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As if the entire world wasn’t already convinced that Call of Duty 9 is actually Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Activision has planted a few hints within the redesigned CallofDuty.com.

The source code for the Call of Duty 9 splash page reveals the following trademark notice, which directly cites Black Ops, and no other game in the series:

2012 Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision and Call of Duty are registered trademarks and Black Ops is a trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

And if you click “Continue To Full Site,” the trademark notice changes to only mention Call of Duty and the Modern Warfare series. Curious thing, that.

But if you want even more proof, check this out. The loading screen of the site includes morse code that, when translated, spells out “Black Ops Two.”

So yeah, I’d say Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is as good as official.

[Source: MP1st]

Even though this is a “Treyarch year,” Activision is thinking long and hard about the future of the Call of Duty franchise. To that end, Sledgehammer Games has posted six job listings at Gamasutra looking for new bodies for its “Call of Duty development team.”

The developer is looking for an Animator, a Generalist Engineer, a UI Artist, a Lead Gameplay Engineer, a Senior Online Engineer, and a Lead Multiplayer Level Designer. Those last two might point to another multi-team development situation like we saw with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

So is Sledgehammer assisting with Call of Duty 9? Or is this proof that Call of Duty 10 is in development? It’s hard to say. If Activision’s history is anything to go by, preliminary work has likely already begun on a Call of Duty game that’s scheduled to be released in 2013. As for Call of Duty 9, a multi-team approach clearly worked for Modern Warfare 3, so it just makes good business sense to try it again.

But I guess we’ll find out for sure whether Sledgehammer is involved with Call of Duty 9 in exactly one week. And if they’re not, then let the Call of Duty 10 speculation begin!

Activision has added a new splash page to CallofDuty.com confirming that Call of Duty 9 will be unveiled on May 1. The reveal will happen during TNT’s coverage of the NBA Playoffs, probably during the 8:00 PM (Eastern Time) game. The splash page also contains a series of “classified images,” which will unlock during the days leading up to the reveal.

Speculation is running rampant that Call of Duty 9 will be revealed as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. I’d say the image to your right more-or-less confirms it as the faintly visible character in the background matches a leaked Black Ops 2 poster discovered by MP1st.

Whether its Black Ops 2 or not, we do know that the ninth Call of Duty game will be available this November.