This morning’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 surprise was genuine. The shooter is indeed set to feature a third-person perspective.

Just don’t think Infinity Ward changed the direction of the series -- the first-person perspective is still the star of the show. The third-person perspective is tied to a single playlist in the multiplayer component.

“3rd person is a new playlist mode in multiplayer,” Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling told Kotaku earlier this afternoon. “So, you can play your favorite playlists [or] game types, like Team Deathmatch just standard, or in Hardcore mode … or in the new 3rd person mode, which means you and everyone in the game is in 3rd person.”

According to Bowling, players won’t have the ability to toggle the new perspective on or off while inside a match -- either in or out of the playlist. The aim is to keep all players on equal footing. He added this mode is “just another way to play the game.”

Now all IW has to do is add zombies and make the characters feel like rusty turrets, and hey, Resident Evil 5: Modern Warfare. Make it happen, guys.