Treyarch’s studio head Mark Lamia kicked off the Microsoft briefing today with a deeper look inside Call of Duty: Black Ops. Along with a brand new E3 trailer for the game, actual gameplay footage ranging from a dramatic tunnel crawl to a Hind helicopter assault was shown off.

After the quick demonstration, Microsoft’s Senior Vice President of Interactive Entertainment, Don Mattrick, took the stage to announce a brand new agreement between Activision and Microsoft that will make all Call of Duty DLC timed exclusives until 2012.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is slated for a November 9th release date in the UK and US.

The Blur Multiplayer Demo, previously an early exclusive to beta players, is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the rest of us mere mortals. For those that missed out on the beta the first time around, you no longer have an excuse. What are you waiting for?

Those eager to drop £10($15) on Modern Warfare 2’s first set of downloadable content were reporting issues with loading maps and downloading the new DLC early this morning. Though there were a few hiccups with the new DLC, Major Nelson has confirmed the Stimulus Package is now available for download and working normally. The map pack includes three new multiplayer maps and two reworked maps veterans of the first Modern Warfare will recognize all for the controversial price of 1200 MS Points.

Enjoy it, that is if you can justify that price point.

According to G4 some strange things are going down at the studio behind Modern Warfare 2 – Infinity Ward. Apparently the relationship between Infinity Ward and Activision has been pretty “tense” as of lately – tell us something we don’t know. Studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West haven’t been seen since they met with Activision earlier this morning and the staff are described as “on edge”.

The source went on to inform that a “bunch of bouncer-types” stormed the developer unannounced, unwilling to disclose who they were or why they were there. Details are all a bit vague at the moment and if you ask me, this all sounds too surreal. Rest assured we’ll keep you updated once we learn more.

UPDATE:
Going by his latest tweets, Infinity Ward’s Creative Strategist Robert Bowling hasn’t outrightly spoke on the matter, at the same time he hasn’t exactly denied it. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 2:
Ok things are really getting weird now. Apparently Jason West’s LinkedIn profile indicates he’s no longer working for Infinity Ward and his account now lists his position in the company as “past”. According to 1UP, one of their own sources inside Infinity Ward has said that Activision is “flexing their muscles” against the studio, attempting to “push back against change.”.

Even stranger is this, supposedly found on his Facebook page.

Could this all be real? Could Infinity Ward’s President have been let go? Correct me if I’m wrong but all this drama has got to be a first in the video game industry.