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- Publisher: Activision
- Release Date: Nov 13, 2012
- Also On: PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360
User Score
Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1456 Ratings
User score distribution:
Positive: 459 out of 1456
Mixed: 158 out of 1456
Negative: 839 out of 1456
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Nov 13, 2012This game is just awful. I really wanted to get into it, but I just couldn't. It's the same tired formula they used in black ops, and it's even less enjoyable than mw3. The single player campaign is awful, the game gives you auto-aim, so you don't even have to try when playing, and it still uses the same engine it's been using for so many years now. Call of Duty has essentially been turned into a $100 per year subscription service. If you value the video game industry and are tired of being taken advantage of, stop giving in and play games that are actually GOOD for a change.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012no inovation in this game - copie of DLC of BO1. MP classment very crazy. DX11 - where is this used? No dedicated server. its more jump & run as shooter
Nov 13, 2012Hey when I pay $60 I expect to get the exact same game as the last time... or at least that's how Treyarch treats their customers. I should say this game is proof of their attitude towards their fans and all but we all should have learned from our mistakes in MW3. Yet again Activision and their lackey cash cow have released the EXACT SAME GAME. It plays like MW3 it looks like MW3 and it has the same bugs as MW3. Give it a rest trasharc.… Expand
A bad console port to PC. Inflated price for a re-hash of older CoD games. Same 'on rails' single player experience. In MP you need to hit someone a few times with a LMG with FMJ bullets, in HC mode, to kill them. Not the CoD experience I am used to... Feels more like the normal mode, but worse. Good to see lean/peak is back to CoD. But worst of all is.... No dedicated servers! WTF?!!! Which means it is difficult to find a game for MP and/or will get disconnected when host leaves. Unacceptable!!! And you are at the mercy of Activi$ion. No way to kick chaters, mod a server (even within the game rules etc...). Last CoD purchase for me ever. Will probably revert to Cod 4 and even BO. CoD 4 remains the best to this day. Strange thing is I would have paid more for new versions of CoD. Or just new maps or enhancements of the versions already there. You lost me for good now, Activi$ion! I am a PC gamer! Edit: An update as it really bugs me: 12 player multiplayer? Are **** me Activi$ion?!!! And the lag encountered on matchmaking is really annoying. Some of the animation and models are v. cartooney compared with previous CoD's. Don't buy this **** Can't believe I am supporting an EA game, but if you have money to burn, buy BF3 or buy Red Orchestra 2, buy COD 4! Stay well away from this. We are PC gamers! Edit #2: So I am not accused for criticising without trying it. After playing MP for 5 days, I can confirm CoD is dead. It took until all/most perks and addons were unlocked. Now almost every game is won by one or two guys running around with knives. There is no balance in the game anymore. There is no fun. You can blame it on my inexperience, but I am a decent player. I didn't think I would be playing for too long this sad excuse of a game, but to not last even a week.... I repeat! Don't buy this **** This is a poor console game - leave it to consoles. We are PC gamers!… Collapse
Nov 13, 2012And downhill we continue to roll. Compared to the first Black Ops, this game is an incredible downgrade when comparing weapon balancing, movement, and overall game-play. Aiming down the sights is virtually dead. Every map, even ones that seem sniper friendly on the surface, all you need is a high fire rate sub-machine gun to mow players down. And unless they are at quite a long distance, aiming is simply not necessary. Players move unrealistically fast compared to previous installments, and even though maps are bigger on average than BO1, the speed and absolutely horrible re-spawn mechanics make the maps feel much smaller and simply more frustrating. Map design itself is horrid and seemingly rushed with no consideration of play mechanics or strategy. With BO1 and earlier CoD games every map seemed to have some advantage to picking the right weapon. That is not the case by far with BO2. As previously mentioned a fast firing sub-machine gun is all you need for every map every time. The games outdated graphics engine is about 5 years old now and very much showing it's age. Virtually "cartoony" at this point. A sure sign that no effort went into this game from a design perspective.
The "dedicated servers", even though known to be owned and controlled by 3arc with no mods allowed, could be considered an outright lie to the consumers. We see the same style game matching as with MW3. The only upside is that ping/latency seems to be a tad bit better. It's very difficult to tell but this could be the result of matches being hosted on "dedicated servers" as opposed to peer-to-peer. It's also difficult to say if that's moving in the right direction.....because as PC games are concerned....true dedicated / player owned servers have always given us the best play experience. That's because we get lower pings, a better social experience where you get to play with and befriend those on your favorite servers, but also the server admins can "police" a server and ban cheaters/hackers that circumvent the shoddy anti-cheat measures Valve and 3arc try to impose. Sadly I must recommend to all skilled players to avoid this game completely....as it takes no skill to actually play. The continued dumbing down caters to a common play-style that young children and pre/young teens enjoy..... which is spray, pray, and call people racist & derogatory terms. That may be present in all on-line games but when traditionally you would have older teens and young adults as the majority skilled player such occurrences, especially on a true dedicated server, were fairly uncommon.
This player had high hopes for BO2. Eagerly awaiting an improvement on BO1 for some fun, balanced, and skilled game-play. Unfortunately what we receive is a dumbed down abomination of MW3.
Between Activision's loss of touch with the gaming community and EA's continued poor quality renditions the market is prime for a new entry into this genre. Someone, please save us.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012Well well well. I actually quite enjoyed BO1, however this new "innovation" is pretty much a rehash of MW3 with different guns and a different class system. The gameplay feels exactly the same (which is not good, because the BO1 gameplay was quite good). And the maps are also pretty poor. Finally the unlock system is also pretty bad - almost like they're trying to even the field because so many people are terrible at this game.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012This game is even worse than previous titles!!! Graphics again from 2006, extreme boring single player and practically same multiplayer as always. 10 enemies respawning behind your back all the time. Again DLC and not a full game.
Nov 13, 2012This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. SPOILER!
Only played single player campaign!
Can't talk about multiplayer gameplay!
-Cons: 1. Outdated graphics 2. Avarage AI (Friendly NPCs are absolutely useless, enemy NPCs are too static etc.) 3. Avarage story and overlong cutscenes 4. Almost every character is a cliché (Evil Arabs, Africans and South Americans, badass US soldiers) 5. Imperfect Strike Force commands 6. Gameplay is too scripted 7. Maps are too small and overcrowded with NPCs
Pros: 1. Weapon customization 2.Still better than MW3:Warfighter...… Expand
Nov 13, 2012The game is horrible, its the same as it's previous games. Gameplay's the same, Game engine's the same, it aint DX11... its still DX9.0c.. no physics, nothing. The only good thing is that it runs on Intel HD cards. The future war of the game feels like a mix of Crysis and BF2142. The sound of the game is pants, bullets are more quiet than the soundtracks, and if you ask me, the soundtracks are really cheap! atleast the zombie mod is better than the previous. This game is just a marketing trick of Acitivision, same thing as EA or Apple is doing... marketing crap for high prices. It was nothing but a waste of my time! COD series is dead...… Expand
Nov 13, 2012Tried to avoid it this year after the last copy/paste fails and then bam; I get it as a birthday present. Surprise factor 0; this is the same thing again! Engine is really showing it's age now and this series is so far behind the likes of Battlefield 3 it's just a joke. Utter, utter repetitive drivel. Way to phone it in... again!!
Dec 28, 2012It's not a terrible game. In term sof graphics it's pretty darn good. In terms of gameplay and depth - it's chanelling 2004. Maybe it's just the franchise is getting very old. Maybe it's shooters in general are just too darn profligate that we are all getting jaded and bored with the same game over and over and over (and over and over) again. Maybe that's the case, but you can't forgive such simple gameplay and lack or tactical depth. Pretty poor but not awful.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012Call of duty 4 the best ever . I do not understand how you can play it ... after game has the same moves.
For me this series has long since ended
Nov 13, 2012This game is complete trash, it's graphics look like Call of Duty 3, not Modern Warfare.
Bodies have no weight, textures look like absolute garbage they are stretched and clipped on everything you can find.
I wanted to get into this game I really did, but it was just disappointment after disappointment.
You should pray all day and maybe maaaaaaaaay be you will get your money back from this spew of diarrhea dog console port.
-When you knife people it seems to have no connectivity, their limbs just fly off to a cheesy blood effect that looks like After Effects Action Essentials blood.
-The guns have the same exact sound for each shot, other games had at least 3.
-The cast just jumps around left and right, none of the characters are memorable.
-This is a direct console port to the PC, the graphics adjustments are so crippled you can't even adjust the model detail -_-. This game is playing in 480p or some terrible console quality.
I would be able to tell if it was developed for PC, the text would be very high quality and clear like the other games but the text in this game looks like it was from a 4:3 800 x 600 monitor.
-The main menu is sooooooo bad it is set vertical, has no icons, why would they downgrade their main menu wtf, the first black ops menu was perfect, it was interactive with a bunch of fun secrets but this is just some crappy graphics guy just hitting his watch in the same exact spot.
Ranging from framerate issues and limited graphics, to the inability to crouch only when pressing the crouch button, both toggle to crouch and hold to crouch have the same exact action WOW.
The guns do not make any impact sounds, from the beggining of the campaign I was just bewildered at the fact that they had to add so much gore up the ass, from burning to brutal murders. It is so unnecessary and it detracts so much from the story I don't even know what the characters are even arguing about half the time.
I have played Call of Duty since Call of Duty 2, my favorite one being Modern Warfare 1.
I'm glad Metacritic isn't paid off for it's reviews because this game really does deserve a 3.1.
This game makes Soldier Front look like an 11 / 10.
This is the summation of money hungry corporate pigs, movie licensed game, and paid reviews.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012This game is so BAD=Terrible that it feels like a free to play FPS.The developers drop the ball with this poor excuse of a game. I Want my $60 bucks back.
Nov 13, 2012wow told myself last year i wouldnt buy this game because its always the same thing. but finally told myself to give the franchise one last chance and boy do i regret it...
SAME THING, RIP OFF. i want my dough back
Nov 13, 2012Boring repetitive, played it at a friends house, thank god i didn't waste 65 dollars on this overpriced DLC! I guess some games are that gullible to keep falling for the same lazy tricks.
Nov 13, 2012I bought it. I feel ashamed. I knew this would happen AGAIN! Luckily I only wasted 30 Euros on it, and it still feels like flushing money down a toilet. Whats wrong with the game you might ask?
Well lets start by the "Fake"dedicated servers. Where is the dedicated server? I do not know? Neither will you, and the only indication of the quality of connection is hidden by some idiotic Ping Bars. We cant even play competitively or just hang around on our own servers, since you cannot rent them... that means no community forming in a specific server etc.
This leads me to point 2. Console port again... What a shame, graphics from 2005? Really from a supposedly triple A game? Well we all knew that COD has not been up to par for years, peer 2 peer in MW2 etc. This game shows the same kind of symptoms, clearly a case of consolitus(A disease for PC). I warn you my fellow PC gamers, DO NOT BUY THIS! Stop supporting Activision. We need a new engine...… Expand
Nov 13, 2012So what's new with this game? Apart from the fact it's masked by a different setting and time.....nothing. it just feels like another average COD game. We all know this though, it's traditional every single year Activision churn out the same garbage for the younger audience so the consumers can invest a lot of their time and money for the franchise. Sure it's a fantastic business and marketing tactic that Activision can dictate this and they make a lot of money from it. But how can we stop this garbage being produced? Simple really just boycott the game and DON'T buy it. However this is an impossible solution because the market is so huge for this type of game many of which will never be convinced otherwise that they are being robbed blind plus the fact most people hate change and as long as they're comfortable with the same thing year in and year out Activision will take advantage of that and continue "feeding the trolls" so to speak. I have to give Treyarch some respect though at least they aren't afraid of changing the timeline of a cod game and they want to be a little more ambitious with it. However this just doesn't cut it enough, what we need is a fresh new IP and most certainly a more up to date and more advanced game engine.… Expand
Nov 18, 2012Ok so I've already reviewed this game but after playing it solidly on multiplayer for the last 5 days (off work broken leg) I thought I'd do another. I've marked it down to 4 from five because....
Gunplay, colision detection is appaling, you don't need to be on target just in the general area, I've been awarded headshots when I've hit players in the chest and had kills that were around an arm length away from the body.
Perks/Upgrades, really clunky and confusing (at first) some of the perks/upgrades are just not worth the bother.
Graphics/engine, I know if a game has solid gameplay graphics should not be an issue but come on, no destructible scenery, falling off the edge of maps ? this is 2012 ffs. There should be slightly more realistic gun mechanics, pistol headshots across the map with no bullet drop ? Yeah right.. Also bullets will pass through walls made of metal but be stopped dead by walls made of wood, what gives ?
Sound, seriously bad just seriously seriously bad.
General stuff, just a really really disappointing game, you can get killed by something like a RCd or dragonfire and have no warning of it' approach or time to get into cover or even any idea what you've been killed by, hardcore mode isn't, switching to pistol when you've clipped out is very slow, a hell of a lot of camping spots and very little room for team based gameplay. A lot of people are saying buy BF3 it's better, yes this is true but BLops2 and BF3 are completely different games with different objective, no way could Blops2 be described as a 'realistic wargame', I'd say buy MW1 or 2 better gameplay and a hell of a lot cheaper. There are some good points though, the maps are ok, ummm thats about it really I'm struggling to think of something else good....it's a bit like the Halo series, some great maps on there but horribly slow clunky junky spunky gameplay.
To all those giving it 0 come on, be a bit objective at least very few games are worth 0.
Just a few words about me. Been gaming since the days of Space Invaders and Scramble, played pretty much every platform and genre out there and remeber when games were a challenge and made you think, now my old old brain is so curdled all I can do is run around and shoot people, just as well really with depthless crap like MW3 and Blops2 around.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012Oh my god, what the..... there is nothing new, Same old graphics, everything is same as before.
Maps are so small that it's not even funny!
sp is just plain boring.
No more! Not going to buy any new COD game. FOR REAL this time, though I've sayed it many times before :(
Nov 13, 2012basically. Just a same game, same animation but different reskin. Very boring and repetitive! I would not recommend buying this game at. I doubt they'll stop making CoD games in yearly basis...
Nov 13, 2012I agree wholeheartedly with the review by Division. The core problem with this game is that there is virtually no map variety. They've added plenty of new weapons, perks, and killstreaks, but without maps to use them on, the additions are wasted. I will start with the positives of this game.
The rebalancing done to custom classes is superb. Instead of taking only the most powerful of perks and addons (OMA/noob tube, anyone?), you are forced to decide whether you really want to forego a sidearm, attachments, or even tactical and lethal grenades if you want, for example, Marathan and Lightweight together. This allows for some interesting combinations and are a vast improvement in terms of customizing classes to suit your gameplay style. I love what they've done with this. There are now tons of killstreaks you can choose from, though I don't know the precise number. There are many new additions to the weapon lineup, and the sound is the best I've heard in a COD title to date. The CQC design, IMO, is actually superb, even if that's all the maps offer. The unfortunate thing as that's pretty much where the positives end.
Every single map is the same, with different textures and environment. Imagine playing COD with a randomized dungeon engine like Diablo 2's. That's pretty much what BLOPS is, except I would probably prefer random layouts to the tired and uninspired designs of these maps. Every level is a close quarters combat layout. Every.single.one. Did you enjoy maps like Overgrown, Derail, or Estate that offered a mix of wide open spaces, overwatch areas, and a bit of close quarters? Well, then, don't buy this game, especially if you're a PC player, like I am. The series has been going the way of the console for a long time now, and, sadly, even Halo offers more open space maps than this title. That's depressing.
So while there are loads of new weapons to choose from, you're pretty much pidgeonholed into picking sub-machine guns. LMGs, sniper rifles, and even rifles are now just handicaps. Aiming isn't even necessary anymore. If all you desire is quick action and rapid fire spraying with little to no tactical consideration, then this title is perfect for you. The graphics seem no better than any previous BLOPS/MW title, yet it does seem to run worse. I've run max settings on almost every COD title to date (with even older video cards), yet I've actually had to lower a couple settings on this title just to prevent hiccups from actions like aiming down the sights. I don't really notice an improvement in the graphics even on max settings. I'm sure some of the hiccups will be ironed out, though.
The good thing is that BLOPS2 is a definite improvement over MW3. I loved every single Modern Warfare title until that game. It was a travesty. I even loved BLOPS to a lesser degree. But the bad thing is that the extremely poor map variety makes this game a chore to play. I give it a 4 only because it's better than MW3.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012Just another mappack, thats how to describe this game best. Seems that activision is one of the few studios that can get away with just rehashing a game year after year and have people pay the full amount of 60 euros for it.
This game is such a shameless ripoff to the previous that it's almost insulting to the gaming industry in general. The critic reviews are obviously paid reviews seeing as this game gets a 9 on average. In short this game doesn't do anything to revolutionize or even improve upon the existing FPS model. It doesn't even give you top notch graphics for the money you pay.… Expand
Nov 14, 2012If you can see the comments of others, then you know what this game is all about. The game is possibly the biggest load of crap ever seen in modern games. Strangely this Call of Duty nonsense doesn't know how to stop and our majority of gamers and consumers are into nonsensical, repetitive, and worthless games. Clearly Treyarch doesn't appeal nor care towards players and only towards the money idiots throw at them. The game sadly lacks one of the useful features of gaming, dedicated servers. Without this how can you expect PC gamers to have any type of fun? With constant disconnections from servers and bad communities, I wonder how play this game. Not to mention how poorly coded and balanced this game is. Run and gun with a sub-machine gun, BIG **** WHOOPIE DO. Seriously, with a due respect, this game is not worth buying with It's same, non-changing gameplay with only meager, insignificant additions.
How can other idiots, Yes idiots, commenting in Metacritic say people don't know what they are talking about this game score wise, anyway? Clearly, they have played it, hated it, and give their concerns to the community.
Overall, this game is NOT worth your time and especially your good money. The game lacks core FPS elements and will be a waste. If I ask one person who is so madly in love with this game, I bet you he or she cannot give me a clear, descriptive and good opinion about the game. The game is a piece of **** this is one of the most banwagoned game which sole purpose of the creators is not to create a fun genre, but one to only gain profit. If you have the mind to read all of this, I sincerely commend you for your actions. I am not being a hater, but clearly there are so many bad, and unfixed points of this game that makes it a complete disaster. Remember, Treyarch wants to only make money not matter how badly a person perceives it. Please make a difference by not being one of those idiots who say MW3 (when it came out) or did you get Black Ops 2?
The gaming community today makes me sick to see these COD only gamers.
P.S. I played throughtout the COD series, So I KNOW where I am coming from.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012worst game ever.hype big like allways and after that its the same s**tty game.0 is for doing the same game and again take 60bucks.so who are buying is just kids or have serious problems with brains :)
Dec 14, 2012I didn't particularly like Black Ops 1 but I finished the campaign and played the hell out of the multiplayer, Black Ops II on the other hand is nothing short of a terrible game. The graphics in this day and age are down right embarrassing. Makes you appreciate what EA did for the PC community with BF3. The cinematic intro at the beginning's lip sync is way off & the character models look deformed. This engine is on its last legs. I've bought Call of Duty since 1 on the PC, skipped COD3 as I had no console. I've always played the campaign through first then started the multiplayer. Black Ops II's campaign is something to avoid, It is just a Michael Bay movie, pumped with testosterone, then turned into a game. The characters are unlikable, story is utterly confusing that multiple times i'll get to the point where I'm often wondering why I'm in this location & what am I doing. I'm 4 missions in and haven't touched the game in weeks. Any other Call of Duty I would finish the campaign in less than a week, I doubt i'll play it again.
Multiplayer is nothing new, though unless you have an SMG or something with rapid fire, you're going to have a bad time with the hid detection being off/completely different to any other COD. It's just black ops 1 re-skinned with more "features" or "downgrades" as I would call them, move along.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012Call of duty is here again promising a better campaign, larger multiplayer and improved zombies. It's not the case here. Graphics are like from dx9 and they dare say it runs on dx11? waste your money elsewhere.
Nov 13, 2012If you like Modern Warfare buy this .. same game .. it is NOT Black Ops.. so mad I wasted another 60 bucks on what I thought was going to be a good Call of Duty.. Black Ops was the crap.. this game IS CRAP. Fast paced shooter like quake but with a Military Skin on everything... people die with a single shot to the crotch.. everyone runs fast.. I want my money back.. if You liked the mod warefare series if you liked the realism of Black Ops dont buy this… Expand
Nov 13, 2012Same engine, Same formula, a few new guns... I'm not sold.
How year after year people flock to the new edition of the call of duty franchise I'm not sure. The best Modern Warfare game was the original, since then the franchise has gone slowly downhill with each new installation. I would advise people to stay away from this one.
Nov 14, 2012I have been waiting months for BO II to come out now. Then I find that the game is $180 USD if you include all day one and deluxe content. Which lowers the score I give by 4 points. Also the option to preorder was removed before the 14th. So I think my score is valid and now knowing how bad and buggy the game is I feel like I'm rating it too high.
Nov 14, 2012the game is so ugly, the campaign is so scripted, the weapons sounds so bad. the only things that works is the mp. but even the mp is boring as hell. i'll stick with cod mw 3.
Nov 13, 2012This is a terrible, terrible, rehash of the same game that they release every year. I don't know why people keep buying this, I certainly didn't. I only needed a little taste to see that I wasn't missing anything at all.
Nov 13, 2012worst cod title to date.
a lot of things are improved with this version, but more things are broken.
yes, lag compensation is still in the game and worse than ever.
lag comp is something that should never be implemented into a game that's geared toward competitive gamers.
I'm going to try to get a refund now, I already know they wont change their netcode or fix the massive heap of broken things with this one.… Expand
Nov 16, 2012Badly done, I'm super disappointed. Scripted events that don't let you control, bad ui, cut scenes you can't easily skip, etc etc. Just a million little things done wrong. Game play sucks too, if I wanted a strat game I would get a strat game. They try to turn a shooter into some type of strat game every other mission. Giant ball of suck!
Nov 13, 2012this game is so dull and without any atmosphere. it is probably the most terrible and unrealistic shooter i have ever played. sometimes i felt like i was in a b-movie of dolph lundgren and in some moments i expected cuck norris to come around the corner and kill all enemies with a roundhouse kick. it wouldnt had made a diffrence to the atmosphere in this piece of junk.
Nov 13, 2012why dont i add **** and robots to mw3 and guess what you get black ops 2, ive seen a single person make a better game then this at least medal of honor had good graphics and innovation this is a paint job with maybe 3 new things, hey little kids play left 4 dead or battlefield this is **** thank god i got me2 in my disk 2
Nov 13, 2012This "game" is garbage. As one of the misfortunate people who purchased a retail copy of this packaged fecal matter, I was first enraged by how the second disc isn't actually Black Ops II, but it was Mass Effect 2 instead (Yes, the rumors are true.) then I could not fathom the first mission. The audio quality is just awful, and the script is even worse. Don't buy this game, its neither worth your money, nor is it worth the space on your hard drive. There's also NO use of DX11, and the matchmaking services are terrible as well. I just can't wait until Activision runs this into the ground just like Guitar Hero.… Expand
Nov 13, 2012a disgrace to pc gaming, already returned the damn thing. even more unbalanced than mw3, same gameplay, bunch of stupid sh*t with camos and attachments. no 2 hit knife, just a bunch more lies game is loose but hole.
Nov 13, 2012Same game, just few new skins. Also a lot of the copies came with a Mass Effect 2 disk instead...WTH, If you're looking for a new and exciting game, play Deus Ex or something. There are better games out there.
Nov 14, 2012If you keep buying crap, then they will keep making crap.........When will gamers learn how to vote with their wallets? Right now the devs who basically made some cheap dlc for idiots who will buy anything with the "COD" brand on the box , are laughing their asses off all the way to the bank.......
Nov 13, 2012bad bad, i can't install the game beacuse the second disc is of mass effect 2 Played the single part and the zombie mod on pc. Trust me! Treyarch did absolutely nothing about the PC graphics part. DirectX11 is sure as hell no in this game. Nice marketing tric they pulled on the pc gamer
Nov 16, 2012Where do I begin. I guess I will begin with what is good. The Campaign was entertaining, and it mostly makes sense. A few plot holes here and there, but I can deal with that as ling as it entertains. Then I decided to open the multiplayer. Coming into the multiplayer I read a post by a Treyarch dev on twitter saying there were going to be dedicated servers. THAT IS WHY I BOUGHT THE GAME. What I did not realize was that shortly after the Black Ops 2 site announced that the GOD AWFUL MATCH MAKING SYSTEM WAS BACK! Why would any semi-intelligent person actually think that piece of garbage is a good idea. Dedicated servers are the norm for PC FPS games now, but it seems Activision cannot get that through their thick skull. The mindless drones that play Xbox do not care about dedicated servers. The PC community does. VAC DOES NOT WORK. IT HAS NEVER WORKED. WHY WOULD IT WORK FOR BO2? Cheaters are on every vac "secured" game. But do you want to know why they don't fill the servers of those games? Server admins are the best enforcers. They are playing on their server and make sure no one cheats. It also allows others to report the cheaters to their respective communities and have them banned from the server. Eventually in about 6 months or so VAC will ban them, but without the dedicated server enforcement that is way too much time. And the PC community likes to customize their playing experience. Crouch servers, sniper servers, No noob tube servers, 24/7 Nuketown servers, and a who slew of other custom servers are what the people want, not the stupid matchmaking system full of cheaters. So there: 1 point for an enjoyable campaign,… Expand
Dec 5, 2012Nothing really new. Campaign was alright but linear. Multiplayer takes no skill to play. Like CoD farmville so long as you pack a SMG w/ laser. Hit detection is garbage. No dedicated servers after PC players have been on about them since MW2. Host will always win so long as he has a brain and can push buttons. Very host-dependent. Imbalanced and not worth paying $60 for.
Nov 15, 2012Non-multiplayer this game is beautiful! I love it. Great missions. But, lets be honest with each other this game is meant to be mostly played online multi-player over steam. It was the 2nd day I already found a handful of hackers with aimbots and it is growing every day. This was a huge problem in MW3 and steam and activation did nothing about it. I have to give it a low rating because they refused to do anything about hackers. I am shocked aimbots already playing in the 2nd day of release. I recommend buying this game on console only and don't waste your money on the PC version.… Expand
Dec 2, 2012I believe that first Black Ops was a great achievement, not in terms of graphics or something, but in terms mentality of atmosphere and game concept. That created an absolutely new idea and gave a game a new feel - a great schizophrenic experience when you play as a main hero, suffering from his broken sense of reality. Setting was also incredible - hard times all around, war is close to us, country leaders, great countries, everything worked well. I played all of CoD games, and Black Ops was an outstanding achievement - not just fun with a gun, but fun with a brain.
So, when i heard new Black Ops is on the way i expected that another something incredible will be delivered. And, finally....
It delivered but there's no nothing that can be described as "delivered". It has some cloudy connections with first Black Ops, but connections are just meaningless extras - you can remove them and game will be okay with out them because, as i said, they are so cloudy so just don't make any sense. You've got some storyline that too far from words "interesting" or "involving" because storyline is way too artificial and make sense just in case you have no another new game to play (my case). Graphics-shmaphics are okay, not better than first part and sometimes looks worse than first part. Militaristic future is boring and repeatable although Afghanian mujaheddins armed with power of horses against some Soviet forces (sorry for a rhyme) are just ridicolous. Main hero is radiating brutality and postive way of thinking, but i didn't get anything interesting from a character, he's more like a robot that go down by scenario. Okay, there're some moments you'll find catchy but not too catchy to get you play again.
Et cetere, et cetera, i can call many other silly stuff. Game isn't worth money they are asking for that, time isn't worth to spend playing, go get first part and be really happy if you didn't have a chance before.
I gave 4 only for time i spent, but...in case another replica of that sort is on the way - i'm not going to buy it.… Expand
Nov 15, 2012Every year Activision chums the water seeking mindless carnivores who continue to eat the detritus of last year's rotting corpse. This year is no different than the last five. If you decide to spend the $60 for the game or $80 on the DLX Edition or $50 on the Season Pass go ahead. A fool and his money are soon parted.
Nov 14, 2012I didn't purchae the game, getting my brother to blindly spend the monies on this crap as he still can't see the trees from the wood with this series. My expectations were spot on and after spending a few hours watching him play the game on the big screen tellie, occasionally having a go myself that this series is indeed hobbling along on its last leg. Graphics are sub-par, so much for making use of DirectX 11 on the PC as the game looks identical to the first Mondern Warfare from five years ago. Anyhow I am by no means the best person to judge this, as I quit after MW2 with the series, but if this is your thing, playing the same thing over and over and over and over ad nauseum again year in on out then by all means go for it else avoid like the plague! You can do much much better with your $60 of hard earned cash.… Expand
Nov 16, 2012Do not buy this game now, at the moment it's still full of bugs in Single Player. Wait a few weeks and hopefully they will bring out patches. I'll revisit my review when that happens.
Nov 14, 2012Modern Warfare was the last game for me in this series: until Activision can demonstrate how the series has changed significantly (and thus makes a more compelling experience) I won't be throwing any more money into the same game with a different front.
Nov 17, 2012Please stop funding these games. By buying this rehashed garbage, you support the industry's efforts at belittling and trivializing gaming. Every Call of Duty game or DLC pack you buy goes directly into weakening the claims of game as art or a form of expressive medium. These games represent the worst of where creativity and innovation lay in the industry: buried among indie developers and new studios barely scraping by with new and interesting IPs. Do the industry and yourself a favor: go buy Natural Selection 2 instead.… Expand
Nov 15, 2012Utterly crap. I know this will get hyped as always from the likes of IGN etc. The Game was overhyped, is overpriced, horribly mainstream and just not fun.
Nov 22, 2012Liked if for a day. Then I hated it like any other CoD. Multiplayer is **** and full of tryhards, Only good for campaign. Waste of money. I was really expecting a change but nope. Not buying any CoD ever again.
Nov 19, 2012It's just more of the same: Shoot, run, done. Good storyline? Of course not, as usual. Uncreative games like that only sells because of the multiplayer. And the worst part is that I know people who keep buying, knowing that it will be the same.
Nov 14, 2012Old graphics, reactionary story line full of ridiculous propaganda. The first level you're playing a white dude fighting for a pro-Apartheid group fight against those trying to eliminate apartheid. They don't say that
,but if you know African history it's pretty simple. There's pretty much zero immersion. They tried to put all these little things like rope swinging and bat flying in, but they're stupid and cumbersome… Expand
Nov 14, 2012Absolute garbage. Looks completely dated, graphics from 2008, game play uninspiring, and terrible multiplayer experience. Treyarch really got lazy on this one.
Nov 14, 2012Yet another missed opportunity to reach out to the female gamers out there. And surprisingly I'm not that upset about it, from what all my friends who got it tell me, its not worth being upset about; they played it a few hours and came back to Halo 4.
Nov 17, 2012The solo is completly bugged. I can't continue, the horse go down on the map and I stuck. Graphism : Horrible, you can't compare with BF3. The multiplayer, lagging, bugging, camping ... Anyway, stay away (again ...) from this game. When Activision release a good, beautiful, no full marketing, no bugged COD ???!!!
It's really a joke to release this ...
Nov 18, 2012Exactly the same as every previous cod. Nothing really new. The the sp features are not really innovative.
The MP is entertaining if you liked every other cod, but its just cod 1 with new gun textures. If you played other new fps titles you will be shocked by how bad the sound and atmosphere is. It sounds as if they bought the cheapest desktop mic they could find and made the gun sounds with that. Its shocking how much they charge for this considering how little they have done. This is not AAA quality.… Expand
Nov 16, 2012Same game, different year. This game is made for hardware that is 8 years old. The gameplay has not changed. Netcode is still for **** Maps are really really bad. Its just another console port.
Nov 17, 2012This game is not worth even pirating, whats wrong with the industry, they buried a great franchise. To this day I still wasnt able to finish mw3, that is how bad these games have become. COD4 was the last COD game.
Nov 15, 2012This game is a disappointment and doesn't worth its price tag. Graphic engine is totally outdated. I think they've should released it for a consoles only. SP story is kinda boring,feels like I'm playing DLC for BO1.
Now I also think what COD series is dead - which is really sad.
Nov 14, 2012Story is very linear & boring. Graphics isn't that impressive. It's overpriced. I see no changes in gameplay. The zombie mode is the only thing I slightly liked. I'm not into future warfare but this is just downright ridiculous. Game developers try to feed us very linear crappy games for easy money. This is why gamers resort to piracy.
Nov 14, 2012it bare the name of call of duty but. dear fan. its not a real COD game.
a real COD game has dedicated server
a real COD has a community that will thrive thru dedicated server
a real COD game DOSENT have hacker in almost all of the game and no server admin to serve justice.
its not a COD game, its a sad POS that try to be skyp this one there is nothing to be found here
Nov 19, 20121. Minimal improvement in looks since Call of Duty 4 MW, which came out in 2007 (that's 6 years ago)
2. Singleplayer campaign - you've seen it all before, nothing new, except horses! YES HORSES!
3. Multiplayer cannot be more broken, no dedicated servers, disconnection, raging teens screaming all the time, bad maps (in every sense of the way), expect a DLC which you obviously have to pay for
4. Game is made easier and even more accessible then previous titles, DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY SKILL
5. Price - $60 for a mod is too much
They will keep making the same game over & over again as long as there's enough fools to buy it. Next year we will get MW4 and it will be poor but it will probably still manage to get over $500 million in it's first week.… Expand
Nov 15, 2012Still the exact same gameplay as medal of honor which cod first tipped off 10 years ago.
Stil the same flaws like the awful spawn system.
No server browser, no more mod support, no rcon tools, narrow fov.
The series has regressed since cod4 and deserves a score that reflects that, it was never a very good game but now it's a mediocre game with a lot of features missing.
Nov 17, 2012The same game, but worst. Without AI, without graphics, This game in PC is simply bad. One year ahead, same game of 2004. In 2004 this game is an 8, now is a 3.
Nov 14, 2012Same old boring game as the previous ones. Why do I keep spending money on this franchise, I must be an idiot to keep supporting this company. It looks like I'm not the only one though, makes me feel better.
Nov 14, 2012This game is possibly the biggest piece of **** call of duty since call of duty 3. the story is boring and the multiplayer sucks. The only good thing is the zombies, but there's really no way to screw that up, so im not even gonna give them credit for that
Nov 18, 2012I would say this is a copy and paste game but they changed it up a little. Yet it's the same run and gun game as always just worst in a way. I find it hard to understand why people keep buying call of duty games when all they should do is keep playing cod4 or quit playing cod altogether. After each cod they get worst and worst. and just from the user scores before my score I can see the community agrees with me... Good luck to all past cod lovers, I am one of them but with these new call of duty's I have been nothing but let down.... so in closing think about how bad MW3 was and times it by 3 and you got BO2. good luck gamers… Expand
Nov 15, 2012**** game. The whole series just crap. Poor graphics, scripted scenes, forgettable characters, poor optimization. Activision bathe now in money. This game is just awful. No inovation in this game - copie of DLC of BO1. Just ****
Nov 20, 2012I made an account just to rate this game. This is just another copy of MW3, although campaign is probably worse than before. The "easter egg" ending made the game seem so amateur, I literally sat there crying watching the cutscene. Do not waste your money on this terrible copy.
Nov 23, 2012Campaign story is so bad it makes Uwe Boll seem like Spielberg, graphics look like they took a step back from MW3 and cant quite put my finger on it but there's something about multilayer that just feels off and not in any positive way. I am usually a fan of CoD but it looks like this time the haters were right this game is a big waste of 60$ and a giant leap back for the franchise
Feb 9, 2013Didn't like this. Bad graphics. Worse story than part 1, which I found quite enjoyable. 'Modern' 2025 stuff poorly executed. Bad AI. Strikeforce missions that suck balls. Unfortunately, there are better ways to spend my money.
Nov 14, 2012This has got to be the most revolting "steaming" pile of **** I've ever **** seen. First off Activision, try patching your God forsaken games before you release them to the public. I swear, it's like this game is still in it's Alpha stage of development. I've seen mod teams that produced WAY better games than this **** swill, and they didn't cost $60 dollars either, THEY WERE FREE! There hasn't been an inkling of effort or creativity put into this franchise since COD4 (RELEASED NEARLY 6 YEARS AGO), and I just find that **** pathetic. So, if you're sick and tired of playing the same old re-hashed bull**** every year, then just do the following: BOYCOTT THE ****… Expand
Nov 26, 2012The single player campaign is OK. Nothing to write home about. I am fairly sure that it will get the same reaction as Black Ops. If you liked the SP in BO1, you'll probably like it in BO2. Multiplayer, though.. damn. It is HORRIBLE. Maps are retreads, graphics are mundane, sound is incredibly bad. BO2 makes no effort to address the same old issues that plague FPS games online. Camping is rampant, hit detection is atrocious, weapons are extremely overpowered (shotguns) or underpowered (ARs). The only positive thing I can say about the multiplayer is that the 9-point system can work, with a little tweaking. But since Treyarch obviously doesn't care about their community I do not see it improving. All Treyarch has managed to do, in my case, is make sure I never pay full price for one of their games ever again.… Expand
Nov 19, 2012Alright ... i finished the story mode and played some Multiplayer.
Indeed the game is full of bugs I laughed when I saw some of the same bugs of the previous CoD versions. I enjoyed a little the Single Player. The Multiplayer ... please remove auto-aim and make some new maps, I noticed some maps are the damn same. CoD, Y U NO BETA TEST !?
Nov 16, 2012This is one of the worst games I've played in recent times. Not only one of the worst but also the most overrated game ever. There is nothing good about this game. This game is bad. Nothing subjective about it, it's objectively bad. Every game is the same, not to mention each game is terrible so that's a double negative. If you played any other Call of Duty game, there's no point in buying this because you've already played it. Do not get it, it's glitchy, stupid and boring.… Expand
Nov 16, 2012This game is garbage. has decent graphics but you can't enjoy them because the game is so glitchy you can't aim your guns correctly. you can spray to get kills but nowhere near as smooth as borderlands or mw3. black ops 1 was the same one. is so disappointing that treyarch is still in business and that once every other year they get to put out a game from what has been the best series in the past.
Nov 16, 2012Game is terrible, money is all they want, same old **** different year. zombies is probably the only thing worth playing, back to battlefield 3. Call of duty is only for fanboys
Nov 17, 2012Horrible audio, boring and simply bad gunplay. Short and bad campaign with an AI which is comparable to a corpse. No bulletdrop, no recoil. All in all another casual shooter which console babies will love.
Nov 18, 2012I bought this game not expecting my mind to be blown or to have ground-breaking new content. I bought this game expecting a crappy single player ( got it ) and a fun multiplayer (didn't get it). Maps are way too small, aim down the sights is dead thanks to the overpowered SMG's, and the reason I stopped playing all together.....The plants are bullet proof! Need cover in that office? Hide behind the man sized plant in the corner....It's like they looked at BO1 and said "How can we make this worse?"....Never again will I buy a COD title… Expand
Nov 19, 2012Let's just start with this **** game. Okay first off the single-player missions, the campaign is good, actually damn good, the dialog between every single character is amazing. So check out the singleplayer. But then we come to the worst multi-player ever. OMG!!! This was the most disappointed thing with this game. THE MULTI-PLAYER SUCKS!!!
Nov 19, 2012I'll give Treyarch a 3/10 for the campaign.
Everything else is simply a rehashed version of MW3, containing characters from Black Ops.
The multiplayer leaves more to be desired, with multiple guns being unbalanced and only 1 additional game mode was added.
All in all just another COD game that will not change its course unless people stop buying...
Nov 20, 2012Call of duty series were good before they started making the same games over and over again and people buying the same game all over and over again expecting **** to change. Call of duty has yet chance to clear there made mistakes but i don't think they will realize that unless people will stop buying the games from them.
Nov 21, 2012Every year COD creates a game using the same formula. easy game + lots of pointless rewards + lots of unlocks + super cool kill streaks = a game that will sell a **** tone of copies day 1 and keep people occupied until they release the next cod. NO support for their games, no community outreach, no intent to create a challenging game. THESE FRANCHISE MODEL NEEDS TO DIE.
Nov 23, 2012Call of duty fanatic - full prestige player on all COD - this game black ops 2 is well well well below par - lost their way in multiplayer mode -respawning is just untrue, hopefully can get my money back from the shop I purcahsed from. Poor people that payed over 70 pounds for bonus stuff is just pure robbery - This game will go down in history of all COD as BAD beyond BAD! Will put the word out to all freinds who expect it for XMAS, GOOD LUCK… Expand
Nov 24, 2012This game is beyond horrible. Game engine, graphics and gameplay feel the exact same since Call of Duty 4. If you are an FPS gamer grab Battlefield 3 or Borderlands 2 if you want some rpg elements as well. Take yourmoney elsewhere cause Call of Duty is dead. Been dead forever.
Dec 4, 2012Weak (shockingly boring) campaign, poorly plotted, linear to the point of funneling the player into a virtual tunnel (even preventing flanking the opposition), a real lack of game-play innovation, bad software quality, poor performance tuning / optimization, and appears not to have been even superficially play-tested in parts. Overall a shoddy release not worthy of being a sequel. MW, MW2, Black Ops1 are absolute classics. MW3 suffered from bad plotting, but Black Ops 2 takes that deficiency, adds a whole bunch of other letdowns, and is really disappointing.… Expand
May 10, 2013Installed and tryed to play on Free Weekend and.. no changes its just next Copy and Paste game. Played for 3minutes, its really worst and hyped game.
Nothing more to say.
Nov 20, 2012This is by far the best map pack for modern warfare 2 yet! the amount of effort put into designing all the new levels and building a full new game play experience from the ground up is phenomenal, i just do not know how they did all this in just a year, and the price may be expensive but this is the best map pack ever, thanks activision I don't feel like I've been mugged at all! :D
Nov 27, 2012After Treyarch did the dirty on PC players with the no dedicated servers crap, did they actually expect people to like a MW3 clone? Call of Duty is dead! Thank you for nothing, Treyarch!
Nov 18, 2012This game looks and feels bad all around. Character animations and guns appear to come directly from 3 years ago. Cutscenes look terrible. Story is just... It gets a 1 because marketing was able to fool me into buying this pos game.
Nov 17, 2012Why pay absurd prices for an annual update? Most games that come out brand new sell for around $30 on PC, yet Treyarch want $60! That is absurd, yet everybody falls for it. Call of Duty has sucked since Modern Warfare, yet you all keep making them the best selling games over and over. Go download Quake Live and feel what a real FPS is like, and save $60, as it is free!
Dec 2, 2012The lack of dedicated servers and the lag compensation just ruins the game-play on this game. Very frequently you will die because of the huge lag compensation, rather from the skill of other players. The rest of the game is mere run and gun with no tactic or strategy to game-play, regardless of what mode is being played. It gets very boring, very fast, ad the lag compensation and it gets a very irritating game.
It tries to bring some innovation but never truly manages to surprise, resulting in a boring and uninspired game.
The graphics are very poor, but a good design saves it from being horrible.… Expand
Nov 16, 2012i am all about singeplayer and i must say its not good
maybe if the graphics was up to date then my score was around 7
i think that "medal of honor warfighter" did a better job not only with the graphics but with gameplay to.
"medal of honor warfighter" sticks you to the chair.
i think bop2 didnt need a sequel.
so if want agood FPS go with "medal of honor warfighter".
Nov 15, 2012cant connect, freeze on campaign, long loading time. Xbox version is great but PC requires more time and many patches to be perfect. i am disappointed. but i m sure i ll get better in couple weeks then i ll update my review.
Nov 18, 2012Cant get more then a 3 bar connection. Stop ignoring PC players.. So frustrating.!!!. Dedicated serversm y a$$, The game itself is decent but the pings are terrible. Better off spenidng your money at the pub
Nov 18, 2012The weapons are unbalanced and feel like plastic toy guns. Some brick walls are like carton while some wood walls are impenetrable. moving mechanics remind me of unreal tournament or quake arena, and that, coupled with lag is a major turnoff. Even unreal tournament wall jumps never were so spectacular as some of the things the supposedly more realistic soldiers in Black Ops 2 pull off. Stay away. Do not buy. Keep playing Black Ops 1 or MW2.… Expand
Nov 18, 2012I give it a one because its a game. it would have given it another 7 points if it had Dedicated servers Server browser its really dumb that the pc version players have always hated MW23 for its lack of server browser but the Activision more then likely forced this garbage system on Treyarch as they would not be stupid enough to voluntarily add it themselves.
A bad console port to PC. Inflated price for a re-hash of older CoD games. Same 'on rails' single player experience. In MP you need to hit someone a few times with a LMG with FMJ bullets, in HC mode, to kill them. Not the CoD experience I am used to... Feels more like the normal mode, but worse. Good to see lean/peak is back to CoD. But worst of all is.... No dedicated servers! WTF?!!! Which means it is difficult to find a game for MP and/or will get disconnected when host leaves. Unacceptable!!! And you are at the mercy of Activi$ion. No way to kick chaters, mod a server (even within the game rules etc...). Last CoD purchase for me ever. Will probably revert to Cod 4 and even BO. CoD 4 remains the best to this day. Strange thing is I would have paid more for new versions of CoD. Or just new maps or enhancements of the versions already there. You lost me for good now, Activi$ion! I am a PC gamer! Edit: An update as it really bugs me: 12 player multiplayer? Are **** me Activi$ion?!!! And the lag encountered on matchmaking is really annoying. Some of the animation and models are v. cartooney compared with previous CoD's. Don't buy this **** Can't believe I am supporting an EA game, but if you have money to burn, buy BF3 or buy Red Orchestra 2, buy COD 4! Stay well away from this. We are PC gamers! Edit #2: So I am not accused for criticising without trying it. After playing MP for 5 days, I can confirm CoD is dead. It took until all/most perks and addons were unlocked. Now almost every game is won by one or two guys running around with knives. There is no balance in the game anymore. There is no fun. You can blame it on my inexperience, but I am a decent player. I didn't think I would be playing for too long this sad excuse of a game, but to not last even a week.... I repeat! Don't buy this **** This is a poor console game - leave it to consoles. We are PC gamers!… Collapse
Dec 30, 2012The Corn Flakes of multiplayer first-person shooters. We've been sick of eating it for some time, now. [Jan 2013, p.80, 81]
Dec 21, 2012Black Ops II brings evolution to the series unfortunately, the evolution that is incomplete. Only one part of the game deserves a top ranking – multiplayer. [Christmas 2012]
Dec 12, 2012Call of Duty Black Ops II is saved by its multiplayer, as the campaign has surprisingly too many bad sections. Maybe now it's time to move on? [Dec 2012]


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Yes, the designers impressed Fashion Editors on the front row, but what did the buyers make of this season's collections? Their view has always been essential - after all they're the ones who actually decide which creations will end up in store - but in the current economic crisis, it's even more important for designers to impress. So we had a quick chat with Bridget Cosgrave, Fashion and Buying Director for Matches, to find out whether her buying habits have changed and what caught her eye this season. 'I'm a buyer who buys from the heart anyway. We don't analyse price too carefully so long as it's relatively realistic,' she told us. 'It's actually an exciting time for a buyer because we're not buying anything we feel luke warm about. We've reduced our open size so it makes you really focussed. And I think the designers delivered. There were some amazing collections this season.'
So what can we expect to see hanging on the rails of Matches boutiques - and backs of the most stylish women - this autumn then? 'The guys at Peter Pilotto have so much maturity,' she says. 'We were the first store to buy the collection last season and had 100% sales through. This season they've really taken it to the next step. The drape dress in lava print dress seemed to epitomise the heat of the moment and I love the way you can wear their dresses with boleros more than one way.' Erdem also impressed, with stunning use of colour, and Bridget is definitely buying one of Mary Katrantzou perfume bottle print dresses.
But if dresses were the stand-out pieces from London Fashion Week, in Paris it was all about the rock chick. 'Biker leather sales have gone through the roof lately so we were pleased to see that theme continue in Paris,' she said. 'Let's hope women want to feel sexy. Because we've bought Sophia Kokolasaki's leather trench, Stella's over the knee boots and a lot of Helmut Lang.'
Sounds good to us, Bridget! Take a look at her key pieces from London and Paris A/W '09 shows below and start saving now...

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Watch and read all about bistroMD's success through some of the nation's most popular television shows and media publications. Get caught up on all of the latest buzz, and see how we are changing people's lives in print, on the web, and in the news.
Dr. Phil calls on the "best home meal delivery" program for two families in need of a weight loss solution.
Dr. Phil, with the help of BistroMD, helps families learn how to offer proper nutrition to overweight children.
Just answer a few questions to figure out your weight loss goals and we'll provide
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Burton Abrams on KKSF's Bob Zadek Radio Show
Recorded: Sunday, March 30, 2014
Research Fellow Burton A. Abrams appeared on the "Bob Zadek Radio Show" on KKSF in San Francisco. Abrams talks about the MyGovCost calculator and his book The Terrible 10 and the top ten economic blunders in the last century.
Experts: Burton A. AbramsType: RadioIssues: Bureaucracy and Government, Economic History and Development (U.S.), Economic Policy, Government Waste/Pork, Political Ideology and Philosophy
Robert Higgs Interviewed: Governments Intrusions Threaten Economy
Recorded: Thursday, June 3, 2010
Independent Institute Senior Fellow Robert Higgs is interviewed on Governments Intrusions Threaten Economy. Interviewed by Steve Stanek of the Heartland Institute, Dr. Higgs explains that the governments growing intrusions into the economybank bailouts, economic stimulus, interest rate manipulations and credit expansion by the Federal Reserve, increased business regulationscould eventually lead to soaring price inflation and interest rates and another, far worse economic downturn. The solution is to move deliberately to end such policies and the accumulation of federal bureaucratic programs, controls and taxes on Americans.
Experts: Robert HiggsType: RadioIssues: Banking and Finance, Economic Policy, Government Waste/Pork


text:
WASHINGTON - A group of 125 Prince George's County school children were invited to "Train with the Terps" for several hours on Saturday morning at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center in College Park, Md.
"We had the entire men's lacrosse team come and work with the students," says Cheryl Harrison the university's senior assistant athletic director for community relations and stewardship.
Students were split into groups and cycled through four different exercise stations with coaches and lacrosse players leading them through 15-minute sessions at each station. The students were challenged with circuit training exercises and an agility course - a floor step ladder course - and a mini-hurdle course.
Mya Harrison, a fifth grader from Perrywood Elementary in Largo, Md. came with her mother (who graduated from the university) and her younger brother, Marc, who's in second grade.
"This is so much fun. It's fitness and stuff. I was so excited when I saw the Comcast Center, it was really fun," Harrison says. She adds on the way to the event she got the bonus of seeing where her mother lived as a student.
The hope is that the kids take home an understanding of how important exercise is teamed up with making better food choices for a better and healthier life.
This day came about after learning of the county's epidemic of childhood diabetes while she was meeting with the county executive's chief of staff, she added.
The university's team doctor Yvette Brooks also offered nutrition tips at the fitness event. Brooks has been studying ways to combat childhood obesity. This was a natural way for the university to partner with Prince George's County, according to Cheryl Harrison with the university.
Following the workout, the group of students attended the men's basketball game against Virginia Tech for free.
Follow @WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2013 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)


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The U.S. EPA says that a typical sport fisherman working the Great Lakes would pay $4.58 for the privilege of catching a single walleye/pike, but would gladly fork over $7.99 to land a trout, or...
Clean Air Rules: A New Roadmap for the Power Sector
How new market-based regulations fit with today's programs.
a year of visibility-impairing pollution and cover 26 categories, including utility and industrial boilers and large industrial plants such as pulp mills, refineries, and smelters.
Many of these facilities have not been subject to federal pollution-control requirements for these pollutants. Under the 1999 regional-haze rule, states are required to set periodic goals for improving visibility in the 156 "Class I" natural areas such as national parks. CAVR includes guidelines for states to use in determining which facilities must install controls and the type of controls the facilities must use. States must develop their implementation plans by December 2007, identify the facilities that will have to reduce emissions under BART, then set emissions limits for those facilities and require installation of BART in 2014.
For CAIR-affected EGUs, participation in the CAIR programs is considered to meet their federal source-specific BART requirements, because CAIR was determined to be better than BART controls of CAVR in the CAIR region. Specifically, controls for EGUs subject to CAIR will result in more visibility improvement in natural areas than BART would have provided. States could, however, require additional reductions.
Projected Controls in Response to Clean Air Suite
Although aspects of CAIR and CAMR are being litigated, implementation moves ahead. Briefs have been filed by industry and stakeholders. EPA has filed a brief on CAMR and will file on CAIR this month. Having worked very hard to develop the details of these critically important environmental programs, EPA has gone on to work with states, which are now working aggressively to put implementing rules in place. The regulated community is going forward with installing equipment for CAIR, entering into contracts for construction of mercury controls and putting monitoring systems in place.
Sources have begun responding to the new requirements with investments and application of retrofit technology. EPA estimates that in 2010, 60 percent of total capacity will be scrubbed, increasing to 73 percent by 2020. Modeling shows that the percentage of advanced controls will go up (with the amount of capacity with advanced controls projected to increase even faster) and the number of units without advanced controls will go down, especially for larger units.
As observed with previous programs, the regulated community responds with a sense of purpose and alacrity to cap-and-trade programs. EPA, using existing Clean Air Act authority, is moving to address interstate transport of SO 2 and NO X emissions and lower mercury emissions with CAIR, CAMR, and CAVR. We expect these programs to deliver significant human health and environmental improvements in a cost-effective manner by harnessing market forces to achieve substantial required emissions reductions.
EPA has worked diligently to promulgate rules to meet regional needs, all the while preserving to the greatest extent possible the essential accountability, simplicity, flexibility, high level of compliance, and efficiency of the cap-and-trade mechanism. If our experience to date is any indication, the next generation of programs promises to continue this legacy of results.


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Hologram Live
Android's live wallpapers offer the kind of personalisation that iOS users can only dream about in their most fevered imaginings but I'm still not a fan because they don't do your battery any favours and more often than not they make it difficult to see what else is on your screen. But now I've found one - suggested by a reader …
How much power do Live Wallpapers actually use?
They only use the CPU when visible and generally I don't sit with my Home screen visible the whole time and when it is visible the AMOLED screen is drawing significantly more power than the CPU for live wallpapers to really make a difference to battery life IMHO.
I refuse to enoble a simple forum post!
That is all.
What a world that has such noble titles in it
Answer: why not?
- the general
Wow what an improvement to my phone!
Suddenly my phone's all so much more functional, and my relatives are ringing me with timely and succint conversations, the insurance company that's been cold-calling me at least thrice a week for literally months (all kinds of tantrums on my side notwithstanding) has suddenly stopped, and I don't get twice daily spam texts anymore that "you may be entitled £3500 in accident compensation". What a difference this app makes!
No, really, how does this battery-consuming tripe improve my lot?
You know, I once went to the cinema to watch a film. It was OK, it didn't change my life or anything, but it entertained me for a couple of hours, and I didn't mind paying the price of the ticket (although I can't say the same for the popcorn).
What you seem to be missing, Marvin, is that for 60p you have something that makes you smile for a bit and gives you something to show your mates down the pub, especially those with iPhones. For something to be worth a price, it doesn't have to _do_ anything apart from, perhaps, take your mind of your lot (and the feelings of inadequacy that seems to give you in particular) for a short while.
Art/ beauty needs no justification
It looks pretty, that's enough for those who enjoy it.
Now go look at some kittens or something.
But what I really want to know is which app took those nice screenshots ;-)
They probably used "ScreenShot" to take the screen shots.
re: pretty
A damn good question, but I fear the reviewer probably took those from the app author, and he captured them on a rooted phone.
non rooted
you can take screenshots easily on a non rooted android phone - simply install the android
SDK on a laptop, connect the android phone with USB debugging...and theres a nice
tool in the SDK that will capture the screen.
from the author
All screen shots taken using the Android SDK running on an Ubuntu laptop.
No good on Moto Defy
Very low FPS, laggy. Strange seeing as the simplest scene only appears to be two texture mapped cubes and I can play 3D games such as crazy snowboard just fine.
Some nice phone makers build the capability right into their blend of Android.
On my Samsung Galaxy S2... press "Home" and Power buttons simultaneously and a screen shot is snapped and stored in the phone's photo gallery. Job done.
Ooops, I hope Apple's lawyers don't read this... the process is close enough to the iPhone feature that I am sure Apple will have patented it and slapped a[nother] lawsuit on Samsung, if not already then by the time I've finished typing...
No good on HTC Sensation
Rather juddery
A bit naff
The concept is good, but it's just a bit, well... naff. The '3D' aspect reminds me of those early PC games - and not in a good way - and the orientation seems to be based on the handset being horizontal, which means that the more normal way of looking at the phone when it is nearer vertical puts the perspective out of whack.
Still, a harmless waste of 64p I guess. Worth a try.
App of the week??!
What a terrible waste of my time and 61p, the app is poorly designed, poorly coded and poorly supported.
After un-installing due to instabilities and several pointless emails the developer have refused to provide a refund.
Avoid 'Droidbean' in future.
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text:
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