AAA: My Birthday

It was my birthday this week, and I’m going to tell you all about what I got.

A got a new printer. Last month I went to Incredible Connection and traded in my old Lexmark for a new Hewlett Packard one. This one’s better than because it’s black, it’s light, and it actually works. That Lexmark gave me problems from day one. Good riddance. The trade-in occurred last month, and I got one third of the price off. I had to have it wrapped up and given to me on the day, and I actually forgot I was getting it.

The only thing that sucked is that there’s a USB cable that should have been bundled in the box. When I phoned the store however, they said it had to be bought separately. They wanted R70 for a cable. I went down to Chaos Computers and bought one for R30.

I got a new watch. Seriously, I’ve been without a watch for years now. And the watches I do have are merely just for show, and don’t work. This one has a proper leather strap, and not the cheap plastic ones that split and break after a few months.

I got a new jacket. I get new clothes as presents every year, and this birthday was no different. I got a jacket that makes me look and feel like a pimp. It’s black, but with blue and pink on it, and has a hood.

I got some new games. For my birthday I got S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, Aliens vs. Predator, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. I immediately put CoP in an installed it. So I’ve been playing that for a few days all ready. AvP will likely be my next game to play, as it looks properly scary, despite some negative reviews. I bet the critics were too scared to even play it, anyway.

I also wanted Assassin’s Creed II and Metro 2033, but not only was it getting a bit expensive, but the DRM in AC II put me off.

I got a free pizza. Ha! This one was the one to top it all off. I ordered a pizza, and waited in the kitchen. Then I waited on the porch. Then I waited in the driveway. Eventually I was waiting in the bloody road for the pizza delivery guy, who got lost apparently. He rocked up, and I gave him the tip, but I said he was late, and that I wasn’t paying for the pizza seeing as he left me there to wait for nearly an hour, and my pizza was warm – not hot. Not cool.

It was well within my rights, because it says right on the box “if it’s late it’s free”.

No pizza tastes as sweet as a free pizza.

Something else I wanted for my birthday was an upgrade for my PC. I just put in a new graphics card, but I sometime want an even better one, and that means I’ll likely have to upgrade everything else just to accommodate it.

We ended off the night with friends and family, and watched a movie, District 9. Crappy dialogue, too much swearing, but awesome CGI and weapon effects. Especially the alien weaponry. Those things just completely vaporise people into a red mist.

|\|\ /\\/

AAA: My Birthday

Six Days in Fallujah Still Coming, Likely This Year

                                    “Hold up, we lost our publisher!”

Last year there was a lot of talk going around about this title, called Six Days in Fallujah. The game was revealed in about April 2009. Then later, after Konami withdrew as the game’s publisher, interest in the title died down, and it was even said that most of the team at Atomic Games, the developers, was let go.

But development on the title continued regardless, and now several months later, the name has resurfaced, and a source told IGN recently that the game is completed, and so should come out this year, although a release date is still pending, and the game still needs to secure a publisher it seems.

“I can promise you that game is still coming out and it is finished.”

It was speculated that Konami pulled out of the publishing deal seeing as the game was considered very controversial, and many people, particularly veterans and families of soldiers fighting in the Middle East, spoke out - and against - the game. They claimed it was too soon for such a game to be released as the war was still ongoing at the time, and still is, several years after it began (in Afghanistan: 2001- ; although Iraq was 2003 onwards).

The game takes place in Fallujah, Iraq, during the early part of the second Gulf War, or War in Iraq, or War Against Terror (whichever you prefer).

My guess is they’ll also need to get the hype machine dusted off and working again, seeing as people pretty much forgot about this game, and declared it cancelled or dead in their minds months ago. It’ll be going up against other popular modern shooters like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor, and not to mention Treyarch’s Call of Duty, although that’s set in a different period (supposedly Vietnam or the Cold War in general). Hell, even old favourites like Modern Warfare and last year’s Modern Warfare 2 are also based in and around the ongoing war.

As for a publisher, some say that they could go the self-publishing route through digital distribution channels, as it seems getting a publisher and going retail would be a difficult and risky thing to do with this title. Seeing as the game was initially supposed to be for consoles like the Xbox 360 as well as the PS3, in addition to the PC, Xbox Live and PSN spring to mind too.

----

Source: IGN

Six Days in Fallujah Still Coming, Likely This Year

Release the Payload: Bad Company 2, Supreme Commander 2 [Major Releases]

            

Today marks the release in North America of the much anticipated Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Unlike the first game, this one will be making an appearance on the PC as well as the consoles, which got the first game too (lucky s@ds).

This game is also said to be ditching much of the humour seen in the first game, and taking a more serious approach.

I’ve said it time and time again: this game is looking good, and I actually can’t wait to play it. And that’s how it’s been with most other Battlefield titles. Looking at the reviews so far, it looks as though that excitement is way more than justified.

I saw something the other day which might interest you by the way. This game looks as though it’s going to be quite a gun fanatic’s paradise, not unlike Modern Warfare 2, and MTV Multiplayer had a list on their blog the other day which detailed a whole bunch of weapons and what it would take to unlock them. Just looking at this list made me salivate, seeing as all the favourites are there: the M16A2 Assault rifle, the M249 Light Machine Gun, and more.

Another game that might interest some is the sequel to Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander 2, no less. It’s an RTS title that takes place 25 years after the first expansion to the first game. I know why I don’t sound particularly enthused about this title: it’s because Command& Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight will be out this month.

I don’t know if I’ll be bothered with this one. The reviews say it’s quite good.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at Amazon

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at Direct2Drive

Supreme Commander 2 at Amazon

Release the Payload: Bad Company 2, Supreme Commander 2 [Major Releases]

It’s March, and it’s Man’s Month

Well, like I said the other day, it’s the end of February, and the end of everything lovey-dovey and slushy as “Valentine’s Month” is finally over.

I’m now going to explain why it’s Man’s Month and how it came about. Firstly, DSTV started calling March “Man’s Month” within the last couple of years, and adjusted their TV programming to reflect it with plenty of action movies. This was to make up for a whole month of those poor saps otherwise known as married men, having to sit through romantic films, otherwise known as chick flicks, bored out of their mind.

March also comes from the name Mars, which is the Roman God of War, and men are warring, vicious, and violent by nature, don’t you know.

This is also quite appropriate because March has a hell of a line-up when it comes to games, and one of them actually happens to be God of War 3. In addition to that, there’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Supreme Commander 2, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, Just Cause 2, Assassin’s Creed II for the PC, Metro 2033, and Command& Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight. There’s a whole clump of these titles arriving on the 16th of March or so, right in the middle of the month, and more or less the Ides of March (I think it’s actually the 15th, but who cares), when Julius Caesar was murdered. Very manly.

On another note, the public holidays this month are all named after males. There’s St. David’s day (today), and there’s the much more well-known St. Patrick’s Day. Not to mention this month is the male equivalent of Valentine’s Day: Steak and BJ day. If you don’t know what that is, just google it, and you’ll see.

And hell, while we’re at it, my birthday is in this month. And it’s the beginning of Fall or Autumn, one of the best seasons of the year.

So, there’s a lot of reasons why March is one of the best months of the year, especially if you’re a man.

It’s March, and it’s Man’s Month

Video Games Coming out This Week (02-28 – 03-06, 2010): Bad Company 2, Supreme Commander 2

          

AAA’s Targets of the Week - Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Supreme Commander 2

It’s all ready the last day of the month; the end of February. Unreal, as my brother would say. But February saw some good games released, and now it looks as though March might be even better.

This week, there’s a possible Modern Warfare 2 killer being released: Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Dedicated servers, more support for the PC, and the limited edition is available on the PC. So we all know who’s going to love this game: PC Gamers! Yeah! It does look awesome, when I see all these trailers and such on the game.

Then another big title that’s coming out this week is Supreme Commander 2 for the PC. I’ve read from the impressions of people who have plaid it that it’s different from the first game, but not bad. That’s all I know, and that it’s an RTS title.

Links where available go to game detail pages at Amazon, Direct2Drive, etc.

PC

Alganon [Digital Distribution]
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Clover: A Curious Tale
Crazy Garage
Ella's Hope
Hunted
House M.D.
Major League Baseball 2K10
N.E.O. Online
Royal Envoy
Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic
Supreme Commander 2
Theatre of War II – Kursk

Mac

House M.D.

Xbox 360

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Dust Devils
Lips: Party Classics
Major League Baseball 2K10
Toy Soldiers [Xbox Live Arcade]

PlayStation 2

MLB 10: The Show
Major League Baseball 2K10

PlayStation 3

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
MLB 10: The Show
Major League Baseball 2K10

PSP

Dante's Inferno
Gunbird 2 Remix [PSN]
Halfbrick Rocket Racing [PSN] 
Lunar: Silver Star Harmony - Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Limited Edition
MLB 10: The Show
Major League Baseball 2K10

Nintendo Wii

Alice in Wonderland
Build-a-Bear Workshop: Friendship Valley
City Builder
Crazy Garage
Mega Man 10 [WiiWare]
Major League Baseball 2K10
Project Runway
SpongeBob's Boating Bash
Zooloretto

Nintendo DS

Alice in Wonderland
Aztec Treasure Hunt
Battle of Giants: Mutant Insects
Build-A-Bear Workshop: Welcome to Hugsville
Crazy Garage
Deca Sports
Major League Baseball 2K10
Party Designer
Sonic Classic Collection
SpongeBob's Boating Bash

----

Sources: Shacknews - Gamespot

Video Games Coming out This Week (02-28 – 03-06, 2010): Bad Company 2, Supreme Commander 2

Medal of Honor not a Propaganda Title, Not Competing with Battlefield

EALA is working on the reboot of the Medal of Honor series at the moment, called Medal of Honor. This isn't to be confused with the first game from 1999, seeing as this isn’t set in WW II, but in the Middle East… in Afghanistan.

As one can imagine, this is slightly dodgy to say the least, seeing as Six Days in Fallujah was pretty much shut down for failure to secure a publisher because of the content.

EA is avoiding politics, and insists that this isn’t some sort of title that’s meant for recruitment or to focus on the the causes of the war, but the people, the soldier fighting there.

Sean Decker:

“I think, again, it was trying to stay out of all the politics. There's been a lot of really good movies – the Gotham Awards just came out and Hurt Locker was the top one. It has nothing to do with the war in Iraq and why it started, or anything else – it's just about the men on the ground, what they go through on a day-to-day basis, and their emotions."

“It's not going to be a big propaganda piece where we wave the flag, or anything like that. It's literally about the people that are on the ground.”

                    Medal of Honor                             Battlefield: Bad Company 2

In another story, Medal of Honor and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 are not competing in any way [1]. They share the same publisher in EA, and BC 2’s developers, DICE, are even working on Medal of Honor’s multiplayer, using their own Frostbite engine instead of the Unreal Engine 3 like the singleplayer.

Medal of Honor should be out in 2010, more or less in Q3, July to September somewhere, and it will be available on the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

----

Source: [1] IncGamers

Medal of Honor not a Propaganda Title, Not Competing with Battlefield

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Goes Gold, Demo Doing Well, and Exclusive Pre-order Deal Details

I read last week that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 recently went Gold[1], which applies to many, many sales or pre-orders so far – 500 000 copies I think, or does that just apply to music? Not only that but the demo of the game has been downloaded over 3.5 million times[2].

In addition to all this though, there’s a pre-order deal for the title, which does like this: pre-order Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and you get Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition for free. Some might argue that this isn’t the deal they wanted, seeing as BF 2142 wasn’t exactly the franchise’s best, as I recall. I think Battlefield 2 would have been better, but I don’t know.

I also read about another deal where if you order the Limited Edition of the PC version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, you’ll get some free unlocks and two weapons from Battlefield 1943, namely the M1A1 Submachine Gun, or Thompson or Tommy gun (the one with the clip, not the drum), and the M1911 Pistol (Colt sidearm). The other unlocks include “Improved Vehicle Armor”, “Vehicle Alternate Fire”, “Vehicle Motion Sensor”, and the “Tracer Dart Pistol”[3].

Note that these deals are only available at EA’s online store at the moment. Not sure if it’ll crop up any where else later on.

----

Sources: [1] Cinemablend – [2] CVG - [3] Inc Gamers

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Goes Gold, Demo Doing Well, and Exclusive Pre-order Deal Details

Medal of Honor to Come out Q3 September 2010

Medal of Honor, the reboot, has been scheduled for a release sometime between the months of July and September, 2010.

It’s been speculated that this date is to “avoid” Battlefield: Bad Company 2, a game by DICE, who’s also working on the multiplayer part of Medal of Honor.

Kind of like letting a teammate through to win in formula one or something I guess. And Medal of Honor will cross the line later on in the year, in Q3 2010. Hell both games even have the same publisher in EA, and BC 2 is advertised on MoH’s website.

But some are saying that the next Call of Duty might pose a threat. But history shows that CoD games are traditionally released more towards the end of the year (each and every year), in Q4, so if MoH can beat CoD by a month or two at least, it shouldn’t have much of a problem.

Funny how the whole of last year’s Q4 line-up was pushed into 2010 by bloody Modern Warfare 2. At least we have plenty of excellent games to play in Q1. January was good with Mass Effect 2, February is all ready seeing some great ones, and so will March.

By the way, I read recently that Medal of Honor’s website has some interesting additions, like franchise pages, which show what some of the other MoH games in the past were like. There are even videos showcasing the past games. I’ve said it before, but Allied Assault was a great game back way when.

----

Sources: TVGB

Medal of Honor to Come out Q3 September 2010

Medal of Honor: Two Developers, Two Engines

So we’ve all known for some time that Medal of Honor will be essentially two different games. The singleplayer will be handled by EALA (EA Los Angeles), and the multiplayer will be done by DICE, the traditional Battlefield guys.

But it’s now been revealed that the two separate parts of the game will use different engines. The singleplayer will use the Unreal Engine 3, and the multiplayer will use the Frostbite engine, also used in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. You could argue that this is due to familiarity, but keep in mind that Mirror’s Edge, developed by DICE, used Unreal Engine 3.

Okay, so some say it stole the idea of taking place in the Middle East from Modern Warfare, but this may be the game that Modern Warfare 2 should have been. It’s either this, or Bad Company 2. One of them has to be. Unless the new Call of Duty makes its presence known this year, and it probably will, as history dictates.

----

Source: That Videogame Blog - Big Download

Medal of Honor: Two Developers, Two Engines

February 2010 Issue of SA’s NAG Magazine out Tomorrow

The latest issue of NAG magazine, the February 2010 edition, is out tomorrow. So, for those of you who waited until the 7th of January to pick up the last issue, you only had three weeks to wait instead of four.

It looks like things are back to normal now that Christmas and New Year’s is officially over. Hooray.
Remember when NAG used to say: if you get the magazine on Friday, it’s a sure thing; if you get it on Thursday, then it’s common; if you get it on Wednesday, it’s uncommon; if you get it on Tuesday, it’s rare. And finally, if you get it on Monday, you’re a damned liar!

Actually it was supposed to be that it’s impossible, but anyway.

Nowadays, we’ve all figured out that it’s the last Thursday of every month, so I don’t waste time looking for it any earlier than that. So, in this case, the NAG should be in your local newsagent on the 28th (tomorrow).
They’re calling this one the “Sand Issue”, because it has features on Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Spec Ops: The Line, and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. Reviews are on the Fiona Coyne lookalike, Bayonetta, Saboteur, Avatar, and the dismal Rogue Warrior.

I had a look at the forums where they’re discussing the issue, and one guy hit the nail on the head. He said that NAG has too many trailers and such on the cover DVD, and the moderator over there said:

“Seriously though, check out the mag, there's a very important spread in there that will change this type of complaint for a long time. Read it carefully.”

Oops. I remember no too long ago, I kind of had the same complaint, but that was only because we all wanted the Dark Mod on one of the next DVDs. I get to watch most of the cooler trailers on The Verge, because I have DSTV.
----
NAG February 2010 issue
[NAG Magazine] February 2010 Issue [Forums]
Contents Page of February Issue [PDF]

February 2010 Issue of SA’s NAG Magazine out Tomorrow

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition for Preorder

At the moment, places like Direct2Drive and Steam, among others, are taking preorders for the Bad Company 2, which will be released on the 2nd of March, 2010. And preordering gives you access to the multiplayer beta test which supposedly starts… today. And you’ll also get the added unlocks like weapons and such.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition at Direct2Drive

You can also pick up the limited edition of BC 2 at Amazon, and it looks like it’s for all platforms, namely PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

----

Source: Big Download

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition for Preorder