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Call of Duty: Black Ops top US game of all time, Xbox 360 sells 535,000 in Feb. - NPD

[UPDATE] Microsoft's console sets record as latest COD proves most popular software in US history with 13.7 million units sold; domestic sales up 3% overall.

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After a downbeat January that saw US game sales slip 5 percent overall, the NPD Group had a more upbeat report for February sales. Last month, domestic retail sales of PC and non-PC games, non-PC hardware, and non-PC accessories rose 3 percent to $1.36 billion. Sales of non-PC gaming goods rose even more, climbing 4 percent to $1.33 billion.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is now the top game of all time in the US.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is now the top game of all time in the US.

Of the various sectors, hardware rose the most, climbing 10 percent year-over-year to $466.9 million. Microsoft was all too happy to trumpet the success of the Xbox 360, saying platform sold 535,000 units domestically during the month, a record for February. It was also the most 360s sold in a single month that was not in the October-December holiday quarter.

[UPDATE2] Nintendo announced the Wii sold 454,000 units during the month, bringing its stateside installed base to 35 million. Though Sony did not release February sales figures for the PlayStation 3, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter revealed that the system sold 403,000 units in February.

"All three console systems realized a unit sales increase over last February," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "All hardware systems realized a unit sales increase over January 2011."

On the software side, game sales sank 8 percent to $637.4 million. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, DS, PC) proved a winner once again for Activision, hanging onto the top spot for a fourth month in a row. According to NPD, the game's continued performance has made it the top-selling game of all time in the US, besting perennial favorite Wii Play. [UPDATE] NPD has since revealed the game's total domestic unit sales as being 13.7 million across all platforms.

Meanwhile, Capcom's February debut Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (360, PS3) fought its way into the second slot, followed by returning Wii exclusive Just Dance 2. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, PC) was also back, dunking fourth place in its sixth month of release.

Coming in fifth was EA's outer space fright fest Dead Space 2 (360, PS3, PC), followed by the dance-fitness hybrid Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Wii, 360, PS3). Two February debuts--Bulletstorm (360, PS3, PC) and Killzone 3 (PS3)--landed in seventh and eighth place, with Michael Jackson: The Experience (WII, DS, PSP) moonwalking into ninth. Bringing up the rear was the Wii exclusive Mario Sports Mix from Nintendo.

Last and monetarily, least, accessory sales shot up 22 percent to $256.9 million. Though the top-selling accessory was the 1,600 Microsoft points card, brisk sales of Microsoft's Kinect system--which has now shipped over 10 million units to date--were also a factor.

FEBRUARY 2011 US GAME SALES
OVERALL DOLLAR SALES
Total retail sales: $1.36 billion (+3%)
Non-PC hardware: $466.9 million (+10%)
Total software: $637.4 million (-8%)
Non-PC software: $601.4 million (-4%)
Accessories: $256.9 million (+22%)

TOP 10 GAMES
Title (Platforms) - Publisher
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, NDS, PC) - Activision
2. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (360, PS3) - Capcom
3. Just Dance 2 (Wii) - Ubisoft
4. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, PC) - 2K Sports
5. Dead Space 2 (360, PS3, PC) - Electronic Arts
6. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Wii, 360, PS3) - Majesco
7. Bulletstorm (360, PS3, PC) - Electronic Arts
8. Killzone 3 (PS3) - Sony
9. Michael Jackson: The Experience (WII, DS, PSP) - Ubisoft
10. Mario Sports Mix (Wii) - Nintendo

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wedran123

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RDR took 6 FRIGGIN YEARS to make....Duke nukem forever took 12....call of duty7 took 2 months...top.......battlefield 2 is better than any call of duty game out there

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Thug2Wasteland

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Same crap just new skin. Thats what in every call of duty was about. Most over rated series ever...but I just simply wish that people just regonize other good games that took years, Black Ops was just basically a year while RDR and other games took months, years to develop...I just don't understand it...COD is just one of those games that have the WORST hype ever...

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Drakkengoth

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oh yea, the top selling game, until the next damn CoD

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percuvius2

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Black ops isn`t even very good, lol.

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JohnisGodd

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@smwat I think that post got a little too close to home...

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JohnisGodd

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[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

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eawise

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If you want the cod train to crash just don't buy any more of the games. I have a feeling lots of the haters still buy it.

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huskerman34

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I think the reason being is, that you have crysis 2, Killzone 3 , bulletstorm , and homefront. Black Ops was really good, but other shooters are getting better. I cant wait for the new Battlefield.

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wedran123

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Hehe pc gamers are kinda starting to ignore call of duty....LET THE End of activision begin

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ShurubaKills

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wow if you "hate" COD so much then why would you bother to look at an article that's specifically about COD. and why would you go to such an article and hate. If you have nothing to do then here's a few ideas either go to an article about a game that you enjoy and say nothing but good things about it or go outside and kick a ball around, its that simple.

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jbgarbuz

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Never enough GOOD shooters. I mean at the level of Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, Fallout, etc. Of course the really good ones take years to make, are very expensive, and the possibility of a flop can take down a company. Times are hard now, so they are coming out with cheap and dirty shooters that are no fun. I'm a 64 year old avid FPS gamer, and if the companies made some of them easier in the EASY or novice mode, they could get a larger market of older players. Some of the games are just too difficult and challenging for older players, who give up frustrated. The answer is to make better games, easier to "beat" in EASY mode, and expand the market beyond kids. They should get older testers to see if a game isn't TOO challenging for older players. That's how they might attract a bigger but older market to video gaming.

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Alex_09

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@kenmanius I suppose. But Halo has plenty of problems too. Especially the one I mentioned in my complaints about bad company... The guns don't do damage unless you get a headshot. Maybe Reach improved this but in Halo 3 beating people with the butt of your gun worked better than shooting them in the chest with a full clip.

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Sk8rlink

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I think gaming as of now is way crowded with FPS, I mean look at all the FPS coming out this year, I thin devs need to hold back make an awesome game every 3 years, not a mediocre game every season *cough call of duty cough*, the only games I'm sure I'm getting this year are Skyrim, BF3 and if ti comes out this year Dark Souls, I might rent Brink and if it's good I'll buy it, but that's it, waaay to many shooters, what happened to platforming or action-adventure, without guns... miss SNES times

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trivolution

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As expected

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kenmanius

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@alex_09 By symmetrical you mean 90% of all Halo maps?

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smwat

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Its funny now that the Masses have fully cought onto Video gamming were now seeing a Over production of Games that should have never been. GG Gammers that started when Xbox came out. Go back to foot ball or some other out door sport and leave the Nerd stuff to the nerd. quit ruining Gamming for us when you called us Idiots and nerd in our childhood. Noone likes you and no you are not awsome the only games you play are FPS games and that just cause you are an angry idiot....PS I'm just being random Have fun :3

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Skirikidik

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I hate that I like to play Black Ops. Especially since I know Activision's just gonna Tony Hawk the crap out of it. Which...I guess they have already. I'm glad I havn't bought any of the previous installments. Here's to Battlefield 3 "killing" Call of Duty.

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BaraChat

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Well that's not a surprise. It's kinda sad because it overshadows a lot of better games (Black Ops isn't bad, but it's not superb either) that would deserve some recognition from the average gamer.

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super600

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CyberKlown28@ Stop spreading false points. I have played both COD 2 and MW2 extensively and MW2 is a big fat joke.It has a very messed up story at times with a multiplayer that rewards you for pulling off cheap tactics like that Cold blooded glitch. BO from what I seen seems better, but it still has major problems the reviewers seem to ignore. I think there are better games out there. I hate most of the games in the FPS genre anyway, but there are some games that do interest me.

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SamuraiSeven

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@Alex 09 I can see your point. I'm by no means saying that Black Ops doesn't have it's good points. When I reviewed it, I wrote that it had really cool multi player ideas that were compelling. It's not exactly apples and oranges between the two games so I can see it really depends on what you are looking for in a multi player FPS. They probably weren't created to be direct competitors as they both have a very different approach to FPS.

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Alex_09

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@SamuraiSeven And I couldn't stand Battlefield Bad Company 2. The single player once again focussed on the horrible story of the first game, it takes an incredible amount of shots to kill someone, the levels are too large for the pathetic amount of people playing on them(PC is an exception), and the vehicle controls are still clunky as hell on some of the tanks and APCs. I think you should have bought Homefront instead. I also think you need to realize that people tend to agree, and disagree. Black Ops is a bit too much like Modern Warfare 2 and not enough like World at War, but it's still a fun game. I do hate half the levels though(I guess symmetrical maps aren't fun to play on anymore, someone has to have the advantage at all times).

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SamuraiSeven

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Reviewed the game and not a fan. My comment is only that there are a lot of negative comments here. I went through all of them and 9 pages of posters appear to be 85% negative. I bought it and traded it for BFBC2 and borderlands. I haven't been able to put BFBC2 down even after passing the free gimme limit level 25. Nuff said.

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CyberKlown28

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And haters of CoD, who love another fps franchise. You only make yourself and your fps of choice look bad by coming onto a CoD article and complaining that 1 out of every 8 households in America have it and that EXPERT REVIEWERS agree that it is great. Instead of hating, why don't you praise your game of choice instead? "Oh look I shot a wall and it fell down for some reason, YAY BATTLEFIELD" "yay vehicles and giant maps. I can actually snipe on this game! yay!" do that!! Tell why YOUR OPINION is in favor of another fps, don't just hate on obviously more successful competitors.

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CyberKlown28

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@shadowhunter I don't see it. look at these comments. People who haven't even played Call of Duty taking up most of them. And then hypocrties who trashtalk it and buy it every year. Black Ops deserves this title. Extremely balanced, fun, loaded with different modes, lots of customization to the point where no one person in the game is rocking the same exact thing. And a single player campaign with an original psychological thriller story thats never been seen before, and amazing characters. Over 500 hours of gameplay in Black Ops alone is possible. I personally have put over 100 hours in, and it hasn't gotten old yet. Its a great game and anyone who needs to trashtalk it needs to stop being jealous and go play their fps of choice.

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Mark355

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Damn, I should make a really generic, bland shooting game called Call of Dooty and market it as a realistic multiplayer shooter, i'd be rich overnight.

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shadowhunter0

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@CyberKlown28 you are wrong with #2 I see that all the time

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CyberKlown28

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Main things though. 1) If you need to waste your life to come onto a Call of Duty article just to hate on it, even though you "haven't played one since 5 years ago", then maybe you should learn what you are talking about, and I feel sorry that the fps of your choice is so bad that you have time to get on and hate on it's superior competition. 2) Note that CoD fans don't have as much time to come on here, due to being busy with such a great game. And when they do, they don't go to battlefield/killzone/etc. threads and hate on them =/ Classy players ftw. 3) ign just did an article, 1 of 8 households in america has Black Ops. Good game.

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CyberKlown28

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Sales DOES shows quality. If the next call of duty was a port(without updated graphics) of the original doom, it wouldn't sell. They continue to create the best FPS in the genre, most americans see this and continue to buy. And a lot of call of duty players are actually older people 20-50 age range, just listen to mics, hence phoenix wright guy beloew me fails with his bieber comparison.

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EdibleFood

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Sales figures are not representative of quality. As hoboman2 said below, justin bieber sells bucketloads of cds, does it mean he is talented? No... The people who buy Call of duty and Justin Bieber are part of the same audience anyways.

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EdibleFood

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call of duty is a joke, seriously...nothing innovative has come out of that franchise in years. The best new features in black ops are ripped from far superior games. Gungame? Counter Strike. Theater? Halo. The maps are horrid, the gameplay is sub-par, call of duty has become a mindless run and gun game. Cod needs to die..........now

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RitsukoEX

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Go Xbox360! Go!!

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CyberKlown28

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Black Ops is the best FPS EVER and definitely deserves this prestigious sales title. Frank Woods is easily the best fps character of all time, surpassing Baker from the Brothers in Arms series. And the story is ridiculously good, especially in a genre known for bad stories. When will other companies start catching up to the king of the fps genre? We get the same Battlefield game every year, which after MW revolutionized the genre, went with an all MW clone approach. Good games but not great. Killzone has went to a pure CoD like set-up

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puffadell

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some things never change

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gamermonkey017

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Instead of MW3, why don't they make something new. I'm kind of tired of them making the same game every year.

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imperial_agent

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oh great... another 500,000 douche bag kids spouting KKK hate speach on Xbox Live. How fun.

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mystic_knight

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:P Im not sure why you guys hate black ops so much. Its the best game from COD since MW. I really enjoyed this title. Good on you treyarch.

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WeskerLogan

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cod2 was a classic..this series quickly went down hill after that. look ma im shooting us soldiers..no thanks.

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DJKrayz_basic

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only game in the series i bought was the first MW game... none since... and thats not likely to change as long as their focus is on Multiplayer and they simply rehash the same basic stuff out over and over....

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Kooken58

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@jeffbordonaro Though im no fanboy for either of those artists....Atleast they have some talent and can actually sing and play instruments unlike most artists now today. But i see the point you are making, just because something sells alot and is popular doesn't make it any good.

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majema007

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I find it stupid how most people hate the series yet they still keep buying the games. MW3 will make the big bucks again because people love to buy the same garbage with a new cover and theme. It isn't hard not to buy COD, all you have to do is buy something else. Same thing for the map packs, buy something else that actually is worth $15. Sales mean nothing, it shows only what group was smart or dumb enough to buy it.

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Suikogaiden

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Lag-ops

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Vrygar777

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Even though I bought the game, this is kinda sad. I don't see why so many people love it, I mean, it's not that great lol.

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RofleWaffle

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Cod 2 > Cod 4 > the other cods And as a side note, I'm happy MvC did well. The developers deserve that money for reviving MvC and making it more accessible for newcomers but still fun for the 'pros'.

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jeffbordonaro

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Yeah? Lady gaga and bustin jeiber sell a ton to...does that mean they are any good ? ..no lol Actually to be honest , my heart breaks to see these numbers...just goes to show the way most of the population thinks...simple, boring, tasteless,trash. Did you know that you can beat the whole game without firing single shot except for the times you must just for the mission to move on? Games like killzone and battlefield...man , even quake should be at top sales over this crap. -_-..

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Djmaster214

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haters gonna hate but numbers dont lie

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Dunbon

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I hope that MW3 brings nothing new to the series, and doesnt innovate at all. That way, it will get low scores, and hopefully be the end of the call of duty series, and the developers will get dismantled. Oh wait, no it wont get low scores, because its MW3, made by infinity ward. So Black Ops got slated by quite a lot of reviewers even though it is probably the best iteration in the series.

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Wormkid_64

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Cod= Big surprise.(Sarcasm.)That is one of the most hyped games ever,though for no good reason.No war game should be so hyped.There are TONS of them,and telling me about character customization and junk changes nothing.At their core,they are all the same every time. 360=Nice.In this past year they've managed to grab top spot a few months.Good for them. Up 3%= Excellent.Our industry has a strong pulse,and it's getting stronger.

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super600

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super600  Moderator

driftster7788@ Everyone is not complaining about the game not appealing to noobs that much even though it kinda does still. Everyone is complaining on this news story because of an undeserving publisher's game destroying every single good game(not including Wii Play and a few other games) out in the US in sales. If a company doesn't respect their customers and fix the problems they face in the games they create they deserve no sales at all. This is how Activision truely acts. They market their games to hell,loads of people buy these games thinking it's going to be one of the greatest games ever and the people that buy the games at times feel disappointed in the end for multiple reasons. It may be because Activision doesn't try to fix the issues plauging the COD games whenever they release every november quickly and carefully or they get the COD developers to fix the issues like a couple of months later or they just leave the issues for an enternity ignoring their customers complaints.The same thing happens for some of the company's other games.

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NoremaC-_-

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i could buy a copy of dead space2 return it then buy it again then return it ect. and by next month it'll be at the top :)

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