Infinity Ward Creative Strategist Robert Bowling has revealed a big detail about Modern Warfare 3′s melee system.

The controversial Commando perk, which increased the distance of melee attacks, is now gone from the game. The perk is among MW2′s most used, as it often allows players to “bring a knife to a gunfight” and still win. Particularly paired with a perk such as Ninja, which silences footsteps, Commando was a good way to rack up a bunch of stealthy kills.

Activision has remained silent about the details surrounding its premium Call of Duty service. Before today, the only details we knew about what is now called Call of Duty Elite was that it would be included in Modern Warfare 3, and would be an optional service. The in-game content is created by a studio named Beachhead, a studio that seemed to be created specifically for this purpose.

Tomorrow (March 8, 2011) a patch for Modern Warfare 2 will be rolled out all over the world for PS3. This update address some security issues that PS3 players are all too familiar with. It also fixes an exploit on the Fuel map that some players would use to seal themselves inside of a rock. This patch will also be released for Xbox 360 and PC in the future, but PS3 hacking is the biggest concern right now.

Several members of Infinity Ward jumped ship after its co-founders were fired by Activision. This left the future of the Infinity Ward developed Modern Warfare games in question. The series has traditionally spawned a new iteration every year, with Infinity Ward and Treyarch interchangeably sharing the spotlight. Now it appears Infinity Ward needs help to get Modern Warfare 3 out the door by November.

The fallout stemming from the recent PS3 hacks have started to take a toll on Infinity Ward’s CoD: Modern Warfare 2. Last week, it was revealed that MW2 has been targeted and attacked by hackers that have nothing better to do than ruin the multiplayer experience for everyone. Sadly, there is nothing Infinity Ward can do about it.

Continuing efforts to prevent cheating in multiplayer, Call of Duty:Black Ops will not allow party chat in some game modes. Search and Destroy, for example, offers high potential for people to cheat by sharing tactical information with the opposing team. Those of us playing fairly are inconvenienced because we just want to have a fun time and kick back with friends. Developer Treyarch realizes this and is trying to make adjustments. Team Deathmatch will allow party chat in Black Ops, a change from Modern Warfare 2.

Infinity Ward is helping its fans through the summer gaming doldrums with two new playlists for Modern Warfare 2. These modes, Barebones Pro and Objective Barebones Pro, remove killstreak rewards and add party chat. Killstreak rewards are awarded to players who rack up a certain number of kills in a row without dying themselves. At the lowest levels they do things such as reveal the locations of enemies. If you get enough kills, you can launch a tactical nuke which, of course, ends the game.

New details have been released that state that first place will win $175,000 while the second place finisher will walk away with $75,000. Presumably, they will use the funding to complete their game. There is a catch, however, and it is a rather significant one as it’s the same kind of issue that had Infinity Ward developers dropping like flies: Intellectual property rights.

Do you remember emerging from the underground cavern in Modern Warfare 2 to a destroyed Washington DC? How about cursing at your TV because you were being shot at by enemies you could not see in the Favela level? Somewhere beneath the levels of frustration was an impressive musical score composed by Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer.

Resurgence is the name for MW2′s second downloadable map pack. It contains five maps total. Two of the maps, Vacant and Strike, are remade levels from the first MW. The other three are called Carnival, Fuel and Trailer Park. The settings of Trailer Park and Carnival are self explanatory, but Fuel takes place in an oil refinery that’s perfect for sniping.