Black Ops 2 Made a Lot of Money
Surprising absolutely no one, and angering the franchise’s many detractors, Activision has announced via a press release that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 made half a billion dollars on its first day.
Last year’s Modern Warfare 3 raked in a paltry $400 million dollars in day-one sales, and $775 million in five-day sales. If Black Ops 2 can keep up it’s current momentum, it would appear to be in a prime position to outsell its predecessor. If reviews are any indication, that position is have been well earned as Black Ops 2 is said by many to be the best game in the franchise thus far.
If you’d like to know more, SideQuesting’s own Eric Smith discussed the game in this week’s SideQuest podcast.
[Joystiq]
Arma Devs Denied Bail
In slightly more horrifying news, the two Bohemia Interactive developers that were arrested in Greece earlier this year have been denied bail in the wake of the country’s on-strike legal system.
Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar were detained just over 70 days ago over allegations of espionage as the pair was supposedly caught taking photographs of Greek military bases. The two have been living in a cell with 25 other prisoners and sleeping on the floor. As if the idea of being jailed for two months in a foreign country was terrifying enough, the pair’s allotted phone calls to friends and family have now changed to pleas for help.
Buchta and Pezlar face up to 20 years in prison over the charges.
The Czech government says that it is doing all that it can to help release the developers, and a fan campaign has now begun to help return them home.
[Source: Rozhlaz, Via: Eurogamer]
Borderlands 2 Gets More DLC
We’ve known that Borderlands 2 would be getting at least four major pieces of downloadable content, thanks to the game’s season pass. Now we know that the game’s second expansion will be called Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage and focus on the titular weapons manufacturer from the game.
We also know that the DLC is set to drop next Tuesday, Nov. 20.
If you’re not up on your Borderlands minutiae, Torgue creates weapons with the game’s best elemental effects. The new expansion is set to center around Mr. Torgue himself — a manly man constantly spewing more of that Borderlands 2… wit.
The DLC has the dubious honor of being the spiritual successor to Moxxi’s Underdome Riot (the most ill-received of the first Borderlands’ expansions). It plays off that age-old video game trope, arena battles, with some exploration interspersed throughout. That being said, Torgue’s Campaign will allow you to earn weapons and experience (something that Underdome did not), so it’s possible that this is more of an apology than an outright follow-up.
Just like the first bit of Borderlands 2 DLC, it will cost $10 across all platforms.
[Source: Destructoid]
Steve’s Game of the Week
Video games and I have actually been spending some time apart, this week. Who knew that writing about video games could take up so much prime video game playing time?
I did, however, manage to squeeze in a few minutes of Frobisher Says! on the Playstation Vita this morning.
Frobisher Says! is, as I understand it, a micro-game collection in the style of Warioware or McPixel. I’ve never played either of those before, but if they’re anywhere near as entertaining as Frobisher Says! I may have to track them down.
The game makes full use of the Vita’s many hardware functions, from front and rear touch, to the system’s accelerometer to both of the cameras. These functions are used to play through highly stylized, incredibly simple minigames that usually take only a few seconds to beat.
The whole game has the look and feel of a Monty Python/Adult Swim mash-up project for the modern era, but what’s really impressive is how well it works. After suffering through the borderline broken camera sections in AC3: Liberation and every godawful rear-touch segment ever, it’s refreshing to see that at least one developer makes them work. The real “Aha” moment was when the game asked me to smile for the front-facing camera and was able to register it immediately. It’s almost eerie in its usability.
To top it all off, the game is completely free. Not just free to Playstation Plus members, but totally, utterly free of charge. Some extra games can be bought as DLC, but the standard package is still instant, stupid fun all by itself.
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