Streaming E3 Through PSHome? Meh...

It's over...

I should have woke up earlier. Now I missed a lot of moments from probably one of the most exciting E3 I've ever watched. But as I made my last effort to watch what's left of Sony's E3 Live Conference, this is what it looked like when I streamed through PSHome. Man, I should have watched this through my laptop instead.

The sound is a bit too low even at max volume in my HDTV. The video lags so bad, and later at around 3 min onwards, listen to what happens to the sound... 

When I try to watch the rest on my laptop, I never had any problems at all though. Of course, streaming through PSHome might need more internet bandwidth than just streaming through a laptop or desktop computer, and this might not be a problem in other countries that have much better internet capability.

I don't really get into PSHome that much, but things like this tells me that I don't really have any reason to get into it.

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Posted in: E3 2012,Playstation,Playstation Home,PSHome,Sony Live Conference,video games

Do You Think Street Fighter X Tekken is Worth Buying?

This article will serve as my own review of the game as well as my opinion if the game is worth buying despite the issues and questionable rumors circling around the game for quite some time now. Take note that by reading this, I assume that you have read a little about the game's mechanics from other sources as I don't want to make this article too hurtful in the eyes.

If you recall my last post about this game, I kind of despised it due to how Capcom is trying to milk the game with questionable DLC propaganda, which I'll discuss a little later. With that said, Street Fighter X Tekken is still a solid competitive fighting game. And with all the hype surrounding the game, the reality show Cross Assault, as well as nostalgia, I gave in to temptation and bought the game at last.

If you don't know what Cross Assault is, it's a first ever reality show produced by Capcom based on a fighting game. Basically, there are two teams, Team Tekken and Team Street Fighter with 5 members each who all came from a competitive background on the games that they represented respectively. The two teams would break down the game Street Fighter X Tekken, which at that time was not released yet, and compete for a grand prize of $25,000.

Apparently, Capcom wants to build the hype amidst the controversies that they're going through. And guess what? I couldn't resist the hype myself.

Just for a second, let's look past the bad business decisions that Capcom went through way back and see what this game has to offer. I'm going to enumerate the things that I like and I don't like in the game, things that you might consider in buying it.

1. Region locked? I never expected that Capcom would go this route with this game because both Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Super Street Fighter IV are not region locked as far as I know. Not a big deal though but I normally use my US PSN account to buy DLCs, now I have to load up my Asian PSN account just to buy any future DLCs because I bought the R3 version.

2. Representation of the Tekken characters. The Tekken characters are a little bit off when compared to their real counterparts. I mean, come on, Steve and Jin having projectile moves? Some people have noticed it quickly and are pretty pissed off about it especially Raven and Julia fans. Not really a big deal if you ask me, I already expected this to happen. It's a crossover game running on the Street Fighter engine so Capcom would have their own renditions of these characters. This is to be expected as well for the Street Fighter characters when Tekken X Street Fighter comes into fruition.

3. Controls. So far I haven't found a way to turn off the analog stick. Like in Tekken 6, it just gets in the way if you leave it on while using the D-pad and thankfully you have the option to turn it off in that game. Though I'm more comfortable with the D-pad, using the analog stick to perform special moves actually works, you just have to turn off L3 and R3 as Quick Combos are assigned to these buttons by default. You don't want to

Some hardcore SF players think the controls were dumbed down, all QCFx2 or similar commands are thrown out of the window. To do a Super Art, you just have to input a certain Special Move motion like Hadouken (QCF or quarter circle forward) then hit three punch or kick buttons depending on the character. For example, QCF+PPP gives Ryu his Super Fireball. Boost Combo + Cross Rush (otherwise called the ABC combo) provides a very easy tag combo for newbies. In addition to this, the player can use assist gems to further make execution easier, making special moves 2-button presses. This comes with a drawback of course, as wearing the said gem will decrease the damage of all your attacks by 10% as well as lose access to some important unique attacks. For example, you can execute Ryu's Hadouken by hitting -> plus any punch button but you'll lose his overhead attack (f+MP) and Solar Plexus Strike (f+HP). This might help alleviate a newbie's frustration due to the rather strict timing of cancels but in my opinion, it only takes away players from the game's real core. The tutorial, challenges, and trial modes are always great ways to teach a newbie player the basics because the game, being a tag fighting game, already boasts a lot of new game systems that will keep anyone's hands for a while. Which leads me to my next point...

4. Gameplay and Difficulty. Though the game is running on Street Fighter engine, Capcom devs was able to incorporate some of Tekken's gameplay mechanics, namely the launcher (not the ABC launcher but the character specific launcher moves) and juggle system, forward roll and backroll on wake up, etc. The tag system is somewhat similar to that of Tekken Tag Tournament as well, wherein if one of the characters lifebar reaches 0, his team loses. These mechanics, combined with Street Fighter's combo system make up for a complex and deep yet very fun and creative gameplay.

If you've been playing the Street Fighter series especially since Street Fighter IV, you'd definitely feel at home here. You'd need a little bit of work if you're from the Tekken scene though. But overall, the basics of this game is not really that hard to learn when you compare this to something like Tekken or even Virtua Fighter. And in some ways, it seems as if Capcom is holding up the new players' hands by giving them tools like assist gems, preset combos, and whatnot that can at least help them hold their own against experienced players while they are trying to learn the game further. High level tactics are a different story of course but you don't have to worry about it for now.

Though Capcom may seem to be catering to new players by giving them these tools, the game still requires practice of timing and execution, patience as well as experience.

5. Online and Offline Multiplayer Matches. The Paired Battle Mode is probably my favorite feature in the game. It reminds me of Street Fighter EX3 in PS2. I know some fighting games have this functionality as well but I can say that this game has done it correctly and made this extremely fun. As a result some tournament organizers are adapting this 2v2 matchups in their SFxT tournaments.

Basically, you play the game normally but as 2 teams of 2 players, playing the game in tag team style. The 2 players playing together need to have great coordination skills to make the most out of their combos and setups as well as save each other from KO. This 2v2 setup can also be brought on your online games so you can team up with your online friend, though this functionality did not make it to the Xbox360 version of the game due to resource issues of the hardware.

The game also offers Scramble Mode, in which all 4 characters are onscreen at the same time controlled by players, beating each other's teams. It's more of a fun side mode for me and will most likely not become a tournament standard.

6. Comebacks and Timeouts. In our day and age of fighting games in which comeback mechanics are prevalent, Street Fighter x Tekken doesn't seem to have something like Tekken 6's Rage, Marvel vs. Capcom 3's X-Factor, or even Street Fighter IV's Ultras. I know for a fact that comebacks produce an exciting gameplay, but I honestly don't like comebacks that are artificially produced by rewarding a player with a highly damaging move or additional damage boost for getting hit or decreasing his health bar to a certain level. Street Fighter X Tekken game doesn't have anything similar outside of Pandora Mode or maybe the Gem system (and that still depends on what kind of gems will be offered in the future). The former is an untapped potential that is designed with comebacks in mind but is more of a gamble than a comeback mechanic. I have yet to see people incorporate Pandora effectively to their gameplay but the game is still quite young and I'm pretty sure there will be much more to discover in this game during its life span.

With that said though, comebacks hardly ever happens in this game. Timeouts almost always happen just when you're about to regain momentum and nail that last ditch of effort to turn the tables around. Though 99 seconds seem long enough considering the amount of damage you can dish out in a tag combo, you'll be surprised at how fast that time runs out considering the length of certain attacks, combos, animation of super arts and cross arts that doesn't freeze the timer. It's no big deal if you ask me and of course, timeout is a legitimate way to win, however for new players and people that might want to try the game out, it looks pretty lame and unexciting to watch people jumping and running away from their opponent after chipping their lifebar to 50% once the timer hits 30 second mark or less. I hope Capcom fixes this in a future patch, increasing the time to something like 120 seconds.

7. Balance, Bugs, and Glitches. I can't really say anything much about balance because the game is too young at this point. Of course, there are characters that seem stronger and more popular than the rest of the cast like Ryu, Raven, and Hugo while there are some that seem underused like Paul and Yoshimitsu. However, being a tag game, if you play your cards right you can get away from lopsided matches like Zangief vs. Dhalsim by tagging your partner in. Let's say you want a team that utilizes Zangief as your main, you can choose an anchor character that can cover Zangief's weaknesses. 

At the first week of the game though, a couple of infinite combos were found, one of the most dangerous being Kazuya's due to how easy the execution is. A few character bugs were found as well, namely Megaman's fly glitch and Jin's overhead move glitch. With Street Fighter X Tekken being a straight to console game, it can't be helped. No matter how skilled the testers are in exposing the bugs and glitches, there still some that will get through seeing how complex the game is. Fortunately, Capcom promised that these shall be fixed in a patch soon. I wonder though, for how long will Capcom keep supporting this game? Last time I checked, they released new editions of the game instead of a patch. I would be pissed if they release a Ultimate Super Street Fighter X Tekken Turbo Edition or some crap like that after 6 months.

8. Gems, DLC Character, and Other Additional DLC Content. Probably the most controversial aspect of Street Fighter X Tekken, the Gem System has drawn a predictable ire among the community. Basically, they are claiming that the gems will be an important part of the gameplay and yet Capcom announced that some gems will be offered as paid DLC. It's kinda like you're "paying your way to victory" that's why a lot of fans are not in favor of this mechanic.

Another issue at hand is the 12 DLC characters that they announced being locked on disc. I totally think this is outrageous despite Capcom's justification. Come on, DLC stands for Downloadable Content, not Disc Locked Content!

But then, I read this somewhere in the Shoryuken forums, that it's possible that the DLC characters were unfinished at the time that the game was submitted to the manufacturer, Sony, and Microsoft for approval. Kinda make sense.

And even if the fans, however unthinkable it may be, all united and decided to not buy any game with on-disc content, Capcom will just change their DLC model and force the players to download it later. But then again, why do you have to milk the game like this Capcom?!

It's a shame that the casual fans are sending this game early to its deathbed just because of the way Capcom handles the marketing of this game. I definitely believe that Street Fighter X Tekken is a great competitive fighting game and this is probably what I've been yearning for all these years since Capcom killed the Street Fighter EX series. The gameplay mechanics and some of the tag mechanics are kind of similar to Street Fighter EX3 and this is what I will be discussing in one of my next articles.

So do I think Street Fighter X Tekken is worth buying? If you're into fighting games and playing competitively and you don't mind Capcom's shady business practices then I'd definitely recommend this game. I'm definitely having a lot of fun in this game and if you think you'll have fun as well then buy this game and give it a try.


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Posted in: fighting games,Street Fighter X Tekken,video games

Playing Battlefield 3 With The Globe Superstick

I know you guys have seen this dreaded message at some point while playing Battlefield 3. It's very very frustrating especially during those clutch situations where the heat of the battle is at its greatest, grenades flying everywhere and you and your team mates are holding your own to protect the objective and then boom - you lose all the points, all the unlocks, all the kills (and deaths) that you've collected and that particular matchup is recorded as a loss. It happened to me a lot of times, and I always felt like throwing my controller out of the window in sheer frustration. 

Lag. It's a game breaking problem that most of us have experienced one way or another and it's not really something that the game devs can completely eliminate, especially if you have a wireless internet connection like myself. And it doesn't help that our ISPs here in the Philippines are subpar compared to other countries. 

When I check the server browser, I used to always get 1 bar ping on every server wherever it is. It really destroys my gameplay because there are a lot of times that I'm sure I hit the guy first, unload my clip but for some reason he manages to turn around and kill me first. There are times that I've used up a full clip of DAO-12 bullets on an enemy and he's still alive. I feel like my bullets take 5 minutes to hit the enemy sometimes and it's very frustrating. Lag also affects the VOIP, and though the poor quality of the PS3 voice chat is already identified as an issue, it becomes more apparent using a wireless connection (note: The VOIP issue has already been fixed in the recent patch). Especially during those peak hours, I can't understand what my squad mates yell at me.


In this article though, I'll teach you how to enable port forwarding on the Globe Superstick to somehow improve the online experience of Battlefield 3. It doesn't completely eliminate the lag, but it greatly minimizes lag during gameplay which in turn improves hit detection and it also lessens disconnections from my experience.  You can also apply this to other online games as well, but the ports that you need to open might be different. In that case, refer to Portforward to check the ports that you need to open in a particular game, or do a Google search. However, this doesn't guarantee that the game will be playable. Tekken 6 is absolutely unplayable online using the Globe Superstick even with the port forwarding enabled.


I must warn you though, don't even attempt to play Battlefield 3 or any online game if you can't even attain a less than 300 ms ping consistently (to check, just type ping -t google.com or any site on your command prompt). You're just gonna get frustrated even more.

The first thing you need to do is to set a static IP address on your PS3. By default, most routers assign dynamic IPs and the Superstick is no exception. It will assign an IP somewhere in the range of 192.168.0.1xx, but will start from the lowest number available, e.g. 192.168.0.101. When a static IP address is assigned to a wi-fi capable device, the router won't know that the device is using that IP address, so it might assign the same IP to another device. Thus, you need to assign a static IP address that you're sure won't be handed out to another device that connects to your Superstick, so choose a higher number to assign to your PS3. Now let's get started.

1. Turn on your PS3, connect to your Superstick through wi-fi then go to Network Settings > Settings and Connection Status List. Write down the IP address that's assigned to your PS3, subnet mask, default router, primary DNS, and secondary DNS as you'll need them later.

2. Go to Network Settings > Internet Connections Settings. Choose Custom for the setting method.

3. Next choose Wireless > Enter Manually. Don't change your SSID and security settings.
4. For IP address setting choose Manual. Now here's the part where you have to set your static IP. After choosing an IP address, just put the same values for Subnet Mask, Default Router and DNS as your settings that you took note of earlier.

5. Just choose automatic for the rest of the settings and save.
6. Ok, now time to configure port forwarding on your Superstick. Open your Superstick dashboard either through Tattoo Superstick icon on your computer or by typing http://192.168.0.1 on your browser.
7. Go to Settings > Firewall > Port Forwarding.
8. Choose Enable for Virtual Server Settings. In the IP Address field, put the static IP that you assigned to your PS3.
9. The ports that you need to configure are in this link. So basically you need to enter 8 rules all in all. Click Apply for each rule that you enter.

Now try to play Battlefield 3. Feel much better now? Again, this does not guarantee that your game will be lag or disconnection free. This is due to certain factors, one of which is the network traffic. There are weekends when I totally can't connect to any server in the server browser until midnight comes, when network traffic is very low. But when your connection allows you to connect, you will feel like you're really playing Battlefield 3.


Above all this though, my best advice to have a better online gaming experience is subscribe to a wired connection because seriously, Globe Superstick or any wireless internet out there sucks chicken ass. DSL is still the most reliable internet connection here in the Philippines.


Take note that all of this testing is with a HSDPA only connection, so given the lower ping rates and higher upload rates of HSPA+, I believe the online gaming experience is gonna change once Globe has rolled out HSPA+ to all cell sites near my place. However, I feel like the improvements of Globe to their internet services is very sluggish. The moment that my Superstick starts receiving HSPA+ signals here in my place I will put it to test immediately to my online games.


Feel free to comment about your experience with the Superstick especially in online gaming. I would love to hear from you.

If you haven't read my reviews for the Globe Tattoo Superstick yet, you can check them out here:

The Globe Tattoo Superstick Review: Device and Interface
The Globe Tattoo Superstick Review: Network Performance and Internet Experience


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Posted in: Battlefield 3,Globe Superstick,internet,video games

Battlefield 3 Patch Released for Playstation 3: IRNV got nerfed!

For those of you who missed that post in Battlelog, DICE has just rolled out a patch today for Battlefield 3 on PS3. Xbox360 players will have to wait though. It's some 750+ MB which is quite huge, and here's the complete list or what's fixed in this patch:

General fixes

• Significant improvements to the Squad Join interface, full details in this earlier blog post
• Removed FIND ME A SQUAD option
• Allow players to join empty Squads alone, thus having 1/4 Squad members
• Change order of options to LEAVE SQUAD, INV A FRIEND, SWITCH TEAM
• Disable Privacy flag when 1 man Squad
• Reset Privacy flag from Private to Public when Squad drops to 1 player
• All occupied Squads will now show up colored blue on the Squad selection screen
• Players who choose not to join Squads will also show up as Blue in the "Not in a Squad” line
• Squads that are currently empty will display as white -- if you wish to join an empty Squad, you can choose the first one marked with white text
• Added round duration and ticket summary at end of round screen
• Fixed sound for when climbing ladders
• Fixed and issue with some weapons' sounds in first person view
• Fixed a swim sound loop error
• You should no longer be able to damage a friendly vehicle when sitting in an open position
• Grenades now drop to ground if you get killed while attempting to throw it
• Spawn protection now should work in Conquest so you no longer should spawn too close to enemies
• You should no longer spawn too close to enemies in TDM and SQDM
• Fix for missing input restriction during intro movie, causing players to potentially fall and die while watching movie if moving controller (or having a controller with a bad stick zone)
• Combat areas on Kharg Island in Rush mode tweaked in order to disallow defenders to access the carrier ship after first base is taken and being able to enter the AA gun
• Fixed a problem with revived players not being able to get suppressed
• Fixed a problem with the camera when being revived in co-op
• Spotting VO now plays when spotting from MAV/EOD bot
• Fixed several issues regarding the kill card, including showing wrong weapons used for the kill
• Fixed that sometimes you would be stuck on a black screen when kicked from server
• Fixed so when a team captures two flags at the same time, the UI does not show wrong owner of the flag
• Fixed a problem where the capture progress bar was shown as friendly when the enemy was capturing
• Fixed a problem with the bipod deploy sound
• Fixed a problem that you could be spawned in with no weapons after being killed while using the EOD bot
• Fixed problems with health bars not displaying health properly when using EOD bots
• Fixed a problem with flickering name tags
• Fixed a problem where you could damage friendly helicopters
• Fixed a problem where you could get stuck in the co-op menu when attempting to join the session twice
• You should now be able to spot explosives
• You should no longer spawn in home base if your selected spawn point is disabled while waiting to spawn (e.g. if your teammate dies right before you are about to spawn)
• Damage from bullets will now continue to cause damage even after the firing user is dead
• Fixed several client crashes
• Fixed a problem where players could get stuck in the join queue
• Fixed the repair icon on the minimap
• Fixed a problem with changing camera on certain vehicles
• Fixed a problem with the grenade indicator when in guided missile mode
• Fixed a problem where the machine could hard lock when joining a public coop game
• Fixed a problem where the headset attached icon would not show up in the UI
• Fixed a problem with the falling antenna on Caspian Border. It should now more instantly kill anyone in its falling path
• Fixed a problem where tank turrets would turn too slow
• Fixed a bug on co-op mission "Exfiltration" where you could end up outside the vehicle and not being able to enter it again, thus blocking the mission
• Fixed a problem where a user can become invulnerable after being resurrected
• Fixed a problem with the M60 reload sound
• Fixed a hang in terrain streaming, causing the user to get stuck on black screen under special circumstances in single player
• Fixed a problem where the enemy would not be able to get a road kill on a user that was using the SOFLAM
• Fixed soldiers disappearing in the mortar kill cam
• Fix for Type88 and MG36 zoom in animation offset when in supported shooting mode (using bipods)


Balance changes

• Increased the damage of helicopter miniguns, AA guns, and jet cannons against infantry
• Increased the damage of helicopter miniguns against jeeps
• Reduced the physics impact of AA guns and jet cannons so players under attack from these weapons no longer should lose control
• Increased the damage of the 44 Magnum slightly
• Increased the range and minimum damage of the .357 Round from the MP412 Rex
• Increased the range of all .45cal and 9mm weapons
• Slightly increased the range of the P90 and MP7 and PDW-R
• Slightly increased the range of the 5.56mm PDW-R and decreased the minimum damage at long range
• Slightly increased the minimum range of the Mk11, SVD, and M39 EMR 7.62mm rifles
• Decreased the maximum damage and maximum range of the G3 and SCAR-H 7.62mm weapons
• Reduced the damage from FIM-92 and SA-18 IGLA missiles against aircraft
• Increased the damage and range of the 40mm BUCK rounds
• Reduced the damage .50cal weapons do against helicopters
• Updated T90 canister shell tweaks to match Abrams canister shells 


That was some huge update! Also, Demize99 also posted a Youtube video showing how the IRNV scope and SCAR-H gun were nerfed:

 
I haven't downloaded the patch yet but from judging through the video, it looks like the IRNV can't spot enemies anymore from a certain distance. The color of the soldiers also changed from orange to green. Also, there's some kind of blurring effect that was added to it when you spot moving targets. 

And yet there's still people complaining that there's no difference and it's still overpowered. Some people never get satisfied, do they? For those people who are still whining about the IRNV after the patch, please stop whining like 7-year old kids. If you can't see the difference then you're either blind or stupid. If you still think it's overpowered then you're either a fag or a retard. We should be at least thankful that DICE is willing to fix these things unlike other shooters out there that has obviously a lot of glaring flaws yet never get fixed. *cough*MW2*cough*BlackOps*cough*


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Posted in: Battlefield 3,news,video games

The Reason Why I Refused to Buy Modern Warfare 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has made history once again this year, getting 6.5 million in terms of sales, and $775 million in terms of earnings in just 24 hours, and that's just for US and UK. The franchise has broken its own record 3 times in a row now. A lot people has been playing ever since including some well-known celebrities here like Anne Curtis, Alodia Gosiengfiao, and much more. Obviously, they jumped onto the Modern Warfare bandwagon because they were curious as to why the title is so popular. The Metacritic rating of the game is very solid as well at 89 and 88 for Xbox360 and PS3 respectively. I believe the reviews were fair for the most part, except for some obviously biased reviews that look like they never played any FPS game other than Call of Duty, and I thought their review of Battlefield 3 was fair. Yes, I'm talking to you Destructoid.


However, from the first day of the game Metacritic user ratings have flopped down to 3.2 for Xbox260, 2.9 for PS3, and 2.0 for PC. This had come to Sledgehammer Games' Glen Schofield, one of MW3 devs and wrote to Twitter:


"I don't usually do this but, if u like MW3 go 2 Metacritic.com & help our user score. It's suspiciously low. Be honest but help if u agree."


Though the voting hasn't closed yet, Battlefield 3 is already winning a landslide victory over Modern Warfare 3 on this site. And then recently, IGN has released its results of community votes for Battlefield 3 vs. Modern Warfare 3 and the results were staggering to say the least. Battlefield 3 wins by a large margin in every category except for Campaign in which Battlefield 3 won by only 4534 votes. Though the votes on that last category was a little questionable to me, it means something: those 6.5 millions of people from US and UK that bought the game don't translate to 6.5 million people enjoying it.


Though I know that trolls and fanboys that vote on IGN and Metacritic can't be avoided, I don't think that everyone who savagely posted ill about Modern Warfare 3 are trolls and BF3 fanboys. If the millions of people that bought it are really happy with it, it will reflect on the user ratings, no matter how many are trolling. There are obviously more COD fans than BF3, why didn't the same thing happened to BF3?


If you look closely to user reviews in Metacritic, most of them are MW3 die-hard fans that wanted to buy the game on the first day, but got disappointed upon playing it.


I do believe that these negativity doesn't mean that Modern Warfare 3 is a bad game. In fact, I believe otherwise, I believe that the professional critics were fair in giving the game a high score and I'm pretty sure I would enjoy the game if I buy it. However, I share the same sentiments as some people who spoke ill of the game in Metacritic, IGN, or wherever, and I refuse to buy the game, well, at least for now.


1. Investing on the game. Call of Duty in general is a huge investment. You literally buy a game that has a 1-year life span for $60 then you spend another $50-$60 for DLC maps or Call of Duty Elite and what not. And then another game comes out. Activision is swimming in hundred millions of dollars every year when a new Call of Duty game comes out and they can't even give incentives to their loyal fans like free DLC or even price cut off. EA's earnings with their franchises is nowhere near what Activision is getting with Call of Duty but they give away a huge expansion pack for free for those who availed the limited edition of Battlefield 3. Though I don't fully agree with that kind of business model as well, can't Activision at least do the same?


2. Developing skills for the game is not rewarding. Call of Duty is just that - a fun, mindless shooter that everyone can just easily pick up and play. You can literally play for 15 minutes and have fun. It doesn't require you to learn or develop some skills in order to have fun, unlike Battlefield 3 that apparently has a rather steep learning curve if you want to learn every part of gameplay, from vehicle maneuvering to the subtleties of bullet drop. With Call of Duty you don't need to worry about them or the competition at all. In fact, some of my friends that bought both games say that MW3 is more like a stress reliever while playing BF3 is like a mental exercise.That's what people like about the Call of Duty games - instant gratification. Most gamers lack the dedication to commit to a game seriously and learn everything before they can enjoy it.


This formula of Call of Duty is a double-edged sword though. It doesn't promote those who are truly skilled. Of course elite players will fare better for the most part, but it's not as necessary when compared to other games.


3. Longevity. I'm not a kid anymore that has all the time to play video games. I have a full time job and for the most part, I can only touch my PS3 like every Friday night and through the weekend. I try to play at times during weekdays when my schedule permits but it's very hard to squeeze that enough time that I would feel satisfied. And with that said, I don't want to buy a game that only lasts for 1 year and then when a new iteration comes out, all of my friends and more than half of the COD population will jump on that one. I want a game that I'm gonna play and the developers are gonna keep on supporting for a long time. People might argue, "Even if a new Call of Duty game comes out, there's still plenty of people playing the old COD games!" True, but the developers will start supporting the new one and leave the old. Look at Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops. There's still a whole lot of broken crap and BS in the game that the developers didn't address and left as is up to this day.


This is probably the biggest reason why COD fans feel like the COD games are getting redundant and they feel like they are playing the same game every year. There's just too many COD games that are coming out! If Activision releases a new COD game let's say every 2 years, I'm sure the players won't feel they are being ripped off.


4. Ridiculous aesthetics. One of the biggest praises about Battlefield 3 is its closeness to realism. And it's because some of the kills in Modern Warfare 3 were too far off from realism. Seriously, can a single bullet kill 4 persons lined up simultaneously? Yes, only in MW3. Though you may get a good laugh out of it when you watch these ridiculous kills, I would rage if I'm on the receiving end of these lucky and utterly insane kills like the one below.

5. Modern Warfare is more like a $60 expansion pack. One of the biggest complaints of fans about MW3 is its lack of innovation and it's more of the same game every year since Call of Duty 4. It may be true but I definitely agree that there's a winning formula in Call of Duty games that make them so appealing to gamers all over the world and Infinity Ward need not mess up this formula. Why fix it if it ain't broke right? Changing the gameplay mechanics will just alienate fans. 

However, they don't have to be so obvious and directly copy and paste from the other Modern Warfare games and just tweak it from there. Copying the same graphic element from an old game to a new one is just preposterous. Also, Infinity Ward is still using the same old engine that was used in Call of Duty 4. While it doesn't look bad, with games that are coming out like Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3, MW3 looks stale and outdated compared to its competitors.


So what are the additions to Modern Warfare 3? A few new modes, some new maps, tweaks to guns, perks, etc. Don't tell me that these can't be released as a cheaper expansion pack.

This is not the first time that we've seen this from Activision. Guitar Hero was a very successful game of its genre, until Activision had taken advantage of it and just continued on milking on the franchise,  releasing the same game year after year with just a few new songs that should have been easy to release as DLC, and it ultimately killed the franchise. I don't condone this type of business model at all.


And though I'm pretty sure that I would enjoy the crap out of MW3, I refuse to buy a game that refuses to evolve. This is not FIFA. People like to buy a game that they feel worth every cent they pay. They don't want to buy a game that they feel they have played several times already.


With that said, I'm not telling anyone to stop playing MW3 and start hating on the game. If you're enjoying the game, there's no one stopping you to play it. Believe me when I say I'm not hating on the Call of Duty series. In fact, I don't want it to die. It has been a big part of the video game culture that we have today. I'm playing Battlefield 3 now and promoting it because I want to slap the hell out of Activision to stop milking the franchise and oversaturate the video game market with the same Call of Duty games every year until the franchise finally dies, just like what they did with the Guitar Hero franchise. 

Let me know your thoughts about this.


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Posted in: editorial,video games

Battlefield 3: Operation Douchebag

No this is not a map pack to be released by DICE for Battlefield 3. This is totally random but I just want to share this video that even came to Battlefield 3 lead core gameplay designer's attention. If you have listened to episode 26 of Don't Revive Me Bro podcast, Alan Kertz has mentioned this video so I got curious about it and tried to find it Youtube.

This is probably one of the funniest and most epic Battlefield 3 videos I've seen in a while aside from Mavtage. I really had a good laugh out of this vid. Blowing up another chopper with your own chopper packed with C4 is BADASS. Let me quote Alan Kertz' reaction to this vid. I completely agree with him. EPIC!

"When a guy jumps out of a helicopter full-packed with C4 and uses it to blow up a sniper hanging on the edge of a crane in Operation Firestorm... Hell yeah, no other game does that."

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Posted in: humor galore,video games

Free Battlefield 1943 To All PS3 Battlefield 3 Players!

Apparently, EA was sued for offering Battlefield 1943 to PS3 gamers as an incentive for pre-ordering Battlefield 3 and not keeping to their promise. EA claims that there is a confusion between Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield 3 and so they instead gave PS3 players a week of head start on the Back to Karkand DLC. Of course, gamers were disappointed about this and someone filed a lawsuit against EA under the law firm Edelson Maguire. And let's just say EA finally gave in to the request of the masses to give BF1943 as a free give away. Hey, it's Thanksgiving anyway.

So if you're interested (I'm not but I'm getting it anyway), you should check out this site on or after the following dates depending on your location:

November 26: Europe
December 10: North America
December 17: Asia & Japan

1. Log in to the site above using your Origin ID and password.
2. Select your territory.
3. You will then receive your Battlefield 1943 voucher code. Input the code into your Playstation Network account under Account Management > Redeem Codes.
4. Download Battlefield 1943. Enjoy the free game.

So that's basically it. I don't know why we in Asia have to wait that long but I'm doubt that I'm gonna have time to play it with Battlefield 3 and preparation for the upcoming fighting game tournament. Honestly, I don't know anything about EA's promise to bring BF1943 to PS3 gamers as giveaway until the lawsuit was brought to my attention and I'm not interested about the game either. But if I knew it in the first place I would be pissed as well but I'm not gonna go out of my way of filing a lawsuit against EA. If I really want to have BF1943, I would have saved much more buying it than filing a lawsuit. Anyway, it worked so we all have our free Battlefield 1943. That should have taught EA a lesson to not say anything to the public if they don't mean it.


Enough of that guys. We should be thankful to EA for bringing us this wonderful game and giving us free BF1943 of course. Happy Thanksgiving guys. 

For those people who haven't bought this awesome game yet, Battlefield 3 is on sale now so check out my links if you're interested to buy.

BTW, thanks to Mark Carpio for hinting this to the clan.

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Posted in: news,video games

Holiday Xtinction: Fighting Game Tournament

To all fighting game players out there, here is your chance to shine. This is a console tourney, so it's up to you if you want to use either stick or pad.

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Posted in: video games

Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand and Details About The Upcoming Patch

If you're enjoying Battlefield 3 for a while now and you've also got the limited edition then you surely don't wanna miss the Back to Karkand expansion pack. There's currently no exact date yet, but DICE confirmed it's coming this December, and it's certainly not far off. And knowing that us PS3 gamers are gonna get 1 week earlier than everyone else, it makes me more excited.

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Posted in: news,video games

The First 7 Minutes of Tekken Blood Vengeance

Harada has just recently posted in his Twitter the first 7 minutes of the video game movie Tekken Blood Vengeance. One word: BADASS. Enjoy the show.

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Posted in: video games

How Downloadable Content Becomes A Joke

How would you feel if let's say you purchased a car, and that car happens to not have headlights, then the car dealer is gonna demand additional charge for those headlights? How are you gonna react if the product that you purchased happens to be incomplete and you have to pay additonal charge for features that will make the product complete?

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Posted in: video games

Battlefield 3 Day 1: First Impressions

First of all, I apologize for the poor quality of my pictures. The Nokia N70 camera surely isn't up to the task of giving high quality pics.


I'm very excited right now as I get my hands on my limited edition of Battlefield 3. It comes with the disc, a few snippets containing the online pass code and the unique code for Physical Warfare Pack Bonus Items (Type 88 Light Machine Gun, DAO-12 Shotgun, Flash Suppressor For SKS Sniper Rifle, and Flechette Ammo for DAO-12). And if you've availed the Limited Edition like me, you're in for another surprise. Another snippet contains the M1911 Pistol reward which requires you to login to EA Gun Club (www.gunclub.ea.com) and on its back it grants you early access to the multiplayer portion of Mass Effect 3 Demo which will be released this coming January 2012! Can you believe that? You also get access to Mass Effect 3 N7 dog tags in BF3 Multiplayer (like I care about any of it).

As an added bonus of Datablitz for pre-ordering the game, they give you a limited edition Battlefield 3 t-shirt. I can't say I like it, it looks half-assedly done with the ugly print quality but it's for free so I can't really complain. I'll go back to Datablitz Shangrila tomorrow to have it replaced with a medium sized one. I've already lost some weight and this large sized t-shirt looks ugly on me.

The whole package costed P2050 (around $47.50 USD) which is much cheaper than the full price in when you buy the game in North America. I remember when someone told me that EA sells their games much cheaper here in the Philippines due to the much lower wages here compared to other countries. I'm pretty glad about that.

Anyway, the moment I snapped the BF3 disc in my PS3, I was like "what the hell? A day-1 patch?" and it started downloading a 220 MB patch. After patch installation, it started installing 2 GB game data in my PS3 HDD as well which is probably the High-Res installation that I've mentioned in this article. When I played the game though, I was pretty amazed with the improvement in terms of graphics. Frostbite 2 is truly a beast. This is PS3 but I'm stunned by the amount of detail - the lightings, the swaying of the trees, the reflection on the water, the billowing smoke, the explosions. You'll be equally stunned when you fly a chopper or skydive in Damavand Peak and you look down and see the terrain below. It's beautiful.

I was so dumb to forget to redeem my online pass through Account Management and jump into multiplayer right away. Took me hours thinking what's wrong and why I am always getting the "online pass check failed" message everytime ^__^ So I activated first my online pass through my Asian PSN account because my game is R3 and activated multiplayer through my main US account. Phew. However, if you also happen to have R3 version of the game and you don't want to go through the hassle of creating an Asian PSN account, you can contact EA support and ask for a R1 online pass.

The first map that I've played was Noshahr Canals which is a pretty large map and as soon as I entered the fray, I found myself riding on a chopper as it crash landed to my doom. Talk about bad luck. 

Damavand Peak is pretty weird map for me. It took me a while to figure out where I'm going before I realized I need to skydive like 20,000 feet high into the fray. It was a very impressive view in my opinion. However, a little later the 10-second timer appeared on my screen that says I'm out of the battle area even though I'm pretty sure I'm about to land on the right spot. It disappeared a few seconds later but it seems like a bug.

There are still other bugs from what I've seen, though none are game breaking. When I played conquest in Operation Metro, my first spawn was inside the burning train! I couldn't do anything about it as it depleted my life helplessly because I had to wait till the countdown timer drops to zero. Another one is when I was playing on Caspian Border map and I respawned inside a big rock, kinda hard to believe and I didn't figure it out right away but I couldn't move, my shots aren't really hitting my enemy even at point blank range, and my enemies didn't notice me at all. I couldn't do anything but commit suicide.

I find the large maps a bit boring to play especially as defender in Rush Mode due to the fact that the console version of the game is limited to 24 players per session, unlike the PC version that can accomodate up to 32 players for Rush Mode and a whopping 64 players for Conquest. Big-ass maps like Kharg Island is pretty tiresome, especialy when you're the defender. I find myself running for 20 minutes figuring out where the heat of the battle is, just to be sniped later from out of nowhere (I could have just followed my squad mates' trail). I know that we're restricted by hardware limitations, but depending on the person playing, it can greatly affect the multiplayer experience. I find that Rush mode is more suitable and fun to play in smaller maps like Operation Metro and Seine Crossing, while the larger maps can only be fun to play for me in Conquest mode.


The pic below shows probably the largest map in the game, Kharg Island. For more photos, check out my Flickr account below.

So far I had a lot of fun playing through the maps. A lot of things have changed since the beta and I can't stop playing for 5 hours straight. If my head didn't hurt I would probably go on further. That's probably my body limit. I've noticed that the guns have been balanced out. SVD and MK11 MOD, which were probably some of most overpowered guns in the beta, now takes like 2-3 shots before they kill someone unless it's a headshot. The vehicles like tanks and choppers can easily shift momentum of the battle but are not overpowered in any way and can be an easy kill for engineers with RPGs. I'm not sure about jets though as I wonderfully suck in flying them and I haven't encountered someone who flies them fluidly and uses them offensively very well. One thing I truly like about the game is it is rewarding you for doing your role, supporting your team, and accomplishing the objectives, not just gaining kill streaks. If you're a noob like me then you can take the role of supporting your team mates by giving them ammo or med kits. Or maybe you arm or disarm M-COMs or capture flags as your veteran allies cover you. This makes the game equally fun for everyone.

While I haven't really touched the campaign or co-op mode, I've heard a lot of negative feedbacks about them. Though I would agree that more than 90% of players bought the game for the multiplayer component, it's still a big miss for DICE considering the competition, Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, offers a compelling single player experience. However, a Metacritic score of 92 (that's for PC btw) is still very solid, and everyone agrees that if not for the boring single player and co-op mode, the game is almost perfect in every way.

Again, as I've mentioned a hundred times before, I'm not a FPS guru in anyway so I can't tell if this game is the COD killer like EA claimed it to be. Maybe we'll have to wait and see till Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 comes out this Nov. 8. Unfortunately, I might not be able to buy it as Call of Duty games seems a more expensive investment for me and I might not have much time to play both FPS games and other games that are coming out as well (I'm very excited about Tekken Tag Tournament 2 this December btw). I'm very interested on what MW3 has to offer though, and I'll definitely agree that buying both games is much better than picking a side.

So what are your first impressions about Battlefield 3? Let me know in the comments! 

Now if you haven't done so, get this game now through my links below.

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Posted in: video games

Call of Duty Elite: Will This Set Apart Elite From The Noobs?

Let's face it, no matter how good Battlefield 3 turns out to be, tons load of people are still gonna buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. And with the release date just around the corner, a lot of people are skeptical about the new Call of Duty subscription service, the Call of Duty Elite.

Ok, contrary to what a lot people are thinking, not every aspect of COD elite is paid. So that means everyone can sign up on the service and enjoy the free features like performance tracking, custom leaderboards, support for clans, and the ability to create custom groups in order to identify and play your peer group. You can also upload your matches and watch other people's matches through Call of Duty Theater. In addition, you can also create custom class via mobile apps for smartphone and tablet PCs and have the opportunity to invite other players from Facebook and Elite to battle in-game.

So what are paid features, you ask? Of course, you'll get and keep all of the priced DLC for Modern Warfare 3, that includes DLC maps (which are available also via priced DLC for free subscription) and new content that are absolutely exlusive to premium subscribers. That includes the ability to level up a clan with competitions and clan operations as well as the ability to compete for both in-game and real-world prizes as well as bragging rights within the community. What kind of prizes you ask? Watch the video below.

The price of the premium subscription to Elite is $49.99 a year. Now if you happen to buy the hardened edition ($99.99) you will get the following including 1-year subscription to Elite:

• The game disc with a unique disc art
• Special Founder status in Call of Duty Elite (in-game emblem, player card, weapon camouflage, clan XP boost
• Steelbook case
• Juggernaut outfit for your avatar
• 100+ pages of Limited Edition Field Journal with military sketches, diagrams, written entries, etc.
• Exclusive Playstation Network theme

So what's the importance of being a paid subscriber to Call of Duty Elite? You'll get to play in a very competitive environment with people that have competitive mindset, not with 12 year old noobtubers. The paid subscription will definitely set apart people who are very serious in leveling up their gameplay and wants to be competitive which will enable you to play on a level field.

If you're a pro-FPS player, don't mind investing $50 every year, wants to have all DLCs at no extra cost, wants to compete with fellow pros like you, and wants to win the prizes then you would definitely want to subscribe to this. Otherwise, if you're like the majority of people who has limited income and enjoys the game as it is, then this is not for you. For the most part, the announcement of Call of Duty Elite has gained some negativity due to its pricing. The COD Philippine community seem to not care about COD elite at all. There are a lot of elite players here however most of us here have limited income so we are very meticulous on pricing and don't want to waste money on something not really necessary to enjoy the game. So do you think all of these are worth $100 to $120 including the price of the game? I really don't think so as of now. I'd like to wait and see on how this is gonna pan out, if this Call of Duty Elite subscriptions gets a lot of subscribers and the rest of the MW3 community follow suit or this becomes a huge flop at the end and nobody plays COD anymore. Ok that's an exaggeration ^__^

Watch the explosive launch trailer below which shows the single player campaign mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Are you going to subscribe to Elite? Do you think it's worth the money? Let me know in the comments!


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Posted in: video games