Hey Everyone –

I wanted to give you the heads up on a lot of cool changes coming to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer in the month of December. Before you ask, there is no ETA on these changes, most are included in the upcoming patch, with all the playlists stuff happening independently at some point in the near future.

All of these changes are thanks to YOUR direct feedback and suggestions through Xbox.com forums, emails, IMing me personally, and any other way you managed to get your feedback to us. So what can you expect?

Multiplayer Playlist Changes:

The multiplayer playlists in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare are always evolving based on community feedback and stats we track behind the scenes. We’re focused on constantly keeping the game fresh and tweaking it based on your feedback, so expect the following Playlist changes to be hitting soon:

Team Deathmatch

* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Mercenary Team Deathmatch

* Brand New Playlists: No Clans / Parties allowed.
* Players who don’t want to be matchmade with clans (or people in parties) can team up with fellow lone wolves and play some TDM.

Free-for-All

* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.
* Score Limit Change: 100 Points

Domination

* Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now availalbe in map rotation.

Ground War

* No changes.

Sabatoge

* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Headquarters

* Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now availalbe in map rotation.

Search and Destroy

* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Team Tactical

* Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now availalbe in map rotation.

Hardcore Team Deathmatch

* Brand New Playlist: 100% Hardcore Team Deathmatch Only
* No longer switched between Hardcore Search and Destroy and Hardcore Team Deathmatch
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Hardcore Search and Destroy

* Brand New Playlist: 100% Hardcore Search and Destroy Only
* No longer switched between Hardcore Search and Destroy and Hardcore Team Deathmatch
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Old School

* Rule Set Change: Free-for-All Only w/ Old School Rules
* Increased Health (slightly)
* No Health Re-gen
* Score Limit Change: 100 points
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.

Cage Match

* Rule Set Change: No Longer Old School Mode
* 1 v 1: Normal Rules
* Map Added to Rotation: Countdown - now availalbe in map rotation
* Map Added to Rotation: District - now available in map rotation

Oldcore

* Playlist Removed

Team Objective

* Playlist Removed
* All gametypes included now available individually.

Upcoming Patch Updates (Seperate from above Playlist changes):

Addition of Host Migration

* If Host of lobby leaves, all players will be deposited back to the lobby where next best host will be selected before new game restarts. Players will no longer be kicked out of game entirely.

Improved Network Performance For Larger Games

* 18 player games now require more bandwidth to host, resulting in smoother performance for players.

Optimized Server Selection for First Match

* Server selection is now optimized to select best bandwidth servers associated by LSP.

Updated Spectator “Chase Cam”

* Change Spectator Mode: Switch between First Person and Third Person.
* 360 Degree rotation around character you’re spectating.

Fixed “Playlist Older Than Host” Error

* Player will no longer get error when entering games.

Optimized Corrupt Create-a-Class Handling

* Players will no longer be kicked from game when their create-a-class data is corrupted.

Added Kill Cam To Everything

* Kill Cam view Added: Air Strike Bombs (Follows bomb from plane to target)
* Kill Cam view Added: Grenades (Follows frag from hand to ground, then rotates to view target)
* Kill Cam view Added: RPGs (Follows RPG from launch to target)
* Kill Cam view Added: M203 Rounds (Follows round from launcher to target)
* Kill Cam view Added: Claymores (Views from behind claymore until explosion)
* Kill Cam view Added: C4 Packs (View from pack rotating to watch target)
* Kill Cam view Added: Martrdom (View from grenade rotating to watch target)

Optimized Old School Experience

* Added Unlimited Sprint
* Doubled Magazine Size
* Added Ragdoll Cam

Additional Start Spawn Locations in All Maps

* Added a minimum of 9 extra start spawns on each side of all maps.

Optimized Sniper Rifle / ACOG Scope Accuracy

* Sniper Rifles and ACOG scope accuracy improved due to fix.

Fixed Weapon Sprint Bug

* Bug which gave players more sprint when using particular weapons.

Thanks again for your constant feedback and support of the game, keep in mind that playlists are constantly evolving, so everything is subject to change based on feedback and results. If we feel something isn’t fun or based on your feedback we’ll continue to change it up and I’ll continue to keep you in the loop.

Thanks everyone.

(The Playlist changes apply to both the 360 and the PS3 versions, but the PS3 will have different patch changes)