Just a few hours until the Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer event kicks off but before that some multiplayer info has crawled out from nowhere.
We're just a few hours away from the full multiplayer reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops but who said we had to wait that long to get some information? The latest edition of Shortlist magazine ยป has just gone live and Black Ops multiplayer was featured.
It appears that they are the first magazine to go inside Treyarch studios and to preview the multiplayer portion of the game. It's not clear if this is "leaked" information and if they breached their NDA or embargo and some may say that it's "fake", but judging from the new screenshots and the professionalism of the magazine, it looks very real.
In the magazine they interview lead multiplayer designer David "Vahn" Vonderhaar. He began by talking about how a lot of inspiration went into the game and that Major Josh Plaster (SOG group member) influenced a lot of additions. The SOG created a lot of their own equipment which includes a "Nightingale" device, this device consists of a bunch of firecrackers bundled together and then thrown into the jungle to create gunfire sounds as it goes off. This is a good decoy to draw out the enemy and to then ambush him, they decided to put this in the game.
The "Full Metal Jacket" film is another thing that influenced them as they took the "This is my weapon. This is my gun" line as you can now create a tag and etch it onto your weapons, hence stamping them as your own. This is one of the first things that people noticed in the teaser trailer, along with the smiley sight which Vahn has now confirmed that sights can be altered. You can also clip on attachments such as flame-throwers!
Probably one of the most intriguing new features is the introduction of currency. That's right, can you can earn in-game cash for your success! With this cash you can spend it on unlocking weapons, uniforms and accessories to make your character unique.
But that's not all, the money has also introduced a new intense addictive game mode called "Wager Mode". This mode features 4 games that you can choose and you gamble with your own currency while the feat of loss is incredibly great that it intensifies the action.
"One in the chamber" sees you having one bullet and if you have to shoot and kill then you receive your dead enemy's bullet so that you can reload. If you shoot and miss then your only option is to sneak up on an enemy to knife them. "Sharpshooter" gives you a random generated weapon so you can either be dangerously overpowered or woefully under-prepared. "Sticks and Stones" sees you armed with just three basic weapons, killing an enemy with the crossbow or the ballistic knife gets you big points where the tomahawk doesn't but in a tactical move it resets the dead enemy to zero. "Gun Game" sees you trying to get a kill with 20 different weapons and the first that manages win but if you're knifed to death then you're humiliated and have to go back and perform another kill with the last weapon you used.
As expected, the classic team deathmatch returns. They also revealed the names and descriptions of 3 maps which are based around the 60's and 70's Cold War era. "Radiation" is based in an abandoned power station, "Summit" is in a snowbound mountain base and "Launch" is staged around a rocket which lifts off during gameplay, hence frying anyone underneath it. It's worth noting that Summit and Launch were both seen in the teaser trailer.
The last feature that is mentioned is the "Theater" mode that got many excited at the end of the teaser trailer. With this feature you can revisit every game you play that is stored and you can view it from different angles. You can also recut the clips to create you own highlights reels and movies, then you can upload it. Vahn acknowledges that there will be a lot of storage needed to be able to cope with the amount of uploads and that they're trying to make the back-end as strong as possible.
The last thing worth noticing is that they mention a trailer will debut during half-time of the England vs Bulgaria game on ITV this Friday 3rd September
AND I'M GOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!