Following up on the Modern Warfare 2 map Terminal “coming soon” report, and the Double XP event this weekend on both Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 along with the ongoing DLC sale, here’s a round up of the latest Modern Warfare 3 Terminal news, updates, and more.

Terminal Information Redux

Terminal’s release date is expected to be announced this week.  I asked Executive Producer at Infinity Ward – Mark Rubin – for clarification on Twitter, and he replied back saying “I’m really hoping I can say [this week].” He went on to mention, “the date actually moved on us due to cert[ification] and so [I’m] glad I didn’t say [the release date] yet.” He revealed that they had a release date ready at the weekend, but decided not to publicly announced it at the time because of certification – the technical word for when an update has to go through numerous amount of testing and for the respective platform to decide a date for release.

As to whether exclusivity contracts would affect Terminal, the answer is ‘yes’ – the contract appears to “cover any release of content.”  Terminal will be releasing on Xbox 360 first, and that the map is currently in “certification” at Microsoft.  A Nuketown 24/7-like event for Terminal has been on the cards for Infinity Ward, but they don’t want to “burn people out of the map” – they may gradually ‘weight’ the map against the others (more probability of it showing up compared to other maps). Still unclear at this point how the map will be introduced.

Updates & Hot Fixes

There has been a small Hot Fix update for the game.  Two miscellaneous bugs have been fixed, as listed on the official forums:

• Fix for hacked custom classes online
• Fix for game hardlocking [freezing and resetting] by shooting a riot shield using an SMG with silencer and HAMR scope attachment

Matchmaking is to get its first change since Mark Rubin detailed that it, along with lag compensation/connectivity and Spawning, would be getting overhauls and updated due to the unpopularity of how the game decides who is host.  Previous attempts at fixing Matchmaking dependant on location of Party Host proved to be either ineffective or not thorough enough.  The Exec Producer answered a question about matchmaking and said “first one will be coming to PS3 Thursday night at roughly 2am” mentioning that this update will be a hot fix, which will help with the upcoming main patch. He went on to say “more changes [Title Update] to come, though”.  Rubin was asked if Infinity Ward is “confident” that the upcoming PS3 hot fix would work, he explained, “Well it will change things, and should improve it for many then we’ll collect data from that and make more changes.”

Face Off & Community Modes

As we reported on face off and the community deciding what game modes will be made available, the winner – Search & Destroy – made its debut last weekend on the 2v2 and 3v3 public playlists.  It has since been taken down with Mark Rubin announcing “Playlist update was just to take SnD [Search & Destroy] out of the Faceoff playlist.  Hope people had fun with it [last] weekend.” Rubin also reaffirmed that they are “working on which mode will be up for [this] weekend”.  With its removal, people have been asking him whether or not it could potenially be made as a permanent game mode in the Face Off playlists – citing that the game mode proved to be pretty popular amongst the community – Rubin responded with “[Search & Destroy and others] may come back as one of the permanent [game modes on the Face Off] playlists” and continues with “but right now we are rotating every weekend with different modes” which he later confirms in a different tweet that “[we] might be trying Dom next”, which is currently second on the poll.

When asked about their previous community poll options and the inclusion of unique modes such as MLG-styled rules and Snipers-Only, which we reported on here, Rubin stated, “no news on MLG stuff though”.  The ‘Snipers only/No Snipers’ option is currently leading, which is closely followed by ‘MLG Rules/Competitive Mode’, but it’s still unclear which mode will be featured and when.

Infinity Ward’s Position on Discounted DLC Content

An unhappy follower tweeted to the IW Exec Producer regarding the recent announcement of DLC being discounted and prices cut, and this is what he had to say (from a Developer’s Point of View):

You are actually getting a lot of content there are still many more MP maps coming.  Plus other content.  Faceoff is really popular but of course not everyone is going to like everything.  The DLC we are doing is more than we’ve ever done before.  Not just MP maps but SO missions, Faceoff maps, and other stuff that hasn’t come out.  So from a content standpoint it’s a lot of stuff.  As for the sale, that’s an Activision thing as part of a promotion and a way to give tie it in to a charity promotion for CODE.  I get that you are upset, though.  But just want to say that we are only half way thru the content.  You’ll be getting a lot for your money.

While he accepts that people may be getting upset at how their DLC is priced and released – of which is not in their control – he reassures that they are only mid-way through their Content Drop year.  While a total of 17 DLC Content has been dropped – excluding two free Face Off maps and the outside-the-DLC-model MW2 map Terminal – there is “lots more” to come.  He recently mentioned that there to be “no more Face Off maps”, and so they are currently focusing on only Spec Op missions, full multiplayer Maps and “other stuff”.

Be sure to read 50% off MW3 DLC Deal, Slap in the Face to Premium Elite Members?

Other News & Remarks

Some have wondered why the Content Calendar is rarely updated, the disgruntled Rubin explained “[the Content Calendar] is so poorly managed and I keep yelling at [the] people [who manage it; Activision PR] to keep it up to date,” but also went on to say “hoping for it to be updated soon,” as this month’s content drop will be coming up within the next few weeks.  He also got asked as to why Beachhead (the company responsible for Elite) doesn’t “embrace” the Call of Duty fans, and he replied back with “Yea I’m frustrated with that as well.  It’s their first year [working on a beta with Black Ops and fully on Modern Warfare 3] and I know they will be getting better at stuff like that [for Black Ops II].”

Rubin was asked about whether or not they are close to their “limit” (in terms of game modes), to which he stated, “Yea there is a limit [to the amount of game modes we can have at one time],” and continued “So we have do a bit of shuffling when we want to add or change.” This goes with what he has been saying the last few weeks, where a “playlist review” will be swapping out some game modes for others.  A weapons and pointstreaks “sweep” is also on their plans for the next few weeks – but no other details as to what may be getting nerfed or buffed has been announced.

Global Thermonuclear War was an unfinished and cut game mode in Modern Warfare 2. The mode incorporated a Headquarters-mixed-with-King of the Hill, with the winning team managing to hold the ‘HQ’ so they could launch a Tactical Nuke to end and win the game.  While the game mode was cut, it was still accessible on the disc and modders managed to make it available for people to play in Private Matches.  When asked if the mode would be making a reappearance for MW3, Mark mentioned he’s “not sure” because the “game mode was never finished”.

We hope you are now completely informed with what has been happening in regards to Modern Warfare 3 the last few days.  If you have any questions or comments in regards of what has just been reported or you wish us to throw a question at someone at Infinity Ward then please comment below!