Call of Duty: Ghosts will launch on Microsoft's new Xbox One console

The storied Call of Duty franchise will get a new life on the Xbox One, Microsoft's forthcoming next-gen console. 

Of all the video game franchises from the last decade, few have been as consistently successful – or at least lucrative – as Call of Duty. 

Which is why when you unveil a new console, as Microsoft did today, you want Call of Duty front and center. Some background: The Xbox One debuted at a big press conference out in Richmond earlier today. The machine is a sleek powerhouse, with an 8-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, and Blu-ray capability. It will ship with an array of games, including Forza Motorsport 5, Watchdogs, and Thief: Out of the Shadows. 

But it is Call of Duty: Ghosts that has generated the most excitement online. The game, which was previewed at the Xbox One press event, appears to be roughly in the same mold as the Modern Warfare games – a contemporary world, with real-world locales and real-world guns. The story revolves around some sort of catastrophic event, which has "crippled" the American military, leaving only a rag-tag team of fighters to take out the (as-of-yet unknown) enemy. 

In an interview with the Guardian, Infinity Ward animator Zach Volker said the members of the Ghosts come from special forces backgrounds. 

"The idea of the Ghosts team is that these guys are mysterious," Volker told the Guardian. "We don't know who they are, we don't know where they came from, we don't know anything about them. But the public sees them as this legendary force that is out doing great things behind enemy lines. They're really a symbol of hope for the American people. Their backs are against the wall, they're fighting for their lives – they see the Ghost team as a possible salvation."

Call of Duty games have always been visually striking, in the mold of a Michael Bay movie – big explosions, sprawling firefights, vehicles flying through the air only to be crumpled up like paper napkins. And Activision has promised that Call of Duty: Ghosts, which should hit shelves this fall, will be even better to look at, especially on the beefed-up Xbox One. 

"We set the gold standard for action in current gen and we’re going to do it again for the next gen," Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said in Richmond. "This is the most character-driven and emotionally-driven COD game. It’s a stunning leap forward for console gaming." 

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