A former Activision senior public relations manager has pleaded guilty to charges of embezzlement after she spent money earmarked for Call of Duty promotions on personal items.

Gamesbeat is reporting that Kathryn Kirton, who was with Activision UK, used Black Ops marketing money to throw an engagement party at an exclusive central London venue, stay at a luxury hotel with her fiancé, and purchase designer clothes.

Her boss was reportedly a guest at the engagement party their company unknowingly pay for.

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Likening the upgrading of an engine to the remodelling of a house, Lamia stated that he didn’t see the point in discarding that which was working.

“Just because you’re remodelling the house and it will look new or it will have a new kitchen, you don’t tear out the foundation, or break out some of the framing,” he said, admitting that his analogy was a gross simplification.

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Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter called the franchise a phenomenon, but said further sales growth was unrealistic.

"I don't think Modern Warfare 3 is going to sell more than the last Black Ops, so I doubt that this one will break a record."

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According to website Fusible, the domain was registered by MarkMonitor, an Internet brand protection company that “caters to over half the Fortune 100, of which Activision is a client.”

Activision had previously registered blackops3.com through blackops6.com, meaning it’s possible the publisher is simply protecting its copyright.

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Los Angeles has its fair share of amusement parks, but until this weekend, none of them were game-themed.

Activision's attempt to provide a central point for fans to worship Call of Duty spoke more to the machinations of a certain Mr Disney than the creative team behind the multi-billion dollar franchise. But then, it doesn't cost USD $150 to get into Disneyland, nor are you likely to be physically hauled from a Jeep by Navy Seals, or accused of cowardice in the face of battle by failing to scream "yes sir" at an annoyingly loud volume.

The location, a valley once owned by legendary aviator and all-round mentalist Howard Hughes, houses a series of hangers once used to build the Spruce Goose. The massive aircraft has long since been relocated to Oregon, however Hughes' touches remain: a toilet block with a foot-activated water fountain and spring-loaded detergent dispensers created by the notoriously germophobic recluse himself. Naturally, this was befouled by the 8000-or-so Call of Duty fans, many likely unaware of the historical connection. Hughes would have had an aneurysm.

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Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said that with the map packs taken into account, the average Black Ops gamer had spent US$76 on the game. That’s an 18 per cent mark up on the game’s retail price.

Map pack sales for Black Ops dwarf those of other Call of Duty titles: World at War sold nine million map packs and Modern Warfare 2 sold 11 million map packs.

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On this blog, Activision’s social media manager Dan Amrich said, “PC players will have to wait until the fall to try it out.”

The Call of Duty Elite beta is now underway for Xbox 360 and is tied to Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is expected to launch on PlayStation 3 shortly.

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Taking place over the 2nd and 3rd of September in a “12-acre secure compound” somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area, Call of Duty XP will bring together an anticipated 6,000 fans and mark the unveiling of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer.

Attendees will get hands on time with both the multiplayer and the Spec Ops surivival co-op mode. Call of Duty: Elite, the series’ new premium online service, will also be fully unveiled.

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Activision, therefore, was at great pains last week in its pre-E3 reveal to stress that Call of Duty Elite takes nothing away from the free-to-play component currently enjoyed by millions of gamers worldwide.

Essentially, Elite is a worldwide hub designed to allow matchmaking and statistics comparisons with the entire Call of Duty Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 install base. Players will have the ability to review extensive post-match information, compare weapon statistics, receive tactical video tutorials, compete in competitions to win prizes, and create their own in-game video collections. Elite will be widely accessible on a number of platforms: web browsers, game consoles, within the game interface itself, and even mobile devices.

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According to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, that makes Black Ops the fastest grossing game to date: “In all of entertainment, only Call of Duty and Avatar have ever achieved the billion dollar revenue milestone this quickly.”

“This extraordinary milestone was achieved because of the tens of millions of passionate Call of Duty players around the world,” he continued. “Global audiences have logged billions of hours online with Call of Duty games on Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network and on personal computers.

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For 1,200 Microsoft Points (approximately $25) players will receive four competitive maps and one zombie map. Discovery is set in the Antarctic research station featured in the game, Kowloon takes place on the rooftops of Hong Kong, Berlin Wall sees players shooting up Checkpoint Charlie and Stadium takes place in an Ice Hockey rink.

The zombie map is called Ascension.

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One player writes, “I gave up on [multiplayer] after I lost the first five games I played of the day due to connection failure (post patch). Oh and the frame rate issues.”

Another says that the “patch makes the game unplayable,” reporting that in three hours he or she was only able to connect to five games, “all of which either ended due to connection interuppted [sic], or it froze my ps3 - 4 freezes in total.

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Speaking with website IndustryGamers, CEO Eric Hirshberg said, “Are we going to be charging for multiplayer? The answer is no.

“The experience you have out of the box, connecting with the online community to play Call of Duty is absolutely integral to the experience and we’ll never charge for that. It’s not going to be something we’ll attempt to monetise; it’s part of the package.”

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The publisher reports that players have clocked more than 5.9 million cumulative hours playing the game online and that 2.6 million people played the game's multiplayer on the first day.

Gameplanet reviewed Call of Duty Black Ops on both Xbox 360 and PC.

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The sales have generated $360 million for Activision compared to Modern Warfare 2’s $310 million.

In a statement, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said, “There has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records for two consecutive years and we are on track to outperform last year's five-day global sales record of $550 million.

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Following on from the controversy surrounding the PC release of Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2, Treyarch has stepped up to face the fan onslaught from the most vociferous of all non-Blizzard gaming groups: PC first-person-shooter aficionados.

We've already covered the laboured campaign mode in our Xbox 360 Black Ops review, so if you'd like to be reminded why the Call of Duty franchise has well and truly abandoned any pretence towards presenting a compelling narrative you should check that out before proceeding. There are no relevant differences between the Xbox 360 and PC versions inherent in the campaign, and our Xbox 360 review also covers the range of new multiplayer additions Treyarch has added. From this point on, it's a console-free zone.

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Cuban website Cubadebate says, “This new video game is doubly perverse. On the one hand, it glorifies the illegal assassination attempts the United States government planned against the Cuban leader ... and on the other, it stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents.

“What the United States couldn't accomplish in more than 50 years, they are now trying to do virtually.”

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Nonetheless, the projection still puts sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops at a gargantuan 13 million units.

Ubiquitous games analyst Michael Pachter also expects Black Ops to receive poorer reviews than Modern Warfare 2: “This year's game faces competition from holiday sales of Medal of Honor and Halo: Reach, both quite competitive in the shooter genre.

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The zombie mode will be four-player coop, as it was when it was first introduced in Call of Duty: World at War, back in 2008.

“Zombies have been such a hit with our community that we were committed to bringing brand new zombie experiences to Call of Duty: Black Ops,” said Treyarch boss Mark Lamia.

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“What we’re really trying to do on this title for PC is to give the PC community the same game the console guys are getting, but in a way that makes sense for PC,” said Stastny.

“You’ll be able to play unranked servers and not have a lot of different options as to how those games are run because they’re pretty much on par with what you get on the consoles. You play on unranked servers as well, and you can customise the way those games go.”

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Speaking with Gamertag Radio, executive producer Dan Suarez said, “There’s no campaign co-op this year.”

The game will include both split-screen online multiplayer, and split-screen combat training. Treyarch community manager Josh Olin has also hinted that there’s still more to reveal from the game’s co-op modes.

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Speaking with trade publication MCV, Lamia said that games don’t need an Online Pass system, the kind implemented in Electronic Arts Sports titles, to deter second-hand sales.

“I want to take that in the other direction and bring consumers really great reasons to keep their games, rather than trade them in,” he said. “Multiplayer is critical to the success of this series. It has such tremendous staying power – there are millions of people playing Call of Duty every day.

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An official post on Black Ops’ forums reads, “We have partnered with GameServers.com as the exclusive provider of dedicated servers for Call of Duty: Black Ops.”

GameServers.com is not running any servers in New Zealand, meaning that kiwi gamers will need to connect to servers hosted in Australia. High pings, then.

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Oldman, known for his work in The Professional, Dracula, Batman: The Dark Knight and most recently, The Book of Eli, will reprise his role as Viktor Reznov from Call of Duty: World at War; and Harris, best known for his roles in films like The Abyss, A History of Violence, Pollock, Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff, will play one of the game’s main characters, CIA operative Jason Hudson.

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An official post on the game’s forum reads, ““We plan to open the game up for modding sometime post-launch.”

“We do not know yet to what extent you will be able to mod the game. There are some purely technical issues related to engine and internal tool enhancements that do not easily fit the modtools paradigm.

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Speaking with Official Xbox Magazine, studio head Mark Lamia said, “We've taken some creative risks, we want to do something different than we've done before.”

In Black Ops, you’ll control an elite operative who is cleared to complete his assignments by any means necessary. The game will certainly touch on the Vietnam war, as Lamia dropped that you’ll have contact with the North Vietnamese.

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The news comes as little surprise as Black Ops’ developer, Treyarch, has long supported the Wii, and been responsible for ports of the Call of Duty franchise to the Nintendo platform.

In spite of being one of the biggest entertainment releases in history, last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was not released on the Wii.

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