Here’s some good news for those that didn’t pick up Black Ops 2′s first map pack yet. Starting Friday, May 24 on Xbox 360, anyone who hasn’t already downloaded Black Ops 2′s Revolution map pack will be able to do so for free on a trial period.

In what is a Call of Duty first, the DLC will be made available to download starting Friday, May 24th at 10am PDT, and will be free-to-play for a full four days until May 28th.

Revolution brings four new multiplayer maps and one new Zombies mode map, along with a new weapon:

• Hydro – This large map allows you to use the dam and water to your advantage to block paths and stop enemies.
• Downhill – A medium-sized map based in the French Alps complete with snow, chair lifts, and a strategically placed lodge.
• Grind – Set within the locale of the Venice, California boardwalk, this small skate park map is sure to deliver fast and frenetic Call of Duty action.
• Mirage – This Gobi Desert multiplayer map utilises sand dunes to provide different levels of elevation and a sanctuary in the centre as a natural chokepoint.
• Zombies – Die Rise – The Zombie apocalypse has invaded China, turning down town into a dilapidated and dangerous MC Escher painting. Also adds ‘Turned’ game mode that allows gamers to play as the Zombies and hunt down the one human player.
• Peacekeeper SMG – This impressive sub-machine gun fills the open weapon slot in your load-out with power and accuracy.

If you like the map pack, you can download it for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Starting Thursday, May 23 on Xbox, Treyarch will give you the opportunity to vote for one of four new Personalization Packs; Comics, Cyborg, Dragon or Paladin from within the Black Ops 2 Message of the Day. The two packs that receive the most votes by May 28th will be made available to purchase the next day.

To recap: on May 23rd you’ll be able to vote for the pack that you like best. Voting will end on May 28th. The two most popular packs will be available to purchase on May 29th.

Hopefully you’re not too worn out after taking full advantage of last weekend’s double XP event because this weekend you’ll be able to rank your weapons up twice as quick.

In celebration of Black Ops 2: Uprising’s impending launch on the PlayStation 3 and PC this Thursday, everyone will be getting double weapon XP starting Friday, May 17 at 10am PDT. The Black Ops 2 double weapon XP weekend will come to an end Monday, May 20.

Enjoy.

What’s that, you want some double XP with your Black Ops 2? You got it, soldier.

Developer Treyarch has just confirmed that starting this Friday, May 10th at 10am PDT (6pm GMT), all platforms will be getting double XP in Black Ops 2. The bonus XP will come to an end on Monday, May 13th at 10am PDT. Enjoy!

If you are on the PlayStation 3 or PC and are still waiting to get your hands on Black Ops 2′s second map pack, Uprising, you’ll be able to download the DLC on May 16th. Get our impressions on Uprising here.

If you prefer to play your first-person shooters with a keyboard and mouse over a joypad, Treyarch have just announced that Black Ops 2 will be free-to-play on Steam all weekend.

Treyarch’s voice of the PC development team @pcdev has confirmed that as of today anyone who wants to try out Black Ops 2′s multiplayer on the PC will be able to download and play the MP portion of the game for free until Sunday, May 12 at 1pm PDT.

Good news for the regular PC guys – easy pickings!

Oh, and don’t forget to check that your PC meets the minimum system requirements.

Earlier this week Treyarch released a update for the console versions of Black Ops 2 that, amongst a bunch of other things, added a new game mode to the shooter. Today, a similar update has gone live for the PC version of Black Ops 2.

The new “limited time” game mode can be found in the Bonus Playlist and is called ‘Arms Race’. Arms Race, which is a variant of Team Deathmatch, awards players 150 score-per-kill. This means that players can rack-up Scorestreaks much quicker and easier.

Here are the full patch notes for the latest Black Ops 2 PC update:

Feature Improvements

• Added a limited time game mode to the Bonus Playlist, the Arms Race Team Deathmatch variant awards players 150 score per kill. Let the Scorestreak wars begin.
• Added a new playlist to Party Games that includes all party gamemodes. Get the party started with Party Mix.
• Party matchmaking is no longer determined by the partyleader’s content ownership, but is instead determined by any content that is owned by all party members.
• General improvements to matchmaking.

Multiplayer Issues Addressed

• Fixed an issue where portions of the screen would be cut off in some display resolutions.
• Fixed a crash that would sometimes occur while rendering a clip.
• Fixed some cases where gamepad button prompts would be missing while using a gamepad.
• Fixed an issue where the double XP icon would appear in Custom Games and League Play when double xp was not being awarded.
• Removed an erroneous store link in the videos section of File Manager.
• Store links now correctly link to individual item store pages instead of the Black Ops 2 game page in Steam.
• Fixed an issue reported by the community where players could get infinite ammo for the Death Machine and War Machine.
• Addressed an issue reported by the community where players may not die when getting stuck with a Crossbow Bolt.
• Fixed an issue reported by the community where the Hunter Killer drones will float around slowly when they miss a target from a certain angle.
• Players can now enter the crouched position while sprinting with the Riot Shield equipped.
• Care packages now appear in blue and orange on the map when Color Blind Assist is enabled.
• Resolved an issue where players and turrets could survive the water rush when in certain areas on Hydro.
• Addressed an issue with League Teams appearing incorrectly when a player views another player’s League Team in the Leaderboards.
• Fixed a formatting issue in Leagues Season Final text where the date the player was placed was wrapping incorrectly.
• Overkill challenges will now progress if the player is using an alternate select fire mode.
• The upper metal plate of a planted Assault Shield now appears in the proper position during a Killcam.
• Addressed an issue with the Custom and Private Match change team scoreboard not updating in real time when the overlay is on screen.
• Addressed a rapid scrolling issue in the Preset Class Menu.
• Chopper Hunter Field Specialist challenge updated to Aircraft Hunter with a description that reflects the aircrafts that need to be destroyed to complete the challenge.
• Fixed an issue with the last player alive defusing the bomb in Search & Destroy not receiving any defuse points.
• The icon to distinguish a Search & Destroy bomb location is now visible to a Codcaster who is spectating the defending team.
• Fixed an issue in the Combat Record where the images would disappear when scrolling off of and on to the Combat Record.

Gameplay Balancing

• Reverted global spawn influencer change from previous game update due to undesirable side effects.

Zombies Issues Addressed

• Players can no long get stuck by skipping the loading cutscene before a map has finished loading.
• Addressed various zombie pathing issues throughout the map.
• Fixed an issue where character conversations would overlap with each other.
• Addressed several exploits involving zombie pathing and the zombie shield.
• Resolved various pathing issues where zombies would not path to players behind open doors.
• Fixed an issue where players would see a ‘Connection Interrupted’ message on screen at the end of the game.
• Resolved an issue with textures displaying in low resolution.

Black Ops 2′s second map pack, Uprising, is set to be released on the PC and PS3 May 16th.

A new Black Ops 2 update has gone live today on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (no word on the PC release). Patch 1.09 (Xbox) and 1.10 (PS3) is a pretty large affair, bringing feature improvements, multiplayer issue fixes, gameplay balancing and fixes for Mob of the Dead, the new Zombies map included with the second map pack for the game, Uprising.

This latest patch also brings a new limited time game mode to Black Ops 2 called ‘Arms Race’. Arms Race can be found in the Bonus Playlist and awards players 150 score-per-kill, meaning Scorestreaks can be earned quicker and easier.

Here are the full patch notes:

Feature Improvements

• Added a limited time game mode to the Bonus Playlist, the Arms Race Team Deathmatch variant awards players 150 score per kill. Let the Scorestreak wars begin.
• Added a post-match Connection Quality survey which will be presented to a sampling of players to assess online gameplay connection quality.

Multiplayer Issues Addressed

• Fixed an issue reported by the community where players could get infinite ammo for the Death Machine and War Machine.
• Addressed an issue reported by the community where players may not die when getting stuck with a Crossbow Bolt.
• Fixed an issue reported by the community where the Hunter Killer drones will float around slowly when they miss a target from a certain angle.
• Addressed an issue reported by the community where the frame rate may drop for other players when the host changes their audio settings during a match.
• Addressed multiple issues on Magma where players were able to fall or dive-to-prone in certain lava areas and survive.
• Players can now enter the crouched position while sprinting with the Riot Shield equipped.
• Care packages now appear in blue and orange on the map when Color Blind Assist is enabled.
• Resolved an issue where players and turrets could survive the water rush when in certain areas on Hydro.
• Resolved a UI issue with Tactical Insertion button prompt placement in Split Screen after a Host Migration.
• Resolved an inconsistency with Max Number of Players being displayed incorrectly when backing out of a Public Match search while it is searching.
• Addressed an issue with the Respawn Delay counter overlapping with other on-screen graphics in Split Screen.
• Addressed an issue with League Teams appearing incorrectly when they view another player’s League Team in the Leaderboards.
• Fixed a formatting issue in Leagues Season Final text where the date the player was placed was wrapping incorrectly.
• Overkill challenges will now progress if the player is using an alternate select fire mode.
• Bots will no longer attempt to capture and destroy the Headquarters from outside of the Alien Set Van or the Castle.
• The upper metal plate of a planted Assault Shield now appears in the proper position during a Killcam.
• Fix for the Hellstorm Missile not defaulting to the center of the Vertigo map when it flies in.
• Equipment, Turrets and Guardians are now destroyed when they are thrown or placed into the lava in some areas on Magma.
• Addressed an issue with the Custom and Private Match change team scoreboard not updating in real time when the overlay is on screen.
• Addressed a rapid scrolling issue in the Preset Class Menu.
• Chopper Hunter Field Specialist challenge updated to Aircraft Hunter with a description that reflects the aircrafts that need to be destroyed to complete the challenge.
• Text displayed for “Enemies forfeiting…” increased on Split-Screen to make it more legible.
• Fixed an issue with the last player alive defusing the bomb in Search & Destroy not receiving any defuse points.
• Resolved an issue with signing in and out while a film in loading in Theater.
• The icon to distinguish a Search & Destroy bomb location is now visible to a Codcaster who is spectating the defending team.
• Resolved an issue with attempting to sign into a Twitch account with Dual Play enabled.
• Fixed an issue in the Combat Record where the images would disappear when scrolling off of and on to the Combat Record.
• Fixed an issue in Offline System Link when the host leaves a lobby.

PlayStation 3 and PC players will be able to download Uprising, Treyarch’s second Map Pack for Black Ops 2, on May 16 at 6.30am GMT (May 15th at 10.30pm Pacific Time)

Uprising includes four new multiplayer maps, plus “Mob of the Dead,” a bone-chilling new Zombies experience that takes players to the notorious prison island of Alcatraz. Several of Hollywood’s most iconic actors round out the cast of Prohibition-era mobsters, including Ray Liotta, Michael Madsen, Chazz Palminteri, and Joe Pantoliano to bring this horrifying adventure to life.

Following the tradition of the original Black Ops fan-favorite Zombies mode “Call of the Dead,” Uprising’s new “Mob of the Dead” Zombies experience puts players on the island of Alcatraz, in the shoes of four Prohibition-era mobsters: Billy Handsome (Liotta), Al “The Weasel” Arlington (Pantoliano), Salvatore “Sal” DeLuca (Palminteri), and Michael “Finn” O’Leary (Madsen). All four are serving time in Alcatraz Prison, only to discover that being behind bars is the least of their problems. In order to survive, players must work their way through the steel cells and aging concrete buildings while fighting off a multitude of zombified prisoners and guards trapped on the island with them.

Uprising also debuts four new diverse multiplayer maps, each set around the globe (find our impressions here):

• Magma – Set within a modern Japanese village, volcanic eruptions carve multiple paths throughout the town.
• Encore – Taking place in the aftermath of a deserted London music festival, Encore leaves numerous opportunities for run-and-gun, close quarters combat.
• Vertigo – A futuristic high-rise mega-structure located in India featuring dizzying vistas and multi-tiered pathways.
• Studio – A contemporary re-imagining of “Firing Range,” the fan-favorite multiplayer map from the original Call of Duty: Black Ops. “Studio” is a Hollywood movie back lot with a variety of cinematic themes that range from Sci-Fi to the Old West.

Those wanting to purchase Uprising can do so for $14.99.

Here’s the “Mob of the Dead Where Are We Going?” trailer:

You can purchase Mob of the Dead’s sound track, called Where Are We Going, and featured in the above trailer – along with 25 other original compositions created specifically by Treyarch for “Mob of the Dead” – for $8.99 on Amazon MP3 or $9.99 on iTunes. There’s also previously unreleased bonus tracks from Tranzit and Die Rise.

With the last Black Ops 2 double XP weekend barely finished, developer Treyarch has already announced the next one. In was seems to be becoming a trend, Treyarch are following up double XP with double weapon XP from this Friday.

Confirmed via the in-game Message of the Day, the next Black Ops 2 double weapon XP weekend starts Friday, April 19 at 10am PDT, and comes to an end on Monday, April 22 at 10am PDT.

Enjoy.