Activision Publishing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, announced recently that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 crossed the $1 billion mark in sales since its launch on November 8, 2011, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information.

Highlighting the trend of interactive entertainment gaining a greater hold of audiences worldwide, the game achieved this milestone in just 16 days, eclipsing the record set in 2009 by the feature film “Avatar,” which reached the $1 billion milestone in 17 days.

While 2011 box office revenue is on the decline – down 4 percent this year at $9.4 billion, compared with $9.8 billion in 2010 — the number of people purchasing and participating in gaming is on the rise, with no sign of slowing_. With more than 30 million gamers, the Call of Duty community now exceeds the combined populations of the cities of New York, London, Tokyo, Paris and Madrid.

“Engagement of our Call of Duty audience continues to rise around the world” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. ”Call of Duty as an entertainment franchise has made an indelible mark on popular culture and its broad and continued success is further validation that audiences increasingly value interactive experiences over passive experiences.”

Call of Duty is now amongst that rarified group of sustained franchises like “Star Wars”, “Harry Potter”, “Lord of the Rings” and the National Football League (NFL) that attract or engage tens of millions of people every year or every new release.

Our Call of Duty Elite is one of the fastest growing online services ever with more than six million players registered since its launch November 8, 2011 and over one million premium subscriptions sold to date. By comparison, the premium subscription services of Netflix, Hulu Plus, Sirius XM and Xbox LIVE, did not reach one million paid subscribers until almost one year after launch.

“Call of Duty has become that rare entertainment franchise that transcends its own genre. Core gamers love it, as our stellar reviews show. But every year, new people are drawn into Call of Duty,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. ”And while the franchise continues to set records, our fans still seem to want more, demonstrated by our record setting start on Call of Duty Elite.

We are committed to helping everyone connect, compete and improve their game, Call of Duty style.”

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To say survival mode is easy would be a lie, but it doesn’t start off immediately massacring you at every corner. With tons of weapons, armor and maps, this mode is a seriously hearty shoot’em up. The player is pulled into the massacre under false pretenses, gleefully smiling all the while believing that the first few rounds are representative of all four difficulty tiers. The truth is they aren’t, not even close.

If you must stay in a designated area during a firefight, choose a good chokepoint, and there are a few on each map. On most of the maps you’ll find alleyways or stairs that can definitely be used to your advantage. Think smart and utilize the walls that can protect you rather than hiding behind the paper thin guard rails. Stay mobile and learn the maps. You’ll need that knowledge to play strategically.

TIP: On the Map titled “Mission” for example, where your weapons armory is located, there is actually a very convenient two-way L shaped alley. Plant a cheap Claymore or the family friendly Sentry Gun on one side and just watch the magic. Additionally, the mouth of one end of the L shape has a little room to hide in from Chopper fire.

Whereas the campaign will have more ammo than you know what to do with, the Survival mode does away with that scheme, requiring you to buy your ammo after each successive wave of enemies.  More ammo now means less grenades and armor later. You can still go get more of anything you need while there is a lull in active combat, though there is the risk that you’ll exit the menus and get swarmed.

TIP: Make smart choices; stick with easy reloading semi-automatic weapons for the most part. One aspect of buying more ammunition is that it doesn’t matter what gun you have so just take the gun off one of the enemies and presto, no need to spend money on a new shiny gun. When you do decide to buy a new weapon, a good idea is to trade up to an assault rifle and a shotgun, perhaps the AA-12.

The melee function will be a welcome bonus that players should take quite seriously. Of the many weapon choices that are available to you even early on, it is the cheapest option. Some enemies will even require 2 melee attacks. Reminiscent of Halo, a shotgun to the chest followed by a melee attack will work perfectly well even when you get into the 3rd or 4th difficulty tier levels.

TIP: Melee is not suggested for the enemies who have strapped C4 to themselves, but the big red backpack is a huge giveaway. Instead, if you’ve achieved the sniper rifle, go for that option if you can. Regardless, keep your distance and use bottleneck chokepoints set away from your position if possible.

The announcement that armed Helicopters are gunning for you will send a chill through your veins but the battle isn’t over yet. There is some lag between when you pop up and when they start shooting at you, so time it right and make sure not to miss. There are blind spots on the maps, look for them.

TIP: In the Underground Map, you’ll be able to hide inside the main subway station with the glass above providing limited protection. Next to the lockers under the stairs, on the side with the Weapons Armory is a two by two alcove that may not look like it provides much protection, but is actually the perfect spot to fight off the Helicopters.  An RPG or Air Strike is an option but is ultimately less satisfying.

WARNING: The above strategy only works for that level because once you move past the first four maps, the difficulty level changes, so hiding alone will not be enough since at the ‘regular’ and above difficulty tiers has hunters who come into your hiding spot to destroy you.

Lastly, Choppers also drop the dreaded Juggernaut. Armor reinforced and the hardest to kill, you’ll need every ounce of mobility and gaming prowess that you possess to take out this giant of a hunter. A bloodhound on two legs, this is Call of Duty’s answer to how they would put T-1000, The Terminator, inside of their game.

The heavier the weapon to shoot him with, the better your chances, since you’ll likely exhaust almost all your resources destroying him. One suggested strategy, if you can use it, is to call the assistance of the Delta or Riot Squad guys, but it isn’t cheap.

TIP: You’ll want explosives on hand for him; do so just as juggernaut lands out of the helicopter or when he is chasing you. A straight chase won’t work so jumping off one of the upper levels restricts his movement and give you time to get away and plant the explosive. In the Lockdown Map on the ‘Insane’ Tier difficulty, there is a second story room that directly overlooks the Weapons Armory that makes a great chokepoint.

Once you shoot everyone else but hopefully spot the Juggernaut in the chaos, jump out the window after setting tons of explosives inside the room. Mention Survival Mode of any kind to any recent gamer and they will conjure up all manner of mammal or even fauna that have chased a player around in a First Person shooter.

A manic desperation permeates your mind as you calculate your chances of making it to the next round in the Spec Ops mode. The Flood from the Halo series campaign mode comes to mind with its survive or die attitude. Throughout “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3″, the benchmark has been set high enough that all previous iterations of Survival mode look like a demo in comparison. Good luck, you’ll need it.

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As First-Person Shooters go, this monster of a game is the king of the hill. There are few competitors who can match this level of focused development on a game with so many gameplay options. Infinity Ward has a long history for developing Call of Duty games, each iteration getting bigger and better as the years progress.

Players from Modern Warfare 2 will recognize the feel and gameplay mechanics of Modern Warfare 3; there is something that is unique to the Modern Warfare series that competitors can’t quite duplicate. What this creates is a game that is at once familiar and yet also features new elements for players to experience.

With Modern Warfare 3, the storyline is straight and to the point. Some fans commented in Modern Warfare 2 that the plot was just a touch past the point of confused head scratching, and so that has been tweaked to a degree, focusing more on the seamlessness between missions with noticeable highs intermixed with low points of the campaign. You won’t be bored here.

The visuals of the game are more streamlined and that really appears to be the name of the game this time. Previous Modern Warfare games have felt rushed or chaotic, and while there is no shortage of either in this game, the visuals certainly draw you into the game world. Developers have focused more on realism and less on quick and fast gameplay.

The campaign itself is indeed more fluid, with events planned out to prevent any and all confusion from setting into the players’ minds. You have options in weapons and in gameplay direction, but the flow is overall more cognizant of the players’ choices. You won’t have to worry about ammo or weapons, as there will be plenty of them to be found in the environment.

The Survival mode in Spec Ops is particularly organic, mixing different types of enemies after each successive wave of opponents that are trying to batter you down. Warning, the helicopter will make you cower in fear, if you make it to a good hiding spot at all. Here you’ll either play smart or die fast, and the player must choose their reloads.

Do you want more grenades or more ammo? You won’t have time to get both. This mode puts to shame any comparisons to Zombie Mode from Call of Duty: Black Ops; it’s just leagues apart.

The real draw for most players of Modern Warfare 3 will be the online multiplayer. Beyond the campaign and the reasonably predictable AI, the need to play against a living breathing person is the real advantage of the game. With new weapons and map packs likely to come online, players can expect to have a very customized multiplayer journey.

Experience points are gained for every kill and are also gained for every flag or dog tag collected in new multiplayer modes. The Kill Confirmed mode is one of the new modes available that should lead to a lot of creative strategies to avoid walking into an ambush. This mode will require the player to retrieve the dog tags from opponents that they’ve eliminated.

It means that, yes, you can be fast with a gun, but now you’ll also have to be strategic and not babysit the high ground with a big gun. Happily, all is not lost as you can actually deny the opposing team their points by picking up your teammates’ dog tags before they do. The Team Defender mode is a hybrid combination of Capture the Flag and King of the Hill.

The team that keeps the flag for the longest amount of time will accumulate the most amount of points as most would expect, except that the flag is mobile the entire match and it’s a race to see who can hide or run the furthest without dying. Flag generation will likely lead to no shortage of online trash talking since the first player to be killed is the one who generates the one flag for the whole match.

This should lead to some otherwise hilarious kill footage. The snag in an otherwise seamless game begins in a familiar area that fans are all too frustrated with experiencing. The re-spawning part of the online multiplayer is again an issue that Infinity Ward seems unwilling to address. Players just don’t like getting killed immediately after re-spawning; it just isn’t exciting.

The interactive button press cut scenes in campaign can be an annoyance on the second or third round of play through but are otherwise fine. Modern Warfare 3 is an excellent addition to the Call of Duty series. Its crisp visuals, combined with the better plotted storyline and continually evolving gameplay, make for an exceptionally focused game.

Players will be able to tell, versus Modern Warfare 2′s scattered jumble, that this iteration of Modern Warfare felt like it was developed along a very specific set of guidelines. As a result, the replay value on this game is particularly high, so it is unlikely that there will be many used copies available in the immediate future.

The overall game retains that great First-Person Shooter feel from past versions, and the new multiplayer options create an even greater range of death and destruction than ever before. This is a solid game that for any shooting fan is a must have for their collection.
Image Courtesy of   http://www.callofduty.com

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With titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim recently dropping this past week, shoppers may have their hands full. But let’s not forget November 15th, the day when several games on multiple consoles release all at once. The rest of the season seems pretty minor in terms of releases, so fans should take note of these next few titles that are anything but small potatoes.

The fall season appears to be the sweet spot for many game releases. The oncoming holiday season makes it a perfect time to start packing store shelves with games and strategy guides from here to the moon. A veritable gamer’s paradise as far as release titles are concerned, as well as a bit of a headache for anyone shopping with a gaming fan.

Below is a small collection, across multiple consoles, of the biggest games still being released this week that will make fans think twice about their wallets and their time.

Fighters will certainly gravitate to Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (November 15). A long-awaited title, this new edition of Marvel Vs Capcom is a fabulous fighter with an enormous range of characters and playing styles that compliment to original Marvel Vs Capcom 3 release back in February of this year.

Similarly, shooters will definitely want to pick up Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (November 15). The new Combat Evolved title is a remake of 2001′s Halo: Combat Evolved. Developer 343 Industries is new to the series, taking over where Bungie left off. Combat Evolved will be the first Halo game to include Kinect support and should give fans a clear indication of the style and direction of 343 Industries.

Not to be left out, Need for Speed: The Run (November 15) is also coming out. Running counter to the simulation style of Shift 2 Unleashed or Forza Motorsport 4 this racer’s storyline influence changes the classic arcade racer into a linear race themed movie blazing across the continental United States.

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (November 15) is the final chapter in the trilogy of Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, an Assassin of the highest caliber. Famed for its huge maps, involving storyline and action intense gameplay, this newest iteration of Assassins Creed seems like a must buy for fans of the Assassin Genre.

For more on Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, check back for our review later in the week on what promises to be an excellent title. PC fans will have to wait longer because Assassins Creed: Revelations is slated for PC release on November 29.

Players unfamiliar with Saints Row: The Third (November 15) will find a game set in the open world sand box style, fictional city of Steelport. The Saints Row Franchise has been compared to Grand Theft Auto before but this game is a different take on a similar format.  Developer Volition Inc. achieves this different gameplay feel using equal parts silly good fun and raunchy mayhem all at the same time.

As if that weren’t enough,(November 15th )gets yet another full featured title for release with Rayman: Origins. Younger players will love this side-scrolling platforming game for its bright colors and rare beauty, while older players will remember their first Rayman game and rejoice in the return of its excellence thanks to developer Ubisoft.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (November 20)has received its fair share of marketing with commercial spots appearing on select TV channels. This Zelda title for the Nintendo Wii is believed by many to be the crowning achievement and is a prequel for the entire series, beginning before Ocarina of Time.

Batman: Arkham City has already been released, but PC fans will have had to wait until November 22. Having received critical acclaim from players and reviewers alike, this iteration of Batman was as well received as its Arkham Asylum predecessor. As with games such as Assassins Creed Batman: Arkham City is also an open world action game, a popular and time tested format these days.

Star War: The Old Republic (December 20), the MMORPG for PC will likely also make a great showing, maintaining a strong fan base despite the late release date. Just days before Christmas, its players will no doubt enjoy a lengthy vacation or at least some time off to play with other friends and family.

This wraps up our look at some of the titles still to be released in the coming weeks. With such fantastic games featured for each genre of gaming, fans will be hard pressed to pick one over the other.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.callofduty.com

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