There's no longer any reason to keep your sister off the phone so the lines won't be tied up: Duty has officially called, and it's offering a new demo for you to enjoy. You can track down the beefy, 1.4 gigglebyte Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare demo here, here or here.

Sure, it may only be one level from the single-player campaign, but hopefully it will be enough to get your through until the game is released on Nov. 5. Now, for the love of Mike, go tell Tracy she can call Dylan. They're having a hard time right now.

The PC-and-console version of Call of Duty 4 rocks as much as expected. But at a recent hands-on session, the DS take also impressed. The 3D graphics look surprisingly good; after a few minutes of settling in, I stopped scrutinizing textures and focused on the gameplay. And that gameplay carries the title.

COD4 switches between FPS sequences, helicopter-gunner modes, bomb-disarming moments, and AC-130 gunship sections. The DS version feels full of care and craft, from thought put into controls, to the segmented sessions that play well on a handheld.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, literally rocks with action. In an early stage, a freight ship that you siege pitches and rolls, like a giant movie set-piece. While playing a close-to-shipping version of the title, I felt like the action game used these special-effect focal points to drive its frenzied pace and huge scope.

Because of the "modern" setting, I had assumed I'd be plodding slowly with a squad of soldiers, tactically (and tactfully) knocking on doors to root out bad guys. And while there are sometimes AI-teammate elements, I never felt like I had to slow down and proceed with caution. Instead, I often had to speed up and dive for cover; depending on the situation, snipers, RPGs, and essentially armies of enemies are firing at you at the same time.

[Update: That's it, folks. Congratulations to the winners! To the rest, see you Nov. 5 for the real thing.]

Welcome to the final round of GameDaily & Joystiq's Call of Duty 4 multiplayer beta giveaway. Make your comment count! Here's how:

• Leave a comment below predicting the final Call of Duty sequel with number and subtitle (ex. Call of Duty 4²: We Been Had Finished the Fight)
• You may only comment on this specific post once. If you leave more than one comment, you'll be automatically disqualified ... FOREVAR!
  
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment or see above
  
• Usually we reserve this bullet point to remind you that there will be more chances to win. Not this time -- it's the final round!
  
• Entries can be submitted until 7:59pm EDT on Monday, September 24th

[Official rules]

[Update: That's it for this round, folks. Round 6 is underway at GameDaily, so head over there for another chance to win.]

Welcome to another round of GameDaily & Joystiq's Call of Duty 4 multiplayer beta giveaway. Follow these simple guidelines to enter:

• Leave a comment below telling us what your call of duty is (keep it PG-13!)
• You may only comment on this specific post once. If you leave more than one comment, you'll be automatically disqualified
  
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment
  
• Though you can only enter this specific giveaway once, there are still a couple of entry phases to follow, including a giveaway on GameDaily tomorrow (don't worry, we'll remind you)
  
• Entries can be submitted until 7:59pm EDT on Saturday, September 22nd

[Official rules]

It's sad, but it's a fact you're going to have to deal with: The Call of Duty 4 beta will be coming to an end on Sept. 30. But, hey, don't think of it as the end of a beta. Think of it as the beginning of a month-long wait, at the end of which you'll able to pay $60 for the game that you've been enjoying for free. ... Hmm, let's move on, shall we?

This also means that if you had been putting off trying to get into the beta this is probably the opportune time to get up on it. It's going to be a crazy finish too, as the level cap is apparently being raised to 25 near the beta's end on Sept. 28. But let's be honest: At that point, will many people still be around to care?

[Thanks, Alexander]

[Update: That's it for this round, folks. Round 4 is underway at GameDaily, so head over there for another chance to win.]

Welcome to Day 3 of GameDaily & Joystiq's Call of Duty 4 multiplayer beta giveaway. You've been briefed before, but for the newcomers, here's how to qualify for your chance to win a beta code:

• Leave a comment below proposing a better enemy than the Russians or an ambiguous Middle Eastern foe (and don't say "Nazis")
• You may only comment on this specific post once. If you leave more than one comment, you'll be automatically disqualified
  
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment -- otherwise we'll call in an airstrike over your current location
  
• Though you can only enter this specific giveaway once, there are still 3 more entry periods coming up, including a giveaway on GameDaily tomorrow (don't worry, we'll remind you)
  
• Entries can be submitted until 7:59pm EDT on Thursday, September 20th

[Official rules]

[Update: That's it for this round folks. Round 2 is underway at GameDaily so head over there for your second chance to win.]

We've teamed up with our buds at GameDaily to give away 10 invitations a day to the Call of Duty 4 multiplayer beta. We'll start at Joystiq today, move onto GameDaily tomorrow, back to Joystiq on Wednesday, and so on until our stock of invites is thoroughly depleted. First, the rules:

• Leave a comment below letting us know of a better subtitle for Call of Duty 4 (we like Warnado!)
• You may only comment on this specific post once. If you leave more than one comment, you'll be automatically disqualified so be careful, ok?
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment -- otherwise we'll send a squad of well-outfitted soldiers after you
• Though you can only enter this specific giveaway once, there are six more entry periods coming up. Not bad, eh?
• Entries can be submitted until 7:59pm EDT on Tuesday, September 18th

Click here for the official rules, which you can print out and read over breakfast.

Moving past account shenanigans, developer Infinity Ward today raised the Rank level cap in the Call of Duty 4 beta to 16. Additionally, at level 12 the option for clan tags becomes available, so that your comrades know just who you are really fighting for.

The e-mail sent out to beta players by Infinity Ward also said that this is the "first of several level increases" in the Rank level. We suspect the next level cap increase will give us the option to wear matching frilly costumes onto the battlefield.

Citing an "internal Microsoft source," Xbox-Scene reports that 23,000 eager Xbox Live users have been banned from the service for 24 hours following the use of a Call of Duty 4 beta exploit. It seems some of the 100,000 valid participants in the online warfare trial were able to sign in with their accounts on a different system (likely belonging to a friend, colleague or mistress) and download the beta again. The second console would then be able to partake in the beta, even when using an alternate gamertag.

The source claims that Microsoft has since resolved the issue and temporarily booted those who answered the Call of Duty, even when it didn't ask for them specifically. Though the goal of a beta is to test networking and gameplay amongst a large number of players, allowing thousands of uninvited guests would likely have a deleterious effect on a controlled environment. The remarkably worthless advice we have to offer those who just can't wait to join the World War Now fray is to, well, wait. But just until November 5th.

Update: Major Nelson says Microsoft didn't ban any users, but notes that partaking in beta account shenanigans "could very well" violate Xbox Live's terms of service and result in a ban.

North American gamers may remember the Call of Duty 4 beta invite fiasco last week, a clusterbleep that had a happy ending, with everyone who registered getting into the multiplayer sample. Gamers in the UK will apparently have to jump through a few more hoops though, with retailer GAME doling out entries to those who pre-order the title.

We don't know if there are other ways to get beta entry in the UK, the retailer just refers to themselves as the "exclusive retail partner in the UK and Ireland." We've emailed Activision for clarification, we'll let you know what we hear back. If you're worried about getting in though, you may want to act fast: According to the GAME email, the UK enters the fray on Sept. 7.

[Thanks CVD]

Unlike bristly television producer Lou Grant, we like spunk. So you can imagine how our cockles were warmed seeing Call of Duty 4 developer Infinity Ward's president Grant Collier give the following quote to Next-Gen. "We love competition," he said. "I think for the 360 it's pretty much Halo 3 that's the competition so we're going after who we think are at the top of the game right now and we want to take those guys on. On PC I guess I'm hearing a lot about Crysis right now. Those guys kind of came right out from nowhere. There's lots of buzz around that game. On PS3 we're number one."

Pretty bold words, especially considering that Bungie never farmed out an inferior sequel and Unreal Tournament 3 ... you know, exists. That said, CoD 4 performed very well at this year's E3. We like Collier's spunk, we're just not sure his game can cash all the checks his mouth is writing.

You may remember yesterday when the whole entire internet was supposed to log on to one site at the exact same time to register for their first-come, first-served beta token Call of Duty 4. Surprising absolutely no one, the traffic brought the servers to their knees. Now, beta sign-ups have been extended until 7 p.m. PDT today at which point tokens will be distributed through a lotto. That's bad news if you stayed home from work yesterday to heed the call, but good news if you missed out, because you can still register right now.

Boy, we haven't seen this much confusion and drama surrounding a massive public beta since ... well, since the last time there was a massive public beta.

Like a jilted lover on a drunken binge, duty is calling for the fourth time. Unlike that ex-bf/gf though, you might want to answer the call, as it may just be your entry into the Call of Duty 4 multiplayer beta. The first round of invites will be sent out at 12 p.m. PDT today on a first-come, first-served basis to those who activate the link found here. You'll also have to answer three Call of Duty trivia questions. Yeah, go figure.

This round is just for players in the United States, but international players can take heart. Infinity Ward has announced that the beta will also be available in Canada, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Details will be announced soon, so keep an eye on the site for more details.

Activision has officially announced that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will be launching a worldwide attack aimed at wallets and societal productivity on November 5th. Waving goodbye to the digital dregs of World War II, developer Infinity Ward has moved its first-person shooting into more topical climes. Yes, topical. You'll be wanting that guy in the special suit if you fancy tropical environments.

No, not that guy in the special suit. The other guy, you know? Actually, that's a woman. The other other guy then. No! There's no crowbars or time traveling. It's not him either! For god's sake, we meant Crysis! How many first-person shooters featuring characters in cybersuits could there possibly be this holiday?

(Note: Call of Duty 4 does not feature cybersuits of any kind. Probably.)