Holiday blockbusters usually come in the form of big-screen movies, but this season all eyes are on a video game that’s all about shooting and online play.
About 10,000 stores nationwide opened at midnight to begin selling “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” a game that pits users against one another in a modern battlefield scenario. The game features stunning graphics, a movie-like plot and the ability to take on opponents via the Internet.
The “Call of Duty” series — which has had five main titles and several related games — has sold more than 28 million copies since the first release in 2003.
“The first (Modern Warfare) game did so well, everyone is expecting this one to surpass that,” said Matt McDade, owner of Game Source, a used video game store in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. “The graphics are awesome. ... I’ve been having people call me about it pretty regularly for the last three weeks.”
The game retails for $60, with some limited-edition packages selling for as much as $400. Fans worldwide are expected to spend at least half a billion dollars on the game in the first week, according to The Associated Press.
By comparison, last year’s big motion picture holiday release, “Twilight,” took in $191 million in the United States, while 2008’s biggest movie, “The Dark Knight,” brought in about $530 million.
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Staff Photo by John Vass Jr.
A line in front of the GameStop at the foot of Signal Mountain on Monday night awaited the store's handing out of video game "Modern Warfare 2."
The store was set to issue preorders after midnight for those who preordered.
“It’s a great first-person shooter game. It’s really realistic, has a good story line, but the multiplayer feature — being able to go online and play against other players — was just huge,” said Erik Bhatnagar, co-owner of Chattanooga’s Play ‘n’ Trade.
Chattanoogan Lee Dewitt, 20, said he plans to get the game at Best Buy first thing this morning.
“We’ve just been waiting on it for a couple months now,” Mr. Dewitt said.
Mr. Dewitt said he’s been playing the last release of “Modern Warfare” with the same group of players via the Internet for about two years. They’ve all agreed to go online and play the new version tonight.
“It’s hard to explain to someone who is not a video gamer,” he said. “It’s just the biggest thing around for us right now. It’s like our ‘Star Wars.’”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
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