Given what we’ve seen this month, it’s fitting that the original Call of Duty: Black Ops was centered around mind control, manipulation and paranoia-inducing conspiracy theories. Speculation over the next Call of Duty game has been given a bit more evidence cementing Black Ops 2 as the culprit, as the franchise’s official site has been given a bit of a makeover. Aside from promising an official reveal on May 1, 2012 a handful of details have sneaked out that will surely send CoD-heads reeling until then.
Black Ops 2 isn’t just the expected release due to the traditional swap between Infinity Ward and Treyarch titles, although that alone is fairly convincing. Since the apparent logo appeared weeks ago promising some sort of announcement by the end of April, it seemed that Activision, once again, had their big announcement spoiled by internal leaks. Now the CallofDuty.com site has been given a brand new splash page filled with ‘Classified’ image boxes set to be revealed to the viewer at varying days this month. The content of the site itself bears more than a few bits of information, but what can be confirmed is a formal announcement of the game – Black Ops 2 or not – during the NBA Playoffs on TNT May 1, 2012.
It seems that a handful of images are set to be unveiled even before the date initially stated in the leaked logo, and just one day before the in-store displays are placed, but one cryptic photo has already been revealed to internet sleuths – somewhat. It is scrambled almost beyond recognition, but we’ll leave inspection to those who enjoy it the most. Have a look:
[Update: The image has been revealed to depict the new killstreak monstrosity Quadrotor. Check out the machine in action now.]
The image isn’t the only hint provided. The 1960′s era filmstrip look of the ‘Classified’ images suggests a strong tie to the original Black Ops, as does the tagline instructing players to ‘Return for Debriefing.’
Luckily Activision isn’t too careful when it comes to HTML, since the source code of the website all but confirms that the game set to be announced is, in fact, a part of the series:
With the game all but confirmed to be the next Black Ops adventure, there are still questions to be asked. Will Alex Mason once again be the star of the game, examining his responsibility for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? Or will Mason be the target, with Black Ops 2 exploring the mysterious ‘Operation Charybdis’ to eliminate he and his partners? And perhaps most importantly, where does the mysterious ‘Eclipse’ code name fit in?
Obviously only a few days remain before the first images are declassified, with an official announcement coming May 1. Stay tuned for our own theories along the way.
Black Ops 2 – as can be safely assumed at this point – is expected to release on November 13, 2012 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. As for a Vita release, we’ll have to wait and see.
-
Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
Source: CallofDuty
Xbox One: Watch The Next-Gen Xbox Presentation Here! 
Electronic Arts Engineer Blasts the Wii U 
What You May Not Know About The ‘Xbox One’ [Updated] 
GR Giveaway: Win a Superhero-Sized Trip to San Diego This July! 
Loading ...
I really hope it is still set in the Cold War. I really liked the feel and artistic style of Black Ops 1 and I also really loved the campaign. Frank Woods FTW!
LOL are you kidding? Spoken like a true CoD fanboy my friend. That game was TERRIBLE, graphics, gameplay, and all. The only decent thing was Zombies and even that fell short. I mean sure its your complete opinion but still. Did you ever play CoD 4? WaW? MW2? Halo 3? Or even the new release BF3? These are all great games here (most) were made in the golden a of FPS games. Not Black Ops. Black Ops (IMO) was a disgrace to mankind and all of gaming and starred the downfall of the FPS genre.
Actually Black Ops looks far better than MW2 and MW3 you can’t look at graphics on a game from a console stand point because consoles have 30 dollar processors and 20 dollar video cards on PC Black Ops looks far more better
Halo 3 may have looked good but its story is the same as all SCIFI games. Humanity is getting it’s ass kicked by a superior alien race…oh wow how original. World at War is still my favorite and the MW series hasn’t been my favorite but I enjoy it and Black Ops was awesome. Oh and BF3? I couldn’t stand that game. The campaign was confusing and multiplayer is just like the rest. Filled with kids and hard asses that call you names at every turn. At least I understood what was going on in Black Ops campaign. I think people hate CoD because the other kids on the internet say they hate it and want to sound cool but I know for a fact you’re going to play the new CoD wether you play it out of curiousity or watch gameplay in youtube, either way youre contributing to its popularity so thank you.
You completely missed the point of why people hate CoD. People don’t hate it just because everyone else does, people hate it because the game’s multiplayer hasn’t changed in 5 games. Yes, I am guilty of buying all of them and claiming to never buy the next one, only to buy it in a year.
And if you don’t like BF3, then you should just stick with CoD. You are, however, completely wrong about it though. The campaign was indeed confusing, but anyone who knows anything about Battlefield knows that it was made to be a multiplayer game. The campaign is kind of an after thought. And your claim that the game is filled with “kids [who are] hard asses that call you names at every turn” doesn’t even make sense. In BF3, you can’t even hear other people, only the people in your squad. So it doesn’t make sense for you to say that. And have you ever played it? That multiplayer is COMPLETELY different from any other shooter out there. What other shooter has matches that last upwards of 3 hours on maps that are miles long with vehicles and jets? You can’t name one.
Amen. Btw @ Gazman333 its completely original I mean are you forgetting that Bungie started it all? (Not including movies) And the MP and story are amazing in Halo 3. Aswell as it looks good. No I don’t hate CoD because others don’t either. I hate CoD because it is. ruining gaming. Its unbalanced, same sh*t, the people that now play it, and the fact that the studio lies and hypes the game to an ungodly title. CoD isn’t moving forward at all, instead they keep moving backwards.
I would like to point out that the ARMA series has huge maps as well. The upcoming ARMA is supposed to have every map take place on one huge map, with sections squared off for the ground fighting.
Not that this pertains to the article in any way, I just thought I should point that out.
How can anyone even pretend to be excited for this? We all know it’s going to be Black Ops 2 and I am guessing whatever trailer is revealed during the NBA Playoffs will just show some campaign related stuff that no one will care about. Honestly, even for E3 I have a hard time understanding how anyone will be excited to see what they show, you wanna know what you’ll see Treyarch show at E3 2012? Go play Black Ops 1 and you’ll have a pretty good idea. While this game might have different features than Black Ops 1, it’s still for the most part going to be very identical to Black Ops 1 and for that reason I have a hard time getting excited for a game that will more than likely not have any innovating features whatsoever. Activision is just trying to milk out some more money by using the Black Ops name since it is already established. I foresee a MW3 reaction for this game, it might sound different on paper, but once you start playing you’ll soon realize you just bought the same game you already have. Thankfully, I have Halo 4 to look forward to instead.
Halo is the same. Same s*** different game. In halo all the guns are the same they just look different. The new guns still look like previous guns and its the same story. Master Cheif running around taking bullets from all sides and never dieing. I hate that game. I’m still going to try Halo 4 but I can’t say I’m going to buy it myself.
Hes encased in armor with shields around it what do you expect? And that’s not true. They bring new guns in every Halo. At least its not like CoD where every gun feels and is the same (or the other is ridiculously over/under powered) with some new paint on it.
You actually just described COD, not Halo. If you’d actually bothered to play all the Halo games you would know that what you said is totally false and don’t lie to me and say you have played all the Halo’s, because if you would have played them all you would know that what you said is not true.
Oh right I forgot that in CoD you wear power suites. Yes Halo keeps the same guns but they also add new ones like I said. CoD does add new ones but they play the exact same in all of the CoDs. What gun is over/under powered in halo? Name 3. No name one.
I’m damn excited. I’m not going to let some immature babies on the Internet talk me into not getting this game. I’m a true die hard fan of CoD and I am able to look past the bad things and see the good things. Call of Duty FTW!
you have to look past an awful lot…
Yes, I am probably going to get this game. Am I going to enjoy it? Probably for a few weeks. Its the same thing with MW3. Got it on release, enjoyed it for about 2 weeks. After that, I just got bored with it. Multiplayer felt a bit more refined, but still like MW2 in many ways.
But when it comes to pure gameplay, I enjoy BF3. Strategy plays a much greater role in that than any game of CoD I have played. When it comes to story, Halo and Call of Duty are my choices. Call of Duty feel like just another action/suspense movie, thought, while I love the Halo story arc.
In other words, stop complaining about these games. Sure, you liked Black Ops. Yeah, he liked Battlefield. Who cares if you don’t like it? Unless you give reason for the game’s stupidity, you are just another opinionated biased fan-boy.
I like him
Thank you :3
People hate Black ops because its different and people hate mw3 because its alomst the same has mw2 but play it more because its new and everyone moves on to whats new. Blacks ops is better then WAW. And COD4 is better then mw2 and mw3 that’s it DONE… they are different games and you should like black ops more because its Different.
You’re high.
I am a video game player. Hey, I like BF3, Black Ops, Halo and many other games. I don’t care what the haters have to say. I like Call of Duty. It is a fun, fast paced game and just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean that you have to talk s*** to the people who actually do like CoD. Just please stop spreading your trash talk throughout the video game forums, videos, and articles because millions of people actually do like CoD.
Seriously? Get over it kids it’s just a game. Halo is just a game, any CoD is just a game. Some people enjoy them. Don’t bitch about which ones have better graphics, or story, or multiplayer. In the end it’s all the same: mindless killing for no point at all. All that said i’m still gonna buy these games because i’m bored of everyday life and I just want to shoot something.
I would have to disagree.
Most of these games have much more to them than just mindlessly shooting bad guys. Hence why I like Halo so much.
Guys does it really matter what you like? If someone likes cod for its amazingly fast paced gameplay then let him play it same with bf and halo. Each has its strong and weak points. I like chocolate icecream but not vinila does that make me a bad person? (PS I play all three games cod bf and halo)