Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4 was fantastic. Treyarch's CoD3 wasn't as fantastic. Granted, it was pretty good! But honestly, not as good as Infinity Ward's CoD2. (See where this is going?) Says CoD5 senior producer Noah Heller:

Yes. Not just screenshots, but details. Details like a confirmation that the game will be taking place in both the Pacific and European theatres, as you control not only the Americans fighting the Japanese, but the Russians on their advance towards Berlin as well. Again. More details: the game will boast four-player, drop-in-drop-out co-op play for the 360, PS3 and PC versions of the game (Wii owners, you get "a unique co-op mode for two players"). Oh, and the game will also feature a scaling difficulty curve, based upon "a player's experience rank and rank of the player's friends" (when playing co-op). Screens are below, concept art and presser after the jump.

Well, here you go. Our first look at Call of Duty: World At War. There's World War Two, explosions, American soldiers running around shooting bad guys. It all looks very nice, very moody, very well-lit. Before you start: we know, yes, it might not bring the Infinity Ward Shit like Infinity Ward did, but can we have one CoD5 post go by where people can at least give developers Treyarch the benefit of the doubt? It'd make a pleasant change. Thanks.

The first details about upcoming Call of Duty 5 hit today. Unlike the modern CoD4, CoD5 will return to WWII. The game will be set in the Pacific Theatre. Also unlike CoD4, the game won't be developed by Infinity Ward, but CoD3 dev Treyarch. The upcoming title will feature co-op — a first for the series. Also, multiplayer will feature vehicles and squad-elements as well. The game is truly multi-plat, and the Wii version is being developed by a separate Treyarch team and will support the Wii Zapper. The game is gritty, apparently. How gritty?

Sources tell us that the upcoming Call of Duty 5 game in development is already playable, and currently going through quality assurance.

Treyarch is also said to be the developer, and the title, we're told, is set in a WWII Pacific environment and will be using Call of Duty 4's engine, the same engine on which the upcoming James Bond: Quantum of Solace movie game is being built.

Yesterday, on the company's call to investors, Activision publishing CEO Mike Griffith said CoD5 would be coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and DS, in addition to a return for the franchise to PS2 and Wii for the first time in two years.

During the company's call to investors yesterday, Activision publishing CEO Mike Griffith revealed big plans for the next installment in the Call of Duty franchise, which helped drive the company to a record $US 2.90 billion in revenue on the year.

"We'll bring the intensity of the recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare title to a new military theatre," Griffith said, adding that CoD4's success "doubled" the franchise's user base.

What a wonderful world it would be if Infinity Ward became the sole developer of the Call of Duty franchise, as rumours earlier today seemed to indicate, but it's one wonderful world that we won't be seeing anytime soon. Speaking to Eurogamer, Activision has vehemently denied the rumours.

A spokesperson for the publisher told Eurogamer it was a total fabrication, and that Treyarch and Infinity Ward would still alternately create installments in the shooter series.

Someone who is more than close enough to know such things has tipped us off over the weekend that, yes, Treyarch are indeed hard at work on Call of Duty 5. And that, yes, the series is heading back to World War II. That's the stuff we'd heard already. What we didn't know is that, according to this tipster, the game's set in the under-utilized Pacific theater, something only one major WWII shooter - the awful Medal of Honour: Pacific Assault - has tried before. While (if true) the move back to well-worn WWII is mostly disappointing, if this game can branch out and explore some of the less "popular" aspects of the conflict (China, Burma, New Guinea), it might not be so bad.
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Several kotakuites have pointed us towards a PDF file detailing the Activision and Vivendi deal on Vivendi's website, getting all overexcited by the games listed as being in the pipeline on the Activision side. Guitar Hero IV and Call of Duty 5 are listed, alongside new Marvel titles, a new Tony Hawk game, a racing game from Bizarre, new Dreamworks titles, and James Bond. The vibe I've been getting from these emails is "OMG! Guitar Hero IV! CoD 5!" Come on folks, really. Was there any doubt that those two titles would be getting additional sequels? Was there some big scare I missed where they hinted that their most popular franchises were ending with the last installments? Calm down. Have yourself a nice cup of tea and save the excitement for when they announce Call of Guitar Hero, where you travel from the future to battle Nazis with the one weapon they can't counter - ROCK AND ROLL. *throws up horns*

Vivendi Activision Merger Fact Sheet (PDF) [Vivendi - Thanks Everyone]