New computer and have an account on STEAM

Same as my PSN account

Biocide669

Due to the recent new problems with SOCOM, I have made a new alternet account for SOCOM only.

The new name is Genocide669

I will still have my old one and use it when playing other games. Not that anyone reads these except for Jimbo, and chung. but you never know

Well I used to play the hell out these. When COD4 came out and I finally got high speed internet. All I played was team deathmatch, over and over again. Running around dieing, kill someone die, come back, die, so on and so forth to the point that my K/D:R was 0.75. yep I killed about 7 people for every ten lives I used. Yes laugh it you want, I sucked and I can admit it. I still loved COD4. CoD:WaW ha, that one is even worse. I spawn I move I die, of course I'm not playing that game for the completive portion of the game. But still. In R2, or R6V:2 all I would play are the respawn games. Also with SOCOM you could find me in the unranked respawn games, running around like an idiot blasting everything in sight.

Well now thanks to the curiosity of the ranked matches, and to at least have a different insignia next to my name. I am now completely hooked on the one life per round games. I love the ranked games, and for the first time I feel that I can use stealth, and guile in an online game. I feel like I have to out smart the other player, not out gun them.

Some of the sneaky stuff I have experienced and done in my ventures in the SOCOM world. One good one, I was playing with a couple guys who where new. It was two on one, so I don't feel to bad about this. But they where one level above me and they where planning out there attack, with SOCOM's proximity chat, I could hear every word they where saying, and new what there plan was. When they where rapping up there little talk, I yelled into the mic

"I Can Hear You!!!"

They instantly got quite and started off on there path, only to follow the same plan. I stalked them for a minute and took one out and followed up by taking the other out.

Other little things like, tossing a grenade underhand down a flight of stairs and watching the other guy walk right into it.

Or redirecting people to run one way so I can move the other. I was playing a game of Demolition and it was an 8X8 match up, all of my team was killed and all of the other team were taken out except for one. I had the bomb, and was moving towards there bomb site. I noticed the last enemy player guarding the site, for an elevated spot. So I moved close to a wall under him so he wouldn't notice me. And tossed a flash bang along the far side of his position. It got his attention and he ran over looking for me. I ran around behind him and got to the site armed the explosive with out the guy ever finding me. Needless to say he was not a happy about being tricked, and whats worse he was in a place where he couldn't get to the bomb fast enough to defuse it, nor could he get a shot off at me. All he could do was sit and watch as I took home the win for my team.

It's little things like this that really help intensify the online experience for me, and now that I have found the joy of the no respawn game, it's really hard to want to go back to the unlimited spawning games.

So I like shooting games, I have a bunch of PS2 ones and some of the good ones for the PS3. But the three I'm would like to talk about are SOCOM: Confrontation, Call of Duty: World at War, and Resistance 2. All of them are great games, yes I do love a round or twelve of SOCOM, despite the reviews, and what others say. So what is the point of this three-way comparison? I don't know yet, we'll see how it evolves.

So lets start with SOCOM, this game was fun instantly. It was the only one that got me away from Rainbow 6 Vegas 2. One thing that had me a bit apprehensive about getting it, was the online multiplayer competitive only aspect. I have loved playing the earlier games, but I only played the single player portion of it. I liked the shooting mechanics and everything else. But I'm just not that into the competitive part. Well needles to say, that all changed. I enjoyed the added challenge of facing off against other actual people instead of AI bots. The game is slower paced enough, that I can still think about what to do, but also fast enough that you can get some intense firefights. Granted I can't play with everything the game offers, Ie.. ranked or dedicated servers. I still get horrid lag, and freezing, and even disconnected from the game. I can still play user games, with little to no problems. But any who I'm straying off point. The game is a blast, and even though they are a rarity, ever now and then I find people to work with in a game. Then it's a blast. All in all, this is my first real insight to a game with a competitive nature, and seeing how much fun it can really be.

Ok, next we shale go onto CoD:WaW mostly because it ties in with the previous paragraph best. So I know that the Call of Duty series is a fantastic one. I played a little of the first, the second one I played on the 360, single player only, and could play the mission of the allies taking the cliffs at Normandy all day for hours on end. The third one was ho-hum(story wise), but still a good shooter. The fourth was a blast, and the first time I played online. But while the online was fun and addicting, I sucked at it. So that cut back on the fun factor for me. I got Rainbow 6 Vegas, and was ok at that one, but still wasn't all that into the online. And sadly the same has happened on this one. It seems that all the little things I learned in SOCOM, I forget in two seconds playing this one online. I revert to running and gunning. But on the upside, The online co-op game is great. I actually was able to play a private game with a couple of buddies. Wow, just wow. We would be talking back and forth, I would draw there fire and they would move up and draw fire so I could move up, and it made the game ten times better than it was when I played the single player mode.

And finally, now we come to Resistance 2. Another great shooter, but here it's the co-op that I find lacking, I've played it a couple times, but just can't get into it. The competitive is fun, but at this point it's too easy to get kills. Sure that can sound like fun, but it's true. I sat back and used a sniper rifle, and bam, I lock in on there spawn point, and as soon a they spawn in I wait till they start moving or shooting, and I drop people. First time playing, this happens. I ended up being ranked 9th in the room. 30 vrs. 30 game. I get 9th place. And I used a sniper rifle the entire time. I even ran out of ammo on multiple occasions. That never happens to me, not on competitive games. So that kind of takes a bit of the fun out of it for me, but where does this one shine for me, well the single player story mode. The boss fights, intense firefights, the continuation of the story (I don't care what others say, I enjoyed it) And the ending, loved it all.

Well there you have it, three different games with three different reason to play them. I know people like to say, it's a shooting game, there is no difference. But there are differences, different things that make one fun in one way, and others fun for other reasons. This is in no way saying some one can find these game fun in other ways (except for SOCOM) but they are the modes I like for them. Now my only problem is what type of game do I want to play. Competitive, Co-Op, or single player.

Happy hunting.

So like many gamers out there I too went a bought SOCOM: Confrontation. And Like others I had no luck in getting to play it on the release day. But I did in fact get to play it the next day. I was booted from the servers like many other people, and had a few freezing issues. At which point I basically put the game down. I learned from the message boards that the game work fairly well during non-peak playing times. I then tried it the Thursday morning before work, and ended up playing five suppression games in a full 8X8 room. With no disconnecting, or freezing. I came home for lunch, and the same thing happened. And once more when I came home for the day, only that time I was booted from games, or had freezing issues.

So with that people are complaining about the server issues. Something I can understand, and in many ways sympathize. But with games getting bigger and more complex I think people need to learn to lighten up. They complain about the servers, well, they are temporarily fixed at the moment. Meaning they are stable, but don't go jumping all into the same channel, and then on a 16X16 game, and expect it to run smooth. Of course it's going to crash, and bug out. There needs to be some level of patience with games. Especially online only ones, these games are so complex. Not every developer is going to know what they are doing this early in the online gaming. And beta testing, and quality control are only going to go so far. It's very different when you have 100,000 people logging into a game at once as opposed to a couple 1,000.

Another thing that I see on the boards that really just kills me. The people who are so fed up with it. They come on the boards ranting a raving, and saying how the rest of us. I'm guessing those of us who can get the game to play. How we have low standards, or we need to see the light, in that the game will never be fixed. For one, which goes hand in hand with the previous paragraph. Find channels that have between 100 and 200 people in it. And stay away from the 16X16 games. I have had friends on the PSN confirm it works, and couple off the message boards. Then they complain about how there clan stuff doesn't work, or they can't play with there friends because the invite feature won't work. Put the room and Channel in you comment on the XMB and they can find you. Most players seem to do this already. Sure it take a little more effort but it works none the less.

Lastly is the ranked scores and the leader boards. Ok this is really the only part that I don't have an answer for. I personally don't care about that stuff. It's only the main game I want. And I know there will always be someone better than me. And I can live with that. I just wish people didn't put so much need in seeing there standings. Then again, maybe all this complaining is simply that. Complaining for the sake of doing so. Do what cha like man. I know I will.

So apparently I am now "warned or paroled" on the Gamefaqs side of the message boards. Something that i guess happened over the weekend or this morning. (Oct. 13th) I tryed to make a topic in the Sain't Row boards and it said "Error" and basically that I can't set up messages on this board. I was a little shocked. I have been on these things sice 07/04, and never once have I been modded, at least that I know of. So I went to look up what was happening and found that since the voards are shared there are two sets of people who check them. Gamespot and Gamefaqs. Now my only concern is how to get my "Karma points" back up on the Gamefaqs side. Because I think it said that since I'm on the GS side, my account isn't really real, on the GF side. Or something to that effect.

Anywho so I went to the terms and service on the GF boards about what rules i might have broken latly, and you know what. I see more from other people who break them each day, almost each message, and they are still on these. Oh well no use crying over spilled milk I guess. What a world we live in. :P

The Crap Box: Please fix me.

I don't remember who I saw that originally wrote this about the 360, but I loved it so much I just had to post it.

With the release of Soul Caliber 4 for the PS3, and the 360. Comes the usual collection of complainers on the boards. While I myself generally try and avoid complaining about games, gamers, or whatnot. I feel I should say something a little more constructive. I hope I do it in this blog.

Ok, back to Soul Caliber 4. I have been a fan of this series for a long time. Ever since I first played back when I was in high school, in the arcades as Soul Edge. It was a wonderful alternative to Tekken, and whatever Street fighter game was out at the time. Like other fighting games it evolved and changed. Becoming one of the best fighters out there, then switching to become a little more user friendly. Where as others like Tekken and Virtua Fighter became more technical. Here lies the first complaint of the complainers. People call this game a button masher, and say so and so is broken, cheap, or whatever. The game is made to be accessible to serious hardcore fighting gamers, but also friendly to the new people as well. A game not nearly as deep as Virtua Fighter, or Tekken, but also not a masher like the DOA series. To me it seems to nicely bridge many types of gamers into a setting.

With that we come to another point. The old veterans who can't stand the noobs. Going on about how they spam this move, they only choose that character. They need to go play this type of game so we can play this game our way. Well I think there's their problem right there. Anyone who has taken a martial art, or self-defense classes, should know that a fight is not going to be played out on your terms. That you must expect the unexpected. But if the expected is always coming at you, and your still losing to it. Well that is really on you. One of the top players in the leader boards was talking about how he doesn't play anyone below a certain level, because he doesn't want to waste time with scrubs. He only wants to get his rank higher. Then later on I read another post of his complaining about the spammers, and how they are everywhere and they only use Kilik. Well the hypocrisy I see in this is, they are both trying to uses what they are best at to advance there levels. I am no exception to this rule, I used Taki almost continually to reach Level 20 for the respected honor.

I toughed it out for the couple weeks of play in my two and a half hours each night allowance. Believe me I would have gotten it a lot faster if it wasn't for my girlfriend, job, and general life outside of my gaming haven. I fought through the spammers, and Kilik users, and the lag. Which did get to me at times, but I kept my cool and have now found a new joy. The unranked matches. Sure there are still Kiliks, and Maxis and Mitsurugis. But they are far fewer and far between. Plus they are less likely to spam moves, and try new moves in the middle of games. Another reassuring point to that is, people in the unranked use other characters. I fought my first Ivy user in the Unranked, and what's more, is they where good. And even more is there where a lot of good players, also it seemed a lot more relaxed atmosphere. Sure there where a lot of intense fights, but it didn't have the run up and beat the snot out of the other guy attitude that the ranked matches have.

So I know people will always complain, and I'm sure this blog isn't going to change that. If people want to say that this game killed fighting games, or they are going to sell there SC4 copy. I say fine, do what you like. One I won't have to worry about hearing you complain online. Or that could be a copy for a person who really wants to play it and someone who I will be happy to challenge over and over again. Maybe this blog will help show that, your not going to get what. And maybe just maybe if you compromise you can still walk away saying that Soul Caliber 4 is a fun game. I know I will.

Thank you for reading

Whats wrong with people.

(First off this blog is pasted here from my myspace page, so please cut me some slack for the parts where I describe certon games)

In light of the ERSB rating of the game Manhunt 2 Sony has stated that it forbids third party software companies from releasing AO (Adults-Only) rated games. My grip with this decision, and the rating system is this. Many of the games that are released, in my opinion, should have had an AO rating but only received an M (Mature) rating. The decision that Manhunt 2 gets an AO rating is because of the level of violence. That same level of violence can be recreated in many other games, and is actually a large part of them. The ESRB system is far from perfect, and in many ways far from practical. The Halo games receive an M rating more so because of the blood, where as Medal of Honor series receives a T (Teen) rating. Both have the same level of violence, and both have the same level of mature language use. One is a fantasy game the other is more so based on actual events. The majority of the blood you see in Halo isn't coming from humans; it's a glowing blue ooze from aliens. Where as with Medal of Honor you are shooting at other human beings. Granted there isn't blood spewing from them, the fact still remains that both games are equally violent. So why is one game only allowed for people 17+ and the other rated for those who are 13+?

Many of the games that are created by Take Two Interactive are of an adult nature and thanks to others who are on there own zealot race against "indecency" say nothing of other media. Television, which has many graphic images that people don't make a fuss about. The television show 24 is a prime example of this. Others such as Law and Order, Lost, and even Hero's. All have images and situations that are considered inappropriate for children, but there they are. Every night on free television. Buying and renting movies as well are easily obtained by children. But people don't seem to make a fuss about it. Music is another one. Also you watch the evening news and you see stories about rapes, murders, police chases, floods, and other horrible thins happing around the globe. An no one files law suits about that. What's the difference is it because it's the news, because it's real. Real violence, and disturbing stories about actual people would be something to keep from children. But there it is on the 5 o'clock news for all to see. Many people would argue.

"But kids don't watch the news."

Well I did. I would sit and watch it with my father. That was time I spent with him when he would get home from work. I'm sure I'm not alone in this matter.

So what is indecent, what is crossing "the line"? I can understand Sony and Nintendo's avoidance to the bad press that would ensue with the release of this game. But the fact that a person could can take there hard where and play pornographic material at any time with no problems, is kind of backwards. A game depicting unrealistic violence (let's be fair here) Manhunt 2 can't be played. But another game that has far more realistic violence is ok, Rainbow Six. Rainbow Six has you play as a squad of counter terrorist commandos who use actual military tactics to infiltrate and kill other people. Some would argue that your not killing random people but people who are terrorists. Killing is still killing, and violence is still violence.

The context of games is also something that I think is misplaced in the ESRB system. Meaning that it doesn't exist. Why wouldn't a game like Silent Hill receive an AO rating? The context of that game can invoke a deep psychological fear. More so than a game like Resident Evil both are considered violent scary games. Resident Evil has an M rating, but the fear that is invoked from that game is far less stressful than Silent Hill. I my self enjoy both games, but it was with Silent Hill that I actually wanted to stop playing, I didn't want to go to the next room. Needless to say I always did. The remake of the game Doom is another example. Sure you had your guns and could take anything out, but the fact that you never really knew where anything was going to come from, left you overly weary of heading into unknown room. And it is that psychological impact that can far worse than seeing a polygonal character be gutted. All in all my main grip with these decisions is one the pure hypocrisy in one form of violence is ok, but another form isn't. And two the miss informed people who hear one thing and go ape without any actual knowledge of what they are complaining about.