I’d like to start off by saying I really like this game.  It will spend many hours spinning within my 360.  But I just have this little invisible devil tugging at my sleeve.  He’s just chuckling and suggesting that I might have been had.

 Yes, the graphics are better.  And yes, some features like the PEC XP ranking system have been modified.  I like these changes.  The T-hunt is also a lot more fun in Vegas 2. I like all of the new maps as well. But let’s face it.  To me this game just feels like a few tweaks have been made to the original Vegas.  It seems like it should have been an “add-on” to Vegas 1.

I might feel differently if there were a few more changes in Vegas 2.  Highest on my list is the cover system.  While this system is good it does need a little help.  Because you have the third person perspective while in this mode you have the ability to “see” too much.  If you are hiding behind something and you can see a baddie then he should be able to see you.  This is not always the case.  I know this is an old gripe so I won’t beat it to death.  But that is precisely why this issue should have been addressed. It’s an old gripe held by many faithful Rainbow Six players.

Does anyone remember the problem with Vegas 1 where a player was killed and his machine gun would continue firing for a lengthy period of time?  Well guess what…  It’s back.  And I think it’s actually worse.  I played a T-hunt round with some pals.  Upon the death of a team mate or terrorist (I don’t know which it was) his machine gun continued to fire.  For the rest of the match.  And into the lobby between games.  And then finally…. about one minute into a NEW GAME it stopped.  What’s with that?  It’s annoying as hell.  Hey Ubi….  If you’re not going to get creative or give us something more original you could at least fix the few flaws the first game had.

 One last thing I would like to mention is the bug with the achievement for the PFC rank.  As most everyone knows by now, Vegas 1 players were given a small amount of rank to start Vegas 2.  But they did not get the achievement for PFC.  Ubi knew about this before the release.  They chose not to fix it.  They opted to fix it via a patch at a later time.  I would agree that this may seem like a small issue.  And maybe it is.  But, for once, I’d like to buy a game that is actually finished upon release.  Something like this should have been so easy to find and fix before the game went gold.  But…  it wasn’t.

How could Ubi make me feel better about all of this?  Two things come to mind.  First, fix the bugs I have outlined in this post.  Get a decent patch together.  And second, give us some free maps.  I think we deserve them after spending $60 on Rainbow Six Vegas 1.1.  As stated above, I like this game and will play it a lot.  But it was not worth $60.  There’s not enough new material to warrant that price.  And we’re still living with the same bugs that were never fixed in version1.

 It’s funny.  The longer I sit here and type this the more ripped off I feel…lol  So I guess I will close and go play some Vegas 2!

Edit  4-4-2008:  2 Days ago I finished the story mode on realistic difficulty.  I didn’t get the achievement.  That’s 75 big ones!  What the hell?

First off, I love the XNA framework goal and implementation.  A lot of people do not understand how it really works.  I have heard people complaining that Microsoft will not pay it enough attention or will be slow to certify games.  What these people do not realize is that Microsoft is not supposed to be a part of the process.  It is a community-driven process, similar to the <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Community_Process”>JCP</a>.

The JCP has been in process for 10 years now, and has been arguably successful.  It allows the community to give feedback and shape the direction of the Java programming language.  In the JCP you generally have large companies such as Oracle, or Red Hat participating.  In the XNA process it will be regular people like me that our XNA enthusiasts.  I am not involved in this  process, nor am I an expert XNA programmer.  While I hope, in my infinite spare time, to be able to better my understanding of the XNA framework and game programming in general.  I expect I may never reach the level that is required to become a member of the XNA approval process.

What does all this XNA stuff mean to you the casual gamer?  Quite frankly, not much.  Except to know that Microsoft is handing over the reigns for the community to produce content for the XBox.  This is a welcome change and something that has never been seen in the console gaming world before.  Another important thing to note is the cost, XNA Game Studio Express is completely free.  However, to test and run on your XBox will cost you $99 / year (compare to ~$1700k for Nintendo’s SDK).

What is Microsoft trying to get out of this?  Quite simply, a devoted community will be creating content for which they will take 65% of the sales and never have to pay out a cent. There are overhead costs of developing and maintaining the service.  More importantly for Microsoft I think this is an attempt to combat piracy.

Recently I have been debating on buying the R4DS chip for my Nintendo DS.  I wanted to play a neat little homebrew game that I have seen called Pocket Physics for the Nintendo DS.  Normally I wouldn’t bother with pirating and modding my systems, but, if I had a legitimate reason to put a chip in my DS, the temptation to acquire every single game made for the DS for free would be too much to resist.  Do you see where I am going with this?  Microsoft has taken away our moral excuse to mod our XBox.

Being relatively new to the PS3′s owners club I had never downloaded a demo from PSN.  Until this morning.  With all the baseball talk on the forums lately I was reminded how much I wanted to play a baseball game I actually liked.  To be accurate, the last game I played was an 06 version on the 360.  I love baseball but this game just didn’t do it for me.  It was more of the same only this time it was on a next gen console.  A lot of the forum talk centered about MLB 2K8.  Based on this talk I began to think this game wouldn’t be for me either.  So I went to PSN and got The Show Demo.

I think that one big reason I’ve had trouble enjoying baseball video games is that I’ve always had trouble batting.  It seemed as though most incoming pitches looked good to me.  Then came my swing…..  and a miss.  All too often the pitch that just sailed by me was received by the catcher’s mitt over my head or in the dirt.  Maybe it’s me.  Maybe I just stink at these games.  But after playing The Show for a short time I think I was able to discern balls and strikes a little bit better.  I’m not saying I didn’t swing at a few bad pitches.  I did.  But not nearly as many as in other games.  I even managed to bat as David Ortiz and deposit a ball in the right field seats.  It was very cool.  After the Ortiz solo shot Manny stepped into the box.  And something happened that I’ve never seen in a baseball video game.  The crowd was still going bananas over the Ortiz homer.  His homerun got the crowd into the game and they stayed that way until Manny ripped a 2-2 pitch.  He smoked a liner over the pitcher’s head to center field for single.  And then the inevitable happened.  I struck out to end the inning!  It had to happen sooner or later…

In the field I managed to do just fine in one inning.  I caught two fly balls in the outfield.  One of them was a close call.  Pitching as Josh Beckett I floated a tasty change up to Matt Holladay over the middle of plate. Big mistake.  He wasted no time in blasting it deep to dead center field.  Controlling Jacoby Ellsbury I had a long run to get to this ball but managed to reel it in just in front of the wall.  The third out in my one inning in the field came as a routine grounder to third base.  The batter was easily thrown out at first base.

I’m not entirely sure how the pitching works yet.  So, rather than guess at it I’ll just say there is more to come on that subject.  But I did manage to throw strikes and work the corners a little bit.  Changing speeds is one thing I need to learn more about. 

The show just looks great too.  I very much liked the way it looked on 52 inches of HD screen. This is the first baseball game that gave me some sort of feeling that I was actually at a ball park and participating in a game.   I only had time to play one inning but will be playing more soon.  In that one inning I was very impressed.  The game play seemed easy enough to learn and I think the play by play and commentating actually added to the game instead of annoying me.  I know I haven’t played very long but this game just felt good.  It’s possible that after a few games my impressions could change.  But first impressions do go a long way. 

Admittedly, I haven’t played this game nearly enough to render a proper review.  So please don’t consider buying it based on my first impressions.  But I would urge any baseball loving PS3 owner to get the demo.  I intend to play around a bit more with this demo.  And then I fully expect that I will purchase this game.  Look for an update to this article in the next month.  It will be interesting to see if my first impressions will stand the test of further game play.

After using the new, utterly useless ‘quick mute’ feature in Call of Duty 4 I began to wonder, “Infinity Ward, why did you tease us so?”. After thinking through the issue, I decided that the reason is simple. The mute feature is not truly integrated with the dashboard. This doesn’t explain why the settings can not be carried over from match to match, but it got me thinking. Is Microsoft withholding API features from 3rd party developers?

I remember the first time that I played Halo 3; when I went to someone’s profile while playing, a few menu items appeared. I think they are Halo 3 Service Record, Halo 3 File Share, and perhaps another. I don’t know if anyone else notices details like this, but being a programmer I got excited. This feature is not as simple as it may seem. This had to be accomplished through a dashboard update. What I wonder is why aren’t other people using it. Currently, the only way I can see someone’s rank in Call of Duty 4 is to go to the leaderboard, and then they have to be my friend. Why didn’t Infinity Ward, put a little dashboard integrated stats feature in there? In other games it is worse. How about Rainbow Six: Vegas? The only way I can see someone’s rank is by being in the lobby with them.

I know that there could be other reasons NOONE has used this feature. It might be difficult to do, time consuming, or maybe developers have not found a good use for it. Admittedly, there would be some cross platform compatibility issues, but nothing more than the controllers, and XBL cause. I doubt these are the reasons that it has not been done by anyone else. I think MS has not given 3rd party developers access to these API components. Why would they do this? I don’t know, maybe to make Halo 3 stand out a little more? It could also be a security issue or something. It seems to me that someone else would use the features.

I am surprised I have not heard anyone say anything about this. I guess most people don’t really notice the added Halo menu. Maybe people don’t care. I, for one, would love to see more games making use of this feature.

Not long after I got my first PC in 1990 I discovered PC gaming. It was a used Packard Bell 286. And I didn’t even want a computer at that time.  But I had a wife who did. As it turned out she never got to use it.   One of my initial interests in the PC gaming arena was the flight sim.  I do not recall the very first ones that I played but I do know I was hooked.  I had an F-14 sim that was great.  The Falcon series was awesome.  The time I spent playing an F-15 Strike Eagle sim is incalculable.  The common thread in all of these was the level of control that the player had.  The complexity and attention to detail made these sims my favorite games to play.  It seemed every key on the keyboard had a unique function.  It took a long time to gain a good working knowledge of these sims as the learning curve was very steep.  And that’s what I liked about them.

A time in my life then came where I could no longer afford getting every new sim.  It seemed that whenever a new sim hit the shelves it came with new hardware demands.  I couldn’t afford a new graphics card every 6 or 8 months to accommodate the demands of every hot new title that came out.  Needless to say, I slowly stopped playing the flight sims.  Life happened.  Kids came along and work demands increased.  Home ownership and maintenance also helped to curb my gaming.

So now I have arrived at a time in my life where I am beginning to get more time for gaming.  This time around I have elected to do it on gaming consoles.  I have the 360 and a PS3.  It’s been almost 2 years since my gaming has resumed and until now I have stayed away from console flight games. I won’t call them sims because they aren’t. A couple weeks ago I bit the bullet and bought a used copy of Over G Fighters on the cheap.  I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied but I just really wanted to have a dog fight or two and bomb some stuff.  So I did.  And I was right.  I’m not satisfied.  But I must say also that I am enjoying the game.  The story and the voice acting are some of the worst I’ve seen.  But the gameplay is not as bad as I thought it would be.  I’ll probably play through to the end on this game.  Even if it is more arcade than sim.

 As I played through a few of the missions in Over G Fighters I began wondering why we don’t have  more realistic flight sims for our next gen consoles.  The graphic processing power must surely be there now.  This was always a problem on the PC, hence the need to continually upgrade the graphics card.  Just take a look at the some of the visually stunning games now available for the 360 and PS3.  And they move along at some pretty respectable frame rates.  In my estimation the hardware is good enough to run a quality flight sim on our current generation of consoles.

Another stumbling block to making realistic flight sims for the 360 and PS3 is the issue of control.  There are so many aircraft controls and only so many buttons on the controllers.  On the PC this was not an issue because keys on the keyboard were assigned different functions. Well guess what…  The 360 has the Messenger Kit.  A keyboard that fits on the controller.  I began to wonder why this couldn’t be used to control games.  Like flight sims.  The PS3, I’m told, will allow the use of a USB keyboard.  If this is the case it would seem that we now have the means to accommodate the many controls and functions needed for a highly realistic flight sim.

The next logical question is to ask why we don’t have a realistic and highly complicated flight sim for next gen gamers.  Personally, I think the answer is simple.  Consoles always have gotten the arcade flight games while, historically, the hardcore, realistic, and very complex sims have been reserved for the PC.  It was that way in the past because the PCs had the requisite computing power and an adequate means of control with the keyboard.  It sure seems to me that consoles have caught up to the PC in these two areas.  But there is no talk that I have seen about a first rate flight sim for the consoles.  I think it is because that not enough gamers are asking for it.  And maybe the gaming industry is just stuck in the mindset that sims are for the PC and arcade flight games are for the console.  I think that at some point a developer will take the chance and make a quality sim for us.  If it is done right I think it could be huge.  There could be many gamers who have never played a good flight sim that would give it a go.  And like me, so many years ago, will be instantly hooked.  I am not optimistic this will happen anytime soon.  All of us may own an Xbox 720 or 900 before we see it.  I hope I’m wrong.  I’m not getting any younger!

EA recently extended it’s exclusivity rights deal with the NFL through 2013. As expected, this drew an audible groan from many video gaming enthusiasts. As a result of their success, EA is experiencing some negativity from the community. Many people think it is unfair that EA is the only company that can produce NFL games. You likely haven’t heard much about Take Two’s exclusivity deal with MLB, which runs until 2012 (it applies to 3rd party developers only, Nintendo could make an MLB game). Like it or not these deals, while despised by the community, are probably here to stay.

The NFL actively sought an exclusivity deal with EA because of their reputation for making a quality product. The NFL does not want to see their brand tarnished by cheap inferior video games, so they pursued an exclusivity deal. Since the Madden franchise is one of the top selling games every year, EA was the natural choice for this deal.

According to vgchartz.com, as of this writing, Madden NFL 08 has sold about 6.25 million copies. Compare this with the blockbuster hit, Call of Duty 4 at 7.4 million, or Halo 3 at 7.1 million and you will see it is in very good company. Keep in mind, this game comes out EVERY year, Call of Duty 4 and Halo do not. However, Madden sales seem to be a bit down from last year (8.7 million), so maybe people are finally getting tired of it. Though there is a long way to go for it to be anywhere near the closest competitor, All Pro Football at 250,000 copies.

So, like it or not, exclusivity deals and EA are likely to be around forever. In fact, EA has recently attempted a takeover of Take Two Interactive, which, would make them the sole producer of NFL and MLB products. If this is bad news to you, vote with your money and quit buying their products. As for me, I will be patiently waiting for the next MVP Baseball, with a smile on my face.

When Infinity Ward announced on Friday that their recent Call of Duty 4 patch had passed certification, I thought this was just what I needed to re-excite me until the next big title release, which happens to be later this month.  We all know what had been promised:  new kill cams, host migration, improved hit recognition, the upgraded spectator cam, a few more spawn points, some error fixes, network optimization fixes and most importantly, the quick mute option.  As soon as I got the chance, I logged on to see what was new.  My first impression was everything that I had hoped for had been delivered, although I was a little confused when I couldn’t figure out how to “quickly mute” the douchetrough^TM (in honor of Adrian’s recent post) in the pre-game lobby.  However, all confusion was forgotten when the first sniper shot I fired from across the map was a perfect headshot.  Anyone who has played with me much knows that the sniper accuracy problem was one of my big gripes.  While I think the accuracy fix is great, the rest of the patch just leaves me unfulfilled and wanting more.  We’ll start with the good and work through the poorly done and meaningless “upgrades”.

The Good: Improved Hit Recognition
I was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) when Infinity Ward admitted that something just wasn’t right with the accuracy of the sniper rifles or the ACOG scope.  They even referred it as the “WTF shots”, which makes me believe that their developers must have previously been on one of my teams.  It’s not everyday when a game company admits that something like that is flawed in one of their games.  After sniping as much as possible since the release, I must say…well done.  Unfortunately, that is where the praise stops.

The Poorly Done:  “The Quick Mute” and Host Migration
As much as I coveted the sniper fix, the quick mute feature was what I really excited about.  I was so tired of cycling through blades trying to find the “mute all but friends” option or having to scroll down hundreds of gamer cards to get to the mute setting.  On a side note, I have really flip flopped on the “mute all but friends” option because I enjoy meeting the occasional, pleasant random that eventually get promoted to the friends list.  After all, that is the old fashioned way of making friends on XBOX live.  The ability to toggle a mute option on a specific player directly in game is one of the top 10 best ideas since online gaming was invented.  It is a perfect way for people like me, with a low stupid tolerance, to sort through the annoying people and still have an enjoyable experience.  I have two problems with the “quick mute” as released by Infinity Ward.  First, you can’t mute people in the pre-game lobby.  This makes no sense to me whatsoever.  In my opinion, the pre-game lobby is what needs the “quick mute” option the most.  Typically the game play distracts the overly annoying people from being overly annoying.  Second, you have to re-mute after every game.  If I decide that I don’t want to hear a specific random be annoying, I make that decision for all time… not just a 10 minute match.  It is almost as annoying to re-mute them as it is to just listen to them, especially since I just listened to them for a good 90 seconds in the pre-game lobby.  UGH!  I am getting frustrated just thinking about it.

The other “close, but no cigar” fix is the Host Migration.  Part of my disappointment with this fix may stem from my initial lack of understanding of what it is intended to do.  I thought this would allow people in a game to continue playing when a host times out or leaves abruptly.  It would just pause the game play, find the next best host, and continue.  You can probably just imagine the first time post-patch that I was kicked from a game because the host left.  Apparently the patch is just supposed to keep your party together when the game is ended.  Now when you are kicked, you can complain to your friends instead of complaining to nobody.  Thank God, because sending 5 game invitations is gruesome… way worse than getting booted from a game you are about to win… /sarcasm.

The Meaningless:  Everything Else
Yeah, that’s right…Everything else.  I could personally care less as to what it looks like when a grenade is thrown from across the map or what an air strike looks like from a bomb’s point-of-view.  95% of the time, I am frantically pushing the X button to get back in there and avenge myself.  Kill Cams and Spectator Cams add nothing to the game for me.  Get me options like a “no explosives” setting or some other game types.  That is what I look for in a patch, not different viewing angles and adding your logo to every load screen.

In closing, I appreciate Infinity Ward’s continued support of their product, but anything that’s worth doing should be done right.  Especially with developers intensely involved with a game as theirs are.  They even have their own forum with thousands of user suggestions… some good… and some from doucheboxes^TM. ( sorry, couldn’t help myself!)  For me personally, I just don’t think that the recent patch is going to keep me energized for some more Call of Duty 4 action while I wait for the next major title to be released.

Thanks to Nooga for creating the site and allowing me to contribute, thanks to the other contributors for setting the bar so low (just kidding), and thanks to random gamer, me shooting you, for that first post-patch headshot opportunity.