Rumors have been flying around about a subscription-based Call of Duty game for some time now -- Activision boss Bobby Kotick loves the idea, because he loves money, and the company's other subscription-based game, World of Warcraft, is quite the cash-printing machine. So why not go down that road?

Many still believe Activision will, including Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey. With the publisher's plans to break into China and Korea, Hickey told IndustryGamers he sees Call of Duty as the perfect platform for accomplishing that goal and strengthening ties with NetEase, the online powerhouse of the Chinese market. "We expect the Company [NetEase] could extend their relationship with Activision Blizzard, by establishing an additional license to operate Call of Duty Online in China and Blizzard's unannounced MMO, which will likely leverage their Battle.net platform," he said. "The eventuality of COD in China could bring an additional +$50 to +$100 million in sales and +$0.15 to +$0.30 in EPS in its first year of operation." EPS, to clarify, is short for "earnings per share."

Who knows what's in store for the future, but for now, rest assured: you won't ever have to fork over extra cash to play Modern Warfare 2 online.

Analyst: Call of Duty Online could make $100 million in its first year originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Still waiting for your PC version of Battlefield 1943? Okay, first, we feel obliged to tell you that you should probably check out Battlefield: Bad Company 2. But second, you might want to know that EA is apparently issuing refunds for pre-orders of the title to folks who reserved the PC release. VG247 asked EA about said refunds, and was told, "All pre-orders can be canceled with refund at any time and we do not have any further information at this time about a release date for the PC version of Battlefield 1943." We asked an EA rep for clarification this afternoon and were told that pre-orders for any game can be refunded at any time -- furthermore, the rep specifically pointed out "Battlefield 1943 is not canceled, but we don't have any news about a release date at this time."

Last we heard, the game was on track for release sometime this year and the game's producer even assured us that the PC version was still in the cards as recently as last March. So, while unfulfilled PC fans eagerly awaiting the game's release may ask for their pre-order money back, it also appears that whatever interest EA earned on your money since last October when pre-orders opened will remain in the publisher's hands. How nice of them! Perhaps it'll be used to support the game with DLC? Yeah, we're not holding our breath either.

Battlefield 1943 for PC remains on track, still no release date originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How does one turn a hot dog into a chili dog? Open a bag of ice on the floor! Speaking of, It's been pretty hot lately (northern hemisphere bias!), but thankfully we haven't noticed it with the embarrassment of riches that's been the summer release schedule. Check out our reviews section if you're looking for the latest. What's everyone playing this weekend?

Continue reading WRUP: Stayin' cool edition

WRUP: Stayin' cool edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are you impressed by the Kinect's powerful motion-sensing capabilities? Baby, you ain't seen nothing yet -- the guys from Mega64 somehow managed to reach through a fold in time and retrieve the fourth version of the device. Unless -- ah, yes, of course. It's a joke. Pretty sneaky, Mega64.

Continue reading Mega64 reveals the fourth iteration of Kinect hardware

Mega64 reveals the fourth iteration of Kinect hardware originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The official schedule has been announced for this year's QuakeCon, which is taking place August 12-15 in Dallas, Texas. In addition to the usual id gallery, none other than Jason West and Vince Zampella of the newly formed Respawn Entertainment will be in attendance.

The ousted Infinity Ward heads will sit on a panel the Friday morning of the conference called "Building Blockbusters," talking with Tim Willits and Tom Howard of id and Bethesda about how to make big games (like the "huge summer blockbuster" they're supposedly working on). Todd Alderman, also of Respawn, will sit on a panel the previous day speaking about "The World of Design" with a few other developers.

Elsewhere in the schedule, John Carmack and Richard Garriott will hold court on Thursday evening discussing rockets and space travel, and Friday and Saturday afternoons will bring preview panels for RAGE and Brink. Sounds like an excellent weekend of FPS gaming -- so if you're in Dallas (or plan to be there), the event is free and open to the public.

Respawn Entertainment, Richard Garriott to appear at QuakeCon 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Controversy is not new to games, but few tend to attract it as eagerly as the upcoming Splatterhouse remake. Following our E3 preview of the game, we were unsure if Namco Bandai's effort would be little more than fodder for your local news looking to stir up viewers. I chatted with producer Dan Tovar at Comic-Con last week to find out if there's more to Splatterhouse than blood, guts and a sensational headline.

"I was a huge fan of Splatterhouse since as far back as I could remember," Tovar told me. "Played the crap out of all three of the original games back in the '80s and '90s, and so when I came to Namco years ago, they were looking for concepts to get going in the next couple of years. I asked them, 'Are we going to be able to do old properties?' and they said yes. Splatterhouse was on the top of my list, so we just went to work trying to get a concept together, and it just snowballed from there."

Continue reading Splatterhouse producer talks blood, guts and paying homage

Splatterhouse producer talks blood, guts and paying homage originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All good things must come to an end, friends, but -- wait a second, is war really a good thing? We guess not. In that case -- hey, great news! The virtual streets of Kabul are about to become a great deal more peaceful, as the Medal of Honor beta is slated to come to an abrupt stop tomorrow on PS3 and PC, and August 9 on Xbox 360.

We know you're sad, but think about all the good you've done, figuring out all the things that were wrong with the game's online multiplayer component before it came out. Think about all the grief you saved your future self -- and, for that matter, our future self! We owe you a great debt of gratitude. Or rather, we will. In the future.

Medal of Honor beta ending tomorrow on PS3 and PC, August 9 on 360 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do you want to play some Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 before it comes out later this year? If you're a hardcore enough Naruto fan, you'll want to navigate the Japanese PlayStation Store to find the demo (under New Releases). If your kanji isn't up to snuff, don't worry. PSN Stores has recorded a video of the demo that you can watch after the break.

Continue reading Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 demo now available on Japanese PSN

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 demo now available on Japanese PSN originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bungie has something special in store for Halo fans that have been with the series since the beginning -- on PC, at least. The developer has revealed on its official forums that those who purchased the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved and activated their CD key before May 26, 2010 will receive "a small visual flair" in Halo: Reach. (Flair, no matter how small, is very important to some people.)

Why that date? Bungie is going to pour over a list of keys activated (by joining a multiplayer game) before then in an effort to ensure that only valid ones -- i.e., those not produced using a key generator -- are rewarded. As for the reward, Bungie is assuring its community that it is "not armor or anything in the Armory," so no one is "missing out on something like Recon or Flames, it's just a little indication that people have been part of a certain Halo community for a while."

Given the cut-off date, the keys from any copies of the game that may be on shelves right now aren't eligible. Owners of the original Halo for the Xbox are out of luck, too, as Bungie says, "we have no way of telling if you've played the Xbox version." The exact nature of this especially exclusive tip of the hat to old-school franchise fans will be revealed on Bungie.net "a couple of weeks before Reach launches" on September 14.

Halo: Reach in-game 'flair' awaits some owners of Halo for PC originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the latest Insomniac Games newsletter, the company hints that it will be releasing news about a brand new title in the coming weeks, specifically for the PlayStation 3, ruling out its multi-platform project with EA. "Sometime between now and the Penny-Arcade Expo over Labor Day weekend," says the newsletter, the Burbank-based studio will pull the curtain off of the project. And during PAX 2010 there will be a panel in the Serpent Theater on September 4 at 6:30pm, moderated by G4's Adam Sessler, that will see Insomniac "discuss (and demo!) our upcoming PlayStation 3 project."

So we can all agree that it's Resistance 3, right? I mean, sure, it'd be nice to have a brand new Spyro or even some new IP, but we're all going with Resistance 3 for this one, right? We'll find out sometime in the next few weeks exactly what they're talking about.

Insomniac to announce new game before PAX, demo it there originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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