Beachhead Studios, the team working on the Call of Duty: Elite social network, believes everything will be running fine December 1. Elite got off to a seriously rocky start. Beachhead’s VP of Production Daniel Suarez admitted less than 10 percent of the players who tried to log into the service launch week were able to. There was a beta for Elite but it was strictly for the PC. Suarez told G4 Beachhead expected more users would partake of the service on PC because it has more features. That wasn’t the case, as between 80-90 percent of Elite users are logging in from a console.

A Gamescom 2011 call to end EA’s anti-Modern Warfare rhetoric apparently fell on deaf ears. EA Labels head Frank Gilbeau told CVG that the Call of Duty franchise hasn’t had any real competition in years.

EA’s trash talk hyping Battlefield 3 over Modern Warfare 3 has turned heads through the industry. Activision CEO of publishing Eric Hirshberg took time in his Gamescom 2011 keynote address to say the mudslinging isn’t helping anyone make better games. Hirshberg didn’t mention any names, but didn’t really need to. When Hirshberg noted a competitor said he wanted to see the Call of Duty franchise “rot from the core,” it was obvious he referred to comments made by EA CEO John Riccitiello.

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.

On September 2 and 3, Activision will be holding a massive event dedicated to the Call of Duty franchise. It’s called Call of Duty XP 2011, and it will be held in the Los Angeles, CA area. During these two days, fans will be able to participate in a large amount of CoD-related activities such as being the first members of the public to try the multiplayer component of Modern Warfare 3. Tickets to the event will be $150 and they will go on sale from July 19th. Activision will announce the exact time as to when the tickets will be available on July 12.

Kmart is at it again with a new wave of videogame deals for the entire week. The retailer is offering gaming coupons for new games and discounts on old ones. If you’ve yet to experience the first two Call of Duty games from this generation, you can pick up both of them for $40. Conversely, you can see what all the fuss is about by purchasing Medal of Honor this Tuesday (October 12, 2010) and Kmart will give you a $20 gaming coupon for your business.

The PS3′s greatest hits library continues to grow. Sony has added seven fine games the greatest hits library in the United States and Canada. Each game will cost $29.99. If you’re looking for something cheap to kick off the fall gaming season, consider these options.

When the Medal of Honor series was set in World War II, there was not much concern over who the video game soldiers were shooting at.

EA’s decision to bring Medal of Honor into the present, however, has caused a serious backlash.

Multiplayer in the game will allow players to take on the role of Taliban fighters as well as American soldiers. That decision doesn’t sit well with a lot of people in the military and their loved ones.

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.

The method to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s madness now appears. Knowing full well that Bungie was in his hip pocket while “negotiating” with Infinity Ward, Kotick didn’t really need Jason West and Vince Zampella around anymore. Moreover, he needed to be rid of them, their high salaries and creative objections regarding Activision’s treatment of theCall of Duty series.