Call of Duty Elite Drop 1: Liberation, a militarised Central Park in the heart of NYC, features a vast landscape ripe for long-range sniper and LMG kills. Mounted turrets on opposing ends of the map offer overwhelming firepower to anyone brave enough to man them. Elite Drop 2: Piazza, set in an idyllic seaside village, Italian getaway gone rogue, where blind corners and a complex network of branching pathways pose danger at every turn. Visceral close-quarters combat dominates in Piazza, and attacks from above and below are an ever-constant threat.

The Modern Warfare 3 Content Season is co-developed by Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software. All content is available first to Premium Members on Xbox 360, but will be available to Premium Members on PS3 before non-premium members on their console.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is PEGI rated 18. For more information on the Call of Duty: MW3 content drops, season of content, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty Elite visit www.callofduty.com/mw3 and www.callofduty.com/elite.

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Call of Duty Elite Drop 1: Liberation, a militarised Central Park in the heart of NYC, featuring a vast landscape ripe for long-range sniper and LMG kills. Mounted turrets on opposing ends of the map offer overwhelming firepower to anyone brave enough to man them. Elite Drop 2: Piazza, set in an idyllic seaside village, Italian getaway gone rogue, where blind corners and a complex network of branching pathways pose danger at every turn. Visceral close-quarters combat dominates in Piazza, and attacks from above and below are an ever-constant threat.

To celebrate the launch of the new content drops on Xbox LIVE, Call of Duty Elite will run specialised community screen shot events highlighting the new maps through the end of the month, with real-world prizes on tap for winners.

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This makes 3 years in a row for Activision as the publisher also made No1 in 2010 with Call of Duty: Black Ops and in 2009 with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has continued to set new records since its release in November last year, grossing a record-breaking £83 million in its first week of sales, which was also the biggest grossing week of all time for video games software at £121m.

EA also had a strong year with the No2 and No3 games FIFA 12 and Battlefield 3. FIFA 12, the latest version of EA’s football game kick-started the market at the end of September last year, selling around 1m units in the UK in just 2 days.  Meanwhile, Battlefield 3 became the most successful alternative to Activision’s Call of Duty series and remains within the Top 10 of the most successful week 1 launch titles in the UK.

At No4 is 505 Games’ Zumba Fitness, mostly thanks to the release in 2011 of the Wii version – overall sales on Wii, 360, PS3 meant that the title topped the All Formats Chart 13 times in 2011, but on the Wii chart, the title ruled for record-breaking 28 consecutive weeks in 2011.

Bethesda’s critically acclaimed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim takes No5 and is the publisher’s most successful title ever and a first Top 10 All Formats placing over a year, even taking No3 on the Xbox 360 and PC Games individual format charts.

Ubisoft’s strong performance in 2011 is highlighted at No6 and No7 with Just Dance 3 and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.

Completing the Top 10 is Take 2 at No8 with L.A. Noire, THQ at No9 with Saints Row: The Third and Warner at No10 with Batman: Arkham City.

New for 2011 was the Nintendo 3DS, gaining a separate chart from DS and topped by Nintendo’s most popular franchise, Super Mario 3D Land.

On DS the latest Professor Layton And The Spectre’s Call carries on a 3 year tradition of being the No1 DS game (2010 was Professor Layton And The Lost Future, 2009 was Professor Layton And The Curious Village).

2011 All Formats Chart

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2. FIFA 12
3. Battlefield 3
4. Zumba Fitness
5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
6. Just Dance 3
7. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
8. L.A. Noire
9. Saints Row: The Third
10. Batman: Arkham City

2011 Nintendo Wii  Chart

1. Zumba Fitness
2. Just Dance 3
3. Just Dance 2
4. Mario Kart Wii
5. Wii Sports Resort

2011 Sony PlayStation 3 Chart

1. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2. FIFA 12
3. Battlefield 3
4. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
5. Assassins Creed: Revelations

2011 XBox 360 Chart

1. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2. FIFA 12
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
4. Battlefield 3
5. Gears of War 3

2011 Nintendo DS Chart

1. Professor Layton And The Spectre’s Call
2. Pokemon White Version
3. Pokemon Black Version
4. Art Academy
5. Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo

2011 Sony PSP Chart

1. FIFA 12
2. FIFA 11
3. Motorstorm: Arctic Edge
4. Gran Turismo
5. Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines

2011 Nintendo 3DS Chart

1. Super Mario 3D Land
2. Mario Kart 7
3. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time 3D
4. Nintendogs + Cats: Golden Retriever
5. Rayman 3D

2011 PC Games

1. Football Manager 2012
2. Football Manager 2011
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
4. The Sims 3
5. Battlefield 3

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Activision Publishing, revealed today that the content will be available first for Call of Duty Elite’s premium members on Xbox LIVE, followed by additional platforms at a later time. From January through September, Call of Duty Elite premium members on Xbox LIVE will receive regular updates of all new content totaling at least 20 content drops.

The Modern Warfare 3 Content Season for Call of Duty Elite will include a broader variety than ever, with brand new multiplayer maps, Special Ops Missions, new game modes and more. While Call of Duty Elite premium subscribers get the new content first, as promised, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 fans who want to buy the content a la carte as they have in the past, will be able to purchase the content via Modern Warfare 3 Content Collections.

“The mammoth launch of Modern Warfare 3 and the breakout success of Call of Duty Elite were just the beginning. Call of Duty Elite provides an ‛always-on’ connection to our fanbase, and the MW3 Content Season is the ultimate way to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Call of Duty community and provide tremendous value to Call of Duty Elite premium members,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “With the Call of Duty®: MW3 Content Season for Call of Duty Elite we are delivering on our promise of more new content, more often, and with more variety than ever. With three studios collaborating on the first season, the breadth and depth of material on tap is truly extraordinary. It’s rare you can successfully execute both quantity and quality, but thanks to the expertise of our developers, the reach of Call of Duty Elite and the passion of our fans, we intend to deliver.”

All content drops for Call of Duty Elite premium members will occur once a month, starting in January for Xbox Live users and will continue through the year, ending in September. During the first three months of 2012, Activision will release five different content drops on three occasions in January, February and March, first on Xbox Live, followed by additional platforms at a later time.

The first two Content Drops will be multiplayer maps—also playable in Modern Warfare 3 Survival Mode—that throw combatants into a war-tornCentral Park and an Italian seaside village. Liberation is a vast, militarized landscape, ripe for long-range sniper and LMG fire, with mounted turrets on either end that lend power to anyone brave enough to expose themselves in exchange for deadly firepower. Piazza is the idyllic Italian getaway that is anything but, where tight corners and branching pathways pose great risk at every turn. Close-range combat dominates in Piazza, where attacks from behind, above and below are an ever-constant threat.

The third Content Drop will be available for download in mid-February and two additional Content Drops will go live in March, as premium Call of Duty Elite members will receive new content once a month through September. Also in March, the first Modern Warfare 3 Content Collection will be available for purchase by the entire Call of Duty: MW3 player community on Xbox Live.

To celebrate the launch of each new content drop, Call of Duty Elite will run specialized events for real-world prizes throughout the nine-month Season. Additional details about the Modern Warfare 3 Content Season for Call of Duty Elite and Collection series will be announced throughout the year.

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In fact, these predictions can be made so confidently by anyone and you know they would be right.  The Call Of Duty franchise is such a powerhouse that it must single handedly bankroll Activision at times and with Modern Warfare 3 now released, the battle between this title and EA’s offering, Battlefield 3 is over, done and dusted.

• Likes

  • Exhillerating Campaign
  • Balanced Multiplayer
  • Smooth online experience
  • Spec Ops Mode

• Dislikes

  • No playable maps with bots

You are all probably aware of my distaste for Modern Warfare 2.  It wasn’t that the game was poor as a whole, it was just that for all of the great elements in the game, the media frenzy over the airport scene and all of the negative attention it bought to the gaming industry, even though there were safeguards in place left a sour taste in my mouth questioning the necessity of it all.  Equally, I felt that the multiplayer was unbalanced and just felt plain wrong compared to an almost perfect Modern Warfare experience, trying too hard to look to better than the original and in doing so failing.

So, with anticipation and excitement and feeling a little bit wary I stepped into the world of Modern Warfare 3.  If you have played one of the earlier Modern Warfare titles before then you will instantly feel at home with the gameplay.  For all of the controversy that has surrounded the second title, one thing that is you can always rely on is jaw dropping set pieces with a great narrative that is woven between the other two Modern Warfare titles and finishes off the trilogy very nicely indeed.

Graphically, the game has also had a facelift with added lighting effects and a silky smooth frame rate, even at its most chaotic.  Several explosions around the world have triggered an invasion by the Russians and you are plunged right into the middle of it all, seeing the war play out from various aspects.  The locations that have been chosen represent some of the most iconic cities in the world, with Big Ben, Parliament, the Eiffel Tower, New York etc represented in their true glory with well know tourist places taking a hit or two which shocks as well as creates a certain awe.

Prague has also been represented within the game, spanning around three levels and since I have lived there and still visit every year can inform you that the beginning of the first level in Prague, coasting through the river of the Vltava river to the right of Charles Bridge heading towards the old town square is incredibly accurate.  Ducking under the pontoon that surrounds Klub Lavka on the right hand side into the tunnels of underground Prague fills me with a joy that Infinity Ward have accurately detailed the locations in which the game is set in.

The amount of action going on at any one time will always feel you with a sense of urgency and provoke various reactions along the way, as well as stun a few people with its twist and turns in the narrative.  Flashbacks into the past two Modern Warfare games help keep the pace of the narrative on track as well as remind the player of what went on the previous versions of the game.

[youutbe]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdKgDVruHfo[/youtube]

Again, the campaign stands out on its own and provides the entertainment that Call Of Duty titles seel themselves on as well as provide the typically tough challenge of running through the game on veteran for those with enough skill and patience to see it through.

We all know what multiplayer is about, damn, it has received enough notoriety in the past and is one of the reasons that the game sells so well.  Modern Warfare 3 has not faltered on this part either, providing the same base gamaplay that keeps gamers coming back for more but at the same time eliminating the balance issues from Modern Warfare 2 to put the game firmly back on track. The maps feel a lot more balanced and have a good range of places to hide, choke points and open spaces on each side to head up some fun but tense gameplay.  The kill streaks and weapon unlocks also have been changed a little to enable people to grab points on the fly, rather than just kills and adjust their weapon sets right off of the bat without it being too much of a chore.

The addition of Call Of Duty Elite too has added an extra string to the Modern Warfare bow, allowing gamers to track their stats in a completely new way as well as set up custom classes on the fly, ready to download directly into the game.  The addition of map overviews, training videos, weapon customisation and stat tracking via PC or in game provides a complete new tool set which will allow more immersion into the Call Of Duty world.

My only negative to come from the multiplayer section of the game this time around is the exclusion of being able to play against bots to get used to a map like Black Ops had.  This may put some people off of playing initially due to having to learn on the fly and although people may say that this is the best way to learn, the quality of some of the people out there may make for a negative experience for someone playing for the first time.

There is, however, a way around this and that is to play some co-operative levels.  Since Modern warfare 2, there has been spec ops missions which have brought friends together to play in a more relaxed environment.  Split into mission modes and a kind of horde mode, Spec Ops provides a way of friends coming together and attacking a variety of different styled missions against the clock to try and beat the leaderboards.  It is certainly a lot of fun and has a tonne of variety too.  If you need that little break from the chaos of multiplayer then this will certainly fill your time up nicely.

Overall, Modern Warfare 3 redresses the balance that Modern Warfare 2 failed to.  Reigning the game back into  tighter, explosive and more defined experience rather than trying to go too over the top to please, produces a game that will be very heard to beat for a few years yet.  Sure, it may not be as technically adept as Battlefield 3 is now but the wow factor still remains in its campaign and the multiplayer still leads the way in how a good online experience should be laid out.  Add to that co-op modes and Call Of Duty Elite to track everything in the game and you have a title that not only finishes off the story that is clear and concise but also brings the Call Of Duty franchise right back to where it belongs.

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That’s right, we’re streaming live right now!

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The partnership between YouTube and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will serve to give fans an All Access Pass to the most prestigious launch event of the year, providing a unique opportunity to head behind the scenes and be a part of the action as it unfolds.

The high voltage action kicks off on Monday 7^th November at 7pm as guests arrive on the ‘green’ carpet. Three dedicated roaming crews, hosted by well-known TV presenter Rick Edwards, Graeme Boyd aka AceyBongos from Xbox LIVE and YouTube super user DaveyBoyz, will stream a wealth of content including:

- Sledgehammer and Infinity Ward developer interviews

- Content from No.1 selling UK artist, Example

- Celebrity interviews

- Live coverage of the pan-European Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer Championship powered by Xbox Live

- Live coverage of the pan-European celebrity multiplayer tournament

- Interviews with UK MP team Infinity- runners up from the CODXP global competition

- Live link ups with Berlin and Paris launch events

- Midnight store opening coverage with all the fans

In addition to being available via YouTube, the event will also be live streamed by promotional partner Xbox 360 across EMEA on all Xbox Facebook pages including www.Facebook.com/XboxUK, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Facebook page and Callofduty.com and will culminate just after the game goes on sale, at 12am on the 8^th November.

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To meet the massive demand, 574 GAME and gamestation stores* across the country will be open at midnight. Call of Duty fans will get the chance to be first in the queue to experience the long awaited third instalment of this highest grossing entertainment franchise in the world.

GAME’s flagship store on Oxford Street will be hosting a spectacular midnight launch, offering fans a chance to get hold of official Call of Duty merchandise. If that isn’t enough, customers will also have the chance to win fantastic prizes, including a TV from the latest Samsung range, which will be sure to complement all the action from the latest Modern Warfare installment and will be given away to one lucky customer on the night.

Fans ‘on duty’ will also be treated to a special delivery of the new release in a style never seen before at GAME! Furthermore via a green screen, fans will be digitally placed into key art from the game, an exclusive Call of Duty keepsake just for GAME customers.

Neil Ashurst, head of UK PR at GAME said: “With this year’s Modern Warfare installment being bigger and better than ever before, we wanted to give our customers the most exciting midnight launch possible. With 574 GAME and gamestation stores opening at midnight for the launch of the biggest title of the year, we’ve drafted in our troops for the UK launch of the game giving our customers the chance to get their hands on the game as soon as it hits the shelves.”

For the latest information on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 midnight store launches, visit www.game.co.uk and www.gamestation.co.uk. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is also available for pre-order in store and on the GAME or gamestation website.

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“I’ve always been a massive fan of the Call of Duty franchise, ex-girlfriends have always been jealous of the attention I give to it,” said Example. “I’m certain Modern Warfare 3 is going to live up to the buzz. Such an honour to be asked to perform at the launch. Last year’s party was memorable for all the right reasons.”

Further details of the exclusive event will be released over the next two weeks.

Developed by award winning studios, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be released globally on the 8^th November

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Xbox 360, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games teamed up to create a “Call of Duty” collectible, just in time for the most epic “Call of Duty” experience yet. Aside from its (air)striking good looks, the console will play unmistakable “Call of Duty” sounds when powering up and when the tray is opened.

This must-have for “Call of Duty” fans worldwide includes a customised console with graphics from the game, along with two custom wireless controllers, a 320GB hard drive, a copy of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” as well as custom sounds when the console is turned on. A one month Xbox LIVE Gold subscription is included so you can play to your heart’s content, as well as exclusive avatar items that show your Xbox LIVE friends you’re one of the lucky ones to own this coveted console.

The console will launch on 8^th November, 2011 in the UK exclusively with GAME and gamestation for £269.99, and you can pre-order it starting today. At 320GB, the console has the largest hard drive ever available for Xbox 360, with more than enough space to download and save game add-ons, downloadable content, games, music, photos, videos and movies. While “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” does not support Kinect functionality, all Xbox 360 consoles are Kinect-ready for when you’re ready to take a break from the battlefield.

In addition to the console, Xbox 360 will be releasing two limited edition accessories, both exclusive to GAME and gamestation:

• The Xbox 360 Limited Edition Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Wireless Headset with Bluetooth provides the ability to chat with friends during multiplayer gameplay or with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, PCs and other devices. Its artwork matches the custom console and includes a charging cradle, ear loop, ear gels, and an Xbox LIVE token for an exclusive download for £44.99.

Users can chat without wires on Xbox LIVE and easily switch between Xbox 360 mode and Bluetooth mode. Use the headset with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, PCs and other devices. The Xbox 360 Limited Edition Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Wireless Headset with Bluetooth is the comfortable, hands-free way to keep the conversations going.

• The Xbox 360 Limited Edition Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Wireless Controller allows you to show all your friends your passion for the franchise. The controller includes exclusive artwork and a transforming D-pad that can be rotated to adapt to the user’s gameplay, as well as an Xbox LIVE token for an exclusive download, all for £39.99

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