New Call of Duty unveiling on April 28?

The official story: See below.

What we heard: On the Web site of Call of Duty 2 developer Infinity Ward, an admin writes that some big news is coming out of the Encino, California-based studio this Saturday. After listing three famous events that have taken place on April 28, community liaison "fourzerotwo" says, "What goes down this April 28th is equal to, if not surpasses, the magnitude of any of those."

Even though the news posting makes no mention of any game details, fans are already predicting that the big news is a Call of Duty 4 announcement. Infinity Ward has yet to develop a game outside of the Call of Duty series, and Call of Duty 4 getting made eventually is almost a no-brainer.

In case it wasn't clearly known, the Call of Duty franchise has become a big money-maker for Activision. The first-person shooter World War II games have done extremely well in retail, and have even stuffed Activision execs' pockets after release thanks to downloadable content.

Thanks to alternating development duties between Infinity Ward and Treyarch, a new Call of Duty game can be pumped out each year, with the former doing 2007 duty.

Multiple fans even claim that Treyarch is already looking for Call of Duty 5 level designers on its Web site, but the company's online postings no longer mention a game name (though "COD" is listed in the job name). They do, however, mention "an industry leading first person action war franchise" and ask that applicants "preferably be a fan of World War 2 shooters."

While all signs point towards a Call of Duty 4 announcement being not bogus, the real question is where--and when--the game would take place. More than a year ago, rumors surfaced about Call of Duty abandoning its WWII setting and moving towards modern day warfare, a la Battlefield 2. Last November, the same rumor resurfaced from a different source and pegged Infinity Ward as the game's developer.

Bogus or not bogus?: It's looking not bogus that a new Call of Duty is going to be unveiled on April 28. However, WWII shooter fans shouldn't load their Panzerschrecks just yet, as the game (if it is announced) could be set in modern times.