The creative strategist behind Call of Duty  has resigned, prompting me to ask the dickish question. When was the last time we actually found anything resembling creative strategy in the Call of Duty  franchise? From the DLC to the ad campaigns to the treatment of their fans. It’s all pretty bland to me.

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Call of Duty is a license to print money. Lots, and lots, and lots of money. I know it’s not cool for a “real“  gamer to dig the franchise, but I lap it up. Along with millions of others.

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Motherfuckers at the Call of Duty XP WunderFragFest over the weekend got a black goodie bag which contains something not belonging to them. No sir. The lads and lasses got a Call of Duty-theme Mountain Dew, which gives them access to double xp. Is there anything more designed for this guy right here?

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The details for Modern Warfare 3’s ‘Hardened Edition’ have leaked, and for $80 you can snag yourself a long list of bullshit. Something  that may make it worth purchasing for me however is the year-long subscription to Call of Duty: Elite.

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Jason West and Vince Zampella are the creators of Call of Duty, and also the two heads who got jettisoned out of  Infinity Ward last year in that enormous story of subterfuge and corporate espionage. The two of them have rallied by creating  Respawn Entertainment, and we’re finally getting word of their first game. A sci-fi shooter. Fuck yes.

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You can almost smell the sizzling scent of frying flesh on this forthcoming long weekend. Or uh, tofu if you’re of the vegetarian assort! Whatever it is, hell yeah motherfuckers! Welcome to the  pretty much fucking Memorial Day edition of  Press Start! The  column that spits on the five things in the world of gaming that caught my eye this week.

The list is incomplete, based on whimsy, and structured in a way to encourage your participation. Let’s fucking dance!

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EA CEO John Riccitiello was delivering a speech at the Ad Age Conference, whatever the fuck that is, when he dropped some speculation regarding the advertising budget for the next Battlefield and Call of Duty games.  Riccitiello predicted the next installments of  his company’s Battlefield, as well as Activision’s Call of Duty  could see their ad campaigns exceed $100 fucking million dollars.

That’s a lot of Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers.

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There’s another sexy Black Ops infographic on the prowl, this one courtesy of Activision. There’s some fucking ridiculous stats to be had.  Since launch, there’s been over one trillion shots fired, and there are one-hundred and sixty-one World War IIs fought everyday. Fancy some more stats? Hit the jump for the full graphic.

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There’s been rumors of Call of Duty adding its own fee for online multiplayer for a good amount of time. So while those fears weren’t completely confirmed in a recent report, there is certainly something to be anxious about. Even if base online Call of Duty will remain free forever, it is looking more and more like there will be a tiered service implemented soon. Kotaku mentions in a new article that analysts at Wedbush Securities feel a new premium level of online gaming will hit in the next three months, and quotes them as saying:

Activision remains a top pick, primarily due to the company’s potential to create and monetize a second tier of multiplayer online gaming for its Call of Duty franchise.

[cont]

We expect this to occur during the first quarter of 2011.

Well, balls. There’s two important pieces of information missing from this speculation. What would it cost, and what would it give you? It is reinforced in the Kotaku article that Bobby Kotick and Activision state you’ll never have to pay for out of the box CoD multiplayer. But if they nerf that to sweet shit and all the decent action lays in the premium service? Well fuck. I already pay for WoW and Xbox Live (yearly). Having to add in a third payment isn’t feasible for me at this point, and I don’t play enough to justify it anyways.

Here’s hoping the rumor isn’t true (but I bet it is), and if it is, that the cost would be negligible (why would it be?).

Thoughts? Hit the comments box.

Over at Dorkly, they have some riveting letters from the “frontline” of Call of Duty. They are a testament to the world of Call of Duty. Wrought with douchebags jumping up and down (me), blinding themselves with grenades (me) and ultimately repsawning only to get knifed in the back while still too busy swearing (me).

Hit Dorkly for the rest of the epistles.

Via.