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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.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 'First Strike' DLC on PC March 25
At this point it's hard to call this Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC "First Strike" with a straight face, since it first struck on Xbox a month ago, and then on PS3 on March 3. Ironic name or not, it's finally coming to PC on March 25, according to a tweeted announcement by Treyarch's Josh Olin. As Olin mentions in the tweet, you can pre-purchase the DLC right now through Steam. Though you don't strictly need to secure your copy of a digital-only product ahead of time, since there's no concern about scarcity, you do save $1.50 by doing so.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 'First Strike' DLC lands on PS3, gets bonus music video
For many, the fall of the Berlin Wall represents the triumph of freedom over facism. Long an icon of social repression, the Berlin Wall has evolved into something far greater. It's a Call of Duty map now. One that stages a musical number.
Black Ops 'First Strike' coming to PS3 on March 3, to PC by April
Activision's latest financial report boasted some pretty huge figures for Call of Duty: Black Ops' first piece of multiplayer DLC, "First Strike" -- the most staggering of which being that the pack was purchased 1.4 million times within 24 hours of its February 1 launch on Xbox Live. The publisher is looking to bolster that number in the coming months: In the same report, Activision revealed that the map pack will come to PSN on March 3, and then to PC "later in the quarter" -- corpo-speak for "sometime before March 31." This staggered release falls in line with Microsoft's timed-exclusivity deal with Activision for Call of Duty DLC through the rest of the year. We guess "a month and two days" isn't the most ridiculous amount of time for PS3 owners to be forced to wait. Then again, in Internet-Gaming Time, that's about 15-and-a-half years, so ... yeah. Never mind.
PSA: Black Ops First Strike DLC must match language on disc
Microsoft is warning players who are picking up the Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike map pack from the Marketplace to make sure they choose the same language for the game they own. If you purchase an alternate language pack, the company is quite explicit that the DLC "will not work" and you'll receive an error message. This shouldn't be of concern to those in the States, but Canadians may run into the issue of having the English and French versions offered. It also gets messy if you have a French-language copy of Black Ops in the States, as the French DLC isn't offered in that Marketplace. So, in conclusion: make sure your Black Ops disc language matches that of the DLC you're buying. %Gallery-115315%
Another pitch for Black Ops 'First Strike' DLC
Next Tuesday, Activision will launch the "First Strike" of what CFO Thomas Tippl has called the company's "largest digital offering ever" of Call of Duty DLC in a single year. This first Black Ops map pack will be exclusive to Xbox Live, beginning February 1, for a limited time and will include four competitive multiplayer maps -- "Berlin Wall," "Discovery," "Kowloon" (pictured) and "Stadium" -- along with the Zombies mode map "Ascension." For Xbox Live players, that means one last weeked with the same old maps, a prime opportunity for Activision to toss another pitch for next week's DLC (priced at $15). In the gallery below, you'll find the first screenshots of the map pack (with bonus zombie poster), and after the break you can catch an in-depth video preview of the new competitive maps, produced by Inside Xbox. Did you know that Kowloon is known as a "rule-breaker map?" Ohhh ... so that's where all those pirates got shipped off to, eh? %Gallery-115315%
Latest Call of Duty: Black Ops 'First Strike' trailer has a smattering of zombies
We're now just one week away from the release of "First Strike," the first downloadable map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops. While last week's trailer went into some detail on some of the maps – notably excluding the zombie map "Ascension" – this week's trailer goes into no detail on all of the maps. Allow us to explain: You'll catch a well-edited glimpse of each of the five new multiplayer maps, but without any details it's tough to get excited; you're better off watching last week's trailer over again. However, if you're looking for a peek at "Ascension," this is the only game in town, so click that play button and scrub ahead to the 43-second mark.
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.
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!]
First Strike hits Fantasy Earth Zero
Fans of large-scale action-based PvP have something to rally around in the form of Fantasy Earth Zero, with the team at Gamepot USA working behind the scenes to make the game the best it can be. The game's first major update since the May launch has just hit the servers, and it looks to be quite a major infusion of new content. Dubbed "First Strike," the most prominent alteration is the addition of Nation Weapon quests, allowing players to hunt down a weapon emblematic of their nation of choice to help smite their enemies. There's more going on than simply new armaments, however, especially with the revamped player tutorial and the addition of a party system to allow players to stay in touch across the various points of conflict. This update also kicks off the meta-game event known as "The Revolutionary War," which the team promises will span both the battles within the game as well as social sites such as Facebook. It's clear that the people behind Fantasy Earth Zero have quite a bit of interesting material in the works, and this update -- as well as the ongoing double experience event -- are just the tip of the iceberg.
