• Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Becomes the Highest Selling Game of All Time

    // Gradly // blog, Games, News, Rants & Raves No Responses

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has broken the franchise’s own sales record by reportedly selling 9.3 million copies in the first 24 hours eliminating its predecessor Call of Duty: Black Ops that sold over 7 million copies in its first 24 hours. MW3 is now the highest selling game of all time.

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 breaks sales records

    A reported 1.5 million people queued at midnight globally to get their hands on Modern Warfare 3, with a total of 9.3 million copies sold on the first day. The Xbox 360 version sees around a 54% share, meaning it’s the first game on one platform to pass 5 million on its first day. The PlayStation 3 version held 42%, which is around the 4 million mark. Both day ones are only slightly behind Black Ops entire first week sales. The PC version and the Wii version held the remaining 4%, which is around 370,000 units.

    As a whole, Modern Warfare 3 is up 33% over Black Ops’ first day sales, and a whopping 55% up on the previous Modern Warfare. the US and the UK combined account for 7 million, which is just over 75%. According to VGChartz:

    Call of Duty day one sales

    Early data suggests first week sales are on course for around 12 to 13.5 million. With just over 87 million Call of Duty games already sold on home consoles and PC this generation, by the end of this week the Call of Duty franchise will have sold over 100 million games this generation.

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Review Round-up

    // Gradly // blog, Consoles, Games, Poster, Rants & Raves, Reviews No Responses

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

    Here’s what everyone had to say about the game:

    • OXM UK: 9/10 – Like it or not, it’s heartening to know that the most popular game on the Xbox 360 is also one of the best.
    • Edge: 9/10 – Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare trilogy stands as this generation’s defining FPS series – and Modern Warfare 3 is an emphatic, feature-packed and sometimes stunning final act.
    • OXM: 9.5 – When everything here is this well-executed and offers so many enduring thrills, it’s hard to knock it too much. MW3 absolutely delivers.
    • GamesRadar: 9/10 – If you’re looking for a new kind of shooter, look elsewhere. Modern Warfare 3 succeeds by doing more – much, much, much more – of what’s always worked spectacularly for the series. We still can’t get enough.
    • Guardian: 5/5 – The Infinity Ward engine is far from cutting edge – the overall look of the game has not moved on enormously since MW2. But the vision, the choreography, the sense of scale and detail – they are awe-inspiring at times.
    • Telegraph: 5/5 – Modern Warfare 3 is a shining example of refinement and improvement. It’s familiar, sure, but here familiarity doesn’t breed contempt, just respect and reward for those who’ve dedicated so much time to the series. And for new players, it’s the perfect starting point, more accommodating and encompassing than ever.
    • AusGamers: 9.6/10 – Don’t go hating on this because it’s Call of Duty. This is Modern Warfare 3 – the final chapter in an epic tale, and part of a series that changed the first-person shooter landscape forever. It’s an absolutely solid title, the best entry in the series and something that should keep you playing for some time to come. More than worth the investment.
    • Destructoid: 9.5/10 – Whether you like what it does is a matter of personal taste, but the skill and experience brought to the table is hard to refute. Modern Warfare 3 gets it done, and it gets it done damn well.
    • GameTrailers: 9.3/10 – If you’re expecting a huge departure from what’s come before you’ll be disappointed, but fans will get exactly what they’re looking for. World War III shouldn’t be this fun.
    • 1UP: A- – I’m glad to say the multiplayer remains addicting and is more balanced than ever.
    • VideoGamer: 9/10 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 doesn’t do anything new, but it also doesn’t do anything wrong. For better or worse, this is a slick and well-metered trio of modes that make an entertaining package, but Sledgehammer Games and Infinity Ward are simply looking to augment previous games rather than expand the series into pastures new
    • Joystiq: 4.5/5 – Modern Warfare 3 is a great Call of Duty game, just as every other entry in the franchise is a great Call of Duty game. However, it shares more than quality with its predecessors – it, like its forefathers, leaves you waiting for something perfect.
    • IGN: 9/10 – Despite its flaws, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 takes the fantastic series we’ve come to love over the years and iterates on it with great success. The multiplayer is hands-down the best it has ever been, with more features, more modes and a ton of new levels and ways to interact via Call of Duty Elite. The singleplayer campaign and Spec Ops mode add value to the overall package, creating something that may not be perfect, but is too damn addicting to pass up.
    • GameInformer: 9/10 – When it comes down to it, Modern Warfare 3 meets expectations. The core elements of multiplayer and the campaign remain fundamentally unchanged, but the game serves as a great example of how many subtle tweaks can add up to an improved overall product.
    • GameSpot: 8.5/10 – This is some of the best online shooter action around, and with the daunting challenges of Spec Ops and the exciting, globe-trotting campaign, Modern Warfare 3 stands tall as another great descendant of the game that changed a generation.
    • GiantBomb: 4/5 – Modern Warfare 3 feels split between the great excitement of its time-tested multiplayer and the feeling that this whole style of game has just gotten old.
    • Eurogamer: 8/10 – That the single-player story brings the Modern Warfare saga to a fairly definitive end is, then, cause for celebration. Whatever next year’s entry brings, some measure of reinvention will be essential. For now, its exuberant blend of testicular bravado and blockbuster gloss ensures that Call of Duty retains its crown as the shooter genre’s biggest, boldest rollercoaster ride for at least one more year.

  • Siri Successfully Ported to Run on iPhone 4 and iPod Touch

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Featured, iPhone, Jailbreak, News, Rants & Raves, Tech. 1 Response

    Siri has finally made its way to the iPhone 4

    Developer Steven Troughton-Smith had successfully ported the Siri onto the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch. The video provided below not only shows the Siri functionality on an iPhone 4, but is in depth and shows a side-to-side comparison against the iPhone 4S. In addition, the video shows the Siri Dictation in action.

    iPhone 4S jailbreak was the key to make the port working successfully on iPhone 4. 9to5mac’s Mark Gurman has brought this story and an got exclusive interview about the port with the developer:

    Mark: Where do you go from here with the port?

    Steven: At this point it’s all about confirming this works across devices, making it reproducible (we got it working on two devices today), and documenting everything. It does require files from an iPhone 4S which aren’t ours to distribute, and it also requires a validation token from the iPhone 4S that has to be pulled live from a jailbroken iPhone 4S, and it’s about a 20-step process right now.

    Mark: In its current state, is the port 100% functional, is there anything you would like to see work better?

    Steven: Yes, it seems to be 100% functional. I’m working on the rough edges, but everything that works on the iPhone 4S seems to work here.

    Mark: Do you ever see Siri showing up in Cydia (or another jailbreak store) for non natively supported devices?

    Steven: No, I could not be a part of that. I have no doubts that others will package this up and distribute it quasi-illegally, or try and sell it to people. I am only interested in the technology and making it work; proving that it works and works well on the iPhone 4 and other devices.

    Mark: So, you also got Siri working on the fourth-generation iPod touch, how is that working out?

    Steven: We got chpwn’s iPod touch up and running with Siri after proving it works on my iPhone 4. Unfortunately the microphone on the iPod is nowhere near as good as the iPhone – you will notice that the Siri level meter hardly moves when you talk to it. While it does work, you have to speak loudly and clearly to the iPod.

    Mark: How long did porting take you, what was the “I got it” moment?

    Steven: Basically, I already had everything I needed to make it work. I had spent a lot of time mapping out in my head exactly how Siri works on the iPhone. All I needed was access to a jailbroken iPhone 4S to put my hunch to the test. It literally took no longer than 10 minutes to put all the pieces in place and perform our first test on my iPhone 4, and it was an instant success.

  • Watch Microsoft’s Vision of the Post PC Era

    // Gradly // blog, Microsoft, Rants & Raves, Tech. No Responses

    Watch Microsoft’s Vision of the Post PC Era

    Watch how future technology will help people make better use of their time, focus their attention, and strengthen relationships while getting things done at work, home, and on the go.

    The future is amazing, and Microsoft has video to prove it. Watch the clip below: