infinity-ward posts

Even with its $15 price tag the launch of the PC version of Modern Warfare 2''s Stimulus Package of multiplayer maps continues to sell well via Steam. Now come word from developer Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling (via his handy Twitter page) that the second and final map pack for the hit first person shooter will be released soon for the PC.

The Resurgence Pack will become available for PC owners via Steam on July 6 and its likely to cost $15 as well. As we have reported before the map pack contains five multiplayer levels. Two of them (Vacant and Strike) are remakes from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare while the other three (Fuel, Trailer Pack and Carnival) are all new maps.

We thought it might be a long while before we heard anything concrete from the new developer Respawn Entertainment. But the new studio formed by ex-Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella maybe making their first big game announcement next week at E3 2010.

A Facebook page with both men's names declares, "big time announcement at E3 next week. stay tuned, kiddies!" If the Facebook page is legit, it's likely any announcement will come during Electronic Arts' press conference that's scheduled for Monday afternoon at 5 pm Eastern time. EA is publishing Respawn Entertainment's first game title under their third party EA Partners brand.

[Via VG247.com]

One of the better elements of Modern Warfare 2 is the game's up tempo action movie-like soundtrack This week publisher Activision announced that the soundtrack to developer Infinity Ward's hit first person shooter is now available for purchase online via iTunes.

The $9.99 17 track release contains the main music composed by Lorne Balfe as well as the game's main music theme which was composed by Academy Award winning music composer Hanz Zimmer. Activision states this will be the first of many of its game soundtracks that it will release thanks to a new agreement with music publisher Fontana.

Publisher Activision is determined to expand its massively successful Call of Duty franchise and one of the ways the company is doing that is putting a third developer in charge of making a game in the series. Adding to Infinity Ward and Treyarch is the newly launched Sledgehammer Games division. However it was previously announced that the Call of Duty game Sledgehammer was making would be an "action-adventure" title.

Now it looks like that may be premature. A job listing on Gamasutra specifically states that Sledgehammer Games is recruiting people to work on its "Call of Duty FPS development team." Unless they plan to put in some adventure game elements it doesn't sound like this new title will deviate very far from the normal Call of Duty game.

Developer Treyarch is going to make a lot of PC multiplayer gamers happy today. According to the new issue of the UK-based PC Zone (and posted at Computer and Video Games), the developer of the upcoming shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops will support dedicated servers for the PC multiplayer portion of the game.

In fact Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia states, "I think dedicated servers are excellent. I don't see any reason not to see them unless... well, I just don't see any reason not to." It's sister developer Infinity Ward certainly found ways to rationalize their move in 2009 to eliminate dedicate server support for the PC port Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It was a decision that caused a massive firestorm of internet hatred towards Infinity Ward although in the end it didn't affect seem to affect sales of the game. However Lamia states that for their game, "We do work very hard to reconcile the desire to manipulate and modify those dedicated servers with offering them the persistent experience and benefits that the console system provides."

For some odd reason, Activision decided not to go into any real details Thursday when it first announced its plans for the second map pack for the hit first person shooter Modern Warfare 2. The company left that up to Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb and Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling late in the day on Thursday via a special edition of the Major Nelson podcast.

Bowling stated during the podcast that the five maps for the Resurgence Pack would contain two levels from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Vacant and Strike). The three all new levels include Fuel (a large outdoor map set in an oil refinery), Trailer Park (a level made to look like a mobile home park) and Carnival (a amusement park level complete with rollercoasters, a fun house and more). The Xbox 360 audience gets first crack at the map pack on June 3. The PC version will likely be released later this summer at a cost of $15.

We knew that a second map pack for Modern Warfare 2 was in the works. Today publisher Activision revealed that the second map pack for the hit first person shooter will be called the Resurgence Pack. Like the previous Stimulus Pack it will contain five additional multiplayer levels. No other details on the map pack were released.

The pack will be released for Xbox 360 owners first on June 3. If the Resurgence Pack release schedule is like the Stimulus Pack PC gamers can expect to get access to this second map pack sometime in July. Despite a $15 price tag, the first DLC for Modern Warfare 2 has been a big sales hit on Steam.

As promised earlier this week, Steam users can now download and play the multiplayer portion of Infinity Ward's hit first person shooter Modern Warfare 2 for free from now until early on Monday. The free multiplayer play also comes with a double XP time period so if you want to see your character's experience go way, way up this weekend is for you.

Steam is also offering a special weekend sale of the full game. From now until Monday you can get the title for $10 off its normal price. That makes up for two thirds of the price of the just released Stimulus Package map pack.

Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick talked candidly about last March's dismissal of Infinity Ward's co-founders Vince Zampella and Jason West during the publisher's conference call with investors today. Kotich stated that the company "had no choice but to terminate" the duo for what he said was "insubordination." He also denied West and Zampella's claim that Activision simply didn't want to pay them bonuses, saying. "There was nothing that would have allowed us to retain them. We did this to protect the company's assets and the interest of our shareholders."

Kotich stated that before their dismissal he considered the Infinity Ward co-founders to be his friends. However he added, "Their conduct was a compromise of our friendship, which was equally disappointing." He admitted that he expects more developers to leave Infinity Ward beyond the 35 team members that have already left the dev team in the wake of West and Zampbella's firing. However Infinity Ward is still working on a second map pack for their hit first person shooter Modern Warfare 2 that will be released later this year.

With the Stimulus Package map pack now available for purchase for the PC version of Modern Warfare 2, it's apparently time to celebrate with yet another free weekend of play on Steam. The PC game download service will let folks who have yet to play the Infinity Ward first person shooter play online for free.

There's no word yet on exactly when the free weekend of play will begin or end but Steam users can go ahead and pre-load the free version now in preparation for when it goes live. Remember, Modern Warfare 2 PC owners get double XP when playing the game's multiplayer modes from now until May 9.%
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