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Day's worth of Black Ops carnage makes for grim infographic
The graphic designers of Spijkermat figured that reducing 8 days' worth of Black Ops multiplayer stats to a pretty picture of daily averages would make the carnage counts comprehensible (as opposed to the unfathomable figures that scroll across the counter in the game's lobbies). They were wrong.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 'First Strike' map pack trailer big on ziplines, short on zombies
We're just about two weeks away from the sure-to-be blockbuster (and temporarily exclusive) release of First Strike, the first map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, and to celebrate Activision's created a video preview detailing everything your $15 gets you. Treyarch Online Director Dan Bunting promises "more verticality" and "more sniper opportunities" in these new multiplayer maps, titled Kowloon (it has ziplines!), Discovery (it has a collapsible bridge!), Berlin Wall (you can figure this one out), and Stadium (built for run-and-gun). Not on display in this video: the new zombie map, Ascension. But don't worry, with the hype-train still two weeks from its destination, we don't think that stop is too far off.
DC Universe Online logs into UK top ten, Black Ops reacquires top spot
DC Universe Online flew into Chart-Track's UK sales chart this week and nipped a spot in the top ten. The PS3 and PC superhero simulator debuted in tenth place and, according to Chart-Track, is only the fourth retail title on PS3 to be online-only. The other internet-required games are MAG, Warhawk and SOCOM: US Navy Seals Confrontation. The rest of the top ten is composed of the usual suspects playing musical chairs. Call of Duty: Black Ops is back on top, followed by FIFA 11 and the unstoppable Just Dance 2. Speaking of dance games, Harmonix's Dance Central is eyeing a spot in the top ten as it moves from 17 to 12 this week. Check out the top ten after the break.
Black Ops, Madden lead NPD's top 2010 physical game sales
Great news! Remember last January, when you attempted to convince friends of your latent psychic ability by writing down the names of the top 10 best-selling games of the following year, when in all actuality, you were just using your knowledge of the gaming industry and its consumers? Well, you were totally right: The NPD Group's recently unveiled ranking of bestsellers looks pretty much how you'd expect, with Call of Duty: Black Ops ringing in at first place, while Madden NFL 11 and Halo: Reach came in at second and third, respectively. You can check out the rest of the top 10 after the jump, though you could probably fill in the rest of the blanks using raw intuition. Here, give it a try. Yup. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yes, that too. Huh? Split/Second? Nope. Oh, but if wishing made it so.
Black Ops led 2010 UK game sales, Just Dance top of the pops on Wii
Although it comes as little surprise, Call of Duty: Black Ops was the best-selling game in the UK last year. The UK Interactive Entertainment Association's 2010 bestsellers list features the usual suspects, with Black Ops, FIFA 11 and Just Dance occupying the top three spots, respectively, across all platform sales. Breaking it down by format, Blops landed in the top sales spot for Xbox 360 and PS3 games, while Just Dance and its sequel filled the first and third positions among Wii releases, naturally. Professor Layton And The Lost Future took the golden picarat for DS and FIFA 11 charged to the top of the charts on PSP. Although one could speculate as to why Black Ops wasn't at the front line of PC sales in the UK, it's just as fitting that Football Manager 2011 and 2010 occupied the forward spots in the region. Check out the complete breakdown by format after the jump.
FIFA 11 kicks off 2011 atop UK charts
For the first full week of 2011, FIFA 11 held onto the top spot in the UK's multiplatform sales ranking, according to Chart-Track. The footie franchise has maintained that center forward position for four consecutive weeks. Oh ... oh, look who's in second place, why if it isn't our good friend Just Dance 2. Ubisoft's unstoppable booty-shaking series keeps on crunkin', with the series' sequel inexplicably moving up two spots into second. Thus, Call of Duty: Black Ops finds itself out of its comfort zone in third place, the first time it hasn't been in the top two since its November launch. It would seem Mass Effect 2's various end of year accolades spurred interest in the game again, as it returned to the top 40 in spot 18. With no new major game releases this past week, the chart is a shifting of the usual suspects. Check out the top ten after the break.
Xbox 360 and PS3 dominated UK in 2010, game market sales totaled £2.875 billion
The UK video game market withstood a 13 percent sales decline in 2010 from 2009, according to The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment's annual report. UKIE put total software and hardware sales at £2.875 billion ($4.8 billion) in the territory last year, with console games alone accounting for £1.45 billion ($2.26 billion) of the total gross. The Xbox 360 and PS3 were the only hardware platforms to see sales growth, with the 360 accounting for £232 million ($361 million) in sales from 18.2 million consoles sold (thanks price break!), and the PS3 just below that figure with £229 million ($357 million) in sales from 13.8 million units. UKIE didn't share specific numbers for handhelds or the Wii, though its report notes the total revenue for console hardware sales amounted to £800 million ($1.25 billion) in 2010. Of course, key product releases helped sell those consoles -- the biggest undoubtedly being Call of Duty: Black Ops, which smashed UK sales records upon launch. Kinect and PlayStation Move presumably aided sales growth for their respective consoles, too, though UKIE didn't detail the specific fiscal impact of either in its report.
FIFA enters new year atop UK charts, two Kinect titles land in top ten
Call of Duty Black Ops and FIFA 11 have been fighting for that top spot on the UK charts this holiday season, but FIFA 11 took back number one on Chart-Track's All Formats chart for the week ending January 1, 2011. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, (the perennial) Just Dance 2 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood didn't move a muscle, maintaining their spots in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. Microsoft's Kinect had two games in the top ten in the twilight of 2010. Kinect Sports has been hanging around since the peripheral launched, but Dance Central is apparently gaining the attention it deserves, storming the dance floor into tenth place, up nine spots from the prior week. There were five Kinect games in the top 40 this past week, the most since the device's launch week. Check out the UK's top ten after the break.
Report: Call of Duty: Black Ops most pirated game in 2010
TorrentFreak's annual report on the most pirated games of the year has Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops taking the dubious top honor for 2010. Even with Activision's attempts to play "good cop" with pirates, Black Ops is estimated to have been downloaded 4.27 million times on PC, with another 930,000 copies on Xbox 360. This would be the second year in a row that the Call of Duty franchise took the "prize," with Modern Warfare 2 allegedly being pirated over 4.1 million times in 2009. Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Wii had over 1.47 million downloads, while Dante's Inferno took the top spot on Xbox 360 with 1.28 million downloads -- and we'll be damned if we can figure out why it was that game. Perhaps it was the game's marketing that instilled such sinful behavior.
Freddie Wong develops the most realistic Call of Duty ever
YouTube sensation Freddie Wong's gun-filled videos have referenced FPS games in the past, but none have been quite so on the nose as "Future First Person Shooter." One could almost suspend their disbelief to think these are just really good graphics -- especially once the teabagging begins.
Black Ops PS3 multiplayer patched again
Are you a Black Ops player on PS3? Have you been experiencing unreliable parties? How about loud mouths in the lobby -- or worse: in your unreliable party? Well, this probably isn't the game for you. Nevertheless, Treyarch continues to make amends for those who are less thick-skinned. At approximately o-five-hundred hours ET this morning, the developer deployed another Black Ops multiplayer patch -- 1.05, for those keeping count -- through PlayStation Network. The update implements several fixes, including "improved party reliability" (when leaving with party), mute functionality in pre-game lobbies and kick functionality in party and private match lobbies. (The full patch notes are posted after the break.) Additionally, Treyarch is continuing its work to further improve party reliability, but in the interim we suggest you try making new friends. Future patches may also address the reported "infinite loading screen" issue (which definitely sounds like some shady MK-ULTRA side effect) and a rare game-freezing scenario that can be triggered by "explosions occurring simultaneously in a concentrated area" -- see? Didn't everyone say the authentic Cold War-era ice bombs would break the game? In other Black Ops news, mod tools are in development for the PC community. So, for real, someone make that ice bomb! [Thanks, Jason]
Free Black Ops Xbox Live multiplayer weekend coming in January
We recognize that the odds of you being a consummate Call of Duty: Black Ops player that hasn't dipped into the game's online multiplayer offerings are slim indeed, but we still thought we'd share -- Activision will host a free Xbox Live multiplayer weekend for the game early next year. Any Silver subscribers who pop into the game from January 28 - 30 will be able to play against other worldwide soldiers at no cost. Of course, this promotion is only set up to reel in as many suckers as humanly possible before Activision fires off the game's "First Strike" add-on pack February 1. Or, in military terms, Activision's creating a choke point, and drawing all the outsiders into it with jelly beans. Military-grade jelly beans.
Call of Duty: Black Ops makes $1 billion
There's a song in every heart and a smile on every face. A magic sort of joy permeates the air, seeming to make every light twinkle just a bit brighter. It's the most magical time of the year ... at Activision. That's right, it's time to count the Call of Duty money! Don't be surprised if this year's festivities take us into the new year, though, as the company announced that its latest iteration, Call of Duty: Black Ops, has brought in One. Billion. Dollars. The only other entertainment product in history to get the big B this quickly? James Cameron's Avatar. Sometimes, it can be hard to visualize amounts this large, so here's some perspective to help you understand just how much a billion dollars is: Any person on our staff would kill you in cold blood for a thousandth of it. Happy holidays!
Black Ops tops UK charts this holiday, NFS: Hot Pursuit gets sales boost
For a second year in a row going into Christmas, the Call of Duty franchise is king of the Chart-Track UK All Formats chart, with CoD:Black Ops sales slightly up and occupying the space where CoD: Modern Warfare 2 was last year. FIFA 11 placed second, which is nothing unusual. However, coming out of nowhere, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit sales jumped 48 percent, which boosted the game from seventh to third. Occupying the fourth and fifth spots respectively are Ubisoft's Just Dance 2 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Just Dance 2 sales were up fifteen percent this week, which means, unless something very strange happens next week, a member of the Just Dance franchise will have been in the top of the UK charts for all of 2010. The first Just Dance owned much of the early part of the year. Check out the UK's top ten -- keep hanging in there, Donkey Kong Country Returns! -- after the break.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 'First Strike' map pack strikes Xbox Live first on Feb. 1
The Major Nelson podcast brings the first details of the initial, inevitable Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack. "First Strike" will be released on Xbox Live on February 1, 2011 -- as a timed exclusive, so give it about a month if you want it on another platform. The pack includes four competitive maps: "Discovery," based on the Reznov mission and taking place in an Antarctic research station; "Kowloon" set in, of course, Kowloon, this time on rooftops; "Berlin Wall," a fight at Checkpoint Charlie; and "Stadium," set in an American hockey rink. It also includes a Zombie map, "Ascension." The DLC will sell for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), the customary Call of Duty map pack price point. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Call of Duty: Black Ops shoots at Target for $47, other games $10 off
There's a gag floating around in Target's current discount on Call of Duty: Black Ops -- now available at the retailer for $47 -- but we're having trouble finding it. Soldiers shoot at Targets, see? And there are a lot of soldiers in Call of Duty: Black Ops. And Target? It's the name of the store. There's gotta be some combination of those concepts that we can weave together into a pun, but it's eluding us. Target's knocking $10 off the price of a number of other recent releases as well, including Fable 3, Red Dead Redemption, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Medal of Honor, but none of those really have anything to do with targets, now do they? Except for Medal of Honor, which also plays host to a number of soldiers. Hm. Check out all of Target's gaming discounts -- available until Saturday, Dec. 18 -- after the jump.
Black Ops PS3 network connectivity hotfix released, 'more coming'
Whatever you do: "Please do not delete your save data," pleaded Treyarch community manager Josh Olin on the Black Ops Forums late last night, "as it will not have an effect on network connectivity." Olin (a.k.a. JD_2020) was posting to discredit a rumor that doing so would fix network connectivity issues that have plagued the PS3 version of Black Ops since Tuesday's patch. Olin confirmed that a hotfix was released at approximately 12:30AM ET Wednesday and claimed it's "the reason many users have experienced improved connectivity" (and not the deletion of save data). While this fix hasn't solved the issues entirely, Treyarch is "working hard to track down the cause" and will continue to release more hotfixes, according to Olin, "so stay tuned." Follow Olin on Twitter for the most current updates.
Walmart offers 12 months of Xbox Live and a (good) game for $81
Walmart has a pretty spectacular deal going on for Xbox owners. The chain is currently offering one year of Xbox Live Gold and a select game for $79. SlickDeals notes that shipping is only $1.97. Don't fret about that "select game" business in the previous sentence either, as the eligible games are actually pretty good, including Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and many, many others. Considering a 12 month Xbox Live sub usually runs for $60 on its own, you might as well toss in a $20 game (that also usually runs for $60), right?
Call of Duty: Black Ops gets major patch, PS3 gamers suffer connection issues
Treyarch recently gave its blockbuster shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops its biggest booster shot to date on Xbox 360 and PS3, adding some neat new functionality while initiating some oft-requested server stability fixes and various gameplay tweaks. The biggest changes include: the addition of over 400 new Contracts (perfect for folks who are still on that paper chase); the new option to play offline with AI practice dummies; split-screen multiplayer; and a new "Dolly Cam" for the game's Theater mode, giving machinma-makers a bit more cinematographic flexibility. Unfortunately, not every player seems to be a fan of the update so far -- a growing thread on the game's official forums is filled with complaints from PS3 owners who say the patch has worsened freezing, crashing and other connectivity issues that have plagued their console's version of the game since launch. Treyarch has stated that it's constantly working on fixes for the game, so if you're suffering from the PS3 networking blues, you might want to add your voice to the pile. For now, check out the full, super esoteric list of changes from the new patch posted after the break.
Lego: Black Ops spoof rated 18+ for 18+ dudes getting murdered
We appreciate the hard work it took to attempt this fantastically gory stop-motion video recreation of a Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer match using Lego figures. But it's so not a realistic depiction! Where are the hundreds of RC-XDs?
