Thanks to infinityfinder for this tip on a nice sale over at Good Old Games: King’s Quest, Space Quest, and Police Quest, three classic Sierra PC franchises now in the Activision library, are all on 50% sales this weekend. Each collection contains multiple games (between two and four, depending on the era) and they’re all usually $10. Just $5 at the moment and through Sunday. Get ‘em! 

I am a voice-acting nerd, so I was really happy to see this Face Time segment from X-Play focus on the VO aspects of both Black Ops and MW3. It aired earlier this week, but I’m happy to say that that it’s now available on G4TV.com:

Gaming’s voice actors, directors, and technicians don’t get enough credit.

Don't forget to jump down the Seatown well for 500XP.

I know, I know, the first Elite maps haven’t hit PS3 yet, but we still have plenty of reasons to play some MW3 on PS3 this weekend. For instance: Hardhat, a P90 with Rapid Fire, Drop Zone, and this bad boy. So join me, won’t you? I’ll be on PlayStation Network this Friday, February 3, from 6pm Pacific to 8pm Pacific. Facebook even is here. Come out and play!

Cafe Americano?

We have a release date! The first two PlayStation 3 content drops for the Modern Warfare 3 content season will be released for Call of Duty Elite premium members on February 28. The maps are Piazza, a lovely seaside town filled with blind corners and sudden staircases, and Liberation, inspired by a centrally located public park in Manhattan.

If you’re an Elite premium member, you’ll get an in-game message on the MW3 multiplayer menu on February 28, letting you know the new stuff’s ready to download. If you’re not a premium member, these maps will be released to the general public some time in the future (they have not specified a date yet). And of course, you can still join up if you want all the new content over the nine-month season.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The RADNET edition of Prototype 2 is an incentive to get you to preorder, that’s what. A limited number of copies of the PS3 and 360 games will include “a one-time use code that gives fans 55 free pieces of additional content delivered for seven weeks following the game’s launch.” That includes avatar items, themes, and videos, as well as in-game stuff like Challenges, Events, and Mutations. There’s more information on Radical’s website.

Even more interesting is this quote from the press release: “Fans that participate in ALL of RADNET’s weekly challenges and events will unlock the ultimate shape-shifting reward…to be revealed in March 2012.” There’s nothing about that in the video, so…that’s a nasty little tease.

To further sweeten the deal, you will find additional pre-order enticements at Best Buy and GameStop. Those perks are above and beyond what RADNET offers, so if you’ve already committed to one of those, you’re getting RADNET too.

New content appears through June 7, according to the screen

So, just as a point of discussion: Do you prefer special editions of games to have physical collectibles in them (like Soap’s journal from MW3 or the RC-XD from Black Ops) or digital extras, like the first DLC or what P2 is doing here?

Um, OMG. On short notice, the Call of Duty Elite team just announced a major event for premium members for this Sunday: the “100K Day,” [UPDATE: fixed link] where the Team Deathmatch operation in question features some major prizes. Like, prizes that come with ignition keys:

First Place: 2012 Jeep Wrangler: MW3 Edition
Second Place: Gamer’s Entertainment Bundle (HDTV, surround system, Gunnar glasses)
Third Place: Canon EOS T3i Digital SLR Camera Kit
Fourth Place: iPad 2 bundle

The Xbox 360 event gets underway Sunday at 2:00pm PST; the PS3 event kicks off an hour later, at 3:00pm PST. Premium members, go here to enlist. Non-premium members…consider becoming premium members!

Pre-order Prototype 2 from Best Buy, and you’ll get access to Heller’s Hardened Steel vehicle armor boost. It makes a tough tank even tougher and vehicle joyrides last longer. See for yourself:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Full preorder info is here. Now, along with the Bio-Bomb Buttkicker, you have two pre-order perks from which to choose.

New maps for Call of Duty Elite premium members, new Playing With Swords event. Surprise, it’s Modern Warfare 3 on a week when MW3 gets new content on Xbox 360!

The Italian Job

I will play in the new map playlists this Friday, January 27 from 6pm to 8pm Pacific time, but please note that other maps from the disc are also part of that playlist, too. Wanna know how to join? The Playing With Swords FAQ is your friend. A Facebook event reminder is here.

Playable first on Xbox 360, per the 2010 business deal.

The release of the official MW3 season content calendar has fired off a new volley of comments, questions, and confusion from PlayStation 3 gamers. The main question: “You said I would get content early. I paid for Elite just like the Xbox 360 gamers; why do they get content first?” A good question, and one that has a clear answer, I’m happy to say.

Back in 2010, Activision and Microsoft entered a business deal to release DLC on Xbox 360 earlier than other platforms; this contract is valid through the year 2012. This business deal was very widely reported by the games media when the announcement was made at E3 in 2010, and the DLC releases for both Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops was released in accordance with that contract. All DLC for MW3 will follow the terms of that deal as well, because it’s still 2012.

This is the short answer. Read on if you would like the long answer.

Vader in SCIV PS3 was such a big deal, he's on the Japanese box.

Exclusivity in the game biz is not uncommon, whether it’s a game franchise only appearing on one platform (Gears of War for Xbox 360, Infamous for PlayStation 3) or content that is only available to one audience or the other (Darth Vader and Yoda in Soul Calibur IV on PS3 and Xbox 360, respectively). Sometimes, as with Soul Calibur IV, this exclusive content eventually shows up on other platforms. Sometimes, as with Kratos in Mortal Kombat or the playable Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum, it does not.

Thankfully, for Call of Duty DLC, all consoles get all the same content, but there is a delay as to who gets what when. This type of exclusive is not that uncommon either; other games, such as Battlefield 3 and Skyrim, have also arranged timed exclusives, anywhere from a week to a month. Eventually, though, everybody gets everything.

Eric Hirshberg explained Elite's offerings and pricing at XP 2011.

Enter Call of Duty Elite. Premium members pay $49.99 up front and get all the MW3 DLC that will come out over a nine-month period — DLC that Eric Hirshberg said at XP 2011 would cost $60 if it was bought via traditional map pack bundles. Even if you didn’t care about anything else that Elite premium offers, that’s a no-brainer for dedicated CoD players. But somewhere along the way, people convinced themselves that an Elite subscription would trump the 2010 DLC exclusivity deal that was created before Elite existed — that by paying for Elite, they were somehow invalidating a contract between Activision and Microsoft. It doesn’t make any sense, but it is what people started to think.

The Elite team tackles Elite audience Q&A at XP 2011.

I wondered where people would have gotten that idea — had someone actually promised that, or said something at XP 2011 that I missed? — so I researched it. What I found was that you can’t prove the non-existence of something. I can find no evidence of “buy Elite, get PS3 DLC same time as 360″ ever being so much as suggested by any official source. It was never one of the things listed in the official benefits chart; it was never promised by any representative of Activision, Call of Duty, Elite, or its developers. Honestly? I think gamers just convinced themselves that it would happen because they wanted it to happen. That makes sense, but it doesn’t make it true.

Still, the Call of Duty team must have known this assumption could be a source of confusion. So the Elite FAQ is very clear:

Similar to Map Packs, X360 Premium members will receive their Content before PS3 Premium members. All Call of Duty ELITE Premium members will receive a steady stream of content released monthly for 9 months through the Content season, and they will also receive their Content before non-premium members on their console.

I know I am not everybody’s primary source of Activision information, but I also noted this back in June 2011 in my massive “What I Know About Call of Duty Elite” article:

Elite subscribers will be able to access the DLC before it goes on sale to a la carte purchasers. The window of time has not been disclosed. For PS3 owners, this does not override this business deal that currently brings Call of Duty DLC to Xbox 360 first; that deal is valid through 2012. However, Elite members will get the DLC before the non-Elite members on their respective platforms.

So…that’s where we are. The deal from 2010 is why DLC comes out on Xbox 360 first. I’m seeing people scream “rip-off” and stuff like that, but nobody’s going to get ripped off; every gamer will get everything they were promised and everything they paid for. It’s unfortunate that people assumed things about Elite that turned out to not be based in fact, but I hope the truth is clear now. Unpopular, I’m guessing, but clear.

Also, you don’t have to pay to play Call of Duty multiplayer. But everybody knows that now, right?

UPDATE 1/28: I’m sorry to see people taking this article the wrong way. My intent was not to be mean or arrogant; my intent was to clear up the confusion and dig into how we got to this point, because ultimately this is a case of what was said vs. what was assumed. That’s always difficult.

But sorting out the facts does not mean that I don’t understand how frustrated people are. I totally get where the confusion came from; it makes sense and I totally understand why people are upset — and I am sorry about the situation. But I think the flames are starting up now because people wanted to hear something else, and I can’t say what they want to hear. I’m sorry about that, too. All I intended to do was offer the facts and show my work, and I had hoped being clear would be helpful to people who were still confused and asking me about it on Twitter. Perhaps not, in hindsight. So if you need to rage at me about it, okay.

Friends, have I got a deal for you.

We're overstocked on loose, pre-owned Skylanders!

When you get your Skylanders from The One of Swords Skylanders Emporium, you’re getting the finest quality Skylanders ever to be previously enjoyed by gamers other than yourself. I’m talking top-notch bundles of plastic joy that simply have broken free of their packages and perhaps seen a little action in the field. Maybe they were used for a press demo. It could be that they were the stars of New York Comic Con, based on the Sharpie scribbles on some of the bases. But friends — and you can trust me on this — you have my personal guarantee that these loose Skylanders are top-quality Skylanders, perfectly functional in every way, and ready for adventure in Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure as you see fit. All you need to do when you get them is change the ownership in the Skylanders character menu, and they will be part of your collection. Heck, you can even take these into PvP battles if you want. They’re that tough. You have my word.

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Dan, what do I have to do to get these incredible slightly used Skylanders? How much are you charging?” And that’s the beautiful part, pal. I’m giving them away. That’s right, you heard me. They said I was crazy…and I decided to prove them right!

What’s more, I also have some low-mileage open-box copies of Skylanders for Nintendo 3DS — complete with Portal of Power and a USB cable. That’s right! Connect the Portal wirelessly to your handheld, or wire it up to your PC or Mac to enjoy the totally free web experience, Skylanders Universe. And the 3DS offers an entirely different gameplay from the console version, but your characters progress no matter which version you play, and your XP is still saved to the toy itself. It’s true!

If you would like your very own only-very-slightly-not-new Skylanders for 3DS along with four loose characters — Stump Smash, Stealth Elf, Flameslinger, and Drobot — all you have to do is fill out the form below, choose the correct answer to the trivia question, and send it in before the end of Wednesday, February 1. Then I’ll pick five winners at random on February 2. One entry per person, and of course, all the fine print in the contest FAQ is simply a formality.

So what do you say — do we have a deal?

UPDATE 2/2: Lots of entries for this one, as you might expect, but here are the first five people I drew who had the correct answer to the question (Vicarious Visions developed the 3DS version of Skylanders): Kristina Costello of Danbury, CT; Jonathan Hinchee of Kansas City, MO; Michael Vila of Oxford, NJ; Scott Morse of Oaklyn, NJ; and Matthew Glenn of Harlan, IA. I threw in some extra GoldenEye “Cheater” t-shirts as packing material, so put those to good use too!

It begins! New MW3 maps Piazza and Liberation are now officially available on Xbox 360 to Call of Duty Elite premium members , and they are the first two bits of the 20 pieces of content coming this year.

UPDATE: Here’s Rob Riggle to show you the two new maps!

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you prefer stills:

Liberation: Not exactly a stroll in the park

Piazza: Not exactly "hospitaliano" either

Just sign into MW3 and you should get a message letting you know that new content is available. Hit the Store in the menu, and the new maps will be free downloads. That’s it. Here’s a video that walks you through the pretty simple process.

PS3 Elite will get these maps as well, but a date for that release has not yet been announced. Xbox 360 and PS3 non-Elite members will also get these maps in a bundle, but not for a while. I’ll have more info on that when we’re closer to those dates.

So, you’ve paid for your Call of Duty Elite premium membership, you know all your MW3 DLC is prepaid for the next nine months…now what? Now, you enjoy that DLC hassle-free! The Call of Duty Elite team has put together a video that explains the whole download process in case you’re a little fuzzy on how it works:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This will be the same for all the content drops on all consoles, so learn it once and you’ll never need to worry about it again.

Still not quite sure what Call of Duty Elite is all about? Look, listen and laugh:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hello, was that Air Force One in pieces on the ground? I think someone’s teasing us with content to come. First I’m seeing it.

This video’s appearance is no coincidence, of course. The first content drops — two of 20 coming in the next nine months — hit Xbox Live tomorrow, Tuesday the 24th. It’s not too late to sign up for a premium membership.

PS3 Elite will be getting their shot soon thereafter (this is why there’s a delay — full source if you want it), but I don’t have a date on that yet.

I see this angle a lot. I protect C.

I like to live in both the console and PC worlds, though dual citizenship makes me feel like I should always be where I’m not. So Friday, January 20, I’m committing to be in a non-MMO PC space: I’ll be playing Modern Warfare 3 from 6pm to 8pm Pacific and I encourage you to join me. (What time is that where you live? The internet knows.) Facebook reminder is here and Steam group event reminder is here.

The incredible I-Wei Huang joins me to discuss not only his work in creating all the Skylanders characters — from sketch to sculpt to finished toy on the shelves — but also his fascinating other creations, such as steam-powered R/C cars. Then Hugh has a big reveal to cap off a conversation that includes Prototype 2 comics, a lost score, MW3′s NPD dominance, schoolyard rules, Deadpool, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, the Black Eyed Peas, and how to pronounce “lycanthropy.” (It’s “lahy-KAN-thruh-pee.”)

Get the podcast on iTunes
Get the podcast on Zune Marketplace
Get the podcast on your own with RSS Feedburner
Or use the links below to listen in the browser or download direct.

More info after the jump…

Special Guests: I-Wei Huang, Director of Characters and Toys, Toys For Bob

Co-host: Hugh Sterbakov, screenwriter, comic creator, and Emmy-nominated writer/toy wrangler for Robot Chicken
Co-host: Katrin Auch, graphic designer, bassist, photographer, light gun enthusiast, videographer, worgen mage, and inventor of Headshotmas

Soundtrack: Yameen - available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and all online music stores

Relevant show links:

Click here to view the embedded video.

• I-Wei’s creations and his appearance at Exploratorium
• Skylanders’ secretly awesome NPD numbers
• Prototype 2′s digital comic
• Kat and Hugh on Twitter
• Hugh’s book: City Under the Moon
• Enter your own question for Hugh Don’t Know Jack (or Stick It To The Dan)
• Write to the show’s Megamailbag

New year, new batch of shirts — and the first Large giveaway since September. And thanks to The Hush Radar, there are a few pieces in this collection that I don’t think you’ve seen me give away before.

This awesome MW3 hoodie (with stitched-on lettering!) from The Hush Radar would have been mine were it in my size!

My last Large "Save Cybertron, Conserve Energon" shirt, plus one of The Hush Radar's MW3 logo tees and a Pro vs GI Joe shirt to show your support

Optimius Prime on the back of a Dark of the Moon shirt, plus two GoldenEyes!

I know secretly you want to show people your affinity for Wipeout's big balls.

Once person takes all eight Large shirts. As always, the contest FAQ applies, and you get one entry per person, but get your entry in by the end of the day on Wednesday, January 25 and I’ll’ll post the lucky person’s name right here on January 26. Good luck!

UPDATE 1/25: Congrats to Benicio Garcia of Wichita, Kansas — the shirts should reach you next week! (FWIW, he promised to wear, wash, and love them. That’s not why he won, but it’s nice to know.)

Welcome home.

OXM’s Dave Rudden recently posted a preview for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD, and the first line struck me as a universal truth that is often universally ignored:

As The Birdman himself will attest, you can’t master the art of skateboarding without taking risks and falling down.

The article goes on to say that where Tony Hawk: Ride and Tony Hawk: Shred didn’t live up to expectations, the franchise is picking itself up and trying again.

This is, of course, how all of life works — no risk, no reward. But too often, I see gamers surprised — if not angry — when every attempt at making a videogame does not result in perfection.

I am not the only one beating this drum. GamesRadar’s Taylor Cocke has coincidentally written a related editorial. The most critically praised games, he suggests, are the sequels that refine the known. Who is exploring the unknown — and shouldn’t we respect the risks they take even when they do not turn out perfect? “Even if they fail, they often offer something others haven’t tried yet, and that’s incredibly important,” he says. “I’m rarely inspired by games that simply perfect ideas that are already out there.”

Now, he’s not citing the Tony Hawk games specifically, but I see a correlation. I know from my days in the media that the later pre-Ride games were getting a lot of criticism from fans. “It’s the same thing every year,” I’d hear them say — whether that was true or not, it was the perception, and that’s all that mattered.  ”Why don’t they do something different?” The feedback was very clear: We want a big change.

Yeah, I've played it. You?

Well, the developers listened and agreed. They considered what a skating game was and completely reconsidered what it could be. They tried a wildly different idea and reinvented the franchise — a big change. But that attempt did not meet with approval: The controls in Ride weren’t responsive enough. (Agreed.) The price was quite steep. (Agreed.) Some gamers simply didn’t like getting off the couch. (Uh…) For all those reasons, it wasn’t a success. Having played it, I feel Shred paid off on Ride’s potential — the learnings from game 1 are evident in game 2. And now, another idea is on the table, and THPSHD will shift gears again.

There’s a reason they call it game development, not game instant-winning. Every game is only a collection of ideas, followed by commitment and execution. There are many variables and lots of risk, and it won’t always work out the way you think or you want. But you won’t know until you try, and you’ll know even more when you try again.

This isn’t news, really. Gamers constantly experience failure themselves when they don’t get that headshot, when they don’t make that platform jump, when they don’t get the high score. Next time, you try a different weapon; next time, you get a running start. You take away some valuable information from the first try, and you apply it to your next one. You learn by doing. We all do. Even game developers.

So, we’re back to Dave Rudden’s opening sentiment: You don’t master anything without taking risks and falling down. OXM gets that. GamesRadar gets that. I hope more gamers do too.

As promised last week when the iOS app for Call of Duty Elite was released, this week, the same mobile functionality is now available for Android users. You can check your stats on the go, review recent matches, and create custom classes and push them to the game. The app is free for anyone; you just have to have an Elite account (which is also free).

I-Wei Huang is a fascinating guy — like, Leonardo Da Vinci fascinating, with the ability to cross between the worlds of art and engineering at will. In addition to projects like steam-powered R/C tanks and hamster-powered walkers, he’s primary designer at Toys For Bob for all the characters for Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. If you’ve played it, he’s drawn and sculpted it.

I will have I-Wei on my podcast later this week to discuss his works, his influences, and his awesomeness at greater length, but until then, check out this excellent video of him speed-drawing all 32 Skylanders:

Click here to view the embedded video.

He has also created character drawings that you can download, print out, and let your kids color. And by kids, I mean you, too.

You can thank him in person this weekend. I-Wei will be showing his steam-powered robots as well as some of his work on Skylanders this Saturday afternoon at the Open MAKE: Toys event at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, as part of  The Tinkering Studio. If you’d like to attend, information is here and directions are here.

This just in: Dark Horse is making a digital comic series for Prototype 2. The three-issue series will explore some of the key elements of the backstory — namely, how Alex Mercer went evil, some more of James Heller’s backstory, and what it’s like to survive in New York Zero.

Art duties will be handled by Paco Díaz, Chris Staggs, and Victor Drujiniu (in that order), and the first of the three issues will be available February 15. Based on this sneak peek…I wanna see the final issues:

If you’ve been on the fence about either Spider-Man: Edge of Time or X-Men Destiny, GameStop has a marvelous deal for you in this week’s ad: Buy one, get the other free. If you prefer to think of it as $30 per game — a double half-price combo — that’s fine too. But that’s a good deal. Get thee to the store for more info.

It's free, mon ami!

Also, I spotted some other nice Activision price breaks on GameStop’s site:

$29.99
NASCAR Unleashed (the arcadey one)
Generator REX: Agent of Providence
Cabela’s Survival: Shadows of Katmai

$39.99
NASCAR The Game 2011 (the simulation one)

$69.99
Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012 w/Top Shot Elite

Cabela’s Survival is a third-person action adventure game that can be played with a regular controller or the Top Shot Elite light gun peripheral (which works great but you need a big room; if you can play Kinect games, your living room is big enough for the TSE).

If you have that holiday giftcard burning a hole in your pocket, there are a few more options!

Great news for Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure — in addition to the success at retail, the game has been nominated for three prestigious Interactive Acievement Awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. (Coincidentally, the IAAs are the peer-driven industry awards that I suggested to people who were not fans of the VGAs.) The categories are:

• Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering
• Family Game of the Year
• Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

Best guess: “Connectivity” is a nod toward MW3′s Facebook integration as well as Elite. The awards ceremony will be held next month at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas. GameSpot has all the nominees in all the categories. Good luck to Toys for Bob, Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games!

I’ll be frank: I could use some higher “Like” numbers over at Facebook, and you can help with that. I am grateful for the support here on the site and on Twitter as well, but the Powers That Be asked why my Likes were so low on Facebook, and I said…you know, I don’t know. I do FB-only code drops, I answer people’s questions, I try to be active…but it’s only around 3000 people, while Twitter is over 16K. It’s quite a discrepancy.

So, how about a giveaway? I know there is a bit of a Skylanders shortage at the moment — lots of stores are currently sold out. The restocks are on the way, but in the meantime, I have acquired two 3-packs that I will give away to one of my Facebook fans.

Drobot and Flameslinger are two of my favorites. No offense to Stump Smash.

Eruptor's funny, Bash is tough, and Chop Chop has surprisingly high defense.

If you have already clicked Like, you’re good — consider yourself entered. I didn’t want to penalize anybody who has already shown the love, so all existing fans are eligible. But if you haven’t clicked Like, here’s a nice bribe. I’ll fish out one name at random from all the Likes on Wednesday, January 18, and I’ll contact you on Facebook.

And hey, if you already clicked Like, force a friend Like the page so you can take the prize. This is the internet, dude. We make our own rules. (And thanks for the support.)

UPDATE 1/17: Thanks to Manuel Moreno from El Paso TX for the support — watch for your toys next week!

MW3 DLC is coming soon, and both Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling and Raven Software’s Eric Biessman are on the show this week to talk about what you can expect. What you probably didn’t expect was chatter from Hugh and Kat about man dolls, Disneyland, the Elite iOS app, double strollers, the biggest Xbox Live games for 2011, the history of Jim Levy, Skyrim, a really good charity, a guy who can talk to plants, and finding a Dremel in the strangest places. Plus…we have an update in the Banana Quik saga.

Get the podcast on iTunes
Get the podcast on Zune Marketplace
Get the podcast on your own with RSS Feedburner
Or use the links below to listen in the browser or download direct.

More info after the jump…

Special Guests: Robert Bowling, Creative Strategist at Infinity Ward and Eric Biessman, Creative Director at Raven Software

Co-host: Hugh Sterbakov, screenwriter, comic creator, and Emmy-nominated writer/toy wrangler for Robot Chicken
Co-host: Katrin Auch, graphic designer, bassist, photographer, light gun enthusiast, videographer, worgen mage, and inventor of Headshotmas

Soundtrack: Yameen - available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and all online music stores

Relevant show links:

• Download the Call of Duty Elite app for iOS
• Elite app will be iPad-native later
• Xbox Live’s top games of 2011
• Hero for the Heart charity event
• Kat’s arcade calendar for 2012
• Kat and Hugh on Twitter
• Enter your own question for Hugh Don’t Know Jack (or Stick It To The Dan)
• Write to the show’s Megamailbag (we love your letters!)

Last week, per popular vote, we played Blur on Xbox 360 and had a grand old time. This week I wanted to show the PS3 some love and realized…why reinvent the wheel? Blur was the PS3 game with the highest number of votes last week, so let’s go with that.

Why not? You're already revved up for it.

Don’t let the whole Friday the 13th thing scare you, but do show up between 6pm and 8pm Pacfic to get your race on. Facebook event reminder is here.

There was a tease before the holidays, but now we have some firm details about the first two pieces of content for the 2012 “content season” for Modern Warfare 3. Robert Bowling, Mark Rubin, and Chacko Sonny explain it all:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you are not an Elite premium member, you can still sign up and get the whole content season for one price now and never worry about it again for the rest of the year. Or, as promised, you will be able to buy the maps later in bundles, via the traditional DLC method. And while this Xbox 360 exclusivity deal from two years ago is still in place, this content will also be coming to PS3 Elite members, but they haven’t named a date yet. When they do, I’ll pass it along.

As an ex-New Yorker, I love the location of Liberation, but I think I’ll be sniper fodder there; for gameplay, I prefer the close quarters of Piazza, since I’m using a lot of SMGs lately. What are your thoughts?

Several gaming news sites are buzzing this morning with confirmation that the mobile app for Call of Duty Elite will be released January 10 on the iTunes Store. It’s a free download. The Android version will be available next week, and it’ll be free, too.

Like the console apps, the mobile app does not feature all the bells and whistles of the web interface, but it does offer a subset that makes sense when you’re on the go. You can check your career stats, recent matches, current challenge progress, and crucially, you can create new loadouts and push them to the game. So when you chat with friends over lunch about what weapons are working for them, you can make those weapons work for you with just a few taps. When you log into the game that night, you’ll find your new loadouts waiting for you.

I have not gotten to try this out myself yet, but I am an iPhone & iPad owner, so I’ll be downloading it as soon as I see it go live tomorrow. Kat has a Kindle Fire so I’ll ask her to check out the Android version. And before you ask, I have heard no firm plans to bring it to Windows 7 phones, but the Beachhead team did say at XP 2011 that they liked the idea.

Long time coming, I know — tons of people have been asking me about it on Twitter since the service launched. Do you think you’ll use it more frequently than other versions of Elite, or do you just wanna play with it once and see what it does?

UPDATE: The iOS app is available now. 

UPDATE 2: This app works fine on iPad, but according to @CallofDutyElite, an iPad native version will be out in the fall.

I did a Call of Duty Fan Megapack giveaway a few months ago and it went over huge — and if there’s one thing Call of Duty proves, it’s that people like sequels. Now, with some end-of-year closet-cleaning from folks here, I’ve gotten my hands on a bit more Call of Duty swag, from the latest Elite goodies on back all the way to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Here’s a look at what one lucky winner will get:

XL shirts for the Treyarch fan: Black Ops Zombies, Black Ops polo, and a Zombie Labs shirt signed by M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold. (Don't like A7X? It probably washes out.)

Odds & ends: MW2 hardcover art book from the collector's edition, a rather rare Elite belt buckle, and a set of Kill Confirmed water pistols and dogtags from Activision's internal MW3 launch day celebration

A PS3 decoration kit with MW3 co-developer Sledgehammer Games' logo on it, a Call of Duty wallet & dogtag, and one of the nice new MW3 dogtags, courtesy of TheHushRadar.com

An XL Elite shirt only given to internal Activision employees, and the MW3 World Tour shirt from TheHushRadar.com, also in XL

Hey look, games! If you don't have MW2 on PS3 or Xbox 360, you will if you win this prize pack.

A limited edition Call of Duty: Finest Hour action figure and the complete run of Wildstorm's MW2 Ghost comic as a paperback

The front of this XL shirt is the COD4:MW logo, but it's this back print that made the shirt somewhat infamous.

Six shirts, some toys, some games, some collectibles…it’s everything a Call of Duty fan could want, and maybe a little more. If you are that Call of Duty fan, just fill out the form below (with the correct answer to the trivia question) before the end of Thursday, January 12, and I’ll pick a winner on everybody’s luckiest day, Friday the 13th. Please, one entry per person and the usual contest FAQ applies.  I’ll list the winner here when it’s all over. Good luck!

UPDATE 1/13: Congrats to Bruce Bolcom of Nashville, TN — Random.org picked him as the Call of Duty Fan Megapack 2 winner! The answer to the trivia question — which engine powered the original Call of Duty? — was id Tech 3.

If you didn’t catch Robert Bowling’s tweets yesterday, he showed the world two very important things: One, what the MW3 banhammer actually looks like, and two, how badly you have to screw up to have it used on you.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Banta Claus

So how do you make sure your gamertag (or console…ulp) never becomes a target of that screen? The Code of Conduct is posted online for you to review, detailing exactly what kind of behavior will get you on the MW3 naughty list, but G4′s Adam Rosenberg summarizes it best: “Don’t cheat, don’t be an ass.” Well said.

Hey, sicko — look, I know you’re already interested in Prototype 2, but here’s a fun incentive to get you to lay down some preorder cash early. Preorder the game from GameStop for PS3 or Xbox 360 and you’ll get the Bio-Bomb Buttkicker attack, seen below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yes, you infect the guy, turn him into a living bomb, and launch him into harm’s way with the tip of your mighty boot. Insult, meet injury. The game ships April 24.