Though Activision are quick to brand them as “Micro Items” rather than the accepted nomenclature of “Microtransactions”, a form of smaller purchases will soon be coming to Black Ops 2 on the Xbox 360.
As of tomorrow optional extras appear in the game that will, according to Community Manager Dan Amrich, “enhance your online experience" but never at the expense of gameplay.
These include ways to customise your weaponry by purchasing a “Personalisation Pack”. This includes a skin for the weapon, three new targeting reticules and a Calling Card.
One of the personalisation options is a skin that will cover your gun in bacon, presumably a reference to how it’s possible to cook the pork product by attaching it to a machine gun and firing for an extended time.
Also available are Calling Card packs that supply you with regional flags grouping together nearby areas of the world. Each pack will cost 80 MS Points.
A potentially useful bonus is the “Extra Slots” Pack which will give the player access to the creation of more custom loadouts. It will give them 10 more Create-a-Class slots, let them archive 20 more emblems, 32 more films and 40 more screenshots for 160 MS Points.
Only one of these optional downloads is free. Players will now be able to download Nuketown 2025 this week. Previously this map was only available as a preorder incentive before buying the game. That’ll be available alongside Nuketown Zombies which was only available for specific editions of the game, but will now cost players 400 MS Points.
All of this seems like an inoffensive way to offer extra purchases. Well done!
