Is it possible to “try out” guns?

Question

I am just starting out and it's expensive to buy guns just to find out that I dislike them. Where can I test weapons in Call of Duty: Black Ops?

Asked by Earlz

Answer

No one can say what is the best gun for someone else. It just takes practice with each gun and such. But there is a way to try out guns without having to spend your precious COD points.

Just enter combat training. Make the difficulty "recruit" and setup a game of team deathmatch and 9 enemies against just you. This will give you tons of XP and COD points in combat training. It took me about 2 hours to get to level 25 with this. Once you unlock the gun and have the COD points, just buy it from combat training. Use it and figure out if you like it, then go back to the real game and buy it if you wish. I did this after prestiging once and I regret it. I would've got to first prestige much faster if I had known what guns would work for me and what wouldn't. (same goes for perks and equipment and such)

Answered by Earlz

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How does the attack dog killstreak work?

Question

How many dogs spawn with the attack dog killstreak? Is there a set amount, or do they just spawn for X seconds?

Asked by Rapida

Answer

The dogs spawn for ~60 seconds continuously. There tends to only be 4-5 dogs active at once, but when one dies another replaces it by jumping into the map somewhere else.

However, the dog mechanic is quite a bit different in Black-ops then it was in World at War. Because dogs are harder to get (11 kill streak instead of 7) they now kill in 1 bite. But instead of immediately 'knowing' the location of enemies dogs are now attracted to gunfire, making them much easier to avoid

Answered by Aardvark

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Escape CoD:BO's main menu in the PC version

Question

I've been trying to escape the main menu in Call of Duty: Black Ops, but I can't find out how. All the guides I find out there just say: "Alternately press the right and left trigger". None of them seem to have tried it for the PC version.

A few of them suggest: "Left and right mouse buttons will probably work on the PC". Well, I've been trying it like hell, my mouse almost bust open, and I still haven't managed to do it.

I've already finished the campaign. Am I missing something?

Asked by Bruce Connor

Answer

Just look down at your legs and press the space bar.

Answered by Phileosophos

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Is there any effective way to defend against attack dogs?

Question

This is one killstreak reward I totally don't like (when I'm on the receiving end). I've tried knifing them (as the game suggests) but to no avail. The only effective strategy I have is to shoot down the dogs, but even this is not very effective since they run so fast.

Another strategy is to make it to high ground (on the top of containers, ladders, etc), but this usually leaves me exposed to enemy fire.

Does anyone have any good strategy for defending against attack dogs?

Asked by Sid

Answer

If you want to take the defensive way, keep in mind, that, dogs are attracted to noise.

So don't make any: Hide in some corner, don't shoot and don't move.

If you prefer to shoot them from the distance, like I do, use a gun with the silencer/suppressor attachment.

Praying they don't get to you is not always the best strategy, of course, so peek around and listen carefully to their barks, and shoot them if they get too close.

Update:
Oscar's comment made me curious about the mechanics behind an attack dog's chosen target. So I made a small test with a mate:

We stood almost side by side, I being two steps in front, in the wide area near the spawn point of the map "Launch", and let someone unleash the dogs from the other side of the tracks.
We made sure, in the ones that the dogs emerged from the middle corridor, in which they could see us at the same time, they always preferred me as the meat to bite. In this test suite, neither of us shot a single bullet.

In the second test, we kept the distance to the dogs equal, with him firing his weapon in their general direction. They always chose him.

The third set of tests brought an interesting result. Like in the first test group, I stood forward, with my mate much more distant to my right, a little behind me on the vertical.
He fired shots, I didn't.
The first dog to arrive headed in his direction, the second, as it appeared immediately behind the first one, headed for me. This was the repeatable behaviour, as we switched roles.

This showed us two things:

1. They decide about their target dynamically and not as they hear a noise, but they head for the noise anyway until they see anything to bite.
2. They prefer to eliminate targets that have a higher threat level (firing), then ease of access (distance).

Answered by Bora

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How many times can you “prestige” in CoD:Black Ops?

Question

I have "prestiged" only once. And then realised, that you can do it again, and again, for no additional abilities apart from more fitout slots, and a gucci logo that indicates you're a "bada$$" (or a masochist in my case).

So, how many times can you prestige ?

Answer

There are 15 prestige levels in Black Ops. A full list of what you keep and lose can be seen at the Call of Duty Wikia

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How does the Hardline Pro perk work?

Question

I've heard a good amount of chatter about the Hardline pro perk, but I still can't wrap my head around how the pro perk works.

With Hardline Pro, when you get a care package, does it prompt you to see if you want to keep it and get another one? Do you always get a better one the second time or is it random?

Answer

When the care package drops you can see what is in it like normal. If you don't want what's in it you can tap X twice to reroll it.

From the wiki:

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Hardline reduces all killstreak requirements by one. Its pro version allows the player to "re-roll" any killstreak crate by double-tapping the action button, which will change its contents randomly. A crate can only be re-rolled once, and will always change its content. While not yet released, a patch announced on December 4, 2010 will restrict Hardline Pro's re-roll to Care Packages only. The SAM Turret, Sentry Gun, and Valkyrie Rocket crates will no longer be re-rollable, greatly limiting its usefulness.

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The chances of getting something good are slightly better though. Source

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How do you get the “pro” options for the perks?

Question

There are a number of challenges related to perks. Do you need to complete them in order to get the "pro" level of that perk ?

Answer

Yes you do, here are the challenges:

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Tier 1

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Lightweight - Move faster

Lightweight Pro - Move faster + no fall damage

Challenges

1. Melee Kills - Earn 15 melee kills.
2. Escape Death - Escape death 5 times after being hurt.
3. Offense Medals - Get 10 Offense Medals by killing enemies near their objective.

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Scavenger - Replenish ammo and Lethal Grenades from fallen enemies

Scavenger Pro - Replenish ammo and Lethal Grenades from fallen enemies + Start with extra mags and replenish Tactical Grenades from fallen enemies

Challenges

1. Resupplies - Resupply 150 times while using Scavenger.
2. Grenade Kills - Get 5 Lethal Grenade kills with a resupplied grenade.
3. Kill Count - Get 5 kills without dying 5 times.

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Ghost - Remain hidden from enemy Spy Planes

Ghost Pro - Remain hidden from enemy Spy Plans + Avoid targeting from aircraft, IR scopes, and Sentry Guns. No red crosshair or name when targeted.

Challenges

1. Concealed Kills - Kill 20 enemies while they have a Spy Plane or Blackbird active.
2. Destroy Aircraft - Destroy 30 aircraft with any non-Killstreak launcher.
3. Destroy Sentry Gun - Destroy 1 Sentry Gun.

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Flak Jacket - Take less explosive damage

Flak Jacket Pro - Take less explosive damage + Deflect fire damage and safely toss back Frag Grenades

Challenges

1. Protected - Survive 10 explosions while using Flack Jacket.
2. Demolished - Plant or defuse 10 bombs in Demolition, Sabotage, or Search & Destroy.
3. Throwbacks - Throw back 5 enemy Frag grenades.

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Hardline - Earn killstreak rewards with one less kill

Hardline Pro - Earn killstreak rewards with one less kill + change the contents of a care package

Challenges

1. Share Packages - Share 10 Killstreak reward crates with teammates.
2. Multiple Killstreaks - Earn 7 killstreaks in one match while using Hardline.
3. Killstreak - Get 7 kills without dying in one match.

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Tier 2

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Hardened - Penetrate walls and objects with deeper bullet impact

Hardened Pro - Penetrate walls and objects with deeper bullet impact + inflict extra bullet damage on aircraft and turrets, and flinch less when shot

Challenges

1. Penetration Kills - Get 10 kills using Hardened and shooting through walls.
2. Bullets in Aircraft - Shoot 200 bullets into enemy aircraft.
3. Equipment Shot - Destroy 1 piece of enemy equipment through a wall.

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Scout - Hold breath longer when scoped

Scout Pro - Hold breath longer when scoped + switch weapons faster

Challenges

1. Secondary Kills - Get 50 kills with secondary weapons.
2. One Shot Kills - Get 50 One Shot, One Kill Medals.
3. Headshots - Get 30 Headshot kills.

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Steady Aim - Maintain increased accuracy when firing from the hip

Steady Aim Pro - Maintain increased accuracy when firing from the hip + aim faster after sprinting and recover quickly from knife lunges

Challenges

1. Quick Melee - Melee two enemies consecutively within 5 seconds.
2. Sprint Kills - Get 100 kills after sprinting.
3. Hip Fire Kills - Get 150 hip fire kills using Steady Aim.

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Sleight of Hand - Reload weapons faster

Sleight of Hand Pro - Reload weapons faster + aim down sights faster with weapons (except Sniper Rifles)

Challenges

1. Aiming Kills - Get 150 kills while aiming down sights.
2. Reload Kills - Kill an enemy within 5 seconds of reloading 30 times.
3. Fast Hand Kills - Reload and finish off the enemy you wounded 10 times.

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Warlord - Equip two attachments to your primary weapon (excluding underbarrels)

Warlord Pro - Equip two attachments to your primary weapon (excluding underbarrels) + start with one extra Tactical and Lethal Grenade (except Willy Pete)

Challenges

1. Two Attachment Kills - Get 150 kills using a gun with two attachments.
2. Grenade Kills - Get 10 Frag or Semtex kills.
3. Grenade Multi-kills - Get 1 multi-kill with Frag or Semtex.

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Tier 3

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Tactical Mask - Protect yourself against Nova Gas

Tactical Mask Pro - Protect yourself against Nova Gas + reduce the effects of Flash and Concussion Grenades, and reveal the position of a flashed or stunned enemy.

Challenges

1. Flash Kills - Kill 20 enemies that are blinded by your Flashbang.
2. Concussion Kills - Kill 20 enemies that are stunned by your Concussion Grenade.
3. Nova Gas Kills - Kill 20 enemies poisoned by your Nova Gas.

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Marathon - Sprint for a longer duration

Marathon Pro - Sprint for a longer duration + sprint for an unlimited duration

Challenges

1. 26 Miles - Sprint 26 miles using Marathon.
2. First Blood - Get the First Blood Medal 10 times.
3. Captures - In Capture the Flag, get the Flag Capture Medal 15 times while using Marathon.

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Ninja - Move silently

Ninja Pro - Move silently + make no noise at all and hear enemies louder

Challenges

1. Silenced Kills - Get 150 kills using the Suppressor attachment.
2. Back Stabs - Get 5 Backstabber Medals.
3. Plants - Plant the bomb 10 times in Demolition, Sabotage, or Search & Destroy.

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Second Chance - Pull out your pistol before dying

Second Chance Pro - Pull out your pistol before dying + survive longer and get revived by your teammates

Challenges

1. Kills - Get 10 kills while in Second Chance.
2. Revenge - While in Second Chance, kill the enemy who downed you 5 times.
3. Headshot - Get 1 headshot kill while in Second Chance.

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Hacker - Detect enemy equipment, explosives and turrets

Hacker Pro - Detect enemy equipment, explosives and turrets + sabotage enemy equipment and turrets, booby trap stolen crates and remain invisible to Motion Sensors.

Challenges

1. Destroys - Destroy 10 equipment or explosives while using Hacker.
2. Explosive Kills - Kill 25 enemies with a Claymore or C4.
3. Near Equipment Kills - Kill 25 enemies within the radius of your Jammer or Motion Sensor.

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Call of Duty MW3 Guide for Black Ops Players

Question

Being a Wii gamer, black ops is my first real exposure to call of duty. So has anyone written a guide for transitioning from black ops weapons system (I see the upgrade system is quite different), perks, killstreaks, etc to MW3's approach?

Thanks.

Answer

I can't seem to find a good listing of the differences online, so I'll try to compile a short list. If you're interested in my personal opinion, I discussed my feelings about the major changes here. (warning: personal blog link) The first thing to note is that Modern Warfare 3 follows Modern Warfare 2 pretty closely, and isn't as related to Black Ops. There are a lot of similarities, however.

Perks

There's a lot of commonality between each year's installment of Call of Duty when it comes to perks. You've almost always got the "silent footsteps" perk, the "invisible to UAV/air support" perk, the "fast reloads" perk, etc. There's a listing of the perks on this page, which goes over the perks available. You have 3 perk slots per class, and much choose a perk from each tier, like both Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2.

Weapons

Weapons unlock based on your level, which goes up based on your XP, which you gain by completing matches, objectives within matches, kills, pointstreaks, bonuses, etc. There are no point costs for unlocks; whenever you get to a particular level you'll unlock all the items from that level.

Weapons also gain XP, which is measured separately. Each weapon has a separate XP meter, and the higher your weapon level, the more attachments and camo options you'll have available. You can also select a "weapon proficiency" which is similar to a perk, but attached to your weapon. In previous iterations of the franchise, one of your 3 main perks would usually allow you to equip 2 attachments on a weapon. In this game, this is controlled by a weapon perk. However, most of the weapon perks are new, and grant bonuses like increased damage, range, or reduced recoil. Attachments are mostly the same, such as sights, undermounted grenade launchers, front mounted grips, etc.

The available weapons are quite similar - assault rifles, SMGs, LMGs, sniper rifles, and shotguns all return, and most are pretty similar, especially compared to MW2.

Pointstreaks

In previous iterations, you got to choose a set of 3 bonuses that unlocked as you got a number of consecutive kills. The developers this time around decided to reduce the focus on kills, and try to reward a variety of contributions made by players. Shooting down air vehicles, capturing objectives, and gaining assists (if you have Hardline Pro as a perk) all earn you points towards your pointstreaks, among other things.

There's also the concept of "Strike Packages." There are three available, Support, Assault, and Specialist. Assault is the "classic" strike package, where your pointstreaks unlock as you gain successive points without dying. Support changes this up by allowing you to keep your pointstreak even if you die, but the rewards are more focused on bonuses to your team instead of dealing direct damage to your enemies. Specialist trades your normal pointstreaks for the chance to gain extra perks as you get successive points without dying, up to the point where you have all the perks on your class at the same time.

Most of the pointstreaks are things we've seen before, such as UAVs, air strikes, chopper support, sentry guns, etc. Care packages return, as well as the option to take a Juggernaut armor care package that makes you far more resistent to damage, but less mobile.

Equipment

Where you usually could take a tactical grenade, a lethal grenade, and a piece of equipment (ie, radar jammer, tac insert, etc) you now get one piece of lethal equipment (including grenades or 2 types of mine) and one piece of tactical equipment (such as a portable radar or flash/stun grenades)

Secondary weapons are more in line with Black Ops, where your selection is limited to pistols, machine pistols, launchers, etc.

Prestige

In previous games, prestige mode meant that you'd lose all of your unlocks and have to start over from level 1, as if you'd just bought the game. In Modern Warfare 3, you gain "prestige tokens" from successive prestiges, which allow you to (among other things) unlock gear from level one. You will have to level the gear up as if you just unlocked it, but you won't have to wait until you get back to your old XP levels in order to use your favorite weapons or perks.

Gametypes

Most of the multiplayer game types return from the previous games, although a couple of new modes have become popular. For instance, Kill Confirmed is very popular. It is like Team Deathmatch, but players drop tags that must be collected in order to get credit for the kill. This mode emphasizes close-range combat over long-range engagement.

Maps

The multiplayer maps feel smaller, and more of them are the size of Nuketown or Rust than in previous games. There are fewer Array or Wasteland-sized maps, for instance. It's much easier to roll a short-range class and dominate than it was previously. Shotguns and SMGs are much more frequent in classes than sniper rifles, although they still have their place.

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Where is the fusebox on the map Kino der Toten?

Question

In COD: Black Ops Zombies, where is the fusebox and how do you get there in Kino der Toten?

Answer

Look at the green star symbols, the switch is in the north theater and located next to the teleporter.

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Can The Collector Achievement in Call of Duty Black Ops Zombie Mode be unlocked as a group?

Question

For the achievement in Call of Duty: Black Ops:

The Collector - In Zombie mode, buy every weapon off the walls in a single game.

I am wondering if it can be unlocked collectively as a group buying all of the weapons or do you have to buy them all on your own (as 1 player).

It would make a big difference in the strategy to take in order to get the achievement.

Answer

Yes. Trophies can be unlocked by a group or in solo.

It's normally best to buy all weapons by a group to unlock this trophy, to achieve this trophy effectively, follow this method:

• Be fair when opening doors, each player should take turns to spend their points when opening doors.
• Be prepared to gain many points before going out to buy all weapons.
• When ready to buy all of the weapons, use a grenade on a group of zombies (when near to end of a round) and make them legless which will leave you precious time to save running around to buy all weapons (including you and your friends/team mates to spend points towards the doors).

You may need about at least 10,000 roughly to spend on doors, and at least 12,000 to 15,000 (from what I remember ages ago). Which comes a total of between 22,000 to 25,000 points.

The Collector trophy does not require upgraded weapons or weapons from the mystery box.

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This may be quite hard to achieve unless you have a good motivation of escaping and surviving from a large swarm of zombies and also taking them down, be sure to make good use of your grenades for high points when used against a swarm of zombies!

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Optional: If you may want to test your luck, you can use the mystery box for a good, powerful weapon like the Alien/Ray gun could wipe out a lot of zombies in a few shots (better when upgraded) which will make you kick ass!

Tip: Don't camp. :)

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Does Zombie mode in Black Ops ever end?

Question

I have a friend who seems very convinced that Black Ops zombies simply "never ends," and that it can't be completed or won.

Certainly, the maps cannot continue onto infinity, as these maps would have to exist, and hence have been designed, correct?

Answer

The maps do not keep going as they are defined.

Such as the image above. However, zombies endlessly spawn which causes the game to go on until you die or quit. However, multi-player scoreboards don't seem to be able to score anything over 99.

So to answer your question, yes, zombies go on forever but the maps do not.

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Do you need to purchase the “Rezurrection” map pack to get the new Mule Kick perk?

Question

Has the new "Mule Kick" perk, introduced with one of the new map packs, been added to all of the map? If so, do you need to get the new map pack to get the new perk?

Answer

According to the Call of Duty wiki:

• In the update that took place on September 27th, Mule Kick is now available on all Maps for Xbox 360 and PS3. PC update is unknown at this time.
• It's not necessary to have the Rezurrection Map Pack to have the Mule Kick in Kino Der Toten, "Five" or maps from the other map packs.

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Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Back Ops Controller mapping

Question

Is it possible to have the same button/controller layout for Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops? I have a lot of experience with Reach and only started playing Black Ops. I am having difficulty switching between the controls and can't seem to find a common scheme which fits both!

Answer

Unlike most PC games, console games provide a number of different control configurations rather than allowing the user to bind specific actions to specific buttons.

I doubt it's possible to have the same control configuration on both games if you can't find them among the sets already provided.

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Can Battlefield 3 be appropriate for a non-serious gamer?

Question

I'm no console gaming enthusiast but I have bought every Call of Duty and enjoy playing them in short spurts. I don't care much about the story or strategy or difficulty levels. I play on the easiest difficulty, hack around and make my way through the game. Once I've gotten through I'll play the game just periodically until the next release. I enjoy Call of Duty because it's easy for me to get in and get shooting.

Can I do the same with Battlefield 3 or does it require I make an investment in playing that's much more serious than the type of gamer I'm describing myself as above?

Answer

It sounds like you're wanting to play the single player campaign mode in these games, and yes, at the easiest difficulty sometimes these games practically play themselves. Battlefield 3's difficulty is on par with the Call of Duty series in this regard, and it features an Easy mode that shouldn't be too challenging if you're a single player FPS veteran.

Difficulty is subjective though, so your experience may vary. You might want to try picking up one of the older Battlefield games for cheap, and seeing if you like the series' style before you invest in the latest title. There are differences between the control schemes, the weapons, the friendly/enemy AI, etc, that some people might find to be a dealbreaker. I have staunch "Call of Duty" aficionados that I play with frequently who can't stand the Battlefield series, although to me they are pretty darn similar.

At higher difficulties in the campaign, and especially online, you'll have to invest some time before you can survive or play competitively. The learning curve is significant, and many of the other players online have generally been playing various iterations of the game for years. On top of this, these games are popular among people who have copious free time, so they tend to be full of a lot of people who are experts at many aspects of the game, or who have figured out superior strategies. I can't recommend the online component of a game like Battlefield 3 to someone who intends to play casually.

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Why does the final kill cam only show up sometimes in objective games?

Question

It seems like the final kill cam in Black Ops only shows up reliably in death match type games.

What determines if the final kill cam is displayed or not in objective games (Domination, CtF, etc)?

If it matters I'm mainly talking about xbox live's multiplayer.

Answer

Its simply for entertainment. The game watches for the last kill before the objective was completed (not sure how much earlier it can be) and displays it as the final kill. If there were no last kills, theres no final kill cam

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What does it mean when a light bulb appears over someone's head?

Question

Sometimes in multiplayer in Black Ops, I see a lightbulb appear over another player's head. What does that indicate?

Answer

It's when the player has paused their game. Obviously, you can't actually pause a multiplayer game, but it's when they are on menus and can't move/shoot.

As far as I can tell this is limited to the use of the start menu (change class, leave game) and associated system menus - for example, the Xbox Dashboard.

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Is CoD:BlackOps cheat-proof on consoles?

Question

I have read about a couple of tools which allow you to cheat on Call of Duty: Black Ops on a PC. Are such tools also available for PS3 or XBox-360, or can we say that consoles are cheat-proof?

Answer

While hacks are possible, you should be aware that playing online with modded consoles or hacked games is likely to get your account and/or console banned. Microsoft in particular does not look kindly on cheats.

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Have maps been removed from the 'Demolition' playlist?

Question

I began playing Black Ops again after some time, I've since prestiged and levelled to 48. All this time I've been playing demolition and I've noticed a few of the default maps are no longer playable?

• Jungle
• Firing Range
• Havana
• Nuke Town (Used to be rare)

Have these maps been removed and if so, why?

Answer

According to this forum:

Those four maps have been removed because of spawn killing, not spawn trapping. There's a big difference. Spawn killing is literally killing people the second they spawn giving them no chance to move or even fight back. Spawn trapping still gives the team a chance to fight out of their spawn.

Those 4 maps had the most obvious spawns in Demo, thats why they were removed.

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Will the extra zombie maps for Black Ops be made available in the PlayStation Store?

Question

Since the normal copy of Black Ops will only give you 3 Zombie maps, is there any chance of the extra zombie maps coming to sale to the PlayStation Store or perhaps free download?

Need to know about this.

Answer

The only way to get the previous Call of Duty World at War zombie maps was to pre-order the Hardened or Prestige edition of the Call of Duty Black Ops

The extra zombie maps are now available with the last Black Ops DLC. It also comes with a new zombie map, Moon.

http://www.callofduty.com/blackops/dlc4/rezurrection-zombies-trailer

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Is it possible in COD:BlackOps PS3 identify who is the “host”?

Question

Sometimes when I play Blackops, I get a "host migration". I am assuming that it's because someone who was "hosting" a session has dropped out. I notice that it tends to happen when I am doing really well :(

If this is the case, then is it possible to identify who is the host ? If I can see the host, I can make a cal whether to particpate or not.

Answer

This forum post gives a few hints on determining your host:

1. If you are the first person to enter an empty lobby, you are the host.
2. Right when the match finishes loading and the countdown begins, press select and check the connections. If you have a 4 bar connection and everyone has red bars, and a little green plug icon next to their rank, that means they are connecting to you and you are the host. Now if only 2 or 3 of them have the little plug thing, you aren't the host.
3. If you are the only person who has a 4 bar connection the whole match, you are the host.

Other sources also say that it's basically the person with the most (4 or 5) bars in their connection.

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