We thought that Elite members on Xbox 360 would just be getting four new multiplayer maps to play, but Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer have gone one better than that. Starting from May 15, you’ll be able to play a new multiplayer mode called Face-Off, which pits you against your opponent in a 1Vs1 deathmatch in four brand new smaller designed maps to accomodate the new mode.

You can also play Face-Off with a friend in a 2v2 battle and it works via split-screen as well which is good. The four maps that are exclusive to the Face-Off mode are Erosion, Aground, Getaway and Lookout. How about this though – the first two Face-Off maps Aground and Erosion are actually free to download on May 15 and you don’t need an Elite subscription either. No Activision evil scheme going on here folks, it is a free download on Xbox 360 – no word on whether it will apply to PS3 and PC though, but we expect so.

Aside from the new Face-Off mode and maps, you’ll also be getting three new standard multiplayer maps on the Content Collection 2. Two of these you’ll already know as Sanctuary and Foundation since they are out on Elite, but the last is a brand new map called Oasis.

Finally, there’s another two new Spec Ops missions – Killswitch and Ironclad. The latter of which sounds the most exciting to us, as you’ll actually get to drive a tank and use its weapons which should put a smile on some of your faces.

That is a lot of content you have to say, and we’re pleasantly surprised about those two free Face-Off maps as well. The Content Collection releases on May 22nd on Xbox Live, but you can get it a week earlier on May 15 if you have an Elite subscription – the May 15 date still applies to everyone though regarding the two free Face-Off maps.

You can read descriptions of all the new maps in the updated Content Calendar here. Let us know your thoughts on the upcoming Content Collection 2 DLC pack – will you be buying it or have you given up on Call of Duty until Black Ops 2 arrives?

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It’s obviously not the first time that such an event has been staged of course, but it definitely is a rare sighting of generosity from Activision that you all should take advantage of.

Despite the game’s criticism, it still remains immensely popular with both PC and console gamers and it’s a shame that Activision can’t put a free trial of multiplayer up on the PS Store and Xbox Live marketplace. We’ve seen other developers like Ubisoft offer free trials of games like Assassin’s Creed, and it would be a great way for Activision to ignite new interest in the console version of the game.

For those planning to take part in the free weekend, it will commence on Thursday April 26 at 6pm UK time, 10am Pacific Time for those of you in the US. There’s no set time on when the free multiplayer will end, but we’re guessing that Valve will shut it off sometime on Monday or late Sunday evening.

This is completely free, so there can be no complaints really. Activision are on the brink of revealing their next Call of Duty game on May 1st, and information on the latest teasers for the game can be seen here. Tell us – are there any PC users out there who are happily playing MW3 ahead of BF3?

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Just to recap, Content Collection numero uno will contain the Black Box, Liberation, Piazza and Overwatch maps that Xbox 360 players have had for an eternity it seems. On top of that you’ll also get the Black Ice and Negotiator Spec Ops maps as well that you can play with your friends.

The price won’t be a surprise to many of you, as it comes in at a Activision standard of $14.99. You should be able to find the Content Collection on the PlayStation Store right now. As an added bonus, Activision has confirmed that this weekend will be another double XP weekend on all playlists.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any information on when the content will be available for PC players. It looks like you guys have well and truly been shunted again and it’s disappointing that the content isn’t available at the same time compared to Black Ops when Treyarch put the content out at the same time for PS3 and PC after Xbox 360.

Will you be forking out $14.99 for the six pieces of content, or do you think Modern Warfare 3 is past its sell by date now? We’ll let you know when we hear of news regarding the PC version – we’re not getting our hopes up though. On a side note, which map out of the four do you think is the best? Black Box seems to be very popular – would you agree?

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There’s no specific timing of the release of both maps, but Xbox 360 owners should keep checking the Live Marketplace to see if they are already available. Just like all previous Elite content drops, this is exclusive to the Xbox 360 for the time being, so those of you on PS3 and PC will have to wait another month to get your hands on the new maps.

Sanctuary will take place within several ancient monasteries in the heart of central Greece, with gameplay actually taking place one thousand feet in the air according to the official Elite description. Foundation on the other hand sends players to a South Korean concrete factory and features a ‘concrete crusher’ that will take you out if you’re not paying attention.

At the moment there doesn’t appear to be a teaser trailer video featuring Rob Riggle which is particularly odd seeing as Activision has provided a little preview of each content drop before release. Perhaps this will go live the moment the maps do on Xbox Live so stay tuned for that if you’re looking for a gameplay preview.

Just to bring you up to speed with the Elite releases, Sanctuary and Foundation will be the 7th and 8th Content Drops respectively. Next month is set to be the most exciting for Elite subscribers, as Xbox 360 players will get no fewer than four brand new maps to play around with.

How do you feel about the Call of Duty Elite release strategy now? Are you starting to come around to the idea now, or do you still prefer the traditional format of map packs?

Do you see the maps live on the Marketplace yet?

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We’ve become aware that a group of individuals are making plans to gain Activision’s attention on the current state of Modern Warfare 3, with a planned protest on April 20th this year, in which they will not be playing the game online.

‘MW3 Blackout’ is slowing gaining momentum with a group of followers, a Twitter account and subsequent social sharing in hope that on this day, Activision will see a severe drop in online play and be forced to take into account the demands of the protesters.

Yes, there’s a list of demands too which have been written up. As detailed by GDN, the protesters accuse Activision and Infinity Ward about ‘not caring about the gamers’ and want to see various areas improved in a future patch update. Such specifics include ”lag compensation, the broken spawn system, a nerf to the akimbo pistols, removal of deathstreaks, removal of tac. insert from Kill Confirmed” and much more.

Right now, there doesn’t seem to be much interest in the movement, but it will be intriguing to see if server numbers decline on April 20 next month. You can view the video in full below to see the whole thing.

Logic: Are you happy with the current state of Modern Warfare 3? Do you support this planned protest next month? From our point of view, we question whether just one day of not playing will do anything to persuade Activision to take notice. The company are probably too busy deciding who is going to replace Robert Bowling as community manager, and we still don’t know the real reasons on why he left the company with immediate effect.

Will you be joining the protest on April 20th?

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At the moment, there doesn’t appear to be any reasoning behind the move either – not that it’s likely it would be made public anyway. Earlier on Twitter, Bowling made his bold announcement that he is stepping away from Call of Duty after serving as the community manager for Call of Duty 4, MW2 and MW3.

Not only did he announce his intention to resign as Creative Strategist for Call of Duty and as a lead for Infinity Ward, he also confirmed that he was resigning as an employee of Activision too. So what has prompted this abrupt statement from Bowling?

Has he decided that the franchise is taking a turn for the worse, or has he been tempted by a new project which he plans to be a part of? Either way, we’re guessing that we’ll hear more on this before the end of the week. Is it worth mentioning Respawn Entertainment in any of this as well? Don’t forget that this is the new company formed by the two ex-Infinity Ward leads Jason West and Vince Zampella, so it will be interesting to see if they have managed to prize another key member of the original IW team away from Activision’s grasp.

One thing that Call of Duty will surely miss though, is the constant community updates that Bowling used to dish out daily on his personal Twitter account under the name FourZeroTwo. You can bet that he receives all kinds of abuse from users who are not happy with issues in Modern Warfare 3, so we just hope that these kind of individuals were not the sole reason why he is stepping away from the franchise. More importantly – who is now going to fill in as a replacement, someone from Sledgehammer Games perhaps?

What is your immediate reaction to the news – will you miss Robert Bowling as community manager for Call of Duty or not?

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If you are trying to reach a certain prestige level in the game, there will be no better time to do so starting from Friday. We’ve noticed on Robert Bowling’s Twitter account that he has stated that the double xp will come into effect from 2AM PT.

The double xp effect will be live on all MW3 multiplayer playlists and will continue until sometime on Monday. Robert Bowling has also mentioned that the update will also improve on matchmaking as well so that is a little nice extra for those that are having problems getting into a game.

Just to point out, double xp will be going live on the PS3 and PC versions of the game as well, just in case you were presuming that this was yet another little bonus for Xbox 360 Elite members. There’s still no updates from Infinity Ward regarding the Black Box glitches that we told you about earlier this week – we’re guessing they are still working out how to fix the issues up.

The good news is that double xp will come into effect via a hot fix, meaning that you won’t have to install any sort of patch update to take advantage of the double xp. Do you now think that this weekend will see you get that elusive 10th prestige, or do you still have a long way to go?

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Community manager Robert Bowling has mentioned one glitch, but we’ve seen on YouTube that there are actually a few glitches on the Black Box map. You would have thought that since the days of COD4, Infinity Ward would work harder to make sure these glitches don’t appear in the first place, but you’ll see in the videos below that glitches are still ever present, with users more than happy to take advantage of them.

If you have been using the glitches, it probably isn’t a good idea to keep using them as Robert Bowling has confirmed that they will be banning users for using the glitches if they catch you. For those that aren’t aware, the two we’ve spotted both allow players to get out of the map and still kill people freely. One requires the osprey gunner and a teammate, while the other can even be done with a single player.

The tweet by Robert Bowling has been met with some criticism, as players argue that Infinity Ward shouldn’t be banning players straight away for taking advantage of a problem that the developers should have tested properly before releasing. Having said that, glitches are still glitches and Infinity Ward has always taken a strict approach with those found abusing the leaderboards.

Have you spotted players going outside of the map on Black Box? On the plus side for PS3 owners waiting for this to arrive, at least Xbox 360 Elite owners are essentially beta testing the map for you.

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Xbox 360 owners with an Elite subscription are obviously loving life right now. They received the Overwatch map on February 21st, followed by the new Black Box map and two Spec Op missions which have just become available on Xbox Live earlier this week.

Now though, Activision has finally given some important information for PS3 Elite users, as Overwatch has been scheduled to appear in the PlayStation Store update on March 29, or perhaps sooner depending on which day Sony updates your region store.

Activision has ‘kindly’ also given PS3 users an indication of when Black Box will be arriving as well. Dan Amrich has written on his blog that he believes Black Box will arrive on April 12 on the PlayStation Store, again this could be sooner like Tuesday or Wednesday depending on your region.

Although it is obviously not ideal that you have to wait a month longer than Xbox 360 users to get the content, at least Overwatch and Black Box will be arriving in a relatively short amount of time between releases so once you have played Overwatch to death, Black Box will be ready and waiting for you.

The Subscription: How do you see Activision’s subscription service for Call of Duty panning out in the future? We’re hearing that EA also has plans for a Battlefield subscription which we’ll get onto at a later point, but do you think we will have an outcome where the majority of console FPS games will now require a monthly/annual fee for the full package? It seems to be heading down that route from where we see it, but free to play shooters such as DUST 514 does still prove that there are developers out there who are not just looking to bleed our wallets dry.

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So far, Elite subscribers have had three new maps to play before anyone else – those being Liberation, Piazza and Overwatch. Now though, Activision has confirmed that the next content drop for Elite members will contain a brand new map called Black Box, as well as two new spec ops mission titled Black Ice and Negotiator. Elite members on the Xbox 360 will be able to download this content on March 13.

Now then, as for those of you on Xbox 360 without Elite, listen up. Starting from March 20, you’ll be able to pick up all the DLC released so far for the game, which includes the four new maps as well as the two new spec ops missions listed above. However, there is no price for the content yet so we’re still waiting for Activision to announce this.

Black Box looks particularly fun as you’ll basically be slugging it out around a crashed plane site, with players having the option of either taking the fight to the ground, or inside the crashed plane itself. Activision has released the first image for Black Box above, to give you an idea of what to look forward to.

So there we have it – not much love for PS3 Elite users as normal. There’s no date for Black Box yet, but then again most of you will still be busy with Overwatch anyway. The big question now though, is how much are Activision going to charge gamers for four new maps and two spec ops missions. More importantly – how much would you be willing to pay for the new content?

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