Retro Vault is our regular weekly feature in which we dive into gaming's past and share five classic nuggets of retro nostalgia. If you missed last week's Retro Vault you can read it here.
8 April 2003 - The first Call Of Duty screenshot
Ten years ago Activision announced it was working on Call Of Duty, a PC game set to be "a new umbrella brand that lets players experience the dramatic intensity of war through the eyes of common soldiers".
Call Of Duty was developed by Infinity Ward, a new studio put together by Activision consisting former members of 2015 Inc, the team who had developed EA's Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault. Planned as a series from the beginning, the first game takes place during a number of key moments in the British, American and Soviet campaigns during World War II, including the Normandy invasion and the Battle Of The Bulge.
Oddly, to celebrate the news of its new series, Activision decided to accompany the Call Of Duty announcement with a single screenshot, showing a soldier being caught in an explosion in a field while another lies next to a dead cow. As far as first looks go, this was a strange one to go with.
Infinity Ward would go on to develop Call Of Duty 2, as well as the three games in the Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare series. The first game, dead cows and all, was re-released on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network where it's currently available to buy under the name Call Of Duty Classic.
Comments
13 comments so far...
Leopold5totch on 28 Apr '13 said:
I love this retro vault every Sunday. It's great seeing old adverts for Sega and Nintendo. I even recognise some of the magazines from the 80's as I bought CVG every month until early 90's (I stopped getting it so much in 90's because it didn't cover many Amstrad cpc 464 games by then!). I was back in when I got my megadrive, with Sonic's first game no less. That game blew me away. It was just so fast!! Love retro vault and just wanted to let you know. I love the history lesson too like this week's Neo Geo. Lots of good memories.
richomack360 on 28 Apr '13 said:
Once you heard the music to the first two levels of Sonic you could not get them out of your head - even today. Green Hilll Zone and Marble Zone I think they were called
Classic game.
ileatyoualive on 28 Apr '13 said:
Ah yes...the good ole days.
Nothing like a good ole trip down memory lane.
Chris Scullion on 28 Apr '13 said:
Glad you're enjoying it mate, thanks for letting us know!
vectra on 29 Apr '13 said:
I love these retro vaults although more Amiga would be nice!
I remember the first time I saw Sonic in action, it was on the Sega bus when I was on a seaside vacation. This big double decker showed up with Sega logos all over it and the prize for finishing the first level quickest was a brand spanking new Megadrive with a copy of the game.
I sucked and never won it unfortunately, I wasn't ready for the speed after playing on my Amstrad CPC and Master System for all that time.
One of my best gaming memories ever, I didn't get the Megadrive but I got a Sega goodie bag.
Chris Scullion on 29 Apr '13 said:
Any Amiga games in particular? I take requests.
Simon Carlin on 29 Apr '13 said:
Oh Dear God don't ask him that... Zool... he'll bloody pick Zool...
ChrisTypeR on 29 Apr '13 said:
Shadow of the Beast, Lotus Esprit, Turrican 1 & 2, Speedball 2, The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2 - LeChuck's Revenge, Beneath a Steel Sky, Another Planet, Sensible soccer 1 & 2, Cannon Fodder, Syndicate, IK+, Lemmings, Pinball Dreams, Eye of the Beholder 1 & 2, Flashback, Prince of Persia, Alien Breed, Powermonger, Hunter, Civilization and (of course) Moonstone - A Hard Days Knight.
Sorry to butt in on this one
Loved my Amiga - these are just the ones I remember, sure there would be more.
KK-Headcharge78 on 29 Apr '13 said:
Hey Chris love this section, any chance of a Road Rash series write up for old time sake
(F**k you Ea for not making another this gen...)
RustySpoon80 on 29 Apr '13 said:
How about something on Rise of the Robots and the massive hype leading up to it. Or the Ultra 64 fighting game which was supposed to re-define the genre, think that was Dual Heroes.
Perhaps a different feature on games which didn't live up to their hype.
vectra on 29 Apr '13 said:
You are my new best friend!
In the case of Amiga some of the promos that compared the CD32 to the MegaCD and Commodore boasting about being the first 32-Bit console.
One of those is here http://www.retrogamingaus.com/wordpress ... aYOs9X.jpg
In the case of games:
Worms
Pushover
Superfrog
Sensible World of Soccer
Kick Off 2
The Chaos Engine
Putty
The post above has given more gaming options so I can stop there for now.
toaplan on 29 Apr '13 said:
Yay for mentioning Hunter
and Moonstone... 
Some of my suggestions: Op Wolf & Op Thunderbolt, TV Sports Football & Basketball, Giana Sisters, Dogs of War, Carrier Command, Midwinter, Starglider 2, Firepower, Obliterator, Sword of Sodan, Laser Squad, LED Storm, Test Drive 2 - the Duel, Stunt Car Racer, F16 Falcon, F29 Retaliator, X-Out, Hybris, Blood Money, Battle Squadron, SWIW, Super Cars 1 & 2, Player Manager, Faery Tale, Nuclear War, Ninja Warriors, Super Hang-On, RVF Honda, Buggy Boy, Detroit, Geoff Crammond's F1, No Second Prize, Walker, Stardust and Populous... of course, although that one, and one or two others, may have appeared in a retro feature before.
Chris Scullion on 29 Apr '13 said:
Cheers chaps, that should be enough suggestions to last us a couple of years