The Gamerscore Blog guys are confirming a few games that will be headed to the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits lineup on March 16th in North America. If you didn't know, the Platinum Hits program is a list of games that have been singled out to retail for $29.99, because they "supposedly" achieved greatness during their lifetime. We may not always agree with certain games that come to the Platinum Hits, but nobody can disagree with the cheaper pricetag. Below is a list of games that will become Platinum Hits in North America.New Platinum Hits games coming in March
The Gamerscore Blog guys are confirming a few games that will be headed to the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits lineup on March 16th in North America. If you didn't know, the Platinum Hits program is a list of games that have been singled out to retail for $29.99, because they "supposedly" achieved greatness during their lifetime. We may not always agree with certain games that come to the Platinum Hits, but nobody can disagree with the cheaper pricetag. Below is a list of games that will become Platinum Hits in North America.CoD2 going 1080p?
Reader DJPhatFive says he stuck in his trusty old copy of Call of Duty 2 and received a mysterious update that seems to have enabled a 1080p setting in the game. Can anybody else confirm? Has the native 1080p train left the station or is this just more noise to add to the post-Fall Update confusion surrounding Splinter Cell: Double Agent?
New 360 Platinum Hits for $29.99
Microsoft has officially announced the first batch of Platinum Hits for the Xbox 360. The games are:Perfect Dark Zero
Project Gotham Racing 3
Kameo: Elements of Power
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Conspicuously missing from the list is Call of Duty 2, the 360's first million seller. The first four Platinum Hits will be available for the bargain price of $29.99 starting October 15th -- the second set should be announced in the spring of 2007. It's a far cry from what we considered a bargain last gen, but it's definitely better than nothing. So, for those of you that haven't picked these up yet, will a $29.99 price tag make you reconsider?
See the full press release after the break.
Arabic product placement in COD2
Is there anything more symbolic of our age than gunning down foreign peoples under the banner of the homeland's favorite carbonated beverage? Not in Call of Duty 2. Reader Rick sent in this in-game shot from COD2 and an inset picture of an Arabic Coca-Cola can. Points for authenticity and multi-lingual product placement. Enjoy.
COD3 gets a date and new screens
Now that we know when the 360 version of Call of Duty will be released --and that it will be identical to the PS3 version, snicker, snicker -- why not celebrate with some new screens? If screens don't do it for you, how about a movie (or two, or three)?
War may be hell, but it sure sells a lot of video games.
[Thanks, Matt T.]Tea time with CoD2
We
all figured that Call of Duty 2's multiplayer was broken (at least prior to the patch) but who knew it was
Brokeback—in juvenile "pwned" sort of way? I think this "music video" was made using the
PC version, but there's no way I could deprive 360 fanboys of such a groundbreaking cultural statement. Given the
homoerotic theme, the guy in the flaming truck is a nice touch.CoD2.1: The Big Red Whatever
Reports from the western
front confirm that the long-awaited Call of Duty 2 multi-player patch has finally been released—just in
time for war-weary fans to not give a flying frag. The saga of this patch is as long and ugly as any WWII slog,
including delays, fired forum moderators and pissed off PC gamers. Booting the game on your 360 now results in an
auto-update that supposedly fixes CoD2's multiple issues. Initial testing by the Xboxic staff discovered the following improvements:
- Can actively host a game now.
- Lobbies fully implemented including game options and pre-game smack talk.
- Hoster can kick players.
- Private matches are allowed.
- You can select any map of choice.
- Score and time limits configurable.
- Post-game lobby after the game is over.
- Can invite players to game.
- You can see enemy names in-game.
- No noticeable lag continously disrupting games.
Are you finally hearing Infinity Ward's call to multiplayer duty? Who else thinks this patch is a day late and a dollar short?
[Thanks to multiple tipsters]
CoD2 patch leaker canned by IWN
An update to my previous post on the Call of Duty 2 patch debacle: Tally, the brave source who leaked info on the reasons behind the the patch delay won't be hearing the call to duty any more. He has since been relieved of his status as a moderator at Infinity Ward Nation, "the official Infinity Ward forum":
"We've (Admins) discussed the current situation on IWNation.com. We all agreed that we would do best to remove Tally from moderator status here on IWNation.com.
The current problems and situation had reached it's top, and it's causing us a bad reputation. We've had to deal with many problems in the past, so this was something we could definately not use. Plus, we did not like the way the 'patch-topic' was posted.
We reckon this measure was not a simple one, but we hope it's for the best. Tally, we wish you the best in the future, and are looking forward to play with you on the online battlefields.
- Major Pain
On behalf of the Admin team."
Should Tally have expected this kind of response from his fair weather forum friends?
[Thanks, Curry]
Delayed 360 CoD2 patch screws PC gamers
An Infinite Waiting—excuse me— Infinity Ward Nation staff member calling himself Tally has posted an unofficial update on the anxiously awaited Call of Duty 2 multiplayer patch:
I am at pains to point out that this is NOT AN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCMENT
Im sure everyone is wondering why the patch is taking so long, so I thought Id share a little of what I know about the situation.
For those that dont know me, I also work at Infinity Ward Nation, as a staff member. I have spoken to some of the Developers at IW (makers of COD2), and have even spoken to Grant Collier, CEO for IW. So, as such, I am pretty close to whats going on.
As both Activision and IW have a HDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) with MS, they cannot divulge too much about the causes of the hold up. This explains why IW remains tight-liped about the whole deal. But, with a little detective work, I have pieced things together, and this is my estimate of the situation:
Activison and IW have an agreement with MS to roll out any patches for COD2 together - for both the 360 and the PC. As the 360 was shipped without an adequate update system in place, this has held things up - until an adequate update system for the 360 was implimented.
As most 360 users will tell you, as of this week, there is finally an Update patch available to all 360 users with a Live account. This is mandatory, so every 360 user has to download it. It will fit on either a mem card or a hd.
As the 360 has now been readied for any updates, rumor has it that the COD2 patch will be released this week. Im not totally confident that this rumor is accurate, but I do know that the patch is now very close. the PC patch has been ready for some time now, and now that the 360 is ready for updates, I think it safe to say it will probable be sometime this month.
This thread would seem to confirm both Tally's authenticity and the fact that PC gamers are pissed their game has to suffer because of the Xbox version.
[Via Xboxic]
COD2 leads weekly Xbox 360 chart
The ELSPA lead
chart is up for this week, and Call of Duty 2 has managed to swing the #1 spot, up from 4th last week. Behind
it is PGR3 which has remained pretty consistent. Dead or Alive 4 has fallen to third place followed
by Perfect Dark Zero and Full Auto. There hasn't been a huge amount of change from the other end of
the chart. NBA Live 06 and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland bring up the rear with no change.Check out the full board to see how the rest fared.
CoD2 multiplayer patch in "the final stages"
No sooner did we bitch and whine about Infinity Ward shirking their duty to clean up Call of Duty 2's sloppy multiplayer code, than we get tipped that they offered an update on their progress last night!
Dear Call of Duty Community:
As you recall, we announced plans that we were working on our second Title Update for Call of Duty 2, improving the Xbox Live multiplayer functionality. We’re happy to report that this update is currently in the final stages of testing and all is going well. In fact, we will be releasing it soon, so stay tuned. To give you a better understanding of what we have been working on, the second COD2 Title Update will have the following enhancements:
1. Player Lag has been addressed
Plus, we have added the following functionality:
2. Private Game Lobbies / Reserved Slots
3. Enabled the Live Host to set custom game options
4. Map Preferences setting
5. Post Game Lobbies (all players at end of match will return to their game lobby)
6. Enemy Player Name Notification
7. Ability for the Host to kick a player
8. In game Lobby - Game Type, Map and Host Notifications
Again, thank you for your support…and stay tuned for future updates!
- Infinity Ward
Alright Infinity Ward, sorry for being so grumpy. We only yelled because we care! Now get 'er done!
[Thanks, pennywise969 and KC]
Call of Duty 2 demo on XBLM now!
Call of Duty 2 demo
is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for your demo download pleasure! We were sort of hoping for another war-themed demo to show its
pretty little face...Sure, it's a little late to the party, but seeing as how it's one of the top 360 games available, they've had little need to promote it earlier. With Ghost Recon: Advanced Warrior coming soon, gamers are hungry for an online experience that isn't buggy as heck. A note to Infinity Ward: less demo making, more multiplayer patching guys.
Call of Duty 2 gets auto updated
You want it, they got it. Call of Duty
2 is progressively getting fixed as Infinity Ward irons out the rough spots. I think they put it best with
this:“Infinity Ward and Activision have issued a Title Update that addresses the player progression loss issues associated with Call of Duty 2 on the Xbox 360. The team is continuing to work on additional updates and we will keep you posted.”
This auto update will take effect next time you sign into Xbox Live. Hopefully we'll see more of those patches before too long.
Call of Duty 2 patch in the works
If you were one of those gamers who couldn't stand
the shortcomings of Call of Duty 2's multiplayer issues, you can finally get some relief. A patch is in the
works to tackle some of those online concerns.According to a post on Xbox.com, the fix will concentrate on the problems with lag. There's also a chance they will be focusing on some other issues as well. At least we know Infinity Ward is making strides to patch it up.
No love for Ridge Racer 6
Namco is feeling the burn on this one, at least
here in the States. Coming from the number-crunching fellows at NPD Group, Ridge Racer 6 comes in dead last
for sales during November having only sold 9,091 units.It's a far cry from Activision's Call of Duty 2, the number one selling Xbox 360 title which saw 250,730 purchases. But Ridge Racer 6 was far from disappointing in Japan where it is the top-selling game and managed to peddle 29,891 copies in the first two days.
