Leaked Video Stimulus Package

[UPDATED] ConsoleTECH leaked a video showing gameplay on 3 (of the total 5) maps to be released on March 30th.

f

Too bad 2 of those are Crash and Overgrown, the maps that are brought over from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The third map however, would be Storm. Check it out for yourself (and start learning?):

To explain a little of what you're seeing;

Crash

It's played in 3rd person (that wasn't available in CoD4) and there are new elements all over the map, nothing major though. When he runs inside for the first time (@0:10) you see the interiors have been redecorated (even though the scale of that stupid counter is still HUGE). At 0:27 you can see an object that wasn't in CoD4 either, some kind of power cable connector. He is shooting it with the FAMAS. All-in-all, nothing changed really. Even though it looks a bit better overall.

Overgrown

Even though this map has had a face lift as well, we don't see many of the changes right off the bat. Obviously the character model and weapon have not been loaded correctly, but besides that the only change we see is the effects of the sun shining through the window (@1:19) and a paint job at 2:18...

Storm

This is what we've been waiting for, a new map! Study it well! "Storm is set in the middle of a rainy downpour and an intense thunderstorm that's rolling in with some other weather effects. It has all these abandoned warehouses that have been turned into outposts for military units." -fourzerotwo
By the looks of it, this won't be the best map for snipers as there are many narrow alleys. Although there is a big open spot around 3:13 when he's off to an abandoned warehouse. You can also see a nice big lightning around 3:09. By the looks of it, it's quite a large map suitable for many different gametypes.

[UPDATE] Here is another video that shows a lot more of the map Storm. Right at the start of the video you can see the map layout at 0:19. If you first checked the video above, you can now skip to 1:35 as it's the same piece of gameplay as shown in that video. Right after though, they switch to a spectator view, showing the map from a birds eye view. As you can see around 1:42 the roof at the water tower will be a great spot for snipers. But the broken down warehouse in the middle of the map will be the center of attention and firefights.

Again, study this video well and you'll have the upper hand when it's released in just 11 days! Thanks again to ConsoleTECH.

Double XP weekend

Robert Bowling confirmed the first MW2 double XP weekend through twitter!

Source: @Fourzerotwo

Mark the calendars now! April 2nd - 5th marks the first Double XP weekend on #MW2 for #xboxlive worldwide. New Maps + Double XP = No sleep.

No news on a double XP weekend for PS3/PC users yet. Check back to this article regularly for the latest...