Nazi Zombies to Return to Call of Duty: Black Ops

IGN reported late Friday that one of the best parts of Treyarch's last CoD game would be making its return in the latest iteration of the franchise.  Nazi Zombies, the 1-4 player co-op mode pitting you and your friends against the horde of undead was a favorite in my circle of gaming friends, and this announcement will certainly be met with cheers.  There is, however, a catch to this.  In order to get your zombie fix, you have to purchase the "Hardened" or "Prestige" versions of the game.  This means the price of entry will set you back at least another $20.  It has not yet been confirmed whether purchasers of the standard edition will be able to pick up the mode via the PSN or Xbox Live DLC.  The mode will come with the same 4 maps that appeared in World at War, and nothing has yet been confirmed that there will be any DLC to add new maps.

Venturing into pure speculation mode here, but I can hardly believe that this won't be DLC for those purchasing the standard edition of the game.  And for those on the PS3, you can lessen the blow via PSN sharing, allowing you and your friends to get your zombie on for a paltry $5 each.

This is an interesting move by Treyarch.  I can't blame them for wanting to monetize the zombie mode, but they've went about it in entirely the wrong way.  The better model is certainly to include the mode and one map for all players and then to pick up the extra coin through DLC maps.  Going about it in this way is extremely short sighted, as now you have splitered the community by requiring a purchase to get in the game.  Hopefully they see the light before the game's release on November 9th.

UPDATE - After posting, found the actual tweet by the Treyarch Community Manager quoted by IGN:

"All 4 existing #CoDWaW Zombies maps will be included in Hardened & Prestige Editions of #CODBlackOps as callback co-op levels!"

Reading this tweet, it seems more to me that the Zombie mode will be included in all versions, but those purchasing the premium versions of the game will be granted all the World at War maps.  I have a tweet out to the Community Manager for confirmation.