At our studio tour of Treyarch for the exclusive reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Adam Rosas, Animation Lead, took us under his wing to give us a demo of how the studio improved upon its character animations for Black Ops 2. The team employed what’s known as a ‘full performance capture’, in which actors are fitted with special suits and up to 84 light-sensitive spheres are fixed onto their limbs and facial features to capture precise movements and expressions. In order to see just how far they could go with the characters, the team decided to first use a female actor to capture their first few shots.

Rosas explained that women tend to emote differently than men, so it was much more challenging trying to map the female actor’s expressions with the character model. But after a little bit of tweaking and the addition of just four minor bones, the animated character was able to produce a near-exact lip sync with the actor’s voice, and her facial expressions and body language was fluid and right on cue. This was then used as a starting point for the other characters in the game, so the animations that we saw in the game were some of the best yet in the franchise.

Since the trailer’s debut, one thing that has got people talking is the quick scene involving horses jumping over a wall. Rosas chuckles and said that even the horse was motion captured to give it the most authentic look, and to make sure that its movements in the game were as natural as possible. He did recount some rather hair-raising episodes involving the horse during motion capture, but the horse was never uncomfortable or injured during the process, and the end result can be plainly seen in the trailer.

Stay tuned for more coverage on Black Ops 2 as we get it!

It seems like the crazy minds behind Family just aren’t content with taking over our TVs. Activision and 20th Century Fox today announced that a new Family Guy videogame would be released later this year.

“Fans of Family Guy will love that we’ve taken some of the series’ most iconic and memorable moments and built them into an impressive and uncensored video game,” said David Oxford, Executive Vice President, Activision. “Anyone who watches the show will appreciate how much we have adhered to its rich and twisted universe and characters.”

The TV show reaches around 33.5 million viewers in the US alone, and has enjoyed considerable success with DVD sales and movie spin-offs. Picking on everything from politics to social stigmas, Family Guy knows no limits in its often dark humor, and no topic is off limits.

This isn’t the first time that the franchise has dabbled in videogames – back in 2006 the Family Guy videogame debuted on the PS2, Xbox, and PSP platforms to lukewarm reviews, and the show has also seen trivia games released for the iOS platform. Still with Activision at the helm there’s hope yet that the game will be able to encompass the true Family Guy spirit.

And if not we can send Stewie back in time to stop it all from happening.

If you weren’t lucky enough to play the original game, there is a ‘Prototype Recap’ option available which talks you through the events that unfolded in the first game. You originally played as Alex Mercer, who was infected with the Blacklight Virus and set out to get to the bottom of things. In Prototype 2,you play as Sergeant James Heller, who lost his wife and daughter to what became known as the ‘Mercer virus’. His emotions in turmoil, he is discharged from duty but quickly reinstated and sent to the Red Zone, one of the most infected areas of New York City. It is there he meets Alex Mercer, and tries his best to enact his revenge for the loss of his family. But you soon learn that Mercer isn’t the real enemy, and thanks to a little slip of the virus from Mercer, things soon start to get interesting.

While the general population has been cornered off into sections for their own supposed safety, they are in reality just being used a test subjects for Blackwatch’s various biological experiments. Heller then sets out on a rampage to get into Blackwatch and find those responsible for the chaos ruling the city.

From that point onwards, you’re eased into Heller’s new abilities, such as increased attack speed and strength, and of course the ability to mutate your hands into claws to shred your enemies into pieces. As you progress through the game you can of course unlock various new abilities in a number of ways. Completing main story missions will unlock new DNA for you to evolve further, while attacking and absorbing certain experiments or key targets upgrade current combat skills or provide new offensive tactics. You can also locate lost Blackwatch agents in the city who carry vital tidbits of information – find enough of these and you’re granted an upgrade.

Once you’ve settled into the story and met a few key characters, the gameplay juggles around a bit to try and keep things interesting. Your missions start off being simple ones where you hunt down a particular target and absorb them for snippets of information (which then lead you to further targets) or sneaking into enemy bases undetected. One of Heller’s abilities is that he can absorb any person in the game and then immediately take on their disguise – this is essential if you want to sneak into enemy bases undetected or use terminals to obtain classified information, which you have to do quite frequently.

The story does try to pace itself as best as possible, but in some areas the cutscenes and dialogue are just so drawn out that you’re almost itching to get back to the gory action. Heller’s swearing also tends to get a bit irritating after a while, but thankfully the brute doesn’t talk for very long before you can get back to mauling tanks and terrifying civilians. Speaking of tanks, as with the first game you have the option to hijack military vehicles for your own amusement or to use in various missions. You can quickly rip off weapons or destroy the vehicle entirely, but there are several instances where hiding in a tank when under assault is a good idea. For the most part the game doesn’t try to pigeonhole you into just following the main story – there are enough side missions and extra things to discover to keep you occupied for a good portion of time.

The graphics on the game look fairly decent, with cutscenes animating well and character models looking somewhat realistic at times. The live-action flashback sequences are a nice touch and help distract you from the game’s occasional texture clipping that always seems to happen when you’re jumping from a building onto the streets below. The background score isn’t obtrusive and for the most part goes unnoticed until you are spotted by enemies and the music changes to a fast-paced score to compliment the frantic escape.

Prototype 2 is a fair follow-up to the original and fixes some of the combat and targeting issues that plagued the first game. While a lot of fun can be had rampaging around the city, you ultimately have to decide if you really care enough about Heller to pursue his former captors and seek revenge or just roam around the city causing mayhem. Thankfully with a vast city to explore, that choice is up to you.

The DLC is called ‘Content Collection’, and like the one released for PS3 this month, it will feature four multiplayer maps (Piazza, Liberation, Overwatch, and Black Box), and two Spec-Ops missions (Black Ice and Negotiator).

It will be available for $14.99.

Here’s a recap of the content that will be available (this trailer was for the PS3):

While the card essentially confirms that Black Ops 2 is the new entry in the unstoppable Activision juggernaut, it does have a big fat November 13 release date listing plastered in the middle – a launch date that is very typical to a Call of Duty title.

Whatever it maybe, Activision will formally reveal the next Call of Duty on Tuesday, May 1.

Unveiling the new entry in the long-running annual shooter series will reportedly take place in the next two weeks. That is according to a “retail source” who forwarded a proof to Kotaku - a print lumbered with clues written all over it that new facts about Activision’s latest Call of Duty ought to be divulged on May 2.

So you might ask how this leaked image equals a Black Ops sequel. Well, see the tagline “return for debriefing”? It kind of sums up the whole thing if you’re familiar with the campaign in Black Ops, which revolved around a protagonist who keeps getting tediously yelled at “Mason, Mason” while being interrogated about them numbers. Those damn numbers!

Bond will have at his disposal an array of state-of-the-art gadgetery, sleek vehicles, his signature Walther PPK handgun, and notorious villains to use them against. Also, gorgeous woman.

“To honor 50 years of the world’s top secret agent, 007 Legends offers a collection of his most famed moments in the smartest and most treacherous Bond game yet,” said David Oxford, Executive Vice President at Activision Publishing, Inc.

“Creating a video game storyline that ties together six popular, yet very different, Bond movie narratives can be challenging, but together with EON Productions, our developer Eurocom, has pulled it off to create an homage that we think will be a unique and highly entertaining Bond video game.”

007: Legends will also have the “fan-favorite single-player Mi6 Ops Missions, which debuted in GoldenEye 007: Reloaded and challenges players to complete extra missions ranging from all-out action to stealth and gadget-based gameplay and compete for the highest online leader board scores.” Players will be able to participate as either Bond’s friends or foe, “reliving the missions through their eyes, as well as 007′s.”

The multiplayer includes 4-player LAN split-screen game modes, and online modes with maps, weapons and characters “derived from Bond’s 50 year legacy”.

007: Legends is being developed by Eurocom, and will release this fall for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

A screenshot from Call of Duty: Black Ops...Oh no, wait, that's Modern Warfare 3.

According to analyst firm Macquarie Equities, Modern Warfare 3 volume sales are behind by 4.2 percent, with March sales in particular amounting to only half of what Black Ops managed at the same time last year.

Exact sales figures are not known publicly.

Analyst firm PiperJaffray has blamed the decline in sales to casual players, who they believe are now using their consoles primarily for video streaming and other forms of media. We are not sure how they have come to this conclusion, though – Call of Duty still remains largely something regular gamers would play.

Industry-predictor Michael Patcher believes Modern Warfare 3′s weak sales is due to the changing habits of gamers – they want new releases.

A new Call of Duty is set to release this year. Announcement is due this month.