First Impressions and Opinions on Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered

Infinite Warfare (and Modern Warfare Remastered on select editions) released November 4, and here are my opinions and first impressions on both games as well as eSports talk and fixes.

INFINITE WARFARE

First, I’ll let you guys know my stance on Infinite Warfare. I like this game a lot, it is genuinely fun to play and I can see it going far in eSports. Many fans hated the game before even the Beta, but they hadn’t gotten their hands on it to validate or deny hate claims, and I think access to the Beta really helped turn a lot of heads. The game does feel unfinished and there needs to be changes made, but keep in mind that this game literally just came out, so developers are currently listening to the community and getting feedback on what needs to be done to make this game as good as possible.

I think eSports in this game will be the best it has ever been thanks to Infinity Ward’s team of retired and current eSports pros who made more than several trips out to the studio to play the game competitively pre-release. They were specifically assigned to give insight and information on how to better organize and integrate eSports into this game. These guys know the game the best, even better than it’s creators, so why not let them lend a helping hand to further place Call of Duty into the eSports spotlight? Infinity Ward has taken down notes and insight from all pro players and will release a big patch in early December to add eSports features and rules prior to MLG Vegas, setting the stage for the upcoming year.

MODERN WARFARE REMASTERED:

El Clasico; Call of Duty 4 returns. What can I say besides a huge thanks to Raven Software for bringing this all-time favorite back? They have done such an immaculate job remastering this game for next gen. From the greatly improved graphics, to the sounds and raw nostalgia that comes to mind when playing, to every little detail they added into their remastered game that wasn’t in the original, Modern Warfare Remastered is a masterpiece. That’s not to take anything away from Infinite Warfare, as I already said what i thought about that game, but when have we ever gotten something we wanted that was as big as this? Sure, the developers have remade past iconic, fan-favorite maps, brought back weapons of that same caliber, and kept many of the core values of the games we love; but to recreate and republish an entire game (not to mention it’s one of the greatest and most innovative Call of Duty games ever) to the masses, that’s insane! Of all games they could have remastered, this was the best one for new players and fans as well. Most Call of Duty players nowadays haven’t had the chance to experience Call of Duty 4 and play the game that revolutionized what we know as Call of Duty today. If Infinity Ward hadn’t have taken the risk of jumping from World War II Call of Duty to transition into Modern Warfare, this franchise might have folded completely. Alright, enough of my emotional nonsense about this game, if you want to hear more, just comment and I’ll positively rant on a little more, onto eSports!

This game was the guinea pig for Call of Duty eSports. MLG decided to also take a huge risk in hosting a Call of Duty 4 National Championship in 2008 in Las Vegas alongside other events like Halo, in order to possibly make this stick and create a new, possibly very exciting eSport. That’s exactly what they did. From that moment on, Call of Duty would continue to grow as the games, prize money, and eSports fanbase came to follow, and now it’s time to go back to where it all started. GameBattles, GFinity, UMG, and other online eSports partners already have scheduled tournaments and daily matches for Modern Warfare Remastered, and it’s a huge hit! Personally (and many fans and players probably agree), I would love to see Modern Warfare Remastered LAN events and tournaments return, possibly throwback ones like Hitch’s MW2 Farewell Tournament, but on a grander scale. Who knows if this will happen, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.

I believe that is all for this blog, more eSports news to come soon, stay tuned!

Infinite Warfare Beta Info and Opinions Part 2 and Other Events

With Weekend 2 of the Infinite Warfare Beta coming to a close, let's talk about the nuances added to the Beta as well as opinions from pro players.

The Infinite Warfare Beta Weekend 1 was only accessible to PS4 users who had pre-ordered it, but this all changed come time for Weekend 2. Infinity Ward released a statement on Wednesday, October 19, that Weekend 2 of the Beta would be open and accessible to all users on PS4, as well as adding accessibility to the uses on Xbox One. They also came in with a little surprise on Thursday, when the Beta went live to all platforms a day ahead of schedule. Here's what they added:

This year's pre-order bonus map, Terminal, was added to the Beta for everyone to get a sneak peek, as well as a level cap increase and the addition of the new Frontline game mode.

Pro players were very excited for the Beta to return and had been voicing their opinions all week long. Major Leaue Gaming's Call of Duty YouTube channel posted a video showing just some of the pro players' reactions and tweets about the game: https://youtu.be/4PNebEKVbwE

Some other special events went on after the Beta was over. ESL hosted a live Infinite Warfare eSports reveal stream where they discussed the development of the eSports side of the game, their plans for year two of the CWL, and had pro player talent play live matches from the studio.

MLG Vegas was also announced, showing off Infinite Warfare for the first time and offering a $200,000 prize pool.

This past Saturday, October 29, GameBattles officially closed all Modern Warfare 2 sites on Xbox 360 and PS3, so the pros though they'd say one last farewell to the game. OpTic Hitch, the renowned editor and cameraman on OpTic's series "VISION" and "Smooth Competition," decided to host the Modern Warfare 2 Farewell Tournament, allowing 16 teams consisting of top talent and classic rosters. Some of the notable teams included:

Old Men of OpTic: Hutch. J, Di3seL, and H3CZ
IXI (Xtravagant): Rambo, BigTymeR, MerK, and JKap
coLeverage: Crimsix. Aches, Scump, and Clayster
Unite: Parasite, NAMELESS, MBoZe, and Ricky
Team Summertime: Hitch, Blake, Jorge, and JerK
Dynasty: Temp, Classic, Happy, and Saints
Wolfpack: Rated, Pamaj, MiDNiTE, and Predator

Unite would go on to win the tournament and take home $1,000. This tournament was so fun to watch and, with all of the amazing feedback he has received. Hitch says he plans to make this tournament annual and possibly add others to the mix.

Infinite Warfare releases November 4 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Pre-order select editions to receive Modern Warfare Remastered as well as additional bonus content.

Infinite Warfare Beta Information and Opinions: Part 1

The Call of Duty Infinite Warfare Beta released this weekend...and boy do we have a lot in store for this coming season.

Weekend 1 of the Beta was held October 14-18 on PlayStation 4. Weekend 2 will be held on October 21-24 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Here is everything you need to know, the opinions of both myself and pro players, and everything you can expect for next weekend and on release day, November 4...

The maps available in the Beta as of now are as follows:
Fontier, a close-quarters combat space station above Earth
Frost, a scientific research facility on Jupiter's snowy moon, Europa
Precinct, a war-ravaged city in Japan

Weapons in the Beta included an array of ballistic and energy weapons
Ballistic weapons included were weapons like the NV4, Karma 45, FHR-40, RPR EVO and KBS Longbow
Energy weapons included were weapons like the R3K, Type 2, Erad, RAW, and EBR-800
Some weapons can transform into other weapons, the ones we saw that allowed such capabilities were as follows:
The Type 2 assault rifle has the ability to split into dual pistols
The RPR EVO submachine gun also has the ability to turn into an assault rifle
The EBR-800 semi-automatic sniper rifle can instantly become a full auto assault rifle with the flip of it's scope

Classic game modes like Team Deathmatch and Domination were added to the beta as well as new game modes like Defender, which placed players with the objective of holding a ball for the longest time while it respawned after one minute, kind of like how Hardpoint works.

This was just Part 1 of the Infinite Warfare Beta discussion. Check out the next blog to hear pro player opinions and more from upcoming Weekend 2!

COD eSports Community Mourns Death of PhiZZURP

Phillip "PhiZZURP" Klemenov

1993-2016

On Sunday, October 2, 2016, the Call of Duty community lost a legend. Phillip Klemenov, also known as "PhiZZURP," and his friend Marcellus were fatally injured in a car accident around noon. Soon after, Phil's girlfriend, fellow pro players, and fans took to Twitter and other social media platforms to announce that he had been killed. This has never happened before, so it was a shock to everyone who heard of it. In the past few days, various fans and players have made YouTube videos and montages commemorating Phil's success and mourning his death.

Phil began his Call of Duty career as a substitute for FeaR. After that, he found his way to a permanent position on FeaR and other teams like Leverage and Strictly Business, his most noted position. He has won numerous tournaments throughout his career and is noted for specializing in Search and Destroy and his metagame. Phil would use classes and strategies that no one else used, throwing players off and making them lose composure and help his own team win. OpTic Gaming's Scump talked about his relationship with PhiZZURP in a YouTube video on October 4: "He was a good friend to a lot of people. I literally grew up with Phil, I've known him for over seven years. We have always been on good terms, we've never had beef or anything. He was always happy, always had a smile on his face, always had good vibes. I'll miss him for sure."

Phil was 23 years old. 

Official GoFundMe pages for Phil and Marcellus can be found below.


Phil: https://www.gofundme.com/2scqyrw
Marcellus: https://www.gofundme.com/2sep2jpm

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Roster Changes After Call of Duty XP

In Call of Duty eSports, contracts, trades, and signing work similar to professional sports,, but different at the same time. Instead of a trade deadline and restrictions in place, teams and players can do anything after a tournament. So this creates what we call “Roster Mania,” where in the weeks after big tournaments, many roster changes are made, and some in the past couple years have proved to be game changing. Here, we are going to highlight some of the roster changes made after Call of Duty XP.

Splyce, who placed an incredible 2nd place at CODXP, made a surprising, but helpful roster change. They dropped Joee and Rated, who are two great onjective players who can clean up the slack, to pick up Joshh, who has been pretty dominant in the AR department lately, and Jurd, who has been hands down the best EU player over the past couple years. This could help them further elevate themselves as being one of the only European teams ever that can compete just as well as the American teams. An announcement on their fourth is soon to come.

Epsilon released a statement after the tournament saying that their players could go as they please. After a poor placinng at CODXP, that might have been a good choice.

Renegades, a team that barely qualified for CODXP, dropped KiLLa and picked up Ivy in an attempt to make it into the pro league for Infinite Warfare.

These are just some of the roster changes that are likely yet to come as the Infinite Warfare season starts. Stay tuned for more information and any COD eSports news.

Team EnVyUs Wins Call of Duty XP

Call of Duty XP was held last weekend, September 1-4, and the action that came from it i
didn't disappoint. The top 32 teams from around the globe competed for the largest prize pool ever awarded in Call of Duty. So let's get into the tournament...

Pool Play started on Thursday, September 1. Teams from each of their respective pools would play three games to decide the bracket play, playing each team in their group once. Many upset teams ended up winning their groups, like FAB Games winning over Rise Nation, compLexity winning over OpTic Gaming, and Splyce winning over Luminosity. Many teams that were favored in the tournament would be disappointed with their pool play finishes going into bracket play.

Bracket Play began late Friday night with EnVyUs playing OpTic Gaming, winning that aeries 3-1. That sent fan favorite OpTic into the losers bracket. Saturday was filled with tournament changing upsets, with Splyce defeating Rise Nation and FaZe, and FAB defeating Cloud9 and Luminosity. OpTic would fall in the losers bracket to Cloud9 finishing 7th place. EnVy, however, would cruise through, losing no matched through Saturday.

Championship Sunday was upon us. The Winners Bracket Final consisted of two of the three most doninant teams in Black Ops 3, EnVy and Rise Nation. Rise would fall to EnVy in a dominating 3-0 performance. Then in the Losers Bracket Final were two European teams that had made it further in a tournament than any EU team in history, Splyce and FAB Games. The series was a bit closer with Splyce defeating FAB Games 3-1. Now we get into the Grand Final, Team EnVyUs vs. Splyce. This would be a best of 5 series like all others, but if Splyce wins the series, they have to play another series and win to be crowned champions, while EnVy would only have to win one of the two. Game 1 was close, with EnVy edging out Splyce in the hardpoint, 250-196. Game 2 though, gave Splyce hope. They dominated EnVy 6-2 in the search and destroy forcing at least a Game 4. But EnVy would finish their run off by winning the next two games and the tournament, taking home $800,000.

Congratulations to Team EnVyUs on winning CODXP 2016 and becoming immortalized as Call of Duty champions. I will be covering any roster changes, any Infinite Warfare eSports news, and the upcoming UMG Orlando tournament in the next blog.

Teams Prepare for Call of Duty XP

The past few months in the realm of Call of Duty eSports have been innovative to say the least, with the latest installment in the storied franchise, Black Ops 3, transitioning it's exclusivity rights from Microsoft to Sony, bringing early downloadable content as well as the best professional players in the world to PlayStation 4. With this monumental change, Activison Blizzard inherited the rights to host the official league of Call of Duty in place of Major League Gaming, effectively creating the Call of Duty World League, or CWL. With this change came some of the biggest innovations in COD eSports to date, integrating international competition to the premier eSports stage, hosting more organized LAN events, and bigger prize pools for events, like this year's Call of Duty XP.

Call of Duty XP will be this year's version of the annual Call of Duty Championships, but with bigger stakes and bigger events. This year's tournament boasts the largest prize pool ever awarded at a Call of Duty eSports event, $3,000,000 will be on the line as the 32 best teams in the world compete. But the fun doesn't stop there; in addition to the event, spectators will have the opportunity to play the last DLC for Black Ops 3, Call of Duty Infinite Warfare, and Modern Warfare Remastered. At the venue there will also be zombies laser tag as well as paintball matches hosted on a real-life reimagination of the fan favorite Nuketown map from the Black Ops series. All this intense, fun competition will be held from September 1-4 in Los Angeles, California. 

Now here's a look at the groups for Call of Duty XP:

Group A:

Millenium, one of the premier EU CWL teams

Splyce, a surprise underdog turned superstar EU franchise

Livin The Dream, NA qualifier team composed of former pros

Revoltables, NA underdog qualifier team

Group B:

Rise Nation, winner of Totinos Invitational and UMG South Carolina 2016

HyperGames, EU phenom franchise

Apotheon eSports, failed to qualify for CWL but poised to do damage at CODXP

Supremacy, One of the top EU contenders

Group C:
Luminosity, consistently good NA team who has upset top teams
Mindfreak, top team in ANZ Division
FAB Games eSports, failed to qualify for EU Division but hungry for competition
Chiefs eSports, consistently good ANZ team with potential

Group D:
Ground Zero, NA qualifier team composed of former pros
Allegiance, NA qualifier team
Epsilon, one of the all-time great EU teams
Pulse Gaming, EU qualifier team

Group E (Group of Death):
FaZe Clan, One of the top three NA teams, also one of the most popular
eLevate, Composed of three players who placed 2nd at last year's Champs
Corn, NA qualifier team
Giants Gaming, one of the top EU teams

Group F:
Infused, has some of the greatest EU players of all-time
Team Kaliber, good NA team with longtime players
Most Wanted, NA qualifier team
Tainted MInds, one of the top ANZ teams

Group G:
Team EnVyUs, one of the all-time great teams, winner of CWL Stage 2 Finals
Orbit, top ANZ team coming into CODXP
Cloud9, good NA team with potential to win
Vitality, one of the all-time great EU teams

Group H:
OpTic Gaming, greatest team of all time, has three COD champions
compLexity, winner of 2014 Call of Duty Championship
PNDA Gaming, NA qualifier team
Team LDLC, great Counter Strike team looking to take over Call of Duty

So that was a look at all the competing teams for CODXP 2016, check out next week's blog for more!