FPS General

Update: Treyarch PC developer @pcdev has announced that the PC version of Black Ops 2 will also include the streaming options. Thanks to FPS General user Brumskis for the update.

Treyarch has released some more details on the in-game streaing options that will be supported in Black Ops 2 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, namely that the service will be going through YouTube rather than Twitch.tv or Own3D.tv as we would have expected.

Treyarch Studio Head, Mark Lamia, said in the press release:

"With our competitive play and eSports initiatives, we wanted to deliver live streaming capabilities built right into Call of Duty: Black Ops II, because Call of Duty is not only fun and exciting to play, but we believe it will be just as exciting to watch. By making the capability of live streaming as accessible as possible to our fans, straight from a player's console without the need for any additional hardware or sophisticated setups, we are empowering our fans to share their multiplayer experiences."

The decision to use YouTube isn't entirely surprising, since Call of Duty has historically supported YouTube for direct video uploads for a few years now.

This is a first for gaming, the concept of a single game/console streaming to the Internet with no additional hardware. Companies like Hauppauge have made their living off of marketing $200 pieces of hardware that allow you to stream your content to the Internet. While this move is certainly groundbreaking, we think it will be a long way before something like this renders capture cards irrelevant.

To begin with, we're anticipating the streaming quality will not be in high-definition, which is a big deal in this day and age. Additionally, many players have built a solid following on Twitch.tv or Own3D.tv and aren't likely going to want to abandon those viewers so easily.

None the less, Treyarch is breaking new ground here and we can't wait to test out the streaming options next week.