14 DAY TRIAL // For those who care more about the videogames that bear the Call of Duty moniker than about the huge drama surrounding the developers at Infinity Ward and the corporate types at Activision, Friday will be quite a big day as the first trailer for the next title in the series, developed by Treyarch, will be unveiled, putting an end to the speculation about its setting and about the changes the developers will make to the formula.
All those who are interested need to tune in Gametrailers on Friday and wait to see what Activision is ready to show off. It's highly unlikely we will see any gameplay footage or any clear indication of where the plot of the game is headed. Rumors are suggesting that the new Call of Duty will move on from World War II to Vietnam, taking cues from movies like Apocalypse Now and Platoon. We'll know more when we see the footage.
The casting call is the biggest source of actual hard information on the new Call of Duty title, talking about characters like Frank Barnes, the leader of the team, described as being “fiercely patriotic,” Joseph Lewis, who is “physically fit” and, probably, a heavy weapons guy, Jason Hudson, who is a veteran of the armed forces of 15 years, and the token female, Kristina Ivanova, who was born in Russia, is trained in martial arts and works for the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Vietnam edition of Call of Duty will go up against the reborn Medal of Honor from DICE and Electronic Arts, which is also set to arrive during the all-important run up to Christmas. It will be a battle of Afghanistan against Vietnam as far as first person shooter settings go with the Spartans of Halo: Reach looming threateningly in the background and hoping to take a piece of the sales pie.