Urgh, I'll tell you the problem with Bad Company 2. First up, Vietnam is a separate thing altogether, and as such, which do I play when I load the game up? I can't decide, so I just wind up playing neither. Also, I haven't played it for a few months and in the store they're up to VIP Map Pack 7, there's premium DLC there that adds more game modes, etc. What the hell am I supposed to download? Am I missing out by not buying the premium new game modes? What's new? What's old? Where were we up to the last time I played?

It's a big confusing mess. Things have been stuck on it from all angles. It's the Buckaroo of video games. Too stressful. I'll just play CODBLOPS until Battlefield 3 comes along.

tried deleting cache on xbox and re downloading about 6 or 7 times and still no work.

The second Call of Duty Black Ops map pack reveal has been leaked a bit early thanks to a retailer error.

According to VG247, Australian retailer GAME outed the second pack - called Escalation - which is due out on May 3 first on Xbox Live. Escalation includes five maps total: Zoo, Hotel, Convoy, Stockpile, and the zombie map Survive.

A price has not been revealed, but the last map pack - First Strike - launched at 1200 Microsoft Points. IGN has contacted Activision for confirmation.

You must have got the first map pack to work by now. You could have coded the bloody thing in all the time you've taken.

Ask Riles to buy it for you. He's so rich he doesn't even walk anywhere any more.

I need someone to send/email the file so I can put it on a usb stick and into my xbox.

"It's too real and too much like the Columbine tragedy," says one concerned parent regarding a video shot at Rocklin High School in California depicting students pretending to play Call of Duty with imaginary weapons. Oh come on, really?

There are no guns in the YouTube video "COD Black Ops JamT productions", which features students participating in a pretend game of Call of Duty on their high school campus. There are no weapons whatsoever. Guns and knives are pantomimed, special effects (not including blood) are added in post. The only real violence is the throwing of a chair in anger, which is quickly followed up by a hug.

It's the modern day equivalent of playing cowboys and indians out in the woods with your pals, and parents are comparing it to 1999's Columbine Massacre, in which two students at Columbine High School in Colorado killed 12 students and a teacher before turning their weapons on themselves.

I could understand outrage if the students that crafted this video had been running around with realistic weapons. I could understand people being upset if the special effects included copious amounts of blood. This is just play. It's fun. Kids are supposed to be doing this.

Aren't they?

Check out the full report at Sacramento's ABC News 10.

Here's our first look at Call of Duty: Black Ops' Escalation map pack, due out next month for the Xbox 360 and some later time for the PC and PS3.

The map pack will run you 1200 Microsoft points ($15) like the first map pack.

This video walks us through what to expect from this latest downloadable content for the game. Here's a quick rundown:

"With every map pack that we add to the game it is very important to us that we provide a lot of variety to players," said Dan Bunting, Online Director at Treyarch

Zoo takes place in an abandoned Soviet zoo. The map includes a monorail track that you can get up onto and use to walk most of map. The rail also sounds like a great sniping position.

Hotel was inspired by the vistas of Havana. There are a lot of flank paths and places to hide, the Treyarch folks say. A second floor can be accessed only by a set of elevators which sounds like a neat chokepoint to the sniping positions.

Convoy is retro America. The map is built around the premise that a United States convoy was hit by a Soviet ambush. Part of the level includes a damaged road that gives you access to a bit of underground.

Stockpile takes place in a suburban village in Russia that is also home to a stockpile of weapons. The middle of the village has an operational garage which Treyarch says is the key to the map. You can open and close the doors and then use the position to hold the entire map.

While it looks like these maps offer a nice range of settings and close combat and sniping positions, I'm a little bummed that they're not providing as many twists as the First Strike map pack.

Treyarch is also keeping the details of the single zombie map addition hush hush. We know the new map will be called Call of the Dead and the quick glimpse you catch of it in the opening of the video seems to show a lighthouse and perhaps a frozen ship.

More details are bound to drop as we approach the May 3 launch of this latest expansion pack.

I hope it's worth it. I've got bored of COD this time round, it just hasn't held my interest like the MW's before it for some reason.

And I'm still pissed off at the lack of (decent) titles and emblems that got me playing so much with MW2.

Shame there's no animals

Black Ops drafts George Romero, Sarah Michelle Gellar for DLC
by Steve Watts, Apr 26, 2011 3:30pm PDT

Call of Duty: Black Ops is getting an injection of celebrity with its next bit of downloadable content. The "Call of the Dead" mission -- part of the upcoming Escalation DLC -- is conscripting a few horror and action alums to be all they can be.

Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead), and Danny Trejo (Machete) will play roles in the zombie mode. In a bit of meta casting, zombie movie godfather George A. Romero will play himself in the level.

"This is Treyarch's tribute to the legendary George Romero, who truly defined the zombie genre and whose incredible work has been such an inspiration to our team," said game director Dave Anthony in the press release. "It was an absolute honor to work with such an amazing and talented cast whose passion and energy brought their characters instantly to life. Fans are going to love this."

In addition to the Call of the Dead level, Escalation will feature four new competitive multiplayer maps: Zoo, Hotel, Convoy, and Stockpile. It's set for a May 3 release on Xbox Live, with the PlayStation 3 and PC releases following sometime later.

It'd be amazing if the whole "going zombie" thing weren't so tired now.

Come on Zaphod, you've normally downloaded by now, tell us about it.

Alternatively, Nickachu, have you sorted this yet?

The road to prestige is paved with the bodies of millions of noobs. However, you can halve that number this weekend to get that arbitrary icon you're after -- a double XP weekend for Call of Duty: Black Ops is in full effect right now.

Players on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC have access to the additional experience until 8AM PST/11AM EST on Monday, March 7, at which point planting a tomahawk in some chump's back will lose just a bit of its luster.

Players on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC have access to the additional experience until 8AM PST/11AM EST on Monday, March 7, at which point planting a tomahawk in some chump's back will lose just a bit of its luster.

Is that a typo, or old news?
Also, lose lustre?

Sorry

This offer is not valid in your region, or it has expired.

can't buy:

No, never had any issues before. :? Tried again, and still nothing.

New maps are fucking awesome, HUGE Nick and Andy should come play*.


*may not havd#e played new mapst that much due to lack of HC mode.