US$1 million CoD tournament headed Down Under

Last week, Activision announced Call of Duty XP 2011, a two-day convention celebrating the worldwide Call of Duty community in the lead-up to the release of Modern Warfare 3 this November.

The convention will also play host to a US$1 million Call of Duty tournament, with players qualifying by competing in regional Black Ops contests leading up to the event. One of the first of these regional qualifiers will be held in Australia next week at the Monash Computer Games Boot Camp in Melbourne, Victoria, as first reported on the Level 3 site.

Participants in the qualifier will shoot it out in Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer for the chance to compete in the finals held at the Call of Duty XP convention in Los Angeles this September. The winning team of four will be flown to the event to compete, with all expenses paid.

The Call of Duty XP Australian qualifying leg will be held on the Wednesday, July 13, and participants must be aged over 18 years old to enter.

The convention will also serve as a coming-out party for Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer, with some 6,000 expected attendees having the chance to get their hands on the game's cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes, as well as check out the fully functioning Elite service. There will also be paintball competitions on a life-sized re-creation of a multiplayer map, as well as panels with Call of Duty developers.

To find out how you can register for the Australian qualifier, visit the Monash Computer Games Boot Camp website or the Level 3 site.

UPDATE: Activision has released more details on the event. There will be 32 teams of four people competing in the tournament. The layout will be 4x4 Search and Destroy on Summit and Havana, with the winner of four rounds progressing onto the next round. There will be no killstreaks or perks; friendly fire will be enabled and custom classes will be made to be used exclusively for the event, with a choice of the following weapons: MP5K, Skorpion, Uzi, Spectre, M16, M14, AK-47, Commando, Stakeout, L96A1. Predetermined loadouts will be: secondary weapon--M1911; grenade: frag; tactical: smoke/Willy Pete; equipment: none; perks: none.

To register, email codxpau@activision.com with the names, addresses, contact numbers, emails and dates of birth of all members of your team (including a team name!) First come, first served.