Modern Warfare 3 launches, ready for war with Battlefield 3

From CNET News.com: Each year around this time, a new Call of Duty game hits store shelves. But this year, the stakes are even higher with expectations of sales breaking all entertainment-industry records.

Today, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was made available to gamers who want to play the title on all major consoles or the PC. As with previous iterations of the famed franchise, Modern Warfare 3, which was developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, puts gamers into the role of a soldier fighting through battles in the first-person. The game is available for $60.

Even before Modern Warfare 3 launched, there was rampant speculation that the game would be a top-seller. In fact, just last week, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said that he believes Modern Warfare 3 will generate over $1.1 billion in its first six weeks on store shelves, making it the biggest launch the entertainment industry--including games, movies, and music--has ever seen. It's expected to take that crown from last year's Call of Duty: Black Ops.

If Modern Warfare 3 does reach that milestone, it might just be an even sweeter victory for Activision than previous sales records have been, due to the bitter battle it finds itself in with Electronic Arts' Battlefield 3.

Battlefield 3, which provides the same first-person, highly realistic military shooter experience as Modern Warfare 3, launched last month. Prior to its launch, the game was being called, by some, the Call of Duty killer. But it has perhaps been EA's own executives that have been most outspoken about their desire to annihilate Call of Duty.

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