Gadgets and Video Games

We’ve read all the available info about the new Modern Warfare 2 map collection ” Stimulus Package ,” but we still didn’t have an answer to the big question on everyone’s mind: “Is that the game with a bunch of guys or the one with the beards ?” That, we still don’t know. However, we’ve gotten an answer to the second biggest question from Xbox Live’s Major Nelson : The five maps (three new, two remakes) will run you 1200 MS points or $15. As a basis for comparison, the “Variety” map pack for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ran 800 points ($10) for four new maps

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Modern Warfare 2 ‘Stimulus Package’ costs $15

We may still be waiting for a the “spring” release of Modern Warfare 2 ’s first DLC (” Stimulus Package “), but thanks to an early Xbox Live Marketplace listing for the map pack, we aren’t in the dark anymore as to its contents. The blurb reveals the pack will contain “5 additional action-packed maps,” including three all new ones (“Bailout, Storm, and Salvage”) as well as two remakes from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (“Crash” and “Overgrown”). “Bailout” is said to be “a multi-layered apartment complex,” while “Storm” is described as “an open industrial park littered with heavy machinery,” and “Salvage” is “a snowy junkyard fortified by stacked debris and crushed cars.” Presumably, if you’re reading about the details of unreleased a MW2 map pack, you already knew that “Crash” is a “war-torn urban environment” and “Overgrown” is set in a large dry creek. No pricing or date is set, unfortunately, though you can ogle the XBLM listing for now if it makes you feel any better (though we wouldn’t suggest it). [Thanks CL4P-TP!] XBLM listing reveals 5 maps, 2 CoD4 remakes in MW2 ‘Stimulus Package’ DLC originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EST.

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XBLM listing reveals 5 maps, 2 CoD4 remakes in MW2 ‘Stimulus Package’ DLC

After narrowly escaping Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ’s impact crater in late 2009, Raven Software’s tardy , time-bending first-person shooter, Singularity , finally appears to have settled on a new ETA. Speaking in an investor conference call following the release of the company’s latest financial results , Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith mentioned that both Singularity and star vehicle / vehicle star Transformers: War for Cybertron were due some time in May 2010. If neither of those appeal to you, Shrek Forever After: The Game is also set to release during the same month. But … really

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Activision: Singularity, Transformers: War for Cybertron due in May 2010

Considering the Xbox 360 received the lion’s share of Modern Warfare 2 purchases, it comes as a bit of a shock to us that the already released on PS3 and PC “care package patch” is just now being submitted to Microsoft for certification. That said, developer Infinity Ward’s community man Robert Bowling tweeted as much to Game Informer’s Andrew Reiner approximately 24 hours ago when Reiner asked about a possible release for the much anticipated fixes. As Bowling has pointed out before (and details in this forum post on the subject), the patch is set to remedy the following (you might need a pillow for all of this pure, unbridled excitement: Care Package, Emergency Airdrop, and Sentry Gun marker grenades sprint speed normalized

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Modern Warfare 2 ‘care package’ patch submitted to Microsoft certification

Activision is continuing to help military veterans through its Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.), and, in a way, so are the patrons of its mega-popular war franchise. Today, C.O.D.E. announced that it will be giving $100,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project , for the purpose of establishing a fifth Transition Training Academy where injured veterans can receive training and pursue a career in information technology. Last November, the publisher pledged $1 million from sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 towards programs aiding military personnel in their return to civilian life, having made an initial donation of $125,000 to Paralyzed Veterans of America in the fall.

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Activision donates $100k from Call of Duty Endowment to aid wounded vets

Probably the best way to read the Reuters article entitled ” New arsenal of shooter games target older players ” is to imagine it being reported live by your local news station. You know, the same way local news stations tend to report the latest technological innovations — Twitter, for example — months or even years after their invention. The article is filled with inaccurate (and downright false) information, no doubt intended to thrill and mystify anyone that just upgraded to a 56k modem (congrats, by the way). One statement likely to jump out at anyone even remotely familiar with games: “The popularity of shooter games has been proven by Activision Blizzard’s ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2′ which has raked in over $1 billion (617 million pounds) worldwide and counting.” Sure, Modern Warfare 2 is a blockbuster success, but it’s hardly the first multi-million selling shooter in the last decade. Another tidbit claims that MAG ’s 256-player multiplayer is “the largest multiplayer experience for a video game.” We’re assuming this statement excludes, oh, every MMO ever made

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Reuters: Video games are for adults, too

Speaking to CVG , Darwinia+ developer Introversion spoke to the differences between Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, as well as the realities of game development. Regarding why Darwinia+ is an XBLA exclusive, Introversion’s Mark Morris noted that independent developers “have to go with whatever [they're] offered,” though he’d like to see the game on both platforms. According to Morris, XBLA is preferable because Microsoft greenlight’s games from the beginning.

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Darwinia dev on PSN/XBLA differences, PSN challenges

If you’ve been sitting around, staring at the ceiling and wondering what you’re going to do this weekend, you may be interested in the GoG.com weekend deal. It’s a bundle of three Cyan Worlds games, all for under $14 — a 25-percent savings. You’ll get Myst: Masterpiece Edition , Riven: The Sequel to Myst and The Manhole: Masterpiece Edition . All three games recently arrived on the DRM-free service, ready to show you just how out of shape your brain’s logic center and not-getting-lost-in- Myst ’s-maze cortex are. The sale lasts until Monday, January 25 at 11:59PM ET.

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GoG weekend sale: Myst, Riven and The Manhole for $14

Many Modern Warfare 2 players still debate the game’s best piece of weaponry. Fortunately, hackers have settled this timeless dispute once and for all: It is, of course, the gun that hurtles your opponent back in time, back to the days when he or she was a lowly, classless Private.

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Rumor: Modern Warfare 2 hack attacks your XP

Was one of your goals for 2009 to give Activision a billion dollars? It may be a little late, but that’s what you all, in aggregate, have done — and that’s only for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 . The publisher announced that Infinity Ward’s mega-hit FPS just crossed the $1 billion threshold in sell-throughs

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Modern Warfare 2 makes a billion dollars