‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ announced: what we know so far

On November 5, first-person shooter fans everywhere will be calling in sick so they can play the brand new Call of Duty: Ghosts, the newly-confirmed tenth game in the Call of Duty series.

In a May 1 announcement, Activision unveiled its early plans for the latest Call of Duty game, which will be coming just in time for holiday shopping. The announcement was made alongside the release of this trailer; while it doesn’t show much in the way of gameplay, it should serve to excite first-person shooter fans about the upcoming release.

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Here’s a rundown on what we know about the game so far:

It’s not Modern Warfare 4

Despite being developed by Infinity Ward, the same company that worked on the first three Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games, Ghosts will be based on a new story with different characters and setting than any previous CoD game.

“Everyone was expecting us to make Modern Warfare 4, which would have been the safe thing to do, but we’re not resting on our laurels,” Mark Rubin, executive producer of Infinity ward, said in a statement. “We saw the console transition as the perfect opportunity to start a new chapter for Call of Duty. So we’re building a new sub-brand, a new engine, and a lot of new ideas and experiences for our players.”

It’s won’t be an exclusive

It looks like Activision is giving preferential treatment to Xbox, but Call of Duty: Ghosts will be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, as well as the next generation consoles. In fact, we’re going to have to wait until Xbox reveals more information on their next-gen console on May 21 before we learn much more about Call of Duty: Ghosts.

More information about the game will be unveiled at the console announcement event. And despite previous Call of Duty games making appearances on mobile gaming platforms, there’s no mention of a mobile version of Call of Duty: Ghosts at the moment. It’s also unclear whether it will be appearing on Nintendo’s next-generation console the Wii U, although some blogs report seeing the Wii U logo on the teaser site. For now, pre-orders are limited to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

It’s going to face some stiff competition

Call of Duty: Ghosts won’t be the only shooter released just ahead of the holiday buying rush: as Forbes points out, it’s going to face some stiff competition from Battlefield 4, which will be released on October 25. Forbes reports that it won’t be the first time the Call of Duty franchise will be going up against Battlefield. In 2011, Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 were in fierce competition for shooter fans, although Call of Duty continues a dominant streak in the world of first and third-person shooter video games.

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It may not be entirely new characters

This one is largely speculation, but IGN points out that the title and use of a particular mask may tie the game’s storyline to that of Ghost, a character featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and a spin-off comic series, Modern Warfare 2: Ghost. There’s no real explanation as to what the connection between the character and the new story may be (if any), but it could provide an interesting tie-in for long time Call of Duty fans.

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