Abandon Ship

Holy crap, have you seen this? Infinity Ward employees are jumping ship like it's the Titanic. What the hell is going on here? They were setting the world on fire just this past November. Man, I hope this comes back to bite Activision in the ass. I'm trying not to jump on the evil empire band wagons anymore, but it's hard not hate Activision at this point. As you can see from the above image, peoples don't much care for Bobby Kotick. He deserves it, too.

Anyway, there is going to have to be some backlash after all of this. I kind of feel bad for Treyarch because they might get stuck fending for themselves with the Call of Duty franchise, and I doubt they hack it for too long. You know who's lickin' their chops right now? Bungie. The Reach beta comes out soon, and it's right on the heels of an overpriced map pack and a colossal falling-out at their biggest rival. This is also setting EA up pretty nicely. Medal of Honor, which is straight-ripping Call of Duty, comes out this summer, and the two IW execs who are in a epic lawsuit of he-said-she-said with Activision have formed their own studio which is working with EA Partners (which puts them under the same roof as Valve). Hell, even Epic has decided that now is the time to announce Gears of War 3 (which has an April 2011 release date; making room for a beta test, this time?). This is going to be interesting to watch unfold.

--Chilly P

p.s. Just for the record, I've been saying this for a while now.

p.p.s. Some background info on Infinity Ward that sheds some more light on the situation.

Thoughts for Monday 041210 (Mostly about Bad Co 2)

PSA: April 15th is the last day that you can play any original Xbox 1 titles on LIVE. Bust out your copy of Halo 2 for the last time.

I'm almost 17 hours into Final Fantasy XIII and the game is still going nowhere. This is when most games are wrapping up, yet FFXIII has decided that it's still time for plot development. Seriously, there hasn't even been any real rising action yet.

Trying to play through Perfect Dark on Special Agent has given me a whole new appreciation for check points in FPS campaigns. I've been stuck on the same level for a long time (Infiltrating Area 51).

And now the rest is about Bad Company 2...
In no particular order, here are my 10 favorite kits for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (one kit per gun; vehicle perks and side arms not included ):

• Medic: M60, Defibrillator, Red Dot Sight, Magnum Ammunition
• Medic: USAS-12 Auto, Defibrillator, 12 Gauge Slugs, Magnum Ammunition
  
• Assault: AN-94 Abakan, 40mm Grenade, Red Dot Sight, Assault Marksman
• Assault: M16A2, 40mm Grenade, Red Dot Sight, Magnum Ammunition
• Assault: WWII M1A1 Garand, C4 Explosives, Light Combat Equipment, Magnum Ammunition
  
• Recon: M24 Sniper, Mortar Strike, 12x High Power Scope, Improved Demolitions
• Recon: VSS Snaiperskaya Special, C4 Explosives, Red Dot Sight, Magnum Ammunition
• Recon: Type 88 Sniper, C4 Explosives, 4x Rifle Scope, Magnum Ammunition
• Engineer: PP-2000 Avtomat, M136 AT4, Ammo Hip Bandolier, Magnum Ammunition
• Engineer: AKS-74U Krinkov, Anti-Tank Mines, Explosives Leg Pouch, Improved Demolitions
  

And, hey, you know what's nice about BC2? I can carry all of those kits and more into battle! I can't stress enough how awesome it is that I don't have to pre-build kits before battle. I hate being stuck in a situation where I could really use a certain class and I just can't. For example, if we're getting bogged down by tanks and I really need to go tank bustin', I can throw together an engineer class that is completely geared toward shooting a lot of rockets at tanks. You may notice that I put Magnum Ammo on nearly everything. Well, it's easier for me to tell the benefit of magnum ammo than the benefit of ceramic armor in that game. Maybe if it was like Call of Duty and told me when I was shooting at someone using body armor (a.k.a. Juggernaut/Pain Pill) I'd be more aware of it. As it stands, most of the specializations in Bad Company 2 only offer marginal benefits, so it doesn't make that much of a difference.

I think I may be the only person who likes the USAS better than the Saiga. I know the Saiga has better stats (that's indisputable), but something about the USAS just feels better.

I've now gone gold with every gun except the G3, M9, M93R Burst, and the MP-412 Rex. Having spent quality time with every gun, I can pretty positively say that the AEK-971, the Uzi, the F2000, the MG3, the Thompson, and the SV98 are my least favorite guns.

I have a total of 4 tracer dart plants. I fail to see how tagging a helicopter is sufficiently easier than hitting it with a rocket.

The "Stimulus Package" ended up being the fastest-selling map pack in XBL history. So much for $15 being too expensive. To everyone who bought it: thank you very much for raising prices.

On that note, DICE has said that they'd like to make all of their map packs free, but it's not really up to them. It's up to EA. Giving away free map packs would be a good way of steering more gamers away from the Call of Duty franchise. I honestly can't imagine anyone liking Modern Warfare 2 better than Bad Company 2 after having played both. Having said that, I really don't want BC2 to be more popular than Mod2. You know how Macs always brag about how they don't get viruses? Well, why do you think that is? Is it because OSX is a more secure operating system, or because Apple hardware is more robust? No, it's because the Mac user-base is exponentially smaller than the PC user-base. It's not even close. Plus, almost all businesses use Windows. So, if you're going to write viruses or spyware, why go after such a small portion of the population? Writing viruses for Macs is a waste of time. By that same reasoning, Modern Warfare 2 is plagued by asshats and glitchers because it's the most popular shooter on the market. Sure, Infinity Ward should have done a beta and that would've caught stupid things like the Model 1887s, but even if they had, there would still be near-constant attacks on their code base. The point of this aside is that I'm worried that if BC2 becomes more popular than Mod2, that all the hackers and idiots will bring all their nonsense to that community and I'll have to go elsewhere once again. I know it's completely selfish and I wish nothing but the best for the guys over at DICE, but if some ridiculous thing like the javelin glitch happens to BC2, it will be a sad day for all of us.

Speaking of free map packs, why not just port some maps from the first Bad Company straight over? The only adjustments you'd have to make--that I can think of--are changing all of the Artillary guns to UAVs, adding UAV spots to each new offense spawn, updating the vehicle spawns, and making certain buildings collapsible. Valley Run was a fantastic map (here's a quick refresher for those who played the first game) and I'd love to see that one come back. I would also love to see Over and Out because defending that last point in the bottom of a bunker was a blast. I loved Harvest Day's farm setting, but I think it'd be too open for BC2. Snipers would just wreak havoc on that map. Oasis was good, but there's no need to bring that back because it's just an inferior version of Arica Harbor. I really liked the enormous cranes that you could snipe from on Deconstruction, but they'd have to alter that map to make the second leg easier for the offense. Getting across that bridge was an exercise in futility. End of the Line involved way too much running/swimming and was so open that you actually saw people too infrequently. Final Ignition had that giant building at the beginning that was way too easy to defend and got frustrating. The last map was Ascension, which was a nightmare for the offense. It was like Nelson Bay, but the offense had to run uphill the whole way, and the entire map was congested with buildings. It might not have been any fun, but it did have a castle at the end which was a cool-ass set piece. That's something that the new game lacks. Leguna Presa really missed an opportunity when it used the dam as just the background. How cool would it be to snipe from/at the top of the dam? I also wish they'd bring back the golf course setting. The campaign of the first game had a level where you infiltrate some rich Russian guy's house, and you have to fight your way through a golf course to get there. When they eventually released the Conquest gametype, they had a golf course level. It was awesome.

I've heard some people grumbling that M14 and G3 don't have available RDSs and 4x scopes. They discussed this on the Battlefield Blog and his reasons make sense, especially with the M14. If you want a powerful semi-auto rifle, use the T88 S.

I wish they'd make it so that if your teammate puts C4 on your UAV and blows it, your UAV should explode. It's pretty cheap that three guys can systematically destroy every MCOM station without ever leaving their spawn. Sure, a good player should always spot a UAV when he sees it, and the team should be able to shoot it before it flies away, but there are newbies who have no idea what's going on, and it's not really fair to them.

Thoughts for Monday 032910

Sorry I haven't been updating much this week, I've been really busy doing nothing. Plus, I had my fantasy baseball draft. Anyway, Joystiq has a PSA you should look at. Ever had trouble defusing a bomb because you kept picking up kits? There's a work-around for that. Speaking of Bad Company 2, what is with that obnoxious horn that goes off when you're about to lose in Conquest? There's no reason for that. In fact, that might be annoying enough to make a certain list.

I'm eagerly anticipating the new Left 4 Dead 2 DLC. The game has 5 campaigns, so you could say you're paying $12 for each. The new DLC is an entire new campaign for $7. Sounds like a bargain to me, especially considering the outrageous price of the "stimulus package." My understanding is that the original cast from the first game makes an appearance as NPCs, which is cool, but it could be way cooler. Left 8 Dead anyone? I guess that title doesn't make as much sense...hmmm, those who are left, ate the dead. Anyway, allowing 8v8 versus would be entirely broken and probably less fun, but it would certainly be interesting and a nice change-o-pace. It would also have the potential for hilarity akin to Slappers Only.

Mass Effect 2's first expansion, which includes a new team member, is also priced at $7. While Activision jacks the prices up, EA is bringing them back down (EA published L4D2, but it does not own Valve like it owns Bioware). I'll definitely be picking this up, as well. I'm not sure when I'm going to find time to play all this while also getting my BFBC2 fix and making my way through FFXIII, but I'm sure as hell gonna try. It'll definitely take priority over Final Fantasy. There are too many good video games these days. I'm still sitting on unfinished copies of Fight Night Round 4, Secret of Monkey Island, Red Alert 3, Burnout Paradise, Beatles: Rock Band, and Call of Duty Classic, and that's just my 360 backlog of games I already own. That's not even including the games I want but have never purchased. I can't imagine what my backlog would look like if I was still trying to keep up with the Wii and DS catalogs. If I ever did buy a PS3, I think it'd cause me more stress than anything else (but God of War III looks soooo cool).

They're making a sequel to Hydro Thunder called Hydro Thunder Hurricane. I might skip this one and just wait for the trilogy to conclude in 10 years with Hydro Thunder Hurricane Tsunami.

Lastly, Penny Arcade had a damn good zinger last week.

--Chilly P

Thoughts for Tuesday 032310

Cute, isn't he? The pic will make sense later.

That Hind on the last leg Isla Inocentes is way too overpowered. I'm not waffling on that anymore. O. Ver. Powered.

I'm also ready to say that the M60 is far and away the best gun in the game. Is it fair that the class with health packs and which usually gets the most points anyway also gets to have the best gun? I'll say "maybe not." Was that last sentence a run-on? Probably.

I'm 10 hours and 45 minutes into Final Fantasy XIII, and the game is still pretty boring. Outside of a few battles, I really feel like I'm just going through the motions more than playing a game. Honestly, the only real "gameplay" to be had is the game of quickly navigating menus. I've read a bunch of reviews now, and whether or not they liked the game, they all say that it starts to pick up around the 10 to 15 hour mark, and that until you get there, the game is basically a tutorial. Seriously? A 10-15 hour tutorial!? Let's put that in some perspective:

• Metroid Prime: 15-20 hours
• Resident Evil 4: 20-25 hours
• Twilight Princess: 30-35 hours
• Mass Effect 2: 18-22 hours
  
• Halo 3: 6-8 hours
• Bad Company 2: 6 hours
• Dante's Inferno: 8-10 hours
• Portal: 2-3 hours
• Final Fantasy XIII's Tutorial: 10-15 hours!

I think you get the point, and that's that most games are done by the time this one has told you how to play it. The game is advertised to be 60 hours long, but that still means that more than a sixth of it is dedicated to introductory play. I'd say the first third of Portal is the tutorial, but Portal actually required a lot of instruction because it was a completely new gameplay experience. FFXIII is just overly complicated and they guide you along way too slowly. I still feel like I'm just waiting for the game to start.

I downloaded Perfect Dark on the XBLA, and I'm not yet ready to make a recommendation. While it's aged better than I thought it would, it still hasn't aged as beautifully as Halo:CE. However, it's actually playable, unlike the the N64 catridge. Have you tried to play Perfect Dark on the N64 recently? You can't. You can't tell what's going on because the resolution is ridiculously fuzzy. Yeah, it was fine back then, but so was not owning a cell phone. The multiplayer isn't as much fun as I remember, but I'm playing with strangers. I think joining up with three friends and maybe even playing a little--dare I say--splitscreen would be more fun. The single-player, on the other hand, is not very nostolgic for me because I never really played it. My overprotective parents didn't let me have M-rated games back in the day, so I only played it at friends' houses. I guess Goldeneye 007 was rated T because I played the crap out of that single-player and even unlocked all the cheats.

Playing through Perfect Dark's single-player is a blast from the past. No regenerating health or shields. No checkpoints. Ambiguous objectives. No indictator of where to go. Over-the-top animations and auto-aim. Wacky and made-up weapons. No scripted events. If you look at the evolution of the FPS, Perfect Dark and Goldeneye are like the monotremes: more advanced than their predecessors, but an evolutionary dead-end. I'll say the former is the platypus and the latter is the echidna because platypi are venomous, and Perfect Dark had that tranq gun.

The First Hour of FFXIII

Wow. I've spent an hour of my life watching cutscenes with excruciating dialogue and pressing the "A" button periodically. Seriously. What the hell is this shit? I'm really hard-pressed to call this a game. Does it still count as gameplay when all you do press the "A" button? Once to select "Auto Attack" and once to attack whichever enemy is already highlighted. That's all I'm doing, and I'm getting 5 star ratings for every battle and finishing them in half the target time. Even when I'm not watching cutscenes--and about 30 minutes of the first hour is cutscenes--I feel like the "combat" is just a damn cutscene. My favorite part was when after watching a 5 minute cutscene, the game was nice enough to let me push forward on the joystick for 5 seconds before I was forced to watch another 5 minute cutscene.

I guess I wouldn't mind so much if the cutscenes didn't suck so much dick. What kind of pussy-ass name is Snow? This guy just talks about how he's a fucking hero and he's so intelligent that he brings his fists to gun fights. Here're my favorite (read: "fucking dumbest") lines so far:
"Real heroes don't have plans!"
"Didn't I tell you? Moms are tough."
That second one comes up about 5 seconds before she dies from a fall that didn't even seem to bruise Snow (who couldn't care less about her death). Oh, and there's also some chick named Lightning (who does have a bitchin' Swiss army sword and rocks a mullet that would make Billy Ray Cyrus jealous) and the kid whose mom wasn't as tough as she thought is named Hope. There's also a black guy with a canary named Chewbacca living in his afro...that dude is cool.

And what the hell is with the clothing? These idiots are trying to fight some oppressive government while making sure they look stylish as hell (this must be the Japanese equivalent to space marines fighting Nazis). What's the best attire for fighting robots with guns? How about wearing nothing but a vest with fur trim or just dressing like a pirate hooker? Snow likes to wear a beige trench coat that magically has a wolf on the back while he's fighting.

Lastly, there's some pigtailed hooker who after watching Hope's mom die (Hope is a boy, mind you) decides that there's no time for grieving, he has to drive a flying F-Zero Arcade cabinet into what I guess is some sort of flying fortress shaped like a crucifix. She also likes to make random sex noises during conversation. Okay, I might be alright with that last part, but she's still a bloody strumpet!

In case you can't tell, this is my first foray into a JRPG that doesn't demand that I "catch 'em all." I was just so pleased with Mass Effect 2 that I thought, "Hey, maybe I should play RPGs more often." I'm not ready to call the game a load of shit just yet, but the outlook is bleak. If the game continues to consist of, "Run straight, enter battle, press 'A' until battle is over, watch cutscene," I will quickly lose patience.

--Chilly P

[Update]: Alright, I'm something around 5 hours into the game and now that there actually seems to be a plot, I'm enjoying the game more. Also, while most battles are still mindless "press 'A' to continue," there are some more difficult battles where you have change up how your entire party approaches the fight on the fly. It's kind of real-time turn-based sort of like Bioware games of old, but really complicated. There's potential there, though. I'm no longer hating it, but it's still ridiculous and strictly linear (so much so that I might as well be on a rail between fights and cutscenes).