The Elite service jumps in during the time between matches. Available in-game, in a browser, and via iOS and Android phone and tablet apps, the Elite platform serves as a social hub to track your progress, study the inner workings of Call of Duty mechanics, and keep tabs on the competition.

The website is split into four categories. First, there's the Career tab. This page offers up an overview of your Call of Duty performance, divided by games; Black Ops for now, but including Modern Warfare 3 when that title arrives in the fall. You'll find data on your kill to death ratio, the amount of time you spent overall here--even a breakdown of particular match settings you've played.

Better still, you can search for your friends (or foes), and compare stats. We're all familiar with leaderboards, where you can see your own progress ranked against the world. Elite will allow you to create custom leaderboards, consisting entirely of gamers you search for. This will be handy for keeping an eye on who's outpaced you, or simply for bragging rights.

Next up is Connect, which is all about groups. Like Desktops? How about PCWorld? Slap both tags on your username, and you'll be grouped up with likeminded Call of Duty fans, with access to group leaderboards and quick matchmaking. There will still be robust clan support; groups serve as a casual way to get in on the action.

The Compete category does what it says on the tin: Players will face challenges and are awarded prizes (real and virtual) upon successfully completing them. Operations serve as longer term challenges for players, groups, and clans to compete in, for prizes and bragging rights in the form of badges. One example: An operation that requires you to rack up a sizable number of kills in a 24-hour time period.