The long wait for hard news of the next Call of Duty game is over - somewhat earlier than Activision had planned, by the looks of things. Citing multiple unidentified sources, Kotaku's gone live with a massive blow-out.

The fruit of combined efforts by Sledgehammer Games, Raven Software and Infinity Ward, Modern Warfare 3 features 15 single player levels and 20 multiplayer maps, a plot that spans, India, Russia, Sierra Leone, North America, France, Dubai and more, a mix of old and new characters and new Spec Ops modes.

The game kicks off shortly after the end of Modern Warfare 2, as earlier reported, with Captain John "Soap" MacTavish, Captain John Price and the Russian informant Nikolai hunting rogue ultranationalist Makarov against the backdrop of a Russo-US war.

The site says the shooter will "reshape the landscape" for Call of Duty with "eclectic" scenarios and "deep" multiplayer.

Activision's next Call of Duty will feature new Spec Ops mode types, 20 maps and the expected Somali pirate's horde of projectile weapons, a mega Kotaku report has revealed today.

Among the guns in play are the AA12 shotgun, dual-scoped M4 IW5 rifle, Magpul FMG machine pistol, M320 grenade launcher, AK47, P99 pistol, RSASS sniper rifle, MP412 Russian pistol, New Striker, MP5 submachine gun and - for that old school touch - the Model 1887 shotgun.

Spec Ops modes come in at least two flavours: Missions, which reportedly play out similarly to those of Modern Warfare 2, and Survival sessions, new Horde-esque variants in which players hold out against waves of AI grunts.

Here's a list of all the maps. It won't tell you much about layouts and content, but see what you can deduce:

Standard maps

Alpha
Alps
Bootleg
Bravo
Brooklyn
Carbon
Coast
Dome
Exchange
Hardhat
Interchange
Lambeth
Meteora
Mogadishu
Paris
Plaza 2
Radar
Seatown
Underground
Village

Survival

Carbon
Dome
Radar
Seatown
Village

Mission

Civilian Rescue
Flood the Market
Invisible Threat
Little Bro's
Out of Africa
No Fly Zone
Wing Man