Call of Duty Black OPS

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is an upcoming first-person shooter video game, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision(Square Enix for Japan), to be released on November 13, 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.[1][2][3]Black Ops II is the ninth game in the Call of Duty franchise of video games and a sequel to the 2010 game Call of Duty: Black Ops. Black Ops II is the first game in the Call of Duty franchise to have a completely futuristic setting and feature future warfare technology. It also presents branching storylines driven by player choice for the first time in the franchise's history. Characters and Setting Black Ops II is set in 2025, as opposed to the Cold War setting of Black Ops. In this new setting, China and the United Statesare locked in a cold war after China bans the export of rare earth elements following a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese Stock Exchange.[4] War is now defined by robotics, cyberwarfare, unmanned vehicles and other modern technology.[5] The game's story deals with the speculation that this unmanned technology could just as well be used against those it was meant to protect. Although the game is set in 2025, it will start in the 1980s Cold War era in order to focus on the origin story of the primary antagonist of Black Ops II: Raul Menendez,[5] who, in 2025, is provoking a war between China and the USA. In the 1980s section of the game, the player protagonist will be Alex Mason, protagonist of Black Ops. Much of the action in this section will take place in the proxy wars of Central America. Another character from Black Ops, Frank Woods will be returning in Black Ops II and will narrate the story into 2025. In the 2025 section, the player protagonist will be David Mason, son of Alex Mason.[6] It has been hinted at that the side-plot of Viktor Reznov and his relationship with Alex Mason, which began in World at War and was advanced by Black Ops, will be continued in Black Ops II.[6] Strike Force missions Black Ops II will be the first Call of Duty video game to feature branching storylines, in which the player's choice affects both the current mission and in turn, the overall course of the story. The game will feature special 'Strike Force' missions that are offered as a choice to the player during the campaign. Choosing one of the missions locks out the others unless the player begins a fresh campaign.[6] Strike Force missions allow the player to control a number of different war assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters and robots. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint. The player's progress in the Strike Force missions may go on to change even the plans of the story's antagonist, Raul Menendez.[6] By the end of the game, the player may have changed the results of the new Cold War, and the player will be shown what could have gone differently. Zombies Treyarch has confirmed that the Zombies mode will return for Black Ops II with its own campaign. Its predecessors were Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops. This is the third time for the Zombies mode to appear in a Call of Duty game, and the first time to have its own campaign along with the main story. Treyarch has also confirmed that Zombies will implement the multiplayer engine, allowing for a deeper community experience along with new game modes. It has also been confirmed that the Zombies mode will support 8 player co-op, unlike Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops, which only support in it's multiplayer 4 player co-op. Further information about the Zombies mode is unknown. Development Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick stated on November 8, 2011 that a new Call of Duty game was in development for a 2012 release and will be the newest installment in the franchise.[7] The game was officially confirmed by Activision during its fourth-quarter earnings call on February 9, 2012, and promised that it will feature "meaningful innovation" for the series.[8][9] Black Ops 2 reports Reports of Black Ops 2 surfaced following a product page for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 appeared Amazon France before quickly being taken down in February 2012. No information has yet been released by Activision, but Gameblog claimed that Activision demanded it remove its original report too.[10] When it refused to do so, the publisher cut off GameBlog from ad support, review game mailings and future Activision events for refusing to comply.[11] Later Activision denied Gameblog’s claims that it has been blacklisted.[12] Around the same time, computer game artist Hugo Beyer also listed "Black Ops 2" as his current project in his Linkedin CV, before his LinkedIn page was taken down.[13] Beyer is an artist working for Nerve Software, "a Dallas-based independent developer" which has "helped" with previous Activision games including, Black Ops in 2010.[14] A "Black Ops 2" trademark by Activision was spotted January 2012.[15] Further Black Ops 2 was listed by the France international entertainment retail chain Fnac in March 2012, which touted a predictable November release date.[16] On April 9, 2012, an image was leaked from a URL on the official Call of Duty website, which leaked the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 logo, as well as a reveal date of April 28, 2012. The URL was later removed.[17] On April 18, 2012, Kotaku received an image from "a retail source", which showed a teaser poster that lacked a game title but had clear nods toBlack Ops and a May 2 date that seemingly points to a reveal.[18] On April 27, 2012, an image containing two Target pre-order cards sent by IGN reader Richard confirmed the game's title and release date. The cards clearly display the Call of Duty: Black Ops II logo, and the release date November 13, 2012.[19][20] Reveal On April 23, 2012, Activison redesigned CallofDuty.com to announce that the game will be revealed on May 1, 2012 during the NBA playoffs on TNT.[21] The art featured on the site matches up perfectly with the supposed retailer leak received by Kotaku.[22] However, parts of the official website went live hours prior to the announcement, which revealed the title, confirmed the release date for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the "21st Century Cold War" setting.[23] Activision had hinted that the game may eventually become available for Nintendo's own consoles, although has no official announcements for the time being.[24] As promised by Activision, the preview for the game was revealed in the form of a Youtube trailer that detailed the futuristic setting, the characters carried over from the previous games, and the conflict.[25] After the game was revealed, the preorder rates on the game set records three times higher than for the preorders of the first Black Ops.[26] Several critics have noted the trailer's similarities to that of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Trailler Source: http://youtube.com

Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 is an action role-playing gae developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Officially announced on December 11, 2010, the game was released March 6, 2012 and marks the final chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy of video games, completing the story of Commander Shepard.

Gameplay in Mass Effect 3 is influenced by decisions made in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, for players who have completed those games. Combat has been changed and refined; in particular, the cover system has been improved, there are more options for moving around the battlefield, instant melee kills and more conventional grenades are introduced as well as improved artificial intelligence. A four player multiplayer co-op mode is also available

Gameplay

Players with saved files from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 are given the option of importing them into Mass Effect 3. If a saved file is imported, over 1,000 variables are pulled that will help shape how the final chapter is experienced. If there are no saved files available, there are no origin-story comics for new players to help them make quick decisions like there were in Mass Effect 2. Imported characters' appearance and class are changeable, with more features and hair-styles included in the character creator than in Mass Effect 2. Commander Shepard will always start the game with some powers. Upon finishing the game, there is a New Game+ option that allows players to continue playing after the main story ends or start again with their finished Shepard and collect items they missed the first time around. The game has 82 minutes of cut-scenes

Mass Effect 3 has three pre-set campaign modes: Action Mode, Story Mode, and RPG Mode. In Action Mode, conversations will have automatic replies and a normal combat difficulty. In Story Mode, conversations will have manual replies and a minimal combat difficulty. In RPG Mode, conversations will have manual replies and a normal combat difficulty. This last mode is reflective of the typical Mass Effect series experience. Overall, the RPG elements in the game have been improved over those in Mass Effect 2, with a more detailed leveling up system and increased weapon customization. To level up characters, players will have skills that start along a single path and then eventually splinter into two branches where they can select only one upgrade or the other along a sequence of possibilities. Players will also be able to customize their weapons with different scopes, mods, barrels and ammo types. There are 25 weapon mods total — five per weapon type — and each of them will have multiple power levels to collect. To select dialog options, players can use Kinect to speak their choices instead of selecting them with a controller.

As of August 23, 2011, BioWare has confirmed the return of previous characters Liara T'Soni, Kaidan Alenko or Ashley Williams, Miranda Lawson, the Illusive Man, Garrus Vakarian, Legion, Samara, Morinth, Tali'Zorah, Urdnot Wrex, Jack, Mordin Solus, David Anderson, Zaeed Massani, Kasumi Goto, Kelly Chambers, Thane Krios, Jacob Taylor and Ambassador Donnell Udina from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. Some characters will not return if they were killed at any point during the previous games. The number of characters available as permanent squad mates are smaller than in Mass Effect 2 for the purposes of deeper relationships and more interesting interplay, including same-sex relationship options for both male and female Shepards. If players achieved a love interest in both Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, then both previous love interests vie for Shepard's attention in Mass Effect 3. This "love triangle" is resolved by the end of the game. BioWare has also confirmed new characters names James Vega  (voiced by Freddy Prinze Jr.) and Diana Allers (voiced by Jessica Chobot, a staff writer from IGN).

The search and analysis mini-game has been changed from Mass Effect 2. Rather than scan individual planets, a setup described as tedious and boring  the Normandy scans a region of space for salvage or War Assets. If these are detected on a planet, the scanner system is still used to locate, but planets are no longer scanned individually. If an area being scanned has been invaded by the Reapers, the Reapers will eventually detect the Normandy's scans and move to intercept it.

The ongoing war against the Reapers is controlled by War Assets and Military Readiness. War Assets are collected throughout the game or are provided from previous game accomplishments. Military Readiness is predominantly affected by the multiplayer aspects of the game. As the player's Readiness increases, War Assets become more valuable. The number of Assets and the player's Military Readiness determine the player's success in the final battle against the Reapers.

Combat

Combat in Mass Effect 3 has been changed and refined from Mass Effect 2, and further emphasis has been put on third-person perspective aspects to make the game more commercially viable. In a preview for IGN, editor Arthur Gies went so far as to say the game "plays like a shooter" and that "combat-wise, Mass Effect 3 is in an entirely different space" from the first two games. In an article for bitgamer, Joe Martin gave a conflicting impression, noting that with regard to combat, "not a lot has changed".

The series' cover system has been improved so players no longer need to slide into cover and then hop over objects. Players will have more options for moving around the battlefield, including a refined sprint capability, combat rolling, and the use of climbable ladders. Players can also blindfire their weapons from covered positions, and have opportunities to shoot selected armor pieces and limbs off enemies. Verbal orders can be issued to move squad mates and use their powers with the use of Kinect. Moving and shooting, a "suicidal maneuver" in Mass Effect 2, will be a viable option because of a revised melee system. Players are able to execute formidable punches and attacks, and instant melee kills are introduced specific to each class; for example, by holding down the melee button, a soldier Shepard will deliver a killing blow with a tech-blade in his/her wrist armor. Actual, round, conventional grenades will also be available.

Mass Effect 3 plans to be the most difficult in the series, with increased artificial intelligence to challenge players and increase the sense of reward. Enemies no longer act as individuals as they did in the previous games, instead fighting and supporting each other in units. Enemies include 15-foot (4.6 m) tall Cerberus mechs, assault troopers, and ninja-style shock troops, as well as Reaperized husks of all races and Reaper ships ranging from 500 to 2,000 metres (1,600 to 6,600 ft) long. Some changes are made to already-existing class types; for example, Engineers are able to build turrets.

Multiplayer

Mass Effect 3 will offer a multiplayer co-op mode called "Galaxy at War".In the mode, players are able to play alongside up to three other players in unique missions that can impact the outcome of the single player campaign. Each mission was designed specifically for multiplayer, and will involve taking over enemy strongholds. By completing these missions, players will give themselves a better chance of attaining a perfect ending in the single player campaign; although, they are not necessary to do so. The mode has been compared to Gears of War's horde mode.

No characters from the single player campaign are featured in the multiplayer mode. Players will create brand new characters for themselves and be able to play as members of non-human species, including asari, drell, krogans, salarians, and turians. Every race will have unique powers – such as a "Krogan Charge" for krogans and different movement options out of cover between drell and humans. All classes are playable. The maximum level that created characters are able to reach is 20, and just like in the single player mode, leveling up will include skill branches.

The majority of missions are wave attacks in various locations against different enemy factions. The selections during configuring the game can affect experience gained and the overall difficulty of the mission. During the missions, random tasks will be assigned, allowing for the collection of credits to purchase equipment between missions. After a certain number of waves, the players retreat to an extraction point which they must hold until extracted.

Equipment and characters are acquired by the purchase of kits which contain random weapons, characters, and mods. The kits are purchased with multiplayer in-game credits or Microsoft Points.

Gameplay in the multiplayer mode will only allow for players to carry two guns at a time in their inventory, and there is no ring menu to change weapons; instead, weapons are changed by holding down a button. Only three powers per class are also available as opposed to those available during the single player game.

Downloadable content

As with the previous games, downloadable content (DLC) allows players quests that may or may not be tied to the main story. The first DLC mission is called From Ashes, which was leaked onto Microsoft Xbox Live Arcade. This gives players a Prothean squad mate, one weapon, an alternate costume for Shepard's squad, and lets them revisit Eden Prime, a world from the original Mass Effect. It is available as a free incentive to those that pre-order the N7 Collector's Edition. It was available the same day as the game.

The second DLC pack is called the Resurgence Pack, released on 10 April 2012, for free. It includes 2 new multiplayer maps, new weapons, and new character classes and races to be unlocked in multiplayer--the Asari Justicar Adept, Krogan Battlemaster Vanguard, Batarian Soldier, Batarian Sentinel, Geth Engineer, and Geth Infiltrator.^[

Synopsis

See also: Plot of Mass Effect, Plot of Mass Effect 2, and Setting of Mass Effect

The Mass Effect series of videogames details the adventures of Systems Alliance Commander Shepard as he/she tries to defeat a race of machines called the Reapers. In the Mass Effect 2 DLC Arrival, Shepard is contacted by Admiral Steven Hackett, who requests Shepard go into batarian space to rescue a deep cover agent named Dr. Amanda Kenson. After rescuing Kenson, Shepard learns that the Reapers are close to returning and delays them by destroying a mass relay. Consequently, 300,000 batarian colonists are killed and Shepard is ordered to appear on Earth for a trial regarding his/her decision.

Setting

Locations in Mass Effect 3 will include the salarian homeworld Sur'Kesh, the asari homeworld Thessia, the turian homeworld Palaven, the quarian homeworld Rannoch, a human mining base in a Martian crater, and a giant city on Earth representing the combination of Vancouver and Seattle. Players will also return to Tuchanka — the krogan homeworld — and the Citadel.

Plot

See also: Characters of the Mass Effect universe

Mass Effect 3 begins on Earth, with Commander Shepard relieved of duty for the consequences of his/her actions in the Mass Effect 2 DLC pack Arrival, as the forces of Earth are overwhelmed by an oncoming Reaper onslaught. Admiral Anderson tasks Shepard with uniting the forces of the galaxy while he coordinates human resistance forces on Earth. Before leaving the system, Shepard stops at a research facility on Mars and saves former squadmate Liara T'Soni from Cerberus troopers. T'Soni has discovered blueprints in the Prothean ruins to a weapon that may have the power to destroy the Reapers. The blueprints are forwarded to Hackett, who dubs the weapon "The Crucible" and begins preparations for its construction.

The Citadel Council is reluctant to provide aid to Earth with Reapers attacking their own systems. To foster goodwill, Shepard is sent on various missions throughout the galaxy, gathering allies for the ongoing war and resources for the Crucible. In addition to opposition from the Reapers, Shepard must also fight the pro-human organization Cerberus, as the organization's leader, the Illusive Man, believes controlling the Reapers is better for humanity than destroying them.

Key missions include:

Delivering a cure to the krogan genophage, to unite krogan and turian forces. Shepard must decide whether or not to actually cure the krogans or trick them to gain support from the salarians, who first devised the genophage to stop krogan expansion.

Repelling a Cerberus attempt to take over the Citadel. If Shepard can't convince former squadmate Kaidan Alenko or Ashley Williams (one is guaranteed to have died during Mass Effect 1) that Councilor Udina organized the attack, Shepard must kill him/her. Udina dies in the process and Shepard encounters to Cerberus operative Kai Leng for the first time. Shepard may also be able to win salarian support by saving their Councilor from death at Leng's hands.

Dealing with the quarians' attempt to retake their homeworld Rannoch from the geth. Shepard can side with one group in annihilating the other, or unite them.

Defending the asari homeworld, Thessia, from the Reapers, whilst simultaneously attempting to gather information critical to the Crucible's construction. Shepard is directed to visit a specific asari temple, which contains a secret Prothean VI, Vendetta. Just as it is about to reveal information on the Catalyst, a crucial component of the Crucible, Kai Leng ambushes Shepard's team and steals it.

Attacking Cerberus headquarters, as the first step towards repulsing the Reapers. The Illusive Man escapes, though Shepard kills Kai Leng and recovers Vendetta. It reveals that the Citadel itself is the Catalyst. Because the Illusive Man has been indoctrinated, he has shared this information with the Reapers, who have moved the Citadel to a defensive posture in Earth's orbit; as such, the series' final battle takes place there.

Admiral Hackett assembles the galaxy's forces and delivers an attack on the Reapers designed to retake the Citadel and combine it with the now-completed Crucible. Shepard is part of the assault on London, identified as the focal connection point from Earth to the Citadel. Due to heavy opposition, Shepard and Admiral Anderson are the only ones able to actually make it aboard the Citadel. They meet an obviously indoctrinated Illusive Man and manage to stop him, but not before Anderson is mortally wounded. Shepard opens the Citadel and the Crucible docks with it.

Shepard is then transported to the pinnacle of the Citadel, where the Crucible is docked and an artificial intelligence (resembling a child Shepard saw die on Earth) appears, identifying itself as the Catalyst and the Reapers' creator. It reveals that the Reaper cycle is an attempt to prevent organic life from wiping itself out by creating synthetic life; creators, the Catalyst argues, are always doomed to be destroyed by the created. The Catalyst characterizes the harvest as an ascendance, wherein advanced organic races are preserved in Reaper form and space is left for more primitive species to rise, evolve, and advance.

Since no other cycle had ever assembled the Crucible, the Catalyst has lost faith in the Reaper Cycle's ability to achieve its goal. Depending on the player's Effective Military Strength, the Catalyst gives Shepard up to three choices: destroy the Reapers and all synthetic life (including Shepard, who is partly synthetic), take control of the Reapers directly, or convert all galactic life into a new form that is a synthesis between organic and synthetic life. Regardless of Shepard's choice, all three endings result in Shepard's apparent death and the destruction of the entire mass relay network. London, and by extension the rest of Earth, can suffer varying degrees of additional damage, dependent on the number and strength of the allies Shepard gathered. The Normandy, fleeing Earth via a mass-relay jump, crashes and becomes stranded on an alien planet.

If the player's Effective Military Strength is high enough and the "destroy" ending is chosen, Shepard is briefly seen lying in ruins, potentially still alive. Finally, a post-credits sequence depicts an old man (voiced by Buzz Aldrin) and a child on an alien planet. looking at the stars. The child asks the old man to tell him another story about "the Shepard", implying that Shepard's legacy lives on.

Development

Origins

From the start, BioWare envisioned the Mass Effect series as a trilogy, with the first two games being a preamble to the third.  For this reason, BioWare was able to begin production on Mass Effect 3 before Mass Effect 2 was even released. The game was directed by Casey Hudson, who previously led the production of the first two Mass Effect games and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. To design the game, BioWare made sure to use fan feedback, similar to what they did for Mass Effect 2. In particular, the game's development team paid close attention to past mistakes in the series as well as the critical failings of other BioWare titles such as Dragon Age II. The team was able to devote most of their time to gameplay and storytelling because, according to BioWare Edmonton General Manager Aaron Flynn, they didn't have to worry about technology as it was "pretty maxed out". Initially, the game was predicted to be released at the end of 2011 or early 2012.

The lead writer of Mass Effect 3 is Mac Walters, who previously wrote on other games in the Mass Effect series as well as Jade Empire.  One of the goals set by the writing staff at the beginning of production was to treat the game like a movie and make sure that players playing it for the first time would "just be able to jump in". Emphasis was put on making the story user friendly for players inexperienced with the franchise because BioWare felt they "didn't do a really good job of new player orientation" in Mass Effect 2. To begin the writing process, Hudson and Walters sat down and created a story document no longer than three or four pages that contained all the major plot points. Once the document was complete, Walters took the document to the writing staff and began filling out minor details including minor plot points and missions. Once these details were complete and the "backbone of the story" was established, each writer was put in charge of specific levels and missions. Work done by each writer was reviewed in-depth by the rest of the writing staff and others.

Reveal

On December 10, 2010, Electronic Arts posted the official synopsis for Mass Effect 3 on their website, although the listing was later removed pending an official announcement at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards. The following day, the game was confirmed for a "Holiday 2011" release and accompanied by a teaser trailer. On March 21, 2011, Tricia Helfer announced via Twitter that she would reprise her role from Mass Effect 2 as EDI, and had already started voice-recording sessions.  Seth Green soon followed, announcing that he would reprise his role fromMass Effect 2 and the first Mass Effect as Joker.

The first detailed information regarding development of Mass Effect 3 started being released in April 2011. On April 20, Belgian website 4gamers.be reported that BioWare were collaborating with Battlefield developer DICE in weapon development for the game.^[  The same day, Game Informer released the first-ever screenshots of Mass Effect 3 to help promote their May 10 cover story. On May 3, 2011, IGN announced that Mass Effect 3 would be presented and demoed by Electronic Arts at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo. The next day, BioWare announced that the game's release date had been pushed back to early 2012,^[  in part so it could be tweaked to appeal to as wide a market as possible.^[  On June 1, EA Games' online store uploaded artwork by mistake which revealed the game will have Kinect support.  The artwork was later removed. At the 2011 E3 Convention, BioWare finally confirmed Kinect support in a gameplay video. The game's collector's edition, cover art, a new teaser trailer and official release date of March 6, 2012 were also revealed. For the first time, fans were shown actual gameplay videos, including a 15 minute demo supervised by Casey Hudson. At Comic-Con 2011, fans were given an opportunity to play a demo version of the game. Hudson and lead writer Mac Walters were both in attendance, with Hudson sitting on the Legendary Pictures panel to talk about the upcoming Mass Effect film and Walters sitting on the Dark Horse Comics panel. At Gamescon 2011, a new trailer was released demonstrating 50 seconds of combat gameplay.  The game was also demoed at PAX Prime 2011.