Call of Duty: Black Ops will take you behind enemy lines as a member of an elite special forces unit engaging in covert warfare, classified operations, and explosive conflicts across the globe. With access to exclusive weaponry and equipment, your actions will tip the balance during the most dangerous time period mankind has ever known.

The first DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops, expected to hit XBL on February 1, 2011 ( 1,200 Microsoft Points) and shortly thereafter on PC and PS3. The First Strike DLC include five maps, with a variety of weaponry, variety of engagement types, variety of verticality, bringing some sniper opportunities into it.

“We’re committed to supporting Call of Duty: Black Ops fans with continuous updates to the game and exciting new content that will keep our community engaged,” said Treyarch Studio Head, Mark Lamia. “We can’t wait to deliver Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike to our fans, which has four all-new Black Ops multiplayer maps, and an exciting new Zombie map to be declassified later. “

For Silver Xbox LIVE members who haven’t yet experienced Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer, Xbox LIVE will host a Multiplayer Unlock event running January 28-30th for new fans to join in.

First Strike Maps:

• Multiplayer
  • Berlin Wall: situated around Checkpoint Charlie, the famous crossing between West/East Berlin.
  • Discovery: Antarctica based German research facility, left behind since WW2.
  • Kowloon: inspired by the singleplayer level, set on the rainy rooftops of Kowloon City in China.
  • Stadium: set in hockey rink stadium in the North-Eastern USA.
• Zombie
  • Ascension, no further details revealed.

In its first five days alone, the game sold more than $650 million worldwide, outpacing theatrical box office, book and video game sales records for five-day worldwide sell through in dollars, according to internal Activision estimates and boxofficemojo.com.  The game exceeded Activision's previous five-day worldwide record of $550 million set by last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

To date, more than 600 million hours have been logged playing Call of Duty: Black Ops since the game launched.  According to Microsoft, the average player logs on more than once a day and plays for more than one hour each time.  Over half of that time is spent playing online with and against friends, illustrating the unique social characteristics of the game.

"In all of entertainment, only Call of Duty and "Avatar" have ever achieved the billion dollar revenue milestone this quickly,"  said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.  "This is a tribute to the global appeal of the Call of Duty franchise, the exceptional talent at Treyarch and the hundreds of extraordinary people across our many Call of Duty studios including Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer that work tirelessly on the franchise.  Our ability to provide the most compelling, immersive  entertainment experience, and enhance it with regular, recurring content that delivers hundreds of hours of audience value, has allowed Call of Duty to continue to set sales and usage records."

Kotick continued, "This extraordinary milestone was achieved  because of  the tens of millions of passionate Call of Duty players around the world.  Global audiences have logged billions of hours online with Call of Duty games on Xbox LIVE, the Playstation Network and on personal computers.  This unique level of community engagement has enabled Call of Duty to become one of the world's most engaged online communities.

"Call of Duty continues to rewrite not just the record books, but also the rules of interactive entertainment," says Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "Even more remarkable than the number of units sold is the number of hours people are playing the game together online which are unprecedented. Call of Duty is more than a game, it's a true community.

Key Features

• Wide array of play modes including single player, local multiplayer versus and online co-op and multiplayer
• Call of Duty’s signature multiplayer gameplay returns with new perks and killstreaks, deeper levels of character and weapon customization, and all new modes including:
  • Wager Matches: One in the Chamber, Gun Game, Stick and Stones, Sharpshooter
  • Theater Mode: View, record, and edit your favorite moments form multiplayer, and share with your friends
  • Combat Training: Test your skills solo or Co-Op with friends against AI enemy players
• Seventh installment of the Call of Duty series, based on the live fire conflicts of the Cold War era
• Diverse variety of play setting ranging from urban air and ground combat in SE Asia, to snow combat in Soviet region and jungle combat
• Blending of traditional COD, and new first-person character scenarios designed to both retain the essence of the COD gaming experience and ensure constantly flowing and varied action
• New arsenal of weapons and vehicles tied to the Cold War era, including the SR-71 Blackbird and sited explosive-tipped crossbows
• Fan favorite Zombie mode is back providing endless hours of Zombie-slaying entertainment, solo or Co-Op

Call of Duty: Black Ops will be compatible with 3D-ready HDTVs and 3D PCs utilizing state-of-the-art active shutter 3D glasses, delivering true depth of field and an unprecedented level of immersion that is perfectly suited for the Call of Duty action experience.  Call of Duty: Black Ops will be playable in both 3D and non-3D on the Xbox 360,  PS3 and PC.

Call of Duty: Black Ops for PC is NVIDIA 3D Vision-Ready and supports stereoscopic 3D gaming using 3D Vision active-shutter glasses and NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, while on Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles, 3D features require a compatible 3D-ready HD TV.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is rated "M" (Mature - Blood, Drug, Reference, Intense Violence and Language) by the ESRB.