Episode 600 Early Access: Modern Warfare 4 Beta vs WARDOGS — Both Land August 21

Episode 600. On August 21st the Modern Warfare 4 early access beta, the WARDOGS closed beta, and Call of Duty NEXT all land on the same day — and the two games are asking for wildly different amounts of money.

We go through everything Activision is cramming into the MW4 beta: a playable campaign mission called Entrenched, six multiplayer maps, the return of Ground War, and a brand new Warzone Resurgence map called Zodiac. Then we put odds on whether any of it actually works over a single weekend. Spoiler: 20%.

Omnimovement is gone. We get into what replaced it, whether removing it was a gameplay decision or a marketing one, and why "you can climb pipes now" is the funniest thing Infinity Ward has ever put in a press release.

On the WARDOGS side: $39.99 Early Access on September 10, over a million Steam wishlists, and a promise of no in-game monetization that came out of one very bad Reddit post. We argue that the promise is a mistake — and that the most consumer-friendly thing a game can do is just be good.

Plus DMZ2, aim assist, and why Infinity Ward is about to be spread way too thin.

0:00 - Intro — 600 episodes

2:09 - Patreon free trials all August

4:02 - Patron hangout: August 28th

5:30 - Two betas, one Friday

6:49 - MW4 beta dates and the pre-order wall

7:44 - A campaign mission in a beta — a CoD first

10:23 - The battle dad theory

13:24 - Discord Nitro gets you in free

15:28 - All six multiplayer maps

16:06 - Ground War is back

20:24 - Zodiac: a new Resurgence map in the beta

23:56 - Modes, and the ones held back

25:33 - 19 weapons and a fake pre-order camo

26:59 - "It's gonna be a buggy fucking disaster"

28:51 - Putting the odds at 20%

31:13 - Why I win either way

33:23 - No more omnimovement

33:48 - Climbing pipes is just a ladder

35:58 - Was omnimovement actually better?

40:22 - Mantling as the Warzone middle ground

43:06 - What actually makes you a casual?

51:12 - WARDOGS

51:50 - Closed beta August 21–23

53:30 - Three maps at launch? We're skeptical

55:14 - The one thing WARDOGS is missing

56:54 - $39.99 Early Access, September 10

58:34 - September is not summer

1:00:32 - No monetization in Early Access

1:00:48 - The Reddit post that caused it

1:05:19 - "Consumer friendly" doesn't mean this

1:09:25 - The upside of by-gamers-for-gamers

1:10:09 - When to tell your fans to fuck off

1:19:09 - Is $40 the right price?

1:21:21 - 800,000 Steam wishlists

1:22:38 - Make that a million

1:26:39 - This puts Bulkhead on the map

1:28:22 - MW4 vs WARDOGS, side by side

1:29:25 - Which beta are you actually excited for?

1:31:27 - DMZ2 is the real unknown

1:34:58 - A piece of toast and not enough butter

1:40:03 - Aim assist is why I don't play CoD

1:42:55 - In defence of shit-can lobbies

1:46:13 - The August 21st collision, revisited

1:49:42 - What we've been playing

1:49:51 - Overwatch: bronze 5 to gold 3

1:54:43 - They added a rank called Emerald

1:57:27 - First team kill of the wipe

1:59:44 - Cope shotguns Jake from ten feet

2:04:24 - Tarkov level 35 and the Lighthouse rework

2:06:14 - Outro