Hurricane Sandy-related power outages are to blame for a variety of tech issues today. Gaming has not been spared the weather's wrath, and Activision has announced that online play for select Call of Duty and Guitar Hero titles will be problematic while data centers attempt to restore power.

Read more: Modern Warfare and Black Ops affected »

Mac gaming has come a long, long way over the past few years, but apparently not everyone has received the memo yet. While Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is mere months away for launching on PC and consoles, the original Cod Blops from 2010 is only just making its way to shiny white Apple things this week.

Read more: $50 with one DLC pack »

If you're an Android owner and a fan of capping the undead, you might have been a little disappointed by last month's news that Black Ops Zombies was only available exclusively on Sony Xperia devices. Unless you happened to own Sony's Xperia S or Xperia Ion, you were out of luck. Fortunately, that exclusivity window has closed and now any Android player can get their zombie fix.

Read more: $6.99 for zombie-hunting »

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies, the mobile undead-centric spin-off from the console Black Ops title, has now hit Android. The bad news? If you happen to own any Android device but Sony's Xperia S or Xperia Ion, you'll have to wait another 30 days to get it on your device. Yes, even open platforms are getting hardware exclusivity deals now.

Read more: Dead-Ops gauntlet mode and points-perks system »

While Electronic Arts is celebrating the fourth with double XP in Battlefield 3, Activision is taking a different approach. Starting today, all previously released DLC for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops will be available for half-off. The deal is available on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, and will be ongoing for a week.

Read more: Donation being made to the CODE »

Sure, the rest of the world is waiting for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, but Mac gamers will finally be able to get their hands on the original Treyarch shooter later this year. It will be the first Mac Call of Duty since the original Modern Warfare. Neither Modern Warfare 2 and 3 were ever ported to OS X.

Mac specialist publisher Aspyr Media is handling the port, and is aiming to have it available at both retail and online later this fall.

Read more: DLC to also arrive 'later this year' »

While Activision's official reveal isn't set until May 1st, it appears the cat is finally out of the bag. This year's entry to the Call of Duty series will be Black Ops 2, a pre-order card spotted at Target reveals.

According to the promotional materials, the Treyarch-developed sequel will be available on November 13th, giving it an almost-clever release date of 11/13/12.

See: Target spoils Activision's reveal »

Call of Duty: Black Ops may be getting a sequel this year, if online retailer Amazon is to be believed. The site's French arm put up a product page for "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2," before pulling the page down. That's when things reportedly started to heat up between Activision and the French media.

Read more: French site asked to take down the news »

A Lewisville, TX teen playing Call of Duty: Black Ops had police at his door on Monday, after a prank 911 call gave a false report of gun violence at his house. The teenage boy, whose name was withheld from reports, was playing on the Xbox 360 when a voice he didn't recognize threatened to send police to his house.

"Some dude just popped out of nowhere, and basically said he's going to hack me, he's going to get my information, call the SWAT team over to my front yard," the boy said.

Read more: Offender used relay service to call emergency line »

It's likely that there will be another Call of Duty game this year, and it's a safe bet to assume it won't be Modern Warfare 4. (Not yet, anyway!) So what could Activision be working on? Well, history has taught us that it should be developer Treyarch's turn to churn out this year's iteration of Call of Duty--and what exactly could they be working on?

They could be working on a sequel to Black Ops, 2010's entry which took the franchise to the Vietnam War. A new report reveals that Activision has managed to acquire the blackops2.com domain, and has transferred it to a brand protection company.

Read more: Activision registers URLs, including Black Ops 6 »

The Call of Duty franchise occupies the three top spots in Microsoft's chart of the most-played games on Xbox Live in 2011, with Call of Duty: Black Ops claiming the throne. Microsoft has also shared the top-twenty charts for Xbox Live Arcade, Games for Windows Live, Xbox Live Indie Games, and Windows Phone.

Read more: Age of Empires Online tops GFWL »

If Modern Warfare 3's lack of zombies has you feeling down, don't fret. Activision is releasing yet another zombie-centric Call of Duty game for iOS tomorrow.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies is a follow-up to last year's Call of Duty: World at War Zombies app. The universal app will be available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, and will include the Kino der Toten map from the console game.

Read more: Dead Ops Arcade included »

Call of Duty Elite was swamped when it launched alongside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 this month, leaving most players unable to access the social service. It's still spotty, but publisher Activision has now said that it intends to have everything up and running by December 1.

Read more: "It was our fault," says Activision »

After a full week of Xbox Live activity tracking, EA's Battlefield 3 has climbed to second place, snuggled between two titles in the Call of Duty franchise for the week of October 31. Topping the list is Call of Duty: Black Ops, which Activision called "the [number one] best-selling title in dollars in aggregate across all platforms in the U.S. and Europe for each of the first three quarters of 2011," in its fiscal third quarter report.

During its investor relations call yesterday, Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg noted that "remarkably" Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 remained the top titles "before, during, and after" the launch of its "competitor's products." Despite it only being tracked for five of seven days on Xbox Live following its October 25 launch, Battlefield 3 debuted at third on the Xbox Live Activity List, provided by Xbox Live's director of programming Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb.

Read more: Four Call of Duty titles in the Top 20 »

Let's say you love playing Call of Duty, but you hate your 0.1 K/D ratio, getting sniped and stabbed seconds of spawning. If only there were some way money could make you a better player. Activision is proposing just that, with the Call of Duty Elite service.

One of the pillars of Activision's new subscription service is "Improve," which is supposed to step your game up. "It's the ultimate strategy guide for Call of Duty," Beachhead's Jennifer Puno explains.

Read more: What's included with a subscription »