Countdown to the Greatest Game of the Year?

In a little more than 2 weeks legions of Call of Duty fans will get to lay down their $60, $79, $149 or $399 (if they haven’t pre-ordered it) for what’s been hyped to be possibly the best game of the year – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. There’s no doubt the game will make bundles of cash but with the mad marketing blitz and the GTA size expectations will Activision and Infinity Ward deliver something that will blow our minds and suck up countless hours of gaming? Well if you haven’t been one of the lucky folks who have had a chance to play some of MW2′s multiplayer then you by now no doubt have seen at least one of the big budget movie style game trailers that are out there.  Pixel for pixel Modern Warfare 2 already looks spectacular and from all the gushing reports from those aforementioned lucky folks who have had a chance to play the game you would think this is close to perfect.

Remember though folks it’s not as simple as gushing previews and amazing clips. Not to say that this sequel will be the most well-marketed colossal failure but we know from past experience that hype of this kind runs dangerously close to being overkill even for a game has millions of eager fans scratching off the days on their calendar and game reviewers already tagging the game with all the laudatory gold stars, editor’s choice and game of the year pins.

Let’s not forget about the packages either

• There’s the regular old game
• The Hardened Edition — Special edition Steel Book case, Behind the Lines hardbound art book and downloadable Call of Duty Classic game
• The Prestige Edition — everything in the hardened edition plus fully functional night vision goggles and a nifty stand to put them on (suck it Sam Fisher

And the cream of the crop
The Special Edition  MW2 Xbox 360 Elite

Two controllers, a headset, the game and a specially designed elite made to look like its on the back of a jeep that has one more big bonus — it has 250 gigs. That’s right, for $100 more than the current price of the elite you get that. How could you not pass that up?

So add those incentives, plus pre-order deals from retailers to all the hype about the game itself and you have a sequel that’s primed to succeed before gamers have fraggged one enemy. Let’s hope the game is as glorious as all the buildup.

Countdown to the Greatest Game of the Year?