Amazon does have MoH codes for preorders...

    My Mom is still undergoing tests at the hospital. It looks like Crestor was at fault. They're still not sure of the extent of the damage caused by the drug, hence the additional tests. It sucks to be away from my home town working while all this is going on with my Mom, especially since Reibochief shoulders most of the burden. My plan is to drive warp speed back home on Saturday morning... 

    Just saw some disturbing indications on the Amazon customer forums that their Medal of Honor pre-orders for Xbox are not getting beta codes. I fired off an email to Amazon asking what the deal is. It's disturbing since the Medal of Honor "Redeem your Code" page has a link to pre-order, and Amazon is one of the listed participating retailers. This blows. I might cancel the order outright. With Call of Duty: Black Ops coming out less than a month after Medal of Honor hits, I can afford to wait. [Update: Amazon sent me a code, so all is forgiven - as long as the code works.]
    PCWorld, as linked in the main blog below, has weighed in on the CoD subscription mess. They're buying the story that the MW2 subscription link seen in the Xbox Live video was 'just a glitch' and the strong reaction from players, gamer news sites was a 'pointless freakout'. Pointless? Only in the sense that players who don't want to be ass-rammed for monthly fees for glitch-laden, semi-finished games don't have points on their heads, unlike some 'analysts' I could mention. I'm not usually a conspiracy nut, but the timing of it all seems oh so convenient. Maybe this was all just a trial balloon sent up by Kotick and his crew to see whether players would just fork over their cash. Still not convinced, tho, since it's just the kind of dick move that I would expect from Activision after the shit they pulled with MW2's DLC pricing and (maybe) the whole IWNet horseshit on PC. (Admittedly, that had IW's fingerprints all over it, and the way they were less than forthcoming about emasculating the the PC mappers, modders, and clan players didn't exactly enhance their credibility. And it still doesn't.)
    Of course, as linked below, now Pachter is predicting that Activision will go ahead with a 'Premium' opt-in model, where you pay for extras like web stats, etc., but can still play for free. *sigh* Moving on...

 

Featured Modern Warfare 2 Video
Watch This! Gaming: Top 5 Plays: Episode 14

Uploaded 19 July 2010 on MachinimaRespawn

• PCWorld's The Case Against Call of Duty Subscriptions. 
• Pachter: Call of Duty will get Premium 'opt-in' model.
• Is Call of Duty this generation's Star Wars? Only in the sense that some sequels have been way worse than their predecessors, substituting special effects for story, human interest, and meaning.

• Blacklight: Tango Down Gametrailers Review Pod.
• Blacklight: Tango Down review: PCWorld Australia.
• Information is Blacklight: Tango Down's best weapon.
• Medal of Honor beta not available to Amazon pre-orders? WTF? Just sent those douchebags an email asking for a beta code.
• Medal of Honor GameTrailers interview. 
• Singularity review: Zero Punctuation. (Thanks, Blues News)
• Dead Space 2 preview: Destructoid. 
• On Guns in Video Games. (Thanks, Blues News.) 
• Art imitates life? Women spend more on fake video game items.
• Eight ways to improve Red Dead Revolver.
• New Marvel vs. Capcom characters: Doctor Doom, Chun-Li. I, for one, welcome our new armor-wearing Latverian overlord.

• Quantum time machine - Travel to the past, don't fear Grandpa. 
• Next Gen surgical robots - Where's the doctor? I, for one, welcome our robotic surgeon overlords.
• Self-driving robotic vans begin drive from Italy to China. I, for one, welcome our robotic self-driving van Sino-Italian overlords.
• Bloatware becoming a problem on Android phones.
• British Petroleum photoshops picture of its Gulf leak disaster command center.
• Apple reports $3.25 billion profit. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a lot of iPhone 4 cases.
• Facebook passes 500 million users, almost as many security breaches.
• Times paywall clocks up 90% decrease in online readership. But they're probably making it up on bandwidth savings, right?
• UK Burger King 'Queen Size' chicken sandwich ad banned.
• Destructoid reviews Predators. 
• The perfect crime. Get some, Grandpa!!