14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher Activision Blizzard has announced that it will be offering all those interested in the Call of Duty franchise a chance to enjoy the multiplayer section of last year's Black Ops for free this weekend.
For Activision the weekend starts on Thursday at 10 AM Pacific Standard Time and Steam is now allowing all those who want to take part to pre-load Call of Duty: Black Ops in order to be able to jump in straight to the multiplayer when the game unlocks.
The official announcement on Steam does not say when the game is locked down again, available only to those who have bought it, but the free weekend will probably end at 10 AM Pacific Time on Monday.
Only the base game is available, which means that the map packs that Activision Blizzard and Treyarch have put out are not included.
This is enough time for anyone to get quite a few matches in an form a clear opinion on the multiplayer side of the game and decide whether a purchase is a good idea.
Today PC gamers also get access to the Escalation map pack for Black Ops, content that is already available for those playing the game on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.
The Free Weekend is a good way of raising interest in the game and generating some extra sales for both the core experience and for the DLC.
Recently Activision Blizzard has officially confirmed that it was working on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, following a massive leak from Infinity Ward that offered extensive information for both the single player and the multiplayer game modes.
The company has also recently talked about Call of Duty Elite, a new subscription-based service that will launch during the fall and will allow players access to more in-game tracking, social features and to all the launched DLC for Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3.