MW2 Weekend Action, plus linkage

    It was a very nice night of MW2 gaming Saturday, tho we didn't play TDM as much as we usually do. TDM-wise, we went 19 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw, but it wasn't because of any special effort on my part. I felt sluggish most of the night, with my reaction time very slow. When I saw the enemy, it seemed my gun was moving in slow motion, and I usually got shot before I could get off a burst. My aim was horribly off, too. Matt's best game was on Terminal, where he held down the right side against all comers with the RPD. My best game was also with a LMG, tho I didn't score very well, finishing only 7/4 on a Quarry match, but I had cunningly kitted myself out with the RPD with Bling Silencer and Grip, with Scavenger, Cold-blooded, and Steady Aim. The 7 kills with the RPD closed out weapon and LMG headshot challenges that netted me 23,000 XP and a promotion. We really didn't have to work all that hard once we had more players in the party. JKDJose had a smoking night, going 10 to 1 positive in some matches. MisterDestro joined up after JKDJose had to leave. His best match was on Estate, where we spawned as the Spetsnaz. We took control of the power station area, and MisterDestro sniped his way to a 13/5 game. I lucked out on that match, vaporizing 3 enemies with the Predator. Ironically, MisterDestro had been wearing Predator magnets on an earlier game on Afghan; despite having cold-blooded, he got nailed by the enemy Predator missile 3 times on that match. But what was really tremendous fun for me was teaming up with Matt64 to do some MW2 Special Ops missions. Using team-work, we managed to get 3 stars at Veteran difficulty on O Cristo Redemptor (the Favela Rundown level) and Sniper Fi (the Captain Price ICBM EMP launch level). There's no way on God's green earth that I could have finished those levels on Veteran by myself. On Sniper Fi, all you have to do is poke your head out a little bit and 20 spetsnaz are putting bullets in it, covering your FOV with strawberry jam. (Really, IW, was all that red goo necessary? Bad enough that the enemies are pretty much cheating, but you have to blind the player when they're wounded, too?)

A lot of video goodness on today's blog. To whet your appetite for the upcoming Sandy Ravage Booster Justice 3 video, here's 2 FFA matches with the sucktacular F2000 assault rifle and the Intervention sniper rifle. I haven't unlocked the F2000 on this prestige yet, but I didn't like it much the last time I used it. OTOH, Sandy Ravage cleans house with the Vector SMG, so it's the player, not the gun. The featured vid today is a CoD4 snipetage from Hutch from his time with the Optic clan. I can't get the hang of that quickscope and noscope stuff, so this is a particularly impressive vid for me. On to the links:

•  CrunchGear: What does Modern Warfare 2 look like when played on six monitors? Expensive. And like you're playing with old style diving helmet on your head.

Featured CoD YouTube Video

• Kotaku Australia: Modern Warfare 2 bigger than Lady Gaga and Transformers combined. Megan Fox and Lady Gaga... Hmmmm.
• Times Online: Real life imitates SF/art: Call of duty: stealth smartphone is latest SAS weapon. Get a real life booty call from Ghost during urban combat. In the 80s, I just put the saran wrapped PRC-77 handset on my web gear. Like this, but not so gay-looking:
 

That frackin' radio weighed about 14 pounds. Throw in an extra couple of batteries, and you move into some major suck territory. Only the M60, at 23 lbs unloaded, was worse.

    More Gaming Links:

•  BASHandSlash: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 PC server admin experiences. What it's like to run your own BC2 server for clans/pubs.
• Stony Brook Press (college paper): Bad Company 2 review.
• Johannesburg Times Live: Bad Company 2 review.

• Joystiq: Left 4 Dead 2 'The Passing' DLC pushed back, priced at 560 Microsoft Points. (That's $7, US, compared to $15 for the MW2 "Stimulus" map pack.)
• Kotaku Dead Space first looks: Isaac on a train; Dead Space 2: More fun with severed limbs.
• Joystiq: Dead Space 2 thrusts gameplay footage at PAX audiences.
• 1Up: EA Considering Dead Space: Extraction Port for Xbox 360, PS3.
• GameDaily: Deus Ex: Human Revolution preview.
• GameTrailers: Pach-Attack, Episode 108.
• PlatformNation op-ed: Dangerous Gaming Trends.

    Non-Gaming Links:

• Houston Chronicle: Woman wins multi-million dollar defamation suit against WalMart.

PS.