Call of Duty: Black Ops II offers a first look at its multiplayer

By Ryan Fleming August 7, 2012

If you are one of the millions of rabid Call of Duty fans, then the multiplayer offering is what you are probably most anticipating when Black Ops 2 is released later this year. The single player campaign may prove to be the best gaming experience in the history of the human race, but even if it brings tears to your eyes from the beauty of it all, the majority of fans are still looking for Call of Duty’s next entry in order to jump online and pummel their fellow gamers by punching them to death with bullets and tomahawks.

As you might expect of a game set in the future, the multiplayer mode will feature futuristic tech and plenty of gadgets to help you along. Judging from the aerial assaults and numerous devices you can use, killstreaks will also be a huge part of the game. Not surprising of course, but the question of how they are earned is still a question mark. Will Treyarch return to the traditional killstreak method of consecutive kills to unlock the chosen option, or will it use the multiple killstreak types, like the support killstreaks that earn points by actions regardless of deaths, as were introduced in Modern Warfare 3.

The video also raises the question of how important equipment—both killstreaks earned via equipment and equipment chosen at the loadout—will be. Finding a balance between useful and cool gadgets, and gadgets that are toopowerful is important, and something that many have criticized the series for not fully attaining. It is fun to earn enough kills to unleash a barrage from above, but it can quickly be overwhelming.

Beyond that, the game looks like standard Call of Duty gameplay, for both good and bad. The fans will likely love it, and are probably already putting in their requests for the day off work when it is released, while the haters shall continue to hate. Of course, that is just from the quick glimpse provided, there could be significant changes we haven’t seen yet.

We’ll find out more soon enough, when Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is released for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 13, with a Wii U release likely coming soon after.

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Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…

Gaming

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is official and it’s coming this November

call of duty modern warfare iii release date makarov mwiii

Activision has confirmed a November 10 release date for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III with a teaser trailer following a barrage of leaks.
The shooter, which is going to be a direct sequel to 2022's Modern Warfare II, was the subject of lots of reports and leaks prior to this announcement. Reports from Bloomberg revealed that this game was originally going to be a Modern Warfare II expansion, but it later got upgraded to a full game. Then, over the summer, more game details started to leak before some Monster Energy advertisements revealed the game's title prematurely. Activision coyly acknowledged this leak on Twitter at the time, but finally pulled the curtain back on the project today with a video titled "Modern Warfare III is Coming."
Modern Warfare III is Coming
It begins with some green soundwaves on-screen and a lot of radio chatter in the background. Then, the soundwaves turn from green to red before the perspective then pushes into them, creating a trippy red void. In there, we briefly see waveform images of a snake and Captain Price before he says, "Never bury your enemies alive" over the silhouette of a new character. This is believed to be Vladimir Makarov, the villain of the original Modern Warfare trilogy, who was teased in the post-credit scene for last year's campaign. After all of that, the title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is confirmed, as is the release date of November 10.

This date falls right in line with the late October to early November window in which Call of Duty games usually come out. It also places its launch after Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition is expected to be complete, so it looks like this may be the first Call of Duty game released under Microsoft. Other than that date, official details on the game are fairly scarce. Thankfully, we shouldn't have to wait too much longer to learn more.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III launches on November 10.

Gaming

Call of Duty: Warzone devs share the design secrets of the best battle royale map

Overhead shot of Vondel map in Warzone.

The Vondel map in Call of Duty: Warzone is one of the best battlegrounds in the history of the battle royale genre. It's a small-scale, densely packed map with a wide variety of points of interest (POIs) that feel distinct. Modeled after European cities, Vondel is a feat of level design as it simultaneously feels fun and functional. It's a city that you can truly imagine as a real place, with a slew of different shops to enter, a canal, and even a water taxi service that moves throughout the map.

But behind the scenes, there are countless design choices that help the flow and pacing of the map. To get a better sense of just what makes this map work so well, I spoke with Beenox Senior Level Designer Fred Wilson and Lead Artist Guillaume Alain. The duo revealed how Vondel's composition seeps into the players' subconscious, with intuitive design choices that work better than any Warzone map that's come before.
Pacing is king

Gaming

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III has seemingly leaked thanks to Monster

Five main characters from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

It looks like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III will be the title of this year's Call of Duty game. Following several leaks, including an undeniable one connected to Monster Energy, a joking tweet from the official Call of Duty Twitter account appears to confirm that this is true.
Leaks suggesting that 2023's Call of Duty game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III have existed for months, but ramped up recently. On July 17, the Call of Duty Twitter account put up tweets asking if Operators, weapons, and bundles from Modern Warfare II should carry over to this year's game and teasing that a big reveal would happen alongside the unveiling of Season 5. Later that day, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier stated that this is a Sledgehammer Games-led project that started as an expansion and morphed into a full game.
Then, Monday morning, images of Monster Energy promotional materials connected to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III emerged on Twitter, giving us confirmation of the name and our first look at the game's logo.

A leak like this is pretty difficult to deny, so Activision decided to play along with it. "Whew. Mondays," the official Call of Duty account tweeted. "Anyone have an energy drink they can spare?"
While not a traditional, explicit announcement, this tweet confirms the validity of the Monster Energy leak and affirms that this year's Call of Duty will be a direct follow-up to 2022's Modern Warfare II. Now, we'll just have to wait and see when Activision decides to officially reveal more about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III itself.
Because it's not officially announced yet, we don't know what Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III's release date or launch platforms are. Still, it's likely that it will launch across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox sometime this October or November after Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition closes.