Activision has officially pulled the tarp off the next installment in their blockbuster Call of Duty franchise, although it's still shrouded in a fair bit of mystery.

The new game is called Call of Duty: Black Ops and will take place "behind enemy lines." It's being developed by Treyarch, who created the 2008 Call of Duty hit, Call of Duty: World at War, and is due out November 9 of this year.

"We have focused our entire studio on this game, with dedicated multiplayer, single-player and co-op teams creating the most intense, gripping and riveting experience possible for our fans on all fronts,” said Mark Lamia, Studio Head for Treyarch, in a release.

While many have speculated that the next game in the series would take place in Vietnam, the game's debut trailer doesn't specifically disclose the whens and wheres. It does, however, disclose all kinds of awesome explosions:

I thought this deserved some front page action.

NAM:WAW Version 2.0 UPDATES:
.All Weapon Attachments
.Custom Classes/Ranked
.In Game Custom Class Editor
.Two Theaters of War: US Army VS Vietcong & Australian Task Force VS North Vietnamese Army
.4 New Maps (Totaling 13 Maps w/ many more In Progress Now)
.New Side Arms: Skorpion & Uzi
.New Weapons: RPG along with many others

Along with all the Features you know and love from Open Warfare Version 1.6.2 - www.openwarfaremod.com

Get the mod at:
www.CODUtility.com
www.moddb.com/mods/namwaw-vietnam-expansion-pack


NEW MAPS
mp_radiorelay
mp_duong
mp_an_binh
mp_dugin

Looks like the vietnam mods are in full swing now!  Hope the boys at Treyarch are taking notes!

The v1.6 patch has been released!

Description
• 3 new Multiplayer maps: Battery (mp_drum), Breach (mp_bgate), Revolution (mp_vodka)!
• New Nazi Zombie map: Der Riese (nazi_zombie_factory), an all-new Zombie map set in a secret Nazi research facility featuring the Pack A Punch Machine, Teleporters, and many more undead hordes!
• Exploits pertaining to Demo playback.
• Favorites list now ignores filter settings.
• Fixed S&D round counting error when roundlimit is reached.
• New feature: in-game Add to Favorites.
• Friends list: green online indicator.
• Starting the game in Safe Mode will no longer toggle the “Soften Smoke Edges” graphic option.
• Fixed various crashes.
• Mods: Client will no longer join a modded Co-op server via Game Invite unless they have that mod loaded.
• Mods: Client running a mod will be asked to unload the mod if they attempt to join an unmodded server.
• Mods: All singleplayer levels can now be run with a mod loaded.

http://customcod.com/community/index.php?PHPSESSID=7fd73aa7171f76b9545a35403c44fa63&action=downloads;sa=view;down=657

Warning!  1.2 GB Download

Call of Duty: World at War PC Patch 1.5 – Sponsored by Treyarch & GGL
Submitted: July 17th, 2009

Notes:

• 3 new MP maps: Banzai, Corrosion, Sup Pens!
• 1 new Zombie map with a new weapon (the Wunderwaffe DG-2), flaming Hell Hounds, new traps, and more: Shi No Numa!
• CO-OP hosts can now kick players from their lobby
• Improved dog spawning in MP
• Addressed an issue with Zombie pathing
• Fixed an instance of the player model displaying incorrectly
• Some unhandled exception errors have been addressed
• Improved server browser’s refresh functionality when the Source is set to ‘Favorites’
• Added support for CODTV
• “cg_DrawFPS 1” now only displays FPS and cg ms/frame
• Added RCon command "teamstatus" to display players’ team information
• Mods: Added joinsquad script function
• Mods: Players can now join CO-OP lobbies that are hosting map names with more than eighteen characters
• Mods: Users can now load custom maps when the usermaps folder contains fifty or more custom maps
• Mods: Removed the loading of duplicate assets that contributed to the ‘2048 materials’ error
• Mods: Increased the amount of mods displayable in the Mods menu
• Mods: Fixed a crash related to the mod.arena file

Download Mirrors:

• AusGamers -
  
  Patch: http://www.ausgamers.com/files/details/html/45619
  Tools: http://www.ausgamers.com/files/details/html/45620
• Fileplanet -
  
  Patch: http://www.fileplanet.com/202494/download/Call-of-Duty-World-at-War-1.5-Patch
  Tools: http://www.fileplanet.com/194755/190000/fileinfo/Call-of-Duty:-World-at-War-ModTools-v1.3
• Gamershell -
  
  Patch: http://www.gamershell.com/download_48562.shtml
  Tools: http://www.gamershell.com/download_48584.shtml
• Aggregame -
  
  Patch: http://www.aggregame.com/downloads/Call-of-Duty:-World-at-War-Patch-1.5-(Map-Pack-2)
  
• Big Download -
  
  Patch: http://www.bigdownload.com/games/call-of-duty-world-at-war/pc/call-of-duty-world-at-war-v15-patch/
  Tools: http://www.bigdownload.com/games/call-of-duty-world-at-war/pc/call-of-duty-world-at-war-mod-tools-v13/
• Bulletproof Nerd Gaming Community -
  
  Patch: http://www.bulletproofnerds.com/patches
  
• Computergames.ro -
  
  Patch: http://computergames.ro/en/downloads/viewitem/id/14520/name/call-of-duty-world-at-war-15-patch.html
  Tools: http://computergames.ro/en/downloads/viewitem/id/14521/name/call-of-duty-world-at-war-13-mod-tools.html
• CustomCOD -
  
  Patch: http://customcod.com/community/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=506
• GameSpy -
  
  Patch: http://extreme.planetcallofduty.gamespy.com/codww/full/Patch1.5/CoDWaW-1.4-1.5-PatchSetup.exe
  
• Gamezone -
  
  Patch: http://downloads.gamezone.com/demos/d27975.htm
  Tools: http://downloads.gamezone.com/demos/d27976.htm
• WorthDownloading -
  
  Patch: Patch - http://www.worthdownloading.com/game.php?gid=3428
  Tools: http://www.worthdownloading.com/game.php?gid=3428