A Trip to Vienna (and back) Pt 1

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Note: This is part 1 of a 2 or 3 part series on gaming while on the go.

So I had over 20 hours of waiting, flying and layover time to kill when going to Vienna. On the way back, I'll have at least an extra hour.

First and foremost, do not fly Austrian Air international. I was in economy, near the back, and sitting back in my seat, my knees touched the seat in front of me. The have no order to their boarding, they just do all the rows at once, and worst of all, no personal air controls. I didn't know that was possible on a 767. On the plus side, the food was actually quite good.

So with this long flight in mind, I started looking at portable gaming devices. I mean I have my iPod and it is great, but ultimately with an iPod video, your gaming choices are limited. Not only that, but the games eat the battery.

So, I started my search with the Nintendo DS(i/lite/XL/etc.) Even at Walmart you're looking at $129 before games. Justifying $200+ on a new gaming system to the wife wasn't going to cut it. Besides, the battery life was too short and I couldn't find out if it charged via USB, so I started looking at a PSP.

I figured Sony has a reasonable console, and they extend via the PSP, maybe that's the ticket. What I found shocked me. The PSP with UMD $170. The PSP Go (which would be much cheaper for Sony to make) $250. And again the battery life just didn't stack up. I continued my hunt.

Looking at the iPod touch seemed promising, I could game on it, play music, play videos and finally upgrade this older iPod. But there is the issue that some of my docks, such as the wireless headphones or car integration kit may stop working. Besides, to cover all my music I was looking at a 64 GB device, so $400. Crap, that's even worse and I have to buy the games on top of that. Well, maybe an iPad. $700?!? I forgot they were that expensive.

So @thinkgeek announced a coupon and I went hunting on their site. I came up with two choices as a media solution, the A320 and the GP2X. Both can emulate older game systems, so if you look for the game images you can play older games, but there's a difference in price of ~$80. This appears to be a result of the touch screen and better CPU making the GP2X slightly more expensive. @ $100 I started looking real close at the A320.

At the time, if you read the descriptions it clearly stated the A320 came with a wall charger while the GP2X charged via USB. But the A320 had 8 hrs of battery life (big plus) and I downloaded the manual to see what they said about charging via USB. I was shocked to find out the manual said that the device didn't have a port for power, it always charged via USB. It seemed like too big of an oversight for ThinkGeek, they always make sure to get those kind of specs. So I asked @thinkgeek via twitter. Unfortunately, their A320 guy was out sick, so I just went for it. I bought the device with that hanging question.

Turns out the manual was correct, the device only charges via USB.

So in the two weeks since I got it I've played with it a lot, and then sent it though the ringer yesterday. So let's start with the good:

• 4 GB of internal Storage
• SDHC support via SD Mini (or SD Micro and a penny adapter from Amazon.)
• Supports iPod video out of the box (at least the iPod videos I've made via MythTv, I highly recommend this weekend project to any and all geeks out there.)

The bad:

• USB Charging Implementation
• If the USB connection isn't just power, but includes D+ and D-, the device becomes a light and doesn't allow you to play.
• There is one exception to this I've found. If you plug in after launching an emulator the emulator will keep going without causing any issues.
• If you're not using an emulator, plugging in a USB connection will drop you out of your movie, e-book, etc.
  
• Reset button
• You need to use a paperclip to reset the device (which happens rarely).
  

The device held up well over the trip, and using my laptop's always on USB power port, I never ran out of juice. That said, if I had the right cable, the Air Canada flight could have charged it, there was a USB port on the touch screen entertainment system (for a keyboard) that would have worked perfectly.

I'll be adding scores and such to the last of these reviews.

Thinking Outside The Xbox: Microsoft's Dilemma

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Video games have come a long way since the days of Atari, Super Nintendo, and Sega Dreamcast. Every single aspect of the game experience has been enhanced incredibly with the ushering in of cutting-edge technology and epic artistic achievements. However, everything from the better visuals, to the improved realism and beyond has made the file size of games bigger and bigger! A trend is emerging that can be seen with games like Age of Conan. Being extremely large (between 32 and 50 gigabytes) is what helps these games take hi-definition gaming to the next level. The problem is games like this are well over Xbox 360’s DVD-9 gigabyte capacity. There are limited options for solving Microsoft Xbox 360’s file size dilemma, each with its own set of consequences.

There is no doubt that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has been a part of this advancement. This system was the first home console to support Hi-Definition in their games and also the first to dramatically increase the quality of online connectivity in gaming. However, video games are advancing beyond what the Xbox 360 can handle. Steadily the average file size of a game is growing. Developers have found themselves challenged and limited due to a major design decision Microsoft made building the system. The decision was to use DVD’s as a game medium as the original Xbox and PS2 do. Microsoft in fact had been working to develop a new Hi-Definition Video Disc (a.k.a. HD-DVD) and it was set to go head on against Sony’s Blu Ray Digital Video Disc (a.k.a. BluRay DVD). When Robin Harris’ article “Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD: game over” was written major players Blockbuster, Netflix, and various others were deciding the fate of the so called ‘format wars’ and deciding Blu Ray was the future, not HD-DVD (Zdnet Blogs 2007). This could have been avoided if Microsoft included HD-DVD as the major format for the Xbox 360 both games and movies. We will never know for sure but instead we can look at moving forward and look at their options.

Perhaps the most plausible and most immediate solution that comes to my mind is the hard drive solution. In a blog post on his website, Ryan Brotherton expresses his frustrations with installing an incredibly large game by inserting multiple DVD discs into his PC and waiting for them to copy all of their files to his hard drive (RyanBrotherton.com 2008). Although this is not a very elegant solution, the Xbox 360 COULD possibly support these very same types of huge installs. Currently some games on the Xbox 360 use multiple discs that are played in progression, so you are only playing with one in at a time; however this limits the player to only playing in linear worlds. Installing multiple DVD’s worth of content onto a massive hard drive instead would dramatically increase the size of the world the player is in, therefore also opening up a much more engaging experience.

Another tangible solution to the file size dilemma facing this Next-Generation console is the use of Next-Generation DVD’s, either HD-DVD or Blu Ray. Many people have speculated that the Xbox 360 would obtain a Blu Ray license from Sony and get their own Blu Ray drive; however neither Sony nor Microsoft execs have confirmed this as anything other than a rumor (ShackNews.com 2008). It may never happen. So instead, let us analyze the other option on the table for the Xbox 360. So Microsoft invented HD-DVD, why not start putting 360 games on it? There is an add-on HD-DVD player for sale for the system but is it capable of supporting games? Chris Faylor’s review of the situation indicates that it currently does not (ShackNews.com 2008). However, there is no definitive proof currently available that it is or is not possible for Xbox 360 to play games on HD-DVD format.

My conclusion is that, Microsoft will probably never get Blu Ray. I believe that games will continue to grow in size. The option of using HD-DVD for gaming is unclear and I believe that this should be researched a lot more. The large install option proposes the challenge of getting gamers to buy MORE equipment for their Xbox 360, which makes me think it is an unwise path to follow. The best option for Microsoft right now is to try to revive HD-DVD, even if only to play video games on it.

Written by Jon Ireson 1/18/08


Works Cited

Harris, R. (2007, June 20). Blu Ray vs. HD-DVD: game over. Retrieved January 18, 2009, from: http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=149
Brotherton, R. (2009). Age of Conan - Size Matters. Retrieved January 18, 2009, from: http://www.ryanbrotherton.com/blog/archives/7
Faylor, C. (2008, January 9). Microsoft May Consider Blu Ray Add On Retrieved January 18, 2009, from: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/50664

30 Days and 30 Nights: The Warhawk Rant

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Thanks to Dylan Jobe (President of LightBox Interactive), and Sony, Warhawk got another boost giving all of us core players and people who just got on board a great reason to continue playing this awesome 3 year old game. Holding a 30day tournament 24/7 with official servers and not team or clan bases brackets made this crazy fun grueling environment come to life causing some good effects and of course even more bad ones. Leaving you the player with a true test of your $K!L and dedication while trying to land one of those top 50 spots even if not going for the prize but just the prestige of topping 50,000+entries.

Well after a full 30 calendar days of competition in this Warhawk tourney I felt the need to share my experience. When we started off on the quest to the great champion’s blade it was exciting everything seemed to be on point. Arch enemy clan members working together side by side to achieve the common goal I was in awe of the team work and the unselfish acts that were being displayed on the battlefield. Sadly as expected it didn't last but a week or so till the true colors most of the self proclaimed best players in this great game started to become clear. This being primarily a "CTF" capture the flag tourney for most players seems to turn into more of a "TDM" or "ZNS" and all three modes are going on in this one game at the same time. Sounds insane doesn't it, well it was. There were teams of people concentrating only on a few bases taking them back when the enemy moved on while others were just killing machines never stepping foot on the ground leaving the guys who are attempting to win the game for the team sitting ducks for even just one player to break through and stop the flag.

Well that’s all part of the game and it is expected to a certain degree. However some players seemed to be there only to disrupt the tournament game play and acquire negative points as a joke at the same time causing a multitude of problems for all involved. Here are a few of the scenarios that transpired, and I won't be mentioning any names you know who you are it's good enough for me that you get to read it .Some guys with teams of people 2, 3,or even 4 grabbing the flag carrying it as far as possible and tossing it to the one guy they were working for. All the time not helping the other carriers till they got taken out making sure that he ended up scoring as much as possible. Also same team tactics included letting the carriers die then 15 planes swoop down and try to dig up the flag with no dignity or honor.

Then you have the guys who are on both teams working together for the common goal of cheating not even fighting just standing next to each other moving back and forth why even bother doesn't look fun at all from the videos i have seen, dummies. Also another from the guys on both teams acting like they are playing for the team but just killing the flag carrier and not saving it so the clan member or friend trying to win the competition still has time to pick it up. I am not talking about the guys at the bottom of the list either. Then you’ve always got the loner guy who doesn’t matter whose team he is on he's going to get his. By driving behind you with the jeep till you get out and ambient warfare you scoop the flag from your dead body and run it in. They also tend to stop the carriers vehicle long enough for the other team to kill him then repeat. Follow that up with a bunch off friends that just play for 3 or 4 hours call their buddy give him his password and so on makes it really tough to compete.

In the beginning the atmosphere was great but slowly it got to the point of constant swearing name calling with some people who should be setting an example for the rest to follow are doing the exact opposite and fueling the fire.

After all people are we not trying to preserve our favorite game and improve it welcoming new players and befriending the veterans not hating all downgrading the quality of play for everyone included. Sounds kind of foolish when you think about it yet it still exists and for some it’s the only reason they play (retarded). Anyway the folks over at Sony have assured that they are going over all the stats, videos, their own as well as submitted, with the feeling that its going to take at least a week to take out the trash. "Cheers", unfortunately you know as well as I most will slip through the cracks being that there are so many of them. So this in mind I have a few ideas I think would limit the amount of cheating virtually making it impossible to bank so many unjust points and get rewarded while others work at it with good intentions and get swept aside.

To start I know it is way more work but only put the servers up in each time zone for X amount of hours limit the certain groups that thrive in empty servers with no competition or enemies for that matter. This will most certainly make the best players stand out with limited time to score points daily the servers will remain full for the duration of that time zone. Also it will make said servers easier to patrol for the moderators which should be overhauled at this point anyhow, great idea but just isn't working properly. 50,000 + people only 50 get the championship blade and a shirt for home which is great. What about the other 49,950 nothing this will not bring out the most people only the same people that you already have do the math. Something small, penny cost even, will double the roster along with strong advertisement in the right places and don't worry am talking $00 cost. In the end this game will begin to thrive again with all the new players ranking up telling their friends how great it is bringing a whole new group of sales for the lets say "Shh" new game in the works Oh yeah!

In conclusion the various forms of cheating coupled with the rude and ignorant comments affected the game play for the entire community .Some small changes could fix many headaches closing the gap on those who choose to take the low road improving the level of play reviving the disappointed players ushering in a whole new era.
All in all the tournament was a good could have been great with lets just say a little more...

Here is what the standings were looking like when we last saw them before they began to take out the trash:

Just Cause 2: Review

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ORIGINALLY POSTED HERE

JUST CAUSE 2 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC; M for Mature; $50-$60) is a third person shooter/sandbox game. You play Rico Rodriguez, a agent who has been contracted to kill an American agent named Tom Sheldon who stole top secret information and millions of dollars. He went dark while operating in Panau, a corrupt nation off the coast of Africa. To get the information you need about Sheldon , you go to work for 3 different gangs who are fighting against the oppressing government. In return they agree to keep you in the loop.



The game starts out with a series of 3 missions that set up the story line. After that, you are launched into free-play mode where your only goal is to cause chaos by destroying government property. Based on the chaos points you have earned, you unlock new missions. Missions include Stronghold Takeovers (where you claim new property from the government) Agency Missions (where you learn more about the man you are hunting) and Faction Missions (where you help the gangs revolt against the government).

The first thing I want to talk about is the map. The developers claim that it is over 400 sq. miles! You can find busy cities, green jungles, wide-open deserts, and snow-capped peaks. In total there are 386 locations, including military bases, small villages, and everything in between. At every location, there is government property to destroy, as well as items that you can pick up to unlock new items in the black market. Here is a video I shot giving a quick tour of the country:



With so much to explore, you are in need of transportation. But where ever you are, there is always a road nearby where you can hijack a car, truck or motorcycle. You could also grab a plane from a military airstrip or the Panau International Airport. But Just Cause 2 brings a new style to getting around. Rico always carries around a reloadable grappling hook and parachute. This allows you to perform a number of maneuvers. After jumping from a high surface, your character begins to "skydive". You can then open the parachute and coast safely to the ground. To reach something around you, just point and shoot the grappling hook. After it attaches, you are automatically drawn in. To get airborne, just open the parachute while being towed by the grappling hook. It also features the "duel hook" that allows you to attach to object together. Attach an enemy to a truck. Swing a car from a helicopter. Bolt a tank to the ground.




The controls are fairly good. Not the best I've ever seen, but far from the worst. It takes a while to get them down (and get a feel for the grappling hook). When I first started playing, I found switching weapons was a little difficult, but after a few hours it started to make sense.

The one thing I was disappointed in was the driving simulation. The cars seem very loose and will spin out at just a tap of the analog stick. It makes driving on a twisty road or running at high speeds from the cops fairly difficult.



Graphics are pretty good and operate in 720p. And while it's no Uncharted 2, it's enough to be able to enjoy, but not so much where it takes forever to load. There is not much image tearing, and the shadowing is accurate and precise. After looking at screenshots from both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, I have to say they looked almost identical. VideoGameZone did a side-by-side here.

The PlayStation 3 version allows you to record your gameplay and export it to your videos or upload it directly to YouTube from the game in 420p. The problem is you can't set a video description or add tag and it uploads the video as private.

The story line is decent, but I won't ruin it for you ;) . I will say that the voice acting is BAD.

Demos usually don't sell me on games, but I picked up Just Cause 2 after about 3 hours of the demo. It puts you on a 36 sq. mi. plot in the desert as well as a 30 min. time limit. Only the free-play mode is open, and you can drive and explore several military bases and villages.

The biggest problem I have come across is a horrible glitch where all civilians and civilian vehicles disappear. The only way to fix it is to start a new game. It has been reported widespread on both the PlayStation and Xbox (I couldn't find a PC claim, but I'd be willing to bet that this is simply because of the lower population of PC JC2 gamers compared to actual game consoles). When I contacted SQUARE ENIX about the problem they said that they "didn't have a customer service available for Just Cause 2." There is no word on a patch, and even with a patch, you may have to start a new game to be able to see civilians again. I'd also like to point out that I didn't receive an e-mail from them after submitting a ticket (like they promised) and their phone number is not listed on their website or the game case/manual.

Overall, it's a great game and earns an 89/100. I would highly recommend this game.

ORIGINALLY POSTED HERE

It Only Does...

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Sony has been making a big deal with their "It only does everything campaign". Today I want to examine some of the PS3 won't do. So not only does it not do everything, it does less today than last week, last year, and since launch.

• PS2 - Nope. First there was full hardware based backwards compatibility. Sony removed that and said, well most games will play using software based backwards compatibility. Then Sony removed that feature. WTF? I mean they have the software, yes they would have to maintain it and fix bugs, but don't they have to do that anyways with the PS1 games they support via PSN?
• SACD - Think of this as a CD in DVD form to get much higher quality. Adoption is low, so Sony just killed PS3 support for it.
• Other OS - The most recent change to date.

Here's the thing. With the first change, backwards compatibility, consumers were informed that this feature was not present. In fact, I have a launch 60 GB for this reason. As for the other two, taking away features that a console had, this seems just plain wrong.

Sony sites security concerns. This is using fear, uncertainty and doubt to have consumers just accept the change. It is crap. The console has been hacked. You cannot undo that. It only took over 3 years to do it and hardware modification. I hear people say, well it is about pirated game. Bull.

The BluRay disc it self could be copied, why not disable the BluRay drives? Furthermore, someone could download a hack, so why not pull the web browser as well. Oh and what if someone finds an open port they can exploit, should Sony remove WiFi and Ethernet support?

I'm pissed off. I was hoping this was simply an Aprils Fools joke. Looks like I'm a fool for believing Sony wouldn't renege on their promises. They held out all of 222 days after having a rep say that. Now I know reps can be miss informed, but I would have expected a retraction much earlier.

Telling me, I can either use Other OS or play BluRay but not both is simply not acceptable.

Especially when your tag line is, "It only does everything."

Warhawk Tournament

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Earlier today, Dylan Jobe, president of Lightbox Interactive (and former member of Incognito Entertainment, developers of Warhawk), announced a new tournament on the PlayStation Blog.

In Dylan's post he said "Many of us here in the States have been spending way too much time staring at our brackets so we’re opting not to do a traditional 'bracketed' tournament based on teams or clans. Instead, we’re going to make this competition more accommodating of the individual player by hosting special Capture the Flag Servers that players can join and play on. These servers will have their stats tracked separately for the duration of the competition, specifically Points earned ...  [and] the top 50 players that have earned the most Points on these designated servers will win the competition."

Now, this tournament is obviously designed to get players to return to Warhawk, so that the announcement of Dylan's next project (unofficially named 'Starhawk') will reach more people. 

But so far it doesn't appear to be working.

Many people are disappointed. Several years ago the Global Gaming League hosted an Official tournament, and everyone on the winning team was rewarded with a "champions blade."

This competition will end much the same. The winners will receive a champions blade (exactly like the 2007 GGL one) ManlyMisfit, a Warhawk General who has been playing for some time, said "Umm… I already have a champions blade… This 'tournament' is a good idea. But you SHOULD NOT give out the champions blade again. Simply because the majority of people WITH a champions blade would come back to warhawk IF the prize was worth it."

Another user, chemicalgroom, voiced his opinion, saying "Count me among the disappointed. It’s a team-based game; having a tournament that rewards individuals with the most points on an aggregate basis simply encourages video-game addicted lunatics to do whatever they can to steal kills and flag captures from teammates." Then he continues " Your no.1 player will be a well-known racist and homophobe who plays 24/7 and exploits a known glitch that you never fixed. Will you have your picture taken with him, Dylan?"

What really needs to be with this game is a patch. This game is full of glitches, and if fixed, many players would race back. Dylan has claimed in the past that Sony is in control of whether they can release a patch, and that they have denied them several times.

To me, this tournament seems to be a poorly constructed advertising technique that rewards players that live in their mother's basement and cheat  play for 20+ hours a day.


Originally posted at http://sonic42blog.blogspot.com/2010/03/warhawk-tournament.html

Game Review - Battlefield Bad Company 2 - 2nd Review and Tips

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So I've been playing Battlefield Bad Company 2. I've spent more than 24 hours online and started though the single player mode.

This is a long post and covers lots of different aspects. In an effort to combat the simple tl;dr, this post is split up into several different sections, so here's the TOC:
Multi-player Review - The Bad
Multi-player Review - The Good
Multi-player Review - Overall
Multi-player Tips
Single Player Review - The Bad
Single Player Review - The Good
Single Player Review - Overall

Multi-player Review:

The Bad

In less than 24 hours of online play I've unlocked all the vehicle and recon upgrades, which is sad. While it encourages play in other classes, those other classes start off pretty bad. Take for example the medic: you start out with a light machine gun and a pistol. Add in a grenade and knife you're good to go. Except, you're a medic, how do you heal someone without a med kit?

Once you actually unlock the med kit, advancing in the medic class is easier, but it is just a little weird. What would have been better is to start everyone off as assault and then unlock classes. X number of long range hits, you unlock the sniper class. Y number of savior kills (killing an enemy who's shooting at a team member) you can be a medic. Z number of blown up vehicles, you should be a grease monkey. This would have made a lot more sense then a medic who can't heal.

While it is unlikely that a game developer will be reading this post, I still want to put out this proposal, if you're going to have to unlock weapons, Why not unlocking classes as well based on performance? Help guide the player to where they can do the most good for their team.

Also, from time to time I'll encounter a glitch or two, such as I had a reverse repair gun for a while yesterday. I couldn't repair an empty tank, but I should as hell could tear it apart.

The Good

Despite my previous reservations with the game, as it turns out the multiplayer isn't a knocked out in a weekend. It really takes some skill and practice to get good. While sometimes your team just steamrolls the competition, more often than not the battles are well balanced. I mean my best game to date is one where as defenders, we lost.

I also learned something, you can get a road kill with the UAV. That was a learning experience.

Overall

The multi-player aspect has some real replay value. It may seem easy, but there's some real effort needed to become a well rounded player in game. When you start getting good with one class there's another to try.

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Tips

First, I cannot stress enough using the select button to highlight enemies. Especially as a recon, that is your job. Spotting enemies gets you points when they are killed as well as gives your team a chance to react. Don't be a douche and try to get the kill without spotting, spot first then shoot.

Stay with your vehicle. Until it blows up. Not kidding about this one as well. I can't count the number of times I've seen a tank run up the enemy base, and then everyone jumps out since it is damaged. Why not put a bow on the gift at that point? 1 engineer with a repair gun and you've just handed the enemy team a shiny new tank.

While we're talking about vehicles, take them when they spawn. If you leave a vehicle at your spawn, the enemy will take it if you don't.

Get behind the enemy force. Especially important for recon, with expanded ammo packs. A single recon behind enemy lines can cause havoc.

Spawn on your team mate behind enemy lines.

Give the recon some ammo. 2 "motion mines" isn't a lot. The can be the difference between win and lose in a close game. Spawn on your snipers and drop off a crate.

Oh and about spawning on snipers, if you spawn on a sniper who's in a nest, get away. You're drawing attention to them and going to get them killed.

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Single Player Mode

The Bad

My biggest complaint so far with multiplayer mode is the trigger based story line. For example there's a scene where you have two guard towers and 3 guys standing around. The game instructions is to jump down follow the river and take the towers and such out from the side. That seemed like a piss poor idea to me, so I took out both towers with single shots and then the 3 guys on the ground. Quick, so there wasn't anything to worry about.

There's no movement, nothing. As soon as I hit the river, people start spawning out the banks. WTF? Even if I took everyone out, why weren't they camped out down there? I much prefer an Uncharted like approach to the baddies, it allows me to choose the style of combat rather than have it forced upon me. Is that really too much to ask?

Additionally, there's some glitches in the dialog from time to time. These same glitches appear to affect multi-player as well.

Finally, I keep trying to spot people in the single player mode. Yeah, that doesn't work so well. I use spotting in multi-player all the time and having it in single player would certainly help in identifying enemies.

The Good

The game play is smooth and the story line is interesting. It's fun and shouldn't be too bad to complete on any level of play. It also appears to be reasonably long, could be knocked out in a weekend.

Overall

Despite the glitches and slightly different controls, the single player is fun and interesting. Worth playing though once at the very least.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 - First Impressions

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I have a headache this morning. That headache is left over from last night.

That headache is from too much BFBC2. Now let me say I've played through the first couple missions of the single player mode, so this will focus mainly on the multi-player mode.

And really, the online play is what drove me to buy this game. First let me say the demo and the game are different beasts. The medic doesn't start with a defibrillator or medpack. The engineer can't repair anything. The infantry can't restock anyone. At least not until you unlock those items for each class. This is not like the demo at all.

Also, it seems the point values are too low. 34,000 points to get the ultimate sniper rifle? In just a couple of hours I had 7,000 points. Within a few days it should be possible to unlock the sniper completely. A far cry from the determination that games like Warhawk demand to make general.

That said, the game controls are tight and it is a lot of fun. I played on my own some, then with an online friend, and meant to quit. I didn't and played for a while longer on my own again. I have the 15 sets of dog tags to prove it too.

I love the dog tags, great to know who fell into your knife range. To my victims, well enjoy the respawn screen.

The game play was enjoyable, but in looking at the leader board, more than a few game shops must have broken the embargo. As of 10 PM PST last night one of the top players had 36 hours in game. To do that, there has to be at least enough players to start a game so WTF? I would expect the game developers to reset the stats just at release time. How does one spend 36 hours online playing with multiple other people when the game was released less than 24 hours before?

Oh and, there's this note inside the box that early adopters (before April 1st, 2010) who buy the game will get two free maps on the first day and free access to maps later on. At first I thought this meant I had to go to the online "store" in the game to get these updates. Turns out I didn't have to download a thing, they are already included.

On my wish list, I would put a training or play alone mode to get used to things like the helicopters and such. I haven't figured out a way to do this yet. Also, if there were more specialty items (such as the repair wrench) per class, that would be awesome.

So bottom line, is the game worth the money? Yes, if you don't let the leader board thing bother you.

As for single player mode, I've still got to play that. The online game is just too much fun.

24 Hrs Without PSN

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So by the comments you'd think Sony sent a representative to kill someone's grandmother.

"I hope Sony gets sued to absolute oblivion over this."

- slashdot.org (salty language, beware)

Really? Good ol' American entitlement there. Yes, some games were not playable for almost 24 hours. Oh the horror. You might have to talk with your parents or see the sun. And you should have seen how upset people were getting that they might be missing a trophy or two.

"I don’t even care if they offered me a slim to replace my old one. I want my trophies back and thats[sic] all I care about.
Far as I’m concerened[sic]: if they can’t get me my trophies back they’ve lost a customer for life, and I’m taking as many people with me as possible. It’s harsh, but I’m speaking the truth."

- psblog

Am I the only one who feels this is a slight over reaction? Being the first product to ever show a bug like this, I'm sure no one has ever had to cope in the past. Some people resorted to removing the internal battery, something I strongly recommend against.

The spectacle was fun to watch as I worked through the day. And then, the problem day passes and everyone is happy again, well almost.

Now I'll say, this is an inexcusable error by the PlayStation team, and this will definitely be a learning experience. Just think about the online sales? No PSN means no store. That said, the fan reactions are just as inexcusable. 24 hours without one game console. If that represents a life changing event, you probably should seek help.

The Ctrl-Alt-Delete comic is reproduced with permission from the author.

Is Your PS3 Borked Too?

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So, not playing too much PS3 right now. Like a vast majority, I'm getting an error on log in.

Since this appears to be related to internal time tracking and leap years, I'm going to diverge a little bit and discuss the strangeness of our calendar.

For example, everyone knows that every 4 years is a leap year. This is a LIE. In truth, the rule is more complex but not too much more. Here's how the rules work.

• If the year is evenly divisible by 400, it is a leap year
• If the year is evenly divisible by 100, it is not a leap year
• If the year is evenly divisible by 4, it is a leap year.
• It isn't a leap year.

Now I know the math inclined are going, but wait a minute, 400 is evenly divisible by 100, and 100 is evenly divisible by 4. Yes, that's true, but the first match wins of the rules.

Yes, this means that 2100 will not be a leap year. Look it up for your self, if you don't believe me.

So what the heck does this have to do with the PS3 issue? Well without trying to excuse Sony for this bug, I'm trying to show the day/time rules we live by are a little, well, insane.

It does seem likely that this is a leap year bug. Understandable? Yes, given the date/time rules we have, but excusable? Not on your life.

This is one of the specific cases that should be tested for. And while some people claim, "this is the first even non-leap year since the launch" well that's true. The launch was on November 11, 2006. If you're trying to say that Sony wasn't testing the hardware February of 2006, you're just plain nuts. I guess it is just a game of wait and see right now.

Reality. Worst game ever.