14 DAY TRIAL // Call of Duty: Black Ops is one of the big first person launches of the year, which is also coming to the PC, and Treyarch and Activision are apparently looking to rebuild some bridges that were burned last year by announcing that Black Ops will have fully customizable dedicated servers when it launches.
Mark Lamia, who is the president of developer Treyarch, has told the PC Zone magazine that “I think dedicated servers are excellent. I don't see any reason not to see them unless... well, I just don't see any reason not to. It seems people like them and we're excited about what we're doing right now”.
He then went on to elaborate on the philosophy his company will bring to the multiplayer section of the game, saying that the customization of the dedicated server approach is important but that some players will look to have the easy-to-use matchmaking experience they remember from consoles. Lamia says “We do work very hard to reconcile the desire to manipulate and modify those dedicated servers with offering them the persistent experience and benefits that the console system provides”.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is set to move the action of the series to various moments of the Cold War, with the players leading a team of operatives which engages in “deniable ops” actions all over the world, with the Ural Mountains in Russia, Cuba, Vietnam and the Arctic mentioned as backdrops for the action.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is set to arrive on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 from Sony, the Nintendo Wii and the PC, presumably through Steamworks. The launch date is set for November 9, pretty much the same date when Modern Warfare 2 came out and one month after the launch date for the new Medal of Honor.