Zampella And West To Go To Court In May

Infinity Ward Co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella will finally get their day in court to fight against part-time Call of Duty publisher Activison. The trial is set for May 7th, 2012 in Los Angeles. 

Infinity Ward created the first Call of Duty game for PC, and has created a many other Call of Duty games in staggered releases, Including the Modern Warfare series, along with Treyarch. The duo are suing Activision for fraud, saying they were defrauded when Activision fired them before any royalties were paid for the creation and massive success of Modern Warfare.

On top of the payments, they seek to have an annulment of the original exclusivity contract, so that they may develop new Call of Duty games under their new company, Respawn Entertainment. 

Source: Gamasutra

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Hardened Edition $99

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Hardened Edition will be priced at the... modest $99 point. With what it contains, and the MSRP of all of it, the price isn't too bad. It's probably $59.99 for the game itself, and $50 for the Elite Access, you'd be saving $10 plus getting a few extra goodies. The box includes:

•  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game with unique disc art.
•  One year of membership in Call of Duty Elite.
•  “Founder status” on Elite with exclusive in-game emblem, player card, camouflage, clan XP boost and other exclusive benefits.
•  SteelBook case.
•  PlayStation Network exclusive: “Animated Timeline Theme.”
•  Xbox 360 exclusive: “Special Ops Juggernaut Xbox Live Outfit.”
•  Limited-edition “field journal” with more than 100 pages of “authentic military sketches, diagrams and written entries.”

Source: Joystiq

Black Ops Somehow Sells 23 Million In Its First Nine Months

Castrum - Somehow, Call of Duty: Black Ops has managed to sell 23 million copies in its first nine months on store shelves, numbers generally unheard-of outside of Nintendo games.

As well, Black Ops' DLC map packs have collectively sold 18 million at this point in time.

Expect those $15-for-3-maps "deals", as well as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 176 - Warfare Harder, to continue on into the future.

Source: Joystiq

Modern Warfare 3 Themed Xbox 360 Exposed

MjolnirX - Major Nelson has announced a new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3-themed Xbox 360. It will, of course, be the super-sized 320GB model, and will come with two themed wireless controllers. The Xbox also has custom sounds for powering on and opening the disc tray, like the now-delayed Star Wars-themed Xbox 360. If having a gun-metal gray console is going to clash with your carefully-selected TV stand in your Feng Shui-arranged house, fear not. The controllers will be available separately for $60, and will include download codes for in-game content not yet announced. 

Microsoft also announced an Xbox 360-themed Bluetooth headset which will be $70, and will also come with an exclusive download code for DLC. This may be to compete with Turtle Beach's themed headsets. The bundle also includes, of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and a month of free Xbox Live Gold. 

This monster bundle will cost $399, which isn't too bad of a deal, but it seems like a long way to go for a new, probably unnecessary console. It is due out on November 8th, 2011.  

Source: Major Nelson

Steam Weekend Deal - 50% Off All Call Of Duty Games/DLC

Castrum - This weekend's Steam deal is 50% off all Call of Duty games and DLC, except for Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops' DLC. As well, Black Ops itself is only 33% off, though that's better than nothing.

I should also note that this weekend is a Free Weekend for Black Ops until Sunday at 1 PM Pacific.

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/Call_of_Duty_Franchise_Weekend

The sale is on until September 5th at 10 AM Pacific.

Activision Planning For Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6

Castrum - Yes, you read that right:

The folks at website Fusible believe Activision has registered the following websites: CODBlackOps3.com, CODBlackOps4.com,CODBlackOps5.com, CODBlackOps6.com,BlackOps4.com, BlackOps5.com,BlackOps6.com, CallOfDutyBlackOps3.com,CallOfDutyBlackOps4.com,CallOfDutyBlackOps5.com, CallOfDutyBlackOps6.com, CallofDutyMW5.com, and CallofDutyMW6.com.

Guess Bobby Kotick is planning to exploit the fuck out of this one.

http://kotaku.com/5831662/brace-yourself-for-so-many-more-call-of-duty-websites