Modern Warfare 2 gearing up for massive launch

The game is scheduled for release on Nov. 10. As the company has bagged massive preorders and retailers have scheduled midnight sales, Activision is all enthusiastic about the launch.

Further, the three previous hits in the series have elevated expectations and gamers’ confidence to replicate its earlier successes.

Analysts anticipating strong sales
There is no doubt that the video game industry has had a tough year. According to NPD Group, a market research company, video game sales have skidded by 13 percent compared to previous year.

Despite this dismal picture, Activision is confident to post strong results in the next quarter.

Even the analysts are expecting the company to sell more than 12 million copies by the end of December, earning Activision $500 million in revenue and $800 million in gross sales.

Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Inc. in downtown Los Angeles, was quoted by Los Angeles Business Journal as saying, “Anybody who calls themselves a gamer, if they buy one game this year, this is the one they’re going to buy.”

The best video game ever?
There are many reasons why Modern Warfare 2 could become the best video game ever.

While playing the game, a player takes up the role of a special force soldier fighting a terrorist organization in places like Middle East, South America etc, so there are many contemporary places one can be connected with.

Further, the game is the sequel of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare”, which was an enormous success.

Even the time of launch, which is right before the holiday season, further increase the probability of its success.

Will the game live up to expectations?
Though Activision is confident to turn the sagging video game industry on its ear, will it really live up to the expectations?

The game was involved in controversies last month when the footage of the game was released, which showed that the game was being played from the point of view of terrorist shooting civilians. But the company has denied these claims.

Other than this also, the new game is expected to disappoint many PC gamers because the PC players will not have any dedicated servers.

Dave Wilks, an administrator for Codleague was quoted by Ars Technica as saying, “To lose dedicated servers means we lose control of what rules we can use in clan matches (each league has its own rules, perks, weapons, etc). These rules, more than likely, are run by mods, such as PAM, Openwarfare, or Pro-Mod.”

When the company was asked about this, it stated that move is meant to prevent hackers from making their way past VAC (the anti-cheating system).

Mixed reactions on online forums
There is quite a buzz on online discussion forums where readers are discussing Modern Warfare 2. If some readers have voiced excitement regarding the launch of the new game, there are others who have expressed discontentment over no dedicated servers.

A reader named insaneispkingyou commented on gametrailers.com, “yea. cant [sic] wait 3 more days!!!”

“I can't say how awesome this game is going to be, easily game of the year,” stated a reader named qel2472 on the same forum.

Another reader named Antiapplekid commented on engadget.com, “I have allready [sic] canceled my pre-order thanks to them killing dedicated servers.”