Call of Duty and Gaming Links, 7 January 2010

Cowboy is his name. Ass-kicking is his game.

     The more I read about the new Medal of Honor game, the more I'm stoked about it. The VGA trailer Medal of Honor gameplay trailer looked pretty amazing to me. The game is undergoing a two-tiered development with Electronic Arts Los Angeles developing the single player campaign while Electronic Arts DICE are crafting the multiplayer. DICE, as you may know, developed the Battlefield series of games.  
    Here's a conundrum: What will the Halo: Reach beta be? Will Bungie merely tweak the existing Halo 3 multiplayer? I can't see Bungie revamping their entire multi-player architecture or fragmenting their multiplayer audience by essentially competing against themselves. How are they going to handle it? Will this be like the power move from Halo 2 to Halo 3 in terms of multiplayer? There's no technology incentive this time, since Reach is being developed for the Xbox 360. Halo 3 is still incredibly popular. Hell, Halo 2 is still an extremely popular Xbox Live title. Is Bungie going to do something risky or take the safe route (i.e., don't touch the Halo 3 core multiplayer), as they did with Halo 3: ODST? On to the links:

• CES 2010: Xbox Live gets Modern Warfare 2 DLC first.
  
• Escapist: MMA fighter uses Modern Warfare 2 for rehab after hand fracture.
• Kombo stands amazed, as I did, that Infinity Ward fixed the chopper ammo hack before it went viral.
• TechDirt: Every downloaded copy of Modern Warfare 2 is theft.
• BASHandSlash: TeknoGods demo Steamless MW2 PC play.
  
• Late-to-the-party reviews: Here New Brunswick.
  
• Call of Duty 7 VietNam rumor reaching critical mass. Play.tm claims a VietNam-era soundtrack is already bought and paid for. Co-Optimus is already drooling, as I am, at the prospect of of a 4-player story co-op mode. As I've said before, I'd prefer a Cold War '80s setting, but Communists are Communists. And I kill Communists for fun. :)
  
• Fader, 14 December 2009: Sweaty Hands blog reviews Modern Warfare 2. Instead of their usual reviewer, it's Katy Goodman of the Vivian Girls. Woof.
  

    More Gaming Links:

• IGN: Saving the Gears of War franchise, Halo-style.
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 DLC confirmed.
• Unconfirmed: Halo: Reach release date? We've got an in for the beta; it'll be interesting to see what that entails. I'll probably buy it for the co-op, so Reibo, Matt, and I can play it together.
• Bayonetta review from Gaming Ahead.
  
• The Good, Bad, and Ugly in Gaming, the "Golden Ars" from Ars Technica.
• Kotaku: 39 million Xbox 360s sold; only half are on Xbox Live. Insert RROD joke here.
  
• Zero Punctuation from The Escapist: Awards for 2009.
  

    Non-Gaming Links:

• Dick move: Netflix and Warners sign deal to prevent Netflix subscribers from renting movies until one month after their DVD release.

PS.