Black Ops 2 - Tips for gameplay and objective modes!

Howdy rushers and campers!

So we've all been playing Black Ops 2 until our little thumbs have been bleeding, but that's not where the pain is coming from right? The pain is coming from the god-awful teammates who fail to play the objective despite the markers and the announcements and your lovely, guiding words of encouragement coaxing them to 'B'. So I'm here with some tips on general gameplay and objective gamemodes for both you and er... them.

TEAM DEATHMATCH

• I know we all want to rush around the map with lightweight and akimbo weapons but until you know the maps like the back of your hand (and I know you don't want to hear this but..) camp when you need to for selective periods of time. The barrels and boxes are conveniently placed around maps so that you can swoop around a corner, clear the area, look over the box into the next open area, knock out whoever you can and go about your business. 
• As soon as you kill someone, flee the area. You may be running ghost but no silencer, you may be running silencer but no ghost, either way you are now visible on the map and the opposite team will be coming for you. You know how you react when you see the enemy on the UAV and run towards them? Yes, they're doing that to you.
• Be logical, don't run into open spaces, aim down sights if you need to, flank around the outsides of maps as you begin to learn them.
• Always shoot down enemy air support. Again, you know how you love friendly UAVS? So do they.

KILL CONFIRMED

• Unless you're getting the final 75th tag, do not run into the open unprotected to collect 1 tag. Here the enemy can 1) kill you and take your tag 2) tag the tag that you were running for and consequently get a confirm or deny.
• Use a tag as bait for the enemy team. If you're sitting pretty, head clip behind an object and knock off the enemies as they run desperately towards the tag sitting infront of your sights.

DOMINATION

• Don't be afraid to set shock charges and betties on a flag you need to protect. The objective is to maintain the possession of your flags by doing anything necessary.
• Always run towards B at first spawn, encourage your team mates to do so. Clear out any enemies by throwing your tac. and lethals as you run towards it.
• Sit and protect B if you need to. Again this isn't camping but protecting the objectives.
• Warn your teammates not to switch spawns so often, you'll lose valuable positioning and flag safety.

Black Ops 2 - Nuketown DLC Controversy

SO Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was released on the 13th of November, 2012 with the promise of the Nuketown DLC map with every launch copy of the game. For many gamers, this was the prime reason for pre-ordering copies (particularly the Hardened versions).

Of course many gamers were happy with their Nuketown DLC from the start, with the map being available on 24/7 rotation with different objective game modes. All was well and happy in Nuketown, Nevada until 6 days after release where the map and lobbies were REMOVED from rotation.

I give you, this image:

Well of course the very vocal COD community shot the messenger and tea-bagged his body until the situation was fixed... kind of. 

The replacement has been a 'bonus' lobby (which still pulls a huge amount of the user base, anywhere from 20,000 - 50,000) with multiple small, chaotic maps with varying objective game modes. Maps include 'slums', 'carrier' and well.. the maps are so unmemorable that I can't actually name the others despite 30 hours of game play up until this point.

New Black Ops Map Pack - Annihilation

Treyarch and Activision released the new video trailer for the latest DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops



In continuing with past releases, the DLC will include 4 multiplayer maps and 1 zombie map.

Multiplayer Maps:

• Drive-In
• Hazard
• Hangar 18
• Silo

Zombie map:

• Shangri-la

Further detail about each map:

Drive-In
Close quarters combat focus. The map does look pretty small, 4-5 buildings with facades similar to those of fast food outlets.

There seems to be some key vantage points here and great opportunities for call outs. As always, the playerbase is often split on the topic of small maps like Nuketown, where some enjoy the opportunity for fast-paced, close quarters combat and whereas some prefer large maps and the opportunity to 'hold an area down'.

Hazard
This seems to be a sniper map, as the video trailer describes it: 'Manicured fairways, cliff side coastal vistas and snipers hidden in the sand traps'. So according to the small blurb, this location is in fact a golf course intended for sniping and long-range gameplay.

Ah yes, LOTS of vantage points and quite a few lines of sight. Reminiscent of villa?

Silo
The blurb for this one is obscured in the trailer, the most legible text reads: 'Perfect for a super sized kill .. Add an extra helping of soviet'. Well, that helps doesn't it? Gameplay of the map itself shows a medium - large map, with even more vantage points and the use of snipers. It also appears as if the map is home to rockets hidden inside silo containers - can we expect another shaky, Launch style map?

So it looks like a large-ish, long-range combat based map? Big lines of sight and possibly some gattling guns?

Hangar-18
'A plate of experimental weapons, an SR-71, an autopsy room, with a side of mysterious black vans.' .. Interesting. On initial thought, I assumed the SR-71 would be some kind of mechanism where both teams or all players would be given the benefit of a blackbird for a short amount of time. When rationality kicked in, I realised that it was probably just the physical plane that would be inside of a hangar. Thanks, rationality. So this map appears to be some kind of government hangar.

This map actually looks incredibly interesting - but also reminds me of Stockpile (dammit). Seems like its going to be a lot of in-building warfare (close quarter combat). As you can see, the SR-71 is infact physically in the map, as are the autopsy rooms. I'm unsure of the size or 'type' of this map, but it looks like a medium sized battlefield.

Zombie Map:

Shangri-La

So, this looks interesting - the map is set in an 'Aztec' location with waterfalls and towering stairs leading to possible temples?

Looks like zombie monkies are set to return from ascension?

Also looks like some kind of trap-mechanism is available here? Although it seems to be automatically triggered, rather than something you buy and activate.

^ That'll be great for trains of zombies.

Set to make its return is also the quick revive (of course all the machines and dispensers will be returning for this map). Also being introduced are female zombies!

And some kind of water features/mechanisms? Will be involved. Presumably like the ice in 'Call of the Dead'.

The DLC map pack will first be available for Xbox 360, then released later for PS3 and PC. They'll probably follow suit and be priced at $15 US.

Well this all does look interesting, although I am not personally a fan of DLC. I skipped out on First Strike but did end up buying Escalation, only to be disappointed with the multiplayer maps and frustrated by George (and teammates that LOVE shooting him) in zombies. I'm not 'hard to please' by any means, but the multiplayer maps were in no comparison to the well-balanced stock maps available.

New Playstation 3 Console (PS3) Being Released

Yes, a new PS3 model is being released with a few incremental changes that improve upon the current Playstation Slim.

New features:

• Less power consumption. From 230 watts to 200 watts.
• Weight reduction. From 3 kgs to 2.6 kgs.  (400 grams.. really Sony?)
• Power and eject buttons no longer have any LED lights (not confirmed just yet)

So yes, they are rather small additions that have been made to the interior moreso than the exterior of the Playstation console. Unfortunately there will be no price drop for the console, but it is a great thing to see a large multinational corporation 'going green'.