‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ is official, releases 5 November

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s official. “Ghosts are real”, reads the slogan for Activsion’s new Call of Duty. The much rumored and anticipated Call of Duty: Ghosts has just been revealed and made available for pre-order by Activision. This is the tenth installment for the record-breaking first-person shooter series and you can expect to see an eventful preview 21 May 10AM PDT on Xbox.com or Xbox live called “Xbox: the Next Generation Revealed”.

The official Call of Duty Twitter account says that the next COD will be “the next generation of Call of Duty.” Changes to gameplay features are still only rumors although it is officially stated that the new engine will bring us “amazing graphics and next generation features. Ghosts delivers an all-new story, all-new characters, an all-new Call of Duty world, all powered by a next generation Call of Duty engine.”

It’s all about masks, shadows and identity, so we can for now at least expect a decent team of stealth operatives protecting oblivious civilians in the shadows. “There are those who wear masks to hide… and there are those who wear masks to protect us all.” The strange yet thrilling trailer has been released showcasing a series of traditional warriors in masks. Weird as it may be, it’s still enticing.

As some expected, the publishers at Activision didn’t continue the successful Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series with a boring follow-up but instead branched off into a different direction. Starting with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Activision has broken its own record four times in four years. As it stands, Call of Duty: Black Ops II has been the biggest entertainment launch of all time.

Activision should be fearless by now, as it’s reached combined sales of US$1-billion with its COD games. Hopefully it’s not too fearless with this “next generation” game that would make it vulnerable against the competitive titles such as EA’s Battlefield 4. EA’s next-gen (possibly) title is said to be released about two weeks before Ghosts.

Infinity Ward, the company who brought us the Modern Warfare series, is said to be the developers behind Ghosts and not Treyarch who created Black Ops. Infinity Ward producer Mark Rubin confirms that Ghosts will be the next-gen FPS. “We saw the console transition as the perfect opportunity to start a new chapter for Call of Duty. So we’re building a new sub-brand, a new engine, and a lot of new ideas and experiences for our players. We can’t wait to share them with our community.” The title makes its debut together with the launch of the new Xbox 21 May. It will be shipped 5 November for the current Xbox, the PS3 and PC.