A new video showing 8 full minutes of Black Ops 2 multiplayer gameplay has been posted over at IGN.  The video gives us a long, in-depth look at the multiplayer features of the game and also comes with commentary by Anthony Gallegos and Bobby Amos Jr., both writers for IGN.  This shows off the sportcasting feature a bit, and also helps address some of the changes in Black Ops 2, especially the replacement of killstreaks with scorestreaks and how that’s going to impact gameplay as a whole.

The two IGN writers also take on the naysayers of the Call of Duty series, who accuse Infinity Ward and Treyarch of doing the same thing over and over again.  The multiplayer video helps to highlight some of the big changes which Treyarch has made with Black Ops 2, creating a balance of consistency and innovation.  The naysayers will always be there, though a lot of them are probably going to have to rethink some of their criticism.  Black Ops 2 is coming out on the 13^th of November, but is already available for pre-order.  The Hardened Edition is still up for sale, but the Care Package Prestige Edition has sold out.  Gamers who pre-order get to enjoy a lot of bonuses, including the Nuketown 2025 map.  Check out the new video on IGN for yet another look at Black Ops 2.

Treyarch recently posted a cool video online of a “zombie hallway” which they’ve built in their office by refurbishing one of their standard corporate hallways.  With the low lighting, fake blood smeared on the tiled floor, and other fun effects, the hallways now looks like a hallway out of the zombie-infested post-apocalyptic world of Tranzit.  While you’re unlikely ever to get a chance to visit the Zombie Hallway in person, you can check out the video on YouTube.

Black Ops 2 will include not one, but three zombie modes.  One will be a pretty standard single-map setting where players go up against the walking dead.  The second type will face two teams off against each other, using the zombies as walking weapons.  The third mode is Tranzit, an immense open world setting which players can explore and fight their way through in any fashion they choose.  Tranzit will implement a crafting system that allows users to piece together makeshift weapons out of supplies they find lying around, and will include a bus which can be used as transportation.  Black Ops 2 comes out on November 13^th.  Pre-order the Hardened Edition and you’ll receive the Nuketown Zombies map as a free bonus along with lots of other goodies.

Black Ops 2 will be coming out on November 13th of this year. For a long time the Black Ops 2 release date was a complete mystery, but the first hint was when the word “Eclipse” started to appear on Black Ops 2 promotional materials. November 13th will be the date of a solar eclipse and will also be not long after the presidential election. We’re pretty sure that as important as that may be, Black Ops 2 will eclipse the event for a lot of gamers who are following Black Ops 2 news just as closely as they are following news of current events. In the gaming world, this is going to likely be the biggest release of the year. Just look at the Call of Duty sales track record for the past few years and you’ll see how explosive this series has become.

Considering how many copies this game is going to sell on release day (not to mention how many copies have already been sold), the last thing you’re going to want to do is wait to buy the game once it comes out. That day you’re going to be lucky to find a copy on the stands at all. Even if you do manage to snag a copy of the game, you’ll probably do so only after you’ve waited in line for most of the day—while your friends who bought their copy in advance will be playing the game instead.

Why is Black Ops 2 going to be such a hugely popular game? Check out our Black Ops 2 news to learn some of the reasons that gamers are expecting this to be the best Call of Duty game to date. This game is going to blow previous installments out of the water, which is really saying something in light of how great COD has been all these years.

Don’t want to let your friends get the advantage on you while you wait in line for a game that will probably sell out by the time you get to the head of the line? We didn’t think so. If you buy Black Ops 2 early, you will definitely receive your copy on time the day the game is released. It’s convenient too since it’ll be delivered directly to your mailbox or your door. And then you can start playing right away, and also enjoying all the fun bonuses which come with a pre-ordered copy of the game like the Nuketown 2025 map.

Of course, you need to know where to pre-order Black Ops 2 before you can enjoy all those benefits. You can pre-order the game through a number of retailers right now, but we recommend you simply click the link below to pre-order the game. This is the easiest and fastest way to guarantee you’ll receive the next COD game on November 13th, and that you’ll get the Nuketown 2025 map and all the most exciting pre-order bonuses for Black Ops 2.

If you’re looking for something new and free to play while you’re waiting for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 to come out on November 13th, consider playing Offensive Combat. Offensive Combat is a free game developed by veteran developers of the Call of Duty franchise from both Activision and Treyarch, under the label U4iA Games. Offensive Combat can be played on either PC or Mac.

“Our team has taken our dozens of years of experience designing wildly popular multiplayer, action and adventure games, and created an energized, eSport-tuned FPS experience brought directly to gamers, their browser, wherever they are. To us, that’s the future of gaming,” stated Dusty Welch, co-founder and CEO of U4iA Games.

It’s not the most advanced game in the world graphically (it’s rather cartoony), but it doesn’t look bad. There are six maps right now, as well as customizable characters and pretty awesome weapons. It definitely has a leg up over most other free FPS games we’ve seen online. So if you’re looking for a break from some of the COD maps you’ve played a hundred times and you still want something which is developed by some of the same great talent, you might try out Offensive Combat. The game is in an early beta phase, so you may or may not be able to get a pass right now, but it should be open to more players soon.

And don’t forget to set your sights on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, coming out on November 13th. While the wait may seem interminable, it’s coming to a close quickly, and that means you’re running out of time to pre-order. There are still some copies of the Hardened Edition left, but probably not for long.

If you’re thinking about pre-ordering Black Ops 2, you probably want to be up to date on what to expect from the game first. Black Ops 2 is the next installment in the Call of Duty first-person shooter franchise. It follows up last year’s Modern Warfare III and the previous Black Ops game. While last year’s COD game was contributed by Infinity Ward, this game is being developed by Treyarch Studios. If you played the original Black Ops game, you probably remember it as the most inventive of all the Call of Duty games. That inventiveness received praise from gamers and critics alike, which is why Black Ops 2 will take that innovation to new heights.

Here’s the low-down on what we know so far. Black Ops 2 is going to take place in the year 2025—that’s right, the future! It will be the first Call of Duty game ever to take us to the future, though it will also include playable levels set in the 1980s. The game is going to incorporate existing technologies and prototypes for near-future technologies and give us a whole new experience of modern warfare. As a near-future game, you’ll recognize a lot of elements of modern combat on the virtual battlefield, but the game is also going to be throwing us a lot of unexpected curveballs.

We already know there’s going to be robotic drones, guns that can shoot through cement, dogfighting in the skies, and more. The gun that can shoot through cement can also include a scope that allows you to see through walls. Even though a lot of these elements are clearly brand new, the atmosphere of the game seems like it’s going to be very consistent with past games judging from the Black Ops 2 trailer.

The Black Ops 2 single-player mode has been getting a lot of press. It’s going to include Strike Force campaign modes which can end many different ways. The consequences for your victories or defeats will echo throughout the rest of the campaign, leading to branching storylines and different endings. We still don’t know a whole lot about multiplayer mode yet, but we do know that one of the Black Ops 2 pre-order bonuses is going to be the Nuketown 2025 map, a revival and update of the original fan favorite from the first Black Ops game. We also know the zombies are making a comeback, that the “Dark Knight” writer is helping to create the game’s new villain, and that Trent Reznor of NIN fame will be working on the soundtrack.

All in all this is shaping up to be one of the most exciting games of the year, just from what we’ve heard. There is going to be a ton of news between now and November, but just because the game isn’t coming out for a while, that doesn’t mean you should wait to buy your copy of Black Ops 2. If you choose to pre-order now, you will get more value for your money and qualify for cool bonuses like the Nuketown map. You’ll also guarantee that you’ll receive a copy of the game on November 13th and not a day later.

The Battlefield series is a major competitor for Call of Duty, but with Black Ops 2, Treyarch has taken a few cues from the rival game. Smooth gameplay and well-integrated team play are both areas where Battlefield has always stood out to fans. Gamers who enjoy these aspects of Battlefield will be pleased to know that Battlefield’s gameplay had a major impact on the way the Treyarch design team modified Black Ops 2’s multiplayer mode.

“The Battlefield series is really well put together,” said David Vonderhaar, Treyarch game designer. “There’s all sorts of great influence to draw from how they use their visual treatments and encourage teamplay. There’s a League of Legends influence in Black Ops II, a Quake 1 influence… Halo had a theatre mode and we created CoD’s version of it – of course there’s influence from other games.”

It’s cool to hear that the design team also referenced some old games while working on Black Ops 2. Quake 1 was forever ago, but it was a great game. While games have become more complex in the intervening years, old games like Quake still have their share of fans because there were things they did very well.

It’s great that Treyarch is reaching for influences from the past and from competing titles to craft something even more awesome in the present. A lot of gamers and critics cite the move to the year 2025 as the big change in Call of Duty this year, but if you think about it, that’s just the surface change. The real depth is going to come into play with all the changes in game mechanics. Black Ops 2 will unite the best in current technology with the best in game design, and that’s the formula for a top-notch product.

Information has recently been posted on the official Black Ops 2 website detailing the features of the PC version of the game. Topics covered include servers, cheating, and mod tools. Anti-cheat technology will bring the most advanced banning capabilities ever used in any Call of Duty game to try and ensure fairness on the multiplayer game. An entire staff of full-time cheat detectors and banners will be employed to bring a human angle to resolving the cheating problem, and bans will be permanent.

Matchmaking and ranked dedicated servers will be included with the PC version of the game, so gamers playing on PCs will be able to participate in Public Matches and League Play and fight against opponents of comparable skill level. Server files will not be released to the public, and unfortunately server renting will not be offered, but the team promises that there will be a huge number of servers around the globe offering high-speed connections. Mod tools sadly will not be provided either, owing apparently to “increased technical requirements, licensing restrictions, and technology dependencies.”

So there are a few annoyances and disappointments there, but it all comes down to how it plays out. While it’s annoying that we won’t be able to rent servers, hopefully the servers that are provided will be more than sufficient (which they haven’t always been in the past). It’s great that the developers are taking such a strong stance against cheaters though, and that they’re going to employ full time workers to crack down on them.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be released on November 13th. It’s been a long, slow wait, but we’ll be playing the game before we know it—and hopefully starting to hear some rumors of Modern Warfare 4. There’s still nothing on that front, but it can only be a question of time. It’ll be interesting to see how Infinity Ward follows up on all the innovation which Treyarch has done on the series this year.