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Watch for falling buildings in Call of Duty: Ghosts' 'Free Fall' pre-order map
Pre-order Call of Duty: Ghosts and you'll be given free access to the newly-revealed Free Fall map, a virtual arena that eschews dusty backstreets and narrow alleys in favor of a skyscraper that's seen better days. "Free Fall's close-quarters combat and frenetic action are thrown into overdrive as the ruined skyscraper continues to fall throughout the match, an example of Call of Duty: Ghosts' new dynamic multiplayer events," reads the map's official description. "With every drop, the accompanying shockwaves cause further destruction, disrupting sightlines and constantly evolving paths and chokepoints as the map changes in real-time." As you can see in the announcement trailer above, this shifting landscape adds a novel twist to typical Call of Duty firefights. On the one hand, the collapsing building can occasionally provide useful cover or a comfy spot from which to snipe your foes. On the other, you may occasionally be crushed by giant chunks of concrete, torn apart by worryingly agile militarized dogs, or casually walk through a formerly intact window. If this trailer has convinced you to pre-order Call of Duty: Ghosts, you can find everything you need at the game's official website.
Call of Duty: Ghosts gets rickety skyscraper as pre-order bonus
It's preemptive business as usual with Call of Duty: Ghosts, which now boasts a pre-order incentive in the form of a multiplayer map. Dubbed "Free Fall," the freebie environment is meant to reflect the dynamic events that characterize and alter the environments in this iteration of Call of Duty's multiplayer suite. Taking place in the halls of a skyscraper on the verge of collapse, Free Fall represents "just one of the many new approaches we're putting into Ghosts' multiplayer across the board," says Executive Producer Mark Rubin. "There's so much more that we look forward to sharing in the weeks to come." The weeks to come – between now and the game's PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launch on November 5 – will likely be spent cleaning up the wide-scale urban damage left after Activision's skyscraper motion-capture session.%Gallery-192851%
Man skydives from 13 miles above Earth, isn't satisfied (video)
Your worst nightmares? Felix Baumgartner's breakfast. Determined to cement his legacy in the Pantheon of Daredevilry, the famed skydiver successfully leapt from an altitude of more than 70,000 feet last week -- and that was just a trial. It's all part of Baumgartner's attempt to complete a record-breaking 120,000 foot "spacedive" later this year and, based on early returns, he seems well on his way. His latest jump, completed on March 15th, saw the fearless Austrian carried up to more than 13 miles above the Earth, protected only by a pressurized suit and capsule that hung from a 165-foot high helium balloon. Not long after jumping out, he reached a maximum speed of 364.4 mph, with the entire free fall lasting a little over eight minutes, according to Red Bull Stratos, which is sponsoring the effort. The idea behind last week's run was to test out the balloon and pressurized capsule, though Baumgartner is apparently hoping to complete another jump from about 90,000 feet above ground, before attempting the record breaker sometime this summer. Somewhere, Yves Rossy is furiously polishing off his jetpack. For more details on the equipment used to pull off the feat, check out Red Bull Stratos' video, after the break.
