DogsWithoutWings.com Blog

A few days after trying the Battlefield: Bad Company beta for a few hours, I realized that there was nothing really drawing me back to this limited time experience. Something about this Battlefield game did not feel Battlefield enough. Sure we like companies to change their long running franchises to keep them fresh, but as a sum-of-all-its-parts this game feels average.

So let's start with this new Frostbite engine. This definitely improves the 'war feel' by adding destructible walls, trees and buildings. A giddy feeling comes over you the first time you clear a bunch of trees with a stationary machine gun. I noticed a few people not yet absorbing this new gameplay mechanic. A teammate and I were running toward a building, there was a wall just up ahead and he started to head around when I shot a grenade into the wall, then I see that he veered back into my direction and through the newly blown hole in the wall.

Sound was suppose to be another breakthrough feature, but with crappy TV speakers that has not yet made an impact on the experience.

Why does this not feel Battlefield?

The only mode playable in the beta is called Gold Rush. There are 2 gold objectives that need to be destroyed/defended depending on which team you are on. If they are destroyed the defending team moves back to another base with 2 new objectives and the attacking team moves up to their old base. The attackers have a limited amount of spawning to get the job done, but the defenders have a limited amount of bases to fall to. This objective based mode feels a lot like Call of Duty but the gameplay doesn't fit. The movement of the character is much too slow to be married with this everybody meets in the middle design. Some of us are that type of player, but some others want to take off and capture the flag which is not so heavily guarded.

The respawning screen has to go through some sort of overhaul. You get to follow a teammate but there is an overlay which makes the screen dark enough not to be able to see what is going on. Then you have to wait for a progress bar to fill, while you are not seeing anything and after about 20-30 of doing this you realize that dying is torture in this game.

So will I rent? Sure. Hopefully some of the other maps are more open, maybe some other modes of play. I liked Battlefield 2: Modern Combat even with all the bugs.

So we have been having some problems with one of the computers running Vista SP1. It would disconnect whenever we try to access one of the shared folders or connect via remote desktop. After trying a whole bunch of suggestions, the solution was to uncheck TCP/IP V6 from the network card's properties. Hopefully this is fixed before IPV6 takes off, or the computer becomes obsolete.

Took about 8 weeks, but I finally got my 5 free Bluray movies. Originally sent for them in the middle of January and got them in the last week of March. Planning to dump them to eBay.

Seems like someone that works in my building got an IS-F. I could tell because they park it everyday in a spot furthest away from the building, with no other cars around. I tend to be picky about my parking spaces but as time goes on I realise that my doors (especially the passenger side, because it faces the other car's driver side) will get dinged up. Also with a leased car you become less attached. I wonder how long before they begin parking with us 'mortals'.

Note: Ferraris, MBs, BMWs, Audis, Vipers all park in the same lot.

I got my beta key through IGN, woot. Noobz beware! Servers up on the 25th.

April 1st, 9 EST on Fox. One of my favorite shows.

Had to get Guitar Hero for the No Doubt song pack. Pretty good songs to play, results below. Note: the 3rd song owned me.

In what seemed like ages (since nov), Creative has released new Vista drivers for their X-Fi cards. I have been having some problems with pausing music for a few minutes, hopefully this fixed it. Sometimes after pausing sound would be lost and the only way to get it back was to go to the Audio Console in the Control Panel and switch the mode (Gaming, Entertainment, Audio Creation).

Been fooling around with the controls. I updated the textboxes on the comments page to include watermark text. Cool stuff.

No Doubt songs (Don't Speak, Excuse Me Mr and Sunday Morning) were released for Guitar Hero 3, we need them for Rock Band. I'm planning on buying GH3 to have another guitar although I didn't like the boss fights, but more songs to practice are always good. But having them on Rock Band is not only cheaper, but I would probably sing along to these after a few beers.

Since Jordan left, NBA's TV ratings have never been the same. This year could be one of the best post-Jordan seasons.

8 teams have a good chance of winning it all (in no order):
Boston Celtics
Detroit Pistons
LA Lakers (Boo)
Phoenix Suns
San Antonio Spurs
New Orleans Hornets
Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets

2 almost made the list:
Orlando Magic
Utah Jazz

I got Rock Band off Ebay for $40 shipped. Been waiting for it to be shipped from Gamerang but all the wannabes had it rented out. Now I can be the fake rock star. Great game, working my way through the hard difficulty which is a lot easier than Guitar Hero 2+3.

Took me a long time to move from medium, found it easier to play hard bass and practice from that than to slow down the guitar part. I like to hear the lyrics which is removed when the speed is reduced. I have no choice in some of the harder songs, I do have to practice a couple rounds in slow mo, need to get my finger speed up. If there is a lot of hammer-on and off, I will mess up.

Just 2 episodes into a short 8 episode season shows why Lost is tops. Even the highly advertised Sarah Connor Chronicles is no match for old faithful. If I have to wait a year for next season it is going to be torture.

The reviews for this game were definitely spot on. Even after a few hours of play I could see this turning into a boring and repetitive adventure. Run around, pickpocket, eavesdrop, save villager, kill target, run. I'm going to try to continue, hope it gets better (probably wont).

Got a different unit back, not the HDMI model. Let's see how it goes. After turning it on, I noticed how much louder it is than the PS3. Trying out Assassin's Creed.

Wow.

Buy this game! What they put in this little handheld game is amazing. I'm not sure how far I am, but the bosses I have seen so far have no equal in any Xbox title I have played thus far.
Note: The final boss for Heavenly Sword (PS3) was quite good.

Took my cousin to drop off his 3 red light Xbox 360 today. Without telling them what it was, the UPS guy stated that he wasted his money on the 360, and he should get a PS3 instead. Lol. Must get a lot of these packages.

Because of the horrible state of the Xbox 360 hardware, I got myself a PS3. Haven't played any games on it yet, but at least I can watch my movies again.

Brady moves on, Manning knocked out. Brady all the way!