Activision has issued a trailer for the forthcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops. Though it doesn’t reveal the era in which the game is set, the clip confirms that the action will take place on multiple fronts. Also, with its strobing colours and fast paced editing, it’s a wonder the teaser doesn’t come with an epilepsy warning. War is hell.

The game is being developed by Treyarch, the internal studio responsible for Call of Duty 3 and World at War. Though stablemate Sledgehammer Games is known to be working on a third person Call of Duty title, Treyarch’s latest outing will be a first person shooter in the tradition of its predecessors.

The announcement comes as the developer that created the franchise staggers from one calamity to the next. In March, Activision sacked Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, who promptly filed suit for wrongful dismissal. Even as Activision put applied the finishing touches to its countersuit, a range of Infinity Ward’s key employees tendered their resignations.

Matters have certainly not improved since then. As reported by G4, 38 current and former employees have now filed suit against Activision while 16 former employees have signed on with Respawn Entertainment, which just happens to be the latest venture from Jason West and Vince Zampella. It’s difficult to imagine anyone being brave enough to do business with Activision at a time like this. Or is it?

Activision Australia has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops is scheduled for a local release on Tuesday 9 November 2010. Target platforms are yet to be announced. However, if the past is any guide, you should feel free to place your money on “all of them”.

“Aggghh... should have seen... this coming.

The creators of Halo have stunned the industry by signing a ten year publishing deal with Activision. While Microsoft retains control of the Halo franchise, Activision will publish all games based on Bungie’s new intellectual property, an unannounced action title set in an original universe.

Notwithstanding the occasional PC port, Bungie titles have been exclusive to Microsoft consoles for the better part of a decade. With the new agreement covering “multiple platforms and devices”, the studio’s latest creation may well make an appearance on the Atari Jaguar or even the PlayStation 3.

The Activision announcement follows Bungie’s October 2007 decision to break away from Microsoft and establish itself as an independent company. Did the recent internal strife at Activision threaten to derail the deal? Not according to Bungie Design Director Joseph Staten, who told Gamasutra that “Our situation is so fundamentally different that we’re not concerned at all.” Unlike Infinity Ward, Bungie isn’t owned by Activision.

We’re unlikely to learn more about the new project in the near future, with Bungie Community Director Brian Jarrard telling Edge Online that Halo: Reach will remain the studio’s public focus throughout 2010.

Every Sunday, The Black Panel provides you with a list of the games arriving in stores during the subsequent week. This time around the list is somewhat shorter than usual. Unless you’re interested in Muppet themed educational titles, it can be safely assumed that zero games of interest are due for release over the next seven days. See you next Sunday, with what promises to be a vastly improved offering.

Welcome to the Black List, our regular retrospective on the week in games.

On MONDAY, Pete used our latest podcast to debut his astonishing chocobo impression.

On TUESDAY, not even the end of the world could prevent Erin from completing his Metro 2033 review.

On WEDNESDAY, Karen flew in from Greece with a severed head and a God of War III review in her carry-on luggage.

On THURSDAY, we shuddered at the realisation that Split/Second: Velocity may have ushered in an era of timed exclusives for demos.

On FRIDAY, the latest Alpha Protocol trailer convinced us that pummelling someone with a glass bottle is a perfectly acceptable form of communication.

Thanks for reading.

Erin Marcon

Editor

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