Activision and Valve have announced a partnership that requires Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to utilize Valve's Steamworks platform. This means any version of the game, both retail and digital, will require Valve's Steam application to be installed.
The good news is the game will support some advanced Steam features like achievements and Steam Cloud, which will save your settings and progress so that you can access it from any computer you play on. No need to bring your saved games with you!
Steam may have also unveiled some more details regarding the Spec Ops Co-Op Missions. Here's the official description of them from Steam's page:
SPECIAL OPS CO-OPERATIVE
An entirely new gameplay mode which supports 2-player co-operative play online that is unique from the single player story campaign.
- Special Ops pits players into a gauntlet of time-trial and objective-based missions.
- Rank-up as players unlock new Special Ops missions, each more difficult.
- Missions include highlights from the single player campaign, fan favorites from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and all new, exclusive missions.
So it sounds like we might see some missions from the last game as a Spec Ops mission. We had already heard that the "Mile High" missions was inspiration for Spec Ops, so perhaps that's one of them.
The PC version of the game ships and unlocks on November 13th. The game is now available for pre-ordering on Steam.
CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 SHIPPING WITH STEAMWORKS
Blockbuster Title Now Available for Pre-Order
October 23, 2009 — Activision Publishing, Inc. and Valve today announced an agreement to power the PC version of Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, with a host of Steamworks features and offer the highly anticipated PC title electronically to the over 20 million Steam gamers around the world.
The highly anticipated title picks up immediately following the historic events of Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare®, the blockbuster that earned worldwide critical acclaim on its way to becoming the top selling first person action game in history. Modern Warfare 2 continues the gripping and heart-racing action as players face off against a new threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse.
All PC versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be powered by Steamworks, providing gamers with auto-updating, anti-cheat technology, Steam Achievements, and the recently introduced Steam Cloud.
“Steamworks will make it possible for us to have a closer connection to our fans, and enable us to support our community much more than ever before,” said Robert Bowling, creative strategist, Infinity Ward. “Steam is the hands down leader in offering a community focused experience on PC and the inclusion of Steamworks has allowed us to deliver the most feature-rich PC version to ever come from Infinity Ward, which at the end of the day will mean the most to our fans.”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for PC will include 50 Steam Achievements, enticing players to train a local militia and be “Back in the Saddle” or infiltrate the snowy mountain side base and earn the “Cold Shoulder.” Fans may access the game from any computer. And through Steam Cloud, multiplayer game progress will be stored persistently and travel with the player.
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may be one of the biggest releases in video game history,” said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. “Having a game as significant as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 using the suite of back-end services in Steamworks is a signal to us that we’re making the right kinds of choices for triple-A developers like Infinity Ward.”
Beginning today Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is also available for pre-purchase via Steam. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is slated for worldwide release the week of November 8 at retailers and via Steam. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ is rated “M” (Mature – Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence and Language) by the ESRB.
Steamworks is a complete suite of publishing and development tools — ranging from product key authentication to social networking services — offered free of charge to publishers and developers.
Source: Store.steampowered.com