Topic: Call of Duty: Black Ops

[Xessive]

Call of Duty: Black Ops confirmed for November.

You can see the debut trailer here.

It's available for pre-order with an announced release date of 9th November, 2010.

[MysterD]

Saw it the other day.
We need more gameplay footage...

[PyroMenace]

Do we? Do we really?

[MysterD]

Treyarch says Call of Duty: Black Ops for the PC will have Dedicated Servers.

[MysterD]

SP is the main campaign and will not have Co-Op options attached to it.
Co-Op will have its own game modes.

[scottws]

I guess we'll have to see if Treyarch can pick up IW's torch.  All of IW's COD games were already superior to Treyarch's, but the production values of the MW games really left Treyarch in the dust.

[K-man]

Yeah I don't have really high hopes for this.

[MysterD]

Black Ops PC will have Mod Tools released some time after the game is available.

[MysterD]

IGN -> Black Ops PC will ONLY have Ded-Servers from GameServers.com.

[MysterD]

1Up -> COD: Black Ops will support 3D right-out-the-box for PC and consoles.
For console versions - you need a 3D TV.
For PC version - it ONLY supports NVidia's 3D Vision.

[MysterD]

Destructoid -> COD: Black Ops is being pirated.
Activision has been contacting pirates and basically just telling them to stop and send pirated copies back to them.

[MysterD]

Seriously....WTH?
 

[iPPi]

They couldn't wait two more days eh.

[angrykeebler]

Dear Pirates/MysterD,

Can you guys stop pirating our game? That would be super. Also, if you could maybe like send your copies to us that would be awesome. Thaaaaanks.

Yours in Christ,
Activision

[Pugnate]

Angrykeebler, I always suspected you were an employee of Activision.

[Cobra951]

Gadzooks!  They moved the page.  Or backpedaled on the subject?

[MysterD]

Dear Pirates/MysterD,

Can you guys stop pirating our game? That would be super. Also, if you could maybe like send your copies to us that would be awesome. Thaaaaanks.

Yours in Christ,
Activision

Sorry, it ain't me.
I'm waiting for the inevitable Steam sale and/or retail price-drop.

[angrykeebler]

Denying a crime usually means you are guilty. How are you liking your pirated copy of Black Ops? Does it comfort you to know that you are killing the industry?

You monster.

[MysterD]

Denying a crime usually means you are guilty. How are you liking your pirated copy of Black Ops? Does it comfort you to know that you are killing the industry?

You monster.

Dude, I'm way behind on COD games.
I still ain't even played COD: World or War and Modern Warfare 2.
Still waiting for price-drops on those.
And especially waiting for price-drop on Black Ops.

[angrykeebler]

Dude, I'm way behind on COD games.
I still ain't even played COD: World or War and Modern Warfare 2.
Still waiting for price-drops on those.
And especially waiting for price-drop on Black Ops.

Translation: I pirate so many games that I don't have time to play them all.

[W7RE]

Dude, I'm way behind on COD games.
I still ain't even played COD: World or War and Modern Warfare 2.
Still waiting for price-drops on those.
And especially waiting for price-drop on Black Ops.

CoD games seem to be best when they first come out. The longer you wait, the more glitches and exploits the douchebags find, and the more they learn how to use them against you. that is, unless you're just in it for single player.

I'm so damn tired of MW2 and it's noob tube, commando knifing bullshit. I keep hearing those things have been adressed in Black Ops, so hopefully it'll be more enjoyable.

[Xessive]

Just picked it up. Takes about 30 mins to install. Really anxious right now.

[W7RE]

UPS just delivered my copy. It's installing to my Xbox right now, gonna jump online in a sec.

[MysterD]

Reviews

Multiplatform - PC, X360, and PS3
GameSpot - 9.0 (out of 10)
Written review.
Video Review.
Scored out of 5
G4TV -> 5 stars.
Scored out of 10
GameInformer -> 9.00
Videogamer.com -> 9.
Eurogamer -> 8.

Console versions only - X360 and PS3
IGN Review - 8.5 (out of 10)
Written review.
Video review.
Other Reviews - scored out of 5
GiantBomb -> 4 stars.
Other Reviews - graded reviews out of A+ maximum
1Up -> A- grade.

[MysterD]

G4TV -> Sessler's Soapbox - Adam Sessler speaks on Black Ops and Sequel Fatigue in the gaming industry.

[W7RE]

G4TV -> Sessler's Soapbox - Adam Sessler speaks on Black Ops and Sequel Fatigue in the gaming industry.

He does have a good point, but for some people, me included, CoD is different because of multiplayer. OK any game that anyone plays primarily for the multiplayer would probably fall into this category. CoD is the game I now go to for multiplayer more often than not. I played MW2 off and on almost all the way up until the Black Ops release. The only reason I didn't play it more, was because of the overuse of annoying tactics like noob tube + One Man Army. (a grenade launcher, with infinite grenades basically.) for me, Black Ops comes with the promise of fixing the broken or annoying things about MW2. It's like getting a major content patch for your game, and it's got a whole single player game to go with it.

Also, I think I'm finally done with the game for the night. I logged 5 hours and 45 minutes in MP, and made it to level 21.

[sirean_syan]

Not that I ever really cared about Call of Duty multiplayer (or competitive FPS multiplayer in general for that matter), but the idea that all these glitches are fairly prevalent in CoD is a bit sad. In the PC world, you had hacks to ruin the experience, but that's understandable because the game was running on an open system. It seems like you could patch out exploits like this pretty easily, but they seem pretty content to basically charge you $60 for what should be a simple bug fix or balance patch (well, maybe not the full price since there might be new maps and stuff.... ~$20?)

Then there's stuff like this. So, instead of trying to fix their own shit they're just going to ban a bunch of people. Again, I get banning cheaters on games, but usually that should be because someone uses some extra program. People play like douches and that ruins games. If developers want to continue supporting a game they should be on top of that with programing within the game so they don't have to rely on a bunch of reports from awkward basement dwellers and insecure middleschoolers.

[MysterD]

PC Gamer Review
PCG -> 64 (out of 100).

If Treyarch’s goal with their Call of Duty games is to imitate Infinity Ward, they’re finally doing an impressive job. The shooting is as dull, the scripting claustrophobic, and the set-pieces try just as hard to distract from both. But without a great co-op mode to back it up, without a startlingly fresh setting, and interrupted by regular technical screw-ups, Call of Duty’s bluff and bluster has never felt so hoarse.

[scottws]

Ouch.

[W7RE]

Does the average Joe Blow even know who Infinity Ward and Treyarch are? Don't they probably want just more of the same? I guess it's just a score, and if anything a negative review will push Activision to NOT just do more of the same, but BO is a good game. It seems unfair to dock it too much based on it doing nothing new. Of course I've heard the PC version launched with some serious issues, so maybe that played into this review as well.



Anyway, I still haven't even touched the single player. I've hit the level cap (50), prestiged, and I'm back up to 20 again. I'm loving it. I'd compare the move from MW2 to Black Ops more to something like a WoW expansion coming out. I get rid of old shit I didn't like, I get new cool shit, and I get to level again. I also get new areas to play around in. All of that is worth $60 to me. It's like those people who've been playing Counter-Strike for 10 years (or however long it's been out). I can feel myself heading in that direction with CoD, but with new games and map packs, I get new stuff once in a while, instead of spending a decade playing de_dust2 with an AWP.

[Ghandi]

PC Gamer Review
PCG -> 64 (out of 100).

This game could get the worst reviews possible from everyone and it wouldn't hurt sales at all.

Cool commercials + recognizable brand >>> any review

[Quemaqua]

See above.

[W7RE]

Using a swastika as your custom symbol in game will get you banned from Xbox Live.

Black Ops actually comes with a handy in-game way of reporting someone's emblem too. While in the lobby, you just go to the right to highlight the list of players, and move up and down. Press A on someone's name, and one of the options is "report offensive custom emblem" or something like that. I know I reported probably half a dozen swastikas within the first couple days of the game. Yes, I know a swastika is supposed to have been used pre-nazi, but everyone I reported had an obvious 45 degree angled black swastika on a white circle, with a red background. Three of them were in a game together all with the clan tag of "N4Z1".

With enough work and cash earned by playing the game, you can create a symbol widely recognized as a hateful and hurtful one and then display it for others in matchmaking lobbies or even on your guns. You can also make phalluses or create pictures of unicorns banging bears, both of which will also get you banned. You have been warned!

Shit, I've got to tell a friend to change his symbol then. He's got a silhouette of the Hulk with a raging hardon.

[MysterD]

Can we use say an Activision logo or a COD logo as an emblem?
What about a pic of Bobby Kotick?

[iPPi]

You can make your own emblem?

[W7RE]

You can make your own emblem?

Yea, you get like 10 layers, and can choose from some clipart and change the color, scale, and rotation of any layer. So there's an elongated rectangle, a square and a circle. You grab enough elongated rectangles and move/rotated them around to make a swastika. You put a white circle under them, and a red square under that. Presto, Nazi flag. There's also axes and swords, guns, skulls, shield shapes, silhouettes of people doing various things, etc.

Or in the case of my friend's Hulk with the raging hardon: silhouette of a man flexing, turned green. Then use 2 circles for balls, 2 overlapping barrels for a shaft, and another circle for the head, turn those all a slightly lighter shade of green so it shows up on top of the man's silhouette, and you've got a green man with a big green penis.

[MysterD]

Treyarch lists what they're working on for changes/fixes for future Black Ops PC patch(es).

[MysterD]

Call of Duty: Black Ops is Amazon's Gold Box deal today for another 2 and a half hours today 1-29-2010 Saturday.
Free Saver Shipping for being over $25.
Wii = $29.99
PC or X360 or PS3 = $39.99

[MysterD]

Gamasutra -> Treyarch will release Modding Toolkit for COD: Black Ops PC version sometime next month (in May 2011).

[MysterD]

PC Gamer -> Black Ops: First Strike DLC Review.
BRUTAL REVIEW, BTW.