While Treyarch just rolled out a big Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 update patch yesterday, the studio rolled out a server-side Black Ops 4 update today, that fixes a few technical issues, low population Blackout fixes, and lots more.

Summary:

• Bug fixes and gameplay improvements in Multiplayer, Blackout, and Zombies.
• Added a second rotating playlist for lower player population regions in addition to the global Featured Playlist option on consoles in Blackout.
• Redeploying multiple times in Hot Pursuit now provides players with progressive loadouts in Blackout.
• Nomad’s K9-Unit kills will now properly track toward the “Special Weapon Kills” Challenge in Multiplayer.
• Gameplay improvements and stability fixes for “Ancient Evil” in Zombies (PS4).
• Stability fix for new Zombshell Perk in Zombies (PS4).

​PS4:

The following updates are live on PS4, with other platforms to follow:

ZOMBIES

• Ancient Evil
  • Gaia Wonder Weapon can no longer insta-kill zombies at high rounds.
  • Addressed an issue with characters speaking over the Pegasus cut scene.
  • Addressed visual issues that could occur when a player was downed while the “Do Not Take Damage” Tribute was active.
  • Addressed a streaming issue with the Giant Drakaina on the dark side of the map.
  • Addressed a rare issue where enemies could become un-targetable by wonder weapons during Main Quest Amphitheater step.
• Stability
  • Ancient Evil
    • Fixed a crash that could occur during the Redeemed Hand of Gaia Quest.
  • Zombshell Perk
    • Fixed a crash that could occur when a player was downed while the Zombshell Perk’s area effect was active.

PS4 and Xbox One:

The following updates are live on PS4 and Xbox One, with PC to follow:

MULTIPLAYER

• Equipment
  • Thrown Equipment will now damage the correct enemy if the player changes teams while the Equipment is still active.
• Challenges
  • Nomad’s K9-Unit kills will now properly track toward the “Special Weapon Kills” Challenge.
• Lobby
  • Addressed an issue where lobbies could occasionally become non-joinable.

BLACKOUT

• Game Modes
  • Hot Pursuit
    • Redeploying multiple times in Hot Pursuit now provides players with progressive loadouts, up to a final loadout stage including an MX9 and Armor.
• Playlist Update
  • Added a second rotating playlist for lower player population regions in addition to the global Featured Playlist option. Currently set at Duos.
• UI
  • Cleaned up overlapping text that sometimes appeared on the Eliminated screen.

ZOMBIES

• Host Migration
  • Addressed an issue where Scarlett would always appear in the After Action Report after a host migration.
• Stability
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when the non-host of a 2-player private game disconnected from the match.

​In other Black Ops 4 news, Treyarch released the Triple Play bundle yesterday which costs almost half the game.

Source: Reddit

Update:

The full patch notes are now available (via Reddit)!

Summary:

• General
  • Weapon tuning pass in Multiplayer, Blackout, and Zombies.
  • Reactive Camos now available on all guns (Gold camo no longer required).
  • Reduced potential max amount of flinch while not aiming down sights.
  • Fixes and improvements for Theater, Paintshop, and IU issues.
  • Stability and bug fixes in Multiplayer, World League Hub, and Zombies.
  • Free Weapon Crate with guaranteed MKII Signature Weapon now available in the Black Market (PS4).
• Multiplayer
  • Barebones game modes now live in Core and Hardcore in Multiplayer (PS4).
  • Ricochet Friendly Fire rules added to all Hardcore modes.
  • XP rewards increased for several medal events.
  • Increased score for collecting an enemy dog tag in Kill Confirmed to 100.
  • Gameplay improvements for various Specialists, Care Package, and Tactical Mask.
• Zombies
  • “Ancient Evil” now live for Black Ops Pass holders (PS4).
  • New Perk available: Zombshell (PS4).
  • New Elixirs available: Suit Up, Dividend Yield, Talkin’ Bout Regeneration, Bullet Boost, and Quacknarok (PS4).
  • New Talismans available: Glowing Phylactery and Battered Dragon Scale (PS4).
• Blackout
  • Sparrow and EMP Disruptor added.
  • Escalating Collapse damage added to counter out-healing others in the final circle.
  • Added co-pilot support for the Little Bird and the Cargo Truck.
  • Reduced glare in the Blackout map when looking toward the sun.
  • Home Wrecker melee weapon now available in Contraband Stashes (PS4).
• World League Hub
  • Added ranks 21-30.
  • Ricochet Friendly Fire rules added for all League Play matches.
  • UI and Create-a-Class improvements.

PS4:

The following updates are live on PS4, with other platforms to follow:

MULTIPLAYER

• Game Modes
  • Barebones
    • Barebones added as Featured Playlist on PS4.
    • 6v6 with no Specialist Weapons, Special Issue Equipment, Gear, or Operator Mods allowed.
    • Equipment is now single-use with no cooldowns. Equipment is fully charged on each respawn.
    • Spawn Select disabled.
    • Both playlists include Team Deathmatch and Domination.
    • Core and Hardcore playlists available in Featured category.

ZOMBIES

• Maps
  • Ancient Evil
    • New “Ancient Evil” map added for Black Ops Pass holders.
• New Perk
  • Zombshell
    • Basic zombies have a chance to explode when killed, leaving behind a contamination field that slows enemies and increases damage dealt to them.
    • Modifier: Players with the modifier are ignored by zombies while standing in the contamination field. Weapon reload speed is increased.
• New Elixirs
  • Suit Up (Epic)
    • Player and nearby teammates get full Armor, which lasts until destroyed.
    • Instant activation.
  • Dividend Yield (Legendary)
    • Some of the points earned create additional bonus points for all players.
    • Instant activation. Lasts 5 minutes.
  • Talkin’ Bout Regeneration (Rare)
    • The player’s health constantly regenerates while moving.
    • Instant activation. Lasts 4 minutes.
  • Bullet Boost (Common)
    • Applies or re-rolls an alternate ammo type to the player’s current weapon (if supported). Weapon damage is not affected.
    • Instant activation.
  • Quacknarok (Classic Whimsical)
    • Zombies now wear a duck float with hilarious results.
    • Instant activation. Lasts 5 minutes.
  • NOTE: Quacknarok is a durable Elixir rather than a consumable Elixir.
• New Talismans
  • Glowing Phylactery (Epic)
    • Start the match with an extra self-revive.
  • Battered Dragon Scale (Legendary)
    • Activating your Special Weapon gives increased armor, which lasts until destroyed.
• Stability
  • Resolved an issue that rarely caused instability when signing out and back in on PS4 during a game.

BLACKOUT

• Contraband Stashes
  • Home Wrecker melee weapon now available in Contraband Stashes.

GENERAL

• Stability
  • Fixed a crash related to signing in and out of accounts on PS4.
  • Addressed an issue where players could get in a stuck state after switching accounts on the title screen.

PS4 and Xbox One:

The following updates are live on PS4 and Xbox One, with PC to follow:

MULTIPLAYER

Weapon Tuning

• Submachine Guns
  • Cordite
    • Increased sprint-out speed.
    • Extended 5-shot range from 2.5 meters 4 meters. [Console only]
  • Daemon 3XB
    • Extended 6-shot range from 8 meters to 11.5 meters.
  • MX9
    • Increased ADS-out speed.
    • Increased sprint-out speed.
  • Spitfire
    • Extended 6-shot range from 7 meters to 7.5 meters. [Console only]
  • Saug 9mm
    • Increased sprint-out speed.
  • Switchblade X9
    • Increased magazine size from 26 to 30.
    • Players now spawn with 3 extra magazines instead of 2.
• Assault Rifles
  • KN-57
    • Extended 4-shot range from 16 meters to 17 meters.
    • Extended 5-shot range from 46 meters to 57 meters.
• Tactical Rifles
  • ABR 223
    • Increased ADS-in speed.
    • Ammo increased from 30 to 36.
    • Extended 4-shot range from 32 meters to 38 meters.
• Sniper Rifles
  • Paladin HB50
    • Increased magazine size from 5 to 6.
    • Reduced reload speed.
  • SDM
    • Increased fire rate.
• Pistols
  • RK 7 Garrison
    • Increased damage. Now takes 1 less bullet to kill at all ranges.
  • Mozu
    • Extended 3-shot range from 19 meters to 24 meters.
    • Extended 4-shot range from 25 meters to 32 meters.
    • Extended 5-shot range from 32 meters to 38 meters.
  • Strife
    • Increased fire rate.

Friendly Fire

• New Friendly Fire system added to all World League and Hardcore game modes:
  • Ricochet Friendly Fire is now enabled for the first 15 seconds of a match or round.
  • After the first 15 seconds, the first 3 teamkills will be true friendly fire, where the victim will take full damage.
  • After the first 3 teamkills, any subsequent damage dealt to a teammate will ricochet back to the attacker instead of damaging the teammate.
  • Once transitioned to the Ricochet system, further Ricochet teamkills will incur an escalating respawn delay penalty.
  • The player will then be allowed 3 Ricochet teamkills before being removed from the match.
  • Damaging a teammate who is planting or defusing a bomb will ricochet damage back to the attacking teammate in World League.

XP

• Increased XP earned for all Scorestreak kills to 100 XP.
• Increased XP awarded for killing the K9-Unit to 100 XP.
• Increased XP awarded for Ice Pick Shutdown to 100 XP.
• Increased XP awarded for destroying an RC-XD to 100 XP.
• Increased XP awarded for killing a Swat Team unit to 250 XP.
• Increased XP for the Forward Position Medal to 250 XP.

Game Modes

• Kill Confirmed
  • Increased score for collecting an enemy dog tag in Kill Confirmed to 100.
• Search and Destroy
  • Addressed an issue where spectating in Search and Destroy could cause team colors to display incorrectly on the scoreboard.
• Heist
  • Addressed an issue where the end of the round pips could be on the wrong team.

Specialists

• Nomad
  • Added pathing and spawning improvements for Nomad’s K9-Unit.
  • K9-Unit now properly takes damage from Razor Wire.
• Outrider
  • Players hit by a fully-charged Sparrow shot will now properly hear the impact sound of the bolt.

Perks

• Tactical Mask
  • Players with Tactical Mask who have been downed by an enemy Tempest no longer chain to teammates after the Tempest status effect wears off.

Scorestreaks

• Care Package
  • Addressed an issue where being killed while claiming a Care Package could cause issues with controllable Scorestreaks.
  • Addressed an issue where the Care Package would not drop from the helicopter if a player called it in along the water in Madagascar.

Custom Games

• Addressed an issue where the Bonus Maps tab was not appearing in Offline Local Games.
• Fixed a crash in Custom Games related to turning the Specialist Draft off.

WORLD LEAGUE HUB

• New Ranks
  • Added Ranks 21-30 to League Play.
• UI
  • Players will now get a notification that they’ve received a Calling Card when they reach ranks that award them.
  • Rank up animations will now start at the player’s current rank instead of their final rank.
  • Players in the Top 5 will be labeled as “Top 5” instead of “Top 10” in their League Play Event results screen.
• Create-a-Class
  • Addressed an issue with restricted items appearing in Custom Classes.
  • Addressed an issue where restricted Scorestreaks could appear as selected.

BLACKOUT

Weapon Tuning

• Submachine Guns
  • Cordite
    • Increased sprint-out speed.
  • MX9
    • Increased ADS-out speed.
    • Increased sprint-out speed.
  • Saug 9mm
    • Increased sprint-out speed.
  • Switchblade X9
    • Increased magazine size from 26 to 30.
• Sniper Rifles
  • SDM
    • Increased fire rate.
• Pistols
  • RK 7 Garrison
    • Increased damage. Now takes 1 less bullet to kill at all ranges.
  • Strife
    • Increased fire rate.

Map

• Reduced glare intensity when looking toward the sun in the Blackout map.

Weapons

• Outrider’s Sparrow can now be found in Supply Stashes.

Equipment

• Zero’s EMP Disruptor grenade can now be found in the Blackout map.

Vehicles

• Added co-pilot support for the Little Bird and the Cargo Truck.
• Made improvements to Muscle Car collision to fix instances where a Muscle Car driver was unable to kill enemies.

Customization

• Addressed an issue with various camos not appearing properly on the MX9 Tactical.

Stability

• Fixed a rare crash that could occur when swapping and equipping an item.

Miscellaneous

• Re-enabled the ability to hold the Use button continuously to use multiple Armor Plates and activate Perks without needing to release the input.
• Removed blur from the Victory Screen.
• Addressed instances where characters’ lobby animations could become corrupted.
• Addressed an issue that prevented mode-specific loading screen tips from being properly displayed.
• Addressed an issue where users could find Seraph’s Annihilator inside of a Supply Stash.

ZOMBIES

Weapon Tuning

• Submachine Guns
  • Cordite
    • Increased sprint-out speed.
  • MX9
    • Increased ADS-out speed.
    • Increased sprint-out speed.
  • Saug 9mm
    • Increased sprint-out speed.
• Tactical Rifles
  • ABR 223
    • Increased ADS-in speed.
• Sniper Rifles
  • Paladin HB50
    • Reduced reload speed.
  • SDM
    • Increased fire rate.
• Pistols
  • Strife
    • Increased fire rate.

Global

• High-Round Stability
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when displaying certain text strings, particularly during high-round matches.
• Perks
  • Closed a Mule Kick exploit that allowed players to acquire more than one Wonder Weapon on several maps.
  • Improved the clarity of the description for the Stamin-Up Perk.
• Special Weapons
  • Addressed an issue that sometimes caused the XP bar to display an inaccurate value while charging up a weapon.
• Armory
  • Addressed an issue causing the Cordite Zero G Mastercraft menu to display incorrect visual stage information for the weapon.
• Create-A-Class
  • Addressed an issue that prevented the model preview from updating appropriately when switching between tabs in the Talisman and Elixir Menus.
• Lobby
  • Addressed an issue that prevented the Solo button from functioning until the selection was unselected and back to the button after backing out of a match.
• UI
  • Addressed an issue that caused the self-revive prompt to remain visible in the Options menu.
  • Addressed an issue that sometimes prevented a player’s name from being displayed properly while reviving.
  • Addressed an issue where Prestige Master icons remained locked after reaching the appropriate level.
• Host Migration
  • Addressed an issue that would rarely cause host migration to fail, resulting in the match ending.
  • Addressed an issue that prevented being able to join an applicable game in progress after the match had migrated hosts.
  • Addressed an issue that caused Perk icons on the HUD granted by the Perk Up Elixir to disappear after migrating hosts.
  • Addressed a rare issue that caused certain lights to turn off after migrating hosts.

Custom Games

• Stability
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when acquiring a Perk reward with all Perks disabled.
• Custom Rules
  • Addressed issues that caused several custom rules for the Enhanced AI category to function incorrectly.
  • Addressed an issue that caused the Headshots Only custom rule for basic zombies to apply to all enemy types.
  • Added better descriptions that detail which enemy types are affected by option groups in the Enemies Menu.

Miscellaneous

• Gauntlets
  • Addressed an issue that prevented rewards from being granted when players disconnected before the end of the match.
  • Addressed an issue that prevented weapons with the Kill Counter or Clan Tag attached from counting as a weapon without attachments on “Hellcatraz”.
  • Addressed an issue that rarely prevented Pack-A-Punch sound FX from playing while upgrading a weapon on “Hellcatraz”.
  • Added a HUD indicator to inform users that they cannot fire while aiming down sights with the Brazen Bull during the “Shoot From The Hip” round on “Veni, Vidi, Zombie!”
• Rush
  • Addressed an issue that caused zombies to stop spawning during the third defense location if the user was downed before the timer ran out.
• Blood of the Dead
  • Closed multiple exploits in locations that could be exploited to avoid danger from zombies.
  • Addressed an issue that caused visual FX on the Warden’s Key to stop appearing when switching targets.
  • Addressed an issue that caused loss of functionality when spawning a Spoon while the Ragnarok DG-5 was equipped.
  • Addressed an issue that caused certain boards to become unrepairable.
• Dead of the Night
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when hitting a Bat with the Ethereal Razor equipped.
• Voyage of Despair
  • Addressed an issue that prevented progression of the Portal Pass side quest when using alternate ammo types during the vent step.
  • Addressed an issue that prevented progression of the Skeleton Rider side quest if the Shields Up Elixir had been used.
• Tutorial
  • Rearranged columns on the scoreboard for consistency compared to other game modes.

GENERAL

• Flinch
  • Reduced the maximum amount of flinch a player can exhibit while not aiming down sights.
• Reactive Camos
  • Reactive Camos are now available on all guns, not only on those with Gold camo unlocked.
  • Reactive Camo starts wrapped on all guns.
  • Any weapon can be used to complete the unwrap requirement.
• Theater
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when skipping through playback of Blackout matches.
  • Fixed various crashes related to playing back Zombie Gauntlet footage.
  • Addressed an issue where facial animations could stop during playback and rewind.
  • HUD elements should no longer appear when playing back Hardcore Blackout footage.
• Mesh Mines
  • Increased the height of the Mesh Mine trace in Multiplayer and Blackout for more consistent detonations.
• Paintshop
  • Addressed an issue where the scroll indicators were cut off if the player had more than 10 paintjobs.
• UI
  • Addressed an issue in the Social menu where player Emblems and ranks weren’t displaying correctly.

Treyarch has rolled out Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 1.16 just now, and it’s at hefty 11.8GB on PS4! While we’re waiting for the full and official patch notes, Treyarch user Arcade_Master22  has rounded up some of the changes included in the Black Ops 4 update today!

Barebones

• No Specialists (duh). No Tac Deploy, no Ice Pick, no nothing.
• No Operator Mods.
• Manual healing, so you have your (kind of) standard BO4 experience.
• No gear (that means no Stim Shot).
• Standard Issue Equipment will be fully charged upon spawning, one use per life. Restock upon respawn.
• Fog of War will stay as part of the experience. Squad Link, anyone?
• The Barebones playlist will have TDM and Domination only, with both Core and Hardcore variations for all Hardcore fans.

League Play

• New ranks are being added, from 21 to 30.
• Tony Flame talked about League Play’s success. Players have engaged with the gamemode “even more than in BO2”.
• The key design goal was to make players feel enticed to play the gamemode without making them feel overly punished, while also making more skilled players proud of their achievements and improvements.
• Skill Divisions are a new feature. It layers on top of the existing League Play systems, with progression being the same as before. Players are placed on ladders based on skill, and there are 5 of them: Top 2%, 15%, 30%, 50% and everyone else. Your rank icon will have a banner that displays your skill level, based on real skill rating, and visible to all players.
• The bonus pool will now be event-wide, not daily, and with a larger bonus amount. This allows players to gain bonuses without having to play every day. Especially useful for people that cannot play the game 18 hours a day (just kidding).
• The team is looking to improve party matchmaking in the gamemode when the skill gap between party members is too high, leading to issues with matchmaking.
• They are also looking into adding a CWL playlist with reworked specialist weapon recharges, making it so you have to earn them instead of self-charging over time.

Friendly Fire

• The Friendly Fire (FF) system has received an overhaul based on players’ feedback.
• The design goal is to desincentivize griefing, while being lenient to players who do unintentional teamkills and were punished regardless, or are stuck in that kind of toxic matches.
• FF will act “normally” for the first 3 kills, counting as teamkills. After that, the system will change to Ricochet FF (which recently became popular in CoD WWII), reflecting all damage inflicted to teammates to yourself. Ricochet will also be activated briefly at the start of every round upon spawning.
• This overhauled system will be avaivable to every gamemode which uses FF, like Hardcore and League Play.
• The team will be looking for areas of improvement for the system with fan feedback.

Blackout

• David Vonderhaar reflected on the addition of more Specialist weapons and equipment, like the Purifier. They are continuing with that additions with the Sparrow and EMP grenades.
• The EMP grenade, Zero’s Special Issue Equipment, will temporalily stop active vehicles’ engines, preventing them from running over you and providing a tactical counterplay to them.
• The Sparrow will only have 10 arrows, it has interesting ballistics to play with, and Vonderhaar says it’s more of a “humilliation” weapon. Only avaivable from Care Packages.
• Vonderhaar says adding ammo types for the specialist weapons (or one type of “specialist ammo”) would be both confusing and too meta/balance-altering, will stay as it is.
• He also says the team understands how adding this “power weapons” can be divisive amog the community. Especially after starting with the Purifier, and they have learned some lessons from that, he states.
• The addition of EMP grenades and the ability for Barricades to affect vehicles is part of a long-term effort to balance the interactions between players and vehicles to make them more fair and less one-sided. The spawn frequency and locations for the EMP grenade will be tweaked with the data the team will be collecting on its usage.
• People were apparently abusing perk combinations (like Medic, Outlander and Consumer) to stay in the collapse longer than intended. After a lot of (perhaps angry) tweets, Vonderhaar says the team has tweaked the collapse damage to rapidly escalate the longer you’re there, especially during later rounds.
• There’s a new melee weapon, the Demo Hammer, and according to Vonderhaar, the idea was Tony Flame’s. Purely cosmetic, BTW. Yeah. I wanted one of Killing Floor 2′ most unique weapons in BO4… Bummer.
• Past LTMs like Ambush have inspired current experiences like Hot Pursuit.
• Ambush 2.0 will be coming to BO4 (not really called like that). No more ATVs or ARAVs running over you and your squadmates as THAT ISN’T THE SPIRIT OF THE MODE, according to Vonderhaar. No SDM (Vonderhaar’s favourite weapon), Shotguns are added to the mix and the 4X scope spawn rate is increased. More close range and long range, no running over, just good-ol’ Cargo Truck for your transportation needs.
• Vondehaar says there is “an expectation” for Blackout modes to be improved and iterated upon. As such, the new gamemode will be monitored and improved/changed if necessary after its taken from rotation.
• The After-Action Report screen will be reworked to better reflect performance and LTM-specific actions, which may include new Victory conditions for future LTM modes (hmmm…).
• According to Vonderhaar, Operation Grand Heist’s closing days will have something “pretty neat” in store for the players he can’t talk about yet. Alcatraz-based gamemode, perhaps?

Weapon Tuning, AKA Anti-Nerfs and Reverse Buffs

• Weapon usage variety is quite healthy, according to Tony Flame. There’s no gun as unilaterally popular as the AN-94 or the VMP, there’s more diversity in players’ selections overall.
• Micro-buffs to SMGs’ damage and handling. No exact stats disclosed.
• Tony Flame reflected on the Handguns’ balance philosophy in BO2. They were cheap to equip, but had redeeming qualities that made the point inversion worth it. The team went with a more “classic” approach in BO4 (as in weaker handguns), which resulted in less handgun usage.
• As such, Handguns are getting proper buffed, it seems. No nerfs whatsoever. No exact stats disclosed.
• They try to balance both “casual” and Pro communities’ feedback to make decisions about weapon tuning.
• KN-57’s range and ABR-223’s ammo and handling are being tweaked for the Pro meta. The Rampart-17 had a change to its global flinch while not aiming (past change, it seems).
• Now, here’s the interesting one: The Paladin HB-50 will get a magazine size buff from 5 to 6. Slower mid and full reloads to compensate.
• SDM’s fire rate is getting buffed.
• And probably the biggest one: Hit Detection improvement. Tony Flame says they designed a system that has been tracking issues with Hit Detection for quite some time now, and now they have the data to take action on those issues. Could this finally make Hit Detection better? I hope so.

Infected

• First added to a Treyarch CoD game in BO3 with help from Raven Software, fan-favourite Infected now returns to BO4, totally developed in-house, coming right around the corner (that likely means not tomorrow, sorry for the confusion!). Quite self-explanatory, not much more revealed. Here’s hoping for unique gameplay twists and 18 players! (wonder which one is more likely…)

Deathmatch Domination

• Inspired by Miles Leslie’ presumed inability to PTFO (lol), it’s the gamemode we all know and love, with a spin: kills contribute to the overall team score, regardless of captured flags. The score limit in both halves of the match will be 200, to add up to a total of 400 (similar to the Endurance variation of the gamemode). Also coming later this Operation (apologies for the confusion!). Lone Wolfs rejoice!

Arsenal Sandstorm

• One of BO4 classics return with a sandy makeover, changing overall visibility on the map and making sniping and high-powered scopes usage more difficult and tactical.

Reactive Camo change

• NOW YOU CAN EQUIP AVAIVABLE REACTIVE CAMOS WITHOUT UNLOCKING GOLD FOR A WEAPON!!! Now I can use my reactive camos without no-lifing Dark Matter on my shitty internet connection. Thanks Treyarch!

BONUS POINTS INTEL

• Treyarch made it so the Scorestreak kills-based medals now award at least 100 XP. Cool!
• They are looking into lifting some of the game’s current restrictions (like they just did with the reactive camos), and are asking for fan feedback to identify and work on them. Discuss away!
• The new Declassified episode goes in-depth on how sound design and the creative process behind it can complement the game and the feelings it evokes to the players. Brian Tuey and Jack Wall go in a good amount of detail about how Black Ops music is made, and how it helped to shape the sub-franchise’s identity.
• Vonderhaar also talked about how sound design can be used as a designing tool, transmitting important gameplay info to players while freeing precious HUD space and adding into the inmersive feeling a game can produce.
• Apparently, the new Sniper Rifle is called “Vendetta”, likely a reference to the Russian campaign mission in CoD: WAW where you first meet Viktor Reznov. Source.

Once the official patch notes are out, we’ll update the post.