1200 points for 5 maps seems like an okay deal until you notice that two of those maps appeared in the original Modern Warfare.  It’s bad enough that Infinity Ward takes overly long in producing additional content to support their games, but it is far worse to re-charge for content you have already purchased (assuming your bought the first Modern Warfare). In a better world, Activision/Infinity Ward would release 3 new maps at 800 points, with Crash and Overgrown released as a free download. Then again, I’m not a money-grubbing, greedy exec staring at the bottom-line like a mental patient.

Source

How often do voice-actors who contribute their talents to videogames actually know what they’re talking about when it comes to unannounced games? Not often. In fact, I can’t think of one who has ever predicted a game successfully. Now we have Craig Fairbrass, voice of the character Ghost in Modern Warfare 2, claiming a spin-off game about Ghost may be coming. Or, as I suppose, he wants more work so he’s trying to drum up fan support for the idea….

Source: That Videogame Blog

Charlie Wiederhold currently works for Infinity Ward as a mission scripter on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, so we’re not dealing with some anonymous weirdo here. Charlie just posted his memories of working at 3D Realms during the height of its power and what he recalls is chilling, stunning, and downright f’d-up. Let’s just say his memories make Cliffy B, Tim Sweeney, Mike Wilson and George B all look like major league assholes.

Example:

Faster than I can even remember (literally… I don’t remember) I was knocked out of my chair by I *think* of all people Tim Sweeney (it was a wooden kitchen chair) and was pinned on the ground by Mike Wilson and Cliffy B (he’s so much stronger than I ever expected). George walks over to my chair and fucking stomps the shit out of it until the legs are broken off. He casually picks up one of the legs that had split into a shit your pants style point and starts tossing it up and down. Scott and Mark Rein alternate on and off saying that I apparently wasn’t aware how *real* business is done and that if I didn’t want to find out why those two companies had maintained such a strong position in the industry dating back to the shareware days (when it seems people didn’t ask nearly as many questions about why developers appeared, made a game, and then disappeared without a trace)… I had better reconsider my answer.

Head here for the full, sordid story.

I’m sure there will be many more troubling stories emerging in the near future.

The recently released map pack for the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty 4 has shattered revenue records for Xbox Live, serving up 1-million sales in 9 days for a grand total of $10-million…for 4 freaking maps.
Remember when you played shooters on the PC and simply downloaded maps for free? Yeah, those days are over.
FromIGN:

“Infinity Ward is extremely grateful for support from our loyal Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare community around the world,” said Robert Bowling, community relations manager at Infinity Ward. “From the beginning, we were committed to do our best and that continues now with the Variety Map Pack. We can’t wait to get back online with everyone.”

Congratulations to Infinity Ward. Now about theremoval of the new map playlists…