call-of-duty-black-ops
Latest
GameStop is 'exclusive' place to pre-order Black Ops Annihilation DLC
GameStop has announced that it will be the "exclusive" pre-order destination for the upcoming "Annihilation" DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops. Typically, this is where we would make fun of the concept of pre-ordering DLC. Just to outline the process again: Visit GameStop store and pre-order DLC Wait until release day Receive download voucher from GameStop Enter code and enjoy Now, contrast this with purchasing the DLC on release day via Xbox Live: Sit on couch Press "A" button We should point out that, unlike GameStop's Halo: Reach DLC promotion, an Annihilation pre-order doesn't even come with any bonuses. That said, GameStop sold a quarter-million vouchers for the Black Ops "Escalation" DLC, so what do we know?
Call of Duty: Black Ops' 'Annihilation' maps revealed
We didn't spot any celebrities in the Call of Duty: Black Ops "Annihilation" DLC footage included in this dev diary. However, we did see lots of shots of all the new maps, including the Area 51-inspired "Hangar 18," the "Hazard" map based on World at War's "Cliffside" (and then made into a golf course), and the ancient ruins/zombie stronghold "Shangri-la." You can either watch the video after the break and get excited about your upcoming $15 purchase, or just buy it on June 28 when it comes to Xbox Live. But let's be honest: either way, you're going to end up buying this Call of Duty map pack. Everyone will.%Gallery-126560%
Call of Duty: Black Ops 'Annihilation' DLC coming to 360 June 28
Activision has officially announced the third Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack, to the surprise of everyone who wasn't online yesterday. The "Annihilation" pack, out June 28 on Xbox 360, and a contractually appropriate time later on PC and PS3, adds four new multiplayer maps: Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo, and Hazard, along with the requisite Zombies map, "Shangri-La." Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia called "Shangri-La" an exotic and mysterious map filled with deadly traps, dark secrets and innovative gameplay that will challenge even the most daring Zombie hunters." It goes without saying that it's also filled with zombies. To celebrate the release of this map, Treyarch will offer a double XP weekend starting July 1. Now all you have to do is free yourself from all personal and professional responsibilities.
Rumor: Third Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC leaked via flyer
Just about one week before Call of Duty: Black Ops' Escalation DLC was announced, the add-on was leaked by a promo flier from European retailer GAME. If the image recently posted to Xbox360Achievements is legit, the game's third map pack has suffered a similar fate. A purported Gamestop flyer shows off five of the next bundle's maps, a list which includes Hangar 18, Silo, Hazard, Drive-In and an unnamed Zombie mode map. The only familiar name in the lineup is Silo, which was mentioned in a bit of code discovered in the latest Black Ops patch, released last month. If the flyer is real, and in the hands of Gamestop clerks across the country, we're sure to hear more about the pack soon. Until then, won't you join us in getting pumped by listening to "Hangar 18" on repeat? Update: We've received a number of tips from Gamestop employees and shoppers with more purported details on the map pack. This YouTube video shows off what appears to be a number of in-store ads for the expansion, operating under the title "Annihilation." The flyers also show off a release date of June 28, 2011 -- meaning if they're real, we should know about it very soon. If you work at Gamestop and have seen these promo materials, please send in a tip!
Call of Duty Elite invitation-only beta begins July 14
Activision's stat-tracking and community service, Call of Duty Elite, has yet to receive a firm launch date, but this morning we learned that Elite will enter "invitation-only" beta starting on July 14. Though Elite won't be fully functioning until Modern Warfare 3 drops in November, the beta will launch first on last year's Call of Duty: Black Ops. After opening the registration site last week, Activision says "over 1 million" Call of Duty fanatics have signed up for entry into the beta thus far. The company has yet to fully detail the differences between the paid version of Elite and the free one, but the beta announcement ambiguously notes it'll "give users a taste of the experience." Sounds ... elite?
COD: Black Ops 'Escalation' DLC bringing Hollywood's zombies to PS3 on June 10
Afte arriving exclusively on the Xbox 360 back in May (per previous agreements) and on PC yesterday, Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC "Escalation" is now getting the PS3 treatment on June 10. Beyond the four regular mutliplayer maps it adds, the much loved "Call of the Dead" level -- starring a quartet of movie stars -- is also included. Like the PC launch before it, when the DLC arrives on PlayStation 3 next week, it'll spark a double XP outbreak all weekend on PlayStation Network. No official pricing was given in the release date announcement, but we don't imagine it'll be magically less expensive than the $15 asking price on Xbox 360 and Steam. Update: An Activision rep confirmed to us that the PS3 release will be "consistent with previous Escalation pack pricing."
Escalation drops on Black Ops PC today; double XP and free Steam multiplayer weekend
While some of us will be frantically packing and chewing our finger nails down to the bone in preparation for E3, many out there may just be looking to kick it. If that's the case and you're looking for something to do on that PC of yours, Steam's got a whole lot of Black Ops stuff going on. First of all, the latest DLC pack, Escalation, is now available for download on Steam at $14.99 -- four multiplayer maps and the celebrity-filled Call of the Dead are included. On top of that, Steam is offering a free multiplayer weekend, meaning anybody can download the game and sample its multiplayer side absolutely free, from right now until June 5 at 1pm PT. This weekend, all XP earned in multiplayer will also be doubled. Finally, if you've found Black Ops to be to your liking, you can decide to pick it up at a reduced price this weekend: $40.19, 33% off its normal asking price.
Steam discounts Tales of Monkey Island, Red Faction and Black Ops
Steam has an eclectic, temporary assortment of discounts available over the next few days, including a markdown on the Tales of Monkey Island series to $12, 75 percent off the first three Red Faction games and a 33 percent markdown (and free weekend!) for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Sign up for the Call of Duty Elite beta now
As Activision steps into the bold new future of online social stuff with Call of Duty Elite, it's giving you the opportunity to see that future in ... the nearer future. A page just opened offering signups for a closed beta. You just need your birthdate, your console preference (which may require some soul-searching!) and your email address. Oh, and you need a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops, the game to which the beta is tied. But you probably have one of those already.
Call of Duty: Black Ops PC patch released, Treyarch targeting end of month for mod tools
Though the rest of the planet has been entirely consumed by the fires of Modern Warfare 3 fever, the Call of Duty: Black Ops PC community is being rewarded for its dedication. Treyarch just launched a hefty patch on Steam for the shooter, fixing a number of issues that have long plagued its multiplayer component. Check out the full list of changes after the jump! One change included therein is the preparation for player-created mods -- a feature which, according to a recent Tweet from Treyarch community manager Josh Olin, is "still targeting an end-of-month release." We're quickly running out of month, but we'll make sure to let you know if it delivers on this promise!
New 'limited' PS3 bundle throws in Call of Duty: Black Ops
This might be a slightly scary time to become a PS3 owner, but Sony and Activision are making it a bit more appealing by launching a limited-edition Call of Duty: Black Ops bundle on March 31. The package contains a 160GB PS3 system, the game, and the First Strike DLC, for the PS3's regular $299.99 price. So you get the best-selling game of all time for free. Not bad! Of course, the downside to that is that since it's the best-selling game ever, you might already have a copy on another system. But for those of you who haven't gotten it yet, totally great deal!
Escalation marks GameStop's biggest DLC launch in record first quarter
The recent Call of Duty: Black Ops "Escalation" DLC has taken the crown at GameStop as its largest DLC launch ever, according to the company's latest earnings call. The map pack sold 50,000 copies as pre-orders and 200,000 in store during the first week of availability. Digital sales in general are on the rise at the retailer as well, growing 53 percent year-over-year. The first quarter of 2011 was a good one for GameStop overall, as the company reported record sales of $2.28 billion. HD console games were a big driver, as was the Nintendo 3DS launch, combined with a solid 9.5 percent growth in "pre-owned" (read: used) games and accessories. Pokémon Black and White were the top titles of the quarter, with Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Black Ops and Homefront filling out the top five.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 'Escalation' DLC hitting PC on June 2
"Escalation," the latest downloadable add-on for Call of Duty: Black Ops, will be released for PC early next month. Activision sent out a note announcing a June 2 release date, and signaled the impending end of Xbox Live's exclusive grip on five additional multiplayer maps. The $15 "Escalation" pack houses four urban Black Ops battlegrounds -- Hotel, Zoo, Convoy and Stockpile -- and an unusually elaborate map for Zombies mode, dubbed "Call of the Dead." Assuming you don't find it distasteful when those who were presumed dead are unexpectedly resurrected, you'll get a real kick out of seeing Robert Englund, George Romero and Sarah Michelle Gellar again. An announcement regarding the PlayStation 3 version of this DLC will be made "soon," Activision says.%Gallery-121609%
Call of the Dead actors sound off on being in Black Ops
For each celebrity participating in Call of the Dead, there's a different motivation -- well, on top of the core motivation of sweet cash money, of course. Check out some videos past the break where each tells us what Call of Duty means to them.
Brink vaults to the top of UK charts
Brink took the top spot on the UK all-formats charts last week, and even the PlayStation 3 version (which couldn't support online play last week) became the best seller on the platform. With the PSN restored, it should soon receive the matchmaking updates added to the Xbox 360 version. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean sailed into second for its debut, while Zumba Fitness held a solid footing at third, experiencing only a two percent drop in sales. The rest of the top ten is a mix of the regulars, except for THQ's MX vs ATV Alive, which premiered in the tenth spot. It'll be interesting to see how that "budget" title performs on the charts, since most of its revenue is expected to come from DLC. Head past the break for the UK All Platforms top ten.
Report: UK retailers say PS3 trade-ins doubling due to PSN outage
We're approaching the one-month anniversary of the PlayStation Network's deactivation due to that pesky security breach, and according to a report from Edge the downtime's starting to have an effect at UK games retailers. The report cites a number of anonymous game shop clerks, all of whom paint a fairly similar picture of the response to the outage: PlayStation 3 trade-ins have doubled in their respective stores in the past few weeks, with most shoppers exchanging their consoles for Xbox 360s or cash. That may sound like a fairly inflammatory report, but the reasoning is sound: Almost all the retailers say these shoppers are hardcore FPS players, and are acquiring Xbox 360s to get back in their Call of Duty: Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 routines. Furthermore, all of the retailers report an increased trade-in rate for the PS3 version of Black Ops. Trading in your gaming console sounds like a pretty drastic way to keep playing a game you love -- then again, we're no strangers to the siren call of the Killstreak.
Call of Duty fan film brings 'Zombies' mode to life
You have to hand it to Studio FX Films. Its "Live Action Nazi Zombies" short film does a great job of recreating the Call of Duty Zombies mode. The video even throws in weapon purchasing and awkward spawn animations. There are plenty of zombies, too -- far too many for our protagonists, as it turns out.
Black Ops 'First Strike' DLC sold 1.4M units in first 24 hours
During an investors call today, Activision announced that 1.4 million copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops' "First Strike" map pack were sold "in the first 24 hours" of its February 1 debut on Xbox Live. At $15 a pop, that's $21 million in gross revenue in a single day -- on a single platform! Notably, Activision Publishing's Eric Hirshberg pointed out that those sales were a "20 percent increase over Modern Warfare 2's 'Stimulus Package DLC'" launch. He added that First Strike, which was also released on PSN and PC in March, "continues to outsell the Stimulus Pack by more than 20 percent." But hey, let's give our old friend the Stimulus Pack a break -- after all, the poor thing had to suffer the full rage of the internet when it became the very first Call of Duty DLC priced at $15! First Strike had it easy.
Activision Blizzard banks $503 million in first quarter profits
Beneath the Southern California headquarters of Activision Blizzard there lies a zeppelin-sized vault, near-bursting with piles of gold and riches -- or at least that's how we imagine it. The company today reported its first quarter 2011 earnings, reaping a record $1.4 billion in sales revenue, an increase of $100 million over the same period last year. Net income came to $503 million, up from $381 million in Q1 2010. Not surprisingly, the publisher attributed a hefty chunk of those profits to continued sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops -- which it also confirmed is not just the best-selling game ever (in terms of revenue) in the US, but in Europe as well. In addition, the company noted that digital sales were up 30 percent over Q1 2010 and accounted for 30 percent of Activision Blizzard's revenue last quarter. Finally, although it comes second in the "Activision Blizzard" name, Blizzard was first in profit for the quarter. The unit accounted for a whopping $170 million in income, compared to Activision Publishing's $48 million.
Zumba Fitness back on top of UK charts
Stop it. It's not funny anymore. Zumba Fitness returns to the top spot on the UK charts this week, following a two-week hiatus during which Portal 2 enjoyed the spotlight. With no significant new titles last week, the charts appear to be an energetic shuffle of the regulars. Portal 2 sales were down 43 percent and hit second place, while Mortal Kombat dropped by 52-percent into third. Call of Duty: Black Ops moved up a spot and took fourth, likely due to the promotion of last week's "Escalation" map pack. Everything else is pretty standard -- case in point: Just Dance 2 is hanging out in tenth. Check out the UK top ten after the break.
