A new Modern Warfare 3 trailer has emerged from the Call of Duty XP event that took place in LA over the weekend. Amid the running, gunning and exploding, four character load-outs are show some of Modern Warfare 3's perks, weapons and kill streak rewards. New toys include a cruel, leaping anti-personnel mine called the Bouncing Betty, and a tripod mounted device that can destroy incoming rockets. You'll find freeze frames of each load-out below.

 
CVG have done an in-depth analysis of the latest trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's spec ops survival mode, pointing out all of the UI cues and weapon appearances that you might have missed amidst the carnage and exploding dogs. You can find the original version of the trailer here for comparison. For more Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, check out the most recent screenshots, and 13 minutes of in-game footage from this year's E3 conference.

The Commando perk is still one of Modern Warfare 2's most divisive abilities. It more than doubles the range of the insta-kill knife attack, letting wearers deliver a fatal blow with a lightning-quick three metre lunge. It's so powerful, it can be combined with other perks to create melee-only builds capable of dashing around the map at high speed, taking out players at medium range with a short blade. Unsurprisingly, it's considered by large parts of the community to be overpowered.

It look as though Infinity Ward have come to the same conclusion. Joystiq note that IW creative strategist Robert Bowling has tweeted to say that as far as Modern Warfare 3 is concerned, "Commando is no longer in the game."

Bad news for ninja soldiers. Good news for those who love not being stabbed by ninja soldiers. Infinity Ward are busy balancing Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer ahead of the game's release on November 8. They even went as far as to draft in a crack team of glitchers to try and break their maps. For more on Modern Warfare 3, check out the recently released screenshots.

How much would you be prepared to pay to hear Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 at its best? If the answer is "between £90 and £250" then you might be interested in the range of new premium headsets from Turtle Beach, improbably named "Ear Force." Ear Force!

The best headset is called Ear Force Delta, because, according to action movies, delta team is always best. It has its own carrying case (Carry Force?) and comes "pre-loaded with unique custom Modern Warfare 3 presets and voice prompts." Ear Force Delta is specified as coming to the Xbox 360 and the PS3, with no mention of a PC release yet, so Modern Warfare 3 PC enthusiasts may have to look a little further down the list. Ear Force Bravo offers the same Modern Warfare 3 presets as its more macho Delta cousin, but at the low, low price of £169.99.

If that's a little too steep, then consider Ear Force Charlie. It has "eight amplified, acoustically-angled speakers delivering discrete surround sound" and is described as being "tournament grade." The final grade is Ear Force Foxtrot. Those cans will set you back £90 - the equivalent of just seven Call of Duty: Black Ops map packs.

Find out more on the Turtle Beach Modern Warfare 3 headsets on the Turtle Beach site. If you're love Call of Duty enough to consider buying a set, you might also want to check out the upcoming Call of Duty XP live event. It's going to have a life size paintball arena based on a Modern Warfare 2 map. Ear force!

 
Take a good long look at the 30 minute video of Call of Duty Elite above, it's all PC gamers will have to go on for a while. The updated Call of Duty: Elite FAQ now states that "currently, we do not plan to launch a version of the beta for the PC version of Call of Duty: Black Ops." CVG spotted a blog post from Activision social media manager Dan Amrich in which he says that "PC players will have to wait until the fall to try it out." The beta kicked off on Xbox 360 late last week.

"There are two basic reasons for starting with Xbox 360," reads the FAQ. "First, in order to better manage the beta and reduce variables we are launching with one platform as we begin our testing. Second, due to the past outage of the PSN we have not had as much time to internally develop and test the online functionality of Call of Duty Elite with PSN. It is important that we have thoroughly QA tested functionality before releasing to a public beta phase."

Call of Duty Elite will add stat tracking, matchmaking, friends lists and video sharing to Call of Duty: Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3. There will also be a premium version that will give subscribers access to all of the Modern Warfare 3 map packs, and let players enter competitions for real prizes.

 
The Call of Duty Elite beta kicks off today, but what's in it? The new trailer goes over Elite's free features, including clans, leaderboards, stat-tracking, video uploading and sharing, weapon performance maps and more. Those who subscribe to the elite version of Elite will get all of the Modern Warfare 3 map packs and will be able to join tournaments to compete for real prizes. The Elite beta will work with Call of Duty: Black Ops until its full release alongside Modern Warfare 3 in November. Earlier today the first images emerged for Battlefield 3's competing Battlelog service.

Kotaku are reporting that Activision are sending out the first wave of Call of Duty: Elite beta invites today. Some of the two million Black Ops players who registered for the stat-tracking and community system will receive their invites sometime over the next 24 hours. Those who don't receive anything today are likely to have an invite in their inbox within the next month.

If you get in on the beta, Call of Duty: Elite will allow users to test some of the system's functions with Black Ops. Elite won't be fully available until November with the launch of Modern Warfare 3, but if you're a die-hard CoD fan, you'll be able to get a feel for what Activision are offering with Elite from this trial. The full list of features for the premium service is to be announced at Call of Duty XP this September.

If you get an invite today and try out Elite, let us know what you think in the comments.