Call of Duty 4 reporting on November 5

Grand Theft Auto IV's now-notorious postponement has freed up $60 in many gamers' 2007 budgets. Today, Activision helped many of said consumers amend their shopping lists when it confirmed Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare will ship on November 5. The announcement puts the highly anticipated PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC shooter on the cusp of the all-important holiday shopping season, which will also feature such high-profile titles as Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy, and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

Call of Duty 4 is being developed by Infinity Ward, the studio that created the franchise before it was bought outright by Activision in 2003. (Several console versions in the series were developed by Spider-Man 3 developer Treyarch and Spark Unlimited.) Like Battlefield 2, it moves a previously World War II-focused series into the modern era, chronicling the bloodshed during two fictional near-future wars in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.

Activision's announcement comes just hours after the publisher launched the Call of Duty 4 multiplayer beta test. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's hands-on preview.