Following the ludicrously successful November launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the attention of Activision, Infinity Ward and the other dev studios still involved in the game has turned to the upcoming downloadable content schedule -- and with a big part of the Call of Duty Elite premium subscription service being the included access to said content, this is shaping up to be the biggest post-launch push that the flagship franchise has seen.

Today Activision have officialy revealed their intended DLC release schedule for Modern Warfare 3, promising nine months of regularly released new content -- well, for Xbox 360 players at least.

As the lead and favoured platform for the game, all the dates and releases pertain to the Xbox Live launch of the new content, with "at a later time" being the only dates given for PlayStation 3 and PC offerings (with still no date for when the Elite service will be available for the later).

All content drops for Call of Duty Elite premium members will occur once a month, starting in January for Xbox Live users and will continue through the year, ending in September. During the first three months of 2012, Activision will release five different content drops on three occasions in January, February and March, first on Xbox Live, followed by additional platforms at a later time.

The first two Content Drops will be multiplayer maps—also playable in Modern Warfare 3 Survival Mode—that throw combatants into a war-torn Central Park and an Italian seaside village. Liberation is a vast, militarized landscape, ripe for long-range sniper and LMG fire, with mounted turrets on either end that lend power to anyone brave enough to expose themselves in exchange for deadly firepower. Piazza is the idyllic Italian getaway that is anything but, where tight corners and branching pathways pose great risk at every turn. Close-range combat dominates in Piazza, where attacks from behind, above and below are an ever-constant threat.

The third Content Drop will be available for download in mid-February and two additional Content Drops will go live in March, as premium Call of Duty Elite members will receive new content once a month through September. Also in March, the first Modern Warfare 3 Content Collection will be available for purchase by the entire Call of Duty: MW3 player community on Xbox Live.

A glimpse at some of the new maps on the way can be found in the latest promotional trailer which you can watch embedded below or here on the HD video page.