Activision finally confirmed yesterday that the next installment in the Call of Duty series will be "Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War" as it has been known for some time. Unfortunately, this was the only confirmation at that point, as the full reveal will be next week. But the fun is not over yet.

Today, developer Treyarch released some key art for the game, and it is quite different from what we have come to expect. The burly, square-jawed soldiers are still there, but what catches the eye is the propaganda image of Soviet troops on the left and American troops on the right, which actually make up the uniforms and the borders surrounding them.

It all fits with the motif of the trailers we have seen so far, which focus on the subterfuge, propaganda, and subterfuge that fueled the Cold War. This theme is most clearly expressed in the teaser released yesterday with the title confirmation, which is built around an actual interview with Soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov. Bezmenov discusses the Soviet strategy of overthrowing Western domination through a process of "demoralization, destabilization, crisis, and normalization."

It is not yet clear how big men with guns fit into that equation, but previous ARGs have suggested that the conflict between China and India, adjacent to the Cold War of the early 1960s, may be somehow related. We will soon find out: the worldwide release of Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War is scheduled for August 26.