Call of Duty: Black Ops bringing gamers together

COD at Wal-Mart is serious business

So I was wandering around Wal-Mart when I saw they had a camouflage tent out in front of the electronics department.  It was for the launch event for the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops.  They were holding a tournament to see who is the best.  It's always good to see gamers coming together.  And nice to see that games are finally getting the recognition that they deserve.  The video game industry has grown significantly over the past couple of years.

And with that so has the budgets for developing games, new technologies, and sales have increased tremendously.  Especially for a game with the Call of Duty title easily will sell millions.  There has been tons of hype regarding  the newest COD game.  It has a very loyal following that don't mind picking up the newest COD game every year (even though sometimes it's just minor updates).  It's not as bad as the Madden games though, that can just basically be a roster update.

Dramatic reenactment of GameStop heist

The lines are always long at the midnight releases for those eager gamers that can't wait to get their hands on it.  There were even a couple of over zealous fans that robbed a GameStop at gun point.  Thankfully no one was hurt, but they got away with an estimated 100 copies.  That story was reported on many news sites including ABC news.  Even the fact that the game is being released was newsworthy for sites that aren't even gaming related.

I can't really say that I am a fan of the COD series.  I would much rather them hold launch events for the new Devil May Cry game, Tekken, or LittleBigPlanet.  I guess COD just isn't my type of game, I don't really "get it".  I can see that it is a polished game, and that it would be fun to play.  It just won't really hold my attention for too long.  I do enjoy shooters though I used to play a lot on the PC when they were big.  Games like Quake, Unreal Tournament, and Half-Life.  So I guess I like a bit more sci-fi in my shooters.

Games, guns, and red bull. What more do you need?

I'm hoping it continues to be a trend that launch events for games are getting bigger.  Local gaming tournaments are always fun to go to as well.  One thing that most gamers lack is a community.  A place to gather and game together.  To socialize outside of the internet and hang out.

Multi-player games are fun and certainly more popular than they have ever been.  But couch co-op is dying.  At least for the hardcore gamer.  The Wii, Kinect, and Move have tons of games for casual local multi-player games.  I would like to see more couch co-op games that cater to the hardcore.

I have a lot of fond memories getting together with friends growing up playing games like Goldeneye, or Twisted Metal.  There is an abundance of places you can go to get drunk or dance (bars and clubs)  but there really aren't many places you can go out to game.  I don't really mean arcades either but that is a step in the right direction.  I suppose they do have cyber cafes and that's kind of what I'm talking about.  There needs to be a place in every city where gamers can gather and game together.  A home away from home.  Maybe someday there will be such a place, until then I'll keep dreaming.

If you saw the title and read this hoping for some gameplay of COD: Black Ops I got you covered.  Here are some videos showing off the multi-player and customization: