The much-anticipated videogame Call of Duty: Black Ops, released Nov. 9, keeps blowing up sales records. This latest chapter in the long-running Call of Duty series from Activision lets players assume the character of a foot-soldier during the Cold War, taking him to Russia, Vietnam, and other danger zones behind enemy lines. (Watch a trailer for Black Ops.) The game, which has received generally positive reviews, is well ahead of the sales pace set by last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the top-selling game of all time. A breakdown of the numbers:
$650 million
Amount Black Ops grossed after five days on the market, a record
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$550 million
Amount the previous record holder, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, made in its first five days
$200 million
Amount 2008's The Dark Knight had grossed after five days, the high-water mark for movies
$360 million
Amount Black Ops made on its first day in stores, also a record
$310 million
Amount Modern Warfare 2 made on its first day
2.6 million
Number of people who played Black Ops on Microsoft's Xbox Live during its first day of release
5.9 million
Number of hours logged by online players on XBox live that first day
$9.89 billion
Total videogame sales in the U.S. for the first nine months of the year, down 8 percent from the same period in 2009
7
Number of games released in the Call of Duty series thus far; a rumored eighth may hit shelves in late 2011
1
Number of former dictators upset over the game (the Cuban government expressed outrage over the game, which includes a mission that eluded the C.I.A. in the 1960s: Assassinate Fidel Castro)
Sources: Information Week, Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times, The New York Times, PCWorld
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