Actually,MW2 is a pretty good game,above the average shooter,IMO.

COD is so popular nowadays only because COD4 became the best-selling shooter ever at that point.MW2 just used that game's popularity,people didnt buy it because it was good,or because other people did.They bought it because COD4 was such an amazing game,on both the single player side,and the multiplayer side.

other then cod 4 cod games are a piece of shit. its over rated and activision bribes critics(or critics are mainstream gamers who shit their pants when they see something explode).

a reason its popular is because people dont play anything else, they played halo or counter strike and both of those are arcade shooters. cod has the kill streaks and the custom classes with attchements and perks which makes people think its cool ..... also it has split screen which is a big plus.

also you have to consider that the averge gamer cant know the difference btw a good game and a bad one, and that they buy 1-2 games per year.

I don't think a bad COD would change things. It's attained the same level of brand appeal to casuals that the likes of Need for Speed and FIFA have had before it, and those two went through years of abject patheticness without really losing any appeal.

I don't care if people on my friends list are playing COD, I'm never going to buy one, but others will indeed fall to the desire to play whatever their friends are playing, and there's nothing really wrong with that.

We can only hope that people just get bored of it and they start playing something else, causing their friends to want to play whatever that is with them instead...

Simple: Because Activision paid reviewers to score it that high. CoDmw2 is a below average shooter.

I don't understand why everyone says mw2 is a below average shooter. It's a package that works by the book that people want (as inspired by Halo), and that the majority of the mainstream society demand. No lag, single, multi, and coop play, and nearly instant matchmaking. I played every CoD, besides the first, and the third. I've owned cod4 for 360, waw and mw2 for ps3, and I have no complaints but that the game gets old quickly(just a personal opinion). I'm not going to purchase any more CoD games, because personally, I'm tired of the textbook experience. It's cool and all, but only for the first three times, and not to mention, IW is out.

On topic, the mainstream buys/receives as a gift, 1-2 games a year. Of those, they want a game to enjoy that has a familiar name, and that they can enjoy with their friends.New CoD every year, advertisements on TV and billboards at the right holiday time, guess what, you know that their latest copypasta is coming out. It's a growing force that adults 40 will even enjoy. At this point, you cannot stop it, its a brand name. They'll never stop making them, as they'll never stop making Final Fantasy games, or Mario reboots. It's pathetic imo. But, it's business, bros.

Off topic, how is it unbalanced? All guns do roughly the same damage, and you don't even have a health meter, so wtf?

Different, as neither Nintendo nor Square Enix have pledged to continue pumping out one such game a year. Certain franchises can live forever, but issues of fatigue might set in quick here.

Why thank you ! That is a great addition to my sig !

critics are fucking stupid, MW2 story made no fucking sense what so ever and was damn short, and the multiplayer is so fun/popular/and addictive because it's an effortless, skill less, meaningless, empty, hollow experience masked by challenges and tons of unnecessary bullshit to unlock, that even the most brain dead of gamers can be good at and feel a sense of accomplishment, why do you think every thing was put on a 10x multiplier for MW2... answer: brain dead gamers see 100 and go O_O oooo big numbers. COD multiplayer is literally fps for dummies, so now the casuals can say look I'm good, 

ok first fail is saying COD is realistic........ this is your first generation of gaming and you ARE an xbox owner for sure, ARMA is realistic, COD isn't even realistic in practice, even the mechanics(zero recoil, perks, teleporting knives) are casual, ohhh 2 bullet kills, yeah not meant for realism, it's meant because because noobs would suck if they actually had to lead their targets and hold a firing position.

second fail is saying cod 4 established the fps genre, are you joking, established it for who??? stupid new wave gamers who suck shit at shooters, and don't know a damn thing about them and honestly think cod 4 established the genre??? is so then I'm inclined to agree, but for someone who's been here since unreal and quake, and the realistic shooters of battlefield (not bad company) and counter strike, that's just f**king insult.

call of duty is below below average shooter, and a game that only noob to the genre and or people who have never ever ever ever ever played an fps before in their lives would find good, and this includes COD 4, but to it's credit, at least the story made sense.  and that's why it's so popular,  battlefield, and counterstrike and many other fps games weren't stupid enough to cultivate the massive idiot market the COD franchise is pioneering today.

edit: and to be completely honest, they have them, because as a true fps fan, we know there is no worse player than a Call of Duty fan playing ANY FPS NOT call of duty.

Anytime!

Posting to bookmark. This thread is full of lulz. Keep it up guys!

To add to the thread (don't want to get moderated), it's all down to a combination advertising to a certain gamer archtype, mass popularity/peer pressure, and players being rewarded for doing something as simple as waking up.