Modern Warfare 3 Will Have Full Steam Support

Unlike EA's Battlefield 3, Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will come packed with Steamworks. The game is also ready for pre-purchase reservations (aka pre-order) on Valve's steamy network.

Monday evening Valve Software said that Activision's upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for the PC – both digital and disc-based versions – will be fully outfitted with Steamworks. As with all Steam-powered games, offline play will be supported along with Auto-Updating, Achievements, and more.

In addition to Steamworks integration, Valve announced that pre-purchase reservations (aka pre-orders for those who hate the term) are now available via Steam. Customers who pre-purchase the game will be able to start playing immediately upon its release thanks to Steam's instant content delivery platform. The game retails for $59.99, and so far the system requirements are still listed as "to be announced."

Published by Activision Publishing, Inc., Modern Warfare 3 is being developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games. The game is slated for worldwide release on November 8 at retailers across the globe and via online digital distribution platforms like Steam. Modern Warfare 3 will even support dedicated servers on day 1, Valve said.

November should prove to be an interesting month for PC gaming. In addition to the release of Modern Warfare 3, EA will be releasing the long-awaited Battlefield 3 just weeks prior. But unlike Activision's military helping, the latter EA title won't include support for Valve's Steamworks suite – it supposedly won't even be available on Steam at all, but rather on EA's own digital distribution platform, Origin, Direct2Drive, GamersGate and others.

Recently it was discovered that Origin's EULA allows Electronic Arts to snoop through the end-user's system -- including installed and uninstalled software -- and send that information to third-party service providers.

"You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services," the agreement reads. "EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, TRANSMIT OR DISPLAY THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE APPLICATION."

So far Battlefield 3 is on schedule to land on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC on October 25 here in the States. But if EA doesn't change its policy in regards to Origin's invasive nature, Modern Warfare 3 could lead in overall sales this holiday season.