Bowling refrained from indulging what’s in the black box, only saying that details will be revealed at the upcoming Call of Duty: XP event. The Modern Warfare 3-centric show will be held on September 2nd, and other than revealing special edition details, will also flick the reveal lights on the multiplayer campaign as well. Tickets are $150 a pop, if you are interested (or can find some, now).

- The largest reported five-day opening worldwide box office gross figures, held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($394 million)
- The largest reported five-day opening domestic box office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight ($203.8 million)
- The largest reported five-day worldwide video game sales record, previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV (6 million units, $500 million)
- The largest reported opening first-day domestic box office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight ($66.4 million)
- The largest reported first-day book sales in dollars, held by Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows ($220 million)
- The largest reported first-day worldwide video game sales record, previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV (3.6 million units, $310 million)

The record-breaking trend even extends to Xbox Live, where Modern Warfare 2 logged in 5.2 million hours of multiplayer on the first day alone, with more 2.2 million unique players fraging on November 10th and unlocking 11 million achievements on the first day.

“In just five days of sell through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the largest entertainment launch in history and a pop culture phenomenon,” said Robert Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. “The title’s success redefines entertainment as millions of consumers have chosen to play Modern Warfare 2 at unprecedented levels rather than engage in other forms of media.”

You can check out our Modern Warfare 2 review here.

Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console

After “Modern Warfare 2’s” worldwide release on November 10, fans can arm themselves with Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console from November 13th, which features an exclusive warzone design inspired by the epic thriller, more storage space than ever before in a 250GB Hard Drive, two Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers, as well as an Xbox 360 Headset and a Standard Edition copy of “Modern Warfare 2” for an estimated retail price of AED 1,599.

“It’s the highest compliment to the team and our fans to have a special themed Xbox 360 console,” said Vince Zampella, CEO of Infinity Ward. “The precision and detail that’s been put into the console captures the intensity and feel of ‘Modern Warfare 2.’ We can’t wait for our community and fans around the world to see for themselves on Nov. 10.”

“It is thrilling to bring the exclusive ‘Modern Warfare 2’-inspired Xbox 360 console to Call of Duty fans. Being able to work so closely with the talented team at Infinity Ward on the design has enabled us to develop a console that will sets standard around the world,” said Vice President of Xbox 360 EMEA David Gosen.

Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console, will be sold in Europe, the Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia), UK, US, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Australia and New Zealand.

We could tell you about how wonderful the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was but instead we’ll take a look at how this game fares on its own. MW2 is split into three modes –Spec Ops, Single Player Campaign and Multiplayer.

Special Ops are short, strategic missions that can be played solo or multiplayer – online and offline (split screen). They’re split into five parts, which are sequentially made available to you as you progress through the missions. The beginning levels include gunning down gangs and using stealth to make your way through the mission. As you progress, missions start becoming more challenging and include snowmobile races to fighting through blizzards and battling enemies on an oilrig. A the end of each mission you’re rewarded one to three stars depending on the number of kills and how many innocent people you’ve gunned down (the lesser the better, obviously). Getting through the missions is fairly easy, finishing a mission with three stars is what will get you pulling your hair out.

While special ops are fun and challenging, it’s the Single Player mission that’s the heart of this game. A good video game is often like a good movie – the secret to winning over your audience lays purely in your ability to provide a captivating experience. Modern Warfare 2 does this so very well. Each level in the game pans out like an episode of 24. It’s intense, dramatic and will keep you on the edge of your seat. The plot’s a little far fetched, but the gorgeous levels and captivating gameplay easily makes up for any holes in the plot.

The campaign kicks off in Afghanistan where you run through a short training session to get familiar with the controls and the use of weapons. The controls are fairly easy to master and as soon as you do, you’re in the thick of it all. The levels are incredibly well designed and well paced too. You’re fighting an intense battle one minute in one level and in the next you’re treated to a slower-paced stealth missions.

Speaking of varied action in levels, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the controversial airport level in which you play an undercover agent impersonating a terrorist, who has to kill civilians in an airport in order to gain the trust of his terrorist cell. So, you storm through an airport, armed with a machine gun and gun down a group of petrified innocents who try to flee the swarm of bullets coming their way. It’s intense and definitely not for the faint of heart. If there’s one reason the game might get banned in the Middle East, this is going to be it. The game does manage to keep sensitivities in mind and does give you a warning and an option to skip this level should you wish to.

The graphics in the game are simply gorgeous. Infinity Ward’s genius clearly lies in its level designs and attention to detail. The game is by all means an aural and visual treat. There’s enough eye candy in the game to keep you excited and onlookers jealous. There are also plenty of weapons and attachments to keep FPS fans happy. We also love how clever the AI is. Enemies take cover, run and hide when they are shot at rather than standing around in the same location. Definitely an improvement over the original Modern Warfare game.

We tried our hand at the multiplayer mode and were surprised to see people from the UAE already on there days before the game had actually released. What’s even more surprising is that many of them had formed clans and had already leveled up to absurd amounts. Let’s hope that everyone gets reset back to level one when the game is officially launched. The multiplayer levels are just about perfect in size – not too big and not too small. There’s also a 9v9 limit in multiplayer mode but given the size of the levels, it actually makes a good fit. There are a good number of multiplayer levels and we were quite happy to see a level set in Karachi (although the level does contain a lot of Arabic text rather than Urdu). Other multiplayer levels include “Estate” where you have to fight for control of a cabin in the woods, Favela where you battle in the alleyways of Brazil, “Highrise” which is set on top of a skyscraper, “Terminal” which is set in the airport and “Chernobyl” which is great for sniper battles and long range combat. The game also features a plethora of multiplayer modes. Apart from standard fares such as Team Death Matches and Capture the Flag modes, you also have “Search and Destroy”, where teams take turns defending or destroying an objective; “Sabotage” where one bomb is placed at the center of the map and you have to grab it and destroy the enemy’s objective; “Domination” where you capture and hold a position; “Headquarters” where you have to capture the HQ and defend it from the other team; and “Demolition” where teams alternate in attacking and defending two bomb sites, both of which must be destroyed by attacking teams equipped with bombs.

It’s not surprising that a lot of gamers from the Middle East are already playing the game. If you’ve been checking out our website for the past few days (of course you have), you’d know that we managed to get our hands on an early copy of the game, thanks to Dubai’s flourishing gray market scene. The good news though, is that the game has officially got the green signal from the ministry and should be available in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East on 10th November. Despite certain controversial elements, this game is an FPS fan’s dream. Game of the Year? Hell, yeah!

Consider yourself lucky if you haven’t purchased the game already at absurd prices through the gray market as the official PEGI version will be available at fair console prices some time tomorrow.

Well, at least it gives us a chance to give our readers a preview of the game. Expect videos and first impressions soon. Our official review of the game will be released on 10th November, once the review embargo has been lifted.

Modern Warfare 2 US edition. Click to enlarge.

Update: We have published our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Media Blowout. Check it out!

“By all indicators, we anticipate Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be the biggest entertainment launch of all time,” says Tony Bartel, executive vice president for merchandising and marketing at GameStop to USA Today. “As of today, the number of pre-order reservations we’ve taken for the game is the highest for any title we’ve ever sold in our 6,200 store network.”

Judging by the fervor it is creating all over the internet, on blogs and forums, and almost all media outlets, this hardly comes as a surprise. Well, there is a only about a week left for the game to go retail on November 10th for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

OS: Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Windows 95/98/ME/2000 are unsupported)
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor or better supported
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT or better or ATI Radeon 1600XT or better
DirectX: Microsoft DirectX(R) 9.0c
Hard Drive: 12GB of free hard drive space
Sound: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Internet: Broadband connection required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet Connection required for activation

Mind, these are only the minimum requirements with the recommended requisite not yet disclosed.

The devs have also published these new images from the game:

Excited about the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Xbox 360 bundle? But confused about it’s availability and pricing in the UAE? Well, allow us to clear the air. Firstly, yes, contrary to popular ‘understanding’, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and all of its special editions (except the NVG one, we assume), will be available in the UAE. So, no, it is not banned in the country. It’s perfectly healthy for Arab world consumption. :p

The Limited Edition COD: Modern Warfare 2 360 will cost AED 1599 in the UAE.

Secondly, again to contrary public assumption, the Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Xbox 360 is not limited to the Americas only. It will be coming to the Middle East (specifically UAE and Saudi Arabia), and as we have recently learnt, the ‘Super Elite’ package will cost AED 1599 (a little over it’s USD price of $399 [399 x 3.78 = 1508 Dhs]) and will be available from November 13, 2009. The Limited Edition will feature a larger 250 GB hard drive, a subtle yet sexy custom designed Xbox 360 console, two wireless controllers and a standard edition copy of the game; all this for a few hundreds more from the Pro package. Pretty sweet, right? Although we would have preferred to it include the hardened edition copy of the game than the standard one. Ahh.

Will it see a drop in the Middle East as well?

Hot on the heels comes another sweet bundle offering from Microsoft, and this time it’s for one of their own. The Redmond giants has announced the Halo 3: ODST Xbox 360 bundle. The package includes a copy of Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST and consequently the BETA access to Halo: Reach. But it’s not a ‘Super Elite’ like the MW 2 Limited Edition and will only feature the plain jain Elite console. Currently, the bundle is said to be announced for PAL territories only, the pricing ranging from €280 in continental Europe to 4, 228 rand in South Africa. But what about the Middle East? Will it see a release? If so, how much will it cost?

Worry not, we will be following this up with Microsoft. We will keep you updated.