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Call of Duty: Black Ops breaks five day sales record

What better way to follow up record setting launch sales than by going on to obliterate a five-day sales record? According to a press release issued by Activision, the latest Call of Duty release has done exactly that, raking in over $650 million in worldwide sales. Call of Duty: Black Ops bested its predecessor Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 which tallied $550 million after five days on the market. Black Ops has already claimed the record for highest launch sales with $360 million in sales in its first 24 hours on the market outselling Modern Warefare 2 by $50 million.

“Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for two consecutive years across all forms of entertainment,” said Robert Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. “The title’s success illustrates the mass appeal of interactive entertainment as millions of consumers are choosing to play Call of Duty: Black Ops at unprecedented levels rather than engage in other forms of media.”

He might be right. The top-grossing movie after five days, The Dark Knight, managed $200 million over the same length of time. Of course, Black Ops retails for about six times more than the average movie ticket.

Black Ops’ sales also set personal records for Amazon and GameStop achieving the highest launch sales for any video game with both companies.

Activision also announced that Black Ops has also set new highs in the multiplayer realm with players logging over 5.9 million hours of online play on Xbox Live during the first 24 hours after the game’s release. Modern Warfare 2 players played for 5.2 million hours on launch day through Xbox Live.

And with Black Friday kicking off the holiday shopping season next week, it’s likely that Black Ops hasn’t broken its last sales record.

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Aemon Malone
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III trailer teases a No Russian reimagining
No Russian's reimagining in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

Activision Blizzard has fully pulled back the curtain on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III following an in-game event in its predecessor. This came alongside new gameplay that concludes by teasing a rebooted version of the series' infamous No Russian mission.
The gameplay trailer focuses on the campaign missions, which got a lot more detail in a post on the game's website. It affirms that the game follows Task Force 141 as they take on Vladimir Makarov and will feature some "Open Combat Missions" that give players multiple ways to complete objectives. The gameplay seems to mainly feature a stealthy run to one of these levels. Of course, the trailer's most shocking moment comes at the end.
Gameplay Reveal Trailer | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
We see Makarov text someone "No Russian," before they pull out a gun on a crowded plane. If you don't remember, No Russian was one of the original Modern Warfare II's most infamous missions, as it had players partake in a mass shooting terrorist attack at an airport with Russians. The level has influenced the tone of this rebooted Modern Warfare series, and it now looks like Modern Warfare III is set to reimagine this mission in some way, following up the Modern Warfare II post-credit scene that referenced it.

While the trailer focused on the campaign mainly, that post confirmed a lot of new info on multiplayer and Modern Warfare Zombies too. Its multiplayer features all 16 launch maps from 2009's Modern Warfare II, two larger Battle maps for Ground War and Invasion, and an even bigger War map for the return of the War Mode introduced in Call of Duty: WWII. Map voting returns, so you can have a say in where you want to play a match.  Finally, Activision says Modern Warfare Zombies takes place in a new open world where players will fight Dark Aether Zombies, complete missions, and incorporate Extraction game elements. 
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III launches on PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 10.

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Activision teases Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III’s biggest improvements
The official logo for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

Activision has just teased lots of new details about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, which launches this November. That includes the fact that the game will contain a Zombies mode, more open-ended campaign missions, and introduce a new "Call of Duty HQ" that will serve as a hub for all future Call of Duty games.

These details were all revealed in a new blog post posted on the series' website ahead of the in-game event that will give us our first in-depth look at Modern Warfare II. In it, Activision clears up a lot of rumors about the game to try and show that Modern Warfare III is still an "incredible, premium annual game experience across Campaign, Multiplayer and Co-operative modes" despite reportedly starting development as a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II expansion.
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Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 guy with a gun

In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, players have access to a wide variety of multiplayer game modes including Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, and the new Prisoner Capture. One of the most popular modes in the series is Hardcore, which has been in the series for years. This intense mode removes the HUD and increases damage across the board. But does this mode appear in the new Modern Warfare 2?

Here's what you need to know about the Hardcore mode in Modern Warfare 2.
Does Modern Warfare 2 have a Hardcore mode?
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What is Hardcore mode?

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