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The most important shift for the Call of Duty franchise was when developer Infinity Ward transformed the World War II series into a modern era military shooter. Infinity Ward changed what it meant to be a Call of Duty game: it became a game focused on action and not the war itself. Treyarch, the developer that brought the series to the Vietnam war in 2010, pushed beyond the timeline boundary set by the original developer and rests much of its next game - Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - firmly within the year of 2025.

For its multiplayer experience, Black Ops 2 takes place exclusively in this near-future time period.

Despite going to "the future," the setting of Treyarch's latest effort isn't as drastic a change as it was when Infinity Ward made the period shift in 2007, but many of the features found in Black Ops 2 are just as crucial as the franchise's modern era setting change. Based on these new features, Treyarch - once thought of as the series "B" team - may be the studio dictating the future of Activison's annualized Call of Duty franchise going forward. And the new position suits them.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is looking to leave a mark on the future with its feature list, bringing livestreaming options into the series for the first time in its history. Developer Treyarch has revealed that Black Ops 2 will include the ability to stream and Shoutcast directly from the game on all platforms when it launches on November 13.

In the mode, two players can serve as Shoutcasters - otherwise known as commentators - for a multiplayer match. Though inspired by the eSports crowd, the mode is available to all. Players can shoutcast games live as they are taking place or add commentary to games saved in the Theater mode of Black Ops 2.

Delayed livestreams can be activated from the menu at any time, feeding the game to a web browser for anyone on a PC, Mac, or mobile device to watch.

In my experience Shoutcasting a match during a recent Black Ops 2 event I learned two things: I'm honestly terrible at it and Treyarch has just vaulted Black Ops 2 to a new level in the competitive gaming scene.

Features for the mode are extensive, including the ability to tap into team chatter. Watch myself and Treyarch advisor Mike Raphael walk through a mode - during a new multi-team deathmatch mode - after the break.

Activision celebrates Pitfall's 30th anniversary with a new iOS adventure for Pitfall Harry. Don't expect the same side-scrolling, campfire-jumping treasure hunt, however, as Pitfall! has been updated for the 2012 App Store market by Activision's mobile studio, now known as The Blast Furnace.

That updating means it's an auto-runner with an in-game store, of course. That's ... not really Pitfall at all, so much as a new game with a jungle setting.

In fact, it resembles nothing more than Temple Run with more variety in camera angles. It distinguishes itself with a low-poly look that we're going to guess is a tribute to the low-res pixels of the original. Luckily, it looks way better in motion than in screenshots. That's lucky because ... look at the screenshots.

#pitfall! If you're old like me, you played the original version of Pitfall! on the Atari 2600 way back when. Sequels to David Crane's iconic side-scrolling adventure have come and gone but none have quite captured the tense feel of the 1982 release. Yet, the 30-year-old classic seems like it'd be great as a mobile gaming experience, right? More »

While the Wii Vitality Sensor isn't likely to see the light of day, Activision is looking to fill the (umm) demand for heartbeat-based gaming peripherals. The Fearmaster gun measures heart rate and hand tremors to affect in-game performance in Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013.

Mashable got some hands-on time with the peripheral, which comes bundled not only with the game but a proprietary sensor to be placed in front of the TV. Some of Mashable's feelings after playtime are summarized in the video above.

The Fearmaster will launch on October 23 for Xbox 360 and PS3, bundled with Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013, for $79.99. If you want to purchase the game on its own, that's an option; or you can downgrade to a lesser version of the Fearmaster gun, sans sensors, for $59.99.

#rumor This is going to sound like one of those stories in which a friend of a friend heard something from a janitor's mother-in-law. This isn't like last year, when we had the story of Modern Warfare 3 dead to rights in May, six months before the game's release, thanks to some chatty sources. But we'd be remiss in not telling you that, back on July 31, someone posted what they claim is an 100% accurate info-dump about Call of Duty: Black Ops II and it's been popping up on message boards and gaming websites since then. More »

After months of speculation and feverish, sweat-stained worry, Activision’s finally seen fit to set the world’s mind at ease. Turns out, the new Call of Duty game will have multiplayer after all. That’s right: multiple players. And I think I might have spotted a gun or two in there as well. Activision won’t confirm or deny that one just yet, though, so Black Ops 2 still has a very good chance of being a first-person slap-fighter. Right then. That’s the part where I spew vitriol about the obtuseness of big-budget videogame ad campaigns out of the way. So yes, here’s Black Ops 2′s first multiplayer trailer. It has some pretty neat-looking gadgets, including some kind of microwave beam and, of course, so many drones that you’ll keep thinking the word “drones,” and eventually it’ll lose all meaning to you. Drones drones drones drones drones.

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Treyarch released the first trailer for the multiplayer side of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Taking place in 2025, the multiplayer side of the game shows no shortage of doodads and whatchamacallits.

Microwave transmitters, drones and EMP grenades are just a few of the high-priced murder gadgets showcased in the trailer above. There's also a new Riot Shield that has a little window for you to shoot through. Technology!

#memories Hurry! There are only two days left until this auction for "Le Stick" closes. You can have this hunk of junk for $29.99, but I warn you, it's practically useless. Except for one video game, that is. More »

It's been a long, slow walk, but the zombies have finally made it onto Android. Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies originally launched on iOS back in December. Today it comes to Android as a $6.99 download, exclusive to Xperia hardware for its first 30 days.

After 30 days, you'll be able to grab it for other Android devices, granted they're running 2.3.3 or up.

#worldofwarcraft It was only two weeks ago that the World of Warcraft movie, fresh off its big-time director leaving the project, looked set to join the scrapheap of failed video game adaptations. More »

#worldofwarcraft 1 million less people are playing World of Warcraft than last reported. The latest estimate of subscribers claimed by Activision Blizzard cites a number of 9.1 million—from financial results released today—down from the 10.2 million reported this past May. More »

Several months after its console debut – the so-so sales of which lead to Activision closing its developer – open-world superhero game Prototype 2 is now out on PC. I’ve been hulking out, wall-running up tall buildings and eating people alive for the last few days, and then I played some Prototype 2. Allow me to foist the following words about it upon your monitor.(more…)

#transformers This is not a moment you screw with, Activision. This is scripture. This is the ultimate chapter in the Book of Optimus. This is not — I cannot stress this enough — not an advertisement for GameStop exclusive preorder downloadable content. More »

The eternal six-year-old in me is quite excited about Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, even though I am well aware I should have moved on to grown-up’s things by now. Well, someone make me a videogame about a cheese and wine party or paying the electricity bill and I guess I’ll play that too. First though, I wish to heed the call of the last of the Primes. Well, more specifically I want to play as Soundwave and Shockwave, but I suppose I can endure being the namby-pamby Autobots too. FOC has had a strange path to PC, having been initially denied to this platform after the devs admitted they didn’t have time to do it well (which was presumably the case for the perfunctory War For Cyberton PC port), before an additional studio, the venerable but little-known Mercenary Technology, was drafted in to make a dedicated PC edition of the robo-biff sequel. Concrete details on just what PC-specific improvements/features it’ll have are out, and it gives me hope that it might light our darkest hour.(more…)

Daniel Way, the current author on the Deadpool comic series for Marvel, will also pen the story behind High Moon Studios' upcoming game slated for 2013. One of Swords revealed as much in a primer for those who are unfamiliar with the "merc with a mouth."

"One of Swords" Dan Amrich suggests fans catch up on Way's current Deadpool run, Volume 3. "Daniel Way is also writing the game, so this series will likely sync up with the game's definition of Deadpool," Amrich says - for further information, you could just read Deadpool's massive Wikipedia entry, we suppose.

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime has taken to the Diablo forums to issue a statement on Diablo 3. In the statement, Morhaime addresses the game's launch, noting that it had both positive and negative elements. Blizzard, he admits, was not prepared for Diablo 3's staggering launch numbers - to which players locked out during the initial server problems can attest.

Morhaime notes that Blizzard "looked at historical sales for Blizzard games and other top-selling PC games and watched preorder numbers" to the server requirements at launch, even going so far as to add further server capacity beyond its estimates. Still, says Morhaime, it wasn't enough, noting that "we've never gone from 0 to more than 6 million players across multiple continents within a few days with a brand-new game." He adds that Blizzard will strive to do better with future releases.

Trent Reznor, David S. Goyer, and a duo of Treyarch dudes want you to know what they put into Black Ops 2. They also want you to hear an extremely short clip of the Reznor-composed theme song to the game, apparently, as this trailer only allows a teensy bit before cutting off. Blast!

#tonyhawk What do you remember most about the original Tony Hawk skateboarding games? The rush of putting together an epic thread of tricks? The exhilaration of notching ever-higher scores? Yeah, those were all great. You'll get those in the Tony Hawk HD remake that hits Xbox Live today. But the pain… the pain was always the best part. More »

Grease up your bearings, tighten your trucks: Tony Hawk is back.

Deadpool, shatterer of skulls, gonads and fourth walls, will be the wisecracking star of a game from Transformers developer High Moon. The absurd violence and self-referential nature of Deadpool has made him a “fan favourite”, which often means “popular but not particularly commercially viable”. It’s pleasing to see him enjoying life beyond the page, although I reckon there’s a danger that the game, like the trailer, will be a series of murders, boobs and jokes about murders and boobs that uses irony as a flimsy veil. There’s also no guarantee that it’ll come to PC, with no platforms announced yet.

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#deadpool Let's see: Voices in his head? Crude humor? Breaking the fourth wall? Swearing? High Moon and Activision are sending a very strong message that the Deadpool video game, just announced at San Diego Comic-Con, has everything a fan of the character will want. Really, though, is that Nolan North voicing Deadpool? More »

#activision I mean, look, that's a clock, it's gonna hit zero at 6 p.m. EDT. The URL is "deadpoolgame.com," and the background is the titular antihero from the Marvel universe. High Moon Studios, which has handled three Transformers games for Activision, is listed along with the publisher, and Marvel. There's a Deadpool game coming out sometime ... whenever, folks. More »

Latest gossip in the "Vivendi might be selling Activision" rumors that've been floating around comes courtesy Bloomberg, which reports today that Vivendi's search is off to a slow start. Previous rumors had pegged Microsoft, Tencent, and Nexon as potential buyers. More »

As a smaller creature that vaguely resembled a Real Human, I definitely had an embarrassing wannabe skater phase. I dreamed of ramping small wheeled planks off larger, non-wheeled planks while wearing giant, ill-fitting clown shoes. But then my expectations – and, you know, my body – came crashing back down to earth, resulting in lots of blood. So I decided to keep my face far, far away from concrete, and – in the process – bought Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. And then I never went outside again. So I liked it a lot, is what I’m saying. And now Activision’s remaking it – or rather, THPS1 and 2, in a single package – and releasing it on the most skater-friendly platform of all: PC.

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#transformers But only because Arcee looks halfway decent in the screens for the game, coming to 3DS, DS and Wii this October. I know I gave you guys shit earlier, but you have found my weakness. More »

Trent Reznor, who it’s still weird to see referred to as an Academy Award Winning Composer, will be providing the theme tune for Call of Duty Black Ops 2. Both he and the FPS have come a long way from Quake, although I’ll leave it to you to decide in which direction each has been travelling. The news comes along with a trailer for the game that shows the villain for the first time. He has escaped from a place but doesn’t have any weapons but that doesn’t matter because he HAS TAKEN ALL OF THE BLOPS’ WEAPONS. That’s the plot. Oh, and it’s the future, so jetpack dives from space and baby AT-ATs.

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Every great conflict has its share of villains and heroes. At the heart of Black Ops 2 lies one bad guy: Raul Menendez. He's managed to scare Colonel Tony Todd, and in our book that makes him a pretty legitimate threat. The Candyman doesn't scare easily!

Call of Duty's next big entry is getting some extra long nails to assist in its theme song - Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor composed Black Ops 2's theme song, USA Today revealed this morning. He's not crafting the whole soundtrack, though, as Mass Effect 1 and 2 soundtrack composer Jack Wall is taking that responsibility.

Reznor said he was led to the project after having composed soundtracks for both The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. "I started dipping my toe into film scoring. That led me to film scoring agents and whatnot and a variety of projects start to get thrown at you to check your level of interest. And quite a while ago I had heard, 'Would you be interested in a big franchise video game?' Being an avid gamer my whole life, I said, 'Yeah, I would be interested in that,'" he said. Reznor previously composed the soundtrack to Quake.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 launches November 13 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Recently, I got the chance to play a few matches of upcoming browser-based F2P multiplayer shooter Offensive Combat, and all told, I had a nice enough time. I ran, I jumped, I beat a man to death with a hunk of ham. Everything – a basic array of weapons, modes, experience unlocks, etc – functioned pretty much exactly as it was supposed to. Problem is, that’s all it did. Even the game’s “zany” sense of humor came across as relentlessly calculated, seeking refuge in the evergreen arms of “pwning” (an actual game mechanic in which you dance over an opponent’s body for extra points), mash-ups of tried-and-true game settings, and pop culture references. U4iA CEO and former Call of Duty co-founder Dusty Welch, meanwhile, has no qualms with admitting that his latest project is steeped in business trends and careful analysis first and foremost. But he also adamantly contends that this style of game development doesn’t compromise creativity.

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