There may be plenty of criticisms aimed at Infinity Ward’s latest Call of Duty game, but that hasn’t stopped Activision from boasting that even more gamers are playing Modern Warfare 3 than Black Ops. Treyarch’s game is still very much loved by COD fans, but Activision has revealed that there is a 12% increase in gamers playing MW3 than Black Ops, with the numbers set to grow as further Elite ‘content drops’ release, as noted by Eurogamer.

Speaking of Elite, Activision has also revealed that they currently have 1.5 million Elite subscribers, with over 7 million in total if you include those who have just signed up for the free portion. At $50 a year, the company has announced plans to release 20 content drops to Modern Warfare 3 players, content which includes new maps, some new multiplayer modes and a few spec ops missions as well.

Not everyone is happy about the Elite subscription though, especially PS3 owners who thought they would be getting content drops at the same time as Xbox 360 owners. As we saw with the Liberation and Piazza maps, Activision are still prepared to give Xbox 360 owners a one month head-start, with PS3 owners only just receiving the maps a few weeks ago.

With console gamers still heavily engrossed in Modern Warfare 3, it is going to be interesting to see whether player numbers drop significantly when the new Call of Duty title drops this year. We don’t know if it is going to be Black Ops 2 developed by Treyarch, or some kind of spin-off game that Sledgehammer Games will handle, but it’s clear to see that fans are expecting big changes to the franchise as many feel like Modern Warfare 3 didn’t really offer much in the way of brand new gameplay, as it was essentially a revamped package from Modern Warfare 2.

Would you agree with the consensus that MW3 is now more popular than Black Ops, or have you become so bored of the game that you have now gone back to playing Black Ops?

For those that are unfamiliar, the perk is a drink that can be purchased just as any other Perk-A-Cola is which gives players the ability to hold three guns at the same time. Of course being this ability will be a positive to any player, given that they would now have three guns as opposed to two offering a variety of attack at their disposal.

One downside is that the perk is the most expensive available to date, costing 4000 of a player’s hard earned points. Once drank, initially players will not see any effect, but when they go to buy another gun, they will be able to hold it in a third slot, despite a prompt suggesting it will replace the gun they already possess.

To mark this update, Treyarch has released the Kino der Toten music video that features the four soldiers in action, giving the living dead a reminder of what it’s like to stay dead. You can view the video for yourself below. As far as we know the Mule Kick update is only available for the PS3 and Xbox 360 with no word on an update for the PC as of yet.

What do you think of the Mule Kick Perk-A-Cola? Are you glad it now features in all Zombie maps?

Roughly an hour ago Treyarch’s Community Manager, Josh Olin, tweeted this message, here you can clearly see that the Rezurrection DLC is now live, that said it may take some time to arrive in your particular region.

If you purchased the Hardened or Prestige Editions you get this content for free, to get the Moon map simple fire up Black Ops on your 360, ensure that you are signed in to the correct profile, go into zombies and then choose either Splitscreen or Xbox Live – here you should see “FREE ZOMBIES LEVEL”, select this and you should be able to download the new map for free. Getting the free Call of Duty: Zombies Soundtrack and the free Moon theme if pretty simple, you can find out how by checking out this link.

It seems as if a small minority of people are experiencing problems when downloading the content, are you? David Osborn reported one problem on Twitter when he received a code 800700e8 error when attempting to download the DLC, however after waiting a short while and trying again it downloaded fine. Another Twitter user called trdub53 also reported this issue, but it also fixed itself.

As you can see you may have to be a little patient as some problems are affecting people, however it seems to us these errors are related to the huge demand which all Black Ops DLC and won’t be long term. We would love to hear from you if you have / have not successfully downloaded the content, let us know in the comments section below.

We thought that you would appreciate us pulling together some screenshots and concept art which we have spotted to build a better picture as to what this new map will bring, let’s start with some screenshots which we spotted over Gaming Everyone.com. You can see all eight screenshots here (some of which show the other zombie maps which this DLC brings), below you can see one of the first-ever screenshots of the Moon map.

So far we have been promised two wonder weapons, these are the Wave Gun and the Quantum Entanglement Device (QED). There is still a lot of mystery surrounding both weapons as we have not seen them in action, however below we have concept art which gives us a quick glimpse of what to expect. The Wave Gun is said to cook zombies from the inside out and the QED is said to either curse or bless the player, this really doesn’t explain a lot – but we are very intrigued.

Treyarch has also told us that the Moon zombie map will bring a new type of equipment and a new Perk-a-Cola, sadly no further information on this has been revealed, therefore we will have to keep you posted on these particular details as we hear more. Previously we have seen more when Treyarch release trailers prior to the DLC’s release, with Rezurrection set to arrive on August 23 (Xbox 360) we expect to see a trailer released within the next week, we think that this will perhaps give us a quick glimpse at the new perk and equipment along with the wonder weapons which we spoke about earlier.

Below we have embedded some more screenshots from the Moon map, have you spotted anything interesting?

Before we get started let us briefly recap what we found out less than a day ago. The Rezurrection map pack will consists of 5 zombies maps, four of which are remastered versions of the World at War maps Nacht der Untoten, Verruckt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese. Whilst one will be a completely new map called Moon, which is pretty self-explanatory. You can find out more about the Rezurrection DLC here.

OK, let’s get back to the matter in hand. According to OneOfSword’s writer he spoke to Treyarch’s creative lead for Zombies, Jimmy Zelinski, via email. It is clear that Jimmy was keeping his cards close to his chest, but if you look deeply into some of his answers he may have let a few things slip, that said his answers are very cryptic and we don’t know if we are reading into things too much.

Let’s start with the DLC’s name, Rezurrection, when asked whether the misspelling of the word resurrection was a typo he answered “You never know where hints and Easter eggs may appear in Zombies. What looks like a typo may be a typo…but it might also be the hidden truth behind everything”, We don’t know what you make of this answer, but it almost hints towards things being wrapped up in the Rezurrection DLC, what do you think? Could this be the last ever zombies map? That said when asked whether the Moon level would be the last chapter in the zombies storyline no answer was given.

When asked about the Quantum Entanglement Device, Jimmy was vague he said the “possibilities are limitless” and added “just throw it out there, and see what it will do FOR YOU”. We have heard that it will either curse of bless the player, therefore we are extremely excited to see what it brings to the table.

We wonder whether gravity will play its part on the Moon map, let’s face it you would have thought that combat on the moon would involve some floating around and it looks like Jimmy may have hinted at this inadvertently. He was asked “Are there other new weapons this time around? Any new gameplay mechanics?” to this he replied “This game mode is all about discovery. Whether our characters discover new weapons in the various places they visit is dependent on where they go. Same can be said for gameplay mechanics — the location dictates how you play. Ever been to the moon?”. Could this be a hint toward a map which boasts features which can only be access at a certain time. On Call of the Dead the Pack-a-Punch Machine was only available when the lighthouse shone on certain rocks – perhaps the moon map will use gravity to mix things up and become dynamic – we sure hope so!

Finally we must include this snippet from what Jimmy had to say about the map “of course there will be clues to the past and other story elements, but don’t be surprised to discover a few hints as to what may be coming in the future” – now as you can see this really got us thinking, obviously the map’s easter eggs will probably tell a story as we have seen in other maps, but what could be coming in the future? Could this mean that more zombies are coming in Treyarch’s next CoD game?

Here’s part of Treyarch’s official announcement:

This all-Zombies content pack hurls players into orbit with “Moon,” the climax to the Zombies saga, as well as the most challenging and thrilling adventure yet. The undead shift in and out of sight, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Undead astronauts easily shamble toward their next meal, unaffected by the base’s fluctuating gravity.

Arm yourself with a space-age arsenal of epic proportions, including the Wave Gun, capable of cooking zombies from the inside out, as well as the Quantum Entanglement Device, which taps into the theories of quantum mechanics to bless (or curse!) your battle against the undead. Along with new equipment and an all-new Perk for thrice the zombie-slaying fun, you’ll have the tools you need to turn back the undead tide once and for all.

As you can see gravity will not affect undead astronauts, a new perk will be available and you will be able to use the Wave Gun, Treyarch has never divulged so many zombie map details prior to its release, therefore we can’t help but think they are hiding something. Also it clearly states that Moon is the climax to the zombies saga, for Black Ops? Or forever? That’s what we want to know.

If you think you spotted some clues from the Q&A which we missed let us know in the comments below, we cannot wait to get our hands on the Moon zombie map – can you?

Apparently the DLC will introduce a new zombies map called Moon, which is obviously set in space. The other four maps are maps which came exclusive to those of you who purchased Hardened and Prestige edition of Black Ops, these are Nacht der Untoten, Verruckt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese (these are remastered maps from Call of Duty: World at War). Apparently you will also get an “enhanced Zombies Soundtrack”, which also features a new zombies track for Moon.

The Rezurrection pack will cost 1200 Microsoft Points, which equates to $15. Some people who forked out a lot of money on special editions on Black Ops may feel hard-done-by, to be honest we have to agree as we were previously told that the remastered World at War maps would only be available to those of you who spent $79.99 on the Hardened Edition or $129.99 on the Prestige Edition. Now gamers can get these maps plus a new one for just $15, do you think this is fair?

By the looks of things people who purchased the Hardened or Prestige editions of Black Ops will get the Moon zombies map free of charge, this has not been confirmed, but it looks extremely likely and sounds very fair to us. You can find out even more about the Rezurrection DLC over at JoyStiq.

You may remember in late June we reported news which suggested that a new map pack was coming to Black Ops called Retaliation, we later suggest that this was fake and now that the Rezurrection DLC has been pretty much confirmed it looks as if we were right. If you are sceptical about this news let us just say that Larry Hryb tweeted the news, he is a pretty legitimate source as he works for both Microsoft and Xbox Live, you can see his tweet here.

As you have probably guessed this is an Xbox 360 exclusive and won’t hit the PlayStation 3 or PC until a month or so later, when we hear more regarding this we will keep you posted.

Will you buy the Rezurrection DLC?

According to PCGamer Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia has said that the Annihilation DLC will bring a new zombie map which is set in Shangri-La, he says that it is an “exotic and mysterious map filled with deadly traps, dark secrets and innovative gameplay that will challenge even the most daring Zombie hunters”. For those of you who don’t know Shangri-La has a similar meaning to the Garden of Eden, one definition of Shangri-La says it is “A place regarded as an earthly paradise, esp. a retreat from modern civilization”.

If you have been playing Call of the Dead you will know that there are no traps (unless you consider the flipper a form of trap) on the map, this is pretty much the only way you can criticize this Zombie map, so perhaps Treyarch has noticed this and will bring plenty of traps next time around, Lamia’s statement certainly suggests this.

We wonder if George A. Romero will be making another appearance, perhaps this time you will have to use traps to calm him down rather than water, if Romero does make an appearance we think it is very likely that you will play as either Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund or Michael Rooker once again.

We still have two weeks to wait for this DLC so hopefully we will find out more about this zombie map soon, in the mean time why not share your ideas, predictions and wishes in the comments section below. What do you want from this new zombie map?

Update (17/6/2011):

We now know that lots of this information is true thanks to the official trailer being released (watch it here), we can also confirm that there appears to be the perk stealing monkeys we saw on the Ascension zombie map and a new type of fire zombie. The video also clearly shows that George Romero, Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund and Michael Rooker won’t be making an appearance this time.

According to Boyle111 over on the blackops.digitalwarfare247.com website, a new promotional image – which is believed to have been taken at GameStop – has recently leaked online, displaying a similar layout to the image that was previously leaked for the Escalation Map Pack.

Unfortunately the left section of the promotional advertisement appears to have been cut off, so we don’t know the name of the new map pack or its launch date. What can be seen on the image however (which can be viewed through the link above) are the names of the new maps.

Judging by the blurry image, it looks as though there will be four new multiplayer maps and a new zombie level. The multiplayer maps mentioned include Drive-In, Hazard, Silo and Hangar18. However, we do have to remember that it is pure speculation at this stage.

Although the image looks legitimate, it could still turn out to be a fake. Do you think this will be the next Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack?

We have embedded a video at the end of this post and it clearly shows that the V-R11 (and V-R11 Lazarus) can be used to shoot your own teammate to give them some sort of extra abilities, at this moment in time we are not sure whether it makes zombies ignore the player who is shot by the super weapon two other possibilities are that you become immune to zombies or get stronger attacks, either way it doesn’t last that long.

The video took a long time to create and this is why at the end they commit suicide, we are told that it went on roughly 18 to 19 hours and at the end you see that during the game they racked up a staggering 21319 kills. The person who uploaded the video says that he won’t be playing Call of the Dead again, but if you want to have a go the key is to pack a punch a crossbow and the V-R11.

I have had a bit of a Call of the Dead addiction lately so will try out this strategy later today, one thing that we expect is that it won’t be as easy as the people in the video make it look.

Have you attempted this strategy? If so, what affects does the V-R11 Lazarus have on your teammate and how far did you get?

You can see the tweet for yourself here, as you can see it clearly states that the double XP bonanza will end on Monday at 10.00am PDT, to save you the time and energy we have worked out what the will equate to in different regions.

10.00am PDT equates to 6.00pm UK time and 1.00pm ET, this means you have roughly 15 hours to make the most of double XP and 24/7 Nuketown so stop reading this post, pick up your controller and get playing.

The double XP weekend has been great for PS3 gamers who have had their first taste of the Escalation map pack this weekend, the traffic which this promotion brings is a great way to test out Sony’s new PSN and by the looks of things it has passed with flying colors, since Friday we have heard no talk of PSN downtime which is great news for any of you who stayed loyal to the PS3.

How many times have your prestiged this weekend?