John has been writing these charts for just a few weeks and already he’s had to book a week off in order to recover. I am made of more sterling stuff, and while he’s gone it falls to me to share the details of which games sold the best last week on Steam.

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Activision Blizzard Studios are planning for potentially years of Call of Duty movies, drawing inspiration from the interwoven Marvel Cinematic Universe. Activision reckon that Call of Duty could carry a series, jumping between the first-person shooter’s sub-brands for different perspectives on war. Chinny reckon. … [visit site to read more]

I had all the characteristics of a blogger frayed jeans, opinions, laptop, tea but my depersonalisation was so intense, had gone so deep, that my normal ability to compile charts had been eradicated, the victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating top ten articles, a rough resemblance of a best-sellers list, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning.

And yet. … [visit site to read more]

The next Call of Duty may be only five weeks from launching, but last year’s model is about to get a new lease on life. Developers Treyarch last night launched the long-awaited Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 [official site] mod tools into open beta, letting people create and play with custom levels, weapons, and modes – y’know, mods. Treyarch still have a bit of work to do, but now the tools are available to all players, rather than a handful of testers. Get cracking!

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Yo, you know what would really spice up Black Ops 3’s [official site] Zombies mode is some fire-breathing lizards because dammit, this is Call of Duty and they can do whatever they want. Apparently. Alright, I’ll admit that as far as DLC goes, having giant swathes of mechanized zombies facing off against dragons in the ruins of Stalingrad does sound pretty cool.

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Maybe you think you’ll like shooting things, but you’re not sure what flavour> of shooting. Are you the type who likes tense, simulated military manshoots you can play with dozens of friends in wide open areas, with missions you make yourself and vehicles you can pilot and drive? Good news! Arma 3 is free on Steam this weekend.

Or are you the type who likes slightly-silly, rapid paced, run-and-gunning against chums and zombies? Good news! Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 multiplayer is free on Steam this weekend.

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Call of Duty: Space Wars. Orbital Ops, maybe. Post-Modern Warfare. Space Warfare? Probably not that one.

Whatever the name might be, there have been rumours and suggestions of a space-based Call of Duty for several years and it seems increasingly likely that this year’s Infinity Ward release might be that game. I hope the moon explodes in at least one mission.

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Call of Duty doesn’t really have time for ‘classic’ maps, given that a new game comes jumping across time and space every year (smart money says 2016’s CoD will pit World War 1 Tommies against robotic Visigoths from the future). CoD’s Black Ops subseries has run long enough to establish Nuketown as a staple – though since Blops 2 it’s been held back as a pre-order bonus. Well, now all and sundry can visit that old nuke-testing model town in Cod Blops 3 [official site], as it’s finally free to all players.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Multiplayer Starter Pack is a big mouthful for a simple idea: it’s Cod Blops 3‘s [official site] ranked multiplayer sold separately as a cheaper standalone game. It’s an interesting experiment in selling CoD’s many modes separately and a short one – Activision will stop selling it on Monday. But until Sunday evening, you can check out this substantial slice of CoD for free. This handy link should fire up Steam and start installing it.

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Activision are finally trying splitting Call of Duty’s many modes into separate games, for folks who are only interested in part or want a cheap way in, though they’ve started in a baffling way. Last night they released a standalone version of the Cod Blops 3 [official site] ranked multiplayer which costs only 11.59/14,49 /$14.99 – about a quarter of the full game’s price. I’d hoped for a standalone Zombies mode, but what’s odd about this release is the restrictions. For starters, Activision will only sell this version until the end of February.

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