Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer early access and open beta dates revealed

The ouroboros is a snake eating its own tail: an infinite thing, a never ending cycle. While I do think this is a rather metal logo, there's an argument to be made that it's not current or trendy enough. With this in mind, I think the words "Call Of Duty" should represent the endless, unstoppable nature of existence. And with Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 revealing its multiplayer open beta and early access dates, we must further consume and be consumed by the circular march of COD. Let's dolphin dive in, shall we.

Right, so. The dates according to COD's latest blog post: if you pre-order the game or you're a Game Pass subscriber (you have an active subscription to Game Pass Ultimate or PC), you'll get access to the first beta weekend. This begins from Friday August 30th at 10am PT/ 13:00 ET/ 18:00 BST and ends on Wednesday September 4th at the same times.

The second weekend is the open beta, meaning anyone can get access. This begins on Friday September 6th at 10am PT/ 13:00 ET/ 18:00 BST and ends on Monday September 9th at the same times again. It's worth dropping in a reminder here that both of these beta periods are for the multiplayer mode only, so not zombies or the singleplayer. You'll get to build loadouts, shoot some guys, and scream at your monitor in frustration.

For those who've pre-ordered the super duper Vault Edition of the game, you'll get to play as four Operators (Park, Adler, Brutus or Klaus) during the betas. They are a variety of armoured lads, one of whom has a helmet that reminds me of the soldier from that old FPS Timeshift. And you'll also get to test out five weapons from the "Mastercraft" weapon collection, which look to be colourful and suitably powerful snipers and assault rifles and knives. I imagine they'll be powerful during the beta, and then like, fizzle into obscurity once people arrive at a meta on release.

As the resident Call Of Duty-liker (sorry), I'm mildly excited by the prospect of more FPSing. I'm particularly intrigued by the "omnimovement" they showed off during their Xbox Showcase segment, which lets you sprint or dive in any direction for the first time. This means you can rotate 360 degrees while prone or shoot in the opposite direction to where you're moving, which suggests it could go one of two ways: 1) flexible fun for all the family; 2) sightlines are broadened and strategic positioning isn't as vital as it was before, meaning maps feel even more like a death blender. Let's hope it's the former, eh.