BF3 – the story so far

The Battlefield 3 Beta has been out since the 26th of September now and I started playing it yesterday. Why so late? I wasn’t one of the special people who either pre-purchased BF3 via Origin (because I won’t be playing it on PC, although I have it pre-ordered elsewhere), nor did I buy the truly awful Medal of Honor. This meant that the Beta was not available to me, and everyone else until the 29th. Sure, I downloaded it on all three platforms (PC, PS3, XBOX) on the 29th, but it was a nice day so I opted to go outside (BLASPHEMY!) rather than play video games.

There was another reason why I wasn’t in a rush to play the Beta. I’d already played it. Not the Beta itself, but the Alpha a couple of months earlier. The Alpha was Operation Metro, the Beta is Operation Metro. Some players on PC were invited in to Conquest on Caspian Border to load test the servers, but that map/game mode apparently will not be available to console players. Ironically, despite all the big talk about dealing with those who broke the NDA on the alpha, at least one of the players who broke the NDA was on the Caspian Border map…. using the same gamertag as in the Alpha. That is a total pisstake by that player, and also EA/DICE for allowing it to happen (unless of course they were allowing him to “leak” the footage to begin with).

So at this point I’m a bit fed up of the same map all the time. The good news is that there have been a number of changes between the Alpha and the Beta. For example, the LAV. This was an attacker armoured vehicle but is now absent from the Beta. When I first spawned I went looking for it, but it wasn’t on the map. It took me a while to realise it wasn’t there.

The positions of the MComs on the first base (in the park) have also changed for the better. The locations are more accessible for both sides without having direct lines of sight from spawn.

You no longer vault over everything, it’s possible to leap small obstacles without doing an impersonation of Daley Thompson’s Decathalon. The vaulting is still there, and it is a cool animation, so it’s good that it’s limited mainly to objects you would normally vault.

Flashlights are in. These were mentioned in pre-Alpha posts but weren’t in the Alpha. They are a gift and a curse. The flashlight, which I’m going to call a torch from now, since I’m not American, and it takes less to type are a gift when you see the beam coming and you fire at the source to get the kill, but a curse when you’re totally blinded (especially by a team mate) and get killed. In the Alpha there was only the RDS or laser sight which caused a red blinding effect, this is also in the Beta.

The biggest hinderance I’ve had so far has been a single team mate with the damned torch. Trying to hold down an MCom is not easy when some window licker keeps running past, blinding you. It’s a bit like the team mates who blow up your mines in BC2…. “thanks dude, that was really helpful”.

What about the weapons? Well the MLG Pro are using the PP2000 and UMP45 this season as those laser death cannon kill you before you know it. The M70 shotgun is an adequate counter – but requires you to be up close and is mostly a two hit kill unless you get a head shot.

It’ll be interesting to see what others make of the different weapons and unlocks as you have to unlock each attachment for each weapon. For some I can see them getting to the level where they unlock the UMP45 and not using any other weapon unless DICE “balances” the damage characteristics.

Lastly on this let’s talk about graphics. PC understandably has the best graphics out of the three available platforms (mainly as it’s outputting on current hardware rather than components that are over half a decade old). From there it’s pretty subjective, platform of choice. Both the PS3 and Xbox360 have positives and negatives against them in the graphical department, but nothing that really puts one much much much above the other. Here’s a visual comparison between the platforms:

But don’t forget: IT’S A BETA
Which means that DICE are looking for areas that they can improve on.

That’s it. Stop reading now.

The Gamer’s Craic Episode 3 and other Fruit

Episode 3 of The Gamer’s Craic, hosted by Donncha and I is now available.

Listen via the player or right click and download here to listen later.

Our guest this time is NGT director and Hupit bod Gary, AKA Hypermole and also mole237 on YouTube.

The main topics of the podcast are the C64 PC (?!), Homefront, Vanquish and Battlefield Play 4 Free.

On Donncha’s post regarding this episode he urges listeners NOT to listen past the end jingle……

Don’t forget that Don’t Revive Me Bro also have their podcast running, with the most recent featuring Daniel ‘Zh1nt0’ Matros, the community manager for BattleField games at DICE. You can find it all here

DrunkinDunkin’s blog here

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If 40 minutes of me, Donncha and Gary whittering away is enough for you then I also have a 20+ minute vid up. It’s a request effort, live commentary play by play of a game of Conquest on Panama Canal. There are some sweary bits, so NSFW.

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And lastly, I recently put up a video entitled ‘Let’s Talk About: Copyright’. It’s the first time that I’ve shown my face on camera and so I’m a little talking head in the corner over some gameplay. The main theme of the video is why it’s not worth trying to get around the issue of copyright on YouTube, why it’s right for content creators to be protected by copyright and the usage of Creative Commons material as an alternative.

The next Let’s Talk will be on the subject of subscribers.

That’s all for now.

Peas and loaves.

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Find me on PSN – MrCheapKills

David Nicol is Articles Editor for hupitgaming.com, YouTube gaming commentator and blogger based in the UK.

MW2 Stimulus Pack for PC and PS3 is out!

Hooray!

I mean…. Yay!

Or maybe – yay.

Actually, I couldn’t care less.

If you’re subscribed to comments you’ll have seen my opinion already. For everyone else here’s where I’m at with MW2 at the moment:

I’ve spent the last month or so watching people play the new maps on the Xbox360 via the power of YouTube, I’ve also been putting most of my time into BFBC2. The couple of times I’ve put MW2 in I’ve not had a particularly enjoyable time (and I wish I hadn’t prestiged either!). I’m not going to whine about the game, it is what it is and at the moment I don’t enjoy playing it.

The exclusive deal Activision did with Microsoft over the Stimulus Pack was the best thing they could ever have done for PS3 and PC players. It has given us a chance to evaluate the expansion and decide whether it is really worth the money. Previously I said I’d be getting it….. now I’m not so sure.

As kylegetsspam has said, in a couple of months CoD7 will be out and MW2 will be dead (or become the next CoD4 when CoD7 fails to live up to the hype). Donncha downloaded the map pack on the Xbox and has played them maybe once…. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve not seen anything that has made me go “WOWEEEEEE! That’s totally awesome!” – the new maps are a bit poo in my opinion and the CoD4 maps are….. CoD4 maps. If I wanted to play CoD4 I’d turn my Xbox on.

So thanks Activision, but no thanks. I’ll pass.

Peas and loaves.

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Find me on PSN – evaDlivE

Which Gaming Platform?

Every now and then the format wars raise their ugly heads with the respective fanboys venting their spleens at anyone who slights their chose idol. PC vs MAC vs Xbox vs Playstation vs WII……

Well here’s my take on it. Obviously this is my opinion, and your opinion may differ, but that doesn’t mean that we have to have a no holds barred deathmatch to resolve the issue because you know what – it really doesn’t matter which lump of plastic any of like best. What matters is whether or not we have fun with it.

I started out on PCs – customisable, upgradeable, infinitely tweakable: rocking! Except that all that freedom allows douchebag cheaters to pretty much do what they like. I still use a PC for many things – writing this for example, doing audio/visual stuff and whatnot, but not playing games anymore. It gets too expensive and takes up too much time trying to stay somewhere near the top of the game in terms of specs. If PC gaming is your thing – great. Keyboard and mouse – love it!

I had a PS1, then the PS2…….then Sony kept delaying the launch of the PS3 so I got an Xbox360. I hadn’t had an Xbox and I’d never paid to play a game online before. The console I liked, Microsofts content policy I never liked. I paid for the console, I paid for the game, I paid for my internet connection…..and now you want me to pay to have the ability to play the game online!? That must be to connect to their super fast dedicated servers right? What!? No dedicated servers! I’m paying to have the ability to play on someone else’s Xbox and be at the mercy of not only their connection, but their whim as well….that doesn’t seem like such a good deal to me! So when the Red Ring of Death appeared and the Xbox was shipped to the fabled land of RepairCentreville I got a PS3.

So the PS3 is my main console – it’s part of the media centre actually as it’s also a blu-ray player and streams media from the computers without any problems. It’s also free to play online via the PSN – which makes shitty connections and petulant rage quitting more acceptable than when you are forced to pay for the privilege.

As to which is better between the 360 and PS3 – I prefer the 360 controllers, I prefer the flexibility of the PS3. If I could I would mate them and create a bastard child of Sony and Microsoft and christen it the PS360. It would be awesome and I would be hailed as a god, only for me to abuse my power and destroy the earth while trying to create a console-cum-toasted sandwich maker.

But wait, I haven’t mentioned the WII. I know. I have, or rather my daughter has, a WII too. WII Sports, or any ACTUAL Nintendo title – wicked. Pretty much everything else – dung. You can’t compare the WII to other consoles, it’s like trying to compare Wind Surfing with Racquet Ball.

Anyway, that’s my shorty post after my mammoth ping offering. I’m going to shoot people in the face for half an hour.

Peas and loaves.

Find me on PSN – evaDlivE