In a decision I bounce between regretting and accepting, I did not pick up Call of Duty: Black Ops earlier this week. Tomorrow, when Game Rant logs on to Xbox Live for their first Thursday game night with Black Ops, I will be here, likely editing or writing a story about the game. My fellow Ranters will likely be having the best game night of their lives, or at least that's how I imagine it as I pout. It's like being the only kid in elementary school without pogs, and it's a terrible feeling.There's always good reason for not picking up the latest and greatest video game to be released, especially now that the holiday season has started. I've personally got Fable 3, Costume Quest and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow waiting to be finished. Then there is Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit next week which both look great. For some though, Black Ops is all you need. I have a cousin who bought Modern Warfare 2 at its launch, and has literally played nothing else since. In some ways, it must be nice to be so enamored with a single game. Probably wouldn't work here though, you Ranters likely wouldn't appreciate all Modern Warfare Midnight Rants, all the time.

Then there is the population of gamers that won't pick up Black Ops for more respectable reasons. They typically pass because Black Ops doesn't meet their definition of what an excellent game should be. Single player first, multiplayer second. I might be part of this group occasionally, but not for Black Ops. After playing the Modern Warfare single player at a friend's house, I passed on picking up the full game for a few months after release. The experience felt like a movie starring The Rock; incoherent storyline and characters that are over the top and difficult to relate to. The multiplayer though, is something completely different, and worth its own evaluation separate from the single player. I was inevitably persuaded to pick the game up.

Whatever the reason, not having Black Ops is a sort of unique badge right now. It's sort of like a Canadian turning on the television and seeing American news. "None of this makes any sense, and in fact, it sounds ridiculous!" Game Rant has put up over ten Black Ops stories in the past few days, they're hard to miss whether you've picked the game up or not. The gaming media is making sure no one is too far removed. This is where Activision says, "Mission Accomplished."

The issue that becomes apparent is whether Black Ops, or any any game for that matter, deserves so much attention. It's tough for a growing site like Game Rant to avoid so much coverage considering how it helps our number, but should we be comfortable providing this much coverage to a single game? Obviously, I suppose I don't think so considering I'm contributing to the issue with this post, but I do think it's worth thinking about.

Are you missing out on Call of Duty: Black Ops, Ranters? Or perhaps you had enough despite not purchasing the game? Let us know your thoughts on Black Ops and the media machine built around it!

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