Call of Duty: Black Ops

[Coldkill]

So it's not even been developed by Infinity Ward? Did Activision really rape them that hard as to take away the rights to their own game?

[Moelman]

This is not new, Treyarch puts out a game on the years that IW doesn't (CoD 3, CoD: World at War). So even if the IW/Atvi drama hadn't happened, Treyarch would still be making this year's game.

[Patters]

This is not new, Treyarch puts out a game on the years that IW doesn't (CoD 3, CoD: World at War). So even if the IW/Atvi drama hadn't happened, Treyarch would still be making this year's game.

In addition to this there are the side games such as Big Red One and Finest hour.

[Coldkill]

Well sucks to be them (IW I mean).

[Patters]

IW never really seemed to care about the CoD franchise, it has been developed by 5 other development studios with the earliest being released in 2004, maybe they didn't have any choice, but nothing has been vocalised before the 5th title.

[Forbin]

So Black Ops is pretty much a bunch of Counter-strike server mods. I guarantee some baby journalist praises it's "innovation".

[Thompson]

I'm in an unbelievably biased position on this game because i'm in a CoD gaming clan and have played all the CoDs since the early days. I'm a CoD fanboy.

Let me state a few things first:

1. MW2 can go fuck itself.

2. CoD3 was an abomination.

3. Black Ops looks amazing.

4. The people who made CoD1 and CoD:UO are almost all at Treyarch.

5. IW made CoD2, the greatest Call of Duty game of all time in the eyes of almost all CoD fans.

6. IW also made CoD4, my personal favorite game in the series.

7. Treyarch made WaW, a mediocre yet innovative installation in the series.

Now, let's talk about IW.

The studio managed to put out the two best CoD games and kept the series above water while Treyarch did their best to kill it, now that IW has imploded (Mostly due to MW2 and their belligerence) Treyarch has to step up to the plate and put out something that Infinity Ward might have made. Infinity Ward is apparently still a thing so who knows what the hell is going to happen there (Maybe an MMO?) but I have to believe that the CoD series has pretty much come to the end of it's golden era once Black Ops is out.

[Lu]

IW never really seemed to care about the CoD franchise, it has been developed by 5 other development studios with the earliest being released in 2004, maybe they didn't have any choice, but nothing has been vocalised before the 5th title.

Never really seemed to care? What studio wouldn't care about their own product? For some reason it sticks in my mind that they weren't happy at all with the fact that Treyarch was making main iterations to the series.

Sources? I don't need no bloody sources, mwhahaha!

[Patters]

Never really seemed to care? What studio wouldn't care about their own product? For some reason it sticks in my mind that they weren't happy at all with the fact that Treyarch was making main iterations to the series.

Sources? I don't need no bloody sources, mwhahaha!

They didn't want to make CoD 2 a WW2 game, they wanted to ditch the CoD title with MW2.

[CaptainFish]

Yea I heard Activision didn't want to take the risk of going to modern combat, IW had to beg to get them to do it. It just wasn't in line with their yearly release of iterated content business strategy.

Also they weren't all that happy with someone else making the games in the interim, there's a rap song in one of the CoDs that has a line like "The third from infinity ward".

It seems like Black Ops is trying to be very old school by having a bunch of really implausible, but still real weapons in the game. I think it's cool, because there are too many assault rifles in games already. The game modes seem interesting, even if they are just CS mods that have been claimed. I'll start worrying once they start showing an iceworld trailer.

[Forbin]

Also they weren't all that happy with someone else making the games in the interim, there's a rap song in one of the CoDs that has a line like "The third from infinity ward".

This

[GreatPenguala]

I enjoyed CoD4 immensely, and MW2 was a decent game in my opinion, playable to say the least. I have to agree heavily that CoD2 was the best in the series, it was by far the best game made with the Call of Duty title. i cant wait for Black Ops, i hope it will be able to stand up to the high standards that are in place now for FPS console games.

[Snooglebum]

Black Ops: you will shoot dudes.

[Thompson]

Black Ops: you will shoot dudes.

Black Ops: You might stab a dude too.

[CaptainFish]

Black Ops: You might stab a dude too.

From a distance, even. With the help of the knife gun or whatever it's called.

Edited September 10, 2010 by CaptainFish

[Forbin]

I think it's interesting that your appearance will be determined on the main perk. I think MW2 went way too far with the perks breaking the balance of the game, but if they're acknowledging the truth about their class system maybe they can balance it a bit better. I still think speed boost + knife is unfair when the interpolation and hit registration are so poor. But that kind of thing will always be unbalanced because CoD will always give players a cheap power trip.

[Thompson]

I think it's interesting that your appearance will be determined on the main perk. I think MW2 went way too far with the perks breaking the balance of the game, but if they're acknowledging the truth about their class system maybe they can balance it a bit better. I still think speed boost + knife is unfair when the interpolation and hit registration are so poor. But that kind of thing will always be unbalanced because CoD will always give players a cheap power trip.

Knife porting has always been a source of The Bugle levels of bullshit, from what i've seen of BO it looks like they've toned it down a little and the addition of the ballistic knife is really a game changer.

[Forbin]

It's more than just knifing though, Call of Duty and many other shooters these days want you to focus on your kills and ignore your deaths.

Lethality of attacks has increased, and explosion density has... exploded, over the past few years. There was an excellent article on the tf2 blog, about how they focus on the frustration of player death. They want you to know when you die, why you died, and how it was your fault rather than an unavoidable side-effect of massaging some other players ego.

IMO at a philosophical level CoD is committed to creating situations like the witch-a-lock/shotgun balance issues.

[Orv]

So this is retailing for 60 US, at least on Steam. I feel amused, sad and vindicated.

[a purple future]

all i really know is that the base CoD formula appeals to some weird base instinct in me so much so that I've forced myself to suffer through unbalanced terrible bullshit like MW2. and at this point i'm clinging onto my beautiful memories of 2 and 4 so hard that if Black Ops is even slightly less awful than MW2 I'll eat all the shit sandwiches it can serve me.

I hate myself sometimes.

also Thompson's bulleted list is 100% accurate to my opinions. it's eerie reading it.

[Thompson]

also Thompson's bulleted list is 100% accurate to my opinions. it's eerie reading it.

It helps to have a very deep history with the series and community involvement.

[a purple future]

I guess so. I guess it's just weird to me that the good will their games built up with me has carried me through some of the most abusive, unpleasant gaming experiences of my life and still leaves me looking forward to future titles.

[Forbin]

A castro situation in Black ops:

http://kotaku.com/5677841/you-wont-believe-who-is-killing-zombies-in-call-of-duty-black-ops

[Gwardinen]

That's actually awesome.

[Orv]

A castro situation in Black ops:

http://kotaku.com/5677841/you-wont-believe-who-is-killing-zombies-in-call-of-duty-black-ops

That is the greatest single game idea I have seen this year. (Things like MineCraft are still better as a whole, but seriously.) Awesome.