FPS General

Earlier this week, we reported a purportedly full list of the multiplayer maps that will be shipping with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The list was, and still is, nothing more than a rumor but early this afternoon that rumor got a hell of a lot more likely.

Leaking over at The Tech Game, we have a huge batch of screenshots supposedly taken from the Black Ops 2 internal beta that confirm the names of these maps as well as give us a hint at what the map will play like. We've got the screenshots as well as a brief description of each map. There is every chance that these images are completely fabricated, but it seems rather elaborate to be nothing more than a hoax.

Interestingly, Yemen is said to have been changed to Socotra. Who knows, at this point it's guesswork and rumors.

Without further ado, however, the full gallery can be found below. You be the judge.

Source: The Tech Game

Treyarch has officially announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's coveted Zombies unveil will be happening on September 26th!

Zombies has become a staple in Treyarch-produced Call of Duty games, starting back in 2008 with Call of Duty: World at War. The game mode originally debuted in that game as a simple bonus when you completed the campaign but the game mode took the community by storm. Treyarch was quick to seize the opportunity, releasing several new Zombies maps and fleshing out the story behind the game mode.

In Black Ops, the zombie slaying continued with new maps and even more complex features beyond the simple gameplay of previous Zombies maps. The story expanded and the intrigue surrounding it got even more interesting.

What does Treyarch have in store for us with Black Ops 2's Zombies mode? A bus, apparently. Tune in on September 26th for the full reveal!

Treyarch has released a very cryptic video that is somehow related to Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, but we're damned if we can say how. The video, uploaded this morning to YouTube.com/CallOfDuty, features simply some footage of a static-ridden television set from the early days of TV as well as a cryptic audio track.

We can't make heads or tails of it, but we know that the community is working around the clock trying to decipher anything that might be worthwhile in this video. Is it simply a teaser for something more to come or is there a message here?

Treyarch are masters of these types of viral promotions, so we'll see how this one pans out. Check out the video above, and feel free to throw in your two cents if you have any idea what the video is all about.

According to Amazon.com, in a listing that has been removed, it looks like Zombies may be making an appearance of some sort in the singleplayer campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. This is very surprising, as Zombies has always been completely standalone. Furthermore, we had been led to believe that Zombies was running in the multiplayer engine now.

In the product listing, Amazon clearly states that Black Ops 2 touts 'the inclusion of a Zombies in gameplay, both in as an option in multiplayer, and as a campaign option.' 

It could be rather telling that the grammar is so very, very poor in that sentence. It is possible that this bullet point was never intended to be listed at all. Amazon is not one to post information without something substantial from the publisher, so we'll see if this was the work of a wily Amazon employee or if there is some credence to these unusual claims.

Check out the listing at http://www.amazon.com/ for yourself, although the incriminating sentence has been removed.

Source: Kotaku

According to Internet forums, which are known for being a completely accurate and reliable source of information, we're looking at a full list of multiplayer maps that will ship with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 in November. The list looks accurate, but it's not something that would be terribly difficult to fabricate.

Call of Duty maps always have a certain naming structure, and these all fit into that nicely. Only time will tell if there's truth to these maps, although some of them have previously been confirmed. Without further ado, the rumored maps are:

Carrier
"Chinese Supercarrier. Open engagements on the deck, with great close quarter fights through the hull."

Cargo
"Port of Singapore. Good for close quarters engagements and verticality."

Drone
"Hidden drone facility in the heart of the Mynamar jungles. Great long engagements down the center, fun close quarter fights through the facility."

Express
"Los Angeles bullet train station. Good long to medium engagements up and down the bullet train tracks."

Hijacked
"Luxurious super yacht. Frantic, yet controlled close quarters engagements."

Aftermath
"Set in a ruined downtown Los Angeles after an invasion"

Meltdown
"Pakistan nuclear power plant. Battle for control of the nuclear cooling tower and the surrounding facilities."

Keeping reading for the full multiplayer map list from Black Ops 2!

Nintendo unveiled the official pricing and availability for their next-generation gaming console, the Nintendo Wii U. The Wii U will be launching on November 18th and comes in two models; a basic version and a deluxe version.

The basic version will run you $299.99 and includes an 8GB white Wii U and a GamePad among other bundled items. The deluxe version, on the other hand, includes a sensor bar like the original Wii and has 32GB of internal storage. The deluxe version is $349.99 and also comes with Nintendo Land, the flagship launch title.

Confirmed today by Activision, Call of Duty: Black Ops II is set to be a launch window title for the Wii U. Furthermore, the game can be played splitscreen with a friend with one player using the TV screen and the second player using the GamePad as their display.

Check out an 'interview' above, in which Activision's Jason Ades touts the excitement that Activision feels about bringing Black Ops II to the Nintendo Wii U. The game is set to arrive in the Nintendo Wii U 'launch window', which means that it won't be long after the November 18th Wii U launch date but Activision wasn't able to confirm an exact date just yet.

Treyarch's Design Director on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, David Vonderhaar, recently recorded some voice-over commentary on the Black Ops 2 multiplayer reveal trailer. In the commentary, available above, Vonderhaar shares some insight on his favorite features and some of the development process on Black Ops 2 multiplayer.

We did our own analysis on this video as well, but it's great to hear some information straight from the horse's mouth as they say.

Most of the information in this Developer Commentary isn't exactly new, but it's still great to watch and see what went on behind the scenes. Hopefully, this video will be the first of many behind-the-scenes features on Black Ops 2. We're surely not the only ones looking forward to seeing a little more zombie action, as well.

Treyarch has unveiled the required system specifications for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on PC, the specs you'll have to have to get the game running on your system.

Required System Specs:

OS: Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7

CPU: Intel Core2 Duo E8200 2.66 GHz or AMD Phenom X3 8750 2.4 GHz

Memory: 2GB for 32-bit OS or 4GB for 64-bit OS

Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512 MB or ATI Radeon HD 3870 512 MB

That's right, Windows faithfuls. If you are currently running Windows XP, Black Ops 2 will not be compatible with your system. While Windows XP is not the most popular version of Windows out there, it is still very widely used. Windows XP users currently make up roughly 22% of overall operating system users (source).

Either way, Windows XP out and Windows 7 and Vista are the only versions of Windows being supported. The decision for this comes down to Treyarch's upgrade of current Call of Duty framework to utilize DirectX 11.

For more information on all of the delicious features PC players will be able to make use of, check out http://community.callofduty.com/.

Treyarch's Design Director David Vonderhaar recently sat down to discuss Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 multiplayer with Activision's Dan Amrich, perhaps better known as One of Swords.

The interview has some pretty choice excerpts and some great insight from the man at the helm of multiplayer in Black Ops 2. Check out some of our favorite snippets from the interview, below:

On Last Stand

There’s no Second Chance; there’s no Last Stand, there’s no Final Stand. Absolutely not. Please stop yelling at me.

On Scorestreak Looping

Let’s say you took UAV and Counter UAV. If you earned the UAV then earned the Counter UAV, you’re going to start buildingagain for the UAV — but if you haven’t spent it, if you haven’t called it in or activated it, you’re not going to get a second one. You’re just going to get notified that you’re back at that part of the chain. You would definitely want to activate those scorestreaks so when you loop, you’ll get them again.

Keep reading for more from David Vonderhaar's latest Black Ops 2 interview!

[Update] Added the video above!

[Update 2] Pricing has been revealed by Activison, as well as PC bonuses.

While Treyarch has still not confirmed the existence of the Hardened and Prestige Editions of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, other than posting this image of David Vonderhaar and Dan Bunting standing next to a replica Care Package, we have some brand new images of both the Prestige and Hardened Edition bundles and they look great.

Just as we posted yesterday, it looks like the bundles feature:

Hardened Edition $79.99:

• Exclusive Zombie Map - Nuketown 2025.
• Nuketown 2025 for Multiplayer.
• Exclusive CLAW Xbox Live Avatar item and Zombies costume.
• Steelbook collector's case.
• Limited Edition Challenge Coins.
• In-game weapon camo and player card background.
• Official Black Ops 2 soundtrack.

Care Package Prestige Edition $179.99:

• MD-27 Dragonfire Drone with Remote Control
• Exclusive Zombie Map - Nuketown 2025.
• Nuketown 2025 for Multiplayer.
• PlayStation 3 System Multiplayer Theme & Zombie Theme
• Exclusive CLAW Xbox Live Avatar item and Zombies costume.
• Steelbook collector's case.
• Limited Edition Challenge Coins.
• In-game weapon camo and player card background.
• Official Black Ops 2 soundtrack.

Digital Deluxe Edition on PC

• Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Nuketown Zombies Bonus Map - Battle hordes of Zombies in this beloved 1960s nuclear neighborhood.
• Nuketown 2025 Bonus Map - Relive the close quarters chaos of this classic fan-favorite map re-imagined in a 1960s visionary depiction of the "model home of the future."
• Weapon Camo - Rank-up in style with an exclusive multiplayer weapon skin.
• (2) Player Card Backgrounds - Liven up any killcam with two exclusive player card backgrounds, inspired by Nuketown 2025 and Zombies.
• Official Call of Duty: Black Ops II Soundtrack - A digital copy of composer Jack Wall's epic in-game score with Theme by Trent Reznor.
• Call of Duty: World at War Game Download Token - A digital download of Treyarch's classic title, traversing WWII storylines from the Pacific to European theaters of war.

As mentioned yesterday, the Prestige Edition comes bundled in a replica Care Package. Check out the gallery below for some pack shots of both of these bundles!