GlenSchofield

(Glen Schofield)

Free dedicated servers for #MW3 PC confirmed! We are excited to be bringing this back to Modern Warfare.

On 17-8-2011 14:44:02
from Mobile Web

fourzerotwo

(Robert Bowling)

Yes! Modern Warfare 3 on PC will support dedicated servers, day 1. You can fav or admin your own to control setup, rules, bans. #MW3 #PC

On 17-8-2011 15:57:46
from Twitter for iPhone

CallofDuty

(Call of Duty)

Announced at Gamescom, #MW3/PC will support dedicated servers. Host them where you want, control settings & standard matchmaking like MW1.

On 18-8-2011 00:42:06
from web

Unfortunately that is about all of the information we are going to get until the big Call of Duty XP event in two weeks out in California where the full multiplayer reveal is supposed to happen. For now we can at least wonder a bit about the things that were said – starting with “FREE” from Glen Schofield. Free; I am assuming meaning that the server files will be available on the disc/download and will be publicly available to game owners just as they were in past COD games before COD:Modern Warfare 2 where anyone can have the ability to create a dedicated COD server on any old system they have laying around. I just can’t really see Activision/IW/Sledgehammer just opening servers back up just as they were before after a trick like IWnet in COD:Modern Warfare 2 but from the official CallofDuty Tweet it sounds like we will have full control of where the servers will be hosted from. 402′s Tweet doesn’t really reveal too much more detail in the realm of server control but the important words to take would be “admin your own to control setup“; which once again kind of sounds like having access to your servers actual config files to control the server variables just like you want to. However; again this could also mean limited access to your servers config file through an RCON tool just like it is currently in COD:Black Ops. There isn’t much clarity here with how the actual dedicated servers will work but hopefully that information will come in the following weeks in much more detail.

This is certainly good news indeed for the PC community to at least have dedicated servers and not IWnet 2.0 and if they truly are “open” dedicated servers this could really prove to be a rejuvenation for competitive style gameplay in the COD community. Also, depending on how “open” the dedicated servers are this should also allow limited modding capabilities – even without mod tools. This however is where it starts to get a little complicated though because the other factor involved with COD:MW3 here is COD:Elite – the social network platform for COD (MW3 specifically) that is currently in BETA and being tested on the console platforms but will ultimately be available on the PC as well (or so we are told). Certain parts of COD:Elite is very heavily based around stats – and if certain individuals can figure out how to cheat the system with modified server files and gain advantages to move up in COD:Elite then they will unfortunately. This leads to more questions of how the dedicated servers will work as far as “Ranked” and “Unranked” servers. Maybe “free” servers will just be Unranked servers and “paid” servers from GSP’s like GameServers.com will be Ranked Servers – assuming that option will be offered as well. It will be very interesting to see information in the coming weeks regarding different server options and amount of server control that will ultimately be available come November 8th.

Whatever the case I love Call of Duty gameplay and even though the latest Battlefield 3 trailer looked awesomely fun I have no doubts now that I will be purchasing and playing COD:MW3. Also, today’s announcement adds a little comfort to my mind about my purchasing decision I made last week. Last week with a nice Newegg.com promo code I actually pre-ordered COD:MW3 and didn’t think twice about it. Very strange because I never pre-order games (COD or any others) and when I think about it now it didn’t even cross my mind at the time of ordering about the game having or not having dedicated servers. Why? I don’t know. I refused to purchase and support COD:MW2 because of the rash decisions that were made with the PC version of the game but I guess I just figured that if I pre-order COD:MW3 with a nice discount and pay less than the $60 price tag; why not. When it comes down to it being good or bad at least I didn’t pay the full price of $60.

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Now sure this is a COD website but I am a PC gamer and if you claim to be a PC gamer and watching that video didn’t get your adrenaline flowing even just a little bit then you really need to hit the power button on the computer and go pick up your console controller. I am no die hard Battlefield player by any means but I did enjoy some time in Battlefield 1942 before getting into Call of Duty. Then a few years later when COD:MW2 was plagued with IWnet I decided not to buy it and spent close to a year playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 and it proved to be hours and hours of good fun. However, even though Battlefield:BC2 was and still can be fun it doesn’t satisfy my playing style like COD does. Reason being: they are totally different games. Although Battlefield:BC2 was shrunk down and targeted more towards the COD fans and COD playing style – it is still a totally different more objective driven game. I am really sick of seeing the comparing back and forth in these last weeks as the heat picks up between the BF3 and COD:MW3 release. They are different games. Period. One is not better than the other because they are not on the same playing field. Now don’t get me wrong; I would love to see bigger more diverse maps in COD with the option of having vehicles on some maps (much like United Offensive) and I would definitely love to see COD:MW3 on a shiny new awesome looking engine running DirectX 11 and involve some sort of destructibility features but I am not going to say that BF3 is a better game because it has those features. COD is an arcade shooter that is based on fast intense gun to gun battles in a relatively small to medium scale “map”. Battlefield is based on more realism and flat out war on an actual battlefield in a large scale territory. Yes they are both FPS games but other than that they are each in a class of their own. The communities ON BOTH SIDES need to quit the school girl bickering over which game is better and just enjoy the last quarter of 2011 with an awesome bunch of game releases.

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Treyarch

(Treyarch Studios)

#CODBlackOps #Rezurrection Zombies DLC Pack launches on Xbox 360 8/23. All classic #CoDWaW maps return, plus “Moon”: http://t.co/XuvV1l0

On 3-8-2011 23:49:44
from web

What makes this DLC different from the previously released DLC is that all 5 maps will be Zombie maps but there is really only 1 brand new map titled “Moon” – the other 4 maps will be the Zombie maps from COD:World at War “Nacht der Üntoten“,”Verrückt“,”Shi No Numa” and “Der Riese“.- re-mastered to run on and take advantage of the COD:Black Ops engine. The other thing to note out here is that these 4 COD:World at War Zombie maps were already available to the XBOX 360 & Playstation console players who purchased the “Hardened” or “Prestige” editions of COD:Black Ops at launch and Treyarch announced on the Intel page that this DLC would be entirely free to those individuals who purchased those versions of the game. That’s great for them but the problem I have here is the PC community once again didn’t have access to any of these “premium” versions of the game and therefore once again don’t get to partake in this special deal. Just another reason I have to complain about these special platform deals and how these developers/publishers do things with them. If you are going to offer something then offer the same thing to all platforms so no one is left out – even if it is this tiny PC platform that no one cares about anymore.

Would I buy this DLC? Honestly at this point I would have to say no just because I don’t really find Zombies very enjoyable in COD:Black Ops – and I don’t really know why. I loved Zombies in COD:World at War and probably played it more than actual multiplayer but there is just something about Zombies in COD:Black Ops that I just don’t find near as enjoyable. However, I am still a server owner for COD:Black Ops so if past trends continue I should get the Rezurrection DLC for free being a server owner. The big question here is will server owners actually get this DLC for free this time because the DLC doesn’t actually contain any multiplayer maps. Only time will tell I guess.

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The COD:Black Ops Patch History page is updated for all the updates but the original the original post from JD_2020 regarding the 1.07 patch is below with the included list of changes.

• Improved stability for Zombies, Multiplayer, and Dedicated Servers
• Fixed server hitching when client is kicked for inactivity
• Added server browser Filter for DLC
• Quickmatch will prioritize servers running only the maps you own
• Addressed various MP and Zombies exploits
• Addition of the “Dolly Cam” editing mode in Theater
• Improved reliability of Recent Game films saving properly
• Connectivity improvements for Zombies
• Added ability to remove Counter Spy-Plane effects with the Jammer
• Players that put an enemy into Second Chance are now credited with a kill when the downed player is killed or takes the ‘coward’s way out’
• Players will no longer receive any “hitmarkers” for shooting friendly equipment
• Addressed an issue with switching classes while using a Chopper Gunner / Gunship
• Disable player movement sounds when Ninja perk is equipped
• Players can no longer “spawn tube” with the China Lake at the beginning of a match
• Additional fine-tuning of audio levels for bomb plants/defuses
• Headshot “ping” is now only audible if enemy dies
• Limit the ability to re-roll supply drops using Hardline Pro to Care Packages only, no other Killstreak drops
• Addressed an issue where the incorrect perks would appear when spectating another player under certain circumstances
• RC-XD adjustments
• Addressed an issue with calling in Chopper Gunner / Gunship immediately after being shot down from a previous one
• Various improvements to Multiplayer and Zombies leaderboards

So it seems that there is quite a bit covered in this patch but what is missing? Well the biggest would have to be the weapon changes. In past XBOX updates dating the whole way back to December 13th until now there have been multiple adjustments to the sniper rifles and also adjustments to the AK74u and the horrible knife lunge. Why has the PC community not been given these adjustments? Are they not needed because of the platform differences? I think they are – especially the sniper rifles and the ridiculous sliding across the map 10 feet knife lunge. Another thing that is still missing – again dating back to the December 13th XBOX update; is the addition of a delay on the red diamond enemy indicators that are used to show enemy players locations when someone is controlling Valkyrie Rockets, a Chopper Gunner or a Gunship. This is a huge cause of spawn killing right now with the Chopper Gunner because as soon as a players spawns the player basically has a target on them – whereas with the patch there is a slight delay before this red enemy player indicator appears on you and it gives you a chance to equip your anti-aircraft gun. Since this change wasn’t in this patch I am starting to think that it isn’t coming at all – like the previously mentioned weapon adjustments. As far as map changes; there was an exploit on Array where you could jump from a window into a group of filing cabinets and shoot without being able to be killed and it has finally gotten fixed but the biggest map issues involving railings that can’t be shot through on both Crisis and Hanoi are still not corrected. There is only one location on Hanoi but there are multiple locations around the one building that this issue affects on Crisis but I just don’t understand why this is such a big deal to fix. So to sum it all up; this patch did do some good but it still was quite focused on bug fixes and stability when that should be over and done with by now for the most part. Five months after release the patches should be focused on adjusting and improving the game and gameplay itself. The above mentioned issues should not still exist; especially when other platforms have had them for almost four months – it’s almost as bad as waiting for the DLC.

Speaking of DLC. The PC community will finally get it’s hands on the First Strike DLC today as well. Personally other than the release videos that have been coming from Treyarch on the First Strike DLC I haven’t seen much on it but I am anxious to see how the maps play and will find out here shortly. I debated on supporting the COD series further and buying the DLC would definitely do that – however the way I am looking at it now is I am buying the DLC because this will most likely be the last COD title that I purchase and I might as well play the game to it’s fullest extent while it is still up and running pretty strong. That and the fact that not too many other games that are releasing right now look very appealing to me at all. At least this time around the DLC maps are all “new” maps and not just random maps regurgitated from previous titles like COD:Modern Warfare 2 has done in the past.

To go along with the DLC maps being released on the PC; the PC community will get an exclusive weekend of Double XP to celebrate the release so I am off to get some games in and check out the new maps. Feel free to join me in the testing on the CODV DEMO & DOM SERVER.

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Unfortunately as I suspected it would; the First Strike DLC will come at a price of $14.99 through Steam – unless you take advantage of the pathetic attempt at lessening the pain from the kick in the face this release has been on the PC and pre-order the First Strike DLC at 10% off. I knew Activision wouldn’t let it slip out the door with some sort of price tag and typically I wouldn’t expect them to be free (those days are over) but with the shotty way the game released on the PC the DLC should have at least been sold at an outright discount (somewhere around $5) instead of a temporary pre-order discount. As usual with the way information is given to us; no one is really sure how the DLC will work on the dedicated server side yet and I am sure we won’t know until the release on Friday. GameServers – the only Game Server Provider for the game is stating these details on how the dedicated servers will work is something that Treyarch wants to release and GS won’t even say a word on the matter. UPDATE: Understanding DLC on the PC posted by JD_2020.

Shortly after the Tweet from CM JD_2020 announcing the First Strike release, PCDev also announced that the 1.07 patch will be released on Friday March 25th as well. Well it is about freaking time! Even though there aren’t any release notes posted yet this update should have a number of gameplay changes and additions that the XBOX 360 has been playing with since December 3rd… that’s right December freaking 3rd… Waiting for pathetic console exclusive DLC is one thing but waiting months for simple changes that have already been applied to other platforms of the game is just plain ridiculous.

Who knows what is actually in the patch until we get some release notes but there should be items such as map updates to get rid of numerous issues/exploits within them, spawn system improvements, minor weapon balancing with the AK74u recoil and ADS speed as well as sniper rifle damage and the ridiculous knife lunge, enemy target indicator delay on the Huey and Hind Killstreaks, RC-XD explosion radius reduction, Second Chance Perk point award changes, limitation to the Hardline Pro Perk of re-rolling Care Packages only, additional editing functionality in Theater Mode with “Dolly Cam”, and probably a lot more. This will probably be a pretty good patch – unfortunately it is way too late in the game to bring back the many people that were interested in the game months ago. Sure there still seems to be people playing it and admittedly I am still playing it here and there because nothing else seems interesting to me right now but so many people in the PC community have dropped this game already and aren’t looking back.

The Steam Statistics page has shown COD:Black Ops beaten by COD:Modern Warfare 2 in terms of daily “peak player count” for almost two weeks consecutively now – and for COD:Black Ops to be only entering it’s fifth month of release and the failure of a game (by PC standards) that COD:Modern Warfare 2 was; the situation is quite pathetic right now. Many dedicated COD fans have moved on to other games; practically all of the competitive players interested in competitive COD:Black Ops has moved on or went back to other titles; server count is down to just over 13,000 servers which means there is approximately 3 players for every server, the game still runs terrible for some out there and there are drastic performance discrepancies between different hardware and operating systems that no one from Treyarch cares to explain or even acknowledge. The last ditch effort of mod tools are probably still a month or more away from release – who knows – but who will be around to play anything custom when they do come out? To me there aren’t a whole lot of people playing the game that really care about custom maps or mods at this point and the last thing these mappers and modders want to do is spend a lot of time creating content that wont be played. With so many dedicated server limitations still in place I just don’t see custom content going anywhere in this game. On top of all of those negative factors the fact that some other pretty interesting games are starting to release now and will be in the near future; the player numbers along with interest are going to keep dropping and dropping for COD:Black Ops.

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Cornrow Wallace has released the BETA of his latest mapping project including maps from past Call of Duty titles including Bocage from COD, Brecourt from COD & COD2, Hurtgen from COD and Saint-Lo from COD:UO and the German Front Mod totally redesigned for COD:WAW with awesome new graphics, sounds and details.

You can download the map pack here on CODV at the link below and you can also take a look at CW’s blog to get more download links or better yet – servers that are running the map pack.

Download on CODV

http://cornrowwallace.blogspot.com

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With previous versions of Windows like Windows Vista or Windows XP we kind of got used to a Service Pack coming out with new features or vast performance improvements – however with Windows 7 it is actually a very feature rich and solid performing operating system and therefore for the Windows 7 side of things for Service Pack 1 it is really only a few minor feature fixes and otherwise just what a Service Pack should be – one big all inclusive update of all previous security fixes and updates since the operating system released. There could possibly be some performance improvements but for those test results we will have to wait for the final build to come out and for the PC enthusiast websites to do their benchmarks comparing the new Windows 7 SP1.

For more information on what exactly is all included in the Windows 7 SP1 / Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 update (both the client operating system and server operating system come from the same mold so to speak so they get the same update) I will direct you to a guy that knows a lot about Windows and a lot about Microsoft in general; Mr. Paul Thurrot at the Supersite for Windows where he did a writeup of the Service Pack back in January.

Service Pack 1 will become available publicly on February 22, via Windows Update, through manual downloads, and pre-installed on new PCs and servers.

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View the full COD:Black Ops Patch History page here

• Backward compatibility for films created before Patch 1.05
• Issues with weapon purchases after prestiging in some cases.
• Leaving a server and joining a different server, could briefly show the Map of the previous server.
• Duplicate player name on a server now becomes playername+slotnumber instead of ‘Unknown Soldier’.
• During a ‘Demolition’ match, the ‘Auto-balancing teams’ options may cause a ‘Defender’ player to respawn with a ‘Bomb’ icon in his inventory.
• Minor Shader Warming speed increase.
• One In The Chamber no longer counts democlient as a live player.
• 16x AA menu option for compatible graphics cards.
• Additional Stability improvements.

Stay tuned for more information on what should be coming for the next 1.07 patch that should include a decent amount of game changes. Hopefully…

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As to what was fixed or what is known to be causing the rampant server crashes is still unknown to the community for the most part but it is said to be a very random occurrence that revolves around a group of actions happening at once but even Treyarch seems to be having difficulties replicating the issue. Obviously if it was easy to replicate the issue a fix would be released rather quickly. It is unfortunate that some servers are still crashing but what is more unfortunate is that the crashing issues are just now really being focused on three months into the the COD:Black Ops release.

So the question at hand is do you plan to buy the First Strike DLC at this point? Do you feel that it is worth $15.00? Are you undecided at this point? Are you waiting to see what happens over the next month in terms of further patches, server support and mod & mapping tools support? Let me know!

View This Poll

This poll will be open from February 1st to March 1st.

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Personally I don’t know what the reason is but I just haven’t had much interest in Zombies for COD:Black Ops and it just didn’t swallow me in like before with the few times I’ve played it. I loved COD:WAW Zombies and I honestly think I played more COD:WAW Zombies than I did actual COD:WAW MP but there is just something about COD:Black Ops Zombies that I don’t care for. I don’t know if it is the fact that the Zombies are harder or the maps are larger and more cluttered or what but it just doesn’t have that same feel to me. However, since I am starting to grow tired of the same hum drum MP in COD:Black Ops maybe I will have to get back into Zombies and see if I can work through what is bugging me. There is definitely a fun factor there but it just doesn’t seem like it was before.

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Today we have a second sneak peak into the upcoming COD:Black Ops First Strike DLC package from CODHQ. Stadium is stated to be mid-sized map in the DLC package and for me although it looks like a very nicely detailed map with a blend of small open areas and lots of tight corners; it looks to me like one that I won’t enjoy quite as much due to the fact that it may be overloaded with close quarters combat and too much small spraying Steady Aim SMGs and shotguns, knifing around every corner and lethal & tactical grenade spam galore. It is hard to see the whole map size from a few screenshots but hopefully this one will work out well and play decent for objectives and not just cater to the FFA and TDM game modes.

First Strike Sneak Peak: Stadium

Combat erupts outside a vacant hockey stadium on the outskirts of the city. Tensions between the Cold War powers remain high, and the victor will revel in their enemy’s demoralization. A mid-sized map designed for close-quarters mayhem, teams must fight tooth and nail in a maze of tight corners and deadly vantage points.

Entrance from the western turnstiles allows the most breathing room, with a nearby souvenir shop providing cover overlooking the entryway. Planters adorning the walkway give cover to enemies, while entry to the rink encourages heavy through movement from soldiers rushing in and out of the stadium’s entrance.

Offices in the north test your level of alertness on the bottom floor and reward those who make it to the second with a view of the courtyard and beyond. In addition to the stadium’s second story windows, it’s in everyone’s best interest down below to keep these vantage points clear – especially when battling in the central courtyard.

Don’t let the beautiful eastern lakeside view distract you. This side of the map forces cramped movement and a three-entry weight room. Cover the doorways and attack soldiers weaving in and out of the maze. Expect SMG and Shotgun loadouts, and consider Flak Jacket to stand up against flying grenades and Claymores. Success lies in controlling the battlefield and keeping a level head. Stay cool and let your reflexes kick in. If you come out last, take some time to study the latest edition of Popular Weapons ’73 – you can find copies all around the map. Just look for the Sentry Gun on the cover.

Screenshots from the COD:Black Ops First Strike DLC Preview Gallery

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The list for the latest patch; although much smaller that what was mentioned on the prior list from JD_2020, doesn’t include much of anything in regards to tuning or balancing but does continue to push on with the still much needed stability improvements and some bug fixes – with a few little additions on the side. With that said; there are still numerous additions and changes that the XBOX 360 & PS3 has had for over a month now already – and since those features weren’t in this patch us PC users will now be waiting over two months (or more) to get those features and changes that the consoles have had.

View the full COD:Black Ops Patch History page here

• MP Audio stuttering on certain systems.
• Playercards sometimes not showing properly.
• Added three Private Match Server Settings: Team Change, Team-Up Period, and Keep Balanced Teams.
• Added Alternate Color Scheme for accessibility: Settings / Multiplayer / Player Name Indicator.
• Changed Team-Up Period countdown interval to 10 seconds.
• Combat Training sessions are no longer counted in Server Browser Unranked tab.
• Friends on your team will now show as blue on your minimap.
• Prevention of various exploits.
• Objective markers localized for all languages.
• Various stability improvements.

Supposedly all servers were updated as well with this update however once again there is really no communication on what changes were done to the servers and GameServers staff has already commented that “not all issues have been addressed” with this patch. However a GS forum staff member did comment that we should be looking at two points on the same patch notes that were released for the client as they also are said to apply to the servers. It sure would still be nice to see ACTUAL patch release notes for the servers so we know what the heck is being changed or being fixed to make the servers that WE PAY FOR better.

• Prevention of various exploits.
• Various stability improvements.

Lets hope that these stability fixes finally address the client side freezing issues that so many are still experiencing once and for all and lets hope that something is corrected with the horrible server crashing issues that have been going on. As of this morning reading the GS Forums there are mixed results with some reporting servers are still crashing yet others are reporting that they notice major improvements in server performance and their server isn’t crashing – so I guess it will take a little more time to see which way this patch swings the pendulum for the server side.

The last part of the update was a version increase to the Treyarch RCON tool with the addition of it now being able to notify you if you are trying to connect with a wrong password. Yay.

• Recognize new “invalid password” server response

Now for the future; it seems that the next patch (1.06) will be a pretty big patch with some actual weapon and game play balancing/tuning; and hopefully some of those features and changes that consoles have been playing with already for quite some time. However, at this time instead of speculating what we will get in the next patch I will just direct you to David Vonderhaar’s post on CODHQ if you haven’t seen it yet to get an idea of what might be coming up. Keep in mind that right now in that topic he is talking about console updates for the most part but I would see most if not all of those also coming over to the PC as well. Again; only time will tell.

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Tonight we have what I imagine will be the first of five sneak peaks into the COD:Black Ops First Strike DLC package from CODHQ. Berlin Wall appears to be one of the larger maps in the DLC package and also the map that seems to focus more on the verticality that Treyarch was trying hard to hit but I am wondering how this will be accepted by the majority. Personally I am all about bigger maps in the game but with COD:Black Ops being such a run-n-gun game I can see many turning their cheek against it before they even get used to it. The big question about the map seems to be how the auto turrets work. Which team controls them? How is it determined which team controls them? Are they similar to Sentry Guns in the fact that Ghost Pro will stop them from targeting you? Can they be destroyed? Can they be temporarily disabled with a Jammer? I think this map will be very interesting and I am excited to see how it plays.

First Strike Sneak Peak: Berlin Wall

The battle for control of Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall rages on in this mid-sized map set in the cold of German winter. Twisting streets and prosperous businesses line the West. Watch for snipers perched on balconies and behind the second story windows of Blume Bücher & Musik and Schulz Apotheke. Equip the Flak Jacket to survive the bombardment of grenades bursting in the small buildings. Expect blasts to be followed up with frenetic, close-quarters combat – shotgun and SMG loadouts will be particularly abundant on this side of the Wall.

Towering buildings in the East lend shooters a commanding view over the terrain, and their open layout encourages frequent group skirmishes. Cover each other’s backs when moving through the distillery and count on heavy resistance and Claymore placement through Täglich Zeitung. Assault Rifles provide a great balance between the open road and overlooking buildings.

Run as fast as you can when crossing between the two sides. Automated gun towers shoot everything in sight. If they don’t get you, you can bet an enemy soldier peaking over the border from a nearby building will. Danger lurks around every corner, inside every building, and on both sides of the Wall. The fate of democracy and the German people rests in your hands – defend it well or crush it under an iron fist.

Screenshots from the COD:Black Ops First Strike DLC Preview Gallery

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The First Strike DLC package will release exclusively for the XBOX 360 on February 1st and if history tells the future then the PC and other platforms will have it March 1st. Now I wonder how true that rumor still is that the PC community will be getting mod tools before the XBOX 360 gets DLC…

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It seems that Treyarch is keeping the lid on the fifth map “Ascension” that is also in the First Strike DLC map pack – most likely to leave the option open to release another separate teaser video for specific advertising of the Zombie map much like was done for the COD:World At War releases. If you recall those teaser videos they were very well put together with good fitting music highlighting the new additions on the Zombie side of things and they were quite entertaining – at least to a big COD:WAW Zombie fan like I was. I didn’t utilize the options to track my Zombie playing time in COD:World At War but if I had to guess I would say that I played quite a few more hours of Zombies then I did multiplayer. However, with COD:Black Ops I don’t know what it is but I have only played a handful of matches since release and don’t really find it enjoyable. Quite frankly I don’t really care too much about the new Zombies map – or COD:Black Ops Zombies all together. Very different from my feelings in the COD:WAW days although I can’t really explain why. In any case I would expect to see another teaser video released in the next few days specifically for the COD:Black Ops Zombie map Ascension.

View the COD:Black Ops First Strike DLC Preview Gallery

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In Progress

• MP Audio stuttering on certain systems.
• Playercards sometimes not showing properly.
• Added three Private Match Server Settings: Team Change, Team-Up Period, and Keep Balanced Teams.
• Added Alternate Color Scheme for accessibility: Settings / Multiplayer / Player Name Indicator.
• Changed Team-Up Period countdown interval to 10 seconds.
• Combat Training sessions are no longer counted in Server Browser Unranked tab.
• Friends on your team will now show as blue on your minimap.
• Prevention of various exploits.
• Objective markers localized for all languages.
• SP Audio stuttering on certain systems.
• Addition of new contracts.
• Addition of the “Dolly Cam” editing mode in Theater.
• If a player cancels an invite to a Wager Match, then attempts to join another server, they will join the server from the declined invite.
• Issue where the incorrect perks would appear when spectating another player under certain conditions.
• Addition of round start explosive delay to China Lake grenade launcher to give it the same “spawn toob” protection as other explosives.
• Ensure reticle purchases are reset on prestige in all circumstances.
• Contracts should reset on prestige.
• Prevention of Valkyrie rocket exploding upon release under rare conditions.
• Prevention of Gunship and Chopper Gunner failing to give player full control under rare conditions.
• Prevention of an issue where a player will get teleported outside the map boundaries under very specific conditions.
• Limit the ability to re-roll supply drops using Hardline Pro to Care Packages only, no other killstreak drops.
• Increased headshot multipliers for sniper rifles. Sniper rifles with suppressors equipped will now always be ensured one-shot kill headshots.
• Added a render delay to the red diamond player indicators that appear when controlling the Gunship, Valkyrie Rocket and Chopper Gunner. When a player first spawns, this will not appear for a period of time.
• Additional minor reductions in knife lunge.

Now this is a decent list and it is definitely nice to see adjustments to two of my largest complaint points on there – the red diamond player indicators that appear while using the Huey and Hind that point you out immediately on spawn and of course the ridiculous cheesy knife lunge – but seeing this list and referencing back on some things that have been Tweeted and posted in CODHQ in the last few days brings up some confusion and it seems that the Game Design Director and the dev team aren’t quite on the same page.

The topics in point are adjustments to the AK74U (another big complaint point for me), adjustments to the Second Chance Perk, adjustments to the RC-XD damage radius and the fact that it was stated that Treyarch was happy with the sniper rifle tuning and knife tuning and no changes were planned – all seen in the this post on CODHQ by David Vonderhaar (quoted below for easy reading) and also different bits Tweeted by David Vonderhaar over the course of last week (also quoted below). Strangely in this patch we have both sniper rifle tuning as well as knife tuning and yet even stranger is the tuning on the AK74U that David Vonderhaar states was completed as of January 5th is no where to be seen on that list above. Maybe this isn’t a complete list? I really doubt it due to the patch most likely about to be released in the next few days but who knows.

I had hoped by this time in the game life-cycle we would be engaged in a series of constructive debates about the game tuning. Tweaking a few things one way or the other. These are some of the key things on our minds. The ones in bold are done already as of Jan 5th.

We think the AK74U grip variant re-center speed is too quick. Although the tuning in line with other grip variant weapons, the gun itself has a very perfectible kick and other attributes or attachments that make it a popular weapon to use. We have slightly de-tuned the AK74u grip for version 1.06.

We are considering giving full kill credit to the guy who drops someone in Second Chance and Assist credit for someone who finishes them off. We are also considering allowing you to only be revived one time. We are even considering increasing the revive time.
- Forum users like to complain about the “invulnerability period” when someone is dropping. I found where this happens. It’s in code and not script which is why I didn’t see it originally. We need to think about this one clearly. I went through the revision history. Any attempts to remove the “0.5″ seconds of invulnerability mean the guy with Second Chance will likely never be given his Second Chance. Removal of this entirely will all but remove the perk from the game (which I know many of you would prefer in the first place, but it’s something we are not yet ready to do). This “0.5″ seconds is consistent with the previous games and is not any longer or shorter.

We are evaluating the RC-XD minimum and maximum damage and damage radius and it’s movement speed. Changing the kill requirement isn’t feasible at this time.

We are largely okay with the sniper rifle and knife tuning at this time. No changes are currently planned for either of these for version 1.06.

Twitter poll. Assume you get +100 for dropping the guy into Second Chance and the assist for finishing him. Better or worse. If worse, why?

LINK

What if I drop the AK74U clip size from 30 to 20 and the extended clip from 40 to 30. Alternatively, lower the max damage.

LINK

One other final point that I will call attention to is the fact that there is nothing mentioned about the server side of things. There has been absolutely no communication about the servers from Treyarch since launch. There are still MANY server owners (including myself) suffering from uncontrollable server crashing issues as seen in this currently now 33 page forum post at GameServers.com and then to top things off were given abilities with the last patch to adjust team changing options that were broken from the very start – along with Autobalance; which now forces admins to disable team changing because servers can become very out of balance since Autobalance doesn’t work and in full circle that disables Spectating which makes admining servers a little more difficult with questionable players. Straight to the point – we need to see some information from Treyarch to let us know what is being done with the server code!

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I hope you all have a blessed time with friends and family and enjoy the holidays safe and smart. I will be enjoying a week of vacation off of work next week so hopefully I can get some things done I have been meaning to do. I am anxious to see how the Christmas sales go in regards to COD:Black Ops. Last year there was quite a surge in player count with COD:MW2 so lets hope for the same this year.

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There are details coming out this morning based from a podcast from last night by MAJOR NELSON (an XBOX 360 based podcast) where Treyarch online director Dan Bunting announced that some COD:Black Ops DLC is in the works and will be hitting the digital market on February 1, 2011 – well for XBOX 360 anyway. Another exclusive launch deal for XBOX 360 and Microsoft and the Playstation 3 and PC users will have to wait a little while to get their hands on it. All of this content being the first DLC for COD:Black Ops being labeled as First Strike will be coming at the price of $15

Notes transcribed from the podcast for your reading pleasure:

We’ve got four brand new completely original multiplayer maps called Discovery, Kowloon, Stadium and Berlin Wall… The fifth map which is a Zombies map called Ascension and I can’t go into too many details about the Zombie map at this time – they are still classified but I can talk a little bit about the multiplayer maps.

So for our multiplayer design team this is one of those great opportunities where we’ve felt like we learned a lot of lessons in the development and designs of the maps that shipped with the game and for DLC we really wanted to go bigger with some of the things we learned that people really liked. So this map pack we focused a lot more on providing a variety of weaponry, a variety of engagement types, a variety of verticality – a lot more verticality – bringing some sniper opportunities into it. One of the popular things we added in several maps of the shipped game were the scripted moments – scripted elements and interactivity in the maps. So that’s something we’ve made sure we want to bring to every single one of the new maps. So there is a lot of cool stuff there.

The 4 maps on the multiplayer side Berlin Wall is located in Berlin obviously at historical location “Checkpoint Charlie” – it’s a battle between east and west Berlin. Discovery is an Antarctic German research station that’s been abandon from World War II. Kowloon is inspired from the single player campaign which was based off of the Kowloon city in China and it is a rainy rooftop map. Stadium is an athletic complex hockey rink in the north eastern United States. That’s the highlight of the 4 new maps in multiplayer and people will have to stay tuned in the weeks to come to get a lot more details on them.

The screenshots below from Call of Duty Wiki were from information discovered around game release and seem to have somewhat of a reference to the map names that were just mentioned coming in the First Strike DLC package.

Obviously there is quite a bit of flac from the PC community and the PS3 community as well due to both of those platforms still suffering from quite a few issues with the game in general. Specifically on the PC side where dedicated servers are still crashing non-stop, config features released in the last patch don’t function properly regarding team switching and auto-balance, some still suffering from performance issues on the client side (although greatly reduced with the last patch) and then just that we would like to have some confirmation that the game is going to be balanced with overpowered weapons like the knife and AK74U, the ridiculously accurate Steady Aim perk that appears to make players aim better then aiming down sight and the overly annoying Huey Killstreak that highlights enemies on the ground for noob friendly shooting.

Most of the PC community have never been big fans of DLC and with such a bad game release and the patching issues this game has had so far I have a feeling that this won’t be a big seller on this platform. Frankly I am ashamed that this is even being announced at this point with the amount of issues the game has that need to be fixed yet.

Sources:
ripten.com
computerandvideogames.com
callofduty.wikia.com

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I have been suffering from some solid freezes requiring Control+Alt+Delete ever since the last patch and at least for tonight’s testing of the patch for about 3 hours I didn’t have any freezes. On top of that overall game play seemed to be a little smoother graphics wise with a little bump in frame rate it in some aspects. It’s still not solid but I know I haven’t seen the 150′s or 170′s before tonight and I was hitting them in some places without any settings adjustments and running the game at 1680×1050 on medium-high settings on an EVGA GTX260 SSC Edition.

View the full COD:Black Ops Patch History page here

Multiplayer Update

• Improved threading performance on computers with only 2 cores.
• Additional performance optimizations
• Added an option to pre-cache all shaders during load time. This fixes hitching related to shader compiling on some video cards when viewing an area of the map for the first time
• Fixed random freezes in certain computer configurations
• Allow Team Change on Ranked servers when it does not unbalance teams (this is a server admin option)
• Allow Team Change grace period at start of match (server admin option)
• Added 4 more reserved slots (server admin option)
• Added /connect
• Improved quickmatch results (server side change)
• Fix for watching films through Combat Record
• Fixed compassSpectatorsSeeEnemies exploit
• Fixed 3rd person fov exploit
• Fix for infinite supply drop exploit
• Fixed crosshair flickering when stereo is active
• Various spawn improvements
• Various sound improvements
• Fix for Zombies – Teammate shadows not displayed properly
• Fix for radar not staying on in One in the Chamber when it should
• In a Domination match, the Position Secured medal is no longer delayed
• ‘Hardened: Equipment Shot’ Challenge can now be completed by destroying a ‘Camera Spike’
• Fix for choppy final killcam in dedicated servers
• Various map glitches fixed
• Weekly and Monthly leaderboards will now track all kills, deaths and assists properly (All Time leaderboards were not affected by this)
• Added mixed hardcore playlist
• Added mixed barebones playlist
• Added 12 player versions of all playlists

RCON Tool Update

• Reduced timeout values. Connect (or failure to connect is faster)
• Added all white-listed dvars for Ranked and Unranked. Admins have rcon access to ALL available dvars
• Added Settings and Console tabs for Ranked servers
• Fixes a bug where the “Server” tab doesn’t update values when connecting to a new server
• Added version number to the title bar
• Fixed a bug where UI state didn’t persist after switching to another server
• Added “disconnect” button
• Fixed map “set” to not use admindvar
• Changed all dvars which could be possibly float, to float. Mostly these are time-type dvars
• Fixed bug where entering a value of zero for Message Duration would cause a unhandled exception error
• Truncated all message fields to 140 chars

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GameTracker.com is actually a sister company of GameServers.com and since they are the sole provider of COD:Black Ops servers one might think that banners should have been released by now right? Well that is what most think but based on recent discussion happening on both the GameTracker.com and GameServers.com forums it appears that there is much more involved in getting the COD:Black Ops server banners up and running than it what would normally be involved for other games. Not much more information has been given other than that but all guessing points to Treyarch once again and the method of the heavily locked down backside of COD:Black Ops that they have decided to implement. What limited options seem to be frustrating for server owners – it also appears that it may be a little frustrating for GameTracker as well since they have been working on the server banner implementation since before the game release.

Whatever the case; it sounds like from posts over the last few days by [gs] quon on the GameServers.com forums the GameTracker.com server banners will be here sometime this week!

Tue Nov 23, 2010 12:44 pm

GameTracker with Black Ops is currently undergoing testing

Once it is released – which looks to be sometime early next week, you will not need to use RCON to get your server’s status and will be able to track your server just like any other game that is under GameTracker’s portfolio

The querying portion for Black Ops is not as straight forward and does need this extra time for testing though.

The technology that is used to query the servers on GameTracker is actually going through testing under GameServers in how it scans for everyone’s server’s status. Seems to be working very reliably and will be pushed to GameTracker after some additional tests.

Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:07 am

As stated in a few threads, GT should be ready to go this week after some final tests.

Having a banner work for a few servers, even a few hundred servers is one thing but having it work without any issues against thousands of servers and also work within the GT environment that caters to millions of players worldwide does take time to ensure that all aspects of GT works without any issues. Keep in mind that we also store historical information on each server, not just a snapshot view of what is happening on the server currently. This also takes additional testing and resources.

In anycase, as planned, it will be ready this week.

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For myself running a Core i7 860 and a GTX260 I really haven’t had any performance issues other than the first few days with the mis-configured MAXRATE setting. However, now with this patch I have had numerous solid freezes that require the three finger salute (Control+Alt+Delete) to get me out of the game and sadly this is also happening to others who had no issues before this patch. So now the performance issues that some have been facing since day one that weren’t solved with this patch still need to be addressed but now performance issues that have been caused by this patch need to be addressed. Two steps forward and one step backwards it seems.

View the full COD:Black Ops Patch History page here

Multiplayer Update

• CPU performance improvements
• Server browser bug fixes and tweaks to populate faster and do full refresh less often
• Fixed crash when viewing leaderboards if player has more than 99 friends
• Fix for locked ADS after pressing shift-TAB to bring up Steam overlay
• Fix for ADS while holding shift as a sniper

Single Player Update

• CPU performance improvements
• Zombie matchmaking improvements
• Fix for locked ADS after pressing shift-TAB to bring up Steam overlay
• Fix for ADS while holding shift as a sniper

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November 16th, 2010 – 12:05AM EST
An emergency security patch is being applied to all Black Ops servers to fix an exploit that has been discovered. Your server will automatically restart once to apply the patch.

My call was spot on and based on a reply from [GS] devicenull on the GameServers.com forums this security patch addresses the power leveling servers.

[GS] devicenull – Tue Nov 16, 2010 11:19 am
The security issues were related to the power leveling, or fastrank, servers. This is all that was fixed in last nights patch.

View the full COD:Black Ops Patch History page here

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Nov 11, 2010 – 10:45am EST
Treyarch will be releasing a fix for the server browser in the next 24 hours that should correct the problem with being able to find your server on the server browser. We appreciate your patience in this matter.

With that little information it is hard to say what this means. This “problem” as GameServers.com puts it; was intentionally put into place by Treyarch to limit over burdening the Treyarch backend servers that the client Server Browsers are pounding. So it is still unknown if we will be getting full access to all of the servers (over 10,000 last night) in the Server Browser now or if this will just give us some of the servers; as in a regional manner or something. Whatever the case hopefully I will be able to finally SEE or maybe even PLAY on my own server after tonight. Wishful thinking eh?

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May God bless them and their families and continue to be with them in glory on the battlefield as they answer the true Call of Duty.

COD:Modern Warfare 2 estimations in 2009: 4.7 million copies coming it at 310 million dollars
COD:Black Ops estimations in 2010: 5.6 million copies coming in at $360 million dollars.

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Shattering its own day-one sales record, Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced that Treyarch’s highly-anticipated Call of Duty®: Black Ops has become the biggest entertainment launch ever with an estimated sell-through of approximately $360 million in North America and the United Kingdom alone in the first 24 hours of its release, as compared to last year’s estimated day-one sell-through of $310 million for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare® 2 in North America and the United Kingdom, according to internal Activision estimates.

Call of Duty: Black Ops, marks the second year in a row that the Call of Duty franchise has set day one launch records across all forms of entertainment. In its first day on November 9, the blockbuster title sold through approximately 5.6 million copies in North America and the United Kingdom, as compared to 4.7 million copies for last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, according to internal Activision estimates.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is one of the most critically acclaimed games of the year worldwide and was released with unprecedented retailer support and more than 12,000 midnight openings around the globe.

“There has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records for two consecutive years and we are on track to outperform last year’s five-day global sales record of $550 million,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. “The game’s success underscores the pop culture appeal of the brand. Call of Duty: Black Ops is the finest game that Treyarch has ever made and raises the bar for online gameplay by delivering the deepest and most intense Call of Duty experience yet. The Call of Duty franchise has over 25 million players around the world that are engaged in billions of hours of online gameplay, and we are committed to supporting them with new content and features on a more frequent and regular basis.”

Source: http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=529609

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