Thoughts about World at War (the Beta)

Just thought I'd get my thoughts out on CoD: World at War as a way to help me decide whether or not to spend my monthly game allowance on this game or something else.  If you haven't played the beta yet, I feel for you, but take comfort in the fact that it is as glitchy, timmy-filled, and frustrating as any fully completed CoD title.  Frustrating, primarily because I suck, but also the spawn mechanics and under-map glitch in Roundhouse, or whatever the hell its called, help me chalk up the deaths.  Don't even get me started on the dogs.  They should have created a perk that lets you withstand an attack by one dog, at least giving you a chance to knife the bastard.  Anyway, here are a few of my observations, and they aren't worth much...

I'm a big fan of WWII games so I totally love all the old-school weapons.  I don't notice a big difference in accuracy and I play mostly hardcore games, so power is sort of a non-issue in my case.  Lots of people complain that the Thompson is over-powered, but if you want to complain about that, melee is overpowered too.  I don't see any throat-slashing.

With all the conflicts in africa and the middle east it is nice to see some environments that aren't on the news everyday, and aren't all brown.  The night-time, jungles, and Asian locales are a welcom change of scenery. 

Each of the three maps includes at least one elevated position for optimal sniping if you like that sort of thing. 

Maybe its just me, but World at War seems to move faster than CoD4. 

Nothing is cooler than blowing somebody up and seeing body parts fly off.  Equally cool is attaching a sticky grenade to somebody and blowing them up on the run.

Capture the Flag is the best addition to the game so far.

 

 

Posted by Spearchucker @ 2:34 pm EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

You say chicanery I say McCainery...

If you believe McCain's ACORN B.S. it probably won't do you any good to check this stuff out.

or probably this either... 44 and counting!  Go Team!

Posted by Spearchucker @ 1:54 pm EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

"Huckleberry"

Every now and then you play a game with an "adult" who is just as annoying and un-enjoyable to play with as a Timmy.  I've started referring to them as "Huckleberries", as in Huckleberry Hound. 


These guys think they are the best player to ever join a match and they are doing you a favor by playing with you.  They bark orders at you, tell you that you suck, and complain when you "steal their kill".  A Huckleberry lacks the cognitive capacity to understand that nobody gives a good goddamn what he thinks or if he has the most kills.  In essence a Huckleberry is a grown up Timmy.  My theory is that these guys are probably yes-men from 9 to 5; abused by their wives; and get worked over by their kids when they play.  I'd still rather play with a Huckleberry, because when you call him on his B.S. and tell him to take a hike, he usually does.

Posted by Spearchucker @ 12:02 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

Blogroll?

haven't figured out how to create a blogroll or links frame so I decided I'd just post a shortcut to my clan's forum page here for the time being.

Low Rollers Clan Forum

UPDATE:  The link above is really for my own personal use, if you are not a clan member you will not be able to get into their forum page.  Thanks Twistedcaboose for pointing that out to me.  Next time I'm online at home I'll just bookmark it, but this is kind of a default link dump.

Posted by Spearchucker @ 2:31 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

Explanations...Finally

Here are a couple articles about Xbox Live's poor performance over the Holidays last week:

ComputerandVideoGames.com

and GamesAreFun


Both articles identify the root of the problem as being twofold: Record numbers of people joining and online, coupled with lots of essential staff being gone for the holiday. We all knew that Live was touch-and-go, but you'd think that they would have planned for a large increase of activity given that gifts are given/bought for Christmas and a substantial number of gamers would have lots of free time.

I'm not complaining though, I'm trying to be constructive. What gets me worked up is when there isn't any communication from the higher ups. I just want to know what's going on, is that so wrong? Is my Xbox taking a crap? is it my network? Once I know what the problem is I can relax a little. Otherwise, I just get uptight and frustrated. Two suggestions for Microsoft: 1) get to know your users better and try to anticipate usage patterns better and 2) Notify users when there are Xbox Live service issues. It could be via the XBL dashboard, a mass Email/notification, or even simpler...start some sort of blog or webpage to announce and track system outages.  They could even just have a regularly updated section on the Xbox.com support page.

I'm not holding my breath for any major compensation from Microsoft, but I am pleased that they acknowledged how bunk it was that the system crapped out during the middle of a lot of people's vacations. Give me a free arcade title or an extra month on my subscription. I think full refunds are a little excessive, but some token in recognition of their service
faults would be appreciated.

Either way, I still love my Xbox and will be playing as much as I can to make up for the time lost over my vacation.

Posted by Spearchucker @ 10:08 am EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments