Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Message Board older than one year ago

Apparently the word "just" resonates deeply with UK buyers, as Just Dance and Just Cause 2 take the top spots on the UK all-formats sales chart, respectively. Just Dance sales rose 56 percent over the Easter holiday, hopping the rhythm title back to the top spot, which it previously held during the second and third weeks of 2010. The international success of Just Dance is absolutely fascinating and we're curious to see its impact on E3 this year. Clones must be in the cards.

Just Cause 2 sales glided down 21 percent after riding the top of the charts last week. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 held its ground at third, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Pokémon SoulSilver rounded out the top five. You'll find the complete UK top 10 after the break.

Source - Just Dance Just Beats Just Cause [GFK Chart-Track]
Source - Latest UK Software Charts [GFK Chart-Track]

Two lead developers no longer with the studio.

#violence Investigative organization WikiLeaks released classified U.S. military video today showing the killing of more than a dozen Iraqis, including two Reuters employees, with a spokesperson for the whistle-blower group slamming the soldiers involved for their "video game" like behavior. More »

#callofduty Despite rumours of Call of Duty developers being "held hostage" over withheld bonus payments, it nevertheless looks like more of those involved with the series have begun to leave Infinity Ward following the sacking of the studio's founders. More »

#violence Investigative organization WikiLeaks released classified United States military video today showing the killing of more than a dozen Iraqis, including two Reuters employees, with a spokesperson for the whistle-blower group slamming the soldiers involved for their "video game" like behavior. More »

If you happened to buy the Modern Warfare 2 "Stimulus Package" map pack immediately upon launch, you got problems first, and maps later. To get over the complications caused by your attempted Mapathy treatment, Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb announced that day-one buyers of the map pack will receive a free week of Gold Xbox Live membership. "Check your Live messages," according to Major Nelson, for notice of the reward.

Even if every single person who ever bought the Stimulus Package already has a Gold membership, now you have it for a week longer! And for nothing but a minor inconvenience.

If you happened to buy the Modern Warfare 2 "Stimulus Package" map pack immediately upon launch, you got problems first, and maps later. To get over the complications caused by your attempted Mapathy treatment, Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb announced that day-one buyers of the map pack will receive a free week of Gold Xbox Live membership. "Check your Live messages," according to Major Nelson, for notice of the reward.

Even if every single person who ever bought the Stimulus Package already has a Gold membership, now you have it for a week longer! And for nothing but a minor inconvenience.

#modernwarfare2 At $3 per map, it was fair to ask what else you get for your money with the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package. The answer, apparently, is a big-ass marketing campaign. More »

While we might argue that Infinity Ward's 2009 follow up to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2, likely earned the lion's share of its sales through Infinity Ward's history of making quality games, building a strong and loyal fanbase, and, well, the very fact that it was a sequel to an insanely high-selling game, the marketing team behind MW2 would likely disagree. Speaking at this week's MI6 Conference (and picked up by VentureBeat), contract marketing team The Ant Farm discussed some of the reasons that the sequel's advertising campaign worked so well -- and helped the title sell millions more copies than it would have without.

"With us, it became a challenge of basically breaking it down to 'how do we engage the core first?'," explained Ant Farm executive creative director Rob Troy. "By the time you see the invasion on US soil, which was a secret for a long time, you definitely wanna go out there and kick some ass." For him, the marketing campaign was about slowly doling out aspects of the story while keeping fans in the dark about specifics, and resulted in a resounding success. We have to imagine landing commercial premieres during major sporting events likely helped out the sales as well, not to mention those MW2-branded energy drinks. Also, hey, blowing up castles is always a good way to advertise your product -- let's not kid ourselves, folks.

We've embedded the whole conversation for your viewing pleasure after the break.

#clips When you're a the nephew of a world famous three-time Formula One champion, you take any rare opportunity for me-time that you get. Here Brazil's Bruno Senna combines his morning cardio with some Modern Warfare 2. More »

#clips When you're a world famous three-time Formula One champion, you take any rare opportunity for me-time that you get. Here Brazil's Bruno Senna combines his morning cardio with some Modern Warfare 2. More »

#stimuluspackage So you're upset that you have to pay $15 for five maps, two of which are old, and that the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package launched broken. You know what'd cheer you up? Free night vision goggles for your avatar! More »

CVG had a chat with Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling recently, and surprise surprise, the guy is really good at towing the company line (he'd better be, especially when he's getting confronted with Modern Warfare 2 questions even during random PAX panels about Twitter). He easily fended off questions about whether or not the Stimulus Package's two older maps are worth the $15, the ensuing competition from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and the supposed backlash from hardcore players, saying that MW2's popularity proves the company has done everything right so far.

Bowling was especially dismissive of the glitches that plagued what seemed to be most of the game's players, saying that only "like one per cent of our user base" of 25 million players "experienced those types of things and even participate in those types of things." Could have fooled us -- from our perspective, the frustration over the game's widespread cheating seemed significant. But Bowling persisted throughout the interview. According to him, Modern Warfare 2 is doing just fine, thanks.

Want to avoid mapathy? We're going to be giving away five codes for the recently released map pack for Modern Warfare 2. How do you enter? Simply join our Facebook page. Then, check the page beginning around 4PM ET for the entry form post. Once it's live, leave a comment on the Facebook post to enter the giveaway. Commenting on this post will NOT earn you an entry!

To enter this giveaway:

• Join the Joystiq fan page on Facebook. At around 4PM ET, leave a comment on the entry form.
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec).
• Limit 1 entry per person.
• The entry period ends at 4:30PM ET on Thursday, April 1.
• At that time, we'll select 5 winners from the eligible commenters to receive a code for the Modern Warfare 2 "Stimulus Pack" DLC (ARV $15). Make sure your privacy settings allow for direct messages to receive a code.
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.

Want to avoid mapathy? We're going to be giving away five codes for the recently released map pack for Modern Warfare 2. How do you enter? Simply join our Facebook page. Then, check the page beginning around 4PM ET for the entry form post. Once it's live, leave a comment on the Facebook post to enter the giveaway. Commenting on this post will NOT earn you an entry!

To enter this giveaway:

• Join the Joystiq fan page on Facebook. At around 4PM ET, leave a comment on the entry form.
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec).
• Limit 1 entry per person.
• The entry period ends at 4:30PM ET on Thursday, April 1.
• At that time, we'll select 5 winners from the eligible commenters to receive a code for the Modern Warfare 2 "Stimulus Pack" DLC (ARV $15). Make sure your privacy settings allow for direct messages to receive a code.
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.

#xbox360 When the Modern Warfare 2 "Stimulus Pack" downloadable content launched, it did not work. Surely there had to be a reason for that. Turns out, there is. More »

#review Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remains the most popular game played on Xbox Live since its launch late last year, but that doesn't mean that the fans of the fast-paced, first-person shooter couldn't use some new ways to play. More »

#stimuluspack To celebrate today's release of Modern Warfare 2's new Stimulus map pack, publisher Activision delivered copies of the game to more than 300 U.S. Navy ships, submarines and recreational facilities around the world. More »

Your crippling case of "mapathy" can finally be treated, dear Modern Warfare 2 player. Just a few minutes ago, the "Stimulus Package" DLC bundle, which includes three new multiplayer maps and two tarted-up arenas from Call of Duty 4, went live on Xbox 360. At $15, it's a pretty pricey prescription for your blues, but it might just be the only option you've got. Curse you, pharmaceutical empire!

Unfortunately, it seems the launch of the new maps was botched -- we've received a number of tips claiming the maps aren't loading in-game. Major Nelson recently Tweeted that the game needs a title update in order to incorporate the new content, which he says is coming soon. We'll let you know when everything's in working order.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

#callofdutymodernwarfare2 Details are still sketchy, but we're getting a number of reports that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 map pack that hit this morning is not entirely working. More »

Five maps, 1200 Microsoft points, one trailer. Watch it.

#clips Set to hit the Xbox 360 next week, the downloadable Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Pack brings with it five new maps and a just a touch more controversy to a studio recently embroiled in discord. More »

Click to see the heavy rain more clearly
Coming March 30 to cure you of that nagging case of Mapathy are Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's new (well, mostly) multiplayer maps: Bailout, Crash, Overgrown, Salvage and Storm. Sounding like X-Men monikers, the five DLC levels (two of which, Crash and Overgrown, hail from the original Modern Warfare) that make up the MW2 "Stimulus Package" are going to set you back 1200 ($15). Check out the first screens of them below and Get Stimulated[TM]!

#screens We're still five days away from the release of the first Modern Warfare 2 map pack for the Xbox 360, so you might want to check out these latest screens one at a time, one per day. More »

We speak with Robert Bowling about the incoming map pack.

We're less than a week away from Infinity Ward finally delivering fans from "mapathy," the fake disease it came up with to describe fan boredom with the same old Modern Warfare 2 maps. In this newly released video, we gain a better appreciation for the disorder, as well as the upcoming cure: The $15 "Stimulus Package", due March 30 on Xbox 360.

If you play so much Modern Warfare 2 that you've grown bored of it, we're not sure "buy more of it" is the best life choice from a big picture perspective, in fact, we'd probably suggest something like "enjoying the sunshine with friends" or "gardening." But hey, who are we to argue with Infinity Ward's scientific research?

[Via Xbox 360 Digest]

#clips There's something fishy about this commercial for the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 map pack. Namely, that these sure as hell aren't the kind of people I run into playing the game. More »

#clips Let's say someone built a replica of Modern Warfare 2's training level, "The Pit". And then felt like challenging a real soldier to go through it, while they played the level on computer. Fancy watching? More »

Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling has announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will host its first worldwide double XP weekend from April 2 until April 5 on Xbox Live, just a few days after the "Stimulus Package" maps are set to arrive.

Unfortunately, in conveying this to Joystiq readers -- many of whom are statistically likely to be interested in the news -- we've expanded a perfectly concise tweet into a pompous, self-referential article and unfairly reduced the internet's available supply of letters and punctuation.

we r rly sry try 2 do bttr in futr

Hey, you remember when Infinity Ward released that unbelievably offensive "Fight Against Grenade Spam" video starring Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels to promote Modern Warfare 2? Yeah, we were trying to forget it too (sorry to remind you!), but Battlefield developer DICE just released its own variation of the video (found after the break) starring New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia to explain why grenade spam isn't so much of an issue in Bad Company 2.

According to CC, due to the variety of other gameplay options (destructible environments, a handful of different vehicles and "adrenaline pumping weapons"), grenade spam isn't the same problem that it is in "competing games of this particular genre." (It probably helps that each class only starts with one grenade too, huh?) Rather than being sponsored by the notorious acronym that closed out Infinity Ward's ad, this one ends with: "Friends Really Against Grenade Spam."

Oh, and for those of you playing along at home, this is at least the second advertisement for Bad Company 2 that directly parodies Modern Warfare 2 promos. We're still holding out hope that all this culminates in a cage match between Robert Bowling and Patrick Söderlund.