The only three things in this life that are certain are death, taxes, and the addition of downloadable content to a successful first-person shooter. And when you're talking about the most lucrative title in the genre, the only thing that changes is the need to get the DLC out sooner. So it is that Activision and Treyarch have announced (via Major Nelson's podcast) that Call of Duty: Black Ops will get its first map upgrade beginning on February 1st of next year.

Named the "First Strike" pack, the new areas will be released first on Xbox Live, and will be a timed exclusive on that platform. This means that XBLA customers will get about a month headstart on PSN and PC users. The new pack will include four competitive maps: "Discovery", which is based on the Reznov mission, being set in an Antarcic research station; "Kowloon", which will take place on the rooftops of that city; "Berlin Wall", which will be a fight at the notorious Checkpoint Charlie, and "Stadium", which moves the action to an American hockey rink. And, of course, since no game is complete without one, there will be a brand new Zombie map, named "Ascension".

All of this can be yours for the standard CoD map pack price of 1200 ($15). No word on exactly when First Strike's Xbox exclusivity ends, but rest assured, the rest of you will get your chance to spend more money on Black Ops.

[Via Joystiq]