Modern Warfail

Enough is enough. A resident fanboy is finally venting about the most frustrating game of all time.

I speak of course about Modern Warfare 2 (MW2). It seemed so long ago that November 10 rolled out, relieving gamers of a Juggernaut-infested Call of Duty 4. Little did we know that 6 months later, we would be in the proverbial gamer hell. To use a stupid pun, if Dante's Inferno wanted to really gross people out, the developers would have had Dante fight through a horde of campers to reach his beloved Beatrice.
Before I start, I just want to set the record straight on some stuff. If you see me playing this game, it will be with friends. I don't care about my Kill/Death Ratio (KDR), I don't care about doing well, I just try to have fun with friends. I have tried to convince them to play something else, but to no avail. Please don't think me a hypocrite. I hate what has happened to this game, but I also want to get better. Secondly, I am an avid youtuber, and I subscribe to many channels of gameplay commentators who make money posting their videos. As such, I have many different perspectives to hear from. I can get a feel for how this game is affecting people who genuinly try to do well and have fun with this game. Enough of that stuff, though. Let's rant.
There are a multitude of entities to blame for Modern Warfare 2's blatant shortcomings. Here's my take on each one.
The Media Surpised I'm sure. Yes the gaming news networks are to blame in part for overhyping the game. This was obviously what both Infinity Ward and Activsion wanted, to spread the word about how amazing the game was going to be, but it has ultimately led to embaressment for both parties. If the game had not been as hyped as it was, I declare we would not have as much frustration about every little thing that bugged us. Now, instead of a "minor problem" in the system, every glitch, overpowered weapon, and problem becomes another line in an increasingly large checklist of failure. Lesson to learn: Don't talk shit unless you can back it up.
Infinity Ward (IW) Wha-huh?! After I defended them in my previous post?! Yes. As much as it pains me to say, if a game has deep problems not only at it's core gameplay mechanics but also it's online support, someone has to pay. Call of Duty 4 (COD4) had it's problems, believe me. But they seem like cakewalks compared to Modern Warfare 2's problems. Noob tubes in COD4 were annoying, cheap, and lame. Rather than seriously re-evaluate them, IW added Danger Close and One Man Army, ensuring Noob Tubers a place in "Fuck you" Hall of Fame. In COD4, the knife was a method of last resort, a means to kill when bullets weren't fast enough. In MW2, there's Commando, the equivalent of the Halo Sword Lunge. You want a lag jump? How about one that's unstoppable at 10 feet or closer. It seems tragic that IW didn't even listen to the community at all when it came to what it wanted, opting instead to make a more "noob-friendly game". Add on top of it hands-down the WORST online support in the history of video games. No online beta, no quick fixes to the millions of glitches that pop up every week, no easy way to play with friends right away, no response to the outbursts the community has about the game at all, and on top of all that, the new map pack doesn't even work correctly. Robert Bowling, get your shit together. Say what you will about Halo, but Bungie would never allow this.
Activision Well duh. These fuckers perpetuate the shituation (not a typo) even more. In the pursuit of making billions of dollars, the company fucks over millions of gamers. Demanding a whopping 15 dollars for their new map pack (consisting of 3 new maps and 2 COD4 rehashes), these sonsobitches are greedy. You may not think that is a whole lot, but when you consider that most map packs for other games (like Halo and WaW) are only 10 dollars and offer a shitload more than that. Activision has dug itself deep into MW2, and it won't let go until it sucks every last dollar away. It's as if Activision is a kid whose found his dad's gun, and has magically learned how to use it to rob every gamer of fun and money.
The Community The Matrix itself. It seems strange, but don't forget that most of the glitches in the game are found one way or another by the community. Now some people will choose to ignore the glitch until it is fixed. But the OTHERS. Oh, the OTHERS. What makes people exploit broken mechanics in the game to cheat their way to victory and then lord it over other players as if they had been beaten fairly? Short answer: people are assholes. But they aren't the only ones. Campers, emotionally incapable of dying in a video game, must hide in corners in order to win, because if they don't, they will spend an eternity in KDR Hell. Sadly, the worst people are the people I play with. These are the people who go into any game, Team Deathmatch, Domination, or even Search & Destroy, with only one goal: boost their KDR. No capping flags, no helping teammates, and no communication. What's worse is the lack of party chat in most games, forcing me to listen to other teams talk shit as my team silently runs around, going apeshit for kills.
Wow. That made me feel better. Anyway, if you have anything you'd like to add or debate, leave a comment and vote in the poll. Feedback is appreciated. Go play some game other than the clusterfuck "the biggest entertainment release of all time" has become. :D

A Return to Albion

Fable III is rapidly approaching our game collections. The question is whether or not it will be in the "I needed this game" or "waste of sixty dollars" category. From what I've seen, it is shaping up to be an interesting game, to say the least. At GDC, Peter Molyneux showed off some of the new features of the game in a demo presentation currently viewable at IGN. Here is some of my impressions of the demo and some things I noticed.

The Graphics: From what I could see, the engine used in Fable III will be very similar to the one used in Fable II. Characters retained a cartoon-y look, while environments appeared detailed and full. Now I suppose if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but I would actually like to see some graphical improvement. Fable II had pop-in (there were some in the demo), glitches, and robotic level design. I could really go for more "epicocity" in the designs as well. Just because you're trying to keep a story in realism doesn't mean you can't make it look pretty. One thing I noted was the demo's hero having a cocked eyebrow, which made him feel much more customizable.
The Combat: Easily my biggest complaint for Fable II, Molyneux cited the idea of remaking the combat system to a more fluid system where you could combine your sword, gun, and magic into powerful attacks. He spoke about the fluidity of fighting games like Street Fighter and Soul Caliber and moving away from more traditional turn-based combat, which Fable really never had in the first place. I like this idea a lot, however, the demo didn't show anything that sounded remotely like what he was talking about. It look very similar to the combat in Fable II. Perhaps he's waiting to show it off at E3, but the combat system needs more than smoothness. It needs to be remade. In Fable II, rolling made you immune to all damage as you rolled. Guns killed opponents ridiculously fast, especially at higher levels of skill. Magic was slow and difficult to use. Fable III must make combat a greater challenge and more enjoyable.
The Presentation: Fable III takes place several years after Fable II, as you play the son or daughter of your hero in Fable II. Your quest is to come from humble beginnings, make alliances and eventually become king of Albion. So far, it is unexplained what happens to your old hero, or if he is in fact the king you are working to overthrow. It will be interesting how it all works out. But what I really want to talk about are the new things Molyneux's introducing to Fable III, or bringing back from Fable II:
All dogs go to Sequel: Yep, the pup is back. He follows you around. Other than that, not much else I can tell you that will differentiate him from the last game. I'd like to see some advancement of what he can do though. But hey, it's a dog. I heart it.
Smells like Normandy: A big improvement is the elimination of long, huge, unmanagable 2D menus. Like Assassin's Creed II's Villa, your hero will have Guild Chambers, complete with a dressing room, in which you can physically see the outfit and change any part you like. You will also have an armory where you can customize and change weapons, as well as a treasury and an achievement room. Now this is brilliant. I can't even tell you how frustrating it was to leaf through dozens of items I would never use to get to the one I would. It'll be interesting to see how they use it on other items like potions though. Might I recommend a shiny pop-up wheel menu comparable to AC2?

Can't Touch Dis: This newest mechanic that will replace Fable II's pop-up emotion wheel is called "Touch". Touch will allow your character to interact with the world in a more personal way than just general emotions in the wheel. If someone won't cooperate, you can use Touch to drag them along; if your child is crying, you can use Touch to pick them up and hold them. Molyneux even went so far as to say you could take gold from your treasury and use Touch to rub it over your naked body. Either that is what Molyneux does in his spare time, or this Touch mechanic is shaping up to be a vast improvement over previous versions.
Balverines of Twitter: Molyneux broke from the demo to talk about Twitter and it's gamelike quality, the more followers, the better you do. The same goes for Fable III. As you work to become king, you will have to make promises to people so they will support you in your Kingship. You may have to marry a stuckup bitch in order to unite two factions, something quite common in Europe for centuries. If you fail to do so or don't keep your promises, you will lose followers and even declare war with those betrayed. This to me feels like Lionhead's answer to Mass Effect 2's "Everyone could die" scenario. Your actions have serious reprocussions, and that's key to a successful RPG.
I'm the Map!: This is the coolest part of the demo and the thing I'm most interested in. Your Guild Chambers contains the Map Room, which is strikingly similar to Fable I's Map Room with the giant circular recreation of Albion. Using this map will allow you to survey all of Albion under a giant magnifying glass like an RTS. You can view cities from afar, or get in really close to see people moving about on the streets (Molyneux cited the example of watching your spouse cheat on you). Now this is what would make me feel like a King. Omniscience is power, and the Map makes you feel like a god. You can command your Kingdom from a the seclusion of your own home. Molyneux likened it to Napolean viewing his troops.
It'll be interesting to see if Fable III improves on its predecesor. I'll keep you posted if I hear anything more.

All the CEO's Men

Back DESPITE popular demand. I felt like writing again because gaming finally FINALLY has found its Watergate. I speak of course of the recent happenings over at Infinity Ward, the subsequent firings, and the future of both Activision and the Call of Duty masterminds.
Oh Bobby Kotick. Why didn't you burn the tapes? Where did the 18 minutes of recording go of you explaining to Jason West why Modern Warfare 2 should be played with Akimbo peripherals? When will Vice President Ford take over for you when you take off in your golden helicopter? Should this blog have been renamed "Frost/Kotick"? When will Adam stop making Nixon references? The answer to these questions are unclear, but here are things we do know:
Security stormed the Infinity Ward office buildings in Los Angeles. The thing I think is funny is the way they phrased this. "Stormed." In other words, the security Activision hired to oust the studio heads are comparable to the NS-5s storming the police station in "I, Robot".
President Jason West and Studio Head/COO Vince Zampella are "let go". In America, this is better known as "fired". Let's get something straight here: this isn't about Modern Warfare 2 in terms of a game. Just cause Mommy and Daddy are fighting doesn't mean they don't love their $1 Billion child. Rather, it's about the compensation and control for it. According to a massive 16-page lawsuit currently viewable on IGN, both West and Zampella were supposed to be compensated for Modern Warfare 2. Activision, in hopes of avoiding payment, hired lawyers to conduct an investigation to bring charges of insubordination and breaches of fiduciary duty against the two, breaching their contracts and resulting in their termination. This type of stuff comes from a publisher like Activision overstepping its grounds, eliminating its promise of complete creative control to IW, and then trying to sneak out the back door.
Activision taps newly-formed studio Sledgehammer Games to make a new Call of Duty. So basically this means that corporate greed wants an even bigger slice of the pie. Activision has expressed interest in taking the Call of Duty franchise into an action/adventure direction. In other words, Bobby Kotick wants Captain Price to star in Uncharted 3. Activision has already stepped on IW's toes by allowing Treyarch to create at least some of the COD games, and now is threatening to take the Modern Warfare franchise away as well. A new Treyarch COD was announced for this year, most likely taking place in a Vietnam setting. A new COD was also announced for 2011, and seeing as how the time gap between Modern Warfare is two years (2007, 2009) this could be the third. The lawsuit West and Zampella filed not only demanded compensation for Modern Warfare 2, but also "the contractual rights Activision granted to Messrs. West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare games." In other words, Sledgehammer could be the next developer of Modern Warfare 3.
So what does this mean for each party involved? Here are some rumors I'm debunking right now:
Infinity Ward will close. Rubbish. Not gonna happen. The developer responsible for the biggest piece of entertainment since Avatar will not just be left out to dry. Though Activision currently owns IW, there exists a Memorandum of Understanding, which keeps Activision's ownership on certain conditions. This memorandum is set to expire in October of 2011 (or if the conditions of contract are breach, which they have been), meaning if another publisher makes a tender offer, Activision could sell the company. Any publisher (the biggest being EA Partners) would snap IW in a heartbeat.
Activsion is fucked. Yes. No matter what they do, they cannot come out of this scandal unphased. Their commitment to greed above quality is sinking them as a publisher, especially in a time when games must maintain a certain level of integrity to acheive success in the market. Other developers, such as Blizzard and Neversoft, will now be wary of a long term commitment with the company. Activision won't close, but it won't ever be the same.
Call of Duty and Modern Warfare are safe. I. DON'T. KNOW. This scares me most of all. They will remain, but they may not be the same games we've come to love (or love to hate). The new action/adventure direction, the new studio, the drama of Infinity Ward all seem to point to one logical conclusion: That the Call of Duty we knew is gone, and is never coming back.
Please let me know what you think. I treasure your feedback, especially with something as madenning as this. Also vote in the poll. Thank you. Glad to be back.