Australian X360 magazine scans

[UPDATED] Both the Australian and US Official Xbox 360 Magazine (OXM) were scanned. With it, some interesting info...

There have already been a couple of magazines telling pretty much the same Modern Warfare 2 story. Now, will this latest article add something new?. If you would like the full article, be my guest... If you would like the quick notes and facts we've collected from the article, read along! This two part article consists out of an interview and with Australian game developer Michael Boon —who has been with Infinity Ward for 7 years now—, and an article piece on the same gameplay footage other magazines had the privilege of being showed...

Jump down for the scans ∨

[UPDATE] below ∨

Engine

OXM: How has the game engine evolved over the course of the Call of Duty series?

MB: We've kept the same code base since Call of Duty 2. It's just been tweaked incrementally for each game. Which is really beneficial because it means that when we start development on the next game we can immediately start building levels and art assets, and we rarely have to redo anything from the previous game.

OXM: What changes have you made to the game engine for MW2?

MB: The character lighting is far more realistic, and our streaming technology has also been enhanced - which means we can incorporate a greater amount of detail into the textures, and also enables us to build much bigger levels.
[..]
Our character models also have more joints, and our AI has improved so they animate a lot better. And there's a lot more that the player can do - the snowmobiles and ice-climbing you've seen are just tip of the iceberg, pardon the pun - and it's just been fun adding tons of new gameplay rather just building a new engine.

Patched up

Infinity Ward is apparently lining up a live patching system that will solve online problems without the need to download hefty updates.

Storyline

OXM: The setting of MW2 is fictitious unlike previous Call of Duty's, are you happy with that decision?

MB: We do get our inspiration from real life, as well as from movies and television, so in MW2 you'll see some levels set in Afghanistan which is not specifically based on current events over there - we've just seen footage of it on the news or whatever and decided that it looked like an interesting place to tie into our story.

Afghanistan

Modern Warfare 2 in Afghanistan Making your way down a precarious path that winds its way along the edge of the canyon and rappelling down sheer cliff faces, you'll discover an intricate network of caves, where insurgents have holed up. IW cheerfully admits it's Tora Bora-style cave encampment is based on Iron Man, and it's humming with tech hidden beneath the earth.

Rio de Janeiro

Having discovered some shotgun cartridges they're traced back to an arms dealer in Rio and your unit is charged with tracking him down. All hell breaks loose and you're pitched into a nightmarish gun battle in a slum. IW demonstrated this environment to show off the new streaming technology. It allows for levels five times the size of CoD4's, and the multiple routes through the corrugated steel buildings are evidence of the effect the tech will have on the experience.

Gameplay

Zampella is keen to point out, though, that while it may not be an attempt at absolute realism, the game will remain convincing. "It's all very story-driven. We consider this an entertainment experience; it's like an action movie that you play, so everything's built around that." He goes on: "We've never gone for realistic, more for authentic. So if you see a soldier, his gear's going to be authentic, he's going to look legit, his tactics are going to be real, but obviously we go over the top on some things where it has to be fun. We're not building a sim, we're building a game."