Black Ops II Title Update Results in Tweaks, Death Threats

The latest title update for Call of Duty: Black Ops II now live on the Xbox 360 has resulted in violent threats on Twitter by frustrated gamers against the game's design director, David 'Vahn' Vonderhaar.

The July 23 update introduced the Personalization Pack, as well as balancing tweaks for several weapons. The focus of the ire stems from changes made to reduce the power, or 'nerfing,' of the most popular sniper rifles. The tweaks are small, only tweaking fire and rechamber times by fractions of seconds.

However, these changes angered some gamers, who have taken to Twitter to vent their irritation at Vonderhaar.

Activision's Dan Amrich has taken to his personal blog, One of Swords, to argue against threats toward game developers

'One of Vahn’s many responsibilities is to keep the game as balanced as possible,' Amrich said. 'Weapons are designed with pros and cons; they perform in specific ways for specific reasons. But if, in the course of millions of hours of gameplay and the data to go with it, weapons are found to be more effective or less effective than they should be to keep that performance balanced, they are adjusted.'

According to Amrich, the threats pointed toward Vonderhaar from the Call of Duty community have become too common, and too violent.

'Vahn often gets told he should die in a fire or kill himself or is a horrible person,' Amrich continued. 'If anybody thinks for a second that this is okay, it is not. But if the loudest voices in the Call of Duty 'community' act like an angry mob instead, guess how the entire world views Call of Duty? Now consider that these Internet Tough Guy rants and demands are not unique to COD, but exist everywhere, in many gaming communities. This is why the world often does not take gaming seriously; this is why gamers are assumed to be immature, whiny assholes. Because the immature, whiny assholes are louder.'

Amrich points out that Vonderhaar has responded to these threats with calm and restraint, asking only for ideas and suggestions regarding the update. Amrich asks that the community take responsibility for their words, and show a better attitude when communicating with developers who are in control of their favorite games.

Amrich concluded, saying, 'If you enjoy your games, have a little respect for the people who make them — and stop threatening them with bodily harm every time they do their job.'

Here are some of the details behind the latest update:

New Features

6 new Personalization Packs are now available as downloadable content. Each pack comes loaded with 1 camo, 1 themed calling card and 3 unique reticles.Season Pass holders will now be reminded to download Season Pass content which they haven’t previously downloaded.

Multiplayer Issues Addressed

Improved stability when pressing buttons during a Theater mode screenshot.Screenshots taken during Theater mode from a match on Uplink will no longer become corrupt.

Multiplayer Game Balancing

AN-94: Damage slightly reduced.DSR 50: Rate of fire reduced.Ballista: Rate of fire slightly reduced.

The game has also received an extensive update to its Zombie game mode. For the entire list, follow this link.

And, finally, some good news

According to the Treyarch Twitter feed, Black Ops II will have a double XP weekend starting Friday at 10 a.m. PST.

Check out the Personalization Pack trailer below:

Call of Duty: Black Ops II, death threats, News, Title Update, Xbox 360