Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 details leaked?

While Activision still hasn't officially announced Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, rumors are flying on the Internet that claim to have the first info on the storyline, multiplayer maps, locations and more about the next game in the mega-selling first person shooter series. Kotaku is the main source of this info. The site claims to have learned details about the game from multiple inside sources along with select images from the game.
Kotaku's stories claim that Modern Warfare 3's storyline will be a direct sequel to the events in 2010's Modern Warfare 2 (shown above) where the US was invaded by Russian forces. Characters from the first two Modern Warfare games are slated to reappear in the game along with new characters that might star in future installments of the series. As far as multiplayer, another Kotaku article claims there will be 20 maps in Modern Warfare 3 in a variety of locations around the world. If you really want to have the game's entire plot spoiled, there's yet another Kotaku article that supposedly spills the beans on the entire storyline.
No matter what happens, this new game will be the first in the Modern Warfare series that will be developed without many of the people at Activision's internal studio Infinity Ward that created the first two games in the series. The two founders of the studio were fired by Activision over a year ago and many of Infinity Ward's team members left afterwards. Those people later formed Respawn Entertainment and signed a publishing deal with Electronic Arts for their first game which has yet to be revealed.
Update: Infinity Ward's community manager Robert Bowling took to his Twitter page saying that some of the info revealed about the game is accurate while others details are not. He did not get into specifics.

Age of Empires Online beta open to everyone until Saturday

Microsoft's first major PC exclusive game in several years, Age of Empires Online, is currently in closed beta testing but from now until Saturday you can get immediate access to the beta test for the upcoming free-to-play RTS game. The Games For Windows Marketplace web site is letting anyone with a Games For Windows Live account download the beta from now until around 2 pm Eastern time on Saturday.
Microsoft first announced its plans for Age of Empires Online back in August 2010. The game is a new version of the hugely popular Age of Empires RTS series that was first created and developed by Ensemble Studios which Microsoft decided to shut down in March 2009. Originally the game was being developed by Robot Entertainment, a new game studio formed by a number of former Ensemble Studios team members in Dallas. However, Microsoft announced earlier this year that Robot Entertainment was out and Age of Empires Online' development was being continued by Seattle-area developer Gas Powered Games, makers of games like the first two Dungeon Siege games and the Supreme Commander RTS series.
Microsoft has been pushing its Games For Windows Live service to PC game developers and for the last few years. However, the company has not published a major PC game on its own since the PC port of Gears of War back in December 2007. Later this month, that long gap is finally broken with the release of the PC port of Fable III. Age of Empires Online, which will allow anyone to play the game for free but will also add support for paid content "Booster Packs" will officially launch later this year.