Introducing Call of Duty Elite, an innovative new online service that significantly enhances the Call of Duty franchise’s multiplayer experience delivering a new level of social engagement to players worldwide. Connect. Compete. Improve.
Honestly, I see both positives and negatives with this service. The positives: stat tracking, detailed weapons bios, clan formation, leagues and operations, the program guide, expanded theater, and being able to potentially access it from my iPad and other mobile devices. It all looks pretty sweet. The negative: having to pay for additional services. That ain’t sweet. At least there’s the tiniest peak at MW3 at the end of the video. And hey, they’re offering a chance to get into the closed beta for the service right now, so go and sign up.
Call of Duty Elite
Binkowski of the Bohemia Interactive forums has released a patch for ARMA 2, a tactical FPS, that adds Special Forces decked out in MultiCam. Specifically, the patch adds six character models modeled after US Army Special Forces ODA’s and two translators, four backpacks, and a communications pack that functions as a UAV pack. The author of the patch admits the MultiCam swatch is somewhat out of date, but the dedication to keeping up with current military camouflage usage is commendable.
If you’re like me and missed the television premier of the newest Gears 3 trailer (Instead, I went and saw Kung Fu Panda 2 with the family; it was good, honest), here it is in all its glory. Explosive action plus War Pigs equals one Epic trailer. BTW, Epic is the game studio developing GoW3, so there’s a pun in that, maybe.
Gears of War 3 comes out September 20th, 2011 exclusively on Xbox 360.
It’s obvious this trailer was meant to be viewed in 3D, but even without the depth-of-field, it still looks amazing. Snake Eater 3D is an enhanced port of the PS2 classic, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and will be featured at this year’s E3. Besides the series standard excellent gameplay and story set in Cold War Soviet Russia, camouflage played a huge part in the game, with the protagonist, Naked Snake, being able to change his look on the fly to better suit his current environment. The trailer itself is a little old, so I’d expect even better looking visuals when more information is released next month.
Now’s your chance to wear the most impressive armory of weapons found throughout all of fiction. From the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch to the Klingon Bat’leth to the Nuke at the end of Dr. Strangelove, 79 fictional weapons adorn this circular design. Available in these styles: Blue/Black, Green/Forest (with a couple of replacement weapons), and a third that’s numbered to make future identification easier. True nerd cred goes to anyone who can name every weapon; I’m admittedly not recognizing a few.
It was only a matter of time before someone combined the MW3 trailer with “America, F*** Yeah” from “Team America: World Police”. There’s at least a little irony using this song given the overall plot and events of the Modern Warfare series, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the hilarity by pointing it out. Really, it’s good for a laugh.
This replica of the Retro Lancer from Gears of War 3 was modeled from actual 3D data used in the creation of the game. It’s 3 1/2 feet long, and features a machine gun sound effect with a pull of the trigger. Each Retro Lancer is hand painted with weathered and battle worn detail. The Retro Lancer replica will be available stand alone on September 13th, or with any of threeGameStopbundles.
Just a quick reminder that the World Premier trailer for MW3 will be airing during game 4 of the Western Conference Finals on ESPN around 6 PM PT, much like MW2 and Black Ops in years past. If you’re like me and don’t watch a lot of televised sports, I’m sure it’ll be up on the internet minutes later.
It was brought to my attention that MW3 will feature OPS-CORE FAST helmets, based on these images. Pretty cool. Who knows what other gear we’ll see when the game gets released? After all, they’re starting to show manufactures on the firearm models.
Duke Nudem is potentially the greatest flash promotional game ever made for, well, anything. After asking for your age, you’re taken to a selection screen. You know you’re dealing with something special when you’re booed for hovering your pointer over ‘SFW’ and congratulated for hovering over ‘NSFW’. The game itself is simple: there are four girls, each controlled by the AI, and three different shooting gallery style games, all with different firearms. When you win a round over a particular girl, she takes off a piece of clothing. Win three rounds and you see her bare breasts. Lose, and Duke strips (thankfully) off screen. Sure, there are easier ways to see boobs on the internet, but the novelty of this game is way worth it. Oh, and a word of caution, the ‘SFW’ isn’t really that safe for work. It only covers nipples with cartoonish pixelated Duke heads. You have been warned.
The title says it all. If you pre-order MW3 at GameStop you get this poster. The front shows what could possibly be the cover box art, while the back details a fake Time magazine cover that, quite honestly, spoils a bit of the game’s story. Easily worth the $5 minimum. But sadly, I found no secret URL or code on the poster a la Black Ops.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be released on November 8th, 2011.
Duke Nukem, the ultimate alien ass-kicker, is back and this time in toy form! Roughly 7″ tall and featuring over 20 points of articulation, he comes equipped to fight the extraterrestrial menace with his gold-plated 1911 and a cigar. These figures are made by NECA, so it’s easy to assume they’re pretty high quality, especially compared to the horrible ReSaurus Duke figures made in ’97; Duke’s legs broke way too easily.
If you were hoping to get your hands on Ubisoft’s upcoming Ghost Recon title this year, think again. The publisher announced during its Q4 financial call that Future Soldier will be delayed until sometime between January and March of next year. Although I hate to see such a cool looking game get delayed, I will admit that with all the high-profile releases coming out this holiday season, it’s probably best we wait awhile for this to come out. Hell, I’d be so busy with MW3 and BF3 that I might have overlooked it, and I really want to play with all those cool future technologies, like the active cloak and predator-esque shoulder mounted rockets.
Hell, yes. I’m not expecting much realism, especially based on what I read from this leaked plot, but maybe MW3 can make up for Black Ops’ (mostly) anachronistic armory. Just give me that, Infinity Ward! And Sledgehammer games… And Raven Software… Screw the story, I’d just really like to see the AK-74m for once in a Modern Warfare game.
Expect plenty more info at E3 and the months leading up to November. I can guarantee it’ll be released then.
Ryan Palser, CitizenSnips on Flickr, built this replica of the turret from the first Portal with a real working laser. Sadly, it doesn’t track targets nor ‘dispense product’ in the form of hilarious spoken lines, but it’s still incredibly impressive. Also worth mentioning is his replicas of the Fallout 3 AER-9 laser rifle and A3-21 plasma rifle. I can’t wait to see what Mr. Palser comes up with next.
Microsoft is running a promotion for all players of the Gears of War 3 beta called ‘Never Fight Alone’. By meeting certain criteria, they would receive extra beta codes to invite friends to participate in the final week of the beta. Through this program, I got two codes, and I’m giving them away, first come, first serve:
CVRD4-27CPH-WXDWC-6P937-T3C6Z
932VH-TPJT7-2WDRD-GXRK3-3TTXZ
If you get a code, don’t forget to friend request ‘Tactical Fanboy’ via Xbox Live if you haven’t already. If you don’t win, it couldn’t hurt to add me anyway. And remember, the beta ends on Sunday, May 15th. Good luck!
Those who purchased the collectors edition of Dead Space 2 quickly found out that the replica Plasma Cutter that was to be included in the package, was, to be blunt, a cheap piece of crap, completely incapable of staving off an actual Necromorph invasion. Youtuber kipkay remedied this, however, with his laser hack for the Plasma Cutter. He replaced the outer LEDs with high-powered purple and blue lasers, strong enough to pop balloons and light matches on fire. In addition, he also replaced the middle LED with a stronger blue one, for aesthetic appeal. Cool hack!
Necessary warning: CAUTION!! Lasers can be dangerous! Do not point them at any living thing! DO NOT look into the beam or the reflection of the beam. Do not shine them into the sky. Always wear laser goggles. In other words, Tactical Fanboy doesn’t take responsibility for any damage to persons or property resulting from the viewing of this video and doesn’t condone the construction of high-powered laser devices. It’s been posted for entertainment purposes only. Don’t use lasers unless you know absolutely what you are doing.
To coincide with the 15th anniversary of the video game series Resident Evil (known as Biohazard in Japan), Tokyo Mauri will be releasing the 2011 Biohazard 15th Anniversary Samurai Edge M92F Kendo S.T.A.R.S Custom [Chris Redfield model]. It’s a gas blowback operated airsoft pistol detailed exactly as the titular character’s own Samurai Edge was in the remake of the first Resident Evil and will retail for approximately $250. RE fanboys rejoice! Get yourself one of these to accessorize your favorite samurai shirts!
The Stellar Ponies? Really? Well, semi-laughable team name aside (Blood Falcons, by contrast, is pretty bad-ass) they can do some serious damage. The footage is from the upcoming free-to-play online MMO shooter FireFall. Intentional or not, I’m getting some major Team Fortress 2 vibes, especially from that Medic class. The game doesn’t come out until Winter, but it’s already looking to be a worthwhile experience for the price [read: free].
Check out justin.tv/r5studios this Friday, May 6th, for a live broadcast of FireFall.
Echelon Software is a company located in Astoria, New York who deals in interactive media, such as video games, but also has ties to companies including NAE Systems and Magpul Dynamics, whom used Echelon’s services to enhance their own brands. Echelon currently has a Facebook game titled Black Powder Red Earth available for play that details the actions of a PMC in a near future Iraq. The game itself is based on a short story, and unlike most other games dealing with Middle Eastern conflict, it handles its subject matter in a realistic manner. Weapons, locations, and even the enemy forces are all represented in-game as they would be in real-life. No AKA-47s, unnamed countries, and OPFOR as an enemy placeholder in the story. Also included with the game is a wide offering of special features, detailing the history of the region, the enemy forces, and the methods of PMCs that operate in the area through interviews. If you’re in the military or industry, you’ll appreciate the level of authenticity found in this game.
Also in the works is a graphic novel set in the same universe as Black Powder Red Earth. The graphic novel draws from both the original short story and Facebook game to deliver an experience on par with the accuracy and intrigue of its namesake. It won’t be released until later this year, but here’s the first two pages to pique your interest.
I knew this map was going to be something special as soon as I heard ‘Funky Fanfare’ playing during the beginning along with the overall grindhouse-style of the trailer. Although Black Ops is no stranger to using real people as playable characters in Zombies [See ‘Five’] having such well-known horror personalities as Danny Trejo, Robert Englund, and “the godfather of all zombies” himself, George A. Romero (as a boss character) really sets a new standard of awesomeness. This is definitely a day-one purchase for me.
Just a reminder than the season finale of Archer premiers tonight on FX at 10 PM, Eastern. If you haven’t been watching this show, you’ve been missing the best, if highly vulgar, animated spy comedy of all time. In other words: it’s mandatory viewing. Also, a brand new Duke Nukem Forever trailer will be premiering on TV, because who else but Duke could pair so well with Archer?
This is the uncensored version of the trailer, btw.
Here’s a preview of the second Black Ops map pack, titled ‘Escalation’. Once again, they screw us on any footage from the zombies map. Doesn’t Treyarch know the only real reason people buy these packs is for that very purpose? In any event, the maps do look pretty cool, although they continue to do that whole alternate-history thing with some of the maps, like convoy, which features an American convoy in the States that was ambushed by Soviet forces. I can’t decide if that really makes any sense, even taking into account the game’s fiction.
Escalation comes out May 3rd, exclusively [for a period] for Xbox Live. The PS3 will most likely follow one month later, followed by who-knows-when for the PC. Wii owners are, as always, completely shafted.
I’ve always wanted bio-mechanical upgrades. Who doesn’t want legs that let you run 50 mph or an arm that can punch through a tank? Of course this commercial only shows civilian applications for augmentation, but it’s pretty obvious what you can really do with this kind of tech. Gun-arm, anyone?
For those of you not in the know, this is a commercial for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Sadly, it ain’t real.
Rage is a game that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth, so of course the weaponry would be a mix of the familiar and the strange. You’ve got your standard rifles, smgs, pistols, and shotguns, but also futuristic crossbows, automated turrets, and the wingstick, a large three-bladed throwing weapon.
Also, props to including the AK-47 as the “Settler Machine Gun”. If any weapon would survive an earth shattering catastrophe it would have to be the AK.
Rage comes out September 13, 2011 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
