When Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 launches on November 13, it will feature built-in tools that allow players on any platform to livestream their multiplayer sessions to the web. No capture boxes or special software required.

For competitive video game commentators – or anyone who wants to shoutcast a match of Call of Duty – Black Ops 2 also features a slew of in-game options to control the action as it happens live or from watching a replay. You can adjust items on the HUD, add scoreboards and user name cards, jump to the map showing all users, listen in on team mics to hear their strategies, and more.

If you're worried the tools could help opponents get the upper hand, Treyarch has thought about it. Players in the middle of a game won't hear the shoutcasters do their thing and the online time delay is such that it wouldn't make a difference if someone you were playing against was watching the same match. There's also the ability to turn off streaming for certain kinds of matches – like a tournament you've organized.

The tools both embrace the growing world of eSports and advance the possibilities of gaming. In-game streaming and shoutcasting tools have made it to the top of our "every game should have this feature" list. And you don't need a pair of commentators explaining the on-screen action in order to make use of the new feature, you could just stream it worldwide at any time for any reason.

Joystiq had a chance to play with the feature and discuss its tools with Treyarch advisor (and pro shoutcaster) Mike Rufail as a group of journalists battled it out in a multi-team deathmatch on the Yemen map in Black Ops 2. Watch themayhem (and why I shouldn't quit my day job) above.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/15/bl...ng-video-tour/