Tag: "black ops"
Black Ops Zombies, Call of Duty franchise helped by ‘walking dead’ supporting cast
Creepy and addicting, Call of Duty has featured a strong supporting cast of zombies that begun with the 2008 release of Call of Duty: World at War.
Games like Call of Duty have become hugely popular, not just because of the realistic gameplay set in different war periods, but because of the zombie mode that players have come to love.
The fact is, the data doesn’t lie as provided by search popularity of zombies in Google’s search engine.
To give you an idea of just how popular zombies are in Black Ops, the exact phrase “black ops zombies” was searched globally over half a million times last month, according to Google Adwords, a search-based keyword tool that shows the number of actual queries made by people from around the globe. The phrase “black ops zombie” had nearly a quarter of a million exact searches, at 246,000 queries.
This week saw more excitement in the zombie-hunter community.
Zombie mode for Call of Duty Black Ops by Treyarch, got a healthy dose of fixes in Title Update 7 as reported by MTV’s gaming blog.
• Addressed an issue where the most recent match played in Zombies could overwrite the best match played on the leaderboard.
• Improved Zombies lobbies to prevent players from erroneously receiving the error “Unable to join game session” under certain circumstances.
• Addressed a number of community-discovered Zombies gameplay exploits.
Also, Treyarch, the developers behind Call of Duty: Black Ops, released a short trailer providing a different look at Ascension, one of five new maps in First Strike. As written on the Treyarch blog, “And, for those dying to begin the next chapter in the suspenseful co-op Zombies saga, Ascension offers the largest map yet, introducing new weapons, transports, perks, and enemies.”
You can watch the trailer below.
Readers, have a tip on Call of Duty Black Ops zombies? Let us know.
Five predictions for next Call of Duty game title in 2011
While Call of Duty: Black Ops continues to dominate video game sales, speculation continues to grow over Call of Duty’s next game title after rumors surfaced that one possibility could be a Modern Warfare prequel centered around the character Ghost who first appeared in Modern Warfare 2.
But that’s not the only possible title.
Domain name registrations made by Activision early last year, generated a lot of buzz over potential games. Based on the names registered, possibilities for titles include: Call of Duty Future Warfare, Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty Secret Warfare and Call of Duty Space Warfare.
As I wrote before, Chris Morris a writer with Gamasutra confirmed a “Future Warfare” or “Space Warfare” are likely more than just domain name registrations: “…industry sources say Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty will be set in the future and feature, for lack of a better term, space Marines, a very big step for a franchise that has historically based itself on realism.”
So my five predictions, in order of what I believe their likelihood to be are:
Call of Duty: Future Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty: Space Warfare
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Call of Duty: Secret Warfare
Do you have predictions for Call of Duty’s next blockbuster game title?
Please share them in the comments.
First Strike Map Pack for Call of Duty Black Ops available Feb. 1, 2011
Four original multiplayer maps and one zombie map are making their way to Call of Duty: Black Ops in 2011 and will be available for download on February 1. An article on IGN’s website has the details.
The pack is called “First Strike” and includes four original multiplayer maps and one zombie map for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) on Feb. 1, 2011.
Here are a few details from Treyarch’s Dan Bunting:
Discovery - Antarctic German research station, abandoned from World War II.
Kowloon – Inspired from the single-player campaign based off of Kowloon city in China. It’s a rooftop map.
Stadium – Hockey rink in northeastern United States.
Berlin Wall – Takes place at Checkpoint Charlie. Is a battle between East and West Berlin.
Ascension – Zombie map.
Read more about the First Strike Map pack and listen to the podcast with Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb.
Call of Duty: Black Ops tops $1 billion in sales
The Press Association is reporting that global sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops have topped $1 billion.
To put things in perpsective, Adobe the publishing giant and software maker, reported record fourth quarter revenue of $1.008 billion. Not bad.
However, Call of Duty hit $1 billion in less than six weeks since the first video game went up for sale.
Electronic Arts ready to dethrone Call of Duty franchise with Battlefield 3?
A battle royal is shaping up in the first person shooter world which is dominated by the best-selling video game of all-time Call of Duty Black Ops.
According to a story that appeared on the video game blog Kotaku entitled “The Plan To Dethrone Call Of Duty”, the EA CEO John Riccitiello told Stephen Totilo that Call of Duty is beatable.
He has a bright view of EA’s shooter line-up for next year, which of course will be up against the next big Call of Duty that surely is coming next fall. “I have great expectations to do a lot better in 2011 than in 2010 on the strength of a couple of products like Bulletstorm and Crysis [2], but most importantly for us, Battlefield 3, which I feel incredibly good about.”
The head of Electronic Arts told Stephen: “What I’ve witnessed a couple of times in the games industry is the way you unseat a market leader is you make a better game a couple of times in a row.”
EA is going to be in for a very tough fight. Activision is rumored to be heading towards a future landscape for its next Call of Duty game title, with Space Marines being potentially mobilized in 2011.
Battlefield 3 Beta
If you own Medal of Honor Limited Edition you will receive an invitation to the Battlefield 3 beta within 12-months following the release of Medal of Honor.
Readers, do you think it’s possible for EA to dethrone Call of Duty?
How to unlock INTEL in Call of Duty: Black Ops (3ARC INTEL)
Now that you can unlock Zombie maps in Call of Duty Black Ops using (3ARC UNLOCK), how about unlocking INTEL?
To unlock Intel, follow these instructions:
1. Go to the main screen that displays a menu with options (Campaign, Multiplayer, Zombies, Options). You’ll be locked in a chair.
2. While locked in the chair, press the “L” and “R” buttons quickly on your Xbox controller. This will break you out of the chair.
3. Walk over to the computer, then press the “X” button on your controller to use the computer. You can now type in the computer using the keypad that appears in the top right of the screen.
4. Type 3ARC INTEL, then press the Enter key on the keypad located in the top right of the screen. A message appears on the screen stating, “If you do this, you will be unabled to earn the “Closer Analysis” achievement. If you still want to do this, type “YES”.
5. Type YES, then press the Enter key. A message appears on the screen stating, “Cheat Enabled!”
6. Now, leave the computer by pressing “X” on the controller.
7. Press “A” to return to the chair.
8. On the menu, select “CAMPAIGN”.
INTEL is now displayed as a menu option.
Have a cheat you’d like to share with your our readers, submit a story tip.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” number 2 most targeted word by cybercriminals this holiday season
Be careful this holiday season if you’re shopping online, especially if you’re searching the web for “Call of Duty Black Ops”, “Kinect for Xbox” or other popular products targeted by cybercriminals.
According to F-Secure’s Holiday 2010 Cyber-Watch List: “The more popular a gift is the more likely you are to find a dangerous search result.”
So, there’s no surprise that “Call of Duty Black Ops” is near the top of the list, given that the video game has shattered all sales records since its release on Nov. 9th, selling 5.7 million copies in its first 24 hours and reported worldwide revenue of US$650 million during its first five days in stores.
Holiday 2010 Cyber-Watch List
The keywords F-Secure forecasts will be prime targets of cybercriminals are:
1. Kinect for Xbox
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops
3. Jewelry
4. Amazon Kindle
5. Toys
6. Black Friday Deals
7. Cyber Monday Deals
8. Toy Story 3
9. Susan Boyle
10. Apple iPad
For those consumers looking to protect themselves, F-Secure does provide tips on how to protect yourself:
• go to a retailer’s site directly if possible;
• use Internet security software that features Browsing Protection (or check links with F-Secure’s free Browsing Protection);
• an always check a sites URL before making any purchase (looking to make sure you’re at the correct online store and that the page URL begins with https://, which means it’s secure).
Read more about shopping tips and online safety.
Call of Duty Future Warfare is for sale for $3,788
Earlier I wrote a story guessing at which name Activision would use for its next Call of Duty title. The titles are based on domain registrations made by Activision earlier in the year after superannuation uncovered the latest domain registrations back in May.
Despite registering several names (callofdutyfuturewarfare.com, codfuturewarfare.com, and more) for its rumored futuristic Call of Duty game that will take place in space, Activision has yet to purchase: FutureWarfare.com which is up for sale at BuyDomains (for what seems like a reasonable price: $3,788).
Why is it so important for Activision to buy the domain?
While I have nothing to gain by the sale, gamers don’t always type in the long version of the game title into their web browser.
Take for example, Call of Duty Modern Warfare. When it comes to ModernWarfare.com (which is a parked web page), the site receives thousands of unique visitors per month according to Compete, even though there is no web site online with content.
Then you have Call of Duty Black Ops. Activision also doesn’t own BlackOps.com.
In April 2010, traffic to the web site Blackops.com (a company that publishes apps and video games for the iPad and iPhone) went from just a couple hundred visitors per month, to thousands of visitors after Activision announced its blockbuster title that was released this November. Last month, traffic reached over 20,000 visitors – and you can expect that number to skyrocket now that the game is released.
If Activision decides to go with a different title, expect gamers to go to secretwarfare.com or spacewarfare.com, depending on which Call of Duty title it selects. Activision owns neither name at the time of this story.
BuyDomains, the domain name marketplace, also owns Spacewarfare.com in addition to Futurewarfare.com. The domain is listed for sale for $3,288.
How to unlock zombie maps in Call of Duty Black Ops
If you’re in the mood for killing zombies, here’s the step-by-step guide on how to unlock all of the zombie maps in Call of Duty Black Ops.
So, how do you unlock all the maps for Zombies?
1. When you put the game in your Xbox, the main screen displays a menu with options (Campaign, Multiplayer, Zombies, Options). You’ll be locked in a chair.
2. While locked in the chair, look down, then press the “L” and “R” buttons quickly on your Xbox controller. This will break you out of the chair.
3. Walk over to the computer, then press the “X” button on your controller to use the computer. You can now type in the computer using the keypad that appears in the top right of the screen.
4. Type 3ARC UNLOCK, then press the Enter key on the keypad located in the top right of the screen. A message appears on the screen stating, “Cheat Enabled!”. You’ll also receive an achievement for entering the cheat code.
5. Now, leave the computer and go back to the chair.
6. On the main menu, go to the Zombies option, then press Solo. Now you’ll see all the maps unlocked (example below)
Watch the video on how to unlock the Zombie maps on the Military Gamer YouTube channel.
Will ‘Call of Duty Future Warfare’ be Activision’s next blockbuster title?
What could be next in the Call of Duty franchise for Activision? That’s the million dollar question.
Last May superannuation uncovered the latest domain registrations by Activision, which hinted at the possibilities of a Halo-like environment for Call of Duty. The registrations included names like: Call of Duty Future Warfare (callofdutyfuturewarfare.com, callofdutyfuturewarfare2.com, callofdutyfuturewarfare3.com) and a number of variations including codfuturewarefare.com, codfuturewarfare2.com, and codfuturewarfare3.com.
The company also registered secretwarfare2.com and secretwarfare3.com, as well as spacewarfare2.com and spacewarfare3.com even though Activision doesn’t own ‘secretwarfare.com’ or ‘spacewarfare.com’. In fact, the company opted against registering callofdutyspacewarfare.com and callofdutysecretwarfare.com (both which remain unregistered even today).
Since registering the domains in early May, the company has released its biggest blockbuster to date: Call of Duty Black Ops.
So what’ll the next big game title be?
Chris Morris, a writer with Gamasutra, first broke the news on Nov. 9 that Activision could be headed towards a future landscape (with space marines) for its next game title: ‘That unit hasn’t talked specifically about what it’s doing with the franchise. But industry sources say Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty will be set in the future and feature, for lack of a better term, space Marines, a very big step for a franchise that has historically based itself on realism.’
Based just on the company’s amount of registrations and Gamasutra’s report, our pick for the next game title is: Call of Duty Future Warfare.
