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PC Call Of Duty Players Can Go Elite…Eventually
Activision is bringing a similar but customized version of its subscription-based Call of Duty Elite service to PC players of Modern Warfare 3, but not necessarily day and date with the console versions. At least there are dedicated servers for multiplayer this time.
The PC version of Elite will be functionally similar if not identical to the console incarnations of the service. The difficulty Activision is encountering is that with the inclusion of dedicated servers for PC multiplayer in Modern Warfare 3, the company has to figure out how to ensure that the voluminous statistics tracked in Elite are legit – without restricting the multiplayer so much that it annoys PC players who want to run their own servers for their buddies or what have you.
Keeping hacked stats off the servers would be a mere annoyance if it weren’t for the huge volume of prizes that Activision will be giving away through Elite contests. If getting the most headquarters captures in an evening wins you a $200 backpack, as in one Operation currently running in the Elite beta, you better be sure that cheaters aren’t getting an unfair advantage. It’s less of an issue for Events, which are smaller “jury prizes” awarded to things like the best Semtex kill video submission, but I’m sure that CoD players would prefer that everything is on the up-and-up.
Activision wouldn’t say when the PC version of Elite will launch, saying only that the developers are working very hard on it right now. Who knows – the engineers may have a brainstorm and get it done in time for Modern Warfare 3’s November 8 launch. The smart money is on a moderate delay, though, if you ask me.
This news has nothing to do with the release of the PC version of Modern Warfare 3 itself – that’s still coming the same day as the game’s other SKUs.
Activision is promising a lot more news on Call of Duty Elite, including details on how the service will handle and promote clans (all the company would say for now is that clans will be supported and will level up, not unlike World of Warcraft guilds), at the Call of Duty XP next week, so stay tuned.
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