Psst: Time to do your 'duty'

By Randy Salas

Last update: November 9, 2009 - 2:11 PM

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Talk about surreal: At a time when U.S. soldiers face mortal danger daily in Iraq and Afghanistan, gamers are dying to play "Modern Warfare 2," which comes out today. The buzz for the latest entry in the "Call of Duty" series has been building for months, so much so that many stores opened at midnight to start selling the title as soon as possible.

In fact, "Modern Warfare 2" could end up being the biggest video-game debut of all time -- which would also make it the biggest entertainment launch ever. Consider that the record holder, the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV," made about $500 million in its first week when it was released in April 2008. Its first-day sales of $310 million wrested the title from the 2007 book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which had totaled $220 million in its first 24 hours.

But now comes an all-out assault from "Modern Warfare 2," a Mature- rated game for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. There are 50 percent more Xbox 360 owners and twice as many PS3 owners now than when "GTA IV" launched. And the Xbox version of the new must-have game has been among Amazon's top sellers for nearly six months.

It's war out there, all right. And we'll soon know how popular it is.

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