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All Articles: Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Call of Duty: Black Ops II nukes the competition in November 2012 NPD report
Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Halo 4 set records in November 2012. The Wii U also opened strong with sales of over 400,000 consoles. And the Christmas rush resulted in big numbers for new releases like Assassin’s Creed III, Just Dance 4, and Need For Speed: Most Wanted. But that still didn’t stop The NPD Group from reporting that retail game sales dropped 11% from November 2011.
“Despite an overall retail video game decline of 11 percent, November had the smallest year-over-year decrease we have seen for dollar and unit sales so far this year. This is a sign of momentum going into the December holiday period,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
You can view the complete top ten from last month after the break, and remember, despite what The NPD Group says, the console game market is still in good shape. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, FIFA Soccer 13, Halo 4, Just Dance 4, Madden NFL 13, NBA 2K13, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, NPD, Skylanders Giants, WWE '13
CoD Black Ops II has made a lot of money since its release
Activision is in full-on brag mode when it comes to Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The publisher previously reported that the shooter sequel set a sales record for single day sales. Now they’ve happily informed the world that Black Ops II has made more than $1 billion in sales in its first 15 days of release.
For the record, that’s one day quicker than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Of course, that’s likely due to the fact that the Black Ops II “Care Package” sold for $180 while Modern Warfare 3’s “Hardened Edition” was priced at a much more modest $100.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick used this announcement to continue to talk up Call of Duty’s dominance versus films like Star Wars, Avatar and Harry Potter. But that kind of comparison is really just ridiculous, as we saw last year.
New Releases: Wii U, Hitman Absolution, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, More
The Wii U is finally here! If you managed to pre-order one, you’re likely playing it right now. And you also probably know that 29 games will be available on day one including New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land, ZombiU, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Assassin’s Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Mass Effect 3. Wow.
In non-Wii U release news, Square Enix will release Hitman: Absolution, the first game in the series in over six years, for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
Also available this week is Sony’s PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale (PS3, Vita), Activision’s Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), and Sega’s Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (PS3, Vita, Xbox 360, Wii U).
Disney Interactive and game development legend Warren Spector have teamed up again to bring a second Epic Mickey title to stores. Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360) is available today, along with its 3DS spinoff, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.
Finally, Atlus plans to release Persona 4: Golden for the Vita this week.
Looking for more new releases? You can find them after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Epic Mickey 2, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse, Hitman: Absolution, Mass Effect 3, New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land, PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, ZombiU
Call of Duty: Black Ops II sets single-day sales record
For the fourth year in a row, a new Call of Duty game has set some kind of sales record. This year, Activision is proud to announce that Call of Duty: Black Ops II has set the new standard for the first day sales of an “entertanment launch.”
According to Activision’s internal estimates and retail costumer information, Call of Duty: Black Ops II earned more than $500 million in worldwide sales on Tuesday, November 13. At $60 a game, that averages out to over 8.25 million copies sold. This bests the previous one day sales record, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which scored $400 million in worldwide day one sales last year.
The previous holder of the “biggest game launch of 2012” title only managed to hold the record for seven days. Halo 4 debuted to $220 million in worldwide sales on November 6 and would go on to add an additional $80 million throughout its first week of availability. But all those statistics are only good for second place now.
While Black Ops II may have made the most money for an “entertainment launch” in a single day, it failed to reach as many people as 2011’s most popular movie. In North America alone, over 11 million tickets to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 were sold on July 15, 2011, giving it a one-day box office total of $91 million and an edge of three million people over Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
New Releases: CoD Black Ops II, Lego Lord of the Rings, Paper Mario Sticker Star, More
It’s the second week of November and that means that Activision is finally ready to release Call of Duty: Black Ops II for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. A Vita-exclusive spinoff, Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, will also be available in stores this week.
If the future warfare of the biggest first person shooter series on the planet doesn’t sway you, there are plenty of other family-friendly options this week including Lego Lord of the Rings (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360), Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS), Scribblenauts Unlimited (3DS), and Wonderbook: Book of Spells (PS3).
And if you’re looking for something as far removed from Call of Duty as possible, might I suggest the Midway Arcade Origins compilation for the PS3 and Xbox 360. It contains over 30 games, including classics such as Rampage, Joust, and Smash TV, which was cruelly pulled from the Xbox Live Arcade a few years back and is now available on HD systems once again.
Even more new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Surprise! Robert Downey Jr. is the star of the CoD Black Ops II live-action trailer
Let’s see…
Appearance by Robert Downey Jr.? Check.
AC/DC’s “Back in Black” on the soundtrack? Check.
Tongue-in-cheek mayhem? Check.
Activision, and director Guy Ritchie, probably weren’t intentionally trying to link “Surprise,” the new live-action trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, to Downey’s Iron Man/Avengers character, but they certainly got the tone right. And what tone is that? Why, pure awesomeness, of course. So be sure to check out “Surprise” above.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 13. A Wii U release will follow five days later on November 18.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II launch trailer released a month early
Call of Duty: Black Ops II has an awesome launch trailer, and even though the game’s launch is still a month away, we can check it out now. I’m not big on the Call of Duty series, but I was hopelessly addicted to the first Black Ops, and with the pre-order bonus of the Nuketown 2525 map, I’m worried I’m going to cave and get it. Well… maybe I’ll just watch the trailer again.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 13, 2012 with a Wii U version arriving a few days later.
CoD Elite goes free for all; CoD Black Ops II getting Season Pass
As the old saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch. So it was surprising that Activision, a company very much concerned with the bottom line, has announced that the Call of Duty Elite service for Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be free. FREE!
Essentially, the new service is retooling the already available free Elite service, to answer the growing concerns that players who had the Elite package and players who didn’t were unable to play together. As Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg stated, “What we have realized is that several of the Call of Duty Elite services which are currently only available to our premium members for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are things that would further unite, engage and delight our player community. So we are going to make them free for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.”
These features include Player HQ stat tracking, Clan HQ, Zombies stat tracking, Call of Duty Elite TV, and Social Sharing and Notifications.
For this the company should be commended; they have effectively flattened the multiplayer field and granted everyone the same service with a purchase of the game, yet the new announcement is rather misleading. The main selling point of Elite was the free DLC packs Activision gave subscribers. With the new CoD Elite, DLC packs have become separate purchases again, priced at $15 each. Four packs will be released and CoD players can pre-purchase them as a Season Pass for $49.99, a savings of $10. Naturally, all DLC packs for CoD Black Ops II will be available on the Xbox 360 first with PC and PS3 players getting them later.
Activision also stated on their website that they are working with Nintendo on making the DLC and Season Pass available on the Wii U version of Call of Duty: Black Ops II as well.