The Infinity Ward (IW) game engine has been around for what seems like forever.  But if you come to think of it, seven years is close to “forever” in the world of gaming, as Infinity Ward (the engine, that is) had debuted in 2005 on Call of Duty 2.  Despite several changes to the engine, many experts haven’t been shy about criticizing it as being a relic, an anachronism, yesterday’s news.  In an interview with British Xbox 360-centric gaming site OXM, Treyarch’s David Vonderhaar lashed out at these critics and ran to the defense of the Infinity Ward engine.

“Anybody who comes at the engine needs to remember it’s the 60 frames (per second) they love in the first place,” fumed Vonderhaar to OXM.  After reiterating how Infinity Ward had gone through so many changes and improvements through the years, he continued his defense of the engine by saying that “the truth of the matter is that this isn’t like something that was invented six years ago.  .. we’ve ripped out the UI system, the rendering and the lighting are all new, the core gameplay systems are all new.”  To Vonderhaar, IW “runs at 60 (frames per second) and is gorgeous.”

It’s too early to pass judgment on IW in its latest incarnation, as the newest Call of Duty title, Black Ops 2, is due for release on November 13.   Players will again be in control of Alex Mason in the first segment, which runs from the ’70s to the ’80s, while the second segment, which is set in 2025, will feature Alex’s son David as the main character.  Gamers can be very hard to please when it comes to technical specifications and all that good stuff, but the way we see it, the Infinity Ward engine should be good for one last hurrah on this upcoming title.

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