'Modern Warfare 3' on track to beat 'Black Ops'

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This year's Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 3, is set to best sales records set by 2010's Black Ops in both North America and the UK.

New information from the GAME Group's managing director indicates that pre-orders for Modern Warfare 3 are outstripping those for Black Ops in the UK, mirroring the findings of North American retailer GameStop.

Black Ops had also outpaced its own predecessor, Modern Warfare 2, in terms of both pre-orders and total sales.

Modern Warfare 3's worldwide launch for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC occurs on November 8.

Its debut is concurrent with that of Call of Duty Elite, an official community portal that meshes social networking with game tournaments and performance feedback.

Returning challenger Battlefield 3 mounts its own assault on Call of Duty's dominance starting the week of October 25.