Call of Duty Modern Warfare sequel at GDC

Activision's internal studio Infinity Ward debuted the first trailer for its Call of Duty Modern Warfare sequel at GDC today.

The reveal came at the end of the Game Developers Choice Awards.

Modern Warfare 2 is a direct sequel to the best-selling and arguably the biggest game of the current generation, which was released in 2007 in 360, PS3 and PC.

A somewhat ambiguous trailer (there are Russian involved, and lots of shooting) confirmed that the game is due for release in November - November 10th in the US, to be exact.

Xbox Live And Fallout 3 DLC

The Pitt removed after just hours after Xbox Live release after crippling bugs anger gamers

Just hours after publisher Bethesda released its second piece of Xbox 360 exclusive DLC for Fallout 3, the firm has been forced to remove the content after a number of users reported game-crippling bugs.

The DLC, entitled The Pitt, was released earlier today but was available on Xbox Live for just a couple of hours before users started complaining in their droves on both the Xbox and Bethesda forums.

The most common complaint was of large floating exclamation marks in bright red diamonds appearing at supposed barriers in the gameplay. However, many of these barriers could be crossed, only for the game to crash shortly afterwards.

A Bethesda statement read: “We are continuing to look into the issues people are experiencing with The Pitt for Xbox 360.

“As of now it looks like the file for the English version on Xbox Live was somehow corrupted. We are currently working with Microsoft to remove the existing file off of Live to prevent any further downloads. Our plan is to replace it with a new file as soon as possible. We hope to have another update for you shortly.”

MCV Award Finalists

Nearly 40 companies are set to fight it out for the big prizes at the games industry's trade awards in April

The Finalists of the MCV Industry Excellence Awards have been announced – and now the countdown begins to the big event on Thursday April 23rd at The Brewery London.

With almost 40 companies in the running, Electronic Arts leads the way with seven finalists slots, whilst HMV, Activision, Microsoft and Nintendo boast five each.

GAME, Ubisoft and CHIPS have a chance in four categories. New names are featured too, such as The Hut, Lovefilm, Bethesda, Gameplayer, Rising Star, D3P, Media Molecule and Music Box Leisure.

Most awards are based on team, apart from the MCV Retail Advisory Board Special Recognition accolade, which rewards an individual for service to the games retail sector. The RAB Finalists this year are Darren Bowen (Ubisoft), Andy Yates (Nintendo), John Clark (Sega), Mark Howsen (Sony Computer Entertainment) and Jonathan Grimes (Microsoft).

RETAIL AWARDS

Retail Innovation
HMV Gamerbase
HMV Re/Play
Play.com Live
Lovefilm Rental
CHIPS accessories

Store Manager
Rupert Banning-Lover, HMV Birmingham Fort
Richard Pascoe, CHIPS Hereford
Martin Tuckwood, Asda Derby
Mike Barnes/Pearl Robinson, GAME Oxford Street
Gary Noakes, Gameplayer

High Street Retailer
HMV
GAME
Gamestation
CHIPS
Asda

Star Store
GAME Oxford Street
HMV Liverpool One
Gamestation Birmingham New Street
CHIPS Dudley
Asda Derby

Online Retailer
Game.co.uk
Shopto.net
Play.com
Amazon
Gameseek
The Hut

PEOPLE AND INDUSTRY AWARDS

Sales Team
Activision Blizzard
Sega
EA
Ubisoft
Microsoft
Nintendo

Sales Triumph
FFVII: Crisis Core (Square Enix)
Imagine range (Ubisoft)
Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)
Cooking Mama 2 (505 Games)
Carnival Games (2K Games)
Ben 10 (D3P)

Games Publisher
Nintendo
EA
Ubisoft
Microsoft
Sega
Activision

Development Team
Lionhead
Blackrock Studios
Codemasters
Rockstar North
Media Molecule

Distribution Team
Koch Media
Gem
Centesoft
Advantage
Music Box Leisure

PR AND MARKETING AWARDS

New Game Brand
GRID (Codemasters)
Pure (Disney Interactive Studios)
Dead Space (EA)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo)
Little Big Planet (SCE)

PR Team
EA
Microsoft
Capcom
Nintendo/Red
SCE UK
Ubisoft

Game Campaign
Guitar Hero World Tour (Activision Blizzard)
GTA IV (Rockstar)
FIFA '09 (EA)
Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)
Wii Fit (Nintendo)
Call of Duty: World At War (Activision Blizzard)

Marketing Team
EA
Microsoft
Activision Blizzard
Sega
Nintendo

Marketing Innovation
FIFA '09 TV ad (EA)
All Singing, All Dancing, All Disney campaign (DIS)
'Home of Japanese Games' campaign (Rising Star)
New Xbox Live Experience (Microsoft)
Online community campaign (SCE UK)

MCV RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD SPECIAL
RECOGNITION AWARD
Darren Bowen (Ubisoft)
Andy Yates (Nintendo)
John Clark (Sega)
Mark Howsen (SCE UK)
Jonathan Grimes (Microsoft)

Xbox Live Activity- Week Ending 22/03/09

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Call of Duty: WaW
2 Halo 3
3 Call of Duty 4
4 RESIDENT EVIL 5
5 Gears of War 2
6 GTA IV
7 Halo Wars
8 FIFA 09
9 Left 4 Dead
10 Guitar Hero World Tour

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1 Peggle
2 Castle Crashers
3 Worms
4 CRYSTAL DEFENDERS
5 UNO
6 3 on 3 NHL Arcade
7 Watchmen: The End is Nigh
8 A Kingdom for Keflings
9 Marble Blast Ultra
10 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 2
2 Fable
3 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
4 Counter-Strike
5 Splinter Cell Chaos
6 Conker: Live Reloaded
7 Doom 3
8 Star Wars: Battlefront
9 Call of Duty 3
10 Burnout 3

Top Community Games NEW! (Full Versions purchased)

1 RBR - Fading Memories
2 RC-AirSim
3 Rumble Massage
4 DrumKit
5 TV Calibration
6 ZenHak
7 Aquarium HD
8 ZP2K9
9 A Fading Melody
10 Remote Masseuse

These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade and Community Games, full versions purchased during the week

RE5 Still Number 1, COD4 back in the top 20,

RE5 is still number one for the second week, fifa 09 still selling well and Call Of Duty 4 reentres the chart ahead of the winter release of Call Of Duty 6

POS. TITLE
1 RESIDENT EVIL 5
2 WII FIT
3 PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE
4 WWE LEGENDS OF WRESTLEMANIA
5 TOM CLANCY'S H.A.W.X.
6 GRAND THEFT AUTO: CHINATOWN WARS
7 STREET FIGHTER IV
8 DR KAWASHIMA'S BRAIN TRAINING
9 FIFA 09
10 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR
11 KILLZONE 2
12 PUZZLER COLLECTION
13 WII PLAY
14 BEN 10: ALIEN FORCE
15 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE
16 MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES
17 MY FITNESS COACH
18 EMPIRE: TOTAL WAR
19 HALO WARS
20 CLUB PENGUIN: ELITE PENGUIN FORCE

Xbox Live Billing Faults Fixed

The xbox live service is billing system is back up and running after suffering a outage of arround 14 hours, the problem that has left many Xbox live users discruntled. the fault with the billing system on xbox live Users were experiencing difficulties with account recovery, account management, Marketplace functions and making purchases.

Reports of the problem first came from the users at chat.majornelson.com at about 1400 gmt and official word from microsoft came via Lary Hyrb (director of Xbox Live programming) informing users of his blog at majornelson.com and via his twitter accout that microsoft engeniers were aware of the problem and working to resolve the technical issue.

the service was back up and running at 0400 gmt, and agin confimed by Lary Hyrb. Unfortunatly the service outage occoured on the same day as the Call Of Duty : World At War Map Pack 1 was released and many usuers were unhappy at the delay.

Xbox Live Service Alert - Billing

The xbox live service is currently suffering from a problem with the billing system on xbox live Users are experiencing difficulties with account recovery, account management, Marketplace functions and/or making purchases. microsoft are aware of the problem and working to resolve the technical issue.

unfortunatly this has occoured on the same day as the Call Of Duty : World At War Map Pack 1 and many usuers are unhappy at the delay. sony has not reported any problems on the playstation network altho some useres have reported that they can not find the maps on the PSN store.

Xbox Live Activity- Week Ending 15/03/09

RE5 makes the list having only been out for 3 days of the week, call of duty nocked of the top spot but will probably return with double XP from 19/3-22/3

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty: WaW
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 GTA IV
6 RESIDENT EVIL 5
7 Halo Wars
8 Left 4 Dead
9 FIFA 09
10 STREET FIGHTER IV


Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1 Peggle
2 CRYSTAL DEFENDERS
3 Castle Crashers
4 Watchmen: The End is Nigh
5 NCAA Basketball 09 March Madness Edition
6 Worms
7 UNO
8 3 on 3 NHL Arcade
9 A Kingdom for Keflings
10 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3


The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.



Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
3 Counter-Strike
4 Fable
5 Conker: Live Reloaded
6 Splinter Cell Chaos
7 Doom 3
8 Star Wars: Battlefront
9 Call of Duty 3
10 Burnout 3



Top Community Games NEW! (Full Versions purchased)

1 RC-AirSim
2 Aquarium HD
3 DrumKit
4 ZP2K9
5 Bowling X
6 Rumble Massage
7 Miner Dig Deep
8 TV Calibration
9 Remote Masseuse
10 Tanks.V.S



These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade and Community Games, full versions purchased during the week.

Wii And DS Week For Releases

Games for Nintendo's DS and Wii are were the most games come out this week with Rockstar releasing the first ever 18 rated game for the DS with Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars, on the wii MadWorld comes out.

For more details on our top realses check out our synopsises comming later this week including Football Academy on DS, WWE Legends Of Wrestle Mania on Xbox and PS3

Title	Format	Publisher	Release Date
MadWorld	Wii	Sega	March 20 2009
Scrabble 2009	DS	Ubisoft	March 20 2009
Gravity Zero Racing	DS	Midas	March 20 2009
Castlevania: Judgement	Wii	Konami	March 20 2009
WWE Legends Of Wrestlemania	PS3 XBOX 360	THQ	March 20 2009
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars	DS	Rockstar	March 20 2009
Ready 2 Rumble Revolution	Wii	Atari	March 20 2009
The Last Remnant	DS	Square Enix	March 20 2009
Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars	Wii	South Peak	March 20 2009
Mushroom Men: Rise Of The Fungi	DS	South Peak	March 20 2009
Chrysler Classic Racing	Wii DS	Zoo Digital	March 20 2009
Petz: My Baby Panda	DS	Ubisoft	March 20 2009
Broken Sword: Shadow Of The Templars - The Director's Cut	DS Wii	Ubisoft	March 20 2009
Military Commander: Europe At War	PSP DS PC	Slitherine	March 20 2009
Bella Sara	DS PC	Codemasters	March 20 2009
Resistance: Retribution	PSP	Sony	March 20 2009
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops/Silent Hill Origins doublepack	PSP	Konami	March 20 2009
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops/Coded Arms doublepack	PSP	Konami	March 20 2009
Tom Clancy's HAWX	PC	Ubisoft	March 20 2009
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure	DS	EA	March 20 2009
Football Academy	DS	EA	March 20 2009
Call Of Duty 3: Roads To Victory (Platinum)	PSP	Activision Blizzard	March 20 2009
Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures	PS2 PSP	Activision Blizzard	March 20 2009
A-Train 8	PC	Bluestone	March 20 2009
Elements Of Destruction	DS	THQ	March 20 2009

LEGO Harry Potter Is Comming LEGO Indy 2 On Way

An animator for U.K.-based LEGO games developer TT Games has inadvertently confirmed that LEGO Indiana Jones 2 and LEGO Harry Potter are currently in development.

The animator's CV says she is "...Currently working as a Cutscene Animator on LEGO Harry Potter & LEGO Indiana Jones 2 : The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which are both in the early stages of production."

This is not the first time that word of LEGO Harry Potter or a new LEGO Indiana Jones has circulated the web. Following the firing of LucasArts employees last year, some leaked the existence of LEGO Indiana Jones 2. LEGO Harry Potter has been rumored for months.

Unfortunately, the TT staffer appears to be catching flak for accidentally leaking the rather unsurprising information. A source, a former TT staffer who wished to remain anonymous, said that "TT [Games] is not happy" about the slip.

Information about the games has since been removed from the CV, although the text is still cached in Google.

On an official basis, however, the games are still unconfirmed by Warner-owned TT Games.

Prior to CV edit, it also mentioned the development of a game demo as part of a pitch to film director Peter Jackson "for obtaining the license to the upcoming Hobbit films."