Students wait in snow to buy, stay up late to play Call of Duty: Black Ops II
There was silence in Richard Wolf's room, aside from the sounds of his humming Xbox and the clicking of his controller.
And explosions.
His 2 p.m. Tuesday class was cancelled, which left Wolf, a Macomb freshman, with time to play Call of Duty: Black Ops II, which was released early Tuesday.
Wolf is among millions of gamers worldwide playing Activision's newest simulated warfare first-person shooter game.
"We got our final receipt and came back and chilled until about 11:30 p.m., and then a few friends and I went back and waited about 15 minutes to get it," Wolf said about waiting at GameStop for the release.
Wolf said the line at GameStop, 4110 E. Blue Grass Road, stretched in front of Dollar Tree, 4170 E. Blue Grass Road. They stood in the wind and snow to either show a pre-order receipt or to purchase the game.
Employees at GameStop would not comment about its Black Ops II sales, adhering to the store policy from corporate headquarters in Grapevine, Texas. An employee said "sales were good and the line was long."
A news release from GameStop said more than 4,400 stores nationwide hosted midnight launch parties for the game's 12:01 a.m. Tuesday release.
Flint freshman Jalen Toins said he played the game for three hours after he went to pick up his copy with Wolf.
"It's different from the rest," Toins said. "It's going to take some getting used to."
Gamers used to the calibration of how fast players moved in the virtual world in previous games were a bit disoriented in figuring out Black Ops II.
"It seems like you don't move as fast and the guns seem weaker and it just throws you off," Toins said. "It seems like it takes four or five bullets to take someone down and it used to be two or three."
Wolf said he typically plays the various multiplayer modes instead of the single-player campaign.
"I'm planning on it soon," Wolf said. "My roommate doesn't like to play single player so I figured I'd try it while he's at class."
So far, Wolf is satisfied with Black Ops II.
"I wasn't really a fan of Black Ops I," he said. "I don't really know why, but I just like this one more"
