Killcams have always been a core part of Call of Duty, with the new Modern Warfare 2 being no exception. They give players a chance to see things like the last kill of the match or a predetermined ‘play of the game,’ which is a great way to close out any match of a multiplayer game. So we could be getting customisable killcams where you can choose what footage to show and edit it on the fly, to channel your inner Machinima era compilation energy.
Well, Activision has dreamed up such an invention for its FPS games, and the patent relating to the idea was recently published for the world to see. This patent by no means confirms that customisable killcams are coming to Modern Warfare 2 or Call of Duty anytime soon, or at all, but the filing of the patent itself suggests that Activision has faith in the idea and may develop it for use in its games in the future – so you might be able to show off the best Modern Warfare 2 guns in some stylish killcams.
Called a “Method for customising a replay of one or more game events in a video game,” the patent suggests giving the player the option to choose what killcam to show at the end of a game, which could be the difference between a game ending killcam or just a particularly impressive feat, like getting a nuke in Modern Warfare 2 as an example.
The abstract for the patent, which was invented by former Activision executive Michael Condrey (suggesting Activision have been sitting on it for quite some time, so don’t hold out hope for a Modern Warfare 2 season 1 release), adds that “one or more system-defined customization templates and/or user-defined customization templates may be applied to customise the trigger event replay,” which sounds an awful lot like being able to customise your own killcams, doesn’t it?
As shown in one of the drawings for the patent, these potential Call of Duty custom killcams could let you pick different trigger events as determined by the game, with “kill” the example here. These can then use different pre-developed templates for your killcam, or you can create a custom template that uses certain graphics, messages, videos, and audio. So if you want to show off those Modern Warfare 2 mastery camos in style, you may be able to.
The possibilities for this seem endless, with the Activision patent noting that a killcam could be briefly paused while the player selects what to customise it with, like real-time editing of a killcam, which will absolutely lead to pure chaos in games like Modern Warfare 2.
The patent also makes mention of using harsher customisation options during a killcam against a friend, that could make use of inside jokes and friendly banter when everyone’s watching the killcam in-game. So you could be making customised overlays and then pressing buttons mid-killcam to use them, which sounds like a lot of fun.
“If [a player] kills a known friend that happens to be an opponent in a multiplayer game,” says the patent, “he may select the button corresponding to a user-defined customization template that is perhaps more personalised in nature and includes more taunting since he knows his opponent.”
That’s not all there is to know about the patent, which was initially spotted by Twitter user RalphsValve before we tracked it down and investigated the specifics, and you can learn more about it on the WIPO Patentscope website. Again, this doesn’t not confirm we’ll be seeing this patent anytime soon or at all, but there’s definitely merit to the idea itself.
If you’re playing the new Call of Duty and want some help, we’ve got a how to level up fast in Modern Warfare 2 guide alongside a look at how to get Modern Warfare 2 double XP tokens the easiest as well.
