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Tag: call of duty elite

  • Call of Duty Elite Going Free For Black Ops II [w/ Trailer]

    Activision and Treyarch today announced that the Call of Duty Elite service will be free when Call of Duty: Black Ops II launches on November 13.

    “We’ve learned a lot in our first year of Call of Duty Elite, and we’re very proud that we over delivered on our commitment of playable content to our premium members,” said Eric Hirshberg, Activision CEO. “What we have realized is that several of the Call of Duty Elite services which are currently only available to our premium members for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are things that would further unite, engage and delight our player community. So we are going to make them free for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.”

    Call of Duty Elite provides players with a place to track their stats and gather with friends or clan members. Treyarch has stated that statistics for Zombies mode will also now be supported through the service. In addition, Call of Duty Elite TV will launch alongside Black Ops II, with regular programming that will feature tips, strategies, class overviews, “and more.”

    As for the free downloadable content (DLC) map packs that came with Call of Duty Elite, those can be bought one-at-a-time or will also now be bundled into one of the “season pass” offers that have become popular for games with multiple DLCs planned. The Season Pass will cost 4000 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE, which works out to $50 via PlayStation Network or PC. Activision said that both multiplayer and Zombies modes will be getting extra content, starting in 2013.

    Below is a trailer Activision prepared to coincide with today’s announcement.

  • Call Of Duty Elite Subscribers Get New Map Pack Today On Xbox 360

    The Call of Duty Elite service has already made itself worthwhile with players on the Xbox 360 getting access to three new maps today.

    Subscribers will get two new Spec Ops maps – Black Ice and Negotiator – that will extend the co-op action you and your friends can get involved in. Black Ice is especially welcome as it adds the snowmobile chase from Modern Warfare 2 into the new game. Negotiator has one player attempting to save their partner from being assassinated.

    Call Of Duty Elite Map Pack

    The lone multiplayer map, Black Box, has players fighting across a mansion that just so happens to be where Air Force One has been downed. The map looks to have plenty of tactical camping points so get those snipers ready.

    Call of Duty Elite Map Pack

    If you’re not a Call of Duty Elite subscriber, you can pick up these maps alongside the first set of map packs on March 20.

    Here’s the admittedly kind of obnoxious trailer for the new map packs, but it does a good job of giving you an overall view of what to expect.

    Are the map packs great additions to the game so far? Or could they be better? Let us know in the comments.

    [h/t: Joystiq]

  • Modern Warfare 3 DLC Hits For Call Of Duty Elite Premium Subscribers

    Modern Warfare 3’s “content season” is now officially upon us, as the first DLC is now available. The only catch is that it is only available to Call of Duty Elite PREMIUM members.

    Call of Duty Elite, of course, is the gaming network built around Modern Warfare 3’s release. It allows players to access detailed statistics, as well as various social options involving clans, matchmaking, and video sharing. Call of Duty Elite Premium is the $49.99 package that provides players with bonus features – early access to DLC obviously being one of them.

    Today’s DLC kickoff contains two news maps, Piazza and Liberation. Here’s a description of the maps from Google+Reader”>Major Nelson:

    Elite Drop 1: Piazza Map

    This seaside Italian getaway is anything but idyllic, as tight corners and branching pathways pose great risk at every turn. Close-range combat dominates, and the team that best utilizes flanking routes will most often come out on top. Attacks from behind, above and below are an ever-constant threat. Keep up your awareness and don’t get taken by surprise.

    Elite Drop 2: Liberation Map

    A militarized Central Park stretches across a vast landscape, ripe for long-range sniper and LMG fire. Mounted turrets on either end lend power to anyone brave enough to expose themselves in exchange for deadly firepower. Plan out your movement and always be aware of nearby sightlines to avoid becoming fodder for the enemy.

    Call of Duty Elite Premium members won’t need to shell out any extra cash for these two new maps, as they are included as part of the premium subscription.

    Check the lead video for a walkthrough of how to access the new DLC and check out the videos below for some gameplay from the new maps, courtesy user Matroix.

  • Modern Warfare 3 DLC Launches January 24th For Elite Subscribers

    Hey Modern Warfare 3 fanatics? Are you already getting sick of getting spawn-semtex killed in Dome and sniped from across the map on Bakaara? Are you sick of all the exploding barrels and cars in Fallen and just plain fed up with having nowhere to hide from Pavelows in Mission?

    Well if you’re an elite subscriber, you’re in luck. According to Infinity Ward Creative Strategist Robert Bowling, the first round of DLC will be dropping in just over a month.

    @fourzerotwo
    Robert Bowling    Exclusive sneak peek at ‘Park’ – some of the first #MW3 DLC hitting Jan 24th for Elite subscribers! More info in Jan! http://t.co/CJQcNndm 2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    The lead image is the one tweeted out by Bowling, our first look at the new MW3 map “Park.”

    Kotaku brings up an important question – “It’s not clear if that date is when Elite premium members will be getting the add-on or if their pay-to-get-it-first status will let them access it before that date.”

    But either way, it looks like at least one new map is on its way in about a month (or less).

    Check out Bowling discuss how Modern Warfare 3 DLC will be different this time around. The “content season” is nearly upon us.

  • No Call of Duty Elite for PC?

    No Call of Duty Elite for PC?

    The Call of Duty Elite launch has been less than successful, as pointed out by Josh in a previous article, this much is known. The social network platform designed around the Call of Duty franchise has been plagued with issues ranging from server crashes due to user demand, and there have apparently been unfulfilled promises having to do with the “Founder” accounts.

    Furthermore, the CoD Elite mobile app hasn’t hit yet, and as discussed previously, there are many functionality issues that are severely limiting the service. And then there’s the “no PC support” issue, with Elite only being available to console players. All in all, it sounds like a back to the drawing board situation, but because Activision has already committed itself to the Elite platform, they are trying to fix it on the fly, and that’s going about as well as you’d expect.

    According to a report from Rock, Paper, Shotgun, the “Elite is temporarily unavailable for the PC” may turn into a “permanently unavailable” scenario, because, apparently, the PC system is just too insecure. The post pointed to a tweet from Call of Duty Elite Twitter page to substantiate their post, and the tweet in question says:

    @CallOfDutyElite
    Call of Duty Elite    @thejuggz We are working towards a universal Elite experience but we cannot guarantee if or when a version will be available for the PC. 5 hours ago via CoTweet · powered by @socialditto

    Granted, with so many more people playing Modern Warfare 3 on the Xbox 360 than the other platforms — nothing like using inferior tech, I guess — does it really matter if Elite is available to the PC users? More to the point, with so many console users, does Activision care enough about the PC environment to actually force the issue and ensure PC users get a working version? Considering the fact the current service is struggling so much, it’s doubtful.

    As for the insecurity of the PC environment, as pointed out by Rock, Paper, Shotgun, isn’t this something that should’ve been discussed during the early development days? Or do they want us to believe they only discovered it at this late date? Personally, I don’t think the lack of security has anything to do with the lack of Elite service for PC players. It’s clear that Xbox 360 players are the target audience, and the rest of gaming community, while getting some semblance of service, you get the distinct feeling that once Elite works as advertised for the Xbox crowd, the resources being thrown at it will shrink.

    In other news, I believe I’ve found a great definition for irony over at the CoD Elite website, especially in light of negative news about the PC platform. Even with the uncertainty surrounding the service, that hasn’t stopped their graphic designers from using an image of laptop, otherwise known as a member of the PC family, on their site.

    Elite PC

    Wishful thinking, perhaps.

  • Call of Duty Elite Down For Many Users, Problems Seem To Be Varied

    Call of Duty Elite, the social gaming network launched around Modern Warfare 3, hasn’t gotten off to the best start. The service, inundated by membership requests, has been unable to get itself fully operational since MW3 launched last Tuesday.

    Originally plagued by registration and login issues, the problems have spread to actual functionality of the service. The huge demand by players to track stats, make matches, and organize clans has crashed servers. The service is currently still given “intermittent” status on the official Elite status site, which acknowledged the problems late last week. After blaming high traffic on the failures, they announced that they would throttle access while they worked on the problems –

    We are also going to temporarily limit access to Elite services on both the console applications and website while we build additional capacity and scale. We’ll look to increase access to greater numbers of users as soon as possible

    In order to assuage frustrated gamers, Elite offered a free month of premium service to existing premium users and extended the Founder eligibility period (where new MW3 players can sign up) until the end of November.

    Here’s the latest from the Elite status page:

    As we continue to keep everyone updated on the steps we’re taking here to get more of you into Call of Duty Elite, we are aware that some users have been denied entry into the service once they have input their age. We recognize that in regions around the world player age requirements vary. We are happy to say that we have identified some solutions to this issue. Our team is working on the technical changes required, and we expect to announce the details soon on this change. Meanwhile, if you purchased MW3 and were not able to register for Call of Duty ELITE, we wanted to make you aware of this pending change, and we thank you for your patience.

    We remain committed to taking all of the necessary steps to increase our capacity for all our users. The Call of Duty Elite team will keep you updated at callofduty.com/elitestatus. Continue to check back here for overall Elite status or for a complete list of FAQs, check out our customer service site. We will also give you updates regularly through the official Twitter account, @CallofDutyElite.

    We’re working around the clock 24/7 to resolve things, so thanks again for your patience.

    That Twitter account looks like it’s been hit with a load of questions, and it looks like it’s doing its best to answer them. From the wide variety of complaints, we can see that the Elite outage is affecting multiple parts of the service.

    Twitter user xMimisReal looks to be having the same problem that this writer is having:

    @xMimisReal
    Jim K    @CallOfDutyElite Dear CoD Elite.
    Im trying for days now to enter my Elite Account,but i always get the Throtled error.
    Regards, Mimis. 4 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Paddy1322 looks to be having the age verification issue that they mentioned in the above statement:

    @paddy1322
    patrick dunning    @CallOfDutyElite my xbox says this account is not egible but i am 18 in the uk but my msn says im 17 is this going to be fixed cheers 4 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Some seem to still be having problems even logging in:

    @Num1YankeeFan
    Jason Ferguson    @CallOfDutyElite Six days and still “Due to heavy traffic, we cannot process your login request.” Along with no founder entitlements. ??? 4 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Clan making features are currently down as well right now, according to Elite –

    @EveryoneHatesP
    P    @CallOfDutyElite it let me create a clan but wont let me invite anyone…says i have no friends. Any chance this will be working by tonight? 4 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Call of Duty Elite’s response to all of these queries basically take this form:

    @CallOfDutyElite
    Call of Duty Elite    @EveryoneHatesP This feature is down at present, keep an eye on ELITE status for updates http://t.co/oVwcUALw 4 hours ago via CoTweet · powered by @socialditto

    According to feedback we received on a previous WebProNews article on the topic, the problems are prevalent and varied. And many users are beginning to lose patience. Will Elite have to offer more than what they’ve already offered in order to assuage frustrated players? Let us know what you think.

  • Call of Duty Elite Not Working? Hey, Here’s a Free Month of Premium

    UPDATE: Elite service still seems to be intermittent for many users, who are reporting a wide variety of problems. They are taking to Elite’s Twitter account to post their issues.

    ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Modern Warfare 3 has been out for a few days now, and it looks like, for the most part – so far so good. It’s received nearly unanimous acclaim from critics and has broken all kinds of sales records by taking in $400 million on launch day. So apart from Battlefield players spamming review sites with negative reviews, it looks like Modern Warfare 3 is going to be one in a long line of commercial successes for the Call of Duty franchise.

    The only problem is with the Modern Warfare 3 companion service, Call of Duty Elite. The service, which is basically a social network for COD gamers, allows players to track stats, share recorded match videos, and find players with their interests and skill level for matchmaking.

    But if you’ve tried to access the service over the past few days, you know that it’s not really working. And the users that are able to register their accounts are finding that there are some serious flaws with the stat tracking and other services.

    Personally, I’ve been unable to connect at all. The one time that I was able to register my account and link my gamertag, I was instructed to log back in and Elite said that my username did not exist. Since that time, I’ve been unable to sign in at all.

    Apparently I’m not alone in having issues, and the Elite team posted an explanation to the Elite status page:

    At launch, our registration and login systems were crushed by gamers trying to enter the Elite site at the same time. We have now fixed the registration and login systems, but we have found that the greater than expected demand is crashing servers. We’re immediately deploying multiple additional servers to beef up the system. We are also going to temporarily limit access to Elite services on both the console applications and website while we build additional capacity and scale. We’ll look to increase access to greater numbers of users as soon as possible.

    They also promise premium subscribers an additional month of the service free of charge, and they will extend the “founder eligibility” where new members can sign up for premium by one month.

    As of right now, the service indicator reports intermittent service.

    Have you been having problems with Call of Duty Elite? Let us know in the comments.

    Here’s the full statement:

    Since Tuesday’s launch, Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer has been working great. In fact, the amount of players online is even higher than what it was this time last year for Black Ops. Have fun — we hope you continue to enjoy MW3 to the fullest.

    However, on Call of Duty Elite, we are having trouble scaling the service to meet demand. Many of you are trying to get in and unfortunately, you can’t right now. You’re frustrated, we know it, and we know we need to fix it. Our teams have been working non-stop to identify issues and resolve them as quickly as possible. Again, these issues have no impact on the performance of the game.

    We want to share with you what we know at this time and what we are doing:

    At launch, our registration and login systems were crushed by gamers trying to enter the Elite site at the same time. We have now fixed the registration and login systems, but we have found that the greater than expected demand is crashing servers. We’re immediately deploying multiple additional servers to beef up the system. We are also going to temporarily limit access to Elite services on both the console applications and website while we build additional capacity and scale. We’ll look to increase access to greater numbers of users as soon as possible.

    As more users log into the Elite system, you may find that the wait to get into Elite is longer than you expect. We know how frustrating that is and we appreciate your patience. Many of you are now able to see your player card and stats, but if you don’t see all your recent matches or career summary, don’t worry — your gameplay data for your entire careers in both Black Ops and MW3 is safely stored, and it will all be available to you once these issues are resolved.

    And for our premium members who are Founders, know that granting your status and delivering your in-game benefits in MW3 is a priority. Also, to ensure that every premium member receives their full money’s worth, we are immediately and automatically extending your membership to Call of Duty Elite by 30 days at no additional cost. If you’re still considering becoming a premium member, we’re going to extend Founder eligibility until the end of the month, and you will also receive the additional 30 days of access.

  • Call of Duty Elite: Social Gaming Comes To…Gaming

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 doesn’t come out until November 8th, but the buzz surrounding the new shooter from Activision has already begun. The reveal trailer was just released last week to controversy surrounding some Brits’ fears that the gameplay may hit a little too close to home. And now we’ve been given a sneak peek at the upcoming Call of Duty Network, called “Call of Duty Elite.”

    Elite promises to build a social network around the popular games, accessible on the web and via mobile devices. The Beta testing for the network will begin this summer.

    In short, Call of Duty Elite is a large network that ties the entire Call of Duty community together, across all platforms. The first aspect of the service involves stat tracking. Kill/Death ratio, specific weapon statistics, specific map performance stats, class stats, leaderboards, career XP earnings, global rankings, I’m sure you’re getting the picture. The “Career” aspect of the network will keep all your stats, beginning with last year’s blowout hit Black Ops.

    Black Ops and even Modern Warfare 2 to a certain extent offered limited stat tracking, but nothing this centralized, extensive and easily connectable with others.

    The “Connect” aspect of Elite is the way to organize your online multiplayer experience. Users can create and join “groups” and “clans.” Groups are more public, and Clans more selective and private. This seems to be an expanded version of the Call of Duty clan tag system, where you can attach yourself to other users based on interests.

    Once you connect and form clans and groups, you can use the “Compete” function to play tournaments versus other clans and groups. The rewards will be trophies for display within the Elite Network as well as real life prizes like a Black Ops Jeep and others TBA.

    Other functions of the Elite service include map performance analysis and highlight clips, which should be familiar to Black Ops players.

    Elite looks to be a giant community for the tens of millions of Call of Duty players worldwide. A Facebook of pwning n00bs, if you will. Much of the service will be made available for free, but it looks like there will be a small fee for the premier version of Elite. It will likely include additional maps and other exclusive content.

    So will Elite take off? You bet your ass it will. Even if the service ends up costing people extra, they will pay it. First, because people are crazy of COD. Black Ops is the top selling game of all time. Second, because Elite looks like it will do something interesting: make a game into a game.

    For many gamers, beating the game or succeeding in online multiplayer isn’t enough. Hence Xbox 360 achievements and PS3 trophies. Extensive stat tracking adds a whole new layer to the experience. And real clan battles organized for prizes, either virtual or real, will make COD players giddy. People are serious about COD, and Elite looks like it is truly for the serious gamer.