Activision has announced a new title in the Call of Duty franchise called
Call of Duty: Elite, which is being developed by Beachhead Studios. But, unlike
other products in the Call of Duty series, this new title is not a game. Instead
it is essentially a tool to unify a player's profile across the different Call of
Duty games. Because of the popularity of the Call of Duty series, there are still huge
numbers of people playing the older games, like the first Modern Warfare, as
well as other gamers spending most of their time on the latest game, which is
currently Black Ops. The aim of Elite is to give players one single profile
that will work across all the Call of Duty games that support it.
Elite is an online service which uses four different sections to separate the key aspects of a player’s profile. These are: Career, Connect, Compete and Improve.
Career allows the player to view a summary of details from the online Call of Duty matches
they have played on any CoD game that supports the Elite service.
Connect is intended as the social network aspect. It will work in a similar way
to a search engine allowing the player to search for certain types of matches
with key elements they prefer. If a relevant group already exists, you can join
it; if it doesn’t, then the player can create it for others to join. You are
also able to view the groups that other players are currently members of.
Compete will display current and upcoming Activision events across the supported CoD games. It also lets you take part in screenshot contests, and there will be chances to win in-game and real-world prizes.
Improve is essentially an interactive hints and tips section. It will include tutorial videos for weapons and terrain as well as explaining how to make the best use of available in-game tools.
Elite is set to come out in November at the same time as Modern Warfare 3. The service is being developed around MW3 but will also be compatible with Black Ops at release. Activision has said that support for older existing Call of Duty games like the first two Modern Warfare's may be added at a later date but have not confirmed it. The service will be available to access from your PC, a mobile phone app, or from within any of the games that support it.
It is likely that Elite will require some type of subscription fee, but Activision says certain aspects will be available for free. If you do sign up for the paid subscription, Activision says it will include access to all future downloadable map packs for no additional charge.
A beta of Elite will be rolling out this summer. From what we have heard so far the service sounds like it will probably only appeal to diehard fans of Call of Duty. But what do you think? Is it something you would consider paying for? Add your comments below.