Infinity Ward warns eager MW2 players using ‘New Zealand trick’ could ruin launch

On the eve of the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the developers are warning players about a popular trick that’s been circulating in the gaming community.

Infinity Ward reminded players that it’s not worth switching their console’s region to New Zealand—which will be getting access first—to access the game early. “You will experience connectivity issues and may be locked out of the game until the official launch time of your region,” the devs said.

Changing the region of your console to get early access to a game is an old trick. During game releases, players jump into their consoles and set the region to New Zealand or Australia, which because of the time zone differences, are the first countries to get full access to games.

At the time of writing, it’s almost 11pm in New Zealand, meaning that the game is just one hour away from being launched on consoles.

The game will release simultaneously in North American time zones when it hits midnight on the East Coast.