Images purportedly of in-store promotional materials suggest that Call of Duty: Black Ops II's first map pack extension will be a timed Xbox 360 exclusive arriving on Jan. 29. Five maps are included.

"Revolution" sports five maps, one of which—"Die Rise"—appears to be a zombie map. The others are named Hydro, Grind, Downhill and Mirage. The promo placards also say a weapon—the Peacemaker SMG—is included. No word on pricing; if you have the Call of Duty season pass, it's free.

We've pinged an Activision rep for comment, so this is unconfirmed for now.

Black Ops 2 Revolution, first dlc coming out January 29th [Reddit via Joystiq.]

B.A. Baracus. The Michael McDonald Fight Stick. Some dude taking a 3DS picture of himself smoking pot. We've had some ups and downs with the 'Shop Contest this year, but we still have a ton of good memories—10 of our most popular exploitables, to be specific—to look back on in an All-Star Extravaganza closing out 2012.

We did this last year, and if you remember this showdown, we're not asking you to redo the contests from whence these exploitables came. Your only requirement is to use at least two of these images in an entirely new 'Shop together.

You're not limited to using just the 10 images provided in that gallery above (which contains links to the original roundups, plus the winners' names). You can take two of the exploitables and slap them into a completely different background of your choosing, or make them funnier with your own exploitable if you have something in mind.

Here are the guidelines for entering.

1. Create your 'Shop and save it to your desktop.
2. Go to the comments beneath this post and click "reply."
3. Click "Add Image" in the comment window.
4. Click "Upload an Image Instead." Then click the "Choose File" button. Browse your desktop, find the image, and click "open."
5. If you prefer, you can upload the 'Shop to a free image hosting service. I suggest imgur. Then click "Add image" in the upper right above the comment window. Paste the image URL into the field that says "Image URL."
6. Add editorial commentary (you can't post an image without some kind of text in the comment field), then just hit submit and your image will load. If it doesn't, upload the image to imgur and paste the image URL as a comment. I promise I will look at it.
7. This is important: Keep your image size under 1 MB. If you're still having trouble uploading the image, try to keep its longest dimension (horizontal or vertical) under 1000 pixels.

All set? Great. Now, Gentlemen, start your 'shopping!

The Bullet Bill Mixer. (Bullet Blender, Jan. 14. Winner: Ryan.)

Mr. Smokey McBongHit (Burnin' Doobage, Jan. 29. Winner: Idono.)

The Limited Edition Michael McDonald Fightstick (Yah Mo Be Shopped, Feb. 26. Winner: pnerko.)

B.A. Baracus cosplayer. (PAX Ejection, April 8. Winner: pan1da7.)

Keith Apicary/Nathan Barnatt. (PAX Ejection, April 8. Winner: pan1da7.)

Jessica Nigri. (PAX Ejection, April 8. Winner: pan1da7, how I miss him so.)

Time's May 21 cover. (Are You 'Shop Enough?, May 13. Winner: DarkStar.)

My boss in a Ferrari. (Forza Totilo, June 9. Winner: Indysgill.)

Japanese kids sticking their hands in Pikachu's mouth. (Pika-chewed, June 16. Winner: GiantBoyDetective)

Sexy Mario. (Sexy Mario, Anyone?, July 21. Winner: warmsleepy.)

There's a movement afoot in Germany to hold a mass burning of "killerspiele,"—their word for violent video games—in front of the Reichstag in Berlin on Jan. 27. Leni Riefenstahl died eight years ago, so if this really happens, someone else will have to film it.

[Update] As has been pointed out by many, this "movement" is most likely a hoax, and the idea of a public burning of video games in Germany, not that it ever had popular support, is unlikely ever to come to pass.

The remainder of the original post follows.

It's hard to tell what kind of popular support this really has beyond the clowns running it. But in addition to the black self-parody of a bunch of Germans burning shit in front of the Reichstag, this is remarkable because the demonstration seems to be organized by German gamers, and not the usual suspects. GameOasis, a German gaming interest site, discovered the protest organization within a Google group for computer games. Translated, the call to action cites the Dec. 14 massacre at Newtown, Conn., and seems to be an effort by some gamers to distance themselves and their lifestyle from some of the more violent fare available.

What's more, there's a group down in Vienna planning a burn of its own, conveniently timing it two days after the one up in Berlin. [Correction:] I misread the translation. The Austrians are against the German action, and jokingly proposed to burn the Berlin demonstrators.

Germany is extremely serious about banning anything that conjures up memories of its Nazi past—video games like Wolfenstein's reboot have been pulled simply for the stray appearance of a swastika. I'm a little surprised that anything remotely resembling a book burning, particularly in front of the Reichstag, isn't also illegal as hell there.

Öffentliche Killerspielverbrennung am 27.1.2013 in Berlin vor dem Reichstag! [GamingOasis. h/t Michael M.]

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week's best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic.

Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik.
Published Dec. 26.
Read more of Penny Arcade.
Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich.
Published Dec. 24.
Read more of Awkward Zombie.
Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto.
Published Dec. 25.
Read more of Brawl In The Family.
Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira.
Published Dec. 29.
Read more of Nerf NOW!!
Nerf This by Scott Ferguson.
Published Dec. 24.
Read more of Nerf This.
Brentalfloss the Comic by Brent Black, Andrew Dobson and Dan Roth.
Published Dec. 27.
Read more of Brentalfloss the Comic.
Another Videogame Webcomic by Phil Chan and Joe Dunn.
Published Dec. 28.
Read more of Another Videogame Webcomic.
Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi.
Published Dec. 24.
Read more of Corpse Run.

The company's share price dropped by a third in the past year, and expensive incursions into mobile and social games development haven't yet panned out. Adding insult to injury, Electronic Arts was booted out of the NASDAQ-100 Index for poor performance. Figure in the continuing decline of video game sales on traditional platforms, and John Riccitiello, EA's CEO, could find himself sitting at a long conference table as someone from HR explains his COBRA options.

EA's CEO is one of eight "CEOs to Fire in 2013," in the opinion of 24/7 Wall Street, a blog for investors. Riccitiello is in good (or dubious) company, alongside Michael Dell and the founder/CEO of flavor-of-the-minute Groupon, whose revenue growth of 32 percent in the past quarter no longer represents a skirt worth chasing.

Slower growth is one thing, outright losses are another, and EA's gone $2.5 billion in the red over the past four fiscal years, which straddles much of Riccitiello's tenure. "The case against Riccitiello is easy to make. His ability to move more of the company's revenue to new social media and mobile platforms has been poor," reasons Wall Street 24/7.

There's also a case to be made that expensive bets on Playfish, PopCap and Origin take a while to pay off, too. A new console generation expected to have a heavy digital distribution component makes this an uneasy time to switch leaders, especially one who made Origin a centerpiece of EA's future. This still is not a great case to make when you're trying to save your job, though.

With a management team bearing Riccitiello's deep thumbprint, thanks to reorganizations in 2007 and 2011, it wouldn't appear that some in-house successor is poised to take the company in a different direction. Peter Moore, the chief operating officer, definitely is CEO timber, but he was brought in by JR to run EA Sports in 2007. If a board of directors dumps Riccitiello in 2013, it may not want any of his lieutenants running the show, either.

Depending on what hardware is or isn't announced at E3, 2013 could be a year of upheaval, and it could cost Riccitiello, the leader of the dominant publisher in Western markets, his job. Like them or hate them, new leadership at EA, or even the threat of it, moves the discussion for all of video games, and sets an uncertain tone for the coming year.

CEOs to Fire in 2013 [Wall St. 24/7.]

If you didn't take a crack at Mega Man Christmas Carol when it released two years ago, give it a shot now (.zip, 16 MB). The fan-made game reimagines the Ghosts of Christmas (plus miserable old Marley) as boss showdowns in Mega Man. Sprites, Inc. has remade its first game with a new engine, and continues to tweak the difficulty based on community feedback.

The video above should give you a good idea of what it's all about. Future seems to be the toughest Ghost/Master, from the discussion in that forum thread. (The game's five difficulty levels go up to a "Wut" mode, good luck with that.)

INC's 2012 Christmas Present—Megaman's Christmas Carol Remix [Sprites Inc.]

Only in a game featuring permadeath could this stalker encounter become as macabre and hilarious as it is. "This crazy guy starting following me and threatening to cut my head off during a DayZ live stream," says the video's uploader. He really is running for his life, and his stalker really is suicidally obsessed with running him down. And the dying words, as the white knight with the silenced rifle saves the day, are in perfect character.

YouTube video uploaded by Normal Difficulty

Reader Parrish E. admitted to tooting his own horn by sending this tip to us, but we'll allow it, because his life-size construction of Claptrap—with a functioning headlamp, mind you—is straight up awesome, and the best part, it's a gift for a friend.

Parrish and his wife were introduced to Borderlands by a friend shortly before Borderlands 2 released in September. And then, of course, they played the sequel. "Our friend expressed an interest in building the super intricate paper craft model that came out a while ago," he says on the Gearbox forums. "She's pretty busy with school and work and the like, so I figured I'd build it in my spare time (currently unemployed, and job hunting only occupies so many hours in the day) as kind of a thank you for introducing us to the series.

"And then I realized I don't have anywhere near the patience for that many little pieces and gluing everything together, and even if I did manage to build it, it's pretty fragile," he said. "I know my way around a table saw, however, so I decided to build a large, almost full scale model. I could never really nail down his exact dimensions, so I went off the 4" figurine, and scaled that up to what pre-made wheel sizes were available to me."

Voila, you now have a full-size Claptrap. Brandishing what appears to be the figurine Parrish referenced. It took about a month to assemble, and he just uploaded the finished pictures yesterday. The rest of the forum thread shows Claptrap throughout the stages of his construction, with the requisite slow-claps and compliments from the Borderlands community.

I'm Building a Claptrap [Gearbox Forums]

A look back at what happened in the business of video games in 2012.

QUOTE | "Someday we'll be living in the Matrix." - Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford talking about the huge aspirations some game developers still have and why today's games "suck" by comparison to where they should be.

QUOTE | "No sex please, we're gamers."―GamesIndustry.biz's Matt Handrahan talks to Miriam Bellard of No Reply games, who explains why she thinks their erotic game Seduce Me was removed by Steam Greenlight.

QUOTE | "You've decided that some breasts deserve a prime spot."―Rachel Weber, GamesIndustry International journalist, commenting about Future's CVG site posting a gallery of E3 booth babes and sadly asking readers to "get their scorecards out."

QUOTE | "Nintendo has to let Mario games on non-Nintendo devices."―Nanako Imazu, Tokyo stock analyst, said this after Nintendo announced its massive losses for last year; other analysts have also called on Nintendo to put its iconic brands on smartphones and tablets, but the company has resisted all such advice.

QUOTE | "The Vita is almost DOA."―Richard Browne, industry veteran and former Sony exec, talking about how Sony has fallen on hard times but can still come back.

QUOTE | "Consoles may quickly go the way of the dinosaurs."―Nexon America CEO Daniel Kim, talking about console developers and how they need to go free-to-play.

QUOTE | "Sony has had a miserable generation in the console market."―Rob Fahey, former editor of GI.biz, talking about the harsh lessons Sony has learned and what they need to succeed.

QUOTE | "Dropping a nuclear bomb on GameStop."―Leading games industry analysts react to the rumor that the next PlayStation could block used titles, which could prompt GameStop to avoid stocking it.

QUOTE | "Xbox is the one console actually defying gravity."―Matt Barlow, general manager of product marketing at Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, talking about the momentum Xbox 360 has seen and how he expects it to have a huge holiday.

QUOTE | "Pre-owned has really killed core games."―David Braben, founder of British developer Frontier Developments, talking about how single-player core games are dying.

QUOTE | "Ouya will go down in history as something as big as iPhone."―Mark Friedler, game industry veteran, talking about the hugely successful Kickstarter for the Android-powered console Ouya.

QUOTE | "Social and freemium is not where gaming is headed."―Jack Tretton, head of SCEA, talking about Sony's rough times and how the console business will be better than ever.

QUOTE | "Xbox 360 isn't so good anymore compared to PCs."―Matt Firor, head of Zenimax Online Studios, talking about why we haven't seen successful console MMOs on 360 as part of an in-depth Elder Scrolls Online interview.

QUOTE | "There is a dark underbelly to Xbox Live."―Rob Fahey, former editor of GamesIndustry.biz, talking about what can be done to rescue Xbox Live and online gaming from abusive bullies.

QUOTE | "The single player mechanic is a gimmick—games are meant to be played with others." - Jonas Antonsson, Gogogic CEO, talking about why games are moving toward a sort of multiplayer singularity.

QUOTE | "Technology will drive gameplay, always." – Cevat Yerli, Crytek founder and CEO, talking about the latest edition of CryEngine and the upcoming Crysis 3.

QUOTE | "Nintendo has set up the Wii U for failure." – Dan Hsu, editor in chief of GamesBeat, talking along with journalists and analysts about the mixed critical reception to the Nintendo's launch of the Wii U.

QUOTE | "We're going to be a 100% digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable." – Frank Gibeau, head of EA Labels, talking about the future of Electronic Arts.

We've known for a while that fan favorite Cpl. Hicks was going to be in Aliens: Colonial Marines—the story fits in between Aliens and Alien³. But, for old time's sake, here he is in Sega and Gearbox's latest story trailer for the game, along with a very grim setup of the job that lies ahead of you. I'm guessing "the most dangerous killing machines in the universe" are going to find out there's another claim on that title.

Aliens: Colonial Marines arrives Feb. 12.