Activision today announced a Double XP Weekend for Call of Duty: Black Ops, to celebrate its launch of the First Strike downloadable content on the PlayStation 3. The XP boost already started, and lasts until 8 a.m. PST on Monday.

Though the promotional event is for the PS3 version, all platforms are getting the Double XP boost. Those of you playing on the other platforms can be thankful that you get to benefit from the PS3's good fortune. The 360 got timed exclusivity for the DLC when it launched in February. Both versions cost $15, and a PC release has yet to be announced. Read more »

If you, like me, have ever wished that Call of Duty: Black Ops would use a song other than 'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones in its advertising, you're about to learn an important, Monkey's Paw-style lesson.

To mark the launch of the Cod Blops 'First Strike' map pack on PlayStation 3 today, Activision has released a machinima music video for the power ballad 'Wind of Change' by Scorpions. Read more »

Amid all the Game Developers Conference announcements, the PlayStation Store update happened right on time -- a little earlier than usual, in fact. Pixeljunk Shooter 2 ($9.99) led the pack, along with a full game download for ModNation Racers ($29.99). PS1-era Square fans can rejoice with the arrival of Vagrant Story ($6.99). Read more »

The Xbox 360 exclusivity period for the Call of Duty: Black Ops 'First Strike' map pack will end up being a touch over a month, as Activision Blizzard confirmed today that it'll be released for PlayStation 3 on March 3. The PC release will follow "later in the quarter," which ends on March 31 on Activision's calender.

The company also revealed that First Strike racked up over 1.5 million downloads within the first 24 hours when it launched for Xbox 360 on February 1, priced at for 1,200 Microsoft Points ($15). Read more »

This weekend, Treyarch is hosting its first "Double XP" multiplayer event in its commercial smash-hit Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Though the event was surely scheduled to coincide with the release of the game's first downloadable content pack, players on all platforms are invited to the additional experience. The DLC pack, "First Strike," is currently only available on the Xbox 360. Read more »

[Update: 5:00pm] Entry into this giveaway is now closed. Winners will be contacted via Shackmessage. Check after the break for the winner list.

[Original Post] Today marks the release of the "First Strike" map pack on Xbox 360 for Call of Duty: Black Ops. To welcome new content for the popular shooter, Shacknews staff infiltrated top secret strongholds and extracted a dozen codes for the DLC to give away to our loyal readers. Read more »

Activision has dropped a handful of new screens featuring the first downloadable content for its best-selling behemoth, Call of Duty: Black Ops.

The "First Strike" DLC arrives first on the Xbox 360 on February 1, 2011, for 1200MS Points ($15). The add-on includes five maps: four competitive multiplayer maps and one zombie mode-specific setting. The new batch of images feature some action shots of the new areas players will soon invade. Read more »

The latest trailer for the Call of Duty: Black Ops downloadable content, "First Strike," features more than a few old favorites.

Featured once again in the marketing plan for Activision's cash-cow is "Gimmie Shelter" from the Rolling Stones and a peek at some of the zombie carnage included in the five-map DLC set. Read more »

Audio stuttering in multiplayer, another long-running problem with the PC edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops for some, was in the crosshairs of a new patch released last night for Treyarch's shooter.

Cod Blops on PC was in a sorry state at launch, as our Xav examined, plagued by poor performance and stuttering. A string of patches slowly brought most issues into line. Of course, the PC woes didn't stop the latest multi-platform entry in the hugely popular franchise from passing $1 billion in sales and being the biggest-selling game of 2010. Read more »

On February 1, Call of Duty: Black Ops will welcome its first downloadable content: the "First Strike" map pack. As a short teaser, developer Treyarch has released a new video featuring a glimpse at the upcoming content. Arriving first on the Xbox 360, the pack adds four standard multiplayer maps and one Zombie-mode specific setting. First Strike will be available for 1200MS Points ($15).

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 map packs released under the same timed-exclusive arrangement for Xbox 360 users, with the PC and PS3 seeing the content launch about one month later. Activision has yet to reveal a date for the content on other platforms. Read more »

Although some companies achieved sales milestones in 2010, including Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops and Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, sales throughout the industry were down "as much as 1 percent when compared to 2009," the NPD Group estimates.

Data is still preliminary for "total consumer spend on gaming content via all monetization methods, including new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile game apps," however, the market research company puts complete spending between $15.4 and $15.6 billion. Read more »

The nominees for the 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced, meaning that we now get to see what games the international panel of industry professionals felt are in the running to be acknowledged for the greatest overall achievements over the past year. (via Gamasutra)

The Xbox Live Arcade exclusive, LIMBO, leads the charge with seven nominations, followed closely by Red Dead Redemption (six nominations) and Mass Effect 2 (five nominations). All three front-runners are in the running for GDC's Game of the Year award. Pioneer, Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement Special Awards, as well as the host of this year's awards show, have yet to be revealed. Read more »

Considering that Call of Duty: Black Ops raked in $360 million on launch day and $650 million within five, publisher Activision's proud boast today that sales of the shooter have now passed $1 billion is perhaps no surprise but that still certainly is a big number. Read more »

The inevitable first downloadable content pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops was announced over the weekend on Microsoft's Major Nelson Radio podcast.

Dubbed 'First Strike,' the pack of five maps will launch on February 1, 2011, priced at 1,200 Microsoft Points ($15). As per Microsoft's arrangement with publisher Activision, it'll be released first on Xbox 360. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 map packs released under the same arrangement took around a month to make it PC and PlayStation 3. Read more »

Another patch was promised for the PC edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops and, lo and behold, like mana from heaven or a new skateboard from Santa, it launched last night.

The patch brings a big bag of bug and exploit fixes, tweaks and, perhaps more importantly, even more optimisations aimed at reigning in the terrible performance woes Cod Blops suffered on PC at launch. Previous patches have brought changes aimed at the issues but didn't fully resolve them. Read more »