Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is the third game in the Uncharted series, created by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 3, and was released in North America on November 1, 2011, Europe on November 2, 2011 and Australia on November 3, 2011. It is the sequel to 2009's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.It was first revealed on December 9, 2010. Officially it was announced at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards on December 11, 2010.
Uncharted 3 sees protagonist Nathan Drake and mentor Victor Sullivan traveling around the world to such places as the Rub' al Khali desert, in search of the legendary lost city, the Iram of the Pillars. Chloe Frazer and Elena Fisher also return in Uncharted 3. The plot draws from the archaeology days of T. E. Lawrence. Arne Meyer, Naughty Dog's community strategist stated that the "main theme of Uncharted 3 is 'finding the way'". Upon its release, Uncharted 3 was met with high critical acclaim, averaging 92% on both review aggregate websites Metacritic and GameRankings, making it one of the most critically acclaimed video games of 2011 for the PlayStation 3 on both websites.
Gameplay

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective, with the player in control of Nathan Drake. Drake will have a large number of different animation sets, enabling him to react according to his surroundings. Drake is physically adept and is able to jump, sprint, climb, swim, scale narrow ledges, wall-faces to get between points, and perform other acrobatic actions. Drake can now take on opponents in more ways than before: hand-to-hand combat with multiple opponents, contextual melee attacks, and new stealth options. Uncharted 3 also features expanded and diverse traversal moves with deep gunplay. Drake can be equipped with up to two firearms – one single-handed and one two-handed – and four grenades. Drake can pick up weapons, automatically replacing the existing weapon he was using, and additional ammunition from downed enemies.

Multiplayer

Similar to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Uncharted 3 is planned to include a separate multiplayer component with network play that runs in open beta during July 2011, featuring competitive and cooperative modes of play. The beta features several customization options, such as different character skins, ability boosters, skill medals to attain, and a progressive ranking system. Uncharted 3 will introduce free-for-all modes such as standard deathmatch, character model and weapon modification, and dynamic environmental 'events' within multiplayer maps, similar to the set pieces from the game's campaign - such as a hostile plane flying above shooting all players it catches in its crossfire. Collectible treasures are also said to be available within the multiplayer maps, which can be used as in-game currency for unlocking new characters, customization equipment and boosters. Unlocked customizations can either allow for changes to be made in character appearance, such as clothing and skin tone, or upgrading weapon attributes.

A Buddy System has also been implemented into multiplayer. At the beginning of each match, the player may be joined with a random partner or a friend if joining their game. The buddy's emblem remains displayed as part of the player's HUD to indicate their location relative to the player's own on the map. With your Buddy, you can do a cooperative taunt over dead enemies you defeated together, and can also collect each others' earned treasures for them. The player is able to spawn next to his buddy so long as the buddy remains alive and out of combat.[11] With the aim of making the multiplayer more flexible and accessible, several logistical improvements have been added, such as the capability to join games in progress or for two different PlayStation Network accounts to play together in split-screen multiplayer on a single console. In the event of ties or near-ties, matches enter an elimination mode as they wind down, in which the players are restricted to one life and must compete to wipe out all of the opposing team's members first within the allotted remaining time.

Several new features have been included in the game, including mechanics that create gameplay situations designed to assist the losing team, improves ability enhancements and augmentations that must be purchased for each use, special abilities that are made available when a certain amount of medals has been attained within a match, and "Uncharted TV", a small video window that appears throughout the multiplayer menus, creating a video that can be uploaded to Facebook, YouTube or the XMB. Multiplayer also includes a character creation system, allowing a user to extensively customise their in-game character. Co-operative multiplayer also returns from Uncharted 2.

Plot

The story begins with Nathan "Nate" Drake (Nolan North) and Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Richard McGonagle) meeting with Talbot (Robin Atkin Downes) in a pub in England. They negotiate a trade, a large sum of money in return for Sir Francis Drake's ring. Nate and Sully accuse Talbot of offering them counterfeit bank notes and, after fighting their way past Talbot's thugs, Nate and Sully emerge in an alleyway, where they are surrounded and subdued by Charlie Cutter (Graham McTavish), Talbot's cohort. They are then approached by Talbot's client, Katherine Marlowe (Rosalind Ayres), who steals Drake's ring. Nate attempts to go after her, but Cutter guns him and Sully down, seemingly killing them.

The story transitions into a flashback from 20 years earlier. A 14 year old Nathan Drake explores a museum in Cartagena, Colombia, in search of Sir Francis' ring, but is thrown out after guards suspect him of being a thief. Intrigued by the actions of a younger 40 year old Victor Sullivan- who he does not know at this point- Nate follows Sully to a keymaker and pickpockets him, before returning to the museum. He steals the ring but before he can leave, he is caught by Marlowe, her henchmen and Sully, who was working for her. Nate flees with the ring and is rescued from Marlowe's agents by Sully, who decides to act as a mentor to Nate.

Returning to the present day, it is revealed that the meeting was an elaborate set-up by Nate and Sully to get closer to Marlowe, with Cutter being an old friend of theirs. With the help of Chloe Frazer (Claudia Black), they trace Marlowe's car to a hidden library, where they manage to retrieve T.E. Lawrence's notebook and a map showing Francis Drake's secret voyage to Arabia, where he was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to search for the lost city of Ubar. Using these items, Nate works out that clues to the city's location lie in Crusader crypts in a French chateau and a Syrian citadel. Nate and Sully head to eastern France and locate the long abandoned chateau in a dense forest. They find one half of an amulet inside the crypt but the two are ambushed by Talbot, who takes the amulet and sets the chateau on fire. Nate and Sully escape and quickly head to Syria, fearing that Chloe and Cutter, who travelled to the Syrian citadel, may have been followed as well.

They meet up with Chloe and Cutter, who have learned that Marlowe is the head of an order dating back four centuries that seeks to gain power by exploiting the fears of their enemies. The group reaches the second crypt and find the other half of the amulet, revealing the location of the next clue in Yemen. However, while trying to exit the citadel, Cutter is cornered by Marlowe and Talbot, forcing him to hand over the amulet piece. Nate, Sully, Chloe, and Cutter manage to escape and Chloe and Cutter back out while Nate and Sully travel to Yemen.

They meet with Elena Fisher (Emily Rose), who helps them locate the underground tomb where they discover the location of the lost city as well as evidence that Sir Francis Drake had also found the tomb and what he learned there caused him to abandon his mission. The trio are then attacked by flesh-eating spiders and flee above ground, where Nate is shot with a dart containing hallucinogens. After stumbling away alone, Nate wakes up outside a café with Marlowe and Talbot. Marlowe gives Nate to a band of pirates she hired led by Rameses to interrogate him for information about Iram of the Pillars. Rameses claims to have captured Sully who is being held captive on a cruise ship on the docks. Nate manages to escape captivity and searches the cruise ship, but discovers the pirates did not take Sully hostage. Mortally wounded, Rameses blows a massive hole in the ship's hull, causing the entire vessel to capsize. Nate navigates the overturned ship before diving into the ocean, ultimately washing back onto shore. He is reunited with Elena, who informs him that Sully was captured by Marlowe's men and taken on a convoy into the Rub 'al Khali desert, but they may be able to rescue him if they stowaway on a cargo plane due to deliver supplies to Marlowe's convoy.

The two of them infiltrate the airstrip and Nate manages to stowaway onboard as it takes off. He is soon discovered by Marlowe's men on board and a shoot-out ensues, resulting in serious damage to the plane. Nate is pulled from the plane by an air vacuum, but is able to activate a parachute and descend safely. After wandering the desert, suffering from heat exhaustion, severe thirst and experiencing hallucinations and mirages, Nate arrives at a ghost town in the desert where he is attacked by Marlowe's men. A troop of men on horseback, led by Salim (TJ Ramini), appear and ride to Nate's rescue. At the horsemen's encampment, Salim tells Nate that the city of Ubar was doomed thousands of years ago by King Solomon when he imprisoned evil Djinn within a brass vessel and cast it into the heart of the city. He agrees to help Nate and leads him to the convoy spotted by his scouts. Nate and Salim destroy the convoy and rescue Sully. Salim then instructs Nate and Sully to follow him into a nearby sandstorm, but the pair lose him amidst the dust and they realise that they have arrived at the gates of Ubar.

Upon entering Ubar, Nate and Sully come across a sophisticated water fountain that Nate drinks out of. Suddenly Sully is shot in the back and killed by Talbot. Overcome by rage, Nate gives chase and has to fight more of Marlowe's men, who seem to have been possessed by the Djinn, engulfing themselves in flames and moving at impossible speeds. Nate eventually comes to his senses and finds Sully alive. The true mystery of what happened to the people of Ubar thousands of years ago becomes apparent: when King Solomon cast the brass vessel into the depths of the city, it fell into the water and began to taint the water with a powerful hallucinogenic agent. The people were subsequently driven mad, and civilization within the city collapsed. Nate realises that the vessel is what Queen Elizabeth had sent Francis Drake to find, and what Marlowe was looking for now. Nate and Sully search the city and locate Marlowe, who is using a winch to pull the brass talisman from the water. Nate and Sully destroy the winch and the explosion sets off a chain reaction throughout the entire city, causing the city to collapse. Nate and Sully attempt to escape, but run into Marlowe and Talbot and see Marlowe trapped in quicksand. Nate tries to save her but he fails and Marlowe is left to drown in the sand, taking Drake's ring with her. After Nate and Sully defeat Talbot, who attempted to kill them, Salim rides in on his horse and leads them to safety as the city is engulfed by the desert.

Nate and Sully return to the airport in Yemen where Sully explains why he took such an interest in the young Nate. He then gives back Nate's ring and turns to see Elena joining them. The two embrace each other and the trio flies back home on Sully's new sea plane.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

THE GOOD

• Immense world stuffed with varied tasks to perform
• Dragon battles are a blast
• Lovely art design capped by some beautiful, atmospheric touches
• Enjoyable battles that you can approach in a variety of ways 
•  Lots of compelling, self-contained stories to experience in addition to the main one

THE BAD

• Glitches and bugs frequently disrupt the immersion
• Friendly AI is often more of a hindrance than a help

The province of Skyrim might be frigid, but the role-playing game that takes place within it burns with a fire few games possess. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you take up arms against dragons, and your encounters with them are invariably exciting--yet depending on where your adventure takes you, such battles may not even represent the pinnacle of your experience. A side quest that starts as a momentary distraction may turn into a full-fledged tale that could form the entirety of a less ambitious game. Yes, Skyrim is another enormous fantasy RPG from a developer that specializes in them, and it could suck up hundreds of hours of your time as you inspect each nook and crevasse for the secrets to be found within. If you know Bethesda Softworks' previous games, you might be unsurprised that Skyrim is not a land without blemish, but rather harbors any number of technical glitches and frustrating idiosyncrasies that tear open the icy veil that blankets the land. Many of them are ones Elder Scrolls fans will probably see coming, but they're ultimately a low price to pay for the wonders of a game this sprawling and enthralling. Prepare for many sleepless nights to come.


Those nights traversing these lands are ones well spent. The game returns you to the continent of Tamriel, where you explore the northern realm called Skyrim, home to the Nord race. In these northern regions, snow flurries cloud your view, and platforms of ice float on the chilled waters. Nighttime often brings Tamriel's version of the aurora borealis, with its gorgeous blue and green ribbons stretching across the heavens. Skyrim's predecessor,Oblivion, featured prototypical fantasy environments--pretty but not quite evocative of the lore's darker undercurrents. Skyrim embraces its darker elements. You might feel an eerie chill as you glimpse a half-sunken ship through the mist, or watch as a dragon comes to life before your very eyes under the swirling firmament. Skyrim's atmospheric tone harks back to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, only the hazy dust storms of the earlier game have been replaced by glimmering snowfall and opaque fog.

These lovely vistas are best seen from a distance. Closer inspection reveals hard edges, plain painted-on textures, and other visual flaws that are conspicuous should you seek them out. But like many enormous games, Skyrim makes a fantastic impression not because its individual elements are sharply honed, but because they contribute to a grander whole. There's so much to do that your quest log becomes an embarrassment of pleasures, offering dozens of choices at any given time, each one as enticing as the next. You could follow the story, of course, which weaves a compelling tale that casts you as a dragonborn; that is, the soul of a dragon emanates from within you. As such, you are the key to discovering why dragons have returned to the land, terrorizing cities and potentially ending the known world. The tale has you facing dragons, of course, but also crashing fancy dress parties and scouring sewers in search of a key figure long assumed dead. It's a well-crafted tale that makes good use of those fearsome flying creatures that horrify the masses with roaring gusts of fire and ice.

It's impressive enough that there's so much to do; it's even more impressive that most of it is wonderful. Not every dungeon is a joy to explore. Stone-turning puzzles occasionally bring the fun to a halt, and a few repeated cave designs could dampen your spirits. But overall, every task has an excellent sense of context, and surprises lurk around many a turn. Searching for a lost dog turns into a grander quest than you could have guessed--and witty writing and voice acting shine some light into this somber world. Even a simple "go there, kill that" bounty can be a thrill. After all, how often do you face a towering giant and a couple of woolly mammoths? It's too bad that as you approach the giant's camp, one of those mammoths might spawn 100 feet in the air and fall to its death, or land on another mammoth and ride on its back for a few seconds before sliding off.

As for standard spells, they come in the usual schools of magicka: destruction (zap skeletons with sparks!), conjuration (summon a giant frost atronach!), alteration (light the way ahead!), and so on. You can even dual-wield spells, going full-on mage, with a glowing ball of fire in one hand and a summon at the ready in the other. For that matter, you can dual-wield one-handed weapons, giving you more flexibility in how you form your character. When you create your character, you choose a race from the usual Elder Scrolls standbys (Dark Elf, Breton, Argonian, and so forth), but you don't choose a class. Rather, your skill level with certain types of weapons, magicka schools, speech, and so on is governed primarily by how you play. Wear heavy armor, and taking blows gradually increases your heavy armor proficiency. Swing two-handed weapons, and you get better at using them.

Need for Speed: The Run

Need for Speed: The Run is a racing video game, the 18th title in the Need for Speed franchise, and developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. The 3DS version is being developed by Firebrand Games, the team behind Undercover and Nitro (both DS versions). It was released in North America on November 15,2011. And released on November 18, 2011 in Europe.

The game is described as "An illicit, high-stakes race across the country. The only way to get your life back is to be the first from San Francisco to New York. No speed limits. No rules. No allies. All you have are your driving skills and sheer determination"
Producers Jason DeLong and Steve Anthony have stated during an interview that Black Box is aiming to obtain critical acclaim after their last game received universally poor ratings.The Run has been in production for three years even though previous Black Box titles have had much shorter development periods.



Gameplay

The Run is the first game in Need for Speed history to allow players to travel on foot. These gameplay instances are quick time events. Here the player character leaves the car.
In The Run, players will participate in an "underground world of illicit, high stakes racing," in a race from San Francisco to New York, with stops through Las Vegas, Denver, Detroit, and many other locations, making it the first title in the series to use real locations. The cops aren't the only ones after the player though, as the player "blows across borders, weaves through dense urban traffic, rockets down icy mountain passes and navigates narrow canyons at breakneck speeds." There are over 300 km of track, three times more than Hot Pursuit, making it the biggest Need For Speed game.
The Run is powered by DICE's Frostbite 2 engine, making the game the first non-shooter and one of the first console titles to use the engine, which provides visuals and car physics that "hug the road even at top speeds all built around a gripping storyline." Additionally, Need for Speed Autolog, the Need for Speed franchise's social competition functionality, which was introduced in Hot Pursuit and was previously used in Shift 2: Unleashed, is also back as it will continue to track career progression and compare game stats.
The game features quick time events, with the player for the first time in Need for Speed history, exiting their car and traveling on foot. These events won't always be about harsh success or failure states. In some sections there are branching outcomes, so if the player mangles a certain button press, they'll get another chance to pull through.


The cars can be altered with performance upgrades and visual upgrades, such as paint colors and body kits.
The driving model of the game is described as "sit somewhere between Shift and Hot Pursuit", not as arcade-styled as Hot Pursuit, but neither as simulator-styled as Shift. The Run employs a large range of real-world vehicles, seemingly taking in the usual mix of muscle cars, street racers and refined exotics, described as "each car presents a different driving challenge for the player." Exclusively digitized for the game is the 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S and the Pagani Huayra. The damage system will be similar to that seen inHot Pursuit. The cars can be altered with performance upgrades and visual upgrades, such as paint colors and body kits. There will be cosmetic body kits known as Style Pack kits and Aero Pack kits, which will affect aerodynamics as well as performance.
It was revealed at Gamescom 2011 that an XP system will be used for unlocking cars and events. The game will also feature a Rewind option to allows the player to restart an event to their last checkpoint if they wreck their vehicle or rewind their vehicle from a collision or missed opportunity. Rewinds will only be available in limited quantities as their amount will dependent on the difficulty level that the player has selected; Easy will have unlimited Rewinds, Normal will have five Rewinds, Hard will have less Rewinds and Impossible will have no Rewinds as well as the most difficult AI opponents.
Modes
A trailer was released on July 26, 2011 and entitled as "Run for the Hills", which shows the player racing along a barren desert highway which followed a series of hills as well as containing a large jump. The player had the task of overtaking ten opponents before reaching the end of the course event. GameSpot released a gameplay video on November 2, 2011 that portrayed a race consisting of 14 checkpoints that the player has to drive through before their time runs out. Time was added for each checkpoint that the player drove through. Pursuits can also occur during races. The police in the game will utilize roadblocks and perform ramming tactics. Police cars will have a health bar displayed above their vehicles.
Multiplayer
Up to 16 players can participate in a single online match. Players will be able to party with friends, pick a playlist of their favorite challenges and compete for supremacy across every stage of game. In addition to this, players will never have to wait in a lobby again even if they are joining a race in progress. The multiplayer matches are split into differing game type playlists, such as Supercar Challenge, NFS Edition Racing, The Underground, Mixed Competition, Exotic Sprint, and Muscle Car Battles. Most of these modes pertain to different car varieties for each race, but the Supercar Challenge is meant entirely for the fastest cars on the fastest tracks. The player can select an event and vote towards the race course that the multiplayer game will be taking place on. Players will also take part in a reward system known as "The Bonus Wheel", which randomly selects a reward and required goal criteria for it.

Nintendo 3DS/Wii
The gameplay is fairly similar to Hot Pursuit. Players race down freeways until they meet a police car. The officer will then try to chase them down and wreck their car. They will also encounter other objectives such as a straight-up race. There is another mode where players duel a rival. They can also race to toll booths that double as checkpoints.
The 3DS version will also feature Autolog, which is integrated throughout the career mode and uses 40 in-game challenges scattered throughout the campaign. The game also takes advantage of StreetPass, letting players upload their best Autolog scores to other Nintendo 3DS devices. In multiplayer, the game will feature a straight race mode where eight people compete. There is also a four-on-four Cops vs. Racers mode. The game will support Wi-Fi and local wireless connections.
However, the Wii version lacks online play, yet it has split-screen multiplayer.

PLOT
In Need for Speed: The Run will feature a linear story mode, which places the player in the shoes of Jackson "Jack" Rourke. After an incident leaves him in bad standing with a mysterious crime organization, Jack becomes a marked man and must flee for his survival. The consequence of his situation leaves him owing large sums of money, which he cannot pay on his own. He is directed to a massive illegal street racing event called "The Run" by an associate, Sam Harper. The Run is a 3000 mile journey across the continental United States, starting in San Francisco and ending in New York City. She informs him the prize money, $25,000,000, is enough to secure his freedom from the organisation but he will have to beat over 200 other drivers to the finish line to win. Complicating things, he is in debt to both the police and the criminal organization, and both want to make sure that he never finishes the race

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (abbreviated as Call of Duty: MW3) is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, with Raven Software having assisted in development.It is the third installment in the Modern Warfare series, a direct sequel to 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and the eighth Call of Duty installment.

The game was released on November 8, 2011 in Europe and North America on Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, with a separate version for Nintendo DS developed by n-Space. In Australia, the Wii version will be released on November 23, 2011. In Japan, Square Enix will handle this installment with a separate subtitled and dubbed version, as they did for Call of Duty: Black Ops. First, they will release a Japanese-subtitled version on November 17, 2011. Then, on December 22, 2011, they will release a Japanese-voice dubbed version. Within 24 hours of going on sale, the game sold 6.5 million copies in the US and UK alone and grossed $400 million, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time.

Campaign

The player assumes the role of various characters during the single-player campaign, changing perspectives throughout the progression of the story. Unlike its predecessors, the campaign is spread over different days. Each mission features a series of objectives that are displayed on the heads up display, which marks the direction and distance towards and from such objectives. Damage to the player is shown by blood splatter shown on the screen. The player's health regenerates as time passes. Objectives vary in their requirements, ranging from having the player arrive at a particular checkpoint, to eliminating enemies in a specified location, to standing their ground against enemy squadrons, and planting explosive charges on an enemy installation. The player is also accompanied by fellow soldiers who cannot be issued orders.

Cooperative

Modern Warfare 3 features a new mode, called Survival Mode. This game mode features one or two players fighting endless waves of enemies, with each wave becoming increasingly difficult. Despite being much compared to the World at War Nazi Zombies mode, enemies do not spawn at fixed locations like the zombies do; instead, they appear at tactical positions based on the current location of the player. The mode is available on all multiplayer maps in the game. In the mode, players earn "cash" for items such as weapons, upgrades, ammo, air/ground support and equipment. Special Ops also returns from Modern Warfare 2. These challenge missions feature up to 48 stars, unlike its previous installment, which featured 69. Some weapons in Spec Ops are exclusive to that game mode, and are not available for play in Multiplayer mode.

Multiplayer

The new "Recon Juggernaut" Pointstreak reward in Multiplayer Mode.

The entire Killstreak reward system has been revamped. Killstreaks are now known as Pointstreaks, and kills are no longer the only way to increase the player's pointstreak. Completing objectives such as planting the bomb in Search and Destroy or capturing a flag in Capture The Flag awards points towards the player's Pointstreak. Pointstreak rewards are organized into three different "strike packages" called Assault, Support, and Specialist. The Assault strike package works the same as the Killstreak reward system in Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, offering rewards like the Predator drone and attack helicopters. The Support strike package offers support-style rewards, such as UAVs and SAM Turrets. Rewards from the Support category do not reset when the player dies, but accumulate over the course of a match. The Specialist strike package rewards players with perks of their choosing after every second consecutive kill. After eight kills, they receive every perk in the game, but reset back to none upon death.Players are allowed to choose which Pointstreak rewards they want to use when they gain it during the match, rather than choosing them between rounds.

Along with revamping the entire Killstreak reward system, Modern Warfare 3 also has a completely modified Ranking and Unlocks system, which does not use a currency system for unlocks. The player's primary weapon levels up alongside the player, and unlocks a number of "Proficiency" perks such as Attachments, (allows two attachments and is a successor to the "Bling" and "Warlord" perks), Kick (reduced recoil while aiming down the player's sight) and Focus (stay focused under fire). Only one Proficiency can be put on a primary weapon.Another new addition is the ability to equip "Hybrid Scopes" on a weapon, such as a Red Dot Sight and a magnifier similar to an ACOG on the same weapon, and the player can switch between the scopes. Modern Warfare 3 introduces a new "Prestige Shop" which will unlock only after the player has selected the option to prestige for the first time. The "Prestige Shop" allows Prestige players to use tokens they gain from using the Prestige option to buy exclusive features such as double XP and a extra custom weapon class.

Several controversial perks in Modern Warfare 2, accused of being overpowered, have been removed in Modern Warfare 3. Diving from standing to prone, known as "dolphin diving", has been removed due to balancing issues. Modern Warfare 3 will utilize Treyarch's hot fix system to fix bugs and glitches. Modern Warfare 3 features a local and online split-screen option.

Several new game modes have also been added:

"Kill Confirmed" requires players to collect floating dog tags from the corpse of a downed enemy before the kill can be registered. However, the opposing team can pick up the dog tag as well to deny the other team of a kill.

"Team Defender" requires both teams to try to capture a flag dropped by the first person who gets killed when the match starts, and hold it to gain double points per kill while the team without the flag only gets the default amount per kill.

Private matches also now include pre-made game modes including: "Infection" (where the infected kills enemies to recruit them to their team), "Drop Zone" (where the player must hold a drop zone for points and care packages), "Team Juggernaut" (each team plays alongside an AI Juggernaut character), "Gun Game" (be the first to get one kill with every gun in the game) and "One in the Chamber" (in which players are only allowed one pistol with one bullet and three lives where they can only get more bullets by killing other players). Along with this, players are allowed to create their own game modes with customized settings such as number of players and time limit.

Call of Duty: Elite

Main article: Call of Duty: Elite

Call of Duty: Elite is a new free/subscription-based service developed by Beachhead Studios for the multiplayer portion of Modern Warfare 3 (as well as the previous installment in the series, Black Ops). It was first showcased at E3 2011 and was released on November 8th, 2011 to coincide with the release of Modern Warfare 3. The free version includes features such as lifetime statistics and social-networking integration. The subscription version is priced at $49.99 per year and includes monthly downloadable content, daily competitions with virtual and real life prizes, the ability to level up your clan, pro analysis and strategies, and more.