If we go back in time to November 2009, the gaming world was in a frenzy as Modern Warfare 2 exploded on the scene, securing the record for highest selling game title to date and generating $550 million in sales during its first five days. Now the impossible seems to have happened, as gaming retailer GameStop announced that pre-orders for Treyarch's upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops have surpassed that of the mighty Modern Warfare 2.

 

GameStop's merchandising SVP, Bob McKenzie said in a statement, “we are ahead of where we were with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 last year, which previously set the industry standard.” The company unfortunately did not disclose the actual number of pre-orders, but you can bet that it's a lot.

 

Black Ops will be aiming its explosive crossbow darts at Modern Warfare 2's sales record when it launches, but it remains to be seen if Treyarch's game can beat out the last true Infinity Ward title. The game is launching on the 9th of November for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Nintendo Wii with even a hand-held Nintendo DS version seeing the light of day. We can hardly wait.

 

Oh, and it was recently revealed that Black Ops will be supporting 3D as well. And zombies. 

 

 

 

 

Moving over to the third-person shooter realm, next year's highly anticipated Gears of War 3, although delayed until mid next year, will be getting a multiplayer beta early in 2011. The beta will be public, and the best piece of news is that it will feature dedicated servers.

 

“A big part of what we're trying to do is embrace the different play styles that people have, so this public beta is going to be a very big chance for us to throw it out in the wild and see how well we've met the needs of what players want in order to use different tactics,” said senior designer Lee Perry in an interview with Joystiq.

 

Developers Epic Games recently showed off the multiplayer portion of the game for the first time and the addition of a public beta with dedicated servers should help the team iron out any multiplayer bugs that will undoubtedly be popping up locust style. It should also help to create some space between Epic's other big title, Bulletstorm, which will be curb stomping its way to a February 2011 release.

 

 

 

 

Halo: Reach has been out and about in the gaming world for a few weeks now, with gamers all over the globe engaging in the game's addictive multiplayer action non-stop.

 

While it will probably never see the kind of sales numbers as Halo 3, the game did recently cross the three million sales mark, quite a feat for a game to which we already knew the ending.

 

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg yesterday revealed that Halo: Reach had sold 3 million copies in the United States alone, which means this number may jump considerably if PAL sales are included. And remember, Halo: Reach is exclusive to the Xbox 360, making this achievement even more impressive.

 

 

 

 

Just like its predecessors, Microsoft's upcoming Fable III is set to turn the world of RPG games on its head when it launches later this month. Fabled game designer, Peter Molyneux, responsible for such classics as Populus and Black & White, is again leading the Fable team to what is sure to be some unprecedented new heights.

 

Recently Microsoft and agency twofifteen worked with Emmy award-winning visual effects studio, Psyop to bring us this amazing new Fable III cinematic trailer. Set to the backdrop of the BlackAngel's track “Young Men Dead”, the trailer shows the call to arms and rise of Albion's revolution in amazing detail. It's short, but absolutely amazing, trust us on this one. You can check it out below.

 

 

 

Fable III is launching for the Xbox 360 on the 29th of October, with a PC version slated for early 2011.