What happens when a large contingency of a series' creative team packs up, and two additional teams are brought on to round out the production? Apparently, you get a lot of loose lips. Details of Modern Warfare 3, in development across Infinity Ward, Raven Software, and newcomer Sledgehammer Games, have been leaked with an unusual amount of specificity to Kotaku less than a month before its presumed big reveal at E3.

A lot of that specificity is wasted on spoilers which, in addition to being generally unwanted for those of us who haven't played the game, are about a Call of Duty title meaning they follow multiple characters through multiple elaborate setpieces. Oh, and there's shooting. MW3 begins right where MW2 left off: with the US trying to prevent a Russian invasion. Your roles include a "Russian Federal Protective Services agent, SAS Operative, tank gunner, and AC-130 gunner" as well as some old friends from previous MW games and some new characters, notably "Frost" and "Sandman."

About those setpieces! Modern Warfare 3 will reportedly include 15 missions that take place across "a dozen cities around the world including New York, Paris and London." If some of that selection sounds familiar, that's because this fall's Battlefield 3 will find itself in "Paris, Tehran and New York." Awkward.

But it's not just Manhattan, it's also Brooklyn, Mogadishu, and more, if the list of 20 multiplayer maps is to be believed. (It's unclear if these include maps from the inevitable DLC map packs.) Spec Ops is back as well, with the mission-based co-operative offerings from Modern Warfare 2 accompanied by a new "Survival" mode or, as you're more likely to know it by, Horde mode. The goal: You and your pals will defend yourselves from increasingly difficult waves of enemies. There are seven "Mission" maps and five "Survival" maps listed.

Previous Modern Warfare installments were so shrouded in secrecy, nearly up until the time of release, that it's hard to imagine how such a massive, seemingly coordinated leak took place. Oh, and one last detail: the release date! Kotaku's report pins MW3 for November 8, just a week after Uncharted 3 and a few days before Skyrim.

[Update: Infinity Ward's @fourzerotwo just weighed in on the leak, offering, "A lot of hype & a lot of leaked info on #MW3, some still accurate, some not. To avoid spoiling the experience, I'd wait for the real reveal." We wonder how the accurate / not accurate percentages look; regardless, if you want 100% accurate you'll want to hear it straight from the dev. Everyone else, dig in.]

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/13/modern-warfare-3-leak/#comments

Posted: May 13, 2011 2:52 pm