Lets wind the clocks back 8 years ago. Pc gaming is still going strong and games actually get expansion packs. Now what would an expansion pack get you might ask. Well first a new single player. Secondly more content. Finally it might get a new mode.   The game might also have a slightly updated look. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS. New mode, more weapons , perks, maps and such, new single player. I cannot say im surprised, but it is still blatant as hell. If this came out 8 years ago, it would be called a glorified expansion pack. Lets take a look. 
  MW3 in all its glory.

I got it pre-ordered on steam already.

I need new maps and a new campaign. 
Your definition of an expansion pack sounds just like most sequels coming out today.

Here we go again...

Wait, I'm confused. Are you saying this Call of Duty game looks like a Call of Duty game?

This is the exact reason I have no interest in BF3. 

What were you expecting? To re-invent the genre again? 
Look, Activision's got a cash cow, and they're gonna milk it as much as they can. They probably make 10x more the money they used to make the game.  
The game hasn't changed in 4 years now, each year they'll add one or two minor things, and it will keep going until people stop buying it.

Lets wind the clocks back 8 years ago. Pc gaming is still going strong and games actually get expansion packs. Now what would an expansion pack get you might ask. Well first a new single player. Secondly more content. Finally it might get a new mode.   The game might also have a slightly updated look. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS. New mode, more weapons , perks, maps and such, new single player. I cannot say im surprised, but it is still blatant as hell. If this came out 8 years ago, it would be called a glorified expansion pack. Lets take a look. 

  MW3 in all its glory.    

@Dawglet said:

This is the exact reason I have no interest in BF3.

You have no intrest in BF3 because MW3 looks like MW2? Or because MW hasn't changed?

@Dawglet said:

This is the exact reason I have no interest in BF3.

You have no intrest in BF3 because MW3 looks like MW2? Or because MW hasn't changed?

Can't any game be looked at in the same way though? 
New single player campaign and features, new multiplayer maps and features, new modes, perks, weapons, etc. 
By these standards I'm not sure what you would really define as a true sequel.

@pieman32 said:

Lets wind the clocks back 8 years ago. Pc gaming is still going strong and games actually get expansion packs. Now what would an expansion pack get you might ask. Well first a new single player. Secondly more content. Finally it might get a new mode.   The game might also have a slightly updated look. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS. New mode, more weapons , perks, maps and such, new single player. I cannot say im surprised, but it is still blatant as hell. If this came out 8 years ago, it would be called a glorified expansion pack. Lets take a look. 

  MW3 in all its glory.    

 So, it's like every other sequel this generation of consoles?     K.

Standards have dropped.
 
Get over it, let others have their fun.

I agree it is an expansion pack being packaged and rolled out in a glossy new box with a new manual for $60, and it will sell millions upon millions of copies at that price point. 
 
Just like NHL 12 features an updated roster, some new collision physics and the Winnipeg Jets and is being rolled out for $69.99 - $79.99 depending on stores. It too will sell a shitload. 
 
While we all keep buying needless sequels with minor updates at full price points, the devs will continue to rape us. 
 
I look forward to the day this stuff just gets rolled out into a yearly DLC subscription plan. Ironcially, maybe the CoD Elite program is the beginning of this? 
 
It's already been done with BFBC2 Vietnam.

@pieman32 said:

The game might also have a slightly updated look. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS. New mode, more weapons , perks, maps and such, new single player.

So, to not be an expansion pack by your definition, a game needs more than what you've listed above? What else is there? What titles exactly are you referring to from 8 years ago? "Lazy sequel"? You know they've been working on this game since Black Ops? Maybe even before? If you want a lazy sequel, or to rant about expansion packs, go mess with those annualized sports games.

This isn't even remotely what someone would refer to as an expansion pack. By definition, an expansion pack is something that you add onto an existing thing and this game is completely standalone. Expansion packs are now called DLC. New multiplayer maps for CoD is an expansion pack. New Zombie mode nonsense is an expansion pack. New Super Street Fighter was an expansion pack. Modern Warfare 3 is not an expansion pack. Dunno what else to say.

Standards have dropped.  Get over it, let others have their fun.

It's hard to call a game a glorified expansion pack when it hasn't come out yet.

Considering that I have at least 72 hours of multiplayer time in every COD game I don't feel ripped off. I even had over 4 weeks of play time in COD4. If you even include the zombies mode and single player then each COD game has given me at least 100 hours of play time. I enjoy reading angry posts from gaming hipters that hate when other people are having fun.

This seems like it would have been a good blog post.

Wait. . . Oh god.

I've been had!

This seems like a glorified troll post

Super Mario Galaxy 2 was also a glorified expansion pack, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a great game.  For fans of COD, this will be no different.

Wait, I'm confused. Are you saying this Call of Duty game looks like a Call of Duty game?

You could say the same about all annualized games like Madden

Yeah kind of, but if you love CoD i don't see the problem. 
Edit: And by the way, people called New Vegas more of the same...retards.

If you come to Call of Duty looking for anything else at this point you're a fucking idiot.
 
This may surprise you, but game development is still a business and Modern Warfare still gets sold. Activision would be have to be off their shit to try changing things up when they are still rolling in this much bank.
 
Necessity is the mother of invention, not contentment.

It looks like a Call of Duty game? Gee, NOBODY ELSE EVER NOTICED THAT. EVER.

Call of Duty killed my parents, but I'm not sure why you're so upset.

...and 
 
Apathy is the glove into which evil slips it's hand. 
 
People cry about Activision and Bobby Kotick continuously and still go out and buy every edition of CoD.  
 
That's the whole point of this post. If shit sells, shit will continue to be produced.

@pieman32: What is it to you anyway, are you paying for our Mw3 copy?

hehe...this thread again. 
 
 
We'll wait and see what happens, I'll be too busy playing the FAR Superior battlefield 3 anyhoo

@LordXavierBritish: Its true, maybe I am a fucking idiot for hoping for more, but can you really blame me for hoping ?

@pieman32 said:

@Daiphyer: reinvention is not necessaries, look at bf3 ( dont roll your eyes yet). Its is a combination of bad company 2 and battlefield 2 and it looks awesome. There is very little new or reinvented in there, it just looks like a proper good sequel to BF2.

BF3 = Very little and improved = GENIUS.

MW3 = Very little and improved = /RAGE

And this is by no means a BF3 fanboy troll topic. Tell me more.

@Revenant86 said:

hehe...this thread again. We'll wait and see what happens, I'll be too busy playing the FAR Superior battlefield 3 anyhoo

Halo still owns both Battlefield and CoD, so I´ll be playing that the most.

It has new guns, new single player, new maps, new perks, new gametypes, plus some of the stuff that was int he other game and more Spec Ops maps...?

Are you trying to make me want this game more?

"Its like that last game, but a new one" is pretty much how sequels work.

Sort of reminds me of the first video game crash.

Ugh, Call of Duty commentaries... 

It's not that the Call of Duty package is bad, nor does every new game need complete reinvention, but if you actually look at the gameplay, it's not hard to see why people are upset with this being a full-priced game. 
 
The text, font, font size and style, and location of text are exactly the same. 
The minimap style, art, and location are exactly the same. 
The gamemode and score graphics, and locations of the graphics, are exactly the same. 
The ammo and grenade counter placement and style is exactly the same. Only is the size of the font for the ammo number actually changed. 
The killspam log placement, style, spacing, font, size, and graphics are exactly the same. 
The incoming grenade indicator is (still) exactly the same. 
The capture objective indicators' size, style, and graphic are exactly the same. 
The bonus information (from special kills, objective captures, or special abilities) graphic, style, placement, and text are exactly the same. 
The player's tag (that pops up at the bottom and top right of the screen) style, size, font, graphics, and placement are exactly the same.  
 
See, now in most game sequels, even ones that are quite close to their ancestors, the art is redone for everything, including HUD and GUI elements. Sure, common themes tend to remain, but that is what ties the games together. They are similar, and convey similar information, but they are different. From everything that has been shown thus far about this game, however, not even that much work or creativity has been put into the game, despite its budget and loyal following. This level of art and design reuse is purely for the sake of saving money on a game that has a ridiculously oversized budget to start with.
 
None of this is to say the game itself is or will be bad. And obviously, a lot is subject to change as this is not the final product. But what Infinity Ward and Treyarch have shown under the direction of Activision recently is purely a matter of adding a handful of new gadgets to the existing experience, crafting a new campaign, and then printing copies of this "new" game. Others who have said that MW2 and Black Ops were expansion packs were also right to a degree, but at least those added enough features, not just gadgets, to actually add to the game experience. So far, MW3 seems to be a copy and paste job, unfortunately.

umm..  just like mw2 before it? and yet it still sold 8 million or whatever copies so.. yeah
 
you see when people buy this crap they are only sending a message to kotick saying "yes, this is what we want, give us more"

@Dyram: If it ain't broke don't fix it. No seriously, locations of HUD items, fonts etc. is some pretty silly stuff to trip over. Would you really be excited if they shuffled up the HUD, put things in new, random locations, maybe swapped the mapping L and R triggers and reload so its like a really new game!

I'm going to post here what I posted on the Multiplayer reveal trailer.

On the one hand, it's easy to knock this game for being essentially the 4th call of duty 4 expansion, but on the other hand the majority of the audience who will buy this probably don't want it to change. I don't like this franchise very much any more but when it's breaking records year on year then it's hard to blame them for putting so little originality into it.