Call of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer Teaser Trailer

Treyarch, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, has released their multiplayer teaser for the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops. At first it too familiar but the trailer lets on more than you’d expect. New weapons, killstreaks, and a video editor allows for editing and sharing of replays and moreso, epic gameplay montages. The folks at Treyarch seem to be ramping up the insanity factor in Black Ops with mobile surveillance cameras, exploding RC cars, dual wielding ballistic knives, and even a crossbow, a la Gears of War Torque Bow, that detonates upon impact. … Continue Reading

Call of Duty: Black Ops Announced

World at War developer Treyarch has announced that the newest entry in the Call of Duty franchise is titled Black Ops and will be released on November 9, 2010, ahead of its revelation on GameTrailers TV tonight.

While the announcement gives no details on the game, speculation of Treyarch’s next Call of Duty title would take place in the Vietnam War era. Expect for a simultaneous launch on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC platforms given the series history.

According to Game.co.uk, Black Ops will see the birth of the Elite Special Forces and will engage in off-the-record missions using unconventional weaponry. Locales include Cuba, the Arctic, and the jungles of Vietnam.

Treyarch’s Call of Duty To Premiere on Gametrailers TV Friday

The next iteration of the Call of Duty series will be developed by Treyarch and is set in stone to be revealed this Friday, April 30 on Spike TV’s GameTrailers TV which premieres 12:40 AM EST.

Despite the ongoing legality between Activision and former members of Infinity Ward, Treyarch’s game is unaffected and will be due for release this fall.

Speculation and prior evidence points the game taking place during the Vietnam war era but no other details are known at this point.

Bungie Signs 10-Year Publishing Deal with Activision

Halo developer Bungie has announced today that it has signed into a ten year publishing deal with Activision to bring the “next big action game universe to market.”

Activision has secured exclusive rights to publish and distribute worldwide for all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property, although Bungie will be allowed to keep its independence and retain complete control over its intellectual property.

The new game will be available for all platforms, as to which publisher Sony has stated CVG that “marrying their creative minds and incredible talent to the power of PS3 will be like giving PS3 fans Halo on steroids.” It remarks Bungie’s departure of exclusivity from Microsoft for a long while. Readers interested in what this means for the future of Bungie can check out their open letter to the community. Nevertheless, Industry Gamers points out that the announcement of Activision-Bungie’s parnership effectively ends the Bungie made Halo series. For Halo fans, it has to be a somber day given the uncertainity over how Microsoft will carry the fruitful IP after the release of Halo: Reach.

Giant Bomb brought to light the unfortunate circumstances that plague Activision considering the terms of the deal has to resonate ironically with the former heads of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella who have gone on to form Respawn Entertainment and partnered with former employer Electronic Arts. G4TV’s Patrick Klepeck has been keeping up-to-date with the developing situation and should definitely be read up on. Again, the irony seems to all demonstrate the terms that West and Zampella were looking for with the Call of Duty series.

Activision Announces Future Call of Duty Plans

Following the rumored allegations of “insubordination” and “breaches of conduct” by the departing co-founders of Infinity Ward, Activison has announced its plans for the future of the Call of Duty franchise.

From what’s already known, this year’s Call of Duty is being helmed by Call of Duty 3 and World at War veterans, Treyarch and not to much surprise, 2011 will also see the release of another Call of Duty video game. However, the series will be extending into the “action-adventure” genre that is being crafted by the newly formed Sledgehammer Games – headed by ex-Visceral developers Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey – that is also expected for release in 2011. … Continue Reading

Activison Sacks Two Key Employees at Infinity Ward

Story first broken by G4′s Patrick Klepek, two key employees from Infinity Ward in an unseemingly bizzare turn of events. Evidence is reported by an SEC Filing by publisher Activision today regarding a human resources investigation into “breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward.”

One of these employees includes Infinity Ward’s CTO Jason West and the other rumored to be Vince Zampella. Infinity Ward Community Manager Robert Bowling has vaguely addressed the issue on his Twitter account by stating that he has “no info” on the matter at this time. … Continue Reading

NewsVine – 19th January 2010

Sorry about the lack of NewsVine yesterday, during the time I had free I couldn’t access the site for some unknown reason. But today, no such problem so here’s the day today in the world of gaming.

Red Steel 2 Scheduled for March 23 Release

Ubisoft has stealthly dated Red Steel 2 for March 23, according to the publisher’s site. We’re hoping they’ve got all the kinks worked out with the extra delay time for its release.

Dishwasher Dev Announces Charlie Murder for XBL Indie Games

From the maker of The Dishwasher and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1 comes another ingenious creation. Check out the Facebook page for a look at the characters and the gameplay which looks to be an arcade beat-em-up with punk rockers and zombies. The developer says there will be a good chance the game will be in attendance for PAX East and is currently scheduled for a March 2010 release. … Continue Reading

‘The Appetizer’ – Modern Warfare 2 (singleplayer)

The MonsterVine staff converge for this year’s biggest game, Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Will, Marcos, and Craig discuss selected missions from the singleplayer component of the game. We tackle the ‘Cliffhanger’ mission in an attempt to pick up the storyline from the previous Modern Warfare. In addition, we talk about the highly controversial ‘No Russian’ mission with a tone of gravitas. … Continue Reading