Analysts anticipating a Call Of Duty subscription service may be wasting their time: Activision is already charging for the game's online component - just in a different way, according to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.

The publisher has repeatedly suggested that it wants to better monetise its online offering, with subscription looking the most likely option.

However, when asked whether the multiplayer aspect of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood could fall under a subscription system like many suggest Call of Duty will in the future, Guillemot told MCV that Activision already accrued consistent revenue from CoD online - via its drip-feed of DLC.

"I'd say that CoD is already charging customers for its [online] service, as Activision are already launching DLC regularly," he said, "customers are already buying content."


There's been a lot of speculation surrounding the possibility of a regular charge for Call of Duty online multiplayer.

In June Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick said that he would implement a subscription system into the game tomorrow if he could.

Activision had to assure gamers in July that there would be no Modern Warfare 2 subscription when rumours started to rise again.

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Good grief!
The Call of Duty franchise has fast established itself as the quintessential hardcore multiplayer online experience alongside Bungies hugely popular Halo series. And while theres an undoubted satisfaction to be gained from mastering the intricacies of the myriad weapon and perk combos, from learning each map inside out and from developing a thick enough skin to deal with the gang-**** that is Xbox Live, theres also a huge amount of fun to be had in griefing. You see, Call of Duty players and I consider myself in this group having played it obsessively for so long take their games very seriously. Theyll constantly compare their accuracies, forever look to increase their kill to death ratios and do whatever it takes to get to the top of that leaderboard and be on the winning team. All of which makes them absolutely ripe for winding up, disrupting their strategies and generally making a game of annoying them instead of playing the game proper.

And so, to celebrate this fast-growing sport Id like to present you with my own personal list of Call of Duty griefing techniques.

TKO

Team-kills are the simplest and most obvious way of causing grief to your team-mates, but Treyarch and Infinity Ward wisely accounted for and anticipated this by only allowing two accidental team-kills before youre kicked out of a game. However, due to the somewhat arbitrary nature of artillery and air-strikes, team-kills from above dont actually count towards this total. So, if you manage to earn an artillery or air-strike, dumping your load on your team mates heads is always extremely amusing and bound to increase the blood pressure of those around you.

Its also worth saving your two allowed team-kills for when one of your team-mates is one kill off earning an airstrike/artillery or dogs/helipcoter. Having your streak ended by a team-mate when youre on 6 kills is probably the single most annoying thing that can happen in multiplayer games.

Another simple but hugely effective technique, and one that can be repeated ad infinitum, is to throw smoke or tabun grenades at your team-mates. These wont damage or kill them but will put them off enough such that the opposing team has a good chance of killing them for you. And tabun grenades are especially effective at the start of a match, or on the smaller maps when your whole team spawns from the same location.

Dog-gone!

Getting 7 consecutive kills without dying and unleashing the dogs or the attack helicopter is hugely satisfying and generally results in you getting a few extra kills for little effort. But this pales into insignificance when compared to the satisfaction to be gained by shooting down your own teams helicopter or even better, learning where the dogs spawn from on each map, and camping nearby with a machine-gun ready to take them all out. This technique is especially fun as theres no punishment for doing it and it will really irk the person whose dogs or helicopter you just destroyed.

This next technique works for those of you with an iPhone or an iPod touch. Theres a free download on the Apple App Store called iPity which is basically a whole collection of phrases spoken by Mr T it takes its name from the famous I pity the fool line. And if youre playing a game with random people, theres nothing more hilarious than playing: You crazy foo!
Hey sucka, you gonna pay!
Whatchu talking about foo?!
Or my favourite: Got no time fo da jibba jabba. over and over down the head-set.

Another favourite of my mine thats deliciously simple and one you can get away with over and over again is to shoot your team-mates claymore mines or bouncing Bettys. A good CoD player will strategically position them to protect their sniping spots or to alert them when the enemy is nearby. And therefore, destroying these vital defence mechanisms is another invaluable weapon in your own griefing arsenal.

This next technique takes great skill and can be quite risky because getting it wrong will soon get you kicked out of a game. Make a mental note of which of your team-mates have the last-stand perk enabled and then proceed to try and put them in last-stand as often as possible. This is hugely satisfying because your other team-members cant revive them and also because if an opposing player delivers the final blow, the team-kill doesnt go against you. The risk comes from the fact that unless your shot is a glancing blow or manages to hit a non-vital body part then theres a good chance you will kill your team-mate as opposed to putting them in last-stand.

Sugar and milk?

Call of Dutys camouflage and sniper-rifles encourage people to camp and hide; a strategy that is open to abuse in so many ways. Theres a delicious satisfaction to be gained from simply standing next to a hidden sniper and giving his position away to the enemy by constantly jumping up and down. You can also position yourself nearby and out of sight and fire shots above and to the side of your team-mate to really distract him and put him off. Hell either think its the enemy or realise its you and move somewhere else, thus giving himself away. But perhaps the best thing you can do to a prone sniper is the old tea-bag technique. Simply stand above his head and press crouch/stand-up over and over. Mature? No. **** hilarious? Hell yes.

The martyrdom perk is one of the most unintended annoyances in the Call of Duty series but one that can again be used extremely effectively to yet again disrupt your team-mates. On small close-knit maps where your team-mates tend to be positioned relatively close to each other, standing near to them and getting killed by the enemy and then dropping your last-ditch martyrdom grenade almost always provokes an angry reaction. But you will only get away with this twice before being kicked. Of course theres nothing to stop you moving from server to server and repeating this over and over.

**** Blocked.

Doorblocking is another one of those techniques that you can repeat over and over without getting punished by the game. When you stand in a door way, if you position yourself directly in the middle, you act as an immovable object that cannot be budged no matter how many team-mates run at you. If youre on a map that features a room with a single doorway in or out, this gives you the perfect opportunity to wait until theres yourself and a team-mate in the same room and then block him in. The only way for your captive to escape is by team-killing you, but then by doing so they risk getting themselves kicked out of the game. And this further adds to the fun of the game because if you can repeat these techniques over and over on the same players, mind-games ensue and theyll spend more time trying to avoid you than playing the game properly.

And thats your lot Im afraid. Ive bared my soul and told you all of my secrets. But of course, it goes without saying that if you have any useful techniques of your own, be sure to post them in the comments section and if theyre any good, Ill be sure to add them to this handy compendium.

On a final note, dont you ever **** pull any of these tricks on me!
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You may remember that a gameplay video leaked last week showing off some sniper action in Call of Duty Black Ops, and seemingly showed the player quickscoping. However, Treyarch has now confirmed that players will not be able to quickscope in the final version of the game.

That footage was taken from the closed beta of the game, but during a Q&A session on Twitter, Treyarchs community manger Josh Olin answered some direct questions about whether or not quickscoping will be included in the game.

When simply asked if quickscoping will be possible in Black Ops, Olin replied: No. Quickscoping is a cheap way to play. Were specifically going to gimp Quickscoping, sorry. Play straight-up!
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This obviously alerted a few other users reading Olins Twitter page and they continued to quiz him about quickscoping. When next asked if he was joking about the above comment, he later replied: Nope. Quickscoping is way more annoying to a way larger group of people than the quickscoping community who loves to do it. #cheap.

He later added that players will now need to wait a brief moment until the sniper sight is centered before they take a shot, and confirmed that no sniper rifles in the game are useful for quickscoping.

What are your thoughts on this? There will no doubt be a few of you upset about this, as you may think that quickscoping is a skill and should be allowed if a player takes the time to learn it. Treyarch obviously doesnt see it that way though and are intending to make the game as fair as possible for everyone.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops yes its the BO again but who wouldnt want it? The release date is approaching, for those of you fresh out of hibernation, the biggest game this decade (according to several people) is coming on November 9th 2010. The game that has set a franchise record for the most pre-orders, read more about it in COD: Black Ops Sets Pre-Order Record, is yet to surprise us. Britain`s best selling game ever Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has just a couple of days left in the spotlight according to retailer HMV.

According to James Brooks, HMV`s senior buyer, We`re seeing some exceptional interest for this title across its different formats, particularly our co-exclusive on the Prestige Edition on HMV.com. where almost all the stock is gone.

Based on all this initial demand and the huge excitement thats clearly being generated, Id say this title has every chance of being the biggest game release ever, and its certainly shaping up to become the largest pre-order that weve seen in-store and online on HMV.com.

There are a couple of retailers that dont expect Call of Duty: Black Ops to rise to the number 1 position. ShopTo`s marketing manager Phil Driver said, in an interview for Eurogamer that COD will be in our all-time top 10 sellers and then continued to state that Activision`s game won`t be top, and that We are expecting Gran Turismo 5 to be our greatest ever seller due to the low price and to ShopTo`s exclusive deal.

Not everyone`s as talkative, most of them are refraining from comments, but we can still take a look at pre-order charts, when concerning Play.com, Black Ops seems to be reigning leader over the Xbox 360 version, second place in the PS3 category. It`s in for a serious fight if it`s to take down UK`s top seller, Modern Warfare 2. When first out, Modern Warfare 2 took only 41 weeks to become UK`s top seller also becoming UK`s fastest selling game ever, 1.7million sales in the first week and so far over 12million copies worldwide.

The main battle though, will be fought starting November 9th and it will be between Bungie`s all time champion and Xbox 360 ring leader Halo: Reach, who went and grossed over $200 first day sales read more Halo: Reach, and Treyarch`s hooded, full clipped masked wonder, he who shattered all pre-sale records, surpassing the reigning champion MW2, Activision`s golden egg goose, the one and only Call of Duty: Black Ops. Now place your bets!!

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