We’re now just days away from the big zombies reveal on September 26th for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The next installment in the series is coming out on November 13th, which means we now have less than two months of waiting left! Let’s take a closer look at the multiplayer mode of the new game, which Treyarch studio boss Mark Lamia calls “the lifeblood o the franchise.”

As Lamia points out, the single-player campaign mode is something that many players will finish in a matter of hours, and while they may go back and play it again (especially now that there are branching storylines), the multiplayer mode is played by numerous combatants online 365 days a year worldwide. While the COD multiplayer mode has always been popular and the main focus for fans, Treyarch was convinced that they could do an even better job this year with Black Ops 2.

“Black Ops did everything we wanted it to do,” explained Lamia. “But one of the things that it didn’t do is look at the gameplay and say: ‘Hey, let’s significantly innovate upon some of these core systems.’” In other words, the previous Treyarch contribution introduced new maps and customization within the existing framework, but Black Ops 2 includes an overhaul of that framework. Changes this big haven’t come into play since Call of Duty 4. So if you’ve been getting excited about Black Ops 2 but you had a beef with the way things worked before, chances are you’ll be impressed with the new game. The studio has really gone above and beyond the call (pun intended) to ensure more fairness in gameplay and to introduce new, exciting features like sports casting while removing old, unpopular features such as deathstreaks.

We have less than two months to go before Black Ops 2 is released on November 13th. That means less than two months left to pre-order the game. The Care Package Prestige Edition with the remote control UAV and the awesome care package replica container has already sold out, and the Hardened Edition is also going fast. It’s a limited edition just like the Care Package, so if you don’t get your order in soon, you might be left out in the cold.

What do you get if you jump in there and pre-order the Black Ops 2 Hardened Edition? You’ll get a limited edition steelbook case, 2 Player Card Backgrounds, Weapon Camo, and challenge coins that double as digital download tokens for exclusive DLC. Xbox players will get an exclusive Xbox LIVE Avatar Prop and the Xbox LIVE Zombies Avatar Costume. Playstation gamers will get a dynamic multiplayer theme of the turbine map and a dynamic zombies theme. You’ll also be getting the Nuketown Zombies map. Be sure to check in on September 26th (just a couple days from now) for the big zombies reveal.

Regardless of which edition you pre-order, you’ll be receiving the Nuketown 2025 map for free. This is true even if you just get the standard edition. Otherwise you’ll probably end up having to pay extra for the map once it becomes available as DLC. Buy Black Ops 2 now; pre-ordering saves you money, gets you some exciting freebies, and ensures you get your copy on November 13th and not a day later!

There was a lot of talk from Call of Duty critics that the Black Ops 2 Care Package (Prestige Edition) was just too expensive for a video game, but considering that it’s already sold out, it seems that fans have spoken otherwise! The Care Package comes in a special edition care package replica container like the ones in the game. Inside is the game itself, all the goodies included in the Hardened Edition, and a real life remote control UAV designed after the drones in the game.

Even though the Care Package has sold out, you still have a chance to purchase the Hardened Edition, which comes with all sorts of great freebies including exclusive DLC and a Nuketown Zombies map. The Hardened Edition isn’t that much more expensive than the standard edition, and it’s also going to sell out fast. So if you’re planning on ordering it, you probably want to do so quickly since you’re running out of time. Otherwise, don’t forget to pre-order the standard edition sometime between now and November 13th. On release day, you want to be playing through the campaign, not standing in line. Plus, you’ll get a copy of the Nuketown 2025 map as a bonus for pre-ordering, no matter where you choose to buy your copy of Black Ops 2. Order from Amazon and you’ll receive store credit as an additional bonus.

Recently Treyarch game designer David Vonderhaar stated that certain changes in the prestige mode in Black Ops 2 are not bugs. “Weapon levels are given after unlocking a gun that was leveled up on a past level progression,” was reported to him as a bug by a tester. In response he stated, “That’s what we call NAB. Not a bug. If you Prestige and unlock the gun, you’ll pick up right where you left off. If something has been a certain way a long time, the assumption when it doesn’t work the way it has in the past is that it is a bug.” In other words, the changes to the Prestige mode are intentional. Player weapons will no longer be reset on entering Prestige mode.

While this past news has been somewhat sparse where Black Ops 2 news is concerned, check out the new trailer for the zombies mode. It’s not a full-length trailer, but instead a teaser of a reveal scheduled to come out on September 26th. And be sure to check back here when that day rolls around, because we’re going to have a lot to report.

Yesterday Activision put out a trailer for a trailer—a very brief Black Ops 2 zombies trailer which promises a worldwide reveal in just a few days. While we’re waiting for the big reveal on September 26th, we went back and took a closer look at the trailer. We were complaining the other day about how unrevealing it is, but if we analyze it we can extract a fair amount of hypothetical information from it. In a few days we can find out how much of it we’re right about. Here’s what we found that was of interest.

Firstly, let’s look at the obvious. The zombies are wearing hospital gowns. It seems like this would point toward a hospital as a possible map setting. One wonders if it might also have some kind of plot relevance. We were told we’d learn something about the origins of the zombies in the Call of Duty universe in this installment. Could it be that the origins of the zombies have something to do with a medical setting? Perhaps some kind of disease is involved, or some kind of experimental treatment gone wrong. We also notice that some of the zombies have glowing blue eyes. This seems like an unusual new detail. It could be merely aesthetic, but it may be meaningful. Perhaps that also has something to do with how the zombies came to exist.

Let’s also consider the bus. The bus may also be merely aesthetic, or it may have something to do with the game that is highly specific. Perhaps it’s part of a map. There is a zombie that is ripping away a wooden barricade from the bus window at one point, which seems to imply that perhaps there is a map where it’s up to the human players to defend the bus. The zombies are also welcomed on board the bus. Does this imply that the driver is a zombie? Or did the bus welcome the zombies? Is the bus robotic?

Finally, the license plate of the bus is unusual. The plate reads “XP 79.” The XP 79 was apparently a defunct design for a “flying wing”-style aircraft by Northrop. While the design was made a long time ago, aspects of the game do take place in the past—moreover, it’s possible that the future setting of the game contains some kind of XP-79 reboot and upgrade, a futuristic version of the old design. Right at the beginning of the trailer a plane flies overhead. Perhaps this is also connected to the XP-79.

So there you have it—a lot of questions generated by the trailer, far more questions than answers. A lot of people don’t seem to realize the trailer even generated questions though, so in a way it’s more informative than it might seem at first glance. These are all possibilities for the zombies mode which are of interest. On September 26th, maybe we’ll get some confirmations on some of these ideas.

What we do know about the zombies mode is that there are going to be up to 8 players per team, not just 4 like it was in the past. A temporary listing on Amazon mentioned a zombies campaign mode, but that listing has since been taken down; no information has been provided as to its veracity. There’s also going to be a remake of the Nuketown map that features the zombies; this map will be available as part of your purchase if you choose to buy the Hardened, Digital Deluxe, or Care Package edition of the game. All three are available now for pre-order and come with tons of other goodies, and they’re all limited editions, so don’t wait too long. November 13th is less than two months away!

As if the news that Treyarch is bringing back the Nuketown map in a new, futuristic Nuketown 2025 version weren’t exciting enough, we now know that Nuketown will be the site of a zombie invasion. The news that the zombies are coming back is old, but previously we were unaware that there was a connection between the zombies and the fan favourite Nuketown map. Now however Treyarch has released an image which displays a sign reading “Welcome to Nuketown.” The sign is smeared in blood and the word “ZOMBIES” has been added in blood as well.

The Nuketown map is based on the testing sites in the Nevada desert where the US military conducted nuke tests on fake towns they had constructed out of props. Treyarch has indicated that we’re going to learn more about the origin of the zombies in Black Ops 2 and how they fit into the Call of Duty universe, so perhaps the testing at Nuketown has something to do with it.

The Nuketown 2025 map is only available to gamers who pre-order Black Ops 2 before its release date on November 13th. Also in pre-order news, Gamestop’s third wave of pre-order bonus promotions was recently announced. The bonuses include either a Quadrotor Xbox LIVE Avatr prop or the Aftermath Dynamic Theme for PS3 gamers. Gamers may also choose instead to enter into the Treyarch VIP Experience Sweepstakes or a contest to win the Turtle Beach Ear Force X-Ray Gaming Headset. The VIP Experience Sweepstakes is an opportunity to win a tour of Treyarch Studios and play a multiplayer session of COD with the developers.

No matter what outlet you decide to get the game from, the map is included as a multiplayer bonus. Don’t get left out of all the fun—the Nuketown 2025 map is probably going to be one of the most exciting parts of the new game, so pre-order soon!

Update: Activision just dropped the news on the Hardened, Care Package, and Digital Deluxe Editions of Black Ops 2, and it looks like there are two versions of the Nuketown map! One version is called the “Nuketown 2025 Bonus Map,” while the other is called the “Nuketown Zombies Bonus Map.” The 2025 map is described as a retro-futurist re-imagining of the classic Nuketown map, while the Zombies map is of course a zombie invasion in Nuketown—the original Nuketown presumably. So it’s double the excitement!