And so, after threatening to ring Activision in the aforementioned post, I actually did.  My ‘incident’ got logged as ’Black Ops is freezing when I play multiplayer online on my Playstation 3′.  There’s more to it than that, but freezing is my main concern.  It’s one thing to be kicked out of a match due to erroneous connection problems, but it’s another thing entirely to have your PS3 completely frozen, and having to reset it.

Other pieces of information that were required were: game version number, NAT settings, external IP address, bandwidth, and letters A through to J should be visible, whatever that is!  All these details are accessible from the multiplayer menu if you press the select button.  It goes without saying, that the more open your NAT settings are, the better.  Your NAT settings can be open, restricted, or closed.

Finally, after my PSN ID was taken, I had to exit the game and delete Black Ops data from the ‘Game Data’ folder under ‘Games’ on the XMB.  Make sure you delete from the ‘Game Data’ folder, and not the ‘Saved Game Data’ as this contains your player profile and other settings.

The support staff were very pleasant and I do appreciate that Treyarch are working hard to solve these problems both with patches and live fixes.  Fingers crossed that these issues will get worked out.  My hope now, is that my PSN ID and IP address can be monitored for data collection purposes to try and nail down these game-wrecking bugs.

If this is happening to you, or if you’re just being disconnected a lot from online matches, then ring Activision!  The more people who call them, the more data they can collect and the quicker the game can be patched.  You want the local phone number for support in your country.  Start here, and select your country:
http://activision.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/activision.cfg/php/enduser/atvi_contact.php

For my UK compatriots, the number is 0 845 5280269 and the opening hours are Monday through Friday from 9.00 – 17.00 GMT except for national holidays.  On the automated menu, you’ll want option 3 for technical help.

I’ll post updates as and when the situation changes.  In the meantime, if you’ve got anything you want to contribute on this matter, then please drop me a line.

Issues I’ve come across when playing online have included but are not limited to: ‘loss of connection’, ‘could not connect to host’, ‘ethernet cable unplugged’ (totally bogus), being booted from a match only to be unable to rejoin as the match is full, being separated from a friend in a party, being booted into theatre mode, and booted into training mode etc…

Something is quite obviously broke.  So please fix it Treyarch, you have a great game but these issues are just ruining multiplayer for myself and many others.  No wonder I’ve seen quite a few people in my friends list switch back from playing Black Ops to Modern Warfare 2.

17/12/10 Update: Treyarch have recently patched Black Ops for the Xbox 360 and the PS3, but there are reports of PS3 users still suffering from connection problems and freezing.  I’ve yet to check out Black Ops myself since the patch as I’ve switched back to Modern Warfare 2, go figure.  I’ll update this post when I can be bothered going back on Black Ops.

19/12/10 Update: Probably had the least disruption yet on Black Ops with only one disconnection from a game BUT the game froze on me again.  I’ve narrowed the freezing problem down to cancelling the killcam to allow you to respawn and… it freezes.  I called it a night after that happened.  Stay tuned for more info as and when.

23/12/10 Update: PS3 multiplayer got patched yesterday to version 1.05.  The good news?  Errr…  The bad news?  The game still freezes the PS3, and contrary to my update above, it seems to be caused by pretty much anything.  Contacting Treyarch/Activision about this now.

See also my follow-up post

Black Ops connection problems: my chat with Activision

I gave them such a pasting that they don’t really want to talk about it afterwards! Whilst I acknowledge that I’m no pro gamer, I do offer some tips so that your team functions: 1) actually communicate with each other so that; 2) you can actually flank someone, 3) you don’t both go down the same narrow alley as you’ll both be blown to pieces by a grenade, and 4) you don’t throw a flash bang grenade in close proximity leaving your team sitting ducks. That is all.

For Uncharted fans Eye of Indra is a must buy.  The motion comic series is a prequel (note: yes, its canon) to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune containing some enlightening back story for Nathan Drake, a plot twist, and at least one person you’re not going to expect.  Apparently this particular series is just the first of many, which is a decision I applaud.  This means that Uncharted fans can quench their thirst with an Uncharted game every couple of years with extra multiplayer DLC and motion comics to flesh out the Uncharted universe in-between games.

I got the Uncharted: Eye of Indra Multiplayer Skin Pack which includes all four parts of the motion comic and two Uncharted 2 multiplayer skins, although you can get the episodes separately if you really want to. The skins pack contains Rika for the heroes and Pinkerton for the villains.  Go check it out!

I’m not usually one for speculating, but what the heck.  Time to move on to a bit of speculation: maybe all the motion comics will simply fill in the gaps between each Uncharted game?  That leads me to guess that another series could fill in the pieces between Drake’s Fortune and Among Thieves, with another series set after Among Thieves, rather like a sandwich.  A very tasty sandwich.

I’ve dismissed the possibility of Naughty Dog taking the Uncharted series into the ahem, mostly ‘uncharted’ waters of episodic gaming.  Sure, GTA IV’s episodes seem to have worked out all right, Criterion went purely down the DLC route, but Half-Life 2′s episodes are taking a long time to deliver.  I think the DLC/episodic content for Fallout 3 is probably the best example of this sort of idea done right.  However for Uncharted’s linear gameplay, in my personal opinion it isn’t worth Naughty Dog’s time and money to go down this particular route.  Their current setup seems to be working out well so far.

Have you bought any DLC?  If so, was it worth it?