This morning's Top Story is another instance of the Australian games industry failing to keep the lid on a secret. This time it's the latest DLC pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
A flyer accidentally posted on Game Australia's website revealed the next Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack to be called Escalation. It also showed the release date to be May 3 2011, and confirmed that it will be releasing on Xbox Live first as per the three year exclusivity deal between Activision and Microsoft. The flyer has since been pulled from Game Australia's site.
The new pack promises five new maps, including a new zombie level named Call of the Dead. The other maps are Zoo, Hotel, Convoy and Stockpile. Judging by the titles, it appears these are all original maps rather than reinterpretations of levels from previous entries in the series.
The first map pack for Black Ops -- First Strike -- launched in February on Xbox 360, with PS3 and PC versions following a month later. If the May 3 release date for this content is true, content will have been regularly released at three month intervals since the game's release last November.
Black Ops' MSRP is still $60, though GameStop is currently selling it for $49.99 new or $44.99 pre-owned online. First Strike is $14.99 or 1200 Microsoft Points, which means we can assume Escalation will likely be the same price, too. This means that over the course of Black Ops' six month lifespan so far, those gamers who want to stay up to date with everything the game has to offer will have spent up to $90. Assuming Black Ops follows Modern Warfare 2's business model -- which it might not, of course -- Escalation will be the last map pack for this game before a new title comes out in November.
$90 on one game? Small wonder that we see a new Call of Duty every year!
STAT CHECK -- 7:20AM PST, Apr. 5, 2011
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