Halo 3 Beta

The Halo 3 Beta started yesterday at 8am EDT. Unfortunately, due to an unknown bug, anyone who entered the beta program through Crackdown was not able to download the game until around 10:30pm EDT. It's sad to say, but such delays have become the norm for anything released by Bungie, the rule of 3 website fiasco, halo 2 map launch the other week, halo 2 itself for that matter. Let's just face it, Bungie can't get things out on time, but neither can I so who cares.

After leaving the download going overnight, I finally played my first games this morning. Waking up a early and going to work later, I managed to squeeze my first 10 games in this morning and I have to say I was very happy with the game so far. The game has much more of Halo 1 feel, which is a very good thing. The controls take a little getting used to. While hitting RB to pick up weapons is pretty easy to pick up and is soon second nature, not hitting X to reload is a much more difficult habit to break. There were definitely many times that I threw a trip mine or energy drainer by accident.

Weapons are the most obvious change made in Halo 3. The Assault Rifle has been brought back from Halo 1, plus the addition of the brute spiker, laser, maybe others, I'm doing this from the top of my head. The AR is definitely more powerful than it was from Halo 1 and is actually a useful weapon in some close range situations. I have not had a chance to determine how big of a difference there is between the AR and SMG. It seams that the with the introduction of the AR, the SMG will see much less use. That being said, dual SMG's do tear people up in close spaces so it remains to be seen. Since the 3 maps released with the beta are all open terrain, there is little opportunity to truly assess the abilities/usefulness of any of the dual-wieldable weapons. The shotgun has received an overhaul in the beta, doing more damage than the halo 2 version but with a much smaller magazine, which is a trade-off I really like since it's pretty rare to run out of ammo on a halo 2 shotgun.

One of the biggest changes to the weapons is to the rifles. The auto-aim on all of them has been significantly reduced, returning the feel of actually needing skill to use them like the Halo 1 pistol. Using all of them has a much more satisfying feel to it (people who aren't good at aiming may disagree...). I have heard that the battle rifle has been toned down and that the carbine is a little bit more powerful now. While this may be true, I am not completely convinced. My impression is more that the battle rifle seems harder to use because of the lower auto-aim. It may have a lower rate of fire than the Halo 2 version as has been claimed, I can't say for sure but I still prefer it over the carbine. Maybe I just need to play more for that to change though.

As of yet, I have not touched the laser so can not comment too much on it. However, I have been on the receiving end of a laser shot and while it is a threat, it does not seem like it is overpowered. With practice, it shouldn't bee too difficult to learn how to dodge the shot more effectively so without skill it's by no means a guaranteed kill. There have also been changes to the rocket launcher, the ability to carry turrets around and more but I'll leave those to another time when I've used them more.

Halo 3 introduces various items including the energy drainer, bubble shield, portable lift and trip mine. Many of these items seem like they are much more useful in objective games than in team slayer. The exception to this may be the bubble shield, which has some practical uses in TS. The only games I have played so far have been TS, so the bubble shield is really the only item I have seen used effectively and it can really be a pain in the ass. The bubble shield does exactly what you would probably expect from the name. You drop in on the ground and it shields the area around it with a protective bubble. The effect that shows this bubble is a transparent active-camo like effect, which can be very difficult to see from a distance. One change that I would like to see would be maybe to add a color tint or some other indicator to make it a little bit easier to identify the shield. I will need to experiment more with the other items later tonight when I play some team skirmish. I can think of some good uses for the energy drainer and bubble shield in king of the hill and trip mines could be useful to cover exists in CTF.

Among other changes to the game, the shield indicator has been moved to a bar across the upper-center of the screen, which is hidden when full. I'm much more ambivalent to this change than other people seem to be. Wherever the shield indicator is, I'll be able to see it when I need to so doesn't seem to matter. One change to the HUD that can be somewhat annoying is what I call the red blotch. I noticed it the most in a game of team snipers, but it likely happens in other circumstances. When hit by a sniper shot, I assume that since your shields are now low/gone, there is a red blotchy rectangle obscuring the top half of the screen. This was extremely annoying in snipers since it basically meant that if you got hit you couldn't see the person who was shooting at you because they would likely be in the distance and thus in the top part of your screen. Also, the effect itself is kinda pathetic, it looks like a red rectangle flashing across your screen. The edges could be softened up a little bit to make it a little better looking.

Of course there are many other changes which I haven't mentioned. Perhaps after playing all night tonight I'll say more about them. Overall, the beta shows great promise for Halo3. Hopefully things will only change for the better between now and the final release in "September."

Frugalness and Xbox Live

Haven't been many updates recently, we'll try to do better.... after Spider-man 3 is out of my system.

So recently Gears of War, Halo2, Rainbow Six Vegas have all been releasing content add-ons for their games namely with maps and even new game modes. As much as I enjoy online gaming, I already pay for my internet connection and Xbox-Live and $60 dollars per game... a $10 dollar increase that we've all been forced to live with. I am greatly annoyed that the Halo2 map packs are four dollars, doesn't use the xbox 360 point system, and is on a per console basis.... If you pay for it you should be allowed to have it on many boxes. I have two old xbox's and one 360. The 360 is what I mainly use but for old times sakes and laziness sometimes I will play Halo2 on the Xbox. I would be forced to pay 12 dollars to download the content to each box. On the plus side i suppose that once the Halo3 beta came out I would hardly play any halo2 and once Halo3 was launched Halo2 would see even less play time. It's just frustrating to be nickled and dimed for add ons to games. I hope that future games won't be released without the full product set with more pieces being released on the live marketplace.

As I really do not enjoy Gears of War online I am passing on the new mappack as well. I have hardly played the free map download they offered last time and it is a shame that Microsoft supposedly would not allow epic to release the maps for free. I will probably check out the new maps when they are free later in the year. The same goes for Rainbow Six Vegas which is my favorite shooter next to Halo2 because it plays so differently although I do wish there was a party system.

I blew through TMNT and I must admit that it was ridiculously fun if not a little too easy. The achievement points are also way too easy to get. It would have been more rewarding if some of the points were a tad harder to get. It is also super disappointing that TMNT is a single player game as multiplayer TMNT is a staple of video gaming. Definitely worth renting at the very least.

Next I am looking forward to Spider-man 3 because even though its going to be a licensed movie video game, the previous Spidermans have been fun and Ultimate Spiderman was also very fun. I look forward to playing the game on a next gen console with even more of New York to explore. The only dilemna I face is do i start the game before watching the movie... or do I wait. Hmm..

Till my next late night posting.

Stupid Pricing

I was originally excited by the prospect of downloading new guitar hero tracks on Xbox live. Now that there are downloads I have decided to pass. Songs come in three packs and are over 2 dollars a track.... Buying all the guitar hero 1 songs would be more than the cost of guitar hero 2 with a guitar and guitar hero1 on ps2, which I already own. Yea screw that, Microsoft and Harmonix really dropped the ball on this one.

Secondly, maps that are add ons should be free. I refuse to pay for halo2 maps and for gears of war maps, esp the halo2 maps. I want map packs for both my Xbox and my 360. I don't wanna pay twice to get it on both consoles. Microsoft is sending out a strong message that they really don't care about the gamers and just want to take your money. Micro transactions are the bane of the service and I refuse to pay more for games that are rushed out and unrefined. Points add up fast and hopefully gamers will show their unhappiness by refusing to purchase overpriced content.

Xbox 360 goodness

This will be my long overdue video game update.

Guitar Hero 2 Xbox 360:
Holy crap, this is amazing. We all already know my love affair with Guitar Hero on the PS2 so naturally when Guitar Hero was released for Xbox I was there on the day of the release at 10am waiting at my local Circuit City. They had a special promotion where you got 1600 free Microsoft Live points with purchase. Definitely a great deal, Flcn also ran to his Circuit City on his lunch break as well.

Differences between the two versions:
Gamewise, the games are pretty much the same. The Xbox version has 5.1 sound for those of you with a home theater setup, not me. There is an additional song per concert venue and Harmonix has definitely tried to balance its line up with songs that aren't as metally. Achievement points! I am an achievement point whore as long as the aren't ridiculously hard to get. For this very reason I have practically abandoned my PS2 version in order to get achievements and to see how I stack up on the Leaderboard. Lastly, the Xbox version allows you to download future songs that are released on Xbox Live definitely extending the time you will spend with this game.

Little complaints:
(1) Some guitars have had unresponsive whammy bars or suffer from delays. If you have a defective guitar, go exchange it at the place of purchase or you can google the fix online by taking it apart.
(2) The Xbox guitar just is not as comfortable. After logging serious time with both guitars, the PS2 guitar is hands down more comfortable. The whammy bar isn't as short and the Xbox guitar is a little more cramped. The buttons are slightly smaller and closer together, but the buttons are more stiff and will last through more wear and tear. The X shape of the guitar means that it jabs into my hand and gets uncomfortable during extended play, if they ever release a differently shaped or wireless guitar i would be tempted to buy it just to get away from the X shape of the current guitar.
(3) No online battles. You still can not battle a friend thru Xbox-live, major let down.

I anxiously wonder what kinds of new downloads will be on Xbox Live and when that will happen. Comon Harmonix.


HALO 3 BETA NEWS:
It has officially been announced that HALO3 Beta will go online May 16th. *Does a little Dance* After sludging through the Rule of 3 Beta sign up I am super excited. Also, anyone who wants in can still go buy a copy of Crackdown to play. It is great to know that Bungie and Microsoft are being super generous and letting the beta play run from May 16th to June 6th I believe. As colleges will be out of session the ISP's better be ready for a surge of traffic.

X Button: We finally know what the X Button will do in Halo3. It will activate devices/gadgetry! This is definitely a new step in Halo and will definitely change game play. Players will be able to throw down a bubble shield, a suicide mine for when you're about to get run over by a vehicle or throw down a launch pad allowing you to get to certain hard to reach spots.


Black Xbox:
Overrated. For that much money you only get a 120 gb hdd and a hdmi port which i could care less about and no HD-DVD playback. Why spend your money on it. I do wish Microsoft would sell a 120GB HDD for much less than it goes for. Another reason I don't download movies/shows on Xbox Live. Hasn't Sony's PS3 proven that people don't want a "media center" if its outrageously priced? Finally, in my opinion the black finish on the Xbox doesn't look as good as the shinier finish on the PS3. I think I'll pass unless someone wants to send me a free Xbox 360 Elite.

Linux Adventures: Fedora!

Having a spare desktop in the house, I have decided to take the plunge into an attempt to learn Linux, or at least be able to get by in the use of it. Recently I have gone through installs of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Fedora Core 6 Zod. I really didn't know too much about the various distributions and had a significant amount of free time, so I decided to try them all out. In the end I have settled on Fedora and have managed to get everything up and running. The machine now functions well with email, instant messaging, web browsing and all the basic necessities.

Lessons learned so far:
(1) If you only have one computer and you're a complete newbie to linux as I was you're gonna be in for some headaches. Having an internet connection to look up documentation is extremely helpful.
(2) Things go well until there's a problem. I have no idea how to use a Linux terminal. Troubleshooting goes not so well.
(3) Don't bother with x64 installations if you have an AMD processor if you want to be able to use Flash and various plug-ins easily. This is better left to those who know what they're doing. I had lots of problems and headaches trying to get Flash 9 to run until I installed the 386 versions. They run perfectly well on 64 bit processor machines, now I know.
(4) You are going to have to weed through a lot of pages and forums to find out how to do things.
(5) Gnome vs KDE, both are pretty similar look at screenshots and play around to see which you like better. I've gone with Gnome just cause its Fedora's default.
(6) Media is a bitch. If you think getting codecs to work in Windows is difficult wait until you try to play all the various formats on Linux. Much poking, research and prodding is required. (I may also just be an idiot)
(7) IC Plus IP1000 ethernet card on my Abit motherboard just refuses to work with Fedora 6. I ended up throwing in another 10/100 ethernet card just so I didn't have to deal with drivers and my lack of knowing how to make it work. In that regard windows is more friendly. Idiots like me like having things just work.
(8) Fedora has an automated installer called YUM. It's really quite cool and very handy although it means I have little luck in installing anything that's not yumable. It automatically updates when new releases or versions are available and Fedora even has the equivalent of an automatic update much like Windows XP and Vista.
(9) Freeness! For a cheapskate like me, paying around 300 plus dollars for Vista vs. downloading Fedora or Ubuntu for free, I am beginning to see how monetary motivation is a significant factor. With add ons like Beryl, who cares about the Windows Aero experience when Beryl is comparable or better.
(10) Stability. Crashes are always a result of me not knowing what the hell I'm doing and me randomly editing stuff in ways that you're not supposed to. I like knowing that if I leave this machine on for a week straight it won't be so slow that I can't do anything.

All in all it has been a fun albeit sometimes frustrating experience, but I am glad to see that the installers are now much improved and windows and mac users alike will have a far easier time getting the hang of free Linux distros but its still hardly a cakewalk. For the slightly technically inclined and those with patience I say give it a try on a spare machine. Linux for the mainstream is still more difficult to deal with but all in all the installation has come a long way from when I tried Linux a few years ago and gave up before I could even get my internet to work.

More updates to come.

Cell Phone Rant

So recently I started looking into my options for a family wireless plan as my old contract with At&T wireless (taken over by Cingular) had finally run out. Imagine my surprise to learn that 2 years later, plans have less options and are actually more expensive. Around January of this year Verizon and Sprint both upped text messaging charges to 15 cents to send and receive and the "new" AT&T/Cingular has followed suit raising rates to 15 cents to send and receive a text message. What really annoys me here is that it costs 15 cents to RECEIVE a text message.

Text messaging is not like a phone call. You can't reject a text message. If some idiot gets a hold of your number they can spam you mercilessly. As many services now provide free text messaging from Aol Instant Messenger and websites the amount of junk texting you receive from friends and acquaintances will increase. Companies are also looking into spam and targeted text messaging ads. Recently Verizon wireless customers received messages telling them to buy a certain stock. At 15 cents a pop, your bill will add up. Unfortunately there is no text messaging spam filter that can be implemented. Phone carriers provide you with an all or nothing option.

I barely use text messaging. I don't understand why you would choose to text someone when you could just call them. If its not important enough to call me and tell me, please wait till i see you again or I'm online at my computer. Send me an e-mail even. Text messaging is especially handy in an urgent situation and for that reason I am hesitant to turn it off completely. When you ask your wireless carrier to block all text messages for you, the sender doesn't not receive a notice stating that you are unable to receive text messages. This can lead to miscommunication and people wondering why they are being ignored.

It is especially frustrating that as a mobile phone user who is currently using an old At&t Wireless contract, it is free for me to receive text messages. I believe with the increasing rate of spam texting and no ability to screen text messages, it is very irresponsible of wireless providers to charge for something the consumer has no control over. Lastly 15cents for a text message is extremely expensive, that's a 50 % increase. Text messaging in other countries is vastly cheaper. With the mergers of AT&T and Cingular, Sprint and Nextel, and other acquisitions choices are becoming very limited for customers as this cartel screws the consumer over. It is evident that At&T has learned from Verizon and Sprint's uppage of rates. A slew of customers got out of their contracts with Verizon and Sprint noting that this constituted a change of terms in their contract. AT&T/Cingular now notes that this change does not affect voice calling and is considered an add on and makes it especially difficult to leave without paying the early termination fee.

In the end I am now given the option of getting half the minutes and no free text receiving if i wish to start a new contract. I think I'll ride out my current agreement indefinitely, or until i get phone envy.