This weekend developer Infinity Ward is dealing out some Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare love. Friday, Feb. 27 into Monday morning March 2, double experience points will be ours for the taking!
But that’s not all! Infinity Ward will also be offering the previously released DLC map pack for half price. For a mere 400 MS points, you can download three maps to expand your killing pleasure.
What’s that you say? The pot’s not sweet enough to put down your new issue of Birds and Blooms for some wholesome warfare? You want more? Well pinch yourself on the ass and call Aunt Greta! There is more! IW is also expanding the playlist to include the headquarters gametype in hardcore mode. Woot!
Many of you are wondering why you would ever remove the newer Call of Duty: World at War from its semi-permanent position lodged in your console’s disc tray to play “last year’s” CoD. Start with: because it’s damn fun. MW’s highly addictive traits have not waned since you quit playing it. You’ve been feeding your addiction with those same traits in a different CoD package. And let’s be honest, that different package has lost its new game smell. Sure, you still have more WaW prestige in your future, more weapons to unlock, more achievements to attain. Most of us can say the same thing about MW. And dudes and dudettes: double XP! It’s like watching porn without the tedious plot or cheesy dialogue, or like having multiple orgasms.
It’s the good shit. Do yourself a favor and get some.
Join the many folks who are already giddy as a result of the prospect of CoD4 double XP. There is still a large population of CoD fans who have been playing the crap out of MW even though WaW is around. Many claim there are good reasons for continuing their MW obsessions. For instance, some people were too offended by developer Treyarch’s lackluster CoD3 to consider buying another Treyarch CoD. As a result, they are still playing Infinity Ward’s MW and have refused to purchase Treyarch’s WaW.
Some people couldn’t bring themselves to play another WWII shooter. Some weren’t willing to drop $60 (or more) for an online multiplayer experience with essentially the same elements and mechanics as MW. And there are even some who are bi, and simply have the compulsive need to play both CoDs. Any way you slice it, there have been enough gamers rockin’ MW for the last four months to keep it competing with GoW2 for the #3 spot for most-played Xbox Live games behind WaW and Halo 3.
The lingering popularity of MW has certainly not been the result of an extensive supply of downloadable content. In fact, devoted CoD4 whores and addicts have been deprived of IW’s love and attention for some time. The first and only DLC, the map pack, originally released at the beginning of April 2008 for the 360. That should have been early enough in the game’s life cycle to allow for more DLC over the summer months without affecting WaW’s November release. More DLC never happened.
There were several double XP weekends between April and October seemingly not out of love, but out of desire to push the sale of the aging map pack. As fall 2008 crept up, things got bleaker. IW developed a list of new game types, published them for all to see, and then sent them into testing with the promise of swift implementation. There they died a slow death, and talk of their existence ceased. It was then that it became clear that there would be nothing else substantial issued for MW.
So it’s curious that Modern Warfare is getting any attention now. Downloadable content for World at War has been announced for March and will garner the CoD limelight for the immediate future. News of the next Call of Duty, currently dubbed Modern Warfare 2, has begun to surface. This news will likely heat up as we approach E3 in June, and continue into a full blown swelter as November draws near.
So, is this weekend’s brouhaha MW’s last hurrah? If so, perhaps Infinity Ward is taking the opportunity to thank us for playing their game with the kind gestures of double XP, a new gametype they had laying around collecting dust and the opportunity for the three geeks (You know who you are!) who haven’t yet bought the map pack to do so before it’s too late. Or is this weekend a reminder to the world that Infinity Ward is the epicenter of the Call of Duty franchise? Is it a cock waving gesture notifying us that after couple more months of getting dirty with their freaky WWII cousin, that IW will once again begin to reassert themselves as lords of their domain? Or could it be the even more likely scenario is that IW simply wants to celebrate Snuphy’s birthday?
Who knows. Who cares. What is clear is that this year looks like an exciting time to be a CoD fan. This weekend is a great opportunity to celebrate that fact. So tip a few of your favorite adult beverages. Celebrate Snuphy’s birthday. Stuff your consoles with a copy of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Venture online to slay some virtual Timmies. And above all, wallow in some sweet, sweet double XP goodness.
