Guillaume de Fondaumiere claims that the PlayStation 3-exclusive title has lost out on between €5 to €10 million due to sales of their flagship title in the second hand market.

These comments are sure to add more weight to the critics (mainly developers and publishers) who are fighting for the use of  ‘online passes’ for all games in future that offer an online experience. The idea behind the passes is that the original buyer gets a free pass with the new copy of the game and then any subsequent purchases of that disc must by the online pass to access all the features.

This has hit a sore nerve with many gamers, namely the ones who like to buy games on a budget or those who buy early and trade-in their games while they still have a high value.

Activision have only gone and released the official launch trailer to Call of Duty: Black Ops in anticipation of the game’s release in just over a week from now.

You can see the trailer in all its glory below and start getting yourself psyched for what is most likely going to be the biggest selling game of 2010, if not all time by the way things look to be going.

I think this trailer helps to clear up any concerns gamers may have had about Treyarch being able to fill the gap left by Infinity Ward and their Modern Warfare series.

The details, which were posted on the new site (http://callofduty.com/blackops/) were quite scarce, but it has been revealed in a tweet that the first proper trailer will be going live tonight on SpikeTV. Here is the full tweet from @treyarch:

“The world-premier teaser for the next Call of Duty airs Friday NIGHT (12:40AM) on SpikeTV! http://bit.ly/9TF07″

Well, that’s everything I’m afraid, for any more details on the game itself you’ll just have to wait until the official teaser is launched later today.

Patrick Seybold, PlayStation representative, has tweeted the following:

“Congrats to Bungie. Marrying their creative minds and incredible talent to the power of PS3 will be like giving PS3 fans Halo on steroids.”

This shows that Sony, or at least Seybold, is extremely happy with this turn in events and could very well lead to some promising results for all those involved. One thing for sure is; it definitely will not be a new Halo as Microsoft own the rights to that game not Bungie.

The good news is, Infinity Ward have come up with the perfect cure, and it will be out at the end of this month!

To rid yourself of Mapathy for a period of time, simply obtain the latest Modern Warfare 2 DLC when it is released on March 30th. Unfortunately, all those sufferes on the PC or PlayStation 3 will have to wait a month longer for the MW2 DLC cure, as it is exclusive to Xbox 360 until then.

“Mapathy (n.) (or map-uh-thee – often expressed as, “How the hell did you know I was there?!”) is a state of indifference to the same old maps one has been playing for the last several months. The Mapathetic individual no longer derives pleasure from blowing up people hiding in the cockpit or on top of the crane. More than 20 million people may be at risk for Mapathy.”

Source

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was a complete behemoth in the gaming world and in many ways continues to dominate the industry. So, it was with great excitement, and yet a similar amount of apprehension, that I jumped right into the game as soon as I got hold of a copy. Do Infinity Ward meet expectations or fail to live up to the hype? Let’s see…

Choose your game

First of all, before we go anywhere, let’s take a look at the game modes put up for us in Modern Warfare 2. You are given three options on the opening menu, which can be broken down into the following:

• Special Ops: Challenges that feature co-operative gameplay.
• Campaign: Story-based single player campaign.
• Multiplayer: Features online and offline multiplayer game modes.

Special Ops

This is the newest mode in the Modern Warfare universe. Building on the basis of the huge popularity of co-operative gameplay, Infinity Ward decided to implement it into Modern Warfare 2. But rather than just simply taking on a two-player co-op version of the single player campaign, IW built a whole new game mode for it.

Special Ops consists of a series of challenges that get increasingly difficult as you progress through them. Each challenge has a 1-3 star reward system, depending on how well you beat the challenge and meet certain targets you will be awarded with more stars. Players must obtain certain numbers of stars to unlock later challenges.

As mentioned above, this game mode supports co-op play, nay was built for co-op play. Most challenges are quite generic, with the usual holding off waves of enemies. But there also some good little twists in there too, like a night time mission where one player covers another player from the air using the AC-130.

Special Ops mode supports one player, as well as two player local (split-screen) and online gameplay.

Campaign

I can’t really go into too much detail story-wise without revealing spoilers, so ‘ll make do with a quick introduction. Modern Warfare 2′s single player campaign will take you through a range of surroundings, from the desert landscape of Afghanistan to snow-capped mountain ranges. Each one feels perfectly suited, the snow crunches and leaves foot prints, while wasteland maps will have a constant sandstorm blowing around you.

As per the other Call of Duty games, Modern Warfare 2 will see you taking on the role of several different people throughout the missions. Sometimes you are working for the SAS-style Task Force 141, othertimes you are fighting for the American Army Rangers.

The missions tend to make use of new weaponry, like the remotely controlled predator missile, which gives you a black and white aerial view of the battlefield briefly before you take out a whole squadron of enemies with it.

Expect the story to twist and turn a fair bit, but always in a good way. There are some pretty amazing set pieces backed up by some brilliant level design and artwork.

Multiplayer

Considered by many as the ‘core’ to the first Modern Warfare (and probably Call of Duty: World at War too), this game mode features both online and offline multiplayer game modes. The offline is pretty similar to the online except you can only have up to 4 players locally via split-screen, unless you opt for a LAN setup, in which case there isn’t much difference at all. The offline mode now even supports local profiles, so you can save you and your friends progress each time you play, meaning you get to enjoy the feeling of unlocking all the rewards individually and setting up your personal custom classes.

The online mode is a much polished and enhanced version of the Modern Warfare and World at War versions from the call of Duty series. There are challenges, levels, prestige modes, custom classes, perks, leaderboards, party support, game invites and all the usual features you expect. However, there are a couple of new, gladly-accepted features too.

Modern Warfare 2 introduces a new item that could probably best be described as a gamercard specific to MW2 itself. This MW2 ‘gamercard’ displays an emblem (small logo picture), the players name and a title with graphic. Modern Warfare 2 lets you select your own emblem and title from a huge list (hundreds), which you progressively unlock as you complete challenges and levels throughout the multiplayer mode.

A slew of new weapons and equipment is brought forth to the scene with Modern Warfare 2, with fancy treats like a heartbeat sensor (similar to a personal, yet less-useful, UAV) attachment for your gun. I don’t want to spoil any more of the goodies so I’ll leave it at that, just rest assured knowing there is a lot more customisation available in MW2.

Perks. This is always a big talking point. There are some perks people hate (you may be glad to know martyrdom is no longer a perk) and some people love. Not only do Infinity Ward introduce a couple of new perks, but they have changed their usage slightly. Not only have they tweaked them to even them up a bit, but you can now also complete perk challenges to ‘level up’ your perks to “pro” versions, which tend to offer a much better equivalent of the original perk.

Just heard that Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is coming out in November the 8th to be exact.

Overall Rating: 9.5/1

Considering the retail price for this game is higher than every other non-special edition game of this gen (£55), this is a real bargain. It is thought a last minute (the game is out tomorrow) price war has been sparked by supermarkets, with ASDA offering Modern Warfare 2 also for £32 and Sainsbury going as low as £26!

These are all astounding prices, especially for such a popular game, which is already guaranteed to sell well, nevemind the huge price discounts.

This massively reduced price is available to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, but it’s bad news for PC users again, as the game is still showing as £35 on Amazon.

These deals are all available on Amazon UK. The Xbox 360 price isn’t updating in the widget below, but on the Amazon website it is set at £32.

I’ll admit now, I lied a bit. The loophole doesn’t get you Modern Warfare 2 for £4.99, unless you happen to already own certain games, in which case it isn’t a loophole at all.

The legitimate deal is that you can get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for only £4.99 if you trade-in two selected games from a list. The thing is though, the list includes Overlord 2, which can currently be picked up from Amazon UK for £9.35 (Xbox 360) or £9.95 (PS3).

So a little bit of simple mathematics tells you that 2 x £10 (Overlord 2) + £4.99 (Modern Warfare 2) = £24.99. OK, so I did some rounding, the price is actually a little bit lower than £25, but you get the point. For a game that has an RRP of £54.99, getting it for less than half price before it’s release date is definitely a bargain.

The big question is, how long before Gamestation wise-up and remove this deal?

Oh, and another question, do you still want Modern Warfare 2?

Halo: ODST droppedstraight from 1st to 3rd, getting pipped by the resilient Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box. Down in tenth spot is Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is touted by many as the years best game. i just wonder if the general public thinks so.

1. FIFA 10 (EA)
2. PROFESSOR LAYTON AND PANDORA’S BOX (Nintendo)
3. HALO 3: ODST (Microsoft)
4. NEED FOR SPEED: SHIFT (EA)
5. WII SPORTS RESORT (Nintendo)
6. GUITAR HERO 5 (Activision Blizzard)
7. MYSIMS AGENTS (EA)
8. COLIN MCRAE: DIRT 2 (Codemasters)
9. MARIO KART WII (Nintendo)
10. BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM (Eidos)

Well, the game certainly has its good and bad points. The simple premise of the game is often complicated by the cut-scenes, but don’t let this put you off. As with previous Wolfenstein titles your spy character is ready to do battle with the Nazi regime once again in an alternate history storyline. The Axis is hell-bent (literally) on using the occult to give them the edge in World War II. The Nazi obsession with the paranormal and archaeology is the basis for the story as they attempt to use the secrets of the supernatural against the Allies.

Your job, in case you hadn’t guessed already, is to stop them and protect the inhabitants of the city of Isenstadt, along with the resistance groups. What follows is plenty of interesting missions which run parallel to the central storyline. You can make use of various weaponry and upgrades which can be bought in the marketplace. This part of the game is pretty cool as you can find hidden gold and other items hidden in every nook and cranny of the environment to be stored and used later in the shop. Upgrading your guns is certainly one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game and I particularly enjoyed the feel of shooting the MP40 SMG.

As you delve deeper into the game and uncover the secrets of the force known as the Black Sun, you get to play around with some even more powerful supernatural firearms such as the Tesla gun which can fire in multiple directions all at once and a weapon that can vaporise some of the Nazi foot soldiers.

The environment of the game quickly switches from the tight confines of the train station to the sprawling city, airfield, countryside farms as well as missions to key locations such as the Hospital, Castle, Dig Site and the Church. There are ten missions in all, plus the five side missions you can choose to undertake as you search for the secrets and the Tomes of Power.

With the quality of games of this genre out there it certainly looks nothing special, but it is certainly fun to play. At times it seems rather old-fashioned and grainy; it is no classic but for the good points alone it is worth sticking with. If you enjoy the age old first person shooter formula, like the sound of shooting some Nazis and playing with all manner of guns and supernatural weaponry, the game does have something to offer. The level of challenge may not be enough for some, but the online play element at least extends the interest level for a while longer.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

If you look at the last 10 seconds or so of video, you will also notice the new throwing knife weapon in action. If that isn’t enough to get you jittery I just don’t know what is!

Below is the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 – Flag Runner – multiplayer video:

The demo for Mini Ninjas was very recently unleashed on the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store, to be precise, Wednesday, 19th August 2009, and Thursday, 20th August 2009, respectively. After a quick playthrough of the game last night I thought I’d give you a brief sumamry of my impressions.

To start with, you play as a nippy little chap by the name of Hiro, who, it turns out, can possess animals, allowing you to turn into numerous forest critters, ranging from frogs all the way up to panda bears (who can actually attack too).

Hiro has a number of ninja friends, who each specialises in a different field including, but not limited to, strength, stealth, archery and flutes. Yes I did say flutes, which can be used by Suzume, a female ninja, to temporarily entrance enemies while you beat them to death, which you cna see for yourselves in the video below:

All in all it was a very cartoony experience, yet with levels of sophistication and depth. Mini Ninjas is definitely a game to look at, just don’t expect it to replace God of War III in your most wanted list.

Besides the fact the glasses look like something that you got free with your cereal (it was included in the game price I suppose), I was really excited to give 3D gaming a try. I won’t go too much into the game itself as that will come in a full review shortly, I just want to skim the concept of 3-dimensional gaming, albeit on the cheaper scale compared to what we will be playing in a few years time.

To play in 3D on G-Force, you simply go to Options, then select the Display choice and check the box saying 3D. You can switch between the 2D and 3D at any point by doing this through the ingame Options menu too.

The overall effect I have to say, was slightly disappointing. It was novel and it all worked OK. But that’s just it, it was only “OK”. It does make your main character look more defined on the TV, but it also makes reading on-screen text a nightmare at points.

Despite the somewhat negative comments in the above paragraph, I’m still glad Disney Interative Studios put this feature in, while it isn’t amazing, I think the kids will love it, and on the odd occaision, so will gamer adults like myself.

The Collector’s Edition of the game comes with a Batarang (and attachable stand), a character profile booklet – called Dr. Young’s Journal, a behind-the-scenes DVD and exclusive access to DLC.

US Deal

North Americans get a better deal this week, not only can they get Batman: Arkham Asylum for as little as $52.99 (or $90.99 for the Collector’s Edition), but you can also make use of a $5 discount using the code: 5OFFARKM

UK Deal

On Amazon UK, you can still get a pretty good deal with Batman: Arkham Asylum, the game can be obtained for the highly attractive price of  £36.99 now £34.99 (or £59.99 for the CE), or you could go for the PC version at a very attractive price of £24.99!

Let’s face the simple truth. Ninety-nine percent of us love Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and are eagerly awaiting the upcoming sequel, aptly named Modern Warfare 2 (it did drop the Call of Duty naming for a bit though). Some of us want it so much we are willing to buy the somewhat costly Prestige Edition.

A great number of people are biding their time waiting for MW2 by contuining to play COD4, but recently there have been disturbances causing contreversy in this arena. Some unscrupilous gamers have managed to find an exploit that gives all sorts of different side effects. These unexpected effects include, but are not limited to:

• Invulnerable players
• Unlimited ammo
• Ability for players to float and walk through walls

The good news is Infinity Ward have already stated a patch is “in the works”. However, there’s no date for said fix, or if it is even in development now. By the time it filters through patch certification systems, maybe a Modern Warfare 2 patch will be more worthwhile…