Activision debuted the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer mode in Los Angeles last night, and after glugging down a few Brown Derby’s with the bespectacled spy ladies, we were able to sit down with community director Josh Olin to discuss the game’s most exciting new feature: the gambling system.
That’s right. Call of Duty: Black Ops is adding a currency system, and the means to gamble with it, essentially turning the game into a giant online murder casino.
CoDpoints – as the money is called - are used to access pretty much everything Black Ops has to offer. You want to buy a ballistic knife? Spend some CoDpoints. How about the image of a gun-toting Clydesdale for your customized emblem? More CoDpoints. The right to brazenly mow down your enemies with a fully controllable gunship? Only if you’re rolling in the CoDpoints, my friend.
The good news is: earning the little buggers couldn’t be more fun.
To start you off, there’s a brand new six-man free-for-all called a “wager match”, in which you bet a set amount of CoDpoints in the lobby that you will finish the match in the top three on the scoreboard. Though we were given an absurd amount of money to bet with, it added a fun new twist to the proceedings, and for a moment we wondered if there was a way to put our daughter’s college tuition in the pot.
Just kidding. We’re nothing like our dads.
Anyway, while wager match may be the omnipresent slot machine of this casino, it’s not the only way to make your fortune. “One in the Chamber” spawns every player with a pistol and a single bullet, “Gun Game” has players working their way up from pistol to RPG, gaining a new weapon with every kill, and “Sharpshooter” is a game of chance, in which every player starts with a randomly chosen weapon.
If that’s not enough to make you want to hock your dead wife’s wedding ring, then wait until we tell you about contracts. Contracts are time sensitive challenges that you can buy – for example, one gave you an hour to knife five enemies in a row. If you complete them in time, you can make some serious amounts of CoD cash.
“You know, if we could have you guys playing our game 24-7 we would,” Mr. Olin said, already acting the part of a greedy pit boss. He paused for a moment before adding: “Okay, maybe bathroom breaks...”
Adding gambling is an entirely new thrill on top of an already thrilling franchise, and when you toss in stuff like brand new levels, customizable classes, and a kamikaze RC car, Call of Duty: Black Ops begins too look like the kind of casino we’d like to check in to for a solid month. All it needs now is a killer midnight brunch.
