MW2 boards reset likely prior to launch

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 November, 2009

Plus: possible perk/killstreak lists leaked.

Infinity Ward has said that it will probably reset the leaderboards for Modern Warfare 2 just prior to launch on 10th November.

"It definitely looks like a full leaderboard / level reset is in order just before the release date to ensure no unfair advantages," IW's Robert Bowling tweeted.

Who might have an unfair advantage? Well, the game's now been pirated on Xbox 360, so those people, assuming Microsoft hasn't banned them all by the 10th.

Those people are also presumably responsible for leaks including a killstreak reward list and details on perks, which probably constitute spoilers.

IW has declined to comment on them.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • RedPanda #1 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Xerx3s #2 2 years ago

    Surely it's much easier to ban everybody on that list who isn't a reviewer/etc.

  • smoison #3 2 years ago

    The torrent numbers online seem to disagree with you.

    Xbox piracy seems pretty rampant.

  • bluem4gic #4 2 years ago

    And they say PC Piracy is rife!

  • skillian #5 2 years ago

    The torrent numbers online seem to disagree with you.

    Indeed. MW2 and Dragon Age have seen thousands of downloads from all the big torrent sites over the weekend.

  • skillian #6 2 years ago

    No-one's saying it's as big as PC piracy.

    But the numbers are increasing with every big release, especially now it no longer needs any hardware changes and can all be done in software.

    Another surprising thing is that now the Xbox 360 version is usually the first one to appear online, even before the PC version. That never used to happen a year or two ago.

  • rhinoxious #7 2 years ago

    When's the reviews embargo for Modern Warfare 2?

    Presumably reviewers from 'selected' publications must already have final code?

  • makeamazing #8 2 years ago

    Sounds like a good idea to clean the boards before the game is released.. hopefully they are able to ban as many pirates as possible... scum :)

    Anyone else miss the old Donnie, whatever happened to him... :D

  • Murton #9 2 years ago

    Since the software solution for piracy on the 360 came out there's been a massive jump in the number of pirated games on that platform. I find it strange however that these days while every major player in the industry is crying about piracy and how it must be stopped not one person is making the argument "learn to develop for the PS3, the only platform on the market with a piracy rate of zero" not even Sony is saying that. Very strange.


    Also, isn't wiping the boards just before release day sending the wrong message? It's good to remove the perks and level the playing field of course, but IW don't seem overly concerned with making sure said pirates aren't still playing when the game finally hits shelves.

  • Fab4 #10 2 years ago

    "lso, isn't wiping the boards just before release day sending the wrong message? It's good to remove the perks and level the playing field of course, but IW don't seem overly concerned with making sure said pirates aren't still playing when the game finally hits shelves."

    IW may not but judging from the recent wave of bans being complained about on Xbox.com, M$ definitely are. Although they have mostly been for XBL exclusive content, such as Forza and ODST, so mabye that's their only concern.

  • Brianstorm #11 2 years ago

    It stops the counter as soon as the perks are used, just like the first MW game.

  • promba #12 2 years ago

    I am always asking myself how those guys get the games before the realeses..

  • rhinoxious #13 2 years ago

    It's worth remembering that the efforts of pirates will usually be concentrated on teh most obvious target, which is certainly the 360 at present, still its held out fairly well compared to previous generations, and unlike the Xbox, I personally know no one with a cracked 360 (purely anecdotal of course).

  • rhinoxious #14 2 years ago

    "It stops the counter as soon as the perks are used, just like the first MW game. "

    Are you sure? I thought that the first game let you continue to build a killstreak, so that a well-placed airstrike would usually get you the heli as a result - or did I just dream that?

  • Feanor #15 2 years ago

    Nice to see some decent reporting on this by EG after the ignorant cunts at Kotaku automatically blamed these leaks on PC piracy, and when they found out it was from the 360 version, they removed any mention of piracy from their story.

    http://ko taku.com/5394738/modern-warfare...

  • solidSnake04 #16 2 years ago

    @rhinoxious
    you didn't. the kill streak carries over all the way up to the heli(on COD4). now considering you get the heli(on MW2) and then hide somewhere...going by that killstreak list, things are gonna turn pretty bad way too quickly for whoever is in the wrong end of the stick.
    Edited by 1 at 02/11/09 @ 20:02

  • canadian_eurogamer #17 2 years ago

    Hahahaha. I love coming to Eurogamer for the their amazing reviews and digital foundry's awesome graphics analysis tests they perform. Wiping the leaderboards just because pirates play the game early is fine but thinking Microsoft is gonna find us all is another thing. In actuality I do expect a lot of bans because the early copies that came out were done by amateurs. The legit ones are only coming now. Regardless a lot of people will be getting bans. Microsoft hasn't stepped up their game properly. In addition to banning consoles for playing faulty rips they are banning gamertags for playing games early now hence why there was a huge ban wave recently happened for Forza, Borderlands and Tekken 6. That's why actual people with early copies are getting banned and why Microsoft has the balls to ask those early buyers to keep their receipts for proof. Regardless of all that expect a larger number of people playing online than copies sold come release date ;)

  • YourMessageHere #18 2 years ago

    Am I missing something? Firstly, why, if the release is over a week away, are there already servers to play on and operating leaderboards? They shouldn't have to wipe the leaderboards, because there should be none until the game is officially available. Secondly, if the game's yet to be released, then everyone playing it right now is playing an illegal copy. Why not ban them all?

  • IMD1_Pk #19 2 years ago

    Well in some instances stores break street release dates and some online stores ship games out early mistakenly sometimes. There is always a possibility. Like the other user said, Microsoft is banning all these modders for playing early as well as store bought ones. The numerous reviewers or places that got early access to the game could all be targeted if Microsoft just starts banning all the players. They must have some system in place to tell if it is real or not.

  • redeyecult #20 2 years ago

    my mate has it what a ass

  • redeyecult #21 2 years ago

    ps3 rules supreme!!!

  • symanmon #22 2 years ago

    They shouldn't ban everyone, My 360 copy turned up Saturday - ordered from an online store. Another mates PS3 version turned up Friday morning!

    I agree they should probably reset though, the perks give a much more unfair advantage than in cod4.

  • james-mw3-mw3 #23 7 months ago

    MW3 will see the return of Task Force 141 Captain John "Soap" MacTavish and SAS Captain John Price! Call of Duty games have always had a great cast, weaponry and perks, I'm sure MW3 will continue that line. To think that Activision has slated Modern Warfare 3 for a November 8, 2011 release.