A senior support rep at Activision recently replied to a PS3 Call of Duty: Black Ops player stating that the publisher has the "right to shut down the servers". They went on to say that based on the "number of reported posts" from disgruntled users over connection issues, it "may be a viable solution over the free PSN."
What's great about massively popular online shooters? Their statistics of course - a window into the soul of videogaming. Well, we're bloody killers. In the span of just 24 hours over 323 million enemies were killed with around 28 million caused by a headshot, and 2.2 million with a knife in the back!
The Xbox 360 versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops now have their AP 2.5 security checks enforced thanks to the latest dashboard update. This sudden flick of the switch hopes to catch out a huge number of illegal copies, flagging their consoles for ban on Xbox Live. Halo: Reach is included too.
According to a new report from the LA Times, Activision has already started production on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with Sledgehammer assigned to help with the development. At least this is what people familiar with the situation are saying. Modern Warfare 3 hasn't been officially confirmed by Activison yet, but if these reports are correct we could be looking at a release in November; judging from previous release dates in the franchise.
Things in the Activision/Infinity Ward lawsuit have just gotten hotter as Activision has submitted evidence to the California Superior Court that they claim proves Electronic Arts tampered with Infinity Ward, and even conspired to deliberately delay downloadable content for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 until after the release of EA's Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The California Superior Court has since allowed the evidence and permitted Activision to include EA in the suit.
Independent consumer group 'Game's Voice' in the UK issued a one month deadline to publisher Activision to respond to their open letter, Dec. 22nd. No response came as GV asked what Acti were doing to 'recompense' PC and PS3 Call of Duty: Black Ops players. Now the Office of Fair Trading is involved?
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become a hotbed of PS3 hacks since the console security breach, but Infinity Ward is optimistic it can be fought. Robert Bowling has come from a "security meeting with the coders" and he 'feels good' over their ideas. He "can't go into detail" for obvious reasons.
Version 1.06 of PS3 Call of Duty: Black Ops is now available over the PlayStation Network as Treyarch work to address the woe for the platform. It says it improves the "reliability of players connections to one another", a major gripe for the PS3 Black Ops community. Let's hope things are better.
In a quirky little blunder, Treyarch seems to have added a warning that there's "no Xbox Live party chat" in the PlayStation 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops. It was spotted once the v1.06 title update went live for Black Ops over PSN. While seemingly harmless so far it's still left some egg on Treyarch's face.
The latest patch for Call of Duty: Black Ops for the PlayStation 3 informs users that there is "No Xbox LIVE party chat".
The Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops has gotten its v1.06 update, a few days after the PlayStation 3 version got its patch.
Be careful if you're picking up Call of Duty: Black Ops' first DLC because it's very sensitive to what region you call home. It's bad news for import gamers. Choosing the wrong copy of First Strike means you've just wasted your money. If you imported then your region may not be available at all.
The Call of Duty: Black Ops "First Strike" downloadable content is now available on Xbox Live. The DLC includes five new maps with an odd new zombie game mode, featuring zombie monkeys.
Call of Duty: Black Ops community manager Josh Olin, in an interview with Nowgamer has had it with "pundits" and "angry entitled fans" who react negatively when developers try new things, and states they are forgetting what the industry should be about: creativity.
The latest Bulletstorm trailer mocks the Call of Duty franchise with "Duty Calls", with an potshot taken at the Fallout series as well.
Microsoft's Major Nelson has put up a list of last year's top performers on Xbox Live, and unsurprisingly Call of Duty: Black Ops steals the spotlight. Halo: Reach plays second fiddle to Activision's commie shooter. Capcom's Dead Rising 2: Case Zero leads the XBLA crowd, followed by LIMBO.
Major Nelson has revealed the current schedule for the Xbox Live Marketplace so far and it's running a Retro Shooter 'Deal of the Week' from February 7th. XBLA gets Double Fine's Stacking on the 9th for 1200 MSP, and TNT Racers at 800 MSP. Darksiders and COD: Modern Warfare 2 join the mighty GOD.
David Vonderhaar of Treyarch has expressed his opinion that it would be "pretty fantastic" if the studio buckled down for some near-future Call of Duty. It's "obviously more complicated" than just going off and doing it, but it would present a "unique opportunity" for them. Far-future not so appealing though.
Visceral Games horror sequel Dead Space 2 has kept itself perched atop the UK all format chart for another week, followed closely by EA's FIFA 11. Ubisoft's return of Ezio in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood moves up third as LittleBigPlanet 2 slinks on down fifth. Call of Duty: Black Ops flexes fourth.
Poking fun at Activision's Call of Duty franchise is People Can Fly and their free-to-play 'Duty Calls' shooter, which has exploded in popularity among fans. It's filled with ridiculous kills and insanely over-the-top rank-ups. It's a tongue-in-cheek plug for Bulletstorm, People Can Fly's own over-the-top shooter.