Dropped on a mysterious, ice-covered Siberian island, Call of the Dead has players controlling a “dream-team” of zombie hunters as they fight to survive the marching undead onslaught. It also stars George Romero.

The Escalation map pack will harbor the Call of the Dead zombie mode, which features playable versions of famed actors from popular horror movies. In addition, the king of zombie movie directors, George Romero, will be making a “undead” cameo in the expansion. According to Kotaku, Call of the Dead will begin with players stranded on a shipload of the undead in Siberia.

“Our latest zombie creation, Call of the Dead, is unreal,” said Treyarch head Mark Lamia, who revealed the developers expectations. “We set out to create an exciting new zombie experience for fans of the genre that takes Zombies to an insane new level.”

In an unexpected turn of events, on Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb’s podcast, Treyarch online director Dan Bunting announced the first in a batch of downloadable content for Call of Duty: Black Ops, the latest installment into the blockbuster franchise.

As announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the downloadable episode — entitled “First Strike” — will be a timed exclusive on Xbox Live Marketplace and it will also include four original multiplayer maps and one zombie map for 1200 Microsoft Points.

“We learned a lot of lessons in the development and design of the maps on the shipped game,” said Bunting, when revealing the downloadable episode. “For DLC we really wanted to go bigger with some of the things we learned that people liked.”

[Update: First Strike is expected to hit retail Feb. 1, 2011.]

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“We can’t wait for our community to experience Call of Duty: Black Ops,” said Mark Lamia, Studio Head for Treyarch. “We have focused our entire studio on this game, with dedicated multiplayer, single-player and co-op teams creating the most intense, gripping and riveting experience possible for our fans on all fronts.”

They’re currently at the tip of an industry controversy; respectively because of the companies Infinity Ward crisis. However, during this fiasco, Activision revealed that Sledgehammer Games, a newly formed studio led by former Visceral Games executives, will be developing a new Call of Duty title that will “extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre.”

Exactly what the publisher meant by this, they didn’t say. However, it did confirm that there will be another Call of Duty title in 2011, but it’s unclear if the title is Sledgehammer’s, or another Infinity Ward title. That said, there was also conformation that Treyarch will be handling the development Call of Duty 2010, rumored to be set either during the Cold War or Vietnam War.

“2010 will be another important year for the Call of Duty franchise,” stated Mike Griffith, President and CEO of Activision Publishing. “In addition to continued catalog sales, new downloadable content from Infinity Ward and a new Call of Duty release, we are excited about the opportunity to bring the franchise to new geographies, genres and players.”

Forget about Resistance 3, it’s about Killzone 3. According to E4G (Everything for Gamers), in the December ’09 issue of the Official PlayStation Magazine, a source close to the mag reveals that Killzone 3 is “deep in development” over at Guerilla Games.

Along with that, the magazine also hints at a Call of Duty: World at War sequel, much like what Infinity Ward did with Modern Warfare 2.

“Insider slips reveal three big names you can already pencil for the next year. Killzone 3 is reportedly deep in development, Insomniac’s Full Moon Show podcast hints at a project we can only conclude is Resistance 3,and a Treyarch employee’s online mentions a Call of Duty: World at World sequel,” reads the magazine.

If Killzone 3 is actually “deep in development”, this would mean that we could expect an announcement of somekind within 2010. Let the speculation begin.

This week, Hideo Kojima left us with a little note on his company’s website hinting the next Metal Gear game, but it was not a direct notice like of the some other hints, it had you really thinking about what the next game maybe. There was even the question of which platform it was going to be on. But, today there is a rumor going around that the next Metal Gear game will be a first-person shooter.

According to an anonymous poster on the 4chan board, Metal Gear Solid series director Hideo Kojima visited the offices of Infinity Ward to learn more about about first-person shooters, “apparently.”

The purported Infinity Warder wrote – with accompanying photo “proof” of the visit – that Kojima is working on something in the “FPS genre so he came to us to learn and take details from the team.” But, it wouldn’t be the first time that Kojima was rumored to have called upon the Call of Duty developer’s FPS know-how.

Kojima has also dropped by Call of Duty: World At War developer Treyarch, we hear, which is a strong hint about first-person shooter factor. But, is this first-person shooter really the next Metal Gear game?

Robert Bowling from Infinity Ward helps to clarify the details of Kojima’s visit, saying the photo is “legit” but calling the quote that the Metal Gear director was there “to learn” from the developer “bullshit” and “re-donku-lous.”

[Rumor: Kojima Working On First-Person Shooter, Calls On Infinity Ward via Kotaku]

Well, this just proves that the game isn’t that bad, like as I stated in the article I wrote. According to The Canadian Press, James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace is the second most rented game in Canada on both the 360 and PS3. The game is only second to Resistance 2, on the PlayStation 3, and on the 360 Gears of War 2, which isn’t bad for a movie game. The game is also number one on the Nintendo Wii in Canada. The movie was released two days ago in theaters in the US and was given some very high review all over.

[Blockbuster Video Top 10 game rentals list per platform via The Canadian Press]

Question: How are you able to take a hit franchise to present day, make millions of fans, then send it back into the past and keep your fans? Well, first you will have to get all your fans to return to the game. Then you’re going to need the best reason in the world for them to want to buy it and then they’ll tell everyone about the game, and that should do it. And it looks like Treyarch has mastered this skill – no thanks to Infinity Ward’s unfriendly comments that were made last week – but how well did they master it?

Call of Duty games were never really know for long mission or long campaigns, sadly this game doesn’t divert from that fact. The games campaign is still really short, but this time around they really do step up on the voice acting. The game features well known voices from movies like “The Dark Knight” and the hit TV show “24″ and to add to it, it’s very well scripted.

Instead of the normal WWII shooter environment like Normandy and D-Day, Call of Duty: World at War takes place in the Pacific as well as the Red Army’s reversal to Stalingrad. These places give the game some new environments and battle experiences, from sunny beaches and bombed-out cities. But, there’s also a savage part of war and this game doesn’t pass on it one bit. The Japanese soldiers swarm like bees for a hive on to the battlefield, they even play dead and wait for you to walk into their sick little trap, then they’ll get you. Plus it really doesn’t end there, there’s also a very savage Russian Front with plenty of gunning down of wounded and unarmed soldiers by both fronts in the game.

However, World at War really shines in its Multi-player component, which gives you the ability to tackle missions with your friends in co-op or just do a online single or team game. Even if Modern Warfare had, arguably, one of the greatest multiplayer components in history, this game finds away to build, and build on it good. The game still has its ranking system that lets you unlock perks, weapons, and upgrades which you can use to mix and match for your style. Many of us may miss the helicopter which was featured in Modern Warfare, but this game brings in something so much better, dogs. Which swarm around hunting enemy’s to kill, but it’s way more fun to watch then to be attacked.

Closing Statement:

We can all fight and try to say that this game is better then Modern Warfare, but to do that now will be wrong. The multi-player doesn’t have that big explosion as it did in Modern Warfare, but it does brand something new. The game does have a lot more content then the other game, Modern Warfare, and to boot this is one of the best shooters out their and if you don’t own it now what are you waiting for?

Score: A

Many of us were wondering if our online scores in the Beta would be carried over into the full version of the game. According to one of our sources inside Activision, there will be “no ranking carry overs” when the full version of the game is released. The Beta is only for the PC and Xbox 360, there was no other betas released for any other of the system that the game will be released on. Call of Duty: World at War is an action first person shooter that is developed by Treyarch and published by Activision for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation 2. The game is set for a release in North America on November 11, 2008 and in Europe on November 14, 2008.

There have been many key announcements for Call of Duty: World at War, but what you may not have known is that mostly all the key announcements have been targeted to the PC and Xbox 360. Here’s what dawns the questions, “where’s the PlayStation 3 Call of Duty: World at War love?”. Yesterday, PlayStation Universe revealed that Treyarch and Activision where not planning to release any Beta for the PlayStation version of the game. But, this may not effect some of us because we can’t basically see Beta’s for the PlayStation 3 falling from the sky.

There are many key fans for this franchise on the PlayStation 3, but just because theres alot of upcoming Beta’s for the PlayStation 3 there’s still alot of fans that would love to get their hands on this game that own a PlayStation 3. Also what’s up with the Limited Edition versions for the game this maybe one of the coldest things that Activision has done this year. If you didn’t know the Call of Duty franchise started on the PC and was then push onto consoles. Maybe because the game did sell better on the Xbox 360 then the PlayStation 3 they are trying to push this game more to 360 owners, but as a fan of the PlayStation 3 I will just like to see a little more love for the PlayStation 3 from this game.

According to Joystiq, an Activision PR representative at X08 confirmed that the fifth Call of Duty game will be releasing sometime in November. This just points to the fact that Activision is sticking to their “fall 08″ gap that they set for the game when it was released. If Activision’s November gap is true this could mean that they maybe are trying to release the game the same date as the number one Call of Duty game of all time, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which released on November the fifth. November is also the release month of Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2, this could mean that Activision will pit it’s games with the other power hitters that will be releasing in that month time frame.

Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard was very proud to announced that Call of Duty 6 will be developed by Infinity Ward and will be on track for a 2009 release. If you don’t remember, Infinity Ward was the development studio which was behind the Call of Duty franchise and are the mastermind behind Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare.

While this is great news there are still many question that are left to be answered. What time will Call of Duty 6 be placed in? While there is no idea many are rumored to believe that  in 2009 we may be heading the way of the science fiction universe. So will Call of Duty 6 be held in space with squads and or marines fighting the War On Terror. Stay with us we will keep you informed

Well, what can I say the Spider-Man game franchise has had  it’s up and downs. Now comes a game that can really change it as a whole and it is called Web of Shadows. In development at Shaba Games and Treyarch Corporation, as you can may all know these teams know what they want in the game and are really working very hard for this to be the best Spider-Man game you will ever play.