Ides of March +1 (Or is it St. Paddy's -1)

    This time change has me a bit discombobulated. It doesn't help that the power's been jacking with us lately, tho we're certainly better off than the 500,000 people without power over in New Jersey and points South in the Tri-State area.
    Yesterday was the Ides of March, and it's famously the day in 44 B.C.E. when Julius Caesar ventured forth into the streets of Rome against the advice of his wife, Calpurnia, and a seer. Once at work in the Senate, he was stabbed by his closest friends, proving that good metal detectors make for good government. The back-stabbing that takes place in government is more figurative than literal nowadays, which saves a lot of mopping up afterward.
    Amazing, clever folks those ancient Romans. Tho, Caesar might have at least had a bodyguard or two with him. Just in case. The debatable big news this week, of course, is the pricing on the anticipated Modern Warfare 2 "Stimulus Package".  The Xbox Live Marketplace download will set you back $15 US. Kotaku and a few other sites appear to think the price is excessive, especially when compared to the $10 US price for the first World at War Map Pack back in March of '09. I'm like Meh. I thought they would bone us for $20 US! On to the links:

Featured MW2 YouTube Video

• GameSpy: Modern Warfare 2's Stimulus Pack Priced Up on Xbox Live. $15, US.
• CVG: Call of Duty 7: What OXM wants to see.
• MaximumPC op-ed: The Game Boy: The Case of Infinity Ward Vs. The People.
• Xbox Live Account Suspension forum: No, you won't get banned. But you're a cheating douche.

    More Gaming Links:

    I finally got a chance to watch the Medal of Honor Tier 1 trailer, linked again below, at my leisure. There doesn't seem to be all that much new stuff in it. Some footage of Tier 1 SUVs, a few new combat sequences with the regular troops, including a very MW2-esque scene of a Tier 1 apparently catching a falling player by the wrist. But I noticed that there were some sequences reused. (I'll keep on the lookout for a detailed analysis.) The same shot of the Tier 1s entering under a sliding door was recycled, for example. While watching, I even thought how cool the ending to the first trailer was, with the bomb-jacketed terrorist on the office chair being kicked out the window before he could detonate in the midst of the operators. It was disconcerting therefore to have the new trailer end with the exact same game footage. (And Kotaku thinks so, too.) Yeah, it's teh awesome. But the fact that they used it again makes me wonder how much actual new stuff they have available. Is it a sign of trouble over at the Medal of Honor camp?

• GameTrailers: Tier 1 trailer.
• TechDay.NZ: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 review.
• Kotaku: Two Surprise PlayStation Move Maneuvers.
• Destructoid: GDC: Zipper Interactive does Move control right; SOCOM 4 hands on.
• Kotaku: 2K Sports finishes MLB 2010 patch.
• PushSquare: God of War III Playstation 3 review.
• GamesRadar: Aliens vs Predator: PlayStation Home intergalactic dance-off.
• Joystiq: GDC: Sims creator Will Wright predicts social games will grow to 25 percent of market.
• Destructoid op-ed: Video game fans need to shut up about everything.
• Joystiq: Best of Big Download, March 8-14.

    Non-Gaming Links:

• Gizmodo: Inside the Apple-Google war: It's personal.
• Tom's Hardware: Apple Employee Framed "Law and Order" Star Richard Belzer.
• Richard Belzer does not play well with others.
• R.I.P. Peter Graves: LA Times: Peter Graves found dead at his home.