Prepare the ban hammer. If you’ve been playing video games for more than five minutes, you know they have a tendency to be moral outrage magnets. If you can name it, games have been blamed for it, so it’s not too shocking that game bans have followed in force. For the children, I suppose, though I’m not sure how many children are picking up the Witcher or Command and Conquer.

Game bans brought down by someone somewhere in the world are so numerous it would be impossible to cover them all. Here are 19 high and lowlights. Prepare to be outraged for the opposite reason. 

Outlast 2 banned in Australia for about two days 

Outlast 2 is pretty grisly. There’s no denying it. There are skinned people on sticks, piles of dead babies and, every so often, a giant 9ft woman plunges a pick axe into your crotch and you watch the blood spew out from a first person perspective. Lovely. This, apparently along with inclusion of ‘implied sexual violence’ tipped the Australian Ratings Board over the edge, prompting it to refuse even handing out the highest R18 level of ratings.

However it turns out that developer Red Barrels actually sent the wrong footage in for classification. Along with the code was a video that didn’t represent the final product. Once this mistake was cleared up, Australia was free to wander the death filled cornfields. Phew. 

Getting Up banned in Australia for glorifying street art

Apparently some countries can’t handle a little rampant vandalism these days. Over in Australia, Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure was refused classification (opens in new tab) (i.e. the censors wouldn’t give it a rating, which is a ban in every way but spelling) based on the idea that it glorified graffiti. And it did, since its entire premise is that a youth from a bad part of town uses the power of street art to take down rival gangs and the corrupt mayor who used an anti-graffiti campaign to cover up the fact that he murdered Trane’s father.

As you can probably guess from that description, the plot was a bit silly and kind of outside the realm of believability. Still, Australian censors thought that this game would act as a gateway to the righteous world of tagging, so it was never rated.

Command & Conquer: Generals banned in China for destroying China

Command & Conquer: Generals did not do well in China, for the same reason that kneecapping Lady Liberty would likely flop in the US. Not only does the game’s China campaign open on the nuclear obliteration of Beijing (good start!), but the player is directly involved in the destruction of Chinese landmarks like the Hong Kong Convention Center and the Three Gorges Dam. What, was the Great Wall too far away?

Not only did the government of China promptly bring down the ban hammer (which they’ve done to games for less), but even Chinese gamers who went to the trouble of pirating the title weren’t pleased with it (opens in new tab). Mostly because you have the option of bombing Tiananmen Square into rubble. Can you say cultural insensitivity?

Fallout 3 banned in Australia for encouraging drug use

You’d think in a dystopian wasteland where danger lurks around every corner and pain is a constant companion, you could get away with taking a few much-needed hits of Vitamin M. Not so, say censors in Australia, who briefly refused classification for Fallout 3 due to the player character’s use of morphine. Don’t remember that part? That’s because the developers changed the game entirely to account for these complaints, taking morphine out for every region and replacing it with Med-X. Which has the exact same effects, of course.

The full report (opens in new tab) goes into more detail on how the game’s use of “chems” pushed it over the hill into ban town because they were just too darn much like real drugs. Ultimately the ban was lifted when the chem system was scaled back and ‘morphine’ was changed to Med-X. Good thing too, or we’d all want to be like the Lone Wanderer and hang with Sister M. I mean, who wouldn’t want that guy’s life?

Witcher 2 banned in Australia for using sex as a prize

In its day, Witcher 2 was refused a rating in the land down under for going down under. Haaaaa, not sorry. Specifically, the issue was a scene where sex is used as a reward for Geralt completing a quest, which he can choose whether or not to accept. Chances are this refers to a mission given to him by a succubus, and that’s kind of their M.O., but whatever. Message received, sex as a reward for actions is bad.

At least, if he accepts it. Witcher 2 was eventually released after the scene was altered so that Geralt rejects the offer by default. Bewilderingly, everything else about the scene remains the same. I get the objection behind a reward-lay (romantic interaction doesn’t follow a three-steps-and-profit scheme), but when the reward is still totally a thing and the main character just refuses to take it? I mean, I guess we know he’s a good guy, or something?

Battlefield 3 banned in Iran for inciting international terror

Back in November 2011, the sale of Battlefield 3 was banned in Iran. It was all thanks to a scene where American soldiers lay siege to Tehran and the Grand Bazaar. The announcement was followed by raids on game shops to nab all existing copies, while a petition bearing the signatures of 5,000 Iranians accused the game of drumming up fear of Iran in the international community. Not unexpected, since the relationship between the US and Iran is famously sticky anyway.

There’s one wrinkle, though: Battlefield 3 was never officially released in Iran. Publisher EA has no resellers in the country, so all copies available when the ban came down were pirated. Is a “shot yourself in the foot” joke crass here?

Dead Rising 3 banned in Germany for having human-like enemies

Germany wins the blue ribbon for Europe’s most intense game restrictions. While changing a human to a zombie (opens in new tab) can get a game to pass muster in the likes of the UK or France, it’ll have no such luck in Deutschland. Given that Dead Rising is all about zombies, it’s no surprise that this series has seen repeated bans in Germany. Dead Rising 3 is the latest victim, expunged from the Xbox One launch line-up in this country.

This pretty-goddamn-violent zombie thrasher is considered tolerable in many places, since your main target are fantasy legions of undead monsters. However, Germany’s Bundeprfstelle fr jugendgefhrende Medien (the gaming police) places heavy restrictions on games where you kill any human or “human-like” enemies, so zombies qualify. Then again, Gears of War 3 was deemed acceptable without edits, so I can’t pretend to understand the logic.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Medal of Honor: Warfighter banned in Pakistan for smearing the nation’s image

Two for the price of one here. In January 2013, the government of Pakistan banned Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Medal of Honor: Warfighter in one fell swoop, saying they “show the country in a very poor light.” Since both of these military shooters essentially equate Pakistan with terrorism, I’d say that’s a fair comment.

They probably should have tried to convince the country’s game retailers to accept the ban, though, or at least told them about it. On the day of the ban, the owner of Islamabad’s biggest game store claimed to have not even heard about it, and another anonymous shop-owner said (opens in new tab) “The nationalists and the religious ones don’t like [these games] but I’m not going to stop selling them.” Nothing yells louder than green it seems.

Mass Effect banned in Singapore for lesbianism

Finally, a game that wasn’t banned over political outrage. Just lesbian sex! Wait, is that better, or worse? Either way, back in 2007 Singapore banned the first Mass Effect because it contains an optional scene of lady Shepard and Liara T’soni gettin’ bizzah. While in many places this was met with newscaster pearl-clutching and adolescent fist-pumps, the ladies’ “kissing and caressing” translated to “gratuitous sex” in Singapore, which barred it from release.

Not that the ban lasted long. Originally, it went through because the nation didn’t have a proper video game rating system, making it harder to judge degrees of debauchery. However, when the ban shockingly resulted in backlash, officials used the country’s movie rating system instead, dubbing Mass Effect an M18 and lifting the ban only a few days after setting it. Now the people of Singapore can enjoy softcore lady-on-lady action to their heart’s content. Freedom.

God of War 2 banned in Saudi Arabia for sexual themes

If Iran and Pakistan’s examples are any indication, our gaming brethren in the Middle East sure know their way around a game ban. Saudi Arabian gamers are no exception, because even in the face of strict content restrictions and fines for playing banned titles, many manage to sneak prohibited games anyway. One good example is God of War 2, which was banned for sexual content (and possibly the use of the word God in the title) upon release. However, it’s still very much available for players who know where to look.

Satisfied as the nation’s moralizers were with the decision, gamers weren’t pleased, and they weren’t deterred either. Speaking to Kotaku (opens in new tab) about ways of circumventing the ban, Saudi Arabian user Alaa A explained that retailers still sell black market copies of the game, just packaged and shrink-wrapped as something else. Congratulations, Alaa, you deserve a go at that fantastical debauchery.

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A lawyer representing Activision responded that the game paints him as one of the good guys, fighting against the oppressive Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) regime. While technically true (Savimbi did indeed lead a guerrilla war against the MPLA for more than a decade, one battle of which is shown in Black Ops 2), the classifications of “barbarian” and “good guy” both seem simplistic to summarily describe a human being.

This isn’t the first time Black Ops 2’s portrayal of historical figures has come into question. Two years ago, former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega attempted to sue Activision (opens in new tab) over his appearance in the game. And while that suit similarly alleged damages to reputation, it was thrown out of court, having been ruled as protected speech under the First Amendment.

Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!

The post Black Ops 2s Angolan guerrilla is real, and his family is suing Activision appeared first on Game News.

Gearing up for next month’s release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3? We know that time is of the essence, so we’ve recapped all the major events from the series over the next few pages. Whether you’re going in cold or if you just want a refresher, you’ll be caught up in no time.

The Black Ops series spans multiple generations, taking players from the jungles of Vietnam to a futuristic Los Angeles seized by military drones. What starts out as a straightforward assassination mission soon becomes much more complicated, as former friends reveal themselves as traitors, and betrayals on the battlefield yield shocking results. For now, though, let’s return to where the series started.

Operation 40

Call of Duty: Black Ops begins in 1968 with CIA operative Alex Mason strapped to an electric chair. His captors are convinced that he knows the location of a Russian numbers station, and Mason, suffering from visual and auditory hallucinations, recounts the events leading up to his capture.

Previously, Mason and his teammates Woods and Bowman tried to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro as part of America’s failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. Mason unknowingly ends up killing a body double instead, and he stays behind in Cuba while helping his squad escape. The real Castro captures Mason and hands him over to General Nikita Dragovich, who in turn hauls him off to the Vorkuta Gulag forced labor camp.

Uneasy Alliances

The next year Mason spends at Vorkuta isn’t especially pleasant, as you might imagine. During his imprisonment, Mason befriends fellow captive Viktor Reznov, who shares a common enemy with Dragovich. Dragovich, along with his comrade Lev Kravchenko, betrayed Reznov during a Russian operation in 1945, using the deadly nerve toxin “Nova-6” against his own squad before fleeing with the chemical weapon’s ex-Nazi creator, Friedrich Steiner. Reznov vows revenge, telling Mason “Dragovich, Steiner, Kravchenko … All must die.”

Reznov and Mason spearhead a prisoner uprising and both escape, though Reznov is presumed captured as Mason flees to the United States. Returning to military duty, Mason travels to the Pentagon and meets President John F. Kennedy, who sends Mason on a mission to sabotage Russia’s space program and kill Dragovich. During the briefing, Mason briefly hallucinates aiming his weapon at Kennedy’s head, but the vision ends before he can act on his urges. That’s probably nothing to be concerned about, right? Off to Kazakh!

Reznov’s Revenge

Mason, Woods, Bowman, and newcomer Weaver successfully destroy their target. Though Dragovich is thought to have perished in an explosion, Mason fails to confirm the kill, and believes that he’s still alive. Mason spends the next five years unsuccessfully hunting Dragovich, eventually leading him on a U.S. military mission to Vietnam, where a Russian defector promises information regarding Dragovich’s whereabouts. The defector, who turns out to be Reznov, leads Mason, Woods, and Bowman to Dragovich’s partner Kravchenko and a wayward shipment of Nova-6. The shipment is lost, and Mason’s squad is captured by the Viet Cong and Spetznaz soldiers. In the confusion that follows, Bowman is executed, and Woods and Kravchenko apparently die during an explosive struggle.

Elsewhere, Weaver and CIA agent Hudson track down the whereabouts of Nova-6’s creator Steiner. Mason and Reznov get word of this development, and two teams – Weaver and Hudson, and Mason and Reznov – separately converge on Steiner’s location on Rebirth Island. Mason gets there first, and Reznov kills Steiner before Weaver and Hudson can interrogate him for information regarding a planned attack on the United States. Mason is detained and placed in military custody. Players then experience the scene from Weaver and Hudson’s perspective. The pair see Mason execute Steiner while reciting Reznov’s dialog. Reznov himself is nowhere to be seen.

Manipulated

Mason’s current-day captors are revealed to be Weaver and Hudson, who are trying to make sense of his sabotage. They reveal that Steiner, on Dragovich’s orders, had psychologically programmed Mason to kill President Kennedy during his imprisonment in Vorkuta. Mason refused to be broken by the training, leaving his inner programming incomplete and unstable.

Mason’s fellow captive Reznov takes advantage of the situation, himself reprogramming Mason to assassinate his own enemies: Dragovich, Kravchenko, and Steiner. Reznov actually died during the prisoner uprising in Vorkuta, but his thirst for revenge lived on in Mason, who hallucinated Reznov’s presence in Vietnam and at Rebirth Island. Mason had been doing Reznov’s posthumous bidding all along, leading him to kill Steiner while suffering from the effects of brainwashing.

Sleeping Dogs

In the years after Mason went missing in action, the U.S. military learned that Dragovich planned to set off Nova-6 in locations across the United States through sleeper cells activated by Russian numbers stations. Crucially, Mason is believed to have been programmed with the ability to decode these broadcasts, though even after interrogation and repeated listenings to the point of auditory hallucination, he does not recall his training.

After Mason attempts an escape from his captors, Hudson tracks him down and successfully breaks his brainwashing. Mason recalls that the numbers station is broadcast from the Gulf of Mexico-bound Rusalka, the ship where Castro originally handed Mason over to Dragovich. Mason and Hudson head there immediately to take care of unfinished business before the sleeper cells can activate. In the game’s final mission, Mason, Hudson, and Weaver board the Rusalka and encounter Dragovich, who starts the sleeper cell broadcast. The team orders an airstrike while still aboard, and Mason hunts down Dragovich and kills him. The transmitter is destroyed, the numbers station broadcast terminates, and the sleeper cells remain dormant. Mason, Hudson, and Weaver escape, and jets fly overhead as a new dawn rises.

Called Back

After preventing a war between international superpowers, Alex Mason retires to a quiet life in Alaska with his seven-year-old son, David. In 1986, Alex is called back into duty by Hudson, who heads up a rescue mission of personal interest. It turns out that Mason and Hudson’s old partner, Frank Woods, survived his encounter with Kravchenko back in Vietnam, and had disappeared along with his squad during a since-disavowed CIA black ops mission in Angola. The mission sets off a chain of events that spans decades.

Woods explains that his squad had been held captive by Raul Menendez, a dangerous and unpredictable arms dealer with ties to the Soviets. Mason, Hudson, and Woods track Menendez to Afghanistan, where they discover Kravchenko instead. He reveals that he had placed moles within the CIA, and claims an alliance with Menendez. After Woods finishes off Kravchenko, the accompanying Mujahideen squad betrays Mason’s team, and leaves them for dead. The team is discovered in the middle of a desert, and Mason claims to see Reznov among his rescuers.

Deep-Seated Grudges

Mason, Woods, and Hudson afterward close in on Menendez’s headquarters in Nicaragua. During the raid, Woods inadvertently kills Menendez’s beloved sister and only remaining relative, Josefina. Menendez spends decades afterward planning his revenge against America and Woods in particular.

In 1989, Mason’s squad allies with real-world Panamaian dictator Manuel Noriega in an attempt to finish off Menendez. Noriega instead helps Menendez escape. Mason’s team separates and Woods, acting on orders from a kidnapped Hudson, executes a masked man that he thinks is Menendez. The man turns out to be Mason. Menendez appears at the scene, kills Hudson, and cripples Woods, warning him that his revenge is not yet complete.

Heart Day

We jump ahead to 2025. Alex Mason’s son, David, now a U.S. Navy SEAL with the code name “Section,” questions an elderly and wheelchair-bound Woods regarding the whereabouts of Raul Menendez. Menendez had visited Woods recently, and warned him that his final act of revenge was approaching.

Menendez, now heading up a global populist group named Cordis Die, hacks the Chinese Stock Exchange and pins the blame on the United States. Swayed by Menendez’s false but convincing evidence, the world’s nations turn against America as Cordis Die’s influence grows. China additionally locks down exports for rare earth elements that are critical in the production of U.S. military technology, weakening the nation’s defenses.

Infiltration

Section’s next mission to Myanmar reveals that Menendez is planning a second and infinitely more destructive digital attack using Celerium, an advanced computer chip capable of hacking and taking control of any computer system in the world. Following him to Yemen, Section captures Menendez and brings him aboard the USS Barack Obama (yup) for questioning.

A traitor in Section’s team allows Menendez to escape. Menendez hacks the computer system aboard the Obama (yup) using smuggled Celerium and gains control over the United States’ drone fleet. Menendez escapes and sends thousands of American drones to attack major cities across the globe.

Closure

After surviving a drone attack on Los Angeles and saving the life of the U.S. President, Section travels to Haiti to put an end to Menendez’s plans before he can use America’s military to attack other nations. Upon subduing Menendez in a final showdown, players can see one of several endings depending on whether a handful of major characters survived the events of the campaign.

In Black Ops 2’s best ending, Menendez is imprisoned, and the virus he used to control the U.S. military is stopped. If Woods wounded the masked Alex Mason in 1989 instead of killing him, Mason reunites with his son after Menendez’s capture.

Party Hard

That ending’s a little bit too conventional, though. We choose to accept Call of Duty: Black Ops 2’s post-credits sequence as series canon. Basically the Call of Duty equivalent of Silent Hill 2’s infamous “Dog Ending,” this scene recasts Woods and Menendez as members of the band Avenged Sevenfold. Asked if he’s ready to rock, Woods rises from his wheelchair and proclaims “I’m ready to roll!” before the pair takes the stage in front of a cheering crowd. No, really. This is a thing that actually happens, and it rules.

Given Black Ops 2’s ridiculous alt-ending and its futuristic tech that at one point transforms Section’s squad into a fleet of flying squirrels (again, not an exaggeration), we’re excited to see where Black Ops 3 takes the series. It’s set in 2065 and stars a new cast of characters, but we’re willing to bet that we probably haven’t seen the last of the Mason clan.

The post Call of Duty Black Ops: The story so far appeared first on Game News.

Starting with the original Call of Duty, this is a game that’s been putting us in the boots of larger-than-life soldiers in some of the most intense combat moments you could imagine for a long time. Let’s reflect on some of the most memorable moments that have defined the series.

SPOILERS AHEAD, read at your own risk!

15. Menendez’s bloody rampage | Time and Fate | Call of Duty Black Ops II

Very rarely do you get to know the exact motivations behind a psychopathic villain, but in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, you get to witness Raul Menendez’s plight from his own eyes–bloodshot, rage-filled eyes. In a CIA raid to capture Menendez, his sister Josefina is taken from him, sending the antagonist into a murderous frenzy. With nothing but a shotgun, machete, and blind rage, you rampage through the nearby town, slaughtering every soldier that stands in your way. Bullets can’t hurt you, you shrug off grenades, and you attack your victims like a man possessed. What a rush.

14. Saving the ‘President’ | Atlas | Advanced Warfare

Mission 2 of Advanced Warfare is a bit of whirlwind. One minute you’re meeting your slain best friend’s father at a funeral, the next you’re rescuing the Commander-in-Chief from a hostage situation at Camp David. What’s going on? When your shiny new prosthetic arm malfunctions and a colleague shoots the POTUS in the head, it suddenly becomes clear – this overblown, oh-so-CoD mission is just a VR simulation. It’s a miniature twist, and a nice introduction to AW’s future-tech. Also, Kevin Spacey’s all over it, which is always fun.

13. The United States getting nuked from space | Ghost Stories | Call of Duty: Ghosts

To kick off the new setting for Call of Duty: Ghosts, Infinity Ward brought out the biggest guns they could get: a weaponized space station orbiting right above the United States. As the astronaut Baker, you and your partner witness the Federation hijack the station, gun down its crew, and launch nuclear missiles towards southern California. But what you have to do gets even more insane. As in, get-blown-out-into-space, shoot-any-bad-guys-you-see, then commit-suicide-to-save-the-world kind of insane.

12. Deciding the fate of Alex Mason | Suffer With Me | Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Black Ops II did something that no other Call of Duty campaign had done before: it let you make choices. But one of those choices might’ve passed without you even knowing it happened. The young Mason and Woods have tracked down the murderous extremist, Raul Menendez, who was betrayed by his allies. With a blinding cloth draped over his head, Menendez is displayed in front of Woods, who has a sniper rifle in hand, ready to gun the madman down. You’re given control. You take the shot. But as you inspect the body, you discover that you shot Alex Mason instead! Dun dun dun. Guess you should’ve shot him in the leg, a subtle choice which gives you a completely different ending.

11. Back to WWII | Demon Within | Black Ops 3

CoD fans have spent years campaigning for a return to the battlefields of the past – in cheeky fashion, Black Ops 3 gave them what they wanted. Entering the mind of the dying Sarah Hall (don’t ask), you’re thrust into 1944’s Siege of Bastogne, taking down Nazi threats with tech a century ahead of theirs. Quickly, things get weird(er), as the world starts folding in on itself, Inception-style, gravity begins to turn off, and zombies and direwolves start popping up. It’s all very meaningful, I’m sure.

10. Hijacked plane sequence | Turbulence | Modern Warfare 3

And there we were thinking Modern Warfares breathless airplane-based bonus mission Mile High Club was pretty special. But then MW3s Turbulence comes along and takes in-flight combat to the next level – protecting the Russian president from hijackers in the claustrophobic space of a jet is high-stakes stuff on its own. Then, the engines stall out and the dive sends you into a sequence of zero gravity shooting and a crash landing that rips the aircraft fuselage in two. True action film fare.

9. De-Nazifying the woods | The Forest | Call of Duty 3

A wonderfully paced, rising crescendo of a level. At first requiring a softly-softly snipey-snipey approach, with the relative peacefulness of the forest creating an edgy atmosphere, the player never quite knowing where the next Nazis going to spring from. Then it kicks things up a notch, with the battle intensifying as it moves between tight burrow-like trenches and wide-open spaces. Finally and a complete contrast to the cautious way the mission starts youre given a mortar to play with, allowing you to merrily blow apart any of Hitlers helmeted hobgoblins unfortunate enough to still be lurking in the forest.

8. The Airport Massacre | No Russian | Modern Warfare

“Best” is perhaps not quite the right word for this entry, but it’s undoubtedly one of the series’ most effective, affecting missions. No Russian places you in the shoes of an undercover agent in a terrorist cell. Quickly, you understand just what that asks of you. You enter an airport and are told to mow down everyone you see, regardless of who they are. It’s a video game mission that’s sparked protest, academic study and genuine soul-searching. There’s very little else like it in the medium.

7. Beach landing | The Battle of Pointe du Hoc | Call of Duty 2

Starts with a fellow soldier in the landing craft having a fear-induced puke. BLEEUURGH. This is quickly followed by the sound of bullets whizzing through the air. Then clouds of red mist as those bullets thud into flesh. Soldiers fall to the ground. Spray from a near-miss explosion obscures your view. Then the ramp is down and youre running on to the beach. MORTAR BOOM. Down you go. Cue semi-deafened shell-shocked horror of war moment as you survey the scene around you. When you regain your senses the metaphorical implications of the vertical cliff face ahead of you become apparent. Your role to this point is one of spectator, but its still a breathless couple of minutes.

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• Call of Duty Black Ops 2: Tranzit guide & walkthrough (opens in new tab)
• Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Revolution DLC: Die Rise guide & walkthrough (opens in new tab)
• Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Uprising DLC: Mob of the Dead guide & walkthrough (opens in new tab)

Getting Started

When you start each round of buried, you will start above ground in a processing plant. There will be a few zombies that begin to attack here and if you are in need of the LSAT, you can make your way to the broken staircase and jump up to the ledge above by hitting A/X to climb up. Once there and assuming you have 2000 points, you can grab the weapon off the wall quickly before the platform gives out and sends you down to the main area.

When you land, there will be a Quick Revive machine on the left and directly across from it will be a chalk drawing of a Remington 870 MCS. Take the chalk drawing off the wall and you will receive chalk instead of actually buying a weapon. Now that you have the chalk, you can draw the weapon on walls where you find question marks. Each time you do this, you will receive 1000 points. Drop down the opening to the left of the question mark and you will end up in the barn. From here, exit out the opening in the top floor and go to the left to find the jail.

Make your way to the stairs beside the Mystery Box on the right and go to the second floor. Hop across the gap and drop down the hole in the floor to reach the jail cell with Leroy inside. Grab the key off the wall and open the cell. Enter and pick up the booze bottle off the table and feed it to the giant known as Leroy. Now that he has beaten down the blocked wall, you’re all set to get going on your zombie survival. To make some quick cash fast, you can either have Leroy break down the barrier to the Gunsmith or build a Trample Steam.

If you want to save your booze, take the Trample Steam to the opening on the second floor of the barn to reach the roof of the bank, which you can then jump to the right to reach the roof of the Gunsmith, but either way, once inside go down to the lower floor. Here there are 5 different chalk drawings of weapons that can be taken and drawn on the question marks around the town that will give 1000 points each, and the final one giving a bonus 1000 points. The question marks are located at the top of the stairs to the right of the Jail, in front of the jail, on the top walkway outside the Saloon, inside the church, and the final one inside the courthouse.

The Giant

A new addition to the Buried map is a rather large fellow named Leroy. He can first be found in the jail cell on the left, across from the barn. You can access his cell by dropping down through the hole in the second story floor of the jail building. Once you reach his cell, you will then need to grab the green key from the left wall and unlock his cell. Once it is open, grab the bottle of booze on the table and feed it to him. He will then turn and run against the blocked wall, breaking down the barrier. Once that barrier is down, Leroy will continue to wander around the map without the zombies paying attention to him.

Leroy has a few uses and you will need to rely on him from time to time. The first that you have already noticed is his ability to break down barriers when you give him booze. When you approach a barrier you want him to destroy, make sure his back is to it and then give him the hooch. You will find one bottle of booze per round, either in the jail cell or on a table in the saloon. You can also buy booze from the taps at the bar in the Saloon for 1000 points.

Another fanciful treat that Leroy likes is candy. You can find a bowl of candy in the Sweets Shop, located to the left of the Saloon. Inside, you will find a bowl of candy atop one of the many barrels in there. When you have candy, you can either feed it to Leroy anywhere and he will go on a rampage and start smashing zombies. If you give him the candy while stand beside a partially built item on a workbench, he will run and gather the other parts and finish building the item for you.

If you give him candy while beside a crawler, he will pick it up and nurse it like a little baby keeping it away from you. Finally, if you give Leroy candy when he is in front of a Mystery Box, he will hit it and it will stay in its place and not move around when it has been used multiple times. Although Leroy has many useful abilities, if you happen to shoot him, he will run away and hide back in his cell. Knifing him will cause him to follow you more quickly, but if you shoot him, you will then need to go and track down the key again to free him from the cell.

Jail Key Locations

If Leroy does happen to get hit and it’s likely that he will from time to time, you will need to go and let him out of his jail cell again. The problem is that the key needed will change positions each time. One location it can be found in is the first place you find it just beside the cell. The other locations are inside the bank behind the teller windows, in the court house on the right side of the bench in the center of the room, and finally in the saloon on the second story in the center room, up the left side stairs.

Work Bench Locations

With there being four different buildables in Buried, there are of course four different work benches scattered around the town to build each item. The first can be found in the upstairs of the jail, directly across from the General Store. The second can be found in the Saloon, just to the right of the large main entrance. The third can be found in the courthouse, next to the mansion, on the left side when you enter it. For the fourth and final workbench, you can find it in the church which is right next to the courthouse. The bench will be on the left side as soon as you enter, right beside the stairs.

The Buildables

Like the other two zombie game types, there are numerous buildables that can be made by finding parts scattered about the area. To build the items you need to bring each of the objects parts to a work bench, and only one item can be built per workbench. Unlike the other versions however, all of the parts for the objects below can be found in one area, The General Store, and can even be built by finding just one part if you choose to do so. If you bring one part to a bench and have Leroy the giant follow you to it, you can give him some candy found in the candy store and he will then run off to retrieve all the other pieces and build it for you.

The Turbine

Just like the Turbine in TranZit, the Turbine here is made up of three parts; a fan, a mannequin, and a plane wing. Each of the parts are found on the first floor of the General Store, with the fan and mannequin found in the back room. Once built, the Turbine is used to power the Subsurface Resonator as well as attract zombies towards the Turbine itself.

Headchopper

The Headchopper is made up of four parts: a saw blade, a lever, gears, and a stand. The parts are all found in the General Store with the stand in the back room and the saw in a wooden barrel. Once created, you can then use the chopper in a few ways. It can be placed on the ground, or it can be tossed against walls to be a true Headchopper. The blade of the machine will automatically activate when zombies are near, but be careful as it will also hurt you.

The Subsurface Resonator

This Item can also be crafted from items found in the General Store. The items needed are the roulette wheel, a card table, a roulette table, and a pipe that is usually found right at the top of the stairs. Once crafted, the Subsurface Resonator can only be used in conjunction with the Turbine. When the Resonator is placed in front of the Turbine, it will send out a wave of sound that will blow apart any zombies that are close to it.

Trample Steam

For the Trample Steam, you will need to find the bellows, a screen, a compressor, and a red flag. Each of these items are found in the General Store, although the screen and bellows are usually found on the second floor. Once built, you can then use the Trample Steam to cross gaps that are too far to be jumped, as well as clear lower walls that cannot be jumped over such as the fence in front of the Ghost House.

The Ghost House

Once you have either passed through the candy store door or had Leroy break down the barrier outside of it, you will then be able access the other side of the town that has the church, the courthouse, and the haunted mansion in it. The haunted mansion has a few interesting things going on with it that we’ll get to in later sections, but for now, you will need Leroy to break down the barrier in front of the house and then you will need to pay 1250 to enter. Once inside, you can go up the stairs to the left where you will immediately see a floating ghost woman approach you. They are not strong, but if they do it hit you, they will take your points in 2000 chunks.

As you approach the back of the room atop the stairs, a bookcase there will move allowing you to enter a secret passage. Follow it along as more ghost women approach. Continue through the next hallway and when you round the corner, you will come to a large tree in a glass room. Drop down and exit the mansion through the opening on the right side. Be careful as you exit, as more ghost women will chase you out of the house. Once outside, you can then either enter the maze on the right side or return back into the house through the opening in the wall on the left side.

The Maze

When you have reached the rear of the haunted mansion, there will be a large garden maze that you can enter. There are two things to find in the maze that are of use without much effort. The first is the gazebo that you can see the top of from outside the maze. When you reach the gazebo, go down the stairs and hop over the gap. Continue to the hallway and you will find the Pack-a-Punch machine there. The other place in the maze that you can find is the fountain in the center.

While the fountain won’t do much itself, if you have Leroy smash into the fountain at the front of the house, then the one in the maze becomes a bit more useful. Once the front fountain is destroyed, you can then break the fountain in the maze with either 4 grenades or a powerful gun. When it smashes, there will be a portal underneath it that will then teleport you back to the processing plant at the start of the game. It won’t take you to the exact same spot you started, but it will be the same area and allow you to return to the town without having to backtrack through the house again. Also keep in mind that each time you do go through the portal and return to the beginning, the maze will change its layout.

The Nav Table and Card

Like the other Call of Duty zombie DLC, there is also an included Nav Table and Nav Card that that can be found and put together. To find the pieces for the Nav Table, you can find three of them in the small area to the right of the Gunsmith that has a barrier in front of it. You can either have Leroy smash through the barricade, or pay 1250 to open the door through the barn. Either way, you will find the three of the four parts necessary in this little area, against the walls. The fourth part will be the meteorite which can be found right near where you need to put the table together. Before you start collecting the pieces for the Nav Table, you will need to make sure that the portal to return to the processing plant at the start of the round is open through the fountain in the maze. To get it open, Leroy will need to smash into the fountain in front of the mansion and then you will need to destroy the fountain in the maze with either 4 grenades or a powerful gun.

Once the portal is open, you can hop through and return to the start area, but on the lower level where the conveyor belt is. You can find the purple meteorite on the ground in front of an electrical panel, just to the right of the open windows. Pick it up and you can start to build the table there, to the immediate left of the electrical panel. Now you can drop back into the town and collect the rest of the pieces to build the rest of the table. To find the Nav Card, you will need to re-enter the mansion once you have passed through it, through the rear opening. Enter the house and go forward to the piano and then right towards the stairs. Before you reach the stairs, go right again and there will be a set of bookcases. Look on the far right of them and you will find the card sitting there.

Maxis Side Easter Egg

For the Maxis side of the easter egg there numerous steps that need to be followed and you will need to have four people in your group to be able to pull it off. To start things off, you will need to find all the parts for the gallows- the noose- that is found just outside the church. The four parts that are needed are the:

• The Lightbulb which is found on top of a box in the room above the jail cell
• The Antennae which can be found on the right side of the barn in the stable
• A spool of wire that is found in the Gunsmith shop next to hole that leads to bank
• The Battery which is found in the Church behind the podium

Once you have all four items and have placed them on the gallows, you will now need to find the 4 red orbs that are scattered around the map. These are located Between the Saloon and the Sweets Shop, in the tunnels above the Sweets Shop, to the left of the Courthouse, and at the rear of the Ghost House, to the left of the opening. You will then need to use a Turbine and a Subsurface Resonator to break them. Place the two buildables in front of each orb until they smash.

Once the orbs are broken, a lantern will then appear in the sky near the church and courthouse. To knock it down, you need to hit it with a grenade, so cook it for a few seconds before tossing it. Once you hit it, grab it and then you will need to kill zombies to fill the lantern with energy. Once maxis tells you it is ready, take the lantern to the roof across from the candy shop and a cypher will appear there. Here you will need to decipher a code using the PigPen Cipher (opens in new tab) that will tell you the three of the five mine signs that you will need to hit with the galvaknuckles.

Enter the mines through the entrance on the second floor of the saloon and find the signs that the cipher spelled out. Hit them and they will then glow red. Once the third sign is hit, drop a time bomb and then you will need to follow the wisp that appears and make sure that it passes through zombies. Note that you need to have vulture-aid equipped to be able to see the wisp. The wisp will finally reach the first light on the gallows and light it up. When it does, use the time bomb to rewind time and repeat it again. Now both lights will be lit up.

Next up, there is a light board inside the Ghost house that has nine lights and a lever on it that can be found just after you pass through the secret passage. One player will need to stand at the board while the other players go to the barn, sweets shop, and courtroom to find three bells in each. When the bells are rung in the correct order, the lights on the board will light up green. The row closest the lever are the bells for the sweets shop, the middle row is for the barn, and the last row is the bells in the court. Once all the lights are lit green, pull the lever and head back out to the front of the mansion.

If you haven’t already had Leroy smash the fountain in front of the mansion, you will need to do so now. Once it is broken, approach it and a prompt will appear to Make a Wish. When you activate it, music will start to play and pop-up targets will appear at the mansion, the saloon, the jail, and, sweets shop. All four players will need to be at the different locations and must hit all their targets. If everyone does it properly the easter egg will end.

Richtofen Side Easter Egg

For the Richtofen side of the easter egg there numerous steps that need to be followed and you will need to have four people in your group to be able to pull it off. To start things off, you will need to find all the parts for the guillotine that is found just outside the saloon. The four parts that are needed are the:

• Red Crystal in the mine that can be accessed on the second floor of the saloon. When you enter the mine, make a left and hop over the gap
• The Antennae in the barn that is located on the right side in the center stable
• Spool of wire in Gunsmith shop next to hole that leads to bank
• The Dish on the walkway on second floor of Saloon

Once you have all four items and have placed them on the guillotine, you will now need to head to the Mystery Box and get yourself the Paralyzer weapon. Once you have it, you will then need to find the 4 red orbs that are scattered around the map. These are located Between the Saloon and the Sweet Shop, in the tunnels above the Sweet Shop, to the left of the Courthouse, and at the rear of the Ghost House, to the left of the rear opening. Use the Paralyzer on the orbs until they turn white and make a chime.

Once the orbs are lit, a lantern will then appear in the sky near the church and courthouse. To knock it down, you need to hit it with a grenade, so cook it for a few seconds before tossing it. Once you hit it, grab it and then you will need to head to the mansion and kill the ghost women to fill the lantern with energy. Once maxis tells you it is ready, take the lantern to the roof across from the candy shop and a cypher will appear there. Here you will need to decipher a code using the PigPen Cipher that will tell you which three of the five mine signs that you will need to hit with the galvaknuckles.

Enter the mines through the entrance on the second floor of the saloon and find the signs that the cipher spelled out. Hit them and they will then glow red. Once the third sign is hit, make sure you have a time bomb and then you will need to follow the wisp that appears and make sure that it passes through zombies. Note that you need to have vulture-aid equipped to be able to see the wisp. The wisp will finally reach the guillotine and a swarm of zombie along with it.

Kill the zombies and then place a time bomb on the guillotine and detonate it when all players are gathered around. Now you will enter an “Infinity Mode” where you will need to search for the four bodies of your fallen team to locate a lever. The bodies are in random locations, but they are always in the town somewhere and finding them within the 90 second time limit isn’t too difficult. Once you find the lever, use it on the guillotine once the infinity mode has ended.

Next up, head to the maze in the rear of the mansion and you will notice that the green doors will have levers on them now with four different colors. They will be green, red, yellow, and blue. You need to pull all four of the levers in the correct order to hear Richtofen tell you that you have done it correctly. You will also know if the switch you hit is correct as it will spark. If the switch doesn’t spark, everyone will need to hop down the fountain and reset the maze and try again.

If you haven’t already had Leroy smash the fountain in front of the mansion, you will need to do so now. Once it is broken, approach it and a prompt will appear to Make a Wish. When you activate it, music will start to play and pop-up targets will appear at the mansion, the saloon, the jail, and, sweets shop. All four players will need to be at the different locations and must hit all their targets. If everyone does it properly the easter egg will end.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and FIFA 13 were the two best-selling entertainment products of 2012 at UK retail.

That’s according to Chart-Track and Official Charts Company data passed along to MCV, which says Activision’s FPS shifted 2.67 million copies last year, narrowly beating the EA football game’s 2.6 million sales.

Movie The Dark Knight Rises was their closest competitor, selling just shy of 1.7 million copies, while The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and Emeli Sande album Our Version of Events rounded off the top five. The top 40 featured seven games in total:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Activision Blizzard) – 2,672,364
2. FIFA 13 (EA) – 2,601,877
3. The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Home Video) – 1,694,434
4. The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (Entertainment One) – 1,515,604
5. Our Version of Events (Emeli Sande, Universal Music) – 1,446,844
6. Now That’s What I Call Music 83 (Various Artists, EMI Music/Universal Music) – 1,389,006
7. Avengers Assemble (Walt Disney Studios) – 1,349,937
8. Ted (Universal Pictures) – 1,188,295
9. War Horse (Walt Disney Studios) – 986,870
10. The Hunger Games (Elevation Sales) – 946,592
11. Mrs Brown’s Boys (Series One, Universal Pictures) – 913,145
12. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (20th Century Fox) – 888,629
13. Assassin’s Creed 3 (Ubisoft) – 886,198
14. Now That’s What I Call Music 82 (Various Artists, EMI Music/Universal Music) – 866,031
15. Prometheus (20th Century Fox) – 853,079
16. Ice Age 4 (Continental Drift, 20th Century Fox) – 819,009
17. 21 (Adele, XL Beggars) – 816,317
18. Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows (Warner Home Video) – 816,126
19. + (Ed Sheeran, Warner Music) – 811,038
20. Now That’s What I Call Music 81 (Various Artists, EMI Music/Universal Music) – 756,035
21. Halo 4 (Microsoft) – 753,489
22. Born To Die (Lana del Rey, Universal Music) – 743,210
23. Brave (Walt Disney Studios) – 743,021
24. Bridesmaids (Universal Pictures) – 710,185
25. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Elevation Sales) – 707,875
26. Johnny English Reborn (Universal Pictures) – 694,651
27. Mrs Brown’s Boys – Series Two (Universal Pictures) – 670,956
28. The Amazing Spider-Man (Sony Pictures) – 656,620
29. The Woman In Black (Momentum Pictures) – 654,589
30. Take Me Home (One Direction, Sony Music) – 643,433
31. Right Place Right Time (Olly Murs, Sony Music) – 597,370
32. The Adventures of TinTin – The Secrets Of (Paramount) – 597,282
33. Babel (Mumford & Sons, Universal Music) – 592,173
34. Mrs Brown’s Live Tour – Good Mourning (Universal Pictures) – 585,925
35. Michael McIntyre Showtime (Universal Pictures) – 579,011
36. Hitman Absolution (Square Enix) – 571,248
37. Just Dance 4 (Ubisoft) – 562,453
38. Despicable Me (Universal Pictures) – 549,111
39. Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol (Paramount) – 545,502
40. Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft) – 540,237

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She explained that video games are “one of the risk variables when we do a threat assessment for the risk to act out violently,” adding that violent games can be used alongside newspaper clippings or textbooks as educational tools as part of the potential offender’s preparation for an intended crime. “As a thread assessment and a former FBI profiler, we don’t see these as the cause of violence. We see them as sources of fuelling ideation that’s already there.”

It was also pointed out by Texas A&M International University psychology professor Christopher Ferguson that when new media comes out, it tends to go through a period of moral panic and this has been seen in everything from movies to comic books.

Watch the short debate in full here:

Source: RawStory (opens in new tab)

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If you bought Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for PC or Lego Lord of the Rings for Xbox 360, you might want to check your discs real quick. Users have reported some truly bizarre mix-ups for both games which left them with either demo versions or the wrong game entirely.

Game Informer reports users (as well as one of its own writers) have discovered only a demo disc for Lego Lord of The Rings–clearly labeled “NOT FOR SALE”–sitting unexpected and unwanted within some copies of the Xbox 360 version. The issue appears to have only affected certain shipments, but it’s worth checking before you leave the store.

In a more surreal switcheroo, GameSpot has compiled user complaints that some retail packages for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for PC have all the discs properly labeled–but the second one is actually for Mass Effect 2. Yes, some copies of Activision’s next big shooter apparently contain install discs for Electronic Arts’ 2010 space opera (a bit more sci-fi than we’d bargained for), leaving users unable to install either.

Those who prefer zombies over husks can still punch the activation code into Steam and download Black Ops 2, which should give them plenty of time to marvel at how this could possibly happen (and how many heads will roll at the distribution center as a result of Activision and EA’s reckoning).

Update: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has confirmed that it will be recalling a small number of Lego The Lord of the Rings games that were released on the Xbox 360 to Walmart, Target and Toys ‘R’ Us in the US with a disc labeling error. These discs include the full game but were incorrectly labeled as demo discs.

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According to system specifications that werereleased (opens in new tab)earlier today for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, the upcoming shooter will not be supporting Windows XP. It’s one of the first major titles released that will not support the operating system.

So if you’re one of those 13% of gamers (opens in new tab) who got shellshocked by the disaster that was Windows Vista, and decided to stick with XP for the next decade, it’s time to come out of your hiding place now. Or you could just not buy Black Ops 2. However, it’s only a matter of time until XP support is dropped from all major games.

Black Ops 2 is not the first title to opt not to support the still-popular OS. Battlefield 3 and Sleeping Dogs both abandoned support for XP as well. Even Microsoft sometimes doesn’t even support XP (opens in new tab).

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Words cannot describe how much we want to stroll through a multiplayer level in a personal mech. There are no words. Also, judging from the ending of the trailer – with an announcer casting some of the “holy shhh” moments of a player – it may be that Activision is hinting at a future for Black Ops 2 in eSports. Which seems like an obvious move given how popular Call of Duty already is, and how popular eSports is becoming.

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