Activision WWS boss Dave Stohl said he’s “100 percent confident” that Infinity Ward will rise to the occasion and “come back to what it was,” but the publisher doesn’t want to “tamper with” the studio’s culture.

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In a move which makes this twitchy, rage-addled multiplayer-shooter happy, Treyarch boss Mark Lamia has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops will support dedicated servers for it’s multiplayer aspect, saying he thinks they’re “quite excellent”.

This supports a rumor that started spreading around around March in which it was leaked that the new Call of Duty game would support dedicated servers.

When you’re done with putting away your torches and pitchforks, let’s take a look at what’s going on.

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While we’re all busy enjoying the huge fiascos that are going on with Activision lately, lets not forget that there are other companies working on the Call of Duty franchise. Treyarch has just announced Call of Duty: Black Ops, which is due for release on November 9th.

The official site for the game has gone live, and there is already a blog post on the site.

“We at Treyarch are excited to reveal our latest development – Call of Duty: Black Ops! Be sure to head over to CallOfDuty.com/blackops as more details begin to unfold! Follow @JD_2020 and @Treyarch on Twitter for the latest news & discussions regarding Black Ops.”

Expect the game to appear on every single format under the sun.

Yep, you read that right. Activision blogger Dan Amrich has made it clear that the company will be releasing not one, not two, but three new Call of Duty games over the next two years. This was confirmed by Amrich in a Facebook thread for a (wait for the irony…) Activision / Bobby Kotick hate group.

“As for COD, they’ve confirmed three games in the next two years. Seeing as how there is a pattern of one new COD game every year, this is one new COD game from one new developer, and in a different genre from the core games we’ve seen.”

Overkill much, Bobby?

Chatting in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz today, Call of Duty and Modern Warfare director Keith Aremhe believes that the stellar success of games such as Modern Warfare and Grand Theft Auto have “changed perceptions” of gaming, and will benefit the future of both mediums.

“The success of the games industry is going to benefit those other movie industries. It’s providing more work, it’s providing more content,” said Arem. “Finding new content in the games industry is going to absolutely expand into the movie industry and vice-versa.

“By expanding these franchises out the film industry is going to re-seed stuff into games. As much as people are threatened by the fear of the unknown, it’s going to be a huge benefit to both industries as they grow hand-in-hand.

“There’s been a complete 180 in the past several years with games like Modern Warfare and Grand Theft Auto, and these have shown that these can change perceptions.”

So… Modern Warfare movie for 2012, then?

To nobody’s surprise, Activision announced that a new Call of Duty title will be available this year of 2010. They hope to make annual installments of the game, but really, what hope does Activision have of reaching the success they had with Modern Warfare 2?
(Hint: None)

No details about the new Call of Duty installment have been released.

Who wants to bet on another World War II shooter?

Modern Warfare 2’s first batch of DLC is currently “planned for the wonderfully vague time-frame of Spring”, according to Infinity Ward’s Rob Bowling on his twitter today.

No details at were provided on the content and what it would be, but then, there’s not really much you can say in 140 characters.

Ah Twitter, where would us journalists be without you?

Do you live in the UK? Do you have an Xbox 360? Do you have Modern Warfare 2 and a Gold Subscription to Xbox Live? Do you like to feel better about yourself by giving to charity?

If you just so happen to fit all of those criteria, then here’s your chance to give something back, as Activision UK has announced that it will be donating money to the War Child charity during an online event in Modern Warfare 2.

The even is scheduled to run between December 5th and December 6th on Xbox Live. Activision will donate a “life changing” amount (they haven’t specifically said) to the charity per UK player that plays the game during those two days. The more UK people play, the more money will be donated.

If you’re interested in taking part, you should become a fan of the event on Facebook, add the Game For Good application, and invite others. You can keep track of details and results via the event’s Twitter feed.

Hey, it’s for a good cause, so you have no excuse!

Well, that didn’t take too long. Modern Warfare 2 has only just been released, having had its street date broken, and The Daily Mail is already digging its tabloid claws into it.

One of the most clear criticism from the article is the scene from the first chapter of the game, that allows you to kills innocent civilians if you so choose to.

“Among the most controversial is a situation where the gamer must decide whether to kill unarmed civilians at a Russian airport in order to infiltrate a terrorist group.”

Not surprisingly, the politicians have already come out of the woodwork (in this instance Labour MP Keith Vaz) and promised to save our children from these vile and socially destructive video games…

“I am absolutely shocked by the level of violence in this game and am particularly concerned about how realistic the game itself looks,” Vaz stated, and promised that this would be brought to light in parliament this evening.

Could British politicians be any more out of touch with society? Seriously?

Thanks to VG247 reader Dannybuoy Twitpicced his copy of Modern Warfare 2, we can confirm that GAME has broken the Modern Warfare 2 street date, a day before the title is due to go on sale.

Many more reports from around the country seem to indicate that  retailers all over the UK and US have broken the game’s street date, including GameStop.

Activision has said that it “has not given any retailer permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 prior to the Nov. 10 street date.” Looks like they didn’t listen!

Speaking recently on GameTrailer’s Bonus Round, industry analyst Michael Pachter made the prediction that Modern Warfare 2 will manage to sell over 14 million units before this year is out.

“Last year sold about 8 million in the Christmas quarter, I think most people think this will do 10-12. It really depends on marketing – if they blitz the airwaves and we see ads on every basketball game, football game, college football game, every beauty Pageant … maybe 14 million,” said the Wedbush Morgan analyst.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has sold over 13 million units since it’s original release,, as of May 2009, and the user-base of console owners has increased significantly since since then, so this figure may not sound as crazy as one might think.

So, one of GDC’s major reveals was shown only moments ago, and it’s… Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

It’s a rather vague teaser trailer, but at least one piece of solid information was gleamed from it – a confirmed release date. The game will hit the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 10th of this year.

Enjoy. It’s a great trailer… if you consider looking at lots of squiggly greens lines exciting.