Call of Duty: Black Ops

[GamerMan316]

Call of Duty: Black Ops proving tricky to balance
Earn rate, spend rate, XP, weapons, perks... Treyarch has its hands full.

Treyarch's community man, Josh Olin, has told CVG that Call of Duty: Black Ops is a 'much more difficult game to balance'.

"It has been a much more difficult game to balance but the team really stepped up to the plate," Olin admits.

"This has been the most difficult to balance and there are a lot of things that contribute to that such as the earn rate and spend rate of CoD points, plus XP is always a tough thing to balance out.

"With all these things we're adding to purchase you have to balance not only the weapons and perks against each other but also when you consider how much they're going to cost."

However, Olin says that the recent restructing of Treyarch has allowed them to have a dedicated multiplayer team to ensure they can pull off the tricky balancing job.

"Almost two years ago now they refocused all their efforts on retooling the studio and on the development process. One of those was having every developer focusing on Call of Duty when we were working on World at War," Olin explains.

"Now it has allowed us to have a dedicated single-player and multi-player team since day one. They haven't been distracted by other things so it has allowed out MP team to use their resources to make more than we've ever made before, but also really polish and balance it to the degree that we felt was necessary."

CVG Interview

[GamerMan316]

Treyarch: "Wager Matches are this year's Nazi Zombies"
Developer talks Call of Duty: Black Ops co-op on OXM Report

Ever since the release of World at War, much of the internet chatter about upcoming Call of Duty titles (including Modern Warfare 2) has surrounded whether Nazi Zombies would be returning in some form or other.

Naturally Infinity Ward went in its own direction with Spec Ops, so when we got hold of Daniel Suarez, Executive Producer on Call of Duty: Black Ops at the recent multiplayer event, we thought we'd ask him whether the new co-op mode, Combat Training, was this year's Nazi Zombies.

"I would say the Wager Match is this year's Nazi Zombies," Suarez told us on today's OXM Report. "That's not to downgrade what we're [saying] about Combat Training, and I'll give you the example. When we saw Nazi Zombies two years ago it was the one thing that we were like 'Wow this has really done something cool, new and different.'"

"The first time we saw [Wager Match], I saw it with one game mode first, which is One in the Chamber. It's a very, very intense game mode. There's six people on the map, there's no perks, there's no killstreaks, it's evenly matched and it's free for all. I played that when it was early in development and, I gotta tell you, we were just screaming."

"For us, we think wager match is going to be the thing that people are just going to go crazy over."

So it's not looking tremendously good for the return of the shambling hordes. We wouldn't totally rule it out, though - after all, developers are well known (and well trained) for keeping secrets about games tightly under wraps until they're ready to announce them.

For the full interview, check out the OXM Report on Xbox Live now.

[GamerMan316]

Black Ops Weapons List for anyone interested. 

[GamerMan316]

COD: Black Ops Nazi zombies sighted

Treyarch's signature Nazi zombie co-op may have been secretly stuffed into Call of Duty: Black Ops.

The popular game mode is mentioned in two separate retailer listings for the official Bradygames Black Ops guide - one on GameStop and the other on Play-Asia.

Both list "Nazi zombie coverage" as one of the product's features.

Neither Activision or Bradygames were available for comment, but we'll let you know when they are.

This isn't the first we've heard of Nazi zombies' inclusion in Black Ops: in August, retailer listings for the Hardened Edition of the game boasted about including "four Zombie Map Packs made famous from COD: World at War".

Nazi zombie mode is based around a team of human players fending off wave after wave of undead fascists - each swarm more powerful than the last. It debuted in Treyarch's last Call of Duty game, World at War.

[sambo]

More details of the campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops have been revealed, via CVG.
"The story is being told from the moment you put in your disc, to the end of the campaign," explained Treyarch chief Mark Lamia.

"You do play some different characters along the way, but it's literally... it's going to challenge you to figure out what's going on."

"It's so immersive, the story is so tied to everything you're doing. You won't be saying: 'I don't see how the story and the gameplay are connected', but you may be saying: 'how do all the pieces fit together?'"

"You'll need to make sense of it all - because this is black ops. We embraced everything that was going on in that era in a very big way".

So multiple characters and a potentially confusing, potentially challenging, potentially awesome storyline. We also know it's going to tie in with World at War given Reznov is back but how?

[GamerMan316]

CoD: Black Ops Zombies are OFFICIAL
Activision officially announces new Zombie mode

Activision's just announced the much-rumoured Zombie mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops. Act surprised.

Treyarch studio head, Mark Lamia said in the announce: "Zombies have been such a hit with our community that we were committed to bringing brand new zombie experiences to Call of Duty: Black Ops.

"We've taken extra special care to retain the essential ingredients of our Zombie game, and have also crafted a nice surprise for the fans."

That's pretty much it for details (i.e. there are none) but Activision's also confirmed that four updated maps from World at War will be included with Black Ops' Prestige and Hardened Editions.

Activision launched a teaser site for Black Ops Zombies earlier this week.

[sambo]

The achievement list for Call of Duty: Black Ops has been revealed at http://www.1up.com/news/call-duty-black-ops-achievements

The achievements are mostly focused on the campaign but there are also multiplayer achievements (a first for the Call of Duty series) and achievements for Nazi Zombies, which is presumably why Treyarch has kept the achievements under wraps until now.

There are a few secret achievements in there too. It looks like standard Call of Duty fare besides the few multiplayer achievements sprinkled in. Let's see how tough Veteran is this time round...

[GamerMan316]

The achievement list for Call of Duty: Black Ops has been revealed at http://www.1up.com/news/call-duty-black-ops-achievements

The achievements are mostly focused on the campaign but there are also multiplayer achievements (a first for the Call of Duty series) and achievements for Nazi Zombies, which is presumably why Treyarch has kept the achievements under wraps until now.

There are a few secret achievements in there too. It looks like standard Call of Duty fare besides the few multiplayer achievements sprinkled in. Let's see how tough Veteran is this time round...

Hopefully a lot harder than MW2's awfully easy Veteran difficulty.

[sambo]

Call of Duty: Black Ops goes 3D

In a surprise announcement, Activision has just revealed that the Call of Duty franchise will be going 3D for the first time. If you've blown an enormous wad of cash on a fancy 3D telly you'll be able to mow down your Cold War foes in an extra dimension.
"Development of stereoscopic 3D began as an R&D project, but once we saw what the technology brought to the Call of Duty experience, what a great fit and how immersive it was, we knew that we had to develop it for Black Ops," said Mark Lamia, Studio Head of Treyarch in the press release.

"Aiming down the sights of your weapons, flying in helicopters, rappelling down mountains, and moving through highly detailed environments are just some of the awesome experiences you will have in 3D with Black Ops."

"We made sure the experience is seamless for gamers to use with a simple menu option to enable stereoscopic 3D or disable it at any time whether playing in the single player campaign, multiplayer or Zombies" added Lamia.

Apparently, the 3D mode has only a tiny effect on the frame rate of the game as well, suggesting this is an impressive technical feat rather than just a bolted on extra. We were fully expecting Treyarch to use the added legroom that 60 frames per second allows as an excuse to drop the game to a more standard 30 when 3D is switched on.

The only potential problem with this announcement? There's a possibility that online players who have an added third dimension are going to gain a competitive advantage in multiplayer. If it's easier to pick out those bad guys from the background, those of us stuck with 2D may find ourselves getting well and truly massacred.

With Call of Duty multiplayer as serious as business gets on Xbox Live, we can see a storm brewing on the forums and comment threads. Still, with many players apathetic so far, this could be the kick up the bum that 3D gaming needs.

[sambo]

A new video exposing Call of Duty: Black Ops' multiplayer mode has been revealed.
The video covers all aspects of the multiplayer mode from the Theater Mode that allows you to create, edit and save replays right through to how the Wager Matches work, and how they allow you to gamble in-game currency.

There's a lot to get through, so best get cracking straight on with it!

[GamerMan316]

Call of Duty: Black Ops will block party chat in some (but fewer) modes



Xbox Live socialistas were upset by Modern Warfare 2's policy of prohibiting players from taking part in certain online multiplayer modes while in a Live Party. In a recent interview with Videogamer.com, Treyarch's online director Dan Hunting explained that this policy returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops, reminding players that "we have that same restriction in certain playlists where they can use party chat to exploit the game mode." The hardcore Search and Destroy gametype is used as an example of where this would be appropriate.

However, the restriction won't be applied to as many playlists as it was in last year's Duty, including Team Deathmatch and "any game mode where it doesn't make sense to have it." So, yes, certain game modes will still require you to converse with the hoi polloi, but isn't that part of the magic of online shooters?

[GamerMan316]

CoD: Black Ops Prestige Edition RC car requires twelve batteries
Black Ops RC XD car is battery powered, batteries all sold separately

Picking up the Prestige Edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops for that exclusive RC XD car? Well, it looks like you'll need to stock up on the batteries as well if you want to use it.

According to HMV, the RC XD car requires a total of twelve batteries to operate, six for the actual car, and another six for the remote control, though the retailer hasn't specified which type of battery they are, nor how long the battery life lasts.

But the worst bit? The batteries aren't included.

Would it have been too much to ask for a few batteries, Activision? It's not as if, you know, we haven't already put down the best part of £130.

At least the car's fairly sizeable though, coming in at 21cm (l) x 18cm (w) x 10cm (h).

Besides the RC XD car, the Prestige Edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops features all the gubbins included with the Hardened Edition, including steelbook packaging, bonus co-op maps and an avatar outfit based on one of Black Ops' lead characters.

Call of Duty: Black Ops launches worldwide on November 9th on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii and DS. Expect plenty of fireworks.

[sambo]

Activision has released the campaign trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
The trailer involves guns being fired, important looking men in suits, slow-motion running, choppers flying overhead, explosions, people being hit on the back of the head with rifles, motorbike sections and...

[dfusioness]

just seen the ad for this- im actually quite excited, its nice knowing i can go an buy these games now knowing i have a chance of playing them without having to fight for control of the xbox

[DFUSIONITE]

The single player looks excellent on this, i think i will rent it for that alone and maybe try the multiplayer to see if i like it, if i do i will probably buy it.