The third Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack, dubbed Annihilation, releases on June 28, Activision said today.
Launching first on Xbox Live, Annihilation includes four new multiplayer maps and a zombie map. "With Annihilation, Black Ops fans will get four exciting and unique multiplayer settings with Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo and Hazard," said Treyarch Studio Head, Mark Lamia.
"Players will also enjoy an all-new Zombies experience, Shangri-La, an exotic and mysterious map filled with deadly traps, dark secrets and innovative gameplay that will challenge even the most daring Zombie hunters."
Pricing details were not revealed, though Annihilation will likely cost $14.99, the same price as the previous two map packs.
Now honestly I find this kinda strange a the way. Last map pack, there seemed to be a lot more.. Spark I guess. More talk about it. With the leak and everything that happened. And now, there doesn't seem to be any hype about things. That's the vibe that I am getting at least. They only gave us a 12 day heads up. That just doesn't seem like them. I thought for sure they would say something at E3. Or maybe to them, it wasn't big enough to announce then. I'm not sure. But a bigger heads up would have been better. At least I think so.
Besides all that, if you are a fan of Mortal Kombat, you will be happy to know that Skarlet will be the first DLC character. You can download her starting June 21st.
Here is the trailer for the new character. If you have played up the ladder in single player, you will notice that she is chained up in the background, along with Kitana. The trailer goes on to tease three additional characters. Kenshi, Rain, and a fighter to be named later. Either character will be released individually this summer. A compatibility pack will accompany each release so that players who do not purchase the DLC will still be able to see online opponents using the DLC. These packs will be free and come with two skins (the first pack contains Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3-inspired Cyrax and Sektor). If you straight up buy the character DLC, you get the free skins as well.
I myself am pretty pumped for the new characters. Because well, MK is a lot of fun. And with a new fighter, that means more combo's and such that you get to learn and use. And with a new character, it's always fun. She reminds me of Mileena, but with her weapons always out, and not materializing in her hand. They are just there. Looks like a fun character to play. I can't wait.
Another game I would like to touch on very briefly is Dark Souls. The game will be released on October 4th. It's the second one in the serious. If you have a ps3 and haven't played Demon Souls yet, do so. Just keep in mind, the game is tough. Don't let it get to you though. Play that so that you can get used to the difficulty, and then when Dark Souls comes, you can (hopefully) plow though it at a decent rate. I heard this one will be even harder then Demon Souls. I'm pumped for it.
That's all for today folks.
-j-
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Off topic things to chat about.. Let's Roll!
Alrighty guys, lets go ahead and chat about some things that are up and coming, sort of.
Microsoft has developed a new chip, which could reduce the manufacturing costs of the Xbox 360. The new chip combines the CPU, GPU, Memory, and I/O logic onto a single chip. It's pretty schnazzy. Supposedly it will reduce manufacturing costs, which could possibly mean a price drop in the Xbox 360 Slim. And with Microsoft pushing the Kinect hard at this years E3, it could be the perfect way to encourage uptake of the device. Another sly move on Microsoft's part.
Another thing, Duke Nukem Forever is out. And.. Well.. It didn't get very good reviews. IGN gave it at 5.5. That's Mediocre. As a kid, I never really played the Duke Nukem's. But with the FPS (First Person Shooter) genre growing and expanding since it's time, it tried to copy too much of other games, and not sticking to the true Duke Nukem. The 360 version has frame rate problems at times, which is a bummer. And long load times. And the music is well.. It's not the best, lets just say that. Not very catchy. So if you have high hopes for this game, knock it down a couple notches. Don't want you to be disappointed.
If you haven't seen anything on Rage, you should do so. It's another FPS, but let me tell you what, this game is gorgeous. But sadly, the game has been delayed for an extra month. It'll hit stores on October 4th now, instead of September 13th.
Lets chit chat about Sony now at E3. Now IGN claims that they "won" E3. And you know, I have to agree. Microsoft last reported Xbox 360 sales earlier this month at 55 million, while Sony last reported sales for PlayStation 3 this past March at 50 million. Since their respective November release dates were a year apart, Xbox 360 has been on the market for 66 months, PlayStation 3 for 54 months. Thus, Sony is averaging nearly 926,000 PS3s sold worldwide each month compared to Xbox 360's monthly average of 833,000. This isn't a point Sony has ever nailed home, and it's a missed opportunity for the company to show that its sales situation isn't as dire as it's often perceived to be. So I gotta say it. Boo ya.
But that missed opportunity aside, there were two primary, overwhelming strengths to Sony's conference: exclusive games and the major reveal of its successor to the PSP, the PlayStation Vita. Sure, there were other reveals -- including an affordable (albeit small) 3D television and a cheap pair of 3D glasses -- but the PlayStation brand's strength rests in its exclusive content, and between that content and a successful reveal of everything Vita has in store, it's hard not to give Sony credit for delivering this year's winning press conference performance on those facts alone.
From Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and Resistance 3 to Starhawk and Sly Cooper 4, Sony stressed experiences that can only be had on its platform. It's true that there were few actual surprises (at least in terms of PlayStation 3 software), but all of these exclusives are what's truly exciting for those that own a PS3. There were nearly a dozen PlayStation 3 exclusives in total shown at the conference (including the awesome LittleBigPlanet 2 Move-enabled DLC and a couple of much-anticipated HD collections), a staggering amount of games. Other upcoming and much-anticipated exclusives, such as Twisted Metal and The Last Guardian, weren't even mentioned in passing. Now that's a deep roster of exclusives.
Then, there was the reveal of Vita. Sure, the name is pretty bad, but then again, I suspect it will grow on us as we start throwing the terms "Vita" and "PSV" around. To me, it seems that Sony has preemptively learned from the mistakes Nintendo made when the Nintendo 3DS launched in that there was no compelling games for people to play. While uncertain terms like "launch window" are being used to describe the slew of titles we saw at this year's E3 on Vita, the fact is that Sony isn't trying to sell Vita on the mere fact that it's the successor to the PSP. In addition to all of its non-gaming functionality, Trophy-earning possibilities and more, there will be compelling titles ready around the time Vita comes out late this year, and there's cause to be really excited for many of them, including Super Stardust Delta, Uncharted: Golden Abyss and LittleBigPlanet. Again, all exclusives.
Sony also nailed the price point of the Vita. And I mean nailed. $250 for a wi-fi enabled unit or a mere $50 more for a 3G-enabled PSV makes this handheld extremely competitive. At $250, it's the same price as a Nintendo 3DS.
And with that, that is all for today. Chat with you guys later!
-j-
Microsoft has developed a new chip, which could reduce the manufacturing costs of the Xbox 360. The new chip combines the CPU, GPU, Memory, and I/O logic onto a single chip. It's pretty schnazzy. Supposedly it will reduce manufacturing costs, which could possibly mean a price drop in the Xbox 360 Slim. And with Microsoft pushing the Kinect hard at this years E3, it could be the perfect way to encourage uptake of the device. Another sly move on Microsoft's part.
Another thing, Duke Nukem Forever is out. And.. Well.. It didn't get very good reviews. IGN gave it at 5.5. That's Mediocre. As a kid, I never really played the Duke Nukem's. But with the FPS (First Person Shooter) genre growing and expanding since it's time, it tried to copy too much of other games, and not sticking to the true Duke Nukem. The 360 version has frame rate problems at times, which is a bummer. And long load times. And the music is well.. It's not the best, lets just say that. Not very catchy. So if you have high hopes for this game, knock it down a couple notches. Don't want you to be disappointed.
If you haven't seen anything on Rage, you should do so. It's another FPS, but let me tell you what, this game is gorgeous. But sadly, the game has been delayed for an extra month. It'll hit stores on October 4th now, instead of September 13th.
Lets chit chat about Sony now at E3. Now IGN claims that they "won" E3. And you know, I have to agree. Microsoft last reported Xbox 360 sales earlier this month at 55 million, while Sony last reported sales for PlayStation 3 this past March at 50 million. Since their respective November release dates were a year apart, Xbox 360 has been on the market for 66 months, PlayStation 3 for 54 months. Thus, Sony is averaging nearly 926,000 PS3s sold worldwide each month compared to Xbox 360's monthly average of 833,000. This isn't a point Sony has ever nailed home, and it's a missed opportunity for the company to show that its sales situation isn't as dire as it's often perceived to be. So I gotta say it. Boo ya.
But that missed opportunity aside, there were two primary, overwhelming strengths to Sony's conference: exclusive games and the major reveal of its successor to the PSP, the PlayStation Vita. Sure, there were other reveals -- including an affordable (albeit small) 3D television and a cheap pair of 3D glasses -- but the PlayStation brand's strength rests in its exclusive content, and between that content and a successful reveal of everything Vita has in store, it's hard not to give Sony credit for delivering this year's winning press conference performance on those facts alone.
From Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and Resistance 3 to Starhawk and Sly Cooper 4, Sony stressed experiences that can only be had on its platform. It's true that there were few actual surprises (at least in terms of PlayStation 3 software), but all of these exclusives are what's truly exciting for those that own a PS3. There were nearly a dozen PlayStation 3 exclusives in total shown at the conference (including the awesome LittleBigPlanet 2 Move-enabled DLC and a couple of much-anticipated HD collections), a staggering amount of games. Other upcoming and much-anticipated exclusives, such as Twisted Metal and The Last Guardian, weren't even mentioned in passing. Now that's a deep roster of exclusives.
Then, there was the reveal of Vita. Sure, the name is pretty bad, but then again, I suspect it will grow on us as we start throwing the terms "Vita" and "PSV" around. To me, it seems that Sony has preemptively learned from the mistakes Nintendo made when the Nintendo 3DS launched in that there was no compelling games for people to play. While uncertain terms like "launch window" are being used to describe the slew of titles we saw at this year's E3 on Vita, the fact is that Sony isn't trying to sell Vita on the mere fact that it's the successor to the PSP. In addition to all of its non-gaming functionality, Trophy-earning possibilities and more, there will be compelling titles ready around the time Vita comes out late this year, and there's cause to be really excited for many of them, including Super Stardust Delta, Uncharted: Golden Abyss and LittleBigPlanet. Again, all exclusives.
Sony also nailed the price point of the Vita. And I mean nailed. $250 for a wi-fi enabled unit or a mere $50 more for a 3G-enabled PSV makes this handheld extremely competitive. At $250, it's the same price as a Nintendo 3DS.
And with that, that is all for today. Chat with you guys later!
-j-
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