Muitplayer Reveal
Multiplayer RevealThe latest information came from the multiplayer reveal, which took place on August the 14th.
Theater Mode
Streaming and Theater Mode will NOT be returning in COD Ghosts. Streaming has been discontinued, simply because Activision felt as though the feature did not see much usage in Black Ops 2. Personally, I find it difficult to see why they'd remove Theater Mode, seeing as it was an extremely popular feature among people who were unwilling to shell out extra money on a HD capture card. I've heard a few rumors about the next-gen consoles having in-built capturing capabilities of their own. This may explain Activision's choice to not waste development time on in-game recording.
Point Streaks
Point Streak (aka Killstreaks) will build upon each other. In the trailer, we saw that a player piloting a Dragonfire was able to increase his killstreak points by shooting down enemy soldiers. This is a contentious topic to say the least, as there are many people out there who dislike the thought of somebody getting killstreak after killstreak.
Kill Feed
From the in-game multiplayer footage, we can see that the killfeed has been moved to the top right of the screen.
Maps
Maps will dynamic, which means that you can shoot at certain objects on the map in order to gain an advantage over the enemy. If you've read the description for Free Fall, you'll see what it is meant when we say "dynamic". Here's a screenshot of a player blowing up a part of a building:
Theater Mode
Streaming and Theater Mode will NOT be returning in COD Ghosts. Streaming has been discontinued, simply because Activision felt as though the feature did not see much usage in Black Ops 2. Personally, I find it difficult to see why they'd remove Theater Mode, seeing as it was an extremely popular feature among people who were unwilling to shell out extra money on a HD capture card. I've heard a few rumors about the next-gen consoles having in-built capturing capabilities of their own. This may explain Activision's choice to not waste development time on in-game recording.
Point Streaks
Point Streak (aka Killstreaks) will build upon each other. In the trailer, we saw that a player piloting a Dragonfire was able to increase his killstreak points by shooting down enemy soldiers. This is a contentious topic to say the least, as there are many people out there who dislike the thought of somebody getting killstreak after killstreak.
Kill Feed
From the in-game multiplayer footage, we can see that the killfeed has been moved to the top right of the screen.
Maps
Maps will dynamic, which means that you can shoot at certain objects on the map in order to gain an advantage over the enemy. If you've read the description for Free Fall, you'll see what it is meant when we say "dynamic". Here's a screenshot of a player blowing up a part of a building:
Female Characters!!!!!!
Female Characters
For the first time ever, Call of Duty will have female characters in the multiplayer. From what we've heard, we'll be given a wide range of options to customize our in-game character. There also seems to be a rather large emphasis on squad customization.
For the first time ever, Call of Duty will have female characters in the multiplayer. From what we've heard, we'll be given a wide range of options to customize our in-game character. There also seems to be a rather large emphasis on squad customization.
Build Your Squad!!!!!!
Build Your Squad
As noted before, there will be an emphasis on squad customization. Here, you can see that each player has their own emblem and title:
As noted before, there will be an emphasis on squad customization. Here, you can see that each player has their own emblem and title:
our KDR (kill death ratio) will be shown in the top right corner. This means that you will no longer have to bring up the scoreboard.
Knife
Although we haven't received any official information about how knifing in COD Ghosts will work, we were treated to a scene where the player knifed an enemy in a much slower fashion than what we've grown accustomed to in the past. In this scene, there was a prolonged animation that made the kill look far more realistic. Is this an attempt to stop panic knifing? Will the player be vulnerable during this animation?
AH-10 Overwatch
In one scene, we can see the killstreak icon for the AH-10 Overwatch on the minimap. This killstreak follows the player around and fires at enemy players from above. Bear in mind that this icon could be just a placeholder as the game is still in development.
Infected
We can confirm that the game mode Infected will be returning! In this game mode, a lone player starts off as the infected player. He/She is typically only given a throwing knife. When this infected player kills somebody, that somebody also becomes infected. This process continues until either the timer runs out or there are no survivors left.
Search and Rescue
New game modes such as Search and Rescue will be featured. Search and Rescue is kind of like a cross between Search and Destroy and Kill Confirmed. When a player is killed, he or she drops a dog tag. If a team mate recovers the dog tag, the player will respawn again. If an enemy player picks up the tag, he or she will have to wait until the next round. Other game modes include: Cranked, Blitz, Hunted and Safe Guard.
Cranked
The word "cranked" means "Turn (a handle), typically to start an engine." According to the in-game description, this game mode will give you quicker sprint speed and ADS etc as you kill more and more players. Basically, the more you kill in a row without dying, the quicker and more powerful you become. Also, you must kill a player every 30 seconds. Otherwise, your body will explode. Fun, right?
Dog in multiplayer
It looks as though the attack dog will be appearing in the multiplayer. In the first scene of the trailer, you can see a dog icon in the top left corner. We are then shown footage of "Riley" attacking an enemy player. Question is: Is this a killstreak?
Quadrotor
Here, you can see the Quadrotor point streak being used. This is basically a remote-controlled machine that can fly and fire an attached assault rifle. If you look closely, you'll also see the player earn a 12 point streak called the Helo Pilot:
SAT-COM
The SAT-COM is basically a ground version of the UAV. You basically take it out and set it in a position that suits you and it will report back the location of enemy players.
Juggernaut
It looks as though the Juggernaut point streak is back and that it now requires 14 points. In some of the scenes, we can see a player using a minigun while wearing the Juggernaut suit:
Here, you can see it from the view of the player:
The First Leak - Drift0rOn the 21st of March, Youtube commentator Drift0r uploaded a video in which he told everyone he had received leaked information from an "extremely reliable source".
Tesco's BlunderOn the 24th of April, UK retail giant Tesco made the mistake of listing Call of Duty Ghosts as a pre-order item on their website. Once they realized what they had done, they quickly took the listing down, but not before people noticed and news of the inadvertent leak had spread across the Internet. Below is a screenshot of the listing:
Official Website TeaserOn the 29th of April, the official Call of Duty website uploaded a promotional teaser page that displayed a mosaic of tweets. After the mosaic had properly formed, it became clear that it was a picture of the same skull that Simon "Ghost" Riley used to wear on his mask.
Teaser TrailerOn the 1st of May, Infinity Ward released a teaser trailer for "Call of Duty: Ghosts". This proved that the first leak by Drift0r was at least partially correct. His source had given him the correct title and the correct date of the formal announcement. Below is the trailer in question:
The teaser focuses heavily on the aspect of wearing masks. This makes sense, seeing as everyone's favorite character "Ghost" constantly wore a balaclava with a skull on the front of it. The video ends with the line "There are those who wear masks to protect themselves. And there are those who wear masks to protect us all."
Sledgehammer GamesAfter the teaser was released, games studio Sledgehammer Games announced on Twitter that they would NOT be co-developing the game with Infinity Ward. For MW3, Infinity Ward were paired up with Sledgehammer Games simply because of a shortage of manpower. This was the result of a bitter legal battle between the publisher Activision and some of the senior members of IW. The event led to nearly 40% of IW employees leaving the company in order to join the newly-formed games studio "Respawn Entertainment".
The tweet from Sledgehammer Games wished Infinity Ward the best of luck. It also informed followers that the studio was currently busy working on a different game.
Raven Software & NeversoftOnce the official fan hub on the Call of Duty Youtube channel was properly setup, people became aware of the studio logos that appeared at the bottom of the page.
As you can see, it seems as if both Raven Software and Neversoft will be assisting Infinity Ward with COD Ghosts. Neversoft, if you remember, were the company behind the Tony Hawk skateboarding series. It shouldn't really surprise people to find out that IW will be assisted by other studios. If they plan on releasing the game on both the current and next generation consoles, their workload is bound to be a little heavier than usual.
New Characters and Next Generation ConsolesPublishing company Activision announced that the upcoming game will be set in a completely different universe. This means that we'll be treated to an entirely new set of lead characters. Eric Hirshberg, the CEO of Activision Publishing, also made it clear that the game would be available on the PS4. So far, we know that the game will be released on the PS3, the PS4, the XBox 360, the PC and the XBox One. From the press release:
The new title delivers a riveting all-new gameplay experience built on an entirely new story, setting and cast of characters, all powered by a new, next generation Call of Duty engine that redefines the series for the next generation.
New EngineMark Rubin, the executive producer for Infinity Ward, told interviewers that he felt the transition into next-generation consoles had provided the studio with the perfect opportunity to re-brand the entire series and start afresh with a new engine. COD has often been criticized in the past for building on the aging "IW Engine", which has been in existence since Call of Duty 2 was released back in 2005. Rubin's comments about a "new engine" should come as no surprise as the hardware capabilities of the upcoming PS4 / Xbox One will allow for drastic improvements in the graphics department.
Stephen GaghanThe storyline /screenplay for COD Ghosts will be written by Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Stephen Gaghan. Gaghan is famous for having written the screenplay for the movie Traffic (2000). He also wrote the screenplay for the movie Rules of Engagement (2000), which starred Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. One of the main goals this time around is to make players feel emotionally attached to the characters / cast that are involved in the game. According to Gaghan, they want the characters to feel "real".
Caracas, VenezuelaOne of the teaser images that was released on the official website provided us with a specific set of coordinates. These coordinates (10.480891, -66.903648) point directly to Caracas, which is the capital city of Venezuela. This is interesting because of how US-Venezuelan relations have played out over the past decade or so, with recently-deceased Socialist president Hugo Chávez going so far as to accuse the US of running covert operations against him and his leadership. Another teaser image, written in Spanish, translates into a poster that reads "Day of the Federation. The 15th of June." Are the South American countries joining together to form a federation?
Knife
Although we haven't received any official information about how knifing in COD Ghosts will work, we were treated to a scene where the player knifed an enemy in a much slower fashion than what we've grown accustomed to in the past. In this scene, there was a prolonged animation that made the kill look far more realistic. Is this an attempt to stop panic knifing? Will the player be vulnerable during this animation?
AH-10 Overwatch
In one scene, we can see the killstreak icon for the AH-10 Overwatch on the minimap. This killstreak follows the player around and fires at enemy players from above. Bear in mind that this icon could be just a placeholder as the game is still in development.
Infected
We can confirm that the game mode Infected will be returning! In this game mode, a lone player starts off as the infected player. He/She is typically only given a throwing knife. When this infected player kills somebody, that somebody also becomes infected. This process continues until either the timer runs out or there are no survivors left.
Search and Rescue
New game modes such as Search and Rescue will be featured. Search and Rescue is kind of like a cross between Search and Destroy and Kill Confirmed. When a player is killed, he or she drops a dog tag. If a team mate recovers the dog tag, the player will respawn again. If an enemy player picks up the tag, he or she will have to wait until the next round. Other game modes include: Cranked, Blitz, Hunted and Safe Guard.
Cranked
The word "cranked" means "Turn (a handle), typically to start an engine." According to the in-game description, this game mode will give you quicker sprint speed and ADS etc as you kill more and more players. Basically, the more you kill in a row without dying, the quicker and more powerful you become. Also, you must kill a player every 30 seconds. Otherwise, your body will explode. Fun, right?
Dog in multiplayer
It looks as though the attack dog will be appearing in the multiplayer. In the first scene of the trailer, you can see a dog icon in the top left corner. We are then shown footage of "Riley" attacking an enemy player. Question is: Is this a killstreak?
Quadrotor
Here, you can see the Quadrotor point streak being used. This is basically a remote-controlled machine that can fly and fire an attached assault rifle. If you look closely, you'll also see the player earn a 12 point streak called the Helo Pilot:
SAT-COM
The SAT-COM is basically a ground version of the UAV. You basically take it out and set it in a position that suits you and it will report back the location of enemy players.
Juggernaut
It looks as though the Juggernaut point streak is back and that it now requires 14 points. In some of the scenes, we can see a player using a minigun while wearing the Juggernaut suit:
Here, you can see it from the view of the player:
The First Leak - Drift0rOn the 21st of March, Youtube commentator Drift0r uploaded a video in which he told everyone he had received leaked information from an "extremely reliable source".
- He said that the source in question had told him that Infinity Ward's next game would be called "Call of Duty: Ghosts" and that it would be set in the future. He also said that you'd be using current-generation weapons (i.e. you won't be using weapons from the future, you'll be using "older" technology from the past). This, he explained, was because of a major plot event. My guess is that technology has turned against the human race or it has simply become defunct for some reason or another.
- One interesting tidbit of info that he received was in regards to the loading screens. In the past, these have always been pretty straight forward. The loading screen would finish and there you'd stand, alongside your team mates. This time around, it looks as if Infinity Ward will be trying out some new things by introducing the concept of "dynamic loading screens". For example, one player might repel down from a helicopter while another player might have to break some glass and sneak into the map. These have been described as "mini games".
- Another major component of this leak was in regards to player movement. According to Drift0r's source, a new feature will allow players to slide to the floor while firing their weapons. This means that the player will slide on his knees or on his backside while being able to shoot.
- When a player is prone, he or she will be able to roll side-to-side like in Arma / DayZ.
- Spec Ops is now gone. It will be replaced by something that is completely new.
- Infinity Ward will be aiming to create a game where there are more destructible environments. This is something that they are hoping to implement. i.e. It might not happen due to the limitations of current generation consoles.
Tesco's BlunderOn the 24th of April, UK retail giant Tesco made the mistake of listing Call of Duty Ghosts as a pre-order item on their website. Once they realized what they had done, they quickly took the listing down, but not before people noticed and news of the inadvertent leak had spread across the Internet. Below is a screenshot of the listing:
Official Website TeaserOn the 29th of April, the official Call of Duty website uploaded a promotional teaser page that displayed a mosaic of tweets. After the mosaic had properly formed, it became clear that it was a picture of the same skull that Simon "Ghost" Riley used to wear on his mask.
Teaser TrailerOn the 1st of May, Infinity Ward released a teaser trailer for "Call of Duty: Ghosts". This proved that the first leak by Drift0r was at least partially correct. His source had given him the correct title and the correct date of the formal announcement. Below is the trailer in question:
The teaser focuses heavily on the aspect of wearing masks. This makes sense, seeing as everyone's favorite character "Ghost" constantly wore a balaclava with a skull on the front of it. The video ends with the line "There are those who wear masks to protect themselves. And there are those who wear masks to protect us all."
Sledgehammer GamesAfter the teaser was released, games studio Sledgehammer Games announced on Twitter that they would NOT be co-developing the game with Infinity Ward. For MW3, Infinity Ward were paired up with Sledgehammer Games simply because of a shortage of manpower. This was the result of a bitter legal battle between the publisher Activision and some of the senior members of IW. The event led to nearly 40% of IW employees leaving the company in order to join the newly-formed games studio "Respawn Entertainment".
The tweet from Sledgehammer Games wished Infinity Ward the best of luck. It also informed followers that the studio was currently busy working on a different game.
Raven Software & NeversoftOnce the official fan hub on the Call of Duty Youtube channel was properly setup, people became aware of the studio logos that appeared at the bottom of the page.
As you can see, it seems as if both Raven Software and Neversoft will be assisting Infinity Ward with COD Ghosts. Neversoft, if you remember, were the company behind the Tony Hawk skateboarding series. It shouldn't really surprise people to find out that IW will be assisted by other studios. If they plan on releasing the game on both the current and next generation consoles, their workload is bound to be a little heavier than usual.
New Characters and Next Generation ConsolesPublishing company Activision announced that the upcoming game will be set in a completely different universe. This means that we'll be treated to an entirely new set of lead characters. Eric Hirshberg, the CEO of Activision Publishing, also made it clear that the game would be available on the PS4. So far, we know that the game will be released on the PS3, the PS4, the XBox 360, the PC and the XBox One. From the press release:
The new title delivers a riveting all-new gameplay experience built on an entirely new story, setting and cast of characters, all powered by a new, next generation Call of Duty engine that redefines the series for the next generation.
New EngineMark Rubin, the executive producer for Infinity Ward, told interviewers that he felt the transition into next-generation consoles had provided the studio with the perfect opportunity to re-brand the entire series and start afresh with a new engine. COD has often been criticized in the past for building on the aging "IW Engine", which has been in existence since Call of Duty 2 was released back in 2005. Rubin's comments about a "new engine" should come as no surprise as the hardware capabilities of the upcoming PS4 / Xbox One will allow for drastic improvements in the graphics department.
Stephen GaghanThe storyline /screenplay for COD Ghosts will be written by Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Stephen Gaghan. Gaghan is famous for having written the screenplay for the movie Traffic (2000). He also wrote the screenplay for the movie Rules of Engagement (2000), which starred Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. One of the main goals this time around is to make players feel emotionally attached to the characters / cast that are involved in the game. According to Gaghan, they want the characters to feel "real".
Caracas, VenezuelaOne of the teaser images that was released on the official website provided us with a specific set of coordinates. These coordinates (10.480891, -66.903648) point directly to Caracas, which is the capital city of Venezuela. This is interesting because of how US-Venezuelan relations have played out over the past decade or so, with recently-deceased Socialist president Hugo Chávez going so far as to accuse the US of running covert operations against him and his leadership. Another teaser image, written in Spanish, translates into a poster that reads "Day of the Federation. The 15th of June." Are the South American countries joining together to form a federation?