Mode Pack #6 is apparently coming to Bad…

Mode Pack #6 is apparently coming to Bad Company 2 next week according to this post. No details, and I haven’t checked the BfBC2 store but it fits in with their monthly giveaway of new maps mode packs.

So, we’re not going to see new maps. That’s clear enough already. What would you like to see? If I was a betting man I’d say we’ll get rush on Laguna Alta which could be like rush on White Pass. Alpha will be so close to the attackers deployment battle will be joined as soon as anyone moves an inch.
Or they’ll make a mode pack for SDM or squad rush and everyone will go YAAAAWWWWWNNNNN!

I was just thinking the other day how the lack of a level editor is such a missed opportunity for players. The Doom and Quake series had level editors, other shooters from that era had them too. I remember downloading mods for Doom 2 and having a blast! Are games companies so scared we won’t buy their next big product just because there’s a level editor (and hopefully active community) in a game? Really?
Do they lack the imagination to make a better sequel and feel threatened by amateurs designing levels? Do they think we won’t splash the cash if we have new levels for their old game?

The average age of games players is now in the early thirties. That means they’re probably working, have a family and have (some) disposable income. Sure, getting maps for free is great, but what about a map store? The Apple app store proved that people will buy in their droves if the price is right. Apple make a fortune from it and there’s a huge community around it. People talk all the time about their favourite apps. Why the hell haven’t EA or Activision replicated this for their respective franchises? All we get is what the company blesses and produces itself.

Would you buy maps built by amateurs or even semi-pros who didn’t work for the game publisher? What if they were priced like app store products? US$0.99 for a map?

Such a missed opportunity.

Edit: I forgot about Starcraft II. That has a level editor of some sort doesn’t it?

Use your headphones properly in Bad Company 2!

During a lull between games last night I changed the sound settings in Bad Company 2 from “Home Cinema” to “headphones”. I mistakenly thought that “home cinema” would give a better surround sound effect on my fancy pants headphones. Boy was I wrong!

Now I can hear footsteps better, the whole world sounds so much better. I can hear the wind blowing through the trees. It’s like “War Tapes” but not as overboard on the reverb. In maps where there are an abundance of houses it helps a whole lot as I can hear enemy wandering around upstairs!
It’s like that low noise perk in Modern Warfare 2 that lets you hear footsteps a lot more clearly. Yes, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t try that setting before now.

Bad Company 2 Conquest and SDM last nigh…

Bad Company 2 Conquest and SDM last night for us. Cards needed our help with a video he’s doing but unfortunately Duck can never connect to David’s games. Weird. Anyway, when we got into the game we ended up on the wrong teams so we started jumping around and stuff and gave up. I presume Cards grabbed a few others then.

It was getting late so I started another squad and we hopped into SDM, without David at first but he joined later on another squad and killed Mike and Duck. I dodged him, but still ended up with a bad KDR. I think we won, but definitely won the last game of SDM we played. Despite my crap KDR.

This Reddit thread reminded me of two of our games on Atacama Desert. The enemy grabbed both our helicopters and flew around like mad things! They still didn’t stop us taking all three flags. Duck and myself had lots of fun defending one flag over and over again! Poor Mike had a tough time trying to take down the air vehicles. We won won game decisively, but the second game was lost even though we had all three flags. Those helis did a lot of damage.

Blur tonight, or over the next few days methinks. Excited to try the teamplay games. Will have to unlock that mode first though.

Oh, there was a weird lag in some games. It felt more like the machine struggling to display and run the game rather than network issues. No rubber banding, just a case of stuttering occasionally. The same thing happens to me when I host Onslaught games and the game gets hectic. Anyone else?

Funny moment of the night: I think David spawned on me in the building that normally houses Bravo 2 on Arica Harbour. I spotted an enemy in the next building so I aimed high and tossed a grenade. Ooops. Instead of going through the door it bounced off the wall above it and came right back at us! I dodged out of the blast radius and thankfully it wasn’t hardcore so I didn’t have to worry about teamkills. How we laughed! 🙂

I feel sorry for the team we were playin…

I feel sorry for the team we were playing in Bad Company 2 Rush this evening. We slaughtered them.

Defending on White Pass they didn’t make it past the first base. They started by shooting RPGs into Bravo and when I had little success shooting back I flanked around by heading up the construction site. You can practically see into their spawn from there! They didn’t expect it at all! It’s also a good idea to run behind the construction site up on the hill. Quite a few attackers were headed that way and were easy kills. Got a nice 15/9 game out of that.

There was some C4 whoring too, and in the next game we were attacking on Arica Harbour, both crates were taken out by C4. I quit then, mainly because it’s so late but that really bugged me too. Pity teamkills were’t possible because I pumped a clip into the back of that recon.

Playing with Sulley, Duck and Red Dragons. Wish we could have bigger squads or party chat like on Xbox Live because Mike and Conor logged in too. Bah.

My KDR has increased to 0.84 and win/loss has jumped from 1.52 to 1.57. Woo!

Military Show at Cork City Gaol

Some photos from the military show at Cork City Gaol today. It’s also on tomorrow and well worth a visit!

I got to try out the red dot sight on an M416, see a Scar-L up close, and even checked out an M60 too. All replica air guns, without ammo unfortunately. There was a target range but there was a long queue for it. Maybe next time because my 3 yro son was disappointed the guns didn’t work!

I have a few more photos on my phone which I’ll upload tomorrow.

It’s kinda crazy having different usern…

It’s kinda crazy having different usernames on XBL and PSN so I’m going to send a load of friend requests to my current friends list on PSN from a new “xeer2000” account I registered a while back.

Now, if only I could think up pronounceable usernames so random strangers don’t stumble over my name …

Oh, since I’ve built up a mid-level character on BfBC2 I’m going to use donnchaoc for playing that but xeer2000 for any other games. Friend Requests will be flying out the door over the next day or so!

Top Ten Android Games?

The Guardian games blog has a post listing some of the essential Android games users should play. My current mobile contract expires in about 2 weeks time so I’m looking at my options and it’s likely that I’ll buy an Android phone.

Three have the iPhone 4 at a reasonable price but it’s Three and I’ve heard lots of bad things about them.

What would you choose?