UPDATE: Now that Black Ops has released, head over to our Call of Duty Tracker to see is available.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is about to rear its head come November 9th, 2010 the official release date. So, what are your pre-order options from the top retailers out there, and what kind of delivery options are there? Like we recently broke down for Medal of Honor Pre-orders, we will do the same thing for you with COD: Black Ops.

Amazon Pre-order Deal

Game Deal: At the time of this writing, the pre-order cost for Black Ops is only $54.44. This is a guaranteed price, so it will not go up from here and if it happens to drop even more over the next 3 weeks, you will get it at the lowest advertised price until the actual released date. For example, if you pre-ordered it already at Amazon for the $59.99 price, then you will be getting it for $54.44 since that is the price today. If you have yet to pre-order and the price goes back up, then you will have to hope the price drops again before the release date.

Shipping Deal: You also have the option to get Release-Date Delivery. Release-Date Delivery costs a mere 99¢! This guarantees you will receive the item on the day the game is released. This 99¢ release-date delivery is also good on the other two game options, Hardened Edition and Prestige Edition… regardless of which version you order, you can get release-date delivery for 99¢.

Amazon UPDATE 11/8/10: The price of the game went up to $59.99. As a result, if you order at this price, and the price drops later today, then you will get the lower price.

GameStop Pre-order Deal

Game Deal: At GameStop the deal changes slightly from Amazon. GameStop is offering pre-orders of Black Ops for $59.99. GameStop is also offering a promotion only those who pre-order Black Ops which will afford them a CHANCE at winning some other prizes. When you pre-order from GameStop, you will have a daily opportunity to participate in “Surprize Attack” with quite a few prizes ranging from a Jeep to a free appetizer from T.G.I. Fridays. If this is your thing, then by all means preorder from GameStop.

Shipping Deal: There are no real shipping deals at GameStop when pre-ordering games through them. The deal is, pre-order the game, and select overnight shipping and they guarantee delivery on release-date. Overnight shipping costs $9.99 plus $1.50 more for each $50 over $75.

Target Pre-order Deal

Game Deal: There is no real pre-order deal for Black Ops at Target, the game costs $59.99.

Shipping Deal: there is also no guarantee of any sort with regards to release-date delivery.

Walmart Pre-order Deal

Game Deal: Walmart is virtually on par with Amazon when it comes to pre-order deals for COD: Black Ops, but with a one exception: The pre-order game cost is currently $59.99 from Walmart, $5 more than Amazon. The other two editions, Hardened Edition and Prestige Edition are also available at their respective costs of $79.99 and $139.99.

Shipping Deal: Like Amazon, Walmart also guarantees release-date delivery and at the bargain price of 97¢. One stipulation is that you must have your order placed 3 days prior to actual release date in order for you to receive this release-date delivery guarantee.

Walmart UPDATE: Walmart dropped their pre-order price to $53.96! Remember, to get release-date shipping you need to order 3 days prior to release-date (Nov. 9th, 2010)

COD: Black Ops Pre-order Recap:

Recapping the pre-order options from the various retailers:

Amazon: game cost is $54.44 (Guaranteed Price), shipping 99¢ for release-date delivery- Pre-Order Now
GameStop: game cost is $59.99 & contest, shipping is $9.99 for release-date delivery- Pre-Order Now
Target: game cost is $59.99, no shipping guarantees- Pre-Order Now
Walmart: game cost is $53.96 (Updated price), shipping 97¢ for release-date delivery (must order 3 days prior to release-date) – Pre-Order Now

Looking to purchase Medal of Honor, which releases tomorrow October 12th, 2010, but want to get your hands on the best deal? Lets take a look at what the top retailers out there are offering at the wee hours prior to the launch of this much anticipated release of Medal of Honor:

Amazon Medal of Honor Preorder Deal:
Amazon is offering two features that are of interest. First is the $20 video game credit. In theory, this drops the price of Medal of Honor to $39.99 from the issued price of $59.99. You will receive your $20 credit within two days of Medal of Honor shipping to your house. Second, you have the option to receive Release-Date Delivery… in my case it only cost $0.99! This price shocked me in that I was able to have the game in-hand on release-day for only $0.99 and I can still order today and receive it tomorrow for this price.

GameStop Medal of Honor Preorder Deal:
If saving $20 is not of great importance to you, then maybe getting an advanced Tier 1 status in game is. This is the deal from GameStop… if you place your order by today at 11 AM CST, which is 12 PM EST, you will receive a “GameStop Exclusive code for instant access to the Assault Class Tier 1 Operator with the benefit of a visual distinction in Multiplayer. Also receive the M60 to mow down the competition online.” When it comes to getting your game on release-day, you will have to select overnight shipping which will cost you $9.99.

Walmart Medal of Honor Preorder Deal:
Walmart is offering a $20 e-gift card. This gift card will only work at walmart.com or samsclub.com and not valid in stores. Just like Amazon, you are essentially getting your game for the $59.99 minus $20 for a future purchase, but unlike Amazon this purchase can be on anything at the aforementioned sites, not just video game purchases. As far as shipping goes, well just like Amazon, you can have the game in-hand on release-day for only $0.97! However, there is a caveat this late in the game, this guarantee passed as the rules state in order to receive the game on release day you must have placed your order 3 days prior to actual release date.

So late biters, which route will you take? Lets recap our options:

Amazon – $20 video game credit, $0.99 release-day delivery still an option – Preorder Now!

GameStop – FREE in game Tier 1 Access Code, $9.99 release-day delivery – Preorder Now!

Walmart – $20 online-only gift card, release-day delivery has passed – Preorder Now!

Offer valid: 12/3 – 12/21/09. Code: BEMERRY

Offer not valid on consoles or other hardware.

Shop GameStop Now!

I just wanted to drop a note and let everyone know that the Video Game Deals Tracker now has Twitter feeds for each of the game systems we are tracking (Wii, Xbox360, PS3, DS, PSP, PS2, PC, and Mac). Subscribe to the Twitter feeds for each system and be notified daily of video game deals for that system when the all-time new lowest price of a game exceeds the $3 in savings mark.

Why should you even care about the Video Game Deals Tracker? Well as an example, did you know that Prototype was recently reduced at Amazon to its all-time low of $39.99, knocking off $20 for one day only? The very next day the game was back up to its original price of $59.99! If you are looking for deals like this, then subscribe to these Twitter feeds or subscribe to the the RSS Feeds, which btw, show the same thing plus whole lot more.

Check out the Video Game Deals Tracker for daily video game deals with extended price tracking!

Today Amazon is offering Assassin’s Creed for only $29.99. That is $10 less than what they had the game for back on March 18th and $30 less than current retail price. This is when I typically get my games, if I can resist this long. Grab your copy today before the price goes back up.

Amazon is currently offering the the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for only $39.99. That is approximately $20 off the retail price. This may also be the sign of a permanent price drop for the game in the near future. One thing to note, as of writing this post, there are only 5 units left in stock, so you better hurry and Buy It Now!

Today’s deal of the day in video games at Amazon is Trauma Center: New Blood for the Wii for only $32.99. This is $17 off the current retail price of the game. Pick it up today before the deal disappears at the end of the day. The game has 4 stars out of 5 from with a total of 19 reviews.

Amazon’s Video Game Deal of the Day is Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Wii for only $29.99. This is $20 off the current market price of $49.99. Hurry before the stock runs out; grab your copy now!

Baseball’s opening day begins with Amazon offering Major League Baseball 2K8 for the PS3 for only $39.99! This is the video game deal of the day, so make sure to grab it before tonight!

Amazon is having another Gold Box Video Game Day! All Lightning Deals, deals that last only a few hours or until inventory diminishes, will be Video Games. To see all of the deals, visit the Gold Box.

The deals will go off at the following times:
9:00 AM EST / 6:00 AM PST
1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PST
5:00 PM EST / 2:00 PM PST
9:00 PM EST / 6:00 PM PST

The deals will might be mixed across all console systems; but given the popularity of the Wii, we might see more in that arena.