The other day we reported that there was a brief teaser trailer for Nuketown 2025, and it really was just that—a thirty-second promo which told us very little except that the ends of matches will feature a nuclear detonation, just as they did in the original classic Nuketown map. For those of you who don’t already know, Nuketown was a map which was included in the first Black Ops game. Back by popular demand, it’s making an appearance in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 in the new guise of Nuketown 2025. The reboot of the map is included as a free bonus in pre-order copies of the game.

From the trailer, we can see that the map setting is a 1960s retro-futurist exhibit for the “Model Home of the Future,” such as you might have found at an amusement park or such back in the day. We get to see a bit of the game play as well as the setting, complete with a retro-futurist suburban home and some shiny classic cars outside in the driveway.

How can you ensure that you get Nuketown 2025 for free? Just pre-order the game between now and release day (November 13th, coming up fast). When you pre-order, you’ll also get access to DoubleXP weekend, which will help you to Prestige up faster than other players! It’s a great way to get an edge and to check out more of the cool features of the game sooner than everyone else. When you pre-order from Amazon you also get an exclusive backstory for Kindle which lets you learn more about the villain in the single-player campaign, Raul Menendez. If you don’t pre-order, you’ll miss out on all this fun and you’ll also have to pay extra if you want to download the Nuketown 2025 map (which we’re assuming will eventually be available as DLC).

The Hardened Edition is still available to pre-order as well. It doesn’t cost a whole lot more, but you get even more cool bonuses when you order. It’s a limited edition that is packaged in a steelbook case, and comes with the official soundtrack by Jack Wall and Trent Reznor, exclusive avatar props, weapon camo, multiplayer card background, zombies player card background, collectible challenge coins (which give you access to exclusive DLC), and an additional version of the Nuketown map, Nuketown Zombies. Just keep in mind you only have about a week and a half left to pre-order, and then it will be time to jump into the action!

In two weeks on November 13th, yet another Call of Duty game is coming out. While critics accuse the series of being staid and repetitious, gamers still flock to the stores whenever a new COD game is released, and sales remain strong for one of the most popular video game franchises of all time. What are five reasons that Black Ops 2 is going to be the most exciting COD game to date? Here’s why you should consider spending your money:

1. Black Ops 2 is like three games in one. The hefty price tag of around $60.00 may cause some gamers to shy away, but unlike many other games that retail for that price, this one is actually worth it. With the single-player campaign mode, multiplayer mode, and the new zombies modes (including the massive open world TranZit), this game is a great deal.

2. Black Ops 2’s zombies TranZit mode is the most innovative move Treyarch’s made yet. This mode will allow players to explore and fight their way through a huge open world, craft weapons out of supplies in the environment, and enjoy all kinds of brand new Call of Duty experiences.

3. The single player campaign mode has been developed to provide the most emotionally involved and immersive experience yet—one with multiple, branching storylines which change the outcome based off of the player’s decisions. That means it will have replay value! The game’s set in the near future and includes a ton of fun new weapons.

4. Tons of game mechanics improvements will make Black Ops 2 friendlier to a wide variety of players with different skill levels and play styles. The scorestreak system has been completely upgraded, spawning issues have been dealt with, a new match-making system will help players find opponents around their skill level, and much more.

5. Pre-order and get plenty of additional fun bonuses. If you get the Hardened Edition, you can receive exclusive DLC throughout the next Call of Duty season. No matter what edition you pre-order, you’ll get the Nuketown 2025 map for free.

While critics accuse Call of Duty of being repetitious and unoriginal, Treyarch has risen to the challenge to create a unique new game which is true to the COD formula without becoming trapped by that formula. With so many improvements and developments, it’s clear that Activision is looking to revitalize COD. Black Ops 2 is sure to be the most popular installment yet.

Anticipation has reached a peak for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2! The next week will probably feel interminable, but when it’s over, we’ll finally be able to play the game ourselves and draw conclusions firsthand about all the new features and upgrades which Treyarch has come up with for the latest COD installment. It’s also important to remember that this week isn’t interminable; it will fly by faster than you think if you still haven’t pre-ordered. Here are the features of Black Ops 2 which we’re most excited about:

• Game mechanics enhancements. It’s all the little tweaks being made to the system which we’re really excited about, because they’re going to improve gameplay all around. We’re excited about the improved scorestreaks, more balanced game play, livestreaming and other cool changes which are going to raise the whole COD experience up a few notches. We can look forward to those same improvements making their way into future COD games too, so it’s going to not only make Black Ops 2 the best game to date, but also echo on down through the franchise in the coming years.

• Treyarch’s fantastic maps. We’ve been seeing little glimpses of the maps over the past week as leaked content makes its way around the net. The maps look like the usual colorful, fun maps we expect from Treyarch. One thing which is fun about Treyarch maps is how often we get to visit familiar everyday environments and shoot up our enemies. It looks like we’re going to be seeing that not only with the multiplayer maps (particularly Nuketown 2025) but also the zombies map, where we’ve glimpsed buses, restrooms and other fun areas and elements.

• E-sports. E-sports is a growing trend around the world. Treyarch’s new live streaming and sports casting features will make the game more enjoyable for spectators than ever. We can also look forward to the coming season of competitive gaming.

• Branching storylines. We used to lament how quickly we finished the single player campaigns in COD games! A few hours of running and gunning and it was all over. With the branching storylines, we can expect to get a fair bit more game time out of the Black Ops 2 single player mode. We’re also really curious about the storyline. It seems like the development team has gone the extra mile and we can’t wait to find out what they’ve cooked up for us.

• TranZit. There is so much that is cool about TranZit that it’s hard to know where to begin. An open world to explore is a totally new feature for Call of Duty, and pretty unique for a FPS game altogether. A crafting system is also quite a distinctive new addition, and the optional bus transportation will throw yet another curve into our usual experience. TranZit should provide literally endless fun fighting off the evil undead.

We’re also excited about all the bonuses in the Hardened Edition, especially the exclusive DLC which we can get throughout the rest of the season. Pre-order while supplies last; time is running out.

With Black Ops 2 coming out in only two weeks, we were wondering when we’d hear the first bit of news about the next Call of Duty game! By the time Modern Warfare 3 hit the stands, the rumors were already flying about Black Ops 2. Now we finally have heard the first intriguing rumor of Modern Warfare 4. Whether the rumor is true or not, who knows, but it’s definitely exciting.

A writer from the website thisisxbox.com was apparently on a flight from Bodrum to London, and was seated near voice actor Bill Murray (not to be confused with the more famous Bill Murray). Murray is the voice behind Captain Price in the Modern Warfare games created by Infinity Ward. Since Infinity Ward and Treyarch switch off every other year, next year it’s Infinity Ward’s turn to develop a Call of Duty game. According to the writer for thisisxbox.com, Murray said the following:

“Yeah, on Monday I am off to meet Infinity Ward about the next game, Modern Warfare 4, I’m doing work on the sequel to Modern Warfare 3, it carries straight on and I only ever appear in the Modern Warfare games…”

Again, this could be a ruse and not a real report, so don’t get too excited yet. It’s an interesting statement, though, because even Murray sounds like he’s more or less guessing at what’s next on the table. He knows it’s a Call of Duty game, and he knows it’s Infinity Ward, so like the rest of us, he’s simply guessed that it will be Modern Warfare 4.

While Modern Warfare 4 is the logical next step for Infinity Ward, there are really quite a few more possibilities than just another MW sequel. This year Infinity Ward took quite a bit of flak over how staid the formula was for Modern Warfare 3. It was a popular game and it did well—but numerous gamers and critics stated that they could have expected much more out of Infinity Ward in terms of innovation. This year Treyarch took up that call with Black Ops 2. Not only does Black Ops 2 include a lot of improvements to game mechanics, but also a brand new near-future setting. One could easily envision Infinity Ward choosing to set the next Modern Warfare game in the future as well. Perhaps it won’t be Modern Warfare at all, but Future Warfare, or as some have even suggested, Space Warfare—though we don’t think they’ll make such a big leap just yet.

Regardless of the setting Infinity Ward chooses for its next game, a lot of the game mechanics improvements which Treyarch has implemented in Black Ops 2 will probably be added to the next game in the series. That by itself should represent a massive step up, and might even give Infinity Ward more time and resources to focus on innovating the setting of the game.

With all the pre-orders for video games, many of the most popular video games are games which haven’t already come out yet, one of which is Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Various ratings agencies have reported statistics on the holiday pre-sales, and the next COD game appears in more than one list. Holiday Gift Nation reports the top five games as likely to be Grand Theft Auto 5, Halo 4, Black Ops 2, Assassin’s Creed 3 and Just Dance 4. This is a list composed around interest, not sales (GTA 5 isn’t actually up for pre-order yet). Another list from Nielson lists the top games as Black Ops 2, Resident Evil 6, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Assassin’s Creed 3. BO2 appears on lists for multiple consoles.

Taking cues from these listings, Amazon featured Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 on their “Countdown to Black Friday” sale page the other day. By pre-ordering the game now, you can not only save money on the price but also enjoy all the exclusive freebies which are included when you buy Black Ops 2 or Halo 4 early. Don’t know which one to get? While both are FPS games, they are quite different from one another, and many gamers will enjoy playing both this season.

Video games are popular gifts during the holiday season since they can provide endless hours of entertainment over the next gaming season as well as forever after that. A game like Black Ops 2 includes a single player campaign, a multiplayer mode and an extensive Zombies mode. While the single player campaign provides finite entertainment (though with the branching storylines, more value than previous single player campaigns in COD games), the multiplayer and Zombies modes can produce endless varied game play indefinitely. Many gamers enjoy the FPS games they buy or receive as gifts many years down the road. So this holiday season, consider Black Ops 2 for the special gamer in your life!

Live action Call of Duty trailers with celebrity cameos are nothing new, so it was pretty much a given that there’d be one for Black Ops 2, which is coming out in just two weeks. The new trailer is called “Surprise,” and you can watch it below:

The trailer is directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Revolver), and has a number of well-known people in it, although interestingly enough no one can seem to identify anyone with certainty other than Robert Downey Jr., seen piloting a jet, and FPS Russia, seen using the same types of remote control drones which he hinted at in his own video on YouTube earlier this year. Am I the only person who thinks it’s hilarious that no one can reach a consensus on the obviously famous actors in the trailer? I used to think I was the only person in the world with this defect, but no one can reach a conclusion on whether, for example, the sniper at the beginning of the video is Jack Black or not. It’s also pretty funny that FPS Russia is now arguably more recognizable than far more famous people. His videos are pretty entertaining, though, and we’re used to seeing him in this context, so maybe that’s why.

The trailer doesn’t show off any gameplay, though it doesn’t really need to being as we’ve already seen a lot of that by this point. While Activision arguably didn’t need to spend this much money on their trailer, who can really blame them? It’s a pretty fun trailer, and it does show off the futuristic world which Treyarch has created.

In a recent interview, John Rafacz, director of communications at Treyarch, provided some more insight into the upcoming Black Ops 2, the newest installment in the Call of Duty series. During the interview, Rafacz discussed a variety of topics including the setting for the game in the year 2025, league play, and Strike Force missions, all of which will combine to help keep COD fresh and provide a better experience for all players, regardless of their skill levels.

Why did Treyarch decide to set the game in the near future? “The near-future setting is really that jumping off point,” explains Rafacz. “Because there’s this universe of fresh creativity that it brings up. In multiplayer it has some real-world applications. This is not laser beams and aliens stuff. It retains its plausibility, its authenticity, but at the same time it opens up a new world of gameplay.” Anyone reading this statement can see that what Treyarch was striving for was to find a balance between new and old. That idea of balance echoes throughout the changes which have been made to game mechanics and game play.

Rafacz also provided some more insight into how Strike Force missions will unfold. Strike Force missions have the distinction of being the first-ever single-player missions you can win or lose, resulting in far-reaching consequences as you play through the story. “At a couple of points throughout the campaign, the head of Special Ops will come to you and explain that there’s this flashpoint and that your services are requested. No matter who or what you play as, you’ll set waypoints and issue commands in order to achieve objectives. There’s definitely a tactical element to it. Also, if you play through the game and succeed at all of your Strike Force levels and I fail at all of mine, (totally likely, by the way) the geopolitical fiction that wraps the ending of your game will be different.”

Amusingly enough, Rafacz admits to not being the greatest COD player, but uses this to push another point that Treyarch has worked hard on, which is making the game welcoming to all players, whether they’re hardcore veterans or fresh green newbies. As Rafacz points out, winning and losing can be fun as long as you feel like you were adequately challenged, but “it’s never really fun to have someone wipe the floor with you. And do you know what? We would even argue that the guy that wipes the floor with people isn’t really having fun either.” In other words, it’s not the outcome of the multiplayer games which drives the experience, but the game play itself (it’s the journey more than the destination).

That’s why Treyarch came up with League Play, a system that will help to organize players according to their skill levels. So new players who don’t know what the heck they’re doing can play against other players who also don’t know what the heck they’re doing, instead of getting mowed over by veteran badasses. Likewise, hardcore gamers who are experts at COD won’t have to be bored to tears facing off against inferior opponents, but instead can fight with players who are equally skilled. Players will also be sorted according to their ping time so that technical issues are less likely to determine the outcomes of matches.