When a game's such a forgone conclusion that people are willing to pay money for it before it even officially exists, developers and retailers face a dilemma: maintain that tiny remaining patina of mystery, or start makin' them dollars? And neither Activision nor Target got where they are today by putting caginess ahead of commerce – so the latter's already got cards out advertising Black Ops 2, complete with an early holiday-season release date (via IGN).
Note that the first time we saw anything like a Black Ops 2 release date teased – which was also the moment everyone threw up their hands and agreed that Activision wasn't fooling anyone and Black Ops 2 was pretty much a definite thing – the date given was far closer, cementing suspicions that May would be when the game was officially announced for proper (it's now scheduled for unveiling on May 1, during the NBA playoffs).
Since then we've seen hints of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 doing future warfare, giving you a few remaining unknowns to look forward to when Activision unveils the title and the gaming world feigns polite surprise. And then, knowing CoD's preternatural powers of publicity, we'll all go out and reserve ourselves three copies apiece.
