for the most part, but wanted to give a heads up to this past weekend’s Major Nelson Podcast.

I took some time to talk to my good friend Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb, the Director of Programming for Xbox Live, on his show this weekend. We talked a briefly about the Call of Duty 4 MP BETA touching on some important topics such as people Account Sharing to get into the beta, stats we’re tracking behind the scenes, as well as touch on various other topics.

[Listen Here]

In other news: As I said last week, your token should be in your Charlie.com profile by now, if it is not, don’t be shy in letting me know in the comments, but MOST IMPORTANTLY put your email address in the comment with it so I can check the list and get you your token if need be. Thanks everyone.