Kim Dotcom will play Call of Duty against Digital Nationz attendees in the name of charity, expo organiser Vector Arena has announced.

Dotcom – formerly ranked number one in the world in Modern Warfare 3 – has committed to 100 one-on-one games of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 at the event, 75 of which will be against members of the public.

The other 25 games will be against celebrities including TV3’s David Farrier, George FM’s Nick D, Shortland Street actor Pua Magasiva, TVNZ U producer Matt Gibb, Naughty Dog designer Benson Russell, Epic Games animator Jay Hosfelt, and Crytek producer Michael Read.

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The first downloadable content, two multiplayer maps called Piazza and Liberation, launched today on Xbox 360.

A content calendar on the game’s official website states the Elite subscribers can expect the following 20 updates:

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A YouTube video uploaded by “MrKimDotcom” on New Year’s Eve appears to show the troubled entrepreneur playing a marathon session of Activision’s first-person shooter, claiming the number one position on the leaderboards, and taking the number one position for kills.

In the video, Kim Dotcom is playing under the handle “MEGARACER”.

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The Vet and the n00b have words as they make their way in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has grossed more than any entertainment product ever for five-day worldwide sell-through, accumulating US$775 million.

It has beaten out all contenders at the theatrical box office or for a book release. Its closest contender is Call of Duty: Black Ops, last year’s instalment, which grossed $650 million. Modern Warfare 2 made $550 million.

“With $775 million of sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in its first five days, Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for three consecutive years across all forms of entertainment," said Activision Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick.

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It’s that time again. Lines are being drawn in digital sand as one of the most divisive franchises in gaming drops its most recent work.

Love it or hate it (seemingly the only options) Infinity Ward’s latest in the Modern Warfare series is exactly the game expected. Whether that is a good thing or not is entirely up to the taste of the player.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 does not move on past the parameters set for the series in 2007. There is no risk here, and only time will tell if this conservative design approach will finally start to alienate the game from its generally aggressive fan base.

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Activision has announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has once again set the record for the biggest entertainment launch ever.

Modern Warfare 3 has generated US$400 million in sales in the US and UK in its first week, according to Chart-Track and retailer sell-through information, beating last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops by $40 million and 2009’s Modern Warfare 2 by $90 million.

“We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories,” said Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.

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Activision has announced that all Call of Duty: Elite subscribers will have 30 days credited to their account in order to compensate for the service’s unstable launch.

“We are having trouble scaling the service to meet demand,” writes Activision. “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.”

“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.”

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Glen Schofield, general manager Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 co-developer Sledgehammer Games, has defended the series’ aging engine against detractors who claim it’s beginning to look dated.

Speaking with CVG, Schofield described the six-year-old Infinity Ward engine as a “Porsche”, adding, “it is stream-lined, everything in it is perfectly freaking clean. You can tell it's been worked on for years. It's easy to upgrade.

“We worked with engines before that are like f**king spaghetti. You can't work on a part and put it back in without messing with everything else. Modern Warfare 3's levels now are so much bigger than the old ones because they go more vertically, they have a bigger footprint and on top of that, higher fidelity, more textures and a lot more detail.”

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A little over a week ago, thousands of gamers from around the world descended on Los Angeles to attend Call of Duty XP, a celebration of one of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises. Under the Californian sun, fans were treated to two days of gaming, entertainment and outdoor activities inspired by military shooter Call of Duty.

One of those fans was a Kiwi named Chris who won an expenses-paid trip to the event through a competition on Gameplanet.

Chris has played all seven games since the first Call of Duty debuted in 2003. He’s watched the series develop across platforms, settings and stories: from the hedgerows of Normandy in World War II, forward to the former Soviet bloc and the Middle East, then backwards to the canopy of Vietnam and beyond in the height of the Cold War. Now, Chris is one of just a handful of Kiwis to have played the globetrotting Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

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Gameplanet: There's been a bit of controversy lately, a lot of people have been saying about Call of Duty that there's been a bit of a copy and paste nature, what do you say to criticism about that?

Glen Schofield: The copy and paste? Well, I gotta tell you, that really bugs me because I've spent 18, 19, 20 months of my life on the game, and the last thing we did was copy and paste. All you gotta do is look at the graphics, and some of the gameplay, and the big moments, and there's nothing about copy and paste there at all. We have built these bigger levels, they're vertical as well as they are horizontal, we're in Paris, New York, we're in the New York Harbour. We're in Berlin, Hamburg, the Himalayas and Africa, I mean, we are all over. I think that's just people who haven't seen our game.

Gameplanet: In New Zealand we have some pretty terrible internet, what networking technologies have you improved on in Modern Warfare 3?

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Unfortunately for us, we can't accept such gifts and retain our integrity (and we really like it up here on our high horse). So we're giving our copy away!

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Modern Warfare 3 will support dedicated servers and Local Area Networking in its PC edition. Items, classes and perks will also be able to be defined by hosts.

Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling confirmed the news via Twitter:

“Yes, MW3 has LAN along with detailed class restriction control + default class creation option,” he wrote.

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The was site owned by an anonymous member of the public and variously mocked the Activision shooter or redirected users to competing shooter Battlefield 3.

Appealing to the Arbitration Forum, Activision claimed, ““The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to complainant’s trademark,” and that the “respondent has no legal right or legitimate interest in the domain name.” Activision also claims that by directing visitors to Battlefield 3’s official website, the site operator “attempted to cause confusion with and tarnish” the Modern Warfare brand. Finally, Activision claims that the operator “registered and used the domain name in bad faith.”

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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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Today, at a converted warehouse in Los Angeles formerly used to construct the Spruce Goose, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg dodged irony by revealing the more promising details of what will certainly be the the most-played aspect of the sequel to 2009's Modern Warfare 2.

First up, a raft of minor modifications presented themselves. The removal of the knife lunge, and dive to prone. No more One Man Army, Nukes, or Last Stand. Expressions were bandied about – more gun-on-gun play. Less camping. More of what made the original Modern Warfare arguably the watershed moment in the series so far.

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At a gathering prior to the Call of Duty XP event, Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling revealed a new killstreak and perk structure, replacing those familiar to existing franchise players.

Using this new "pointstreak" system, players will be rewarded not just for kills, but also for completing objectives. By choosing between Assault, Support and Specialist, different abilities can be gained with additional points earned, the collection of which for each class is referred to as a "strike package".

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Speaking at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Activision’s Eric Hirshberg said publishers could better spend their time developing great games rather than taking pot shots at one another.

“Competition is of course a good thing. It keeps us all on our toes and ultimately makes the games better. It's healthy,” said the Activision Publishing CEO. “But it's one thing to want your game to succeed and another thing to actively, publicly say you want other games to fail.” (Via Eurogamer.)

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This awesome prize includes:

• Return flights to Los Angeles
  departing 1st September, returning 6th September
• One ticket to Call of Duty XP
• Three nights accommodation in Los Angeles

At Call of Duty XP, fans will be the first to witness the world premiere of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer, and get hands-on time with multiplayer and the new Spec Ops survival co-op mode. Fans will also have the opportunity to challenge each other in a paintball firefight on a life-sized COD map, run "The Pit" IRL and explore the COD armoury.

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Spec Ops co-op returns in Modern Warfare 3 with a new Survival mode.

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On this blog, Activision’s social media manager Dan Amrich said, “PC players will have to wait until the fall to try it out.”

The Call of Duty Elite beta is now underway for Xbox 360 and is tied to Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is expected to launch on PlayStation 3 shortly.

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As we reported recently, the above domain is not owned by the publisher and has been redirecting visitors to the official website of competing title Battlefield 3.

On the 15th of July, Activision filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum outlining its grounds for taking action.

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EA has confirmed to Gameplanet that it does not own the domain. A WHOIS search performed by Joystiq reveals that the site is owned by someone in Arizona and was first registered in March 2009.

A partially broken google cache also reveals that the site once carried negative copy about Modern Warfare 3. “Modern Warfare is crap. On November 8, 2011, the most over-hyped first-person action series of all-time returns with the copy and paste sequel to the lackluster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.”

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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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Activision, therefore, was at great pains last week in its pre-E3 reveal to stress that Call of Duty Elite takes nothing away from the free-to-play component currently enjoyed by millions of gamers worldwide.

Essentially, Elite is a worldwide hub designed to allow matchmaking and statistics comparisons with the entire Call of Duty Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 install base. Players will have the ability to review extensive post-match information, compare weapon statistics, receive tactical video tutorials, compete in competitions to win prizes, and create their own in-game video collections. Elite will be widely accessible on a number of platforms: web browsers, game consoles, within the game interface itself, and even mobile devices.

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Both Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 have solidified Activision's franchise as the preeminent first-person shooter on the market, both managing to sell over twenty million copies apiece.

Keenly aware of the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", Activision is pitching Modern Warfare 3 firmly in the same ballpark as its predecessors. At least, that's judging by the twenty minutes or so of the campaign we saw at a Los Angeles press event this week past.

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Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling tweeted, "Wasn't planned, but you're clearly hyped, so here is the first of many Modern Warfare 3 videos coming in hot today!"

The four teaser trailers each feature a different country: Germany, England, France and America. The geographic scope suggests recent rumours that the game follows a "World War III" premise may be true.

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