Technically Impressive 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 3' Will Institute A New ‘Black Friday’ With November 6 Launch

The next installment in the Call of Duty series now has an official launch date: November 6. It’s a rather interesting date because November 6 is actually on a Friday, which is more typical of a new movie release than the usual Tuesday that is more common for new music and video game releases. Regardless of its launch date, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will be available on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles as well as PC. There’s no word yet on when gamers still rocking a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 will have the honor of picking up the game, but that information will come in due time.

It should also be noted that eager gamers will also be able to gain access to a beta of Black Ops 3 ahead of its launch. However, you will have to pre-order the game in order to access the beta.

Before we go any further, we suggest that you take some time out of your lazy Sunday afternoon to check out the Black Ops 3 teaser trailer below:

Black Ops 3 will take place in the year 2060, which puts it roughly 35 years after the events that occurred the preceding title in the series. As Activision’s Scott Lowe puts it, Black Ops 3 “will thrust players into a dark, gritty future, where cybernetics and biotechnology have given rise to a new breed of soldier.” Developer Treyarch has gone out of its way to make Black Ops 3 the best playing and most technically advanced member of the series with a new four-player co-op campaign (along with two-player, split-screen local co-op), a reimagined multiplayer environment, and a new Specialist system which allows players to choose and rank as many as nine Black Ops soldiers — you can customize weapons, abilities, loadouts, and outfits.

Players will also battle in open-area, arena-style maps which will aid in replayability for those blasting through the campaign mode. There will also be multiple paths that players can take through battlefields, combining with multiple ways to fight which also adds in replayability.

But that’s not all, Treyarch has also thrown in a new “momentum-based” chained movement system which allows players to easily glide through their environment with weapons in tow. That means that thrust jumps, wall runs, slides, and mantling will can be easily accomplished, and multiplayer maps have been built to take full advantage of this movement system. Players will also have access to a weapons modification platform that allows you to create multiple variants of your gaming arsenal. And did we mention zombies? Just like with prior Black Ops games, you’ll will be up to your bloody neck in the brains-seeking masses with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies. Treyarch isn’t revealing too much about this experience at this moment, but you can expect to learn a lot more as we inch closer to November 6.

Black Ops 3 is backed by an all-new graphics engine which will showcase all the processing power of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. But PC gamers are likely to be in for the best treat, as it supports glorious 4K displays. Speaking of the PC, minimum system requirements call for at least an Intel Core i3-530 processor or AMD Phenom II X4 810 processor and at least an NVIDIA GTX 470 or ATI Radeon HD 6970 graphics card. You’ll also need at least 6GB of RAM to join in on the fun (although that shouldn’t be too hard for gamers these days).

Needless to say, we’re eager to get our paws on Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 when it launches later this year. Just make mine the PC version so that I can game in 4K goodness.