Amazon Looking For "Duty-est" Town

15 Comments Posted November 2, 2009 - By Stephen Johnson

Box Art Face-Off: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare vs. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

After all the recent controversy regarding Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, please enjoy the following friendly story about the game; it contains no controversy.

Amazon.com is holding a contest looking for the "Call of Duty-est Town in America." Using the most recent U.S. Census data for U.S. towns and cities with a population of more than 5,000 people, Amazon is looking for the town that has pre-ordered the game more times than any other, per capita. Right now, Grand Forks, North Dakota is number one with Urbana, Il coming in second. Check out the full list. The winning burgh will have $5000 in Amazon credit donated to a charity that benefits the town.

See? There is no controversy here! But feel free to create some by getting angry about some aspect of this contest in our comment section. Personally, I want to protest this contest because "Duty-est Town in America" sounds like "Doodiest Town in America," and what are they trying to say about Vero Beach, Florida and Beaverton, Oregon anyway?

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Tags: PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, Videogames, Xbox 360

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Displaying 1–15 of 15

AwayFromKeyboard

This is clearly discrimination against small towns.

Posted: November 2, 2009 2:07 PM | Reply | Report

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magmaface

this is bs it should be done per capita, i agree with the dude above me.

Posted: November 2, 2009 2:11 PM | Reply | Report

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jdawg1983

That is "Grand Forks", not "Grand Fork"...

Posted: November 2, 2009 2:21 PM | Reply | Report

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aztecyankee

Is it discrimination towards bigger towns or cities? People in these towns have either the option to play video games cook meth or watch the paint dry....good call on the video games!!!

Posted: November 2, 2009 3:27 PM | Reply | Report

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slobalt

Only reason that These towns are on the list is because these people have to order stuff through the internet. it doesn't count the pre-orders at gamestop's and other retailers. There are 4 gamestops within 4 miles of each other in my City and all of them are sold out of pre-orders

Posted: November 2, 2009 3:30 PM | Reply | Report

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meh_siah

in regards to all of the California cities, and with the exception of San Rafael, staying inside and having MW2 delivered to your home is the the absolute smartest thing to do - there is no reason to ever venture outside of your home in Temecula, CA not even to drive down to the local Gamestop.(although, now that I think about it, most homes in Temecula have wheels so it wouldnt be that dangerous...)

Posted: November 2, 2009 4:08 PM | Reply | Report

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Kallazar

I think this is a bad-ass thing for them to do. There doesn't really seem to be any benefit to them for doing this, so the fact that they would up and do something that benefits a charity is neat.

Posted: November 2, 2009 4:24 PM | Reply | Report

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ProjektX13

Texas 210 FTW!!!!!!!

Posted: November 2, 2009 5:14 PM | Reply | Report

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turdismiller

there are lots of college towns on that list

Posted: November 2, 2009 6:32 PM | Reply | Report

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OneEyedMonsta

Has anyone else noticed that on Amazon.com's video game best sellers New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii is beating out Modern Warfare 2 on the PS3? Of course the 360 version of MW2 is on top. I guess the 360 is more of an FPS console which is fine since that is my genre of choice.

Posted: November 3, 2009 5:21 AM | Reply | Report

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Ashen117

Grand Forks represent! It's not too suprising we're number one, when temperatures can reach -70 with the wind chill, people tend to stay inside and play video games.

@slobalt We have two gamestops here, both within a mile of each other or so on the retail strip, both with plenty of pre-orders left. Most people prefer amazon here I guess. So no, that's obviously not the only reason.

@aztecyankee Don't forget the drinking.

Posted: November 3, 2009 6:42 AM | Reply | Report

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CannonFodder06

I think the biggest factor when you look at the list is how many of the towns are university cities so they have 10,000 to 20,000 male students between the ages of 18 and 22 who are internet buyers and own at least one console.

Posted: November 3, 2009 8:08 AM | Reply | Report

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SmarterThanYou

Beaverton represent!

I'm one of many who are pre-ordering this bad boy. Gonna have to break it to the wife that I will only see her for sex for the next couple months.

Posted: November 3, 2009 8:27 AM | Reply | Report

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BONERJAM

@smarterThanYou

Lets be honest, your wife doesn't give you sex.

Posted: November 3, 2009 10:16 AM | Reply | Report

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BoydofZINJ

PC users get the SHAFT in Modern Warfare 2. Sure you heard about it. Sure, most games are all about the XBOX and the PS3. Sure in MW2 most of the sales will be the infamous XBOX and PS3 and the PC sales are a nonfactor to most companies. However, there is a thriving community and set of PC dedicated users and gamers out there. As I type this out, I realize I am doing it on... a PC! You might even be reading this on a... a PC!

WE PC-Gamers do live.

LET THE CONSUMER BE WARNED. CONSUMERS DONT MATTER. YOU DONT MATTER. YOU SUPPORT WATER DOWN GAMES BY BUYING THE GAMES.

Many game companies believe the PC-Gamer is a MMO market. However, RTS and Simulations (and the 'mech FPS/Simulator) are a type of game that are traditionally for the PC and make poor XBOX and PS3 and Console games. Many will argue the FPS is a game which is very strong in both the console and the pc - making it one of the few games with the largest potential market value.

Look at Modern Warefare 2 and how they slapped the face of the core and soft PC-Gamer for that game. And guess what, MW2 will lose very little because of the lack of PC sales. Let us face it, it looks great. It probably is great! Half of those petitioners will probably still buy it on the day it comes out. The other half will buy it in a few days afterwards. Perhaps a few people here and there wont (I wont). But, because the sales will ultimately not be effected, why not abuse the consumer.

I AM VENTING EVEN MORE SO.

I just found out the following info:

More recently, Best Buy hosted an online chat between gamers and Mackey McCandlish and Ryan Lastimosa from Infinity Ward. The floor was open for questions, and the pair systematically crushed any hope that the PC version of the game would even attempt to make gamers happy.

What will the max amount of players per map be for PC multiplayer on IW.net

Vince-IW: 9v9
No matter how good a connection the host has, no matter how powerful your dedicated server was, the maximum number of players online is 18. If you have a larger clan, you're out of luck.

Q: Is there a console in the PC version of the game, so we can change our field of view from the xbox's default 65 FOV to 80 also can we tweaks the weapon damage for each gun, removes perks, graphical debris, breathing sway, also thru console like we where able to before or is this all gone?

Vince-IW: We would like you to play the game the way we designed and balanced it.

DudezTY: Since we cannot kick people in ranked matches, how will we stop hackers who get past VAC?

Mackey-IW: Our goal is to ban hackers from the game.
So, if IW does not kick someone then that hacker can cheat their way until IW pulls out their thumb from their large asses. It's a shame that it's impossible to show a jaw dropping on an online chat. There will be no way to kick players, and Infinity Ward seems sure they'll simply be able to keep hackers and cheaters from playing.

kaRMa: Please give me a direct answer. On the PC version. Are all games hosted by players, and is there a five-second delay when host migration is in effect?

Vince-IW: yes.

Why is this a problem? Because Infinity Ward also revealed in the chat that the game will pick who hosts. You have no control over it. If the host leaves, there will be a five-second delay while the game picks the next best host. Players have no way of controlling who is hosting, and of course we know there will be no dedicated servers.

You can't opt out of hosting. If the host quits, the game stops for five seconds while the next one is selected by the software. This is good for gamers... somehow.

Moriarte: Ignoring IW.net, is the PC version a direct port of the console version?

Mackey-IW: No, PC has custom stuff like mouse control, text chat in game, and graphics settings.

This is the amount of work that went into the PC version: you are given the ability to use a mouse, to use text chat, and to adjust graphical settings. Are your fears now put to rest?

We thought the lack of dedicated servers was bad, but now we can add the lack of console commands, the inability to have a say in who hosts the game, a lengthy pause while the game migrates to a new host if the currently selected host quits, no leaning, no option to record matches, and no way to kick or block trouble players, hackers, or cheaters.

You have to wonder if there are any actual PC gamers working at Infinity Ward, as it will be a challenge to find any member of the PC gaming community that will stand up for any of these omissions, not to mention all of them bundled together. At launch, this will be one of the most locked-down, inflexible, and gamer-unfriendly game ever created.

The Modern Warefare petition is a joke. WHO CARES if they dont get my money. When PS3 and XBOX users are buying the game and some users are buying the game for BOTH SYSTEMS?

Viva El Computer (yea yea spanish and french)

Posted: November 7, 2009 7:50 AM | Reply | Report

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