Former Call of Duty lead designer Todd Alderman has returned to Infinity Ward, nearly five years after he left and then sued Activision.

Alderman was one of the 38 Infinity Ward employees that sued Activision in early 2010, seeking between $75 million and $125 million for unpaid bonuses for work on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

He followed Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella to Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall) but left in 2012 to take a position as a game designer at Riot Games (League of Legends).

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A map in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been removed from rotation after a gamer complained that there was Islamic text in a bathroom – something forbidden by the religion.

The text was located on the frame of a painting within the map Favela, and read "Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty". The quote was attributed to the Prophet Muhammad.

“We apologise to anyone who found this image offensive,” said Activision in a statement.

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However, former Infinity Ward co-heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were still pursuing what they claim were unpaid bonuses and royalties from their work on the mega-selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Infinity Ward Employee Group attorney Bruce Isaacs called the payment a "cynical attempt to look good before the jury trial."

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Los Angeles has its fair share of amusement parks, but until this weekend, none of them were game-themed.

Activision's attempt to provide a central point for fans to worship Call of Duty spoke more to the machinations of a certain Mr Disney than the creative team behind the multi-billion dollar franchise. But then, it doesn't cost USD $150 to get into Disneyland, nor are you likely to be physically hauled from a Jeep by Navy Seals, or accused of cowardice in the face of battle by failing to scream "yes sir" at an annoyingly loud volume.

The location, a valley once owned by legendary aviator and all-round mentalist Howard Hughes, houses a series of hangers once used to build the Spruce Goose. The massive aircraft has long since been relocated to Oregon, however Hughes' touches remain: a toilet block with a foot-activated water fountain and spring-loaded detergent dispensers created by the notoriously germophobic recluse himself. Naturally, this was befouled by the 8000-or-so Call of Duty fans, many likely unaware of the historical connection. Hughes would have had an aneurysm.

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Taking place over the 2nd and 3rd of September in a “12-acre secure compound” somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area, Call of Duty XP will bring together an anticipated 6,000 fans and mark the unveiling of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer.

Attendees will get hands on time with both the multiplayer and the Spec Ops surivival co-op mode. Call of Duty: Elite, the series’ new premium online service, will also be fully unveiled.

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In a written report, Russia Today said, “The bloody scenes of the Moscow attack are reminiscent of what can be seen in a year-old computer game, the scenario of which controversially involves a character who is urged to kill civilians in an imaginary Russian airport.

“In the mission dubbed ‘No Russian’ the player goes on a terrorist rampage, helping to massacre civilians in a fictitious Moscow airport. It may have seemed too gruesome and tragic ever to come true.”

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Bowling’s comments follow the news that gamers playing Modern Warfare 2 on PlayStation 3 have had their stats tampered with in the wake of hackers sweeping away the console’s security measures last week.

“Games rely on the security of the encryption on the platforms they’re played on, therefore; updates to the game through patches will not resolve this problem, unless the security exploit itself is resolved on the platform,” said the community manager.

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The demo showcases the level Cliffhanger, set high in mountains of Kazakhstan: “One wrong move and it’s certain death as players scale a frozen mountainside, battle their way through a raging firefight, and race for survival aboard a snowmobile under heavy enemy fire,” writes the press release.

The hugely popular Modern Warfare 2 is one of the biggest entertainment releases in history. You can find our Xbox 360 review here and our PC review here.

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The “Resurgence Pack” will be composed of three new maps and two remakes. It’s due for release here on the 4th of June and, like the “Stimulus Package,” will weigh in at 1,200 Microsoft Points.

The first map Bowling detailed in the Major Nelson podcast was Carnival. It’s an abandoned amusement park that includes a fun house, a roller coaster, the “world of tomorrow”, a castle and bumper cars.

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The Resurgence Pack includes five as yet unnamed new maps.

The release will be buffered by two double XP weekends either side of the release, one from the 28th of May, and the other from the 4th of June.

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Moreover, the DLC was downloaded one million times in its first 24 hours live.

The Stimulus Package now holds the record as the fastest-selling DLC on Xbox LIVE, dispelling speculation that the hefty 1,200 Microsoft Points price tag (about NZD$20.00) might turn some players away.

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The Stimulus Package includes five maps: Bailout, Salvage, Storm, and original Modern Warfare maps Crash and Overgrown.

The DLC can be purchased on Xbox LIVE for 1,200 Microsoft Points – about $20 NZD.

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The pack will include five maps – three new and two remakes – and will weigh in at 1200 Microsoft Points or USD $15.

The map pack has been teased with tongue in cheek advertising about sufferers of ‘Mapathy’ – map apathy – a campaign that winks as it pitches Infinity Ward as a “big pharma” company with just the right medicine.

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The downloadable content, titled the Stimulus Package, will be available first to Xbox Live Gold accounts.

Curiously, the content still has not been detailed.

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“DLC is planned for the wonderfully vague time-frame of spring [our autumn]. I'll let you know when we know when it'll be done,” tweeted Bowling.

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First prize is Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition, which includes fully functional night vision goggles!

The Prestige Edition was only produced in limited quantities and sold out well before release, so if you missed out then, here's your chance to bag one. As well as the goggles and game in a steel case, Prestige Edition also includes a model of Sergeant "Soap" MacTavish's head to display the goggles on, an art book and a token to download the original Call of Duty game.

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“It's definitely an aspiration that we see potential in, particularly as we look at different business models to monetise the online gameplay,” Tippl was overheard saying by IGN. “There's good knowledge exchange happening between the Blizzard folks and our online guys.

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Activision CEO Mike Griffith said, “Modern Warfare 2 has taken interactive experience to unprecedented heights setting a new standard for entertainment.”

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Pointing out the obvious, ELSPA director Michael Rawlinson said, “These first day sales figures are astonishing and clear evidence that videogames are now mainstream in the UK,” before adding, “our form of interactive entertainment has completely come of age.”

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What we do know, however, is that media chatter around the game has reached saturation point. Modern Warfare 2 has been an inescapable headline grabber with enough clout to be variously championed and chided by special interest groups seeking to steer the debate for the promotion of their own agenda.

Yesterday, Modern Warfare 2 went before England’s parliament: “Is the Minister aware that at midnight tonight a new and violent videogame called Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is to be released?” asked Labour’s Keith Vaz of Sion Simon, Culture Media and Sport Minister. "It contains such scenes of brutality that even the manufacturers have put in warnings within the game telling people how they can skip particular scenes.”

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Some have been let downs, some of been fantastic follow-ups and two are still to come in the next few weeks. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a truly phenomenal sequel as it does what any great sequel should; it expands and improves on everything the last game did right. It also just so happens to be the follow up the one of the greatest first-person shooter titles of this generation. Straight from the start screen Modern Warfare 2 is introduced as three separate pieces – spec-ops, multiplayer and campaign.

After playing through Modern Warfare 2's single-player campaign I could not help but wonder just how many Michael Bay movies developers Infinity Ward have watched. This is because, much like Bay's films, Modern Warfare 2 is an assault to the senses. Gunfire, explosion, helicopters falling from the sky – it is all there. Even better, the developers know how to handle the more dramatic moments and make some truly hard hitting scenes that most gamers will remember for some time to come. While it is hard to argue that Modern Warfare 2 isn't simply "more of the same" it is equally hard to argue how that could possibly be a bad thing?

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OnLive closes its biggest round of funding so far (GamesIndustry.biz) - Gamers might consider the service to be vapourware that will never get off the ground, but apparently some big corporations have faith in it. Cloud gaming service OnLive has closed a "major round of funding" from AT&T, Autodesk, Warner Bros, Lauder Partners and Maverick Capital. OnLive CEO Steve Perlman said the funding – an undisclosed amount – was much larger than previous rounds and "gives us a serious jolt of rocket fuel" as the company prepares to launch its on-demand gaming service this summer. It began beta testing in September.

Australian authorities split over video game ratings (News.com.au) - The recent decision by Australia's censorship board to refuse classification of zombie shooter sequel Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve is appealing the decision) has highlighted Australia's broken ratings system, which tops out at MA15+ for video games. Bringing in an R18+ rating would require all of Australia's attorneys-general to agree, but South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson is holding out. He said the interactive nature of video games meant they had a much greater influence than viewing a film or reading a book.

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Robert Bowling, Creative Strategist at Infinity Ward, posted a statement on his @FourZeroTwo Twitter account saying: "There isn't an option to search specific regions / countries when matchmaking, but there is improved matchmaking to auto-assist." The improved matchmaking system would automatically connect players to games that were best for their connection, he later explained.

When asked if local matchmaking could be added in a later patch, however, Bowling said it was a possibility. "We'll monitor community feedback closely post launch to see if the improved matchmaking benefits international users or not."

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Mark Rubin, Jason West and Vince Zampella, from developers Infinity Ward, ran a group of about six of us through one of the game’s levels, Cliffhanger. Unfortunately, there was no hands-on so I couldn’t experience its awesomeness for myself.
But seeing the game up so close, rather than stretched over a huge monitor at a press conference, makes the game even more impressive, and the visuals are going to make a graphics whore just cry tears of joy. Sweet, sweet tears of joy.

Want details? As “Roach” Sanderson and “Soap” McTavish climb an icy cliff face on their way to assault a Russian supply depot and airfield, the ice cracks and splinters around the tip of your ice pick when you dig it into the fragile ice as you climb up. Everything just looks pristine and visually much more impressive.

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Probably the most memorable thing from today’s Microsoft press conference was the reveal of the Natal, the motion sensitive device that Microsoft has been working on. Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux said it will revolutionise the gaming industry, and it has the backing of Hollywood director Steven Spielberg.

While it’s true that Molyneux has a bit of a reputation for talking things up before they’ve reached gamers’ hands, if Natal really works as Microsoft showed doing, it could be pretty impressive by the time it's unleashed upon the world.

During today’s demo of Natal, a woman on stage knocked down blocks and kicked back balls, stacked up against a wall, all by jumping up and down, and waving her head, arms and legs around. In another demo, a man used a virtual painting program, where he gestured as if he was throwing paint on a canvas, to make an African scene complete with baby elephant (created through the use of two people and a couple of pillows).

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