Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 DLC to include new Spec Ops missions and "things that players have never seen before"

After years of pricey map packs, Call of Duty fans can look forward to some more varied DLC next year. Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling has been talking about plans for new Spec Ops missions and "a variety of things that players have never seen before." Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer and Raven will all be working on producing regular updates throughout 2012.

"The way we're doing downloadable content this year is unlike we've never done before," he said, speaking in a Call of Duty Elite video spotted by CVG . "Not only in how you can get it - in content drops or choose for the collection - but also the type of content you're getting."

This year we've become used to Call of Duty map packs arriving on Xbox a month before the PC version, a trend that may continue for Modern Warfare 3. Bowling says that the first DLC will be arriving on Xbox Live on January 24. No mention of a PC release date yet.

There's another issue. Call of Duty Elite doesn't exist on PC , and when it's eventually released, we won't be getting the subscription service . Activision have announced plenty of exclusive bits and pieces for Call of Duty Elite, including videos, tournaments and map packs. It's still unclear how or when they'll arrive on our machines.

Still, Modern Warfare 3 fans have plenty to look forward to, and the new DLC packs bound to be successful. In an earnings call earlier this year, Activision announced that they'd sold 20 million map packs for Black Ops. Some of the DLC may even be free. A new Drop Zone game mode was added recently with no price tag attached.