User blog:Smuff/Black Ops patch for Xbox and PS3: Escalation support

250px|right|thumb|Vondahaar talking about the new playlist A patch for Xbox 360 (and presumably Playstation 3 when Playstation network is resolved) has been released by Treyarch. An interesting addition was the new "Competition" gamemode added to the Barebones playlist, a video featuring Vondahaar talking about the Competitive playlist is provided. The somewhat vague statement "Additional sniper rifle tuning changes" wasn't elaborated on in either the patch list or video.

The details of the patch so far are:

General

 * Support for Escalation Map Pack. (Releasing 5/3/11 for Xbox 360 and one month later for PS3).
 * Security Updates.

Additions and Tweakings

 * Addition of banner-style Message of the Day on the MP Main Menu.
 * Addition of Hardcore FFA and TDM for Combat Training.
 * Additional sniper rifle tuning changes.
 * Addition of “Competition” Barebones playlist.
 * Replaced RPG with Grim Reaper in Gun Game Wager Match.

Support

 * Prevent automatic weapons from jamming if the player is feathering the fire button on “Default Alt”, “Tactical Flipped” or “Nom4d Flipped”.
 * Fine-tuned napalm and bombing-run damage indoors.
 * Prevented rare invulnerability issue.
 * Additional game mode timer options for Custom Games.
 * Fixed a minor out of map exploit in Grid.
 * General Killcam and death-cam improvements.
 * Improved Auto-Assign reliability in Private Match.
 * Addressed an infinite “joining session in progress” screen under very specific timing conditions.
 * Demolition bombs can no longer explode and be defused at the same time.
 * Spy plane now activates in One in the Chamber in all cases.
 * The “Sprint Kills” challenge for Steady Aim perk now rewards the player with the correct number of kills.
 * Contracts purchased but not yet expired no longer count as expired when viewing a friend’s player card.
 * Addressed a rare issue where a hacked camera spike would not function properly if the hacker also had a camera spike that was destroyed.
 * Recording a clip with the speed mode for 2 cameras set to .1 will no longer increase in speed when switching perspectives back and forth.
 * Improvements to Zipline functionality when viewed in Theater mode.
 * Settings from custom games are all cleared and no longer carry over from one custom match to another.
 * Improvements to map voting reliability in lobbies.
 * Nova gas will now affect players that are standing over their tactical insertion.
 * Hardcore players who kill another teammate in last stand now lose the proper amount of points.
 * Players can no longer transfer emblems/backgrounds from Combat Training to Player Match.
 * Player is no longer able to use a primary weapon in Second Chance (rare, specific instance).
 * Improvements to “Community” filters.


 * Bold represents major changes.