There are new screens up for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Though this is the fourth installment in the series, this will be the first one to veer away from a World War II setting. This new game will take place in modern times, and so far the visuals are looking really good. Since the Call of Duty series has been one of the few WWII FPS’s to remain consistently popular and fun, we’ll have to see if the game can maintain that without letting people shoot Nazis.

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Orson Scott Card. The “Ender’s Saga” series of novels is among my all-time favorites. Needless to say, when I discovered that Mr. Card was willing to sit down with me to answer a few of my questions, I was elated.

My elation soon turned into anxiety. How do I interview someone I hold in such high regard without sounding completely idiotic? My first instinct of screaming “YOU ARE SO AWESOME” would be the start, and end, of the interview. Luckily, Mr. Card was kind enough to indulge my fan-boy rantings to answer a few of my questions.

In this interview, Orson Scott Card reveals a progress update for the upcoming “Ender’s Game” film, brand-new information regarding plans for video games based on the beloved “Ender’s Saga” series of novels, and his thoughts on the current gaming industry. We want to extend our sincerest thanks to Mr. Card for taking the time out of his busy schedule to speak with us.

Gaming Today: While our readers certainly know your work from the acclaimed Alvin Maker and Saga series of novels, what they might not realize is how often your works have shown up in the gaming world. (Titles like Advent Rising, and smaller parts in The Secret of Monkey Island among others.) How did you get involved in writing for video games?

Orson Scott Card: The writing I did for projects with LucasFilm Games (as they were then called) began when I was invited to visit “the ranch” (back when they were still in the carriagehouse) and look in on some of the games. I loved what they were doing and learned a lot; I’m not sure of the value of my contributions, but I did come up with the insults for Monkey Island (with the help of my kids, who drew on their grade-school experience to create the lame starting insults).

Later, I was hired to write dialogue for two games, one of them “The Dig” and the other a side-scrolling shooter that I’m not sure was ever published, since it was coming out just when first-person shooters completely took over the genre. However, for that game I came up with the slang that I later used in battle school in the Shadow books and in the movie scripts I’ve written for Ender’s Game. Nothing gets wasted.

With Advent Rising, the creators of that game, then at GlyphX (now at Chair Entertainment) invited me to take part early on. The collaboration did not work as we had hoped – I ended up coming in too late to be part of the story development – but I wrote much of the dialogue and established the character relationships. It was a productive partnership, because I later wrote my novel Empire based on the situations created for their game of the same name (not yet finished).

See the rest of this exclusive interview after the jump.

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Aside from the teaser trailer, there really hasn’t been much released on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare only for the fact that we are going to experience a completely new “modern” setting, which is a huge departure from Call of Duty’s WWII origins.

Well, today we finally got some screenshots sent to us that look great, but make me question if any of it is actually in-game or is it concept?  IF the shots are in-game, then Infinity Ward has done a great job with the smoke and lighting in the game.  The one shot in particular with the soldier in the helicopter smoking his cigar looks especially fine.  I just really really hope these bad boys are all in-game cause if they are then it would justify why I just wet myself a little.

1up.com has the score on the latest Xbox Live Marketplace offering. The Call of Duty 3 Bravo Map Pack for the Xbox360 went live today. The best news is that unlike it’s predecessor, the Valor Map Pack, you will be able to play it today. The pack includes five multi-player maps, two of which have previously been released. New content features Aller Haut, Seine River and Rimling. The pack is available for download for 800 points ($10).

So you’ve been considering creating the ultimate Deathmatch map for Doom 3 or the most emotionally moving module for Neverwinter Nights 2 but just have not seen the reason to put all the effort and time into the project. Well GameFlood, a recently launched game modification hosting site, is attempting to sweeten the pot a bit by offering up to $25,000 in awards and prizes for the user created modifications they judge to be the most worthy.

Matthew Wisdom, CEO of TurboSpquid, GameFlood’s parent owner and host of the contest explains why the contest is so important to both his company and himself:

“This contest announcement is a concrete expression of our vision for providing PC gamers and developers with the most comprehensive community platform to play, create, and distribute the most exciting PC add-on content available. The contest is our way of giving something back to developers and innovators of the mod and map making industry and others who are impassioned by extending the life of the finest PC titles in the world.”

Entries for the contest should be submitted by no later than July 16th. Winners will be announced on July 27th, 2007. Cash and products will be awarded to the winners in each category. For details of the categories, supported games and prizes continue reading after the jump.

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Here are the Top 10 XBL titles this week, and the Top 10 Arcade titles. Looks like Gears of War owns XBL, which considering how fun the game is, I completely understand.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles
1 Gears of War
2 Crackdown
3 Halo 3 Beta
4 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
5 Forza Motorsport 2 Demo
6 Guitar Hero II
7 Aegis Wing
8 Call Of Duty 3
9 GRAW 2
10 Oblivion Read the full article

What are your two favourite things? Pretend they’re video games and alchol. A bar in Marietta, Georgia, the Battle and Brew, serves up both lager and games. Gamers can pound beers and pound other players in World of Warcraft, Call of Duty 2, Day of Defeat or even a Guitar Hero II tournament.

Where other bars offer darts or billiards, the B&B offers PlayStation 3, XBox 360, and Wii video games for $6/hr or $20 for all-day. Barflies can even pay $120 for a 1-month all-you-can-play package. As one visitor says, “It’s a pub for geeks.”

I know Ryan has already posted the trailer for Call of Duty 4, and I know that everyone knows it’s coming. But now, it’s official.

Activision and Infinity Ward have confirmed development of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Jason West, co-studio head and project lead at Infinity Ward, says, “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the most intense, visceral title we’ve ever created. The single player campaign is a well-paced, non-stop action experience. As the story unfolds, the player is introduced to new gameplay at every turn – one moment you are fast-roping from your Blackhawk helicopter after storming into the war zone with an armada of choppers, the next you are a sniper, under concealment, in a Ghillie suit miles behind enemy lines, the next you are engaging hostiles from an AC-130 gunship thousands of feet above the battlefield.”

You can expect to see CoD4 in stores this fall for PS3, XBox 360, and PC.

For those of you without cable TV, or those of you that couldn’t bring yourself to tune into the NFL Draft, we bring you the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare trailer. To everyone else: This isn’t for you just keep surfing. Really. Avert your gaze. Now.

Call of Duty 4 ESPN TV Trailer (WMV)

Infinity Ward started laying out hints last week pointing to a major announcement planed for April 28. Activision has now confirmed the announcement is the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare world reveal, slated to air during ESPN’s coverage of the 2007 NFL Draft. Thankfully gamers won’t have to watch the entire monstrously boring ordeal as the press release notes a 1PM EDT airtime. My advice: tune in early, get your CoD 4 fix, get back to gaming.