CoD Games Are Not Copy/Pasted Each Year – Activision

Following the responses, the Call of Duty publisher has now said that saying Call of Duty titles don’t have a copy and paste formula each year.

[doctorstrange]

Wake me once they've changed the engine

[TopDudeMan]

Wake me once you've designed your own game engine that sells 10s of millions of copies and understand the work that's involved in it before acting like it's such an easy thing to do.

Yeah, no doubt I'm gonna get hate for that.

For the record, I'm not supporting activision, but what would you do in their position, really?

If they change the engine, they're alienating all the people who like it. And if they don't change it, the haters will continue to hate. It's a lose-lose situation.

@Kran, okay then, get back to me when your game releases this fall.

[Kran]

It IS an easy thing to do if you do your job. You're hired for your specialty, meaning those people find what they have to do totally easy.

[3GenGames]

I've done many NES projects, including a full sized retail game. I can tell you for a fact I myself copy, paste, and use lots of old/objectified program. But I also do change lots of code even when I do so, too. I take test programs, put useful parts them into my real game engines, and edit them until they're right for it. They don't even do that I can garuntee it. Same file formats, same game engine, different graphics. That's about it, barely.

Design a game? Da faq does DESIGNING game have to do with actually PROGRAMMING/ASSEMBLING one and knowing what assets you reuse when doing so? You have no idea what YOU are saying here. And number of sales don't matter for what you do, it's just if you do it well and keep it improving and adjusting it. Some failed projects are put together a lot better than popular games. Heck, NES homebrews are better put together than modern games. If you think I'm joking, look at Battle Kid, Super Bat Puncher, Thwait, Lawn Mower, Alter Ego. And for a amazing homebrew for the Genny that will make most other RPGs look like a complete joke, check the link below for Pier Solar gameplay. It's flat out fantastic! And that gameplay is so out of date to what was released it's not even as good as it should be.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Leftydog]

Well considering they didn't create the engine, and they have been using an old id Tech 3 engine.. I think they haven't done much work.

[WildArmed]

"If they change the engine, they're alienating all the people who like it. And if they don't change it, the haters will continue to hate. It's a lose-lose situation. "

What does changing the engine have to do w/ alienating their fanbase?

Updating/upgrading their engine doesn't really have a effect on the gameplay, but just allows the devs to do more and do it better.

Like CryEngine 1.0 vs CryEngine 3

[Baka-akaB]

"What does changing the engine have to do w/ alienating their fanbase?

Updating/upgrading their engine doesn't really have a effect on the gameplay, but just allows the devs to do more and do it better. "

Because they drink some koolaid about COD's current engine being the only way to deliver 60fps gaming , despites proofs of otherwise

[papashango]

damned if they do damned if they don't.

Still won't change the fact that MW3 sold 13 million and BF3 sold 10 million.

Remember when n4g believed BF3 stood 0 chance against the cod behemoth? (btw I stopped playing bf3 long ago as it was the crappiest title in the battlefield franchise)

fact is cod is on the down slope and I don't even believe a new engine could help it.

[Awesome_Gamer]

*cough* Same engine *engine*

[MrBeatdown]

"It IS an easy thing to do if you do your job. You're hired for your specialty, meaning those people find what they have to do totally easy."

Well, there we go. We don't even need next-gen consoles. We just need devs to "do their job". Consoles have no limitations if you know what you're doing.

/s

[Kahvipannu]

Your propably right, Activision don't have the resources to create new engine for the game, so they are still using the old modified Quake 4 engine.. It's has been better to save money and time during these, what, 6 years, and 5 games. It just happens to be one of the best selling games of all time, so why waste time to create new engine with problem's that it will bring, old engine have been working without any problems, it is afterall, used many, many years in row, it's flawles by now.

Also your right about alienating the fanbase with new engine, just like Halo and BF have done, the games are ruined now. Old ones were way better, oh why did they update the engine, I literally hate the destruction in BF, oh the pain..

Wake up, they milk, and milk some more.

[SuperbVillain]

its not about changing the engine but refining it,making it better in every way possible. COD just seems to be stuck

[CommonSense]

@Kah

6 years and 7 games. not 5.

[Dee_91]

@topdudeman lmao they havent worked hard since 2007.Who said anything about changing their engine? EA upgrades Madden engine each iteration. Doesnt effect sells at all
your point is invalid bro
Upgrading dont = modifying.

[Euthanasia78]

Wake me when people stop following the "most popular" thing like sheep time after time after time after time after time after time after time. They designed that engine in 2005....If you haven't noticed, it's 2012, so I think doctorstrange has a valid point. Now, don't get all sad that someone points out a valid critizism of the game. THE ENGINE IS OLD. Stop trying to act like it isn't. I'm not saying the game is bad. I'm saying exactly what doctorstrange is saying.....Wake me when they design a new engine. I know devs use engines from the past all the time, but COD blatently uses the same exact buildings as MW1. Don't believe me? Here ya go....... http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[TopDudeMan]

13 notifications later, I now regret writing this.

[drosera1]

Well, with that type of mentality none of us should criticise any profession or job, unless we are doing it.So if a waiter gives me attitude and crap service, i shouldn't be critical unless i'm also a waiter? Or if the medical staff at a hospital botch up my grandfather's medication, i shouldn't criticise them unless i'm a doctor? What a typical "politically correct" and stupid stance to take.

[FlashXIII]

Ironic you should say that seeing as neither Activision nor very few of the people who work on Call of Duty these days actually did create the engine.

[pixelsword]

COD IS NOT COPIED AND PASTED!

...neither is Madden.

lol!

[MrMister]

Activision should've just kept their mouth shut. Within the 1st week of MW3's release, evidence was found on the MW3 disc proving that the game IS recycled and comprised of older COD files.

Here is just one video (there are others too) showing recycled stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Also click the "related video" button below if this link doesn't work.

[The_Nameless_One]

Not trying to the Devil's Advocate here , I myself haven't played a CoD game since MW2, but I think you have the wrong idea here.

Developer reuse assets all the time, some are just better at hiding it then others.

Also the CoD engine is a heavily modified Quake 3 engine which is over 10 years old at this point and all they do on every CoD game is iterate, iterate, iterate, so of course you are going to find evidence of old CoD files.

[Hawkhunter12]

To make matters worse, that warehouse looked much better in CoD4 than its design from MW3.

[Bladesfist]

The whole point of object orienrared programming is to reuse code. Thats why a lot of job titles are software engineer and not programmer, because a lot of the time you just have to put the pieces together. You can't really complain about them using the same folder structure though. Using the same art assets makes sense if they are not going to innovate in any other areas like setting or something

[snipes101]

I dont see how people who are just speaking basic truths about the way games are made are getting disagrees. Yup, every developer reuses some assets here and there and, like The_Nameless_One said, some are better at hiding it than others.

As for that dumb warehouse video, who in the hell cares if they reused a building and threw a different skin on it? New or old, youll be doing the same shit in it anyways: shooting the crap out of anything that moves, no matter what the thing looks like.

[zeal0us]

The only that changes is the single player storyline almost everything else is basically the same.

[theeg]

@doctorstrange

why change the engine, it's mainly a console game and runs at a lowly 1024x600 with jaggies, a better, higher quality engine would just mean the devs would need to make it even more sub-hd or make it run like crap.

it looks great on pc, but hardly anyone on pc cares because they have games like bf3 dx11 that make uncharted 3, god of war 3 and killzone 3 look last gen.

[The_Nameless_One]

Are you on cold medicine or something? True that PC offers a much higher level of performance, but the engines the games you mentioned are specifically built for that system and considering the hardware they are running on I'd say they can compete with any other PC engine out there.

it's all about how you use the hardware you have. Not compare a gaming PC with a minimum 180 dollar graphics card to even run a 64 player match on medium settings with 60fps to a console with a 7 years old GPU in it.

I sure would like to see Sony licensing those 3 engines to outside developer because I bet that running on a PC with everything maxed will bring any rig to it's knees.

[STONEY4]

"it looks great on pc"

From my experience with the Modern Warfare 3 free Steam weekend, it looks TERRIBLE on PC. I'd go so far to say that the console version is more aesthetically pleasing to look at because you can't see how truly awful the textures, polygons, lighting, and terrain is through the layer of sub-hd jaggies and blur. Yes, it's that bad. For some reason, it has this weird vaseline smear look to it. Modern Warfare 2 on PC actually looked pretty decent to me and was a good improvement over COD4 and WAW, so I have no idea how it got WORSE. Activision needs to use a new engine.

[Euthanasia78]

Keep hunching over ur computer. I'll be playing on a 61" Sharp Aquos with Klipsch 7.1 surround sound on my nice leather couch. Hope ur neck doesn't hurt after an hour, cause I couldn't be more comfortable or happy with my "lowly" console experience.

[The_Nameless_One]

@Euthanasia78:
Kind of a dumb comment since as I am typing this through my gaming PC which is hooked up to a 46" Bravia.

These days the " Enjoy it on your 24" screen while I play my console on my (insert number here) while sitting on the couch" is not that valid anymore. Actually a lot of gaming pc's are getting hooked up to tv's.

And please don't also use the "Have fun with your K&M while I enjoy my controller" excuse. That's also dumb.

[AllroundGamer]

Wake me up before you gogo ;) (and i mean COD engine ;) )

[Afterlife]

But Gameplay will be the same.

[chriski333]

What!!!??? Really I call BS activison when we can find parts of maps from other games we call that copy/paste don't lie more to us then u already do

[humbleopinion]

But they DO change the engine. Every second iteration actually:
COD2 was based on IW 2.0
MW was based on IW 3.0
MW2 was based on IW 4.0
Each iteration improves on certain things and adds new features like new lighting model, texture streaming, better particle effects (compare for example the smoke effects in MW2 and MW1) etc.

Even the Treyarch games heavily modify the engine they branch off from. World At War for example introduced stuff like complex water physics in real time for the first time that actually throw off tidal waves. It's really interesting to manipulate the engine and see the results:
http://www.xfire.com/video/...

I'd like to see if someone can come up with something like this in COD4. In fact, I don't recall any other game (except for maybe From Dust) that does these kind of water physics creating an actual wave when you throw in a grenade.

[DARK WITNESS]

is it just me or have Activision suddenly gotten really defensive about MW3..

I wonder if they are starting to see a drop off in players or something and now they feel they have to say something.

[jazzking2001]

Activision needs to wake up and see that this won't last forever. Their CoD sales is already declining.

[perdie]

um... didnt mw3 have the biggest launch in history? and didnt black ops? and mw2 also? just curious s/

[sjaakiejj]

Launch yes, but sales after launch day have been a lot lower.

[ColSanders37]

Only reason I'll buy bo2 is zombies mode (hours of continuous fun). But after that I'm done with any and all cod, especially after MW3 sucked it up.

[trenso1]

And then the next COD shows something that intrests you and you buy that. Than after this one im done, like so many people do every year.

[pandehz]

Nope they are Cut/Pasted

[-Ninja-]

Nope they are Cut/Pasted

[LOL_WUT]

Nope they are Pasted/Cut

[Oldman100]

Nope! Just Chuck Testa with another realistic mount.

[AusRogo]

Uh, yes Activision. They are.

[ginsunuva]

No, come on, give them credit: they alter the name slightly each time too.

[MGRogue2017]

Why is it that the moment I had read the title.. I laughed?

[rockbottom3076]

what was he expected to say?

[Kran]

Nothing or the complete opposite.

[Tai_Kaliso]

Well obviously they aren't copy and pasted. Only the trolls think otherwise. I think only the truly ignorant think its Quake Engine at this point.

It would take too long to actually write all the improvements to the game since COD4. People just don't seem to understand that its slightly limited hardware at this point and 60fps is more important than a lot of the other issues.

If you hate COD, don't play it, problem solved.

Again I state, why complain? Play something else and stop bitching about it.

Play what you like, problem solved.

[Forbidden_Darkness]

Of course its not copy and paste, the series just keeps getting worse. If mw1 had host migration and was hacked to hell, i would still play that game to this day. It didn't have these stupid killstreaks, bs spawns, deathstreaks and such.

[dericb11]

Slightly limited hardware lol. Good stuff /smh

[rdgneoz3]

Not cut and pasted? cough...

http://n4g.com/news/882699/...

[Noticeably_FAT]

Wait, your right! One building sure proves that everything is exactly cut and pasted from every single COD game. Good call on catching that, guess I'll go back to COD4 and put my chopper gunner killstreak on, shoot down some UAV's, use host migration, play some Kill Confirmed, use my trophy system and my UMP.

Some people are just so ignorant, its not the same game. I guess its the same style, just like Gears is the same style online, just like Uncharted is the same style online, just like Battlefield is the same style online.

Get over it kids.

I think most of you just like to complain for the sake of complaining, why would you care so much about what goes into a game you apparently hate or don't even play?

[Ducky]

DICE has also reused buildings between the BadCompany series and BF3.

That, and it isn't uncommon for devs to reuse assets in sequels including animations and sounds.

[MrMister]

Watch the "related video" below before you embarrass yourself further, fanboy.

[madjedi]

@Tai The only thing limited is cod ancient engine that they have tweaked, with every game.

Neither the ps3 or 360 is that handicapped that cod represents the outer limit of the systems performance capabilities.

"Again I state, why complain? Play something else and stop bitching about it."

Because it is a embarrassment to countless other dev teams that bust their ass to create good games, and it's been needing a teardown and rebuild for a few yrs now.

Don't want to read the bitching and complaining, then don't go to a gaming website's article section, where people leave their opinions on the article.

It's that simple.

If rage can have 60 fps with it's graphics and open world vehicle section, what the hell excuse does a corridor shooter like cod have. Nothing reasonable or justifiable from a technology aspect. <-- This is why people treat cod like the garbage it is, despite making ridiculous sales numbers, there is virtually no effort into making it a quality game.

[Tai_Kaliso]

COD isn't using an ancient engine, its not the Quake Engine and doesn't feature any Quake coding anymore.

The COD engine is just that now. How is COD an embarrassment to anyone else? I'm sure 100% of dev teams wish they could have a successful franchise like COD.

Rage took 5 or 6 years to complete and while the graphics looked good, the story and gameplay weren't anything special.

The only people I ever see treat COD like garbage are ignorant internet fools who like to hate on something just because its popular or doing better then a game they might like more.

How did that huge COD black out go yesterday from all the people who are fed up with COD? I'll tell you, I was lonely playing the game with a mere 700,000 on Xbox Live.

Play what you like, let others do the same. I don't sit there and complain about games I dislike, which would take quite a while to accomplish. The main reason I don't do this is because I'm actually out there playing games, not bitching about them like a entitled 3 year old.

The games have had a ton of upgrades, from the engine to the character models, perks, guns, killstreaks, game modes and even the maps have gotten better.

[h311rais3r]

My my acti...

[NYC_Gamer]

Call of Duty fans are satisfied regardless...

[MrMister]

Maybe SOME are, but ALOT of them have come over to Battlefield 3 (even if they 1st bought mw3). I really think that if Activision screws up again, they will see the decline of COD, just like when Activision ruined Guitar Hero and Tony hawk.

[Kran]

Am I? Oh. Well. You know best i suppose :/

[NYC_Gamer]

They must be happy since most of them buy Call of Duty every year.....i'm sure people who are tired of the franchise wouldn't buy the title by mistake....Black ops 2 will come out and move millions of copies because of the loyal COD fan base and people will be on here complaining....

[Megaton]

Most CoD fans are casuals. My friend's prissy princess of a girlfriend plays CoD, and only CoD. When you turn something into a spectacle like Activision and Microsoft have, it attracts all sorts of non-gamers.

[smashcrashbash]

Well what did you think they would say? 'Yes they are'? Of course the first response to negativity is usually denial. Have you ever heard anyone admit that they are something negative when you accuse them of it whether it is true or not?

[Majin-vegeta]

Right...I'll leave you with this.

http://youtu.be/b5dsOn06w1s

[Virtual_Reality]

Lol, straight from the evidence.
Activision can't say a word about that.

[snipes101]

Yup, because a single building proves that everything about the CoD games are reused. You have to be the most ignorant person in the world of gaming to think that other developers do not reuse assets to some extent in their games.

[FarCryLover182]

They aren't?!?!?! Then what would you call it Activision?

[dredgewalker]

Divine inspiration?

[Kahvipannu]

cloning?

[MysticStrummer]

Ok Activision. You copy, paste, and then make small edits. Happy?

[MidnytRain]

I think it IS fair knowing the pattern they've followed the past four years.

[StayStatic]

Cut & Paste doesn't make it any better =/

[Blitz001]

Ahahaha...

[llMurcielagoll]

Yeah you keep telling yourselves that, Activision... lol

[FlareDReborn]

Lmao Activision is hilarious.

[Baka-akaB]

Fifa got more innovations and positive change than CoD , wich is a rather sad thing to say ...

[mamotte]

No Activision, we didnt mean it literally.

[GraveLord]

They don't!? OMG! Who knew? They actually have people working on these games? /s

Wake up trolls. Get some therapy. Stop trolling. Find another hobby.

[madjedi]

For all the pro cod guys screaming bf3 ect reuses assets, yeah the but the other games that reused assets, have all got new engines or have greatly improved various parts of their game.

Cod hasn't improved much, if any.

[turgore]

They are right, they are copy/pasted every other year !!!

The modern warfare series was way too similar.
The black ops series will be the same.

Worst part is that the engine barely improved since COD 4 !

[Kahvipannu]

"You don’t have to like what CoD is every year, but to say now “it’s going to be the same thing” seems pretty unfair. Better to wait and see what’s on tap before you make up your mind. If MW2 was all you needed, that’s fine too."

And Activision forces MW2 servers down on PC.. Yep, yep..

[DJ]

Copy and pasted WELL! =D

[SpinalRemains138]

Course not!

They're Xeroxed

[BertlSenix]

lol - They even did copy buildings from MW1 over to MW3...

IT IS THE SAME DAMN GAME EVERY YEAR

[fragnificent]

sounds to me like he copy and pasted that comment from last year when he was defending the game lol

[Drainage]

they dont copy and paste , they cut n paste

[StrappedBeaner]

ok so what if its as easy as pressing Ctrl + C then Ctrl + P its still a good game one way or the other plus when was the last time you were on mw1 or mw2 notice how many squares there are and how every year a new call of duty comes out the graphics keep getting better and better and better so on that not since they can copy and paste buildings and soldiers and make them look better just like that then maybe i should try that with my bank account oh wait no one can do that

[PersonMan]

It only seems the same because it looks about the same. They obviously work on refining what they have and making gameplay improvements. Why do they need to change the engine? The engine WORKS, why break it now?

[Brettman2008]

Activision are in a bit of a no win situation now. If they roll out much the same game every year they get criticised. If they did use a new game engine that used destruction and allowed the use of vehicles/jets etc they would be critised for copying BF3. At least games like COD and BF3 are quite different so we have a choice of what style we prefer. I much prefer BF3 but I must admit that I enjoyed Black Ops for what it was.

[SSKILLZ]

the way i see it, in this world nothing is free and no one will feed you, so make BANK and feed your family.

[TABSF]

Oh so now I'll believe them.

Common, when you play the Steam version of MW2 it cames up with please reconnect to Xbox Live

Or MW3 Multiplayer where it says please restart MW2

[Bakkies]

This article headline is such a good "come to out site and give us hits" headline, that I came here to say "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aah!!!"

[PersonMan]

If that's the case, then Uncharted 4 should use a new engine right? The Last of Us should not use the Uncharted engine.

Why stop there. Why do companies keep using the Unreal engine?

While we're at it... lets tell Rockstar to develop a new engine as well (R.A.G.E.)

You people are retarded. If I were a game developer, I'm not going to throw away years of refinement and artwork because gamers require new graphics in order to feel like they're getting their money's worth.

I bet NONE of you idiots actually know how hard it is to make a game. You don't just start from scratch every time.

If I'm building a house for instance and I want to improve what I have, I'm not going to tear it down and start over. I'm going to take what's there, and change what I don't like and keep what I do like.

Although, I've stopped playing CoD, it's not the "same-old-engine" that made me stop playing. It's because I'm trying to expand my gaming taste. I'm overall bored of ALL first person shooters at the moment. It's not just CoD... it's every first person shooter game. If you have too much cake, no matter how good it tastes, you're gonna get a stomach ache and right now, I have a first-person-shooter stomach ache and I need to take a break for a while.

[Gohadouken]

For starters stop pretending you dont understand what people mean by "change the engine" .

UC4 might not need along other sequels to change their engine , but why ? Because they actually IMPROVE on the game each sequel .

It's common courtesy you know and the least you could do , if you can't find a way to improve on a game's mechanics and add new concepts - wich can understandably happens - , to at LEAST improve the GRAPHICS .

They dont even do that with CoD anymore . They couldnt even if they wanted with the same engine . The old q3 beast was already maxed out and stretched thin with CoD 4 and it shows … parts of all the following cod games , whatever the team involved was , actually looked worse than cod 4 . Especially in scènes more intense and full of object than cod 4 can you even notice a clear drops of texture quality and détails .

It's not even the hardware , even if it too is getting limited . It's not just the innability to render things at 60 fps either , stuff like Rage , even if not a great game overall , shows glimpse of what was possible to display in a fps at 60 fps on current consoles , and it looks even with its texture flaws , miles better and ahead , on a graphical level .

So there were options obviously . And they had 4 successive games to prepare a jump . So no i can see where people are coming from .

While guys like you wanna pretend there was nothing else possible , with the amazing funds , ressources and still talented teams at their disposal , they went all "Dynasty Warriors lazy" on us . That's ridiculous to even defend , even the dynasty warrior studios actually shook things up quite a bit , in realisation , content and gameplay , for people actually following those games .

[PersonMan]

It's not that I'm trying to defend Activision. I just think people don't understand what it takes to make a video game and to ALSO make it so that people like it.

They have a formula that does VERY well so they're trying to refine it. Whether you think those refinements are good is another story.

Also, what you failed to mention is the team that worked on CoD4 is no longer with activision so that is why the quality has dropped a bit.

You can't judge a video game on graphics alone and the Wii proves that you don't need good graphics to have fun games. For many people, CoD is just a FUN game.

But like I said before, I'm really sick of first person shooters because they're all pretty much the same now. Even RAGE sucked (I didn't even like the graphics... texture pop-in every time you turn? Yuck... to me, RAGE graphics are worse than CoD graphics. I do not like id engine 5 at all one bit.).

So instead, I've been playing Infamous 2, Uncharted 2, 3, God of War III, GTA IV, Red Dead Redemption, ICO, Tomb Raider HD and Silent Hill. I'm really into platforming I guess.

[Gohadouken]

"Also, what you failed to mention is the team that worked on CoD4 is no longer with activision so that is why the quality has dropped a bit.
"

Actually the team was actually there for Modern Warfare 2 and couldnt improve in the graphics either .

"You can't judge a video game on graphics alone and the Wii proves that you don't need good graphics to have fun games."

You're asidestepping and completely missing the point . I reiterate , when you can't bring major changes and do more than tweak and polish on an existing gameplay and game mechanics , it is a tradition and common courtesy to at the very least improve the graphics .

I'm not even saying , nor most people complaining , that CoD should be a graphic powerhouse and be as graphic focused as some titles can be . That's not the point , im not being a "graphic whore" here , there is justa minium a sequel should bring , and if a sequel can't it shouldnt be a sequel at all but some dlc or extension instead .

The point is not only are they stagnating on the formula of the game , they can't even do the effort of improving on the tech and graphic side .

Missing the point about rage too , i've seen people hide behind the cod is 60 fps excuse , when at least one game shows you can actually provide 60 fps too while changing things . RAge isnt even relevant , it does sucks , but it shows that if you want you can actually find anther way . They aint even trying .

Even the worst and most stagnant sport games series cover the old "if i can't evolve let's look prettier" angle , that CoD stagnate more than a sport game is very tellng and symptomatic .

[Baka-akaB]

Like i said below ...

I think the biggest issue is that the majority of gamers don't know what to compare between engines, or whether things can actually be compared side-by-side. Almost every issue anyone has had with id Tech 5 should actually be directed at the game built on top of it, not the engine itself.

Actually, very few of Rage's 'problems' relate to the engine. Texture quality is not an engine issue--the engine will happily display the textures that the game calls for. The fact they are low-res is a design decision.

Rage is a poor offering , but still display an engine with possibilities miles above what Id tech 3 could do . The texture popping are fixable for future titles .

Try laying a single texture across a huge area in a game running on any other engine (even UE 3), and you'll be out of video memory before it even loads. ID tech5's megatextures tech is actually revolutionary , and would be a huge boon for current and future consoles , wich no matter what will always struggle with memory .

Of course it wouldnt matter yet , only Bethesda got access to the engine for the foreseable future .

But i agree that it shows there are other options than what Cod choose to stick with .

[OneAboveAll]

It is a copy paste job. They have been using the same id tech 3 engine used to power Quake games for god knows how long. They use the same weapon sounds and they still use canned death animations from 1998.

They don't have to make a new engine when there are already much more advanced engines already made that they can use such as Unreal, Cry-Engine, Frostbite hell, even Source is better...

[BizDaWolf]

LMAO!!!! If you guys believe that....

[arbitor365]

thats true. honestly, I think the games have been getting less and less impressive. "copy and paste" is being generous.

[Brettman2008]

Be nice if developers of first person and third person games for the next gen consoles focus on gameplay rather than developing unique game engines. Unreal Engine 4 and CryEngine 3 should be pretty amazing on new hardware.

[Baka-akaB]

Not when those using middleware engine , among fps devs , arent doing it to add more and focus on gameplay , but do it cut down costs .

From what's we've seen so far , those pushing the genre forward lately havent exactly been those guys , with a few exceptions like Ken levine and his bioshock titles .

[ToNKA11]

not copy/paste? my ass

[Bladesfist]

Surely if your a community manager it does not matter what you think about your game, it should be what your fans and customers think about your game and you should ask what they want to see changed

[faraany33k]

The biggest hurdle to COD games innovation is console hardware and business model.

Firstly if you want to make a super fluid 60 frames per second game, engine has to remain same. Secondly with expensive game development costs, COD cant afford to lose its huge fanbase in the favor of some innovation.

It is ironic that you people dont want to invest in a new console after 5 years and ask Activision to rewrite whole engine every year.

Please when hating on something. At least bring some solid arguments.

[Baka-akaB]

Nope it doesnt . Even if Rage was lame like others said above , it running that kind of graphics quality at 60 fps shows there were at least multiple viable options , graphic engine wise . Be it in house or middleware .

I think the biggest issue is that the majority of gamers don't know what to compare between engines, or whether things can actually be compared side-by-side. Almost every issue anyone has had with id Tech 5 should actually be directed at the game built on top of it, not the engine itself.

There are limitations on the hardware , but not so much that they couldnt have tried something . The real limitation is within that Id tech 3/cod offshoot that they dont wanna part with .

Wich boils down to costs and economical reason , or more harshly yet truthfully said , greed . Smaller ips have managed to bear that cost of switching to a better engine and yet CoD one of the 5 biggest of the industry can't ? Please .

As long as they wanted to keep their focus , CoD wasnt going to magically loose its physics engine , feel and gameplay by switching . They are talented and resourceful enough for it not to happen .

Of course they can shoulder that , they had 4 games to do so , but just didnt want when they can simply remain the same and have the same cash flow .

[GAMExxOVER]

CoD Games Are Not Copy/Pasted Each Year, It's true.. What confuses gamers is that, the games just Look, Feel, Sound and Play as if they were.

[EditorAtGNG]

It isn't all about the graphics. People complain about COD games because the GAMEPLAY hasn't had a single new addition since the Modern Warfare. Oh and before you all go "why fix what ain't broke" let me tell you just one thing - a multyplayer oriented, competitive FPS online shooter should differentiate from each installment MAINLY because playing the same shit you've mastered for 2 years is just PLAIN DULL. People get new games (installments) of the series in hopes of playing something NEW and DIFFERENT in order to spice things up - not get the same game over and over again and wonder where their money have gone.

[Game3s]

"COD not copy and paste- Activision", ok ok cut and paste.

[wray77]

It may not be copy and pasted each year, but it was deleted this year...for me.

[XboxInnovation]

so using the same reload animations, gun stats and designs, game modes, ranking system and map layouts each year is not a copy and paste?

[VonBraunschweigg]

Yes they are, just like our comments. Doesn't matter both ways, CoD will always sell and there's always enough other games to play.

[Bounkass]

Yes. It is.

[Dark_Legend]

I dont like Activision either but why should they change something if it sells 10 Million + copies every year? It just doesnt make sense for them, they increase their profit while reducing their costs.
For other people like me who want better graphics there is still Battlefield 3 = )

[goldwyncq]

ORLY?

[Dungus]

YES THEY ARE *HUFF*

[Dungus]

CMD+C, CMD+V ENJOYMENT FOR THE MASSES

JUST LIKE POPULAR JOKES ON TWITTER

NOTHING IS ORIGINAL

UGG UGG