New 'Call of Duty' blasts last year's sales record

NEW YORK — "Call of Duty: Black Ops" blasted entertainment records this week by raking in $360 million in its first 24 hours on sale, a dramatic and lucrative indication that video games have cemented their place as mainstream entertainment on a par with movies, books and music.

For the hordes of devoted fans who waited at midnight Monday to get their hands on the military shooter, this is hardly a surprise. For them, popping the new "Call of Duty" into a game console is the equivalent of turning on the TV to watch the Super Bowl or sitting back with a tub of popcorn to watch the latest blockbuster movie.

But while movies happen at you, video games allow the user to affect the story's outcome. That hands-on experience and interactions with other players fit the emerging social-media era where consumers demand a voice in whatever they do.

Across two years, with a budget well in the tens of millions of dollars, the developers of "Black Ops" created a world that immerses players in Cold War-era battles with settings ranging from 1960s Cuba to Vietnam and the Soviet Union.

Its intricate graphics and details — down to the gruesome sound a knife makes when pulled from an enemy's neck — are amplified in players' homes through big-screen TV sets and powerful speakers.

In one mission, which takes place with John F. Kennedy in the White House before the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, players must shoot their way through Havana to assassinate a young Fidel Castro.

Cuba state-run media has leveled harsh criticism at the game, calling it "doubly perverse" by glorifying assassination and stimulating "sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents."

"What the United States couldn't accomplish in more than 50 years, they are now trying to do virtually," said an article on Cubadebate, a state-run news website.

Though game developers see their creations as art, not everyone agrees. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments over a California law that seeks to ban the sale of ultra-violent video games to minors. Parents' groups and politicians say games should be regulated like firearms and tobacco rather than like books and movies, which are protected by the First Amendment. A ruling is expected next year.