What is the allure of cheating in video games online? Who takes team deathmatches so seriously that he needs unlimited ammo, no clipping, infinite life, and other assorted nonsense? It’s stupid, and if you try to cheat online you deserve to be banned. So forgive me for not giving a damn about the 2,500 people that were just banned from non-dedicated servers for cheating in Modern Warfare 2.

Is saying “I play Modern Warfare 2 for the single-player” the new “I read Playboy for the articles”? It might as well be. But get this: I play Modern Warfare 2 for the single-player. I stink at multi-player, so why even bother? That said, I know that many of you bought the game merely to play the multi-player, and thus have no idea what the single-player’s story is about. Thank God for this video, then.

Note: This post contains Modern Warfare 2 spoilers. If you’re not cool with reading spoilers, well, then move along, nothing to see here (but you’re missing out!).

All around the world, virgins and baby seals are weeping in joy as dedicated servers have finally been enabled in Modern Warfare 2. It all has to do with that development console hack that surfaced over the weekend. Now, modders and cheaters alike can tune the game to their liking as the video after the jump clearly shows. Awesome!

Now, it’s not this blog’s intention to post every little bit of gaming news (or is it?), but this is a more signal event than all the PR out there. Modern Warfare 2 for the PC, which infamously lacks dedicated servers, a console, the ability to kick players, and other things integral to a good PC game. Infinity Ward, maddeningly apathetic to the needs and requests of their users, has said that no changes to the stated areas are forthcoming.

Well, you can’t keep a good PC gamer down. They’ve cracked it wide open.

Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 racked up $310 million in sales across the U.S. and UK during the first 24 hours of availability. That makes it the biggest video game launch ever. Hooray for war simulators!

So by now you probably already have Modern Warfare 2, have beaten the single-player mode (cheap shot!), and have been killed within three seconds of re-spawning in multi-player mode more times than you’d care to admit. Great, good for you. Something that has been taken for granted, though, is that the game will be one of the best-selling games of the year, if not the best-selling. Hold your horses, partner, because an Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst has said that New Super Mario Bros. Wii will well outsell Modern Warfare 2 when it’s all said and done.

I know that there’s a certain of percentage of people who want nothing to do with Modern Warfare 2. It’s all meatheads and explosions, right? I’m inclined to agree to a degree—Opie and Anthony were talking about the game this morning, and a real life member of the military called in and complained, “If you want to play war, why not join the Army?”—but no matter. There’s plenty of things to do today that have nothing to do with the game. Let’s take a look!

You know what day it is! Herein lies my usual review round-up (see yesterday’s preview), starring Modern Warfare 2. Right now I’ll highlight the good in the game, and later today I’ll highlight the bad. Very exciting, yes.

So to recap: nobody has been given permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 early. It’s a crazy Internet rumor that has no basis in reality. But it’s happening like whoa. What is based in reality is that the first reviews of the game have started appearing online, and they’re all from UK newspapers. A strange place to see the first reviews of what’s probably going to end up being the biggest game of the year (with all due respect to Assassin’s Creed II).

It’s madness, friends! Stores are selling Modern Warfare 2 early, but Activision never said this could happen!

Everyone knows that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is almost here and just like every other epic game, its launch is covered in a haze of controversy. It seems like every day people find something else to bitch about the upcoming shooter. First, there was the lack of dedicated server support that got PC gamers riled up. Then a clip surfaced showing that *gasp* you might kill civilians. (GTA, anyone?) But it goes on: price gouging, multiplayer limited at 9v9, and online retailers boycotting because of Valve’s Steam or something like that.

But am I the only one that have dismissed all these complaints because of Infinity Ward’s track record? Look at the history here, the Call of Duty franchise is among the very best FPS ever made and Infinity Ward was behind every major PC and console release. The Call of Duty games have never let me down in the past, and I doubt this one will be any different.

Look out, Walmart. Best Buy is going to sell Modern Warefare 2 at midnight too. But unlike Walmart, Best Buy’s average middle of the night clientele doesn’t look like this. or this. or this. The line will start at 10:30 p.m. and at 12:01 a.m., you and a few other socially-stunted gamers will get a chance to buy the game. How exciting. If you must be the first to own the game, there is a nice little advantage to buying the game at Best Buy instead of Walmart though.

As I cleverly remarked in the official CrunchGear chat room, that a video game leaks a few days before its release is par for the course. When the biggest video game of the year leaks a full week before its release date, it’s worth noting. So that’s what I’m doing right now: Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 has leaked. It’s available where you usually find such things.

So GameStop has what I can only call a scheme for Modern Warfare 2. (Have we officially decided to not call it Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? Less words to type!) If you pre-order the game (Xbox 360 or PS3 version only) from there, and return it by December 13, you’ll receive a $40 in-store credit. In other words, if you pre-order the game, you’ll get to play it for one month for a grand total of $20.