Call of Duty: Black Ops – Annihilation map pack gets PS3 and PC release date

By Adam Rosenberg Published July 15, 2011

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Call of Duty-loving PlayStation 3 and PC gamers: this is the public service announcement you’ve been waiting for. The Annihilation map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, which is easily the best of the bunch released so far, has an official release date now for non-Xbox 360 platforms. It’s soon too: July 28 for both PS3 and PC, which is less than two weeks away.

Woo hoo!

Annihilation adds four new multiplayer maps and one new zombie map to the Treyarch-developed first-person shooter. On the multiplayer side you’ve got: Drive-In, a small map set in a dilapidated ’50s-style drive-in movie theater, Hangar 18, an outdoor location at Area 51 (complete with alien autopsy room and a weird, floating apple), Hazard, a massive, sniper-loving map that is actually a remake of the World at War location Cliffside, and Silo, set just outside a Russian missile launch facility in an area littered with construction materials (read: cover).

As for the zombies offering, the new map is called Shangri-La. It’s the smallest of the zombie maps available for Black Ops, set around an ancient jungle temple. There are all sorts of progress-hindering traps as well as water spouts, a water slide and a mine cart you can use for quick travel. If you’re a fan of Treyarch’s zombies mode, this is the strongest one so far, perfectly designed for groups of three or four. The expected easter egg is also an epic one, and you PS3/PC players have the added bonus of not having to wait for the community to figure out how to solve it.

In short, more Call of Duty is coming, and it’s rather awesome Call of Duty. Mark your calendars now.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

Gaming

The best weapons in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

A soldier standing in an armory.

To the layman, every gun in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 probably seems the same. They all shoot bullets, right? In reality, that couldn't be further from the truth. Even when you take player skill out of the equation, each gun has vastly different stats and applications that make some, even within their own category, just plain better choices for everyone. Each gun is broken down into various stats, including recoil, ADS speed, damage, and much more, which makes it hard to easily compare them. When you factor in just how many guns are available as you level up and keep unlocking more, the prospect of picking the best ones becomes overwhelming. If you're trying to build the ideal loadout to dominate the current meta, these are the best weapons in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for each weapon type.

We will detail the top picks per each class, and then list the rest in terms of how they rank.
Best assault rifles in MW3

Gaming

The best Call of Duty games, ranked

Soldier holding weapon in Modern Warfare II.

Few video game series are as influential and popular as Call of Duty. The annualized franchise throws players into fast-paced battles across various historical time periods -- along with fictional eras, as well. Call of Duty has taken us to World War II, the Cold War, a modern setting, and even to the future.

Although it's one of the most successful video game franchises out there, Call of Duty's quality varies significantly, with some fantastic entries in the series, but many mediocre ones as well. But which Call of Duty games are worth your time and which ones should you skip? To answer that question, we've ranked all the mainline entries in the series, with details about why you should or shouldn't play that particular game.

Gaming

How to get two primary weapons in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Soldiers battle in an abandoned airport.

Building your loadout in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the same as crafting your build in an RPG. Which weapons and perks you take can completely change how you play and what role you should take in any given match. Typically, you are restricted to equipping a primary and secondary weapon, but previous titles included a perk that allowed you to double up on primary weapons to essentially play double duty. That perk, Overkill, isn't in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, so you will need to look for a different solution to get two primary weapons this time around.
How to equip two primary weapons

Instead of the Overkill perk giving you space to carry two primary weapons, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 introduces the Gunner Vest. This is a piece of gear rather than a perk, and can be unlocked when you hit level 20, or you can use the Overkill vest when you hit level 50. The Gunner vest lets you start with more ammo, reload faster, and, most importantly, equip two primary weapons.