First announced in 2009, KONAMI first premiered a new trailer for METAL GEAR RISING : REVENGEANCE at the prestigious Video Game Awards. The game is said to be a stunning action title, produced by Kojima Productions and developed by Platinum Games.

Kojima Productions has created the story for the game, managed the cutscenes and voice-over sessions, and Metal Gear Solid artist Yoji Shinkawa has created the character designs. Platinum Games will focus on the game design and programming elements, under the supervision of Kojima Productions – so it’s all go…

…and today a new trailer surfaces “Make it Right SWORD” – as shown below:

You are having dinner in a restaurant you are an important regular at, with your friend setting you up with two very attractive women. Within seconds, a car comes hurtling through the window, decapitating one girl, crushing the other and effectively shearing your leg off.

Dragged out of the restaurant with your what is left of your leg, you mown down most of the people after you, whilst ending up almost burnt alive. At deaths door you awaken a slumbering power, two tentacles pop out your back and you selectively disembowel and eviscerate the men who came to kill you. Welcome to the first 5 minutes of The Darkness 2.

This mad world you dive into headfirst is neatly explained by the narrator of the game, Johnny Powell, as he takes you through the previous action packed precursor. You are Jackie Estacado, a new mob boss in town after gaining access to the gift called ‘The Darkness’; a dark, warped manifestation of all that is bad as it feeds on the hearts of the hosts (that’s you) many enemies and, eventually the host itself. The game is set a few years after the first, where Jackie attempts to deal with the fact that the only love in his life was murdered by his uncle; the Darkness paralysed Jackie and made him watch. Jackie, aware of the huge amount of power he has at his finger tips which , in all likelihood, would make him lose his humanity, keeps it inside of him until the events stated above leave him no other option. The first Darkness isn’t imperative to play to get any real grasp on the story but I would still highly recommend it in itself as it is perhaps one of the most underrated FPS to come out on this generation of consoles.

The story itself is derived largely from the comics, with key characters popping up along the course of the game.  This makes it even more compelling due to the very strong foundations the whole story is based on and also highlights The Darkness 2’s biggest problem. You will almost certainly play through Jackie Estacado’s trials and tribulations in 6 hours or less on a medium difficulty, with a multiplayer coop mode that essentially feels tacked on and seems poor compared to the main product.

The short ride you will have with the game however, is more than worth it as the whole experience gives a real sense of empowerment but without making you feel like Superman (remember Superman 64?!). Light and dark are key elements of the game with all of your powers ,other than the standard ‘firing a gun’. made redundant as soon as you step into a large light source, a factor that isn’t lost on the enemy. Taking rooms one by one by choosing whether to take power sources and lights out and let the Darkness powers let rip or pick enemies off one by one is refreshing rather than tedious. I would never class it as a cerebral shooter but its nice to have the option to choose how I maim and kill.

Speaking of which, maiming and killing is the name of the game here. Jackie is able to combine two weapons alongside two tentacles that appear over his shoulders,  emanating from the Darkness itself ,to aide his fight against the many gangsters and cultists you meet along the way. All can be used in conjunction with each other so tackling situations is completely up to you; you are more than welcome to go all guns blazing but you have the option to use car doors as shields, use iron poles as javelins and slice your attackers, literally in half. Gunplay is effective and most importantly enjoyable, with every weapon feeling powerful and actually useful. Despite all that is going on onscreen I never felt like I wasn’t in control  when I was shooting which, considering the mayhem you create in each level, is incredibly impressive.

An RPG element is also utilised depending on the type of kills you decide to dish out with a skill tree for darkness powers, guns and life; not groundbreaking by any means but it does lead you to enact gorier and more bloody deaths to your enemy.

One thing this game never lacks is its blood and gore, in all its cell shaded glory with various kills given more xp depending on the technique and what you used. The game itself is an 18 for a reason; the cell shading used gives the developer the ability to use it as liberally as strawberry jam. There also seems to be a fascination with bones crunching; one unfortunate soul gets his ribcage ripped out in front of him, his heart pulled out and the ‘lucky’ guy gets to watch it beat while he dies.

The art direction is a big departure from the first game, swapping realism for a comic esque style. The palette change and abundance of primary colours fits in nicely with its comic book roots and makes the cut scenes, each mission is framed by Jackie speaking about his life, much more animated than they were previously.

Multiplayer is supposed to run along concurrently with the main story with four characters, each hugely stereotypical (a drunk Irishman, a Japanese samurai etc), attempting to help Jackie. The cut scenes and banter between these characters and Johnny Powell, the narrator, is mildly amusing but the whole scenario is bland. The coop side feels tacked on and a bad attempt at lengthening a very short single player campaign. Wait in area, kill waves, rinse repeat. There is an ability to do all of this on your own but, unless you enjoy achievements, you will get bored extremely quickly.

This leaves a review in a difficult position.. The combination of entertaining game play and an engaging story more than makes up for the turgid multiplayer but the length of the game really lets it done. The best advice would be to pick both this and the prequel up and play them one after each the other; a simple solution to the short gameplay time problem that you are unlikely to regret!

Get ready to pull the trigger on a completely new chapter in the award-winning Hitman series. Be the ultimate assassin in the Hitman Sniper Challenge by testing your reactions, focus and skill in a stand-alone hit available only for Hitman Absolution preorders. Keep track of your scores and compare them with other players around the globe. Hone your marksman expertise in preparation of Agent 47′s toughest and most personal contract yet – Hitman Absolution.

New Mission for Celebrity Gaming Club As Hitman Comes to Town

The Celebrity Gaming Club was back in action, offering celebrities from the worlds of football, rugby, music and entertainment a world-exclusive hands-on secret session with a special reward level from the upcoming Hitman Absolution.

Battling out for honours on the day’s leaderboard at an east London loft apartment for the Hitman Sniper Challenge was, amongst others: QPR’s Anton Ferdinand; Hollyoaks’ Danny Mac; Kiss FM’s DJ Swerve; Wasps players Charlie Davies and Lewis Thiede plus Gadget Show presenter Ortis Deley.

In the event, it was Hollyoaks’ heartthrob Danny Mac, who belied his screen character ‘Dodger’ Savage to notch up the highest score of the day and walk away victorious, just ahead of Crystal Palace hotshot Johnny Williams.

CGC is the virtual gaming club, which comes alive at real world events to offer game UK celebs the chance to battle it out on the hottest video titles. Club members also include Aston Merrygold, Olly Murs, Anton Ferdinand and Ian Wright.

The link-up between CGC and SQUARE ENIX means that CGC members have a couple of days head start to get to grips with the Hitman Sniper Challenge before it becomes available this week as a reward from pre-ordering November’s must have title Hitman Absolution.

So, what are you waiting for – preorder this today – Hitman: Sniper Challenge is an exclusive stand-alone game that is playable only by those who pre-order.

Rockstar’s Global VP of Development: Jeronimo Barrera, has given awesomely detailed answers to our XCN partnered Max Payne 3 Q&A questions as shown below.

1.            How difficult is it to take a property that had a certain direction under a different developer.  Do you try to keep the tone of the original titles, or flip it up with your own spin and flavor? 

We wanted to do both, by taking all the classic elements of a Max Payne game and moving them forward in a direction that was logical for the character while still creating new opportunities for story and gameplay.

From a story perspective, there was very little creative opportunity left in keeping Max in New York after the events of the first two games, Max was certain to be off the force. A job working private security in South America is exactly the kind of work that an older, washed up ex-cop might take.

From a gameplay perspective, our goal was always to live up to the heritage of the series and make what we thought a Max Payne game should be in 2012 – basically the most sophisticated and seamless, cinematic action shooter we could make on every level, from the weapons and targeting to the animation to the A.I, to the way that we presented the story through to the story itself. We used all the technology we had at our disposal to push the fundamental elements of Max Payne gameplay forward, whether it’s by expanding the range of ways that we used Bullet Time, or by making Max’s movement more lifelike, or by using brand new editing techniques to make both the gameplay and cutscenes flow together seamlessly.

2.            This is the first Max Payne that will not be developed by Remedy Entertainment or written by Sam Lake but from Rockstar Studios instead.  May this be seen as a chance to renew or experiment something new?

We have a long history with Remedy, so it was important for us to treat the character and the franchise with respect – this is the same Max Payne that people know from the original games, we’re just visiting him in the present day and exploring what his life is like now, as an older ex-cop, who’s never really shaken off the tragedy of the first two games. So even though Max is off the force and looking to take some security work in Brazil, the story progresses in a very logical way from the events of the first two games, and that will reveal itself as people play through the story.

Adding multiplayer to the series for the first time was a big step for us, but again, the goal was to do this in a very natural and logical way, incorporating the same gunplay, story elements and presentation as the singleplayer game, but making something very deep and accessible at the same time. And of course, implementing Bullet Time in multiplayer which is something we’re really proud of.

3.            The new bullet-time and 360° animation system looks very cool. How does it work? Can we use it in every situation?

BulletTime and Shootdodging are Max Payne’s signature moves and they have evolved massively for Max Payne 3. You build up your Bullet®Time meter by killing enemies in real time, and it’s now skill-based, so shots to vital areas will full your Bullet Time meter more quickly. It won’t last forever, soit pays to use it wisely. Max’s classic shootdodge is another way to use Bullet Time, helping you get the jump on enemies and making you much harder to hit. Once you land on the ground after a shootdodge you can now remain prone and shoot in full 360 degrees, while staying on target at all times. We wanted to deliver the precision of first-person shooting while still allowing people the opportunity to see their character move beautifully and realistically, one of the great advantages of third-person games.

4.            With the introduction of a multiplayer mode, Max Payne 3 is going to explore a completely new field for the series. How do you think fans are going to react to this choice? Do you think Max Payne 3 can compete with huge multiplayer games like Gears of War or Call of Duty?

That’s for players to decide, but we were never going to release a multiplayer component that was there to simply tick a box, or to copy something else that was already out there. Max Payne 3’s multiplayer had to feel distinctly like Max Payne while also offering the gamer something new. We wanted to take everything that makes Max Payne 3’s singleplayer campaign so groundbreaking, and translate that directly into multiplayer. That means extremely precise and fluid targeting, fantastic animation and the ability to use Bullet time in a multiplayer environment.

5.            In previous Max Payne-Games there were passages where we had to play under the influence of drugs and nightmares. Will we see something like this again in Max Payne 3 as well?

We wouldn’t want to give too much away, but Max has spent a lot of the time between this game and the last two drinking and taking painkillers to try and forget the events of the first two games. It’s safe to say that he’s seeing the world through the influence of one substance or another, and his life is starting to resemble a nightmare of its own. As we jump back and forth through time in the story, you’ll see Max trying to make sense of how he ended up so far from home, in over his head once again, with enemies who just want to see him dead.

6.            Seeing the game’s cinematics, how close to an action movie do you think Max Payne 3 is?

We’re not trying to make an action movie, but we are trying to make an intensely cinematic action game. We want the game to be a non-stop experience from the very beginning, so there are no load times in the entire game, and we’ve done a lot of work to completely blur the lines between gameplay and cutscene to keep the player glued to the action. We are using editing techniques that have never been seen in games before to constantly push the player forward and the motion-comic cutscenes edit gameplay on the fly for a distinctly modern approach to Max’s classic graphic novel cutscenes. We’re blending a highly cinematic approach to things that only games can do. Watching Max fire multiple rounds during a kill-cam and watching an enemy react realistically to every shot as you slow each bullet to a crawl is something that never gets old.

7.           At The Gathering last year we got to see Max Payne 3 for ourselves and it looked extremely promising, it was said to be a non-linear game with the player choosing what they want to do and where to go but the demo itself seemed very linear, will it be an open world affair or is everything scene scripted?

Max Payne 3 is not an open world game like Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, it’s a narrative driven, third person shooter. The freedom comes from the strategies you have to approach each engagement. In Max Payne 3, the enemies are extremely intelligent, and no encounter will play out the same way twice, as enemies will respond differently to your actions each time. This unpredictability always keeps players on their toes and makes every location immensely replayable, and this is only magnified as you tackle the game on harder difficulty settings.

8.            Is it necessary to have played the first two games to fully enjoy Max Payne 3?

Not at all. If you’re a fan of the series, you will instantly recognize Max and his story but newcomers to the series will be able to pick up Max and his character very quickly. While the bulk of the game takes place in Sao Paulo Brazil, a large chunk of the game also takes place in New York as max reflects on the events that took him to this foreign and extremely dangerous place.

10.          Any interesting anecdotes from the development?

It was great having James McCaffrey back as the voice of Max, but things had changed a lot in the way that in-game performances are captured between this Max game and the last two. We did a lot more performance capture using live actors, and having McCaffrey working together with the other actors gives the entire game a very natural look and feel. Of course, part of that meant McCaffrey had to do some of his own stunt work, so this time, the voice and face of Max was literally, jumping and diving in Max’s shoes.

Max Payne 3 is available in the UK – May 18th 2012.

Toss out everything you know about music games and get stoked for something completely fresh. Zivix LLC and has created a suite of music manipulation and improvisation with JAM Live Music Arcade, available now on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points.

Published by Reverb Publishing and 505 Games, JAM Live Music Arcade sets itself apart from the rest by taking 32 songs from artists across a wide variety of styles and allows users to remake them on the fly. Reimaging the work of Owl City, Modest Mouse, Atmosphere and more, JAM Live Music Arcade is meant to be a truly different experience.

JAM Live Music Arcade is a completely new approach to the music genre with a real-time live music sandbox “JAM Mode” that allows the player to immediately build and customize their very own tunes, as well as a bonus “Arcade Challenge Mode” that plays similar to traditional music games. Starting with any one of the 30+ licensed songs featured in the game (including hits from Modest Mouse, Fallout Boy, Fatboy Slim, Owl City, Rise Against, Atmosphere and more), players jam with and remix all aspects of the song – guitar, bass, drums, synth and vocals – to experiment with the song and re-create it to their own personality. All of this is done with any one of the numerous compatible guitar gaming peripherals – the entire band is in your hands! Accessible and easy to get started, yet deep and almost endless to master, everyone can touch real music across a broad range of sonic tastes. JAM Live Music Arcade offers an immersive level of musical interaction that’s inspiring, powerful and contagious.

Check out the launch trailer below:

Microsoft has announced that the “Halo 4” Limited Edition is now available to pre-order today. The “Halo 4” Limited Edition is said to maximise your multiplayer experience and put you in the boots of a Spartan-IV aboard the UNSC Infinity – the hub of your “Halo” multiplayer career.

Available for £69.99 RRP, the “Halo 4” Limited Edition includes:

• War Games Map Pack Access – The Limited Edition includes access to nine maps – three future competitive multiplayer map packs, each including three locations, available for download post-launch on Xbox LIVE.
• (A detailed release schedule for the map packs will be announced at a later time)
• Specializations – Receive early access to six Specialisations, available at launch on Xbox LIVE, to achieve higher ranks in your Spartan career. In addition to gaining access to new ranks, Specialisations unlock new customisation options. Purchasers of the “Halo 4” Limited Edition will get access on launch day, while others will have to wait as Specialisations are released over time.
• The Limited Edition also contains the UNSC Infinity Briefing Packet, which includes an armour customisation schematic, a blueprint of the massive ship itself, and insight into what it means to be one of humanity’s finest warriors: the Spartan-IVs.

Bonus digital content through Xbox LIVE:

• Unique in-game Spartan-IV armour skin
• Unique in-game weapon skin for the Assault Rifle
• An exclusive in-game emblem
• Xbox LIVE Avatar prop
• Xbox LIVE Avatar Spartan-IV armour set

“Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” Special Edition – An extended 90-minute version of the live-action digital series that will bring the “Halo” universe to life as you’ve never seen it, and provide an enthralling backstory leading up to the events of “Halo 4.”

“Halo 4” Limited Edition also includes the following exclusive videos:

• Bonus in-fiction content expanding the characters and stories of “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn”
• Special Featurette : Bringing Gaming into Reality
• Making of “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn”

“Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” – A Groundbreaking Live-Action Digital Series

Premiering this October on a soon-to-be-announced Machinima channel on YouTube, and on Halo Waypoint, “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” is a live-action digital series that takes fans back to the terrifying beginning of the Human/Covenant war, when the Master Chief inspired a young cadet who would eventually become a leader aboard the UNSC’s greatest vessel: the UNSC Infinity. “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” tells a story leading into the events of “Halo 4,” the biggest entertainment event of 2012.

Created in partnership with top Hollywood talent from film, television and new media, “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” brings a brand new “Halo” story to life on a scale never before seen in the “Halo” Universe. The series will debut this October on the new Machinima channel on YouTube and on Halo Waypoint as a series of five episodes. The “Halo 4” Limited Edition will also include access to the “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” Special Edition via Halo Waypoint, with never-before-seen bonus footage, as well as exclusive fiction and behind the scenes videos.

Microsoft has today revealed the new Halo 4 Infinity Multiplayer experience as you start your journey on the UNSC Infinity – the largest starship in the UNSC fleet that serves as the centre of your Spartan career.

It is from within the UNSC Infinity that you’ll build your custom Spartan-IV supersoldier, and progress your multiplayer career across all Halo 4 competitive and cooperative game modes. Surrounded by the sights, sounds and crew of the biggest vessel in the UNSC fleet, your multiplayer experience will be embedded in the fiction of Halo like never before, where your progress and game choices affect your appearance, arsenal, and role on the battlefield.

Spartan Ops. The story of the UNSC Infinity intersects with the Halo 4 campaign, then continues on in a brand-new, story-driven experience known as Spartan Ops. A first of its kind and an exciting new addition to the “Halo” franchise, Spartan Ops is an episodic adventure that blends immersive storytelling, high-quality cinematics, and action-packed gameplay to deliver an unprecedented serialised experience.

Through a weekly series of cinematic episodes on Xbox LIVE, Spartan Ops will tell the continuing story of the UNSC Infinity, following the events of Halo 4. These episodes will centre on the UNSC Infinity leaders and crew, and a new team of Spartans – Majestic Squad. These cinematic episodes will provide the backdrop for the weekly Spartan Ops gameplay missions. Playable in single-player or cooperatively (with up to three friends), explore the corners of Requiem in these objective-based missions, and help uncover the secrets of the mysterious Forerunner world.

A massive-scale adventure that builds off the Halo 4 story, access to Spartan Ops is included with Halo 4 at no additional charge – effectively delivering two campaign experiences in one game.

War Games – The competitive multiplayer modes of Halo 4, known as War Games, take place on the combat deck of the UNSC Infinity and revive the visceral and immersive experiences that “Halo” multiplayer is famous for. “Halo 4” introduces fresh, immersive new game modes and strategies to help you progress your Spartan-IV career, while also delivering an experience that’s still distinctly and uniquely “Halo.” More details on all the modes of War Games will be released at a later time.

Total Combat Freedom and Player Progression. Halo 4 features a vastly expanded suite of new multiplayer modes, weapons, vehicles, armour abilities, a new loadout and player progression system, and a new armour modification system that introduces gameplay-enhancing customisations for the first time in a “Halo” game. These advancements can be used in both Spartan Ops and certain War Games matchmaking playlists, empowering player choice, vastly expanding their creative options, and make the experience deeper for core fans and more approachable for newcomers.

The Halo 4 player progression system goes beyond simple aesthetic upgrades, encouraging players to invest time and effort to create a Spartan that looks and plays the way they want. Players can earn and activate combat enhancements called “Specialisations” based on the style of play they engage in, from stealth to all-out assault, and everything in between.

Halo 4 is released worldwide on November 6th 2012

Serious Sam 3: BFE and the retooled Serious Sam Double D XXL will launch on Xbox LIVE Arcade this fall.

Serious Sam 3: BFE will be delivered by series creator Croteam and feature all the fast-paced, brutal
action Serious Sam fans love and take advantage of the deep online capabilities of Xbox LIVE Arcade’s
online community.

Serious Sam Double D XXL will explode onto Xbox LIVE Arcade with all new features, missions,
weapons and a wild campaign cooperative mode on top of the fantastic action from last year’s the indie
PC hit.

On top of the original 18 campaign levels and 12 challenge maps Serious Sam Double D XXL is
bursting forth with all-new features for Xbox LIVE Arcade like new campaign missions, new challenges,
new enemies, Gunstacker upgrades, and a hot new two-player local cooperative mode.

When the release dates have been announced – we’ll keep you updated.

As I write this a mere two days after the curtain finally fell on what was quite possibly the most thrilling end to a domestic season our English league has ever witnessed normally I’d be feeling a tad deflated. As a devotee of the beautiful game, the summer drought spent fervently scanning Sky Sports News for a crumb of transfer rumour or reliving magical nights like Istanbul 2005 on the DVD player isn’t one that fills me any particular joy.

It’s fair to say that for a lot of footie fans time never drags quite like it does between June and August.

But fear not brave fan for this year is one of those special ones. This year we have the mighty European Championships to lead us through the barren wasteland of a, normally, football free summer.

This summer heroes and villains will rise, tears will fall, vast armies from every corner of Europe will descend upon the playing grounds displaying colours and proudly waving flags, voices will be thrown to the wind from the terraces encouraging, berating, pleading, the warriors will clash, most will fall but for the chosen few the taste of glory will be so sweet, their legend will be born and, perhaps most importantly, there’ll be no vuvuzela’s present at all! Thank **** for that!

Oh and an even better slice of news is that thanks to EA’s Euro 2012 DLC for FIFA 12 you can now experience the competition first hand.

With this release EA have moved away from their normal tactic of releasing a boxed tie-in for the summer football tournament, maybe the fact that it’s also Olympic year has played it’s part in that, and instead opted for the DLC route and to be fair what EA have delivered really wouldn’t have held up as a stand alone title.

Euro 2012 is basically FIFA 12 as we know and love it but in it’s International kit. There are no tweaks or improvements to gameplay and no outings for bold new ideas, as a slice of content this is very much a bare bones release, the game is as it was, thankfully of course that remains just about the closest depiction of real life football available on console but well, chances are if you’re reading this you already own that, so do you really want to shell out again for a few extras.

The extras you’ll receive if you do decide to take the plunge are, of course, the teams, players and tournament mode for the Championships themselves, nicely presented but nothing particularly remarkable and one of the most bizarre modes I’ve yet encountered in a FIFA title – Expedition.

Here’s how Expedition mode works. You are given a ragtag bunch of less than glamorous players from with which to begin what is essentially a fantasy football roadtrip around Europe. With your newly assembled team you get to challenge other nations to a match (the nations available to challenge build with each victory as roads are built from country to country) if you win the first match against another team you can then choose one of their reserve players to add to your own squad, win a second encounter and you can snag one of the subs while a third win allows you to take a first teamer. I said it was bizarre. Did I also mention it was quite brilliantly addictive? No. Oh, well believe me it really is!

Despite being completely off the wall as far as ideas go within the football game world Expedition mode works a treat. It holds a tough challenge combined with the collective nature of Ultimate Team. Although not worth the entrance price alone, as part of the whole package it certainly goes some way to offering value for money with this release. Some way, but not enough.

The DLC is priced at 1800MS points which definitely puts it at the high end of the pricing scale and in all honesty, from a personal point of view, it’s not quite worth it. Although the presentation is as polished as ever and the new Expedition mode is very entertaining the actual core gameplay is as it was. Nothing in the actual way you play football here, which is why we play FIFA in the first place, has changed. Of course if you want the fullest FIFA 12 package on offer then this is a good bit of DLC, there aren’t any faults with it, at least none that weren’t already present within FIFA12 itself, it’s just that for 1800 of your hard earned points you really should be expecting a little more than this fairly sparse release.

Euro 2012 looks good on paper, it picks up the ball, beats it’s man and bears down on goal, then, just as it’s about to pull the trigger and burst the net, it trips on it’s expensive laces and the chance is gone, climbing to it’s feet the manager shouts ‘good effort,’ and that pretty much sums this DLC up.

Erosion Map Image

It’s that time of the month again…Call of Duty ELITE Drops for current content subscribers and for the first time in a long while, free Maps – Erosion and Aground to kickstart the new Face Off Playlist today.

Erosion/Aground are Free to Public Maps so you should be prompted to download them from the in-game store menu after downloading todays MW3 update. Erosion, has been described as Roman Ruins while Aground is set on a shipwreck off the coast of Scotland.

Aground Map Image

For Elite Subscribers, new maps and new Spec Op’s Missions are inbound with Elite Drops 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Two new Face Off maps, Getaway and Lookout are in this months Drop (So Elite’s get 4 Face Off Maps). Getaway takes place in a beachside mansion in Brazil, while Lookout is set in a forward observation post in Afghanistan. Also, a whole new regular multiplayer map, Oasis, is set on a beach resort in the United Arab Emirates.

Two new Spec-Ops mission modes Ironclad and Killswitch, complete with extra achievements and gamerscore are bundled. Ironclad is set immediately after the Hamburg mission from the single player campaign, with you and your pal making it back to the landing beach after the initial assault, or dying in the attempt. It features asynchronous combat, with one player clearing obstacles while the other engages in basic infantry combat. Then there’s a tank section, where one guy drives the tank and the other provided support. Killswitch, plays out in an all-new area set in a Russian dockyard; this mission has one player on the ground looking to detonate an EMP bomb, while another player snipes enemies from above.

All of this content and more will be featured in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Content Collection 2 DLC to be released on May 22nd 2012.