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Tag: Activision

  • Battlefield 3 Breaks Records for EA

    Battlefield 3 Breaks Records for EA

    If you’re keeping track of the throwdown between EA and Activision for gaming supremacy — a contest that will inevitably be won by the more popular and more well known Modern Warfare 3 — EA got the first piece of good news, learning that initial sales for their Battlefield 3 installment broke previous sale records to become the fastest selling EA video game in history.

    Consider this a head start for EA if you will, although, expect Activision’s offering to quickly close the gap when it launches next Tuesday.

    Whatever the final numbers are for these first-person shooters, and regardless of Modern Warfare 3‘s impending success, EA will undoubtedly still be celebrating Battlefield 3, especially when you consider the latest installment sold five million copies in one week, which catapulted to the top of EA’s fastest-selling game list. This means that ever since arriving in stores on October 25th, the newest version of Battlefield sold faster than EA’s ubiquitous Madden franchise, which is news in and of itself.

    That fact that Madden is not the fastest-selling game is surprising, but then again, Madden gets an update every year and the new version of Battlefield has been completely overhauled for the both the next-gen consoles and the PC market, where the game truly shines:


    EA also released additional information concerning the successful launch of Battlefield 3:

    EA released several indicators of the game’s success: Battlefield 3 fans executed 73 million “savior kills”, 48 million “revives” by medics and destroyed 67 million vehicles. And they also accrued 2.5 million Facebook Likes and 200,000 Twitter followers, EA said.

    Of course, the true test of Battlefield’s appeal will be known when Modern Warfare 3 — which is being billed as “the most anticipated game ever” — hits the stores, which happens in on November 8. Even with Battlefield’s undeniable hot start, some industry analysts aren’t too worried about how the newest installment of Modern Warfare will do:

    [Michael Pachter, videogame analyst, Wedbush Morgan Securities] forecasts that Modern Warfare 3 will come out on top with 16 million copies sold worldwide this year. That’s double the sales total he predicts for Battlefield 3, which should sell 8 million copies globally. And that’s just this year. Modern Warfare 3 could sell an additional 8 million copies in 2012 and Battlefield 3 could tally another 2 million units sold next year.

    Considering the incredible success of Modern Warfare 2, it’s not as if Pachter is going out on a limb with his prediction, although, it should be noted that, in only a week’s time, Battlefield 3 is over halfway to his prediction of 8 million units sold, and the 2011 Christmas shopping season — a period that should boost each title’s sales even further — hasn’t even begun yet, at least not in earnest.

    Just in case you need yet another reminder, here are the launch videos for both installments, starting with Battlefield:


    Whatever your feelings toward each franchise are, there’s no denying it’s a great time to be a gamer, especially one who enjoys the FPS genre.

  • Call of Duty Elite Hits Two Million Signups in Two Weeks

    The giant upcoming social network for gamers called Call of Duty: Elite will officially kick off the same time as the upcoming COD installment Modern Warfare 3, November 8th. But the service wants feedback from players to help polish off the final product, so they issued an invite for everyone to sign up to be a beta tester on the Elite website.

    About two weeks in, more than 2 million have already signed up for the beta. This is a promising number for Elite developers Beachhead Studio and Activision, to say the least.

    This figure was announced on Activision’s Dan Amrich’s blog One of Swords. He tells us that the official COD: Elite beta will launch July 14th and users who have signed up should check their inboxes for an official invite.

    And they want more beta testers. According to Amrich, the 2 million current signups only represent about 6% of the total Call of Duty world.

    The official start of the beta is a month away, so there’s still plenty of time for you to sign up. When the studio head at Beachhead said this would be a live beta, he was not kidding — your participation really can make a difference in how Elite evolves. And don’t be discouraged by the big number, thinking you shouldn’t bother because they already have enough people — two million volunteers among 30 million Call of Duty players is a small amount. More would be even better

    It looks like COD: Elite hasn’t been hurt initially by all the talk of it being a “paid service.” A FAQ page was quickly put out on the website to clarify the difference between Elite free and Elite Premium. First and foremost (and this bears repeating) multiplayer will be free.

    And most features of Call of Duty Elite will be available through a free membership. Here’s a little chart that details what will be included in the service for free –

    It’s still unknown exactly what the premium membership will look like, and we still don’t have a price yet. Here’s their explanation on why we don’t know any of this yet –

    The premium membership of Call of Duty Elite (which is completely optional) will set a new gold standard for what the multiplayer and community experience for a console game can be. Why are we not revealing all of the features that are part of the premium service today? Simple. Because the service was designed to be deeply integrated with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and will not be demonstrable until we are closer to the launch of the game. We know seeing is believing, and over the next few months we will be revealing and demonstrating more of the premium features and by the end of the summer, we will reveal the entire service in full.

    If your little heart can’t wait to obsessively monitor your K/D ratio and accuracy with the scoped Python, Amrich can provide you with a little fix. He’s put up an updated post on everything he knows about COD: Elite.

  • Modern Warfare 3 Faces British Backlash

    Modern Warfare 3 Faces British Backlash

    It’s shaping up to be a great fall season for gamers, if, for nothing else, than to watch Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 fight it out for top first person shooter honors. It’s EA (BF3) versus Activision (MW3) for all of 2011’s FPS marbles. While Battlefield 3 won the initial battle, simply by coming out swinging first, Modern Warfare 3 has won the latest round with the release of first non-teaser trailer, which leads this article.

    They hype level for both games is extremely high, with EA seeing a 700 percent increase of pre-orders; and, well, Modern Warfare is Modern Warfare. The buzz is always high around this particular title. However, the war for 2011 FPS supremacy may be over before it’s begun, thanks to some backlash in England concerning Modern Warfare 3’s content.

    According to a report in the Daily Mail (via The Escapist), some scenes from the upcoming game remind some of the 7/7 attacks that took place in London on July of 2005. In the Modern Warfare 3 reveal, certain scenes feature the British Parliament and the London Underground getting attacked.

    The Mail also has screenshots of the scenes in question:

    Modern Warfare 3

    Modern Warfare 3


    The backlash is growing the point where some English citizens are calling for Modern Warfare 3 to be banned in England, while other spokespeople responded as well:

    Vivienne Pattison, spokesman for campaign group Mediawatch UK, said: “I have concerns as these games are hyper-real and take place in a landscape we are familiar with. In light of the fact we have just had the 7/7 inquests, it is in incredibly poor taste.”

    Pattison also supported a ban on the release of Saw IV, to provide some additional perspective.

    Of course, the Modern Warfare franchise is no stranger to controversy. When MW 2 was released, a great deal was made about the airport execution scene, but ultimately, Modern Warfare 2 broke records when it was released, and England was right in the middle of those record-breaking sales.

    With that in mind, it would be awfully surprising if Modern Warfare 3 was banned in England. In fact, this kind of controversy will only help market the game, because, as we’ve learned time and time again, this kind of outcry only increases interest in the item being discussed. With that in mind, don’t be surprised if Modern Warfare 3 breaks the records set by MW 2, especially in the British Isles.

  • Majority Of Children Familiar With Video Game Ratings

    The majority (82%) of parents and children (75%) who play video games are familiar with the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings system, according to a new survey by The Harrison Group conducted on behalf of Activision.

    Additionally, 63% of parents with children who play games consider themselves gamers with the number increasing to 83% for parents ages 35 and younger, and 70% of parents pay close attention to the ratings when purchasing a game for themselves or their families.

    "Parents rely on and value the ESRB ratings in helping them decide which games to allow their children to play," said Mike Griffith, President and CEO of Activision Publishing.

    "Our ‘Ratings Are Not A Game’ education initiative underscores our commitment to helping parents better understand and utilize the ratings system as they select age appropriate games and determine the best way for the entire family to enjoy the gaming experience."

    Other key survey findings include:

    • Gamers devote 32% of their leisure time to entertainment with video games accounting for the largest share – approximately 19%.
    • 76% of parents agree that video games are a part of their family’s life, and are something they’re very comfortable with.
    • Among parent gamers, 52% of their video gaming playing time is spent with their children.
    • Approximately 62% of parents conduct research before purchasing a video game that their child wants.