Call of Duty: Black Ops Little Known Features

In a rather under-publicized article on the PlayStation Blog, Treyarch Community Manager Josh Olin detailed some of the lesser known features of Call of Duty: Black Ops.  Of particular interest to me, was the fact that the game supports split-screen online play.  Yes friends, you can get together on the couch to go shoot other people on a remote couch.  In an era that has all but forgotten local multiplayer, this is such an awesome feature it needs to be screamed from the mountaintops. 

But Treyarch wasn't done with the little gems in the article.  Next up is the custom game editor.  For private games, you can specify the rules of the game.  Shotguns only?  Sure!  Also, you're able to save your creation to an online file share for friends and the community to enjoy. 

The game supports standard matchmaking of course, but you can now limit it to regional matchmaking as well.  This will allow you to try to claim dominance over your own neck of the woods, should you so prefer.  Lastly, the custom emblem you can design does not reset if you prestige.  It looks to be just about the only thing that doesn't, but it's nice to know that all your hard work isn't lost if you want that sweet, sweet prestige.

The recent history of bugs and glitching in Call of Duty games has turned me off from the series, and I've much preferred Battlefield Bad Company 2 as of late.  However, I'm likely going to give Treyarch's offering a chance, at least for a little bit.

PSN Maintenance Today

In what has seemed to be a recurring theme lately, the PSN will be down today from 10:00am until 6:30pm Eastern.  During this time, users won't be able to access the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home, or Account Management, and may also have trouble signing into the PSN.

Sure would be nice to have these notifications sooner than 2:00AM on the day of the maintenance guys!  Also, speaking from a technical background, who the heck sets their maintenance window in the middle of the day?

Amazon Buy 2 Get 1 Free Deal

Amazon wasn't done today. They've unloaded with another great deal. Buy any two from the list, grab a third from the list free. Plenty of good ones on the list, so if you've got $120 burning a hole in your pocket, save yourself $60 more by taking advantage of this deal!  This one is only good through 10/30, so don't waste too much time making a decision!

Playstation Rewards Announced

The Playstation Blog announced the creation of the Playstation Rewards program today.  This program is intended to reward users for "playing games and interacting with th entertainment content that PlayStation has to offer".

It's a three tier system ("Select", "Pro", "Legendary") that gives access to more and more generous rewards.  To earn credit toward these levels, you simply "Keep playing new games, buying content purchased from the PlayStation Network in the PlayStation Store and PlayStation Home, download movies and TV shows, or just communicate with us by taking one of our surveys..."

Exactly how much credit you get for games you play or content you buy remains to be seen.  Also as yet relatively unknown is what rewards you will get.  Currently listed as examples are PSN avatars displaying member status in the program, exclusive dynamic themes and PlayStation Home content, and members-only sweepstakes and giveaways.

Invitations are going out today to all "eligible" members of the Gamer Advisory Panel and PlayStation Plus subscribers.  Eligibility is not defined anywhere in the post.  There doesn't appear to be much of any great value that everyone participating can get, but this is new, so hopefully some more meaningful content will find its way into the program.

Gamestop.com Matches Amazon's 15% Off With Better Deal

Using the code "15SHIP" at checkout will net you 15% off plus free shipping on any in stock game priced $30 or more from Gamestop.com.  Difference here is that you're not limited to the list like you were with Amazon's deal earlier.  Good day for gaming deals!

Save 15% On Select Games At Amazon

A friend of the blog recently received an email from Amazon inviting him to apply the coupon code "GAMESAVE" at checkout to knock an additional 15% off their gaming order on "select titles".  You can find a list of those titles here. Looks like there are definitely a few worth getting!

Free Weapons For Fable 3? Sure!

Stumbled across this today perusing the Live Marketplace.  If you're one of the many who've purchased Fable 3 and you'd like some free weapons (who wouldn't?!?) check this out.  Not sure how long this will stay, but it's certainly worth a look!  Check it out at the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Super Street Figher IV (PS3) - $20 at Amazon

The fantastic Super Street Fighter IV can be had at Amazon.com right now for a paltry $20.  If you don't have this game, and this doesn't convince you to get it, well, you're probably never going to get it!  Not sure how long this will last, so you should jump on it if you're interested.

New Release Tuesday!

  

Well, it looks like everyone decided that October 26th was the day to release their games.  Those of note obviously are Fable III, SvR 2011, Force Unleashed 2, and Rock Band 3.  With all the quality titles out, one or more will certainly suffer with all of them released at the same time.

Current Metacritic Scores:

Fable III - 80
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 - Not yet rated
Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 - Not yet rated
Rock Band 3 - 92
Tony Hawk: Shred - Not yet rated
The Sims 3 - Not yet rated
The Fight: Lights Out - Not yet rated

Now Playing 10/24 - 10/30

DaringOne's Playlist:

Final Fantasy XIII - PS3
Fable III - Xbox 360
Borderlands - PS3

Final Fantasy XIII - So on the last update, I *thought* I was near finished with this game, but not so much.  I'm now, from what I gather, near the very end .  Just began chapter 13, which I'm told isn't very rough, and then the final chapter.  I have to be done with this in time for...

Fable III - Looking very much forward to this one, but I pre-ordered from Newegg, so it looks like I'll be waiting an extra day after everyone else according to UPS's estimate of when my game will arrive.  I'm thinking the only reason this won't be the only thing on my playlist next week is because I'll have my Borderlands buddy over on Wednesday to play.  Unless of course I can convince him we're playing this instead!  Speaking of Borderlands...

Borderlands - Another thing I was wrong with, my partner in crime and I still need to finish two of the three arena battles in the Knoxx DLC, and then Crawermax.

On the shelf waiting for playtime:

Uncharted 2 - PS3
Fallout 3 - PS3
Dragon Age: Origins - PS3

Kinect Impressions

With Sony's Playstation Move already being released last month Veteran Gamer now turns its attention to the Microsoft version of the motion controlled video game experience. I had a chance to preview Kinect in August, and with its release price of $150, I believe that Microsoft marketing has its work cut out for it.

My preview experience was on the Kinect Tour, which is wrapping up shortly. There were two choices, Dance Central and Kinect Sports. Being a 6'4" slightly overweight guy, Dance Central in front of strangers was not an appealing options, so I went for the Kinect Sports option. The tour is held in small trailers, which have an optimal space set up for the Kinect experience. If you're a loser with no friends with you like I was, the Microsoft representative will played with you to complete the experience.

It's not Minority Report

One of the big features everyone is clamoring over is the "Minority Report" style interface that Kinect affords. If you've seen the movie, you know that this is a virtual interface that was extremely fluid and responsive to the person using it. This was not at all the case in my experience. The Microsoft rep lets you start the game from the main menu, and this was not as great an experience as I'd expected. The reaction to your motion is very laggy, and with no buttons to activate your choice, the way to select something is simply to hold your hand over it for a given amount of time.

100 meter glowing hurdles

After getting through the menu, you get to the game, which in this game, was the 100m hurdles. Before the game, the Microsoft rep informed me that the secret to running fast in the game was to run in place and bring your knees up as high as you can while running. Also, you have to pay attention to the hurdle to see when it glows green to make your jump. I ended up getting to play two games against the rep, as she forgot to activate the camera recording our play the first time so we would be posted to the website for the Kinect tour. The two game play sessions were physically intense. Kudos to the Microsoft rep, doing that all day had to be extremely draining. I ended up winning both matches, which I'm sure the reps were probably directed to do, but I also set the record in my second attempt. The biggest thing I noticed was the reason for the glowing hurdles. When I jumped, my character did not jump right away. Instead, the character jumped at the appropriate point when it reached the hurdle after I'd jumped well in advance of that point. This further lent to the overall feeling that the system lags behind your actual movements.

Of course, it is still pre-release

The one thing going for Kinect is that it is still pre-release. I'm holding out hope that because this is not final software that it was indeed the software that was the problem, and not the hardware. However, let's just say this gave me a less than stellar first impression of the system. I find it really hard to believe that Microsoft actually allowed the game to be played in this state, because I certainly wouldn't recommend to anyone to spend money on that experience. Yes, it's neat that I was able to control the whole game using only my body. However, the neat factor only goes so far. The rest of the experience was jarringly disjointed. What I did never truly reflected what was exactly happening on screen, completely taking me out of the experience. Even if everything had worked flawlessly, I had already determined in my own mind that I wouldn't be purchasing Kinect until the price dropped to at least $100. After my demo, I don't believe it's worth even that much. Only time and more games will determine if my experience will be the norm or if it was merely an aberration. For gaming's sake, let's hope for the latter.

New Release Tuesday!

The big boy this week is of course, Fallout: New Vegas.  However, EA releases it's new MMA franchise and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami releases his latest, Vanquish, up against the 800 pound gorilla.  We've also got a pile of other noteable games as well.  I'm honestly surprised anyone would slot themselves up against New Vegas.

Metacritic Scores (as of the writing of this article):

Fallout: New Vegas - 85
EA Sports MMA - 88
Vanquish - 82
The Shoot - Not yet rated
Time Crisis: Razing Storm - Not yet rated
DJ Hero 2 - 91

Review: Sports Champions

What is the first thing you do when you release a motion peripheral? Well you release a sports mini-game collection, of course! Sports Champions pits you against the computer or a friend in a game of Disc Golf, Gladiator Duel, Archery, Volleyball, Bocce, or Table Tennis. When I purchased the game, I felt that only Gladiator, Archery, and Table Tennis would see any real playing time, but I was quite mistaken in my preconception. It turns out I've had quite a bit of fun with all the events, and there really isn't one in the bunch that I can say is no fun to play. So let's get to it, shall we?

Minimal Entry Fee

The first thing you need to know about Sports Champions is that you only need one Move controller, and no Navigation controller is required to be able to play all events. That said, I highly recommend having two if you want to get the most out of the game. I've played the game extensively both ways, and for the events that support two controllers, you'll want both. It adds way more to the experience the developers wanted to create, but it's also great they recognized that not everyone had $150 to drop at launch and created every event so that it could use just one controller.

The Nuts and Bolts

Each event is divided into three modes to play. The main mode is Champions Cup, pitting you against each of the ten computer opponents where the game conditions are automatically set. In addition, you'll take part in a skills challenge midway through. The Champions Cup is also divided into three progressively more difficult cups: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Depending on certain conditions met while playing, you'll receive points for your efforts. Those points then earn a rating of one to three stars. If you earn the three star rating, this unlocks various things, such as outfits or new game equipment. The second mode is the Free Play mode. This is what you'll be firing up if you want to play with friends, or if you want to play against the computer as well as set the conditions of the game. Last is the Challenge Mode, where you can play the challenges faced in the middle of each Champions Cup.

So how well do the Move controls work?

The answer to the million dollar question is "very well". This game is what Wii Sports wishes it was from a control standpoint. There are a couple of mechanics, aiming high in archery and setting in volleyball, that don't work perfectly. However, I suspect this has more to do with the fact that I stand 6'4" tall rather than an actual game problem. Apart from that, I'm VERY impressed with the ability of the Move platform to recognize the motion made by the player. Everything is captured down to even the smallest of motions, which is what makes this experience a great one.  The only drawback is in multiplayer, as you can only have two simultaneous players at any time, and those players are confined to a small space that you calibrate before each event.  In addition, if you wish to continue the same event and have somebody else step in to play, you'll need to run the calibration again.

The events! Tell us about the events!

For disclosure's sake, I'm currently in the middle of the silver cup in all of the events.

Disc golf, if you've never played it, is a game whose object is to land a flying disc in a basket at the end of a course set with various hazards. While real disc golf can get as complex as standard golf with all manner of available discs, this interpretation affords you a "driver", "iron", and "putter" discs. The event contains a full 18 hole course, though in the vast majority of the Champions Cup matches, you'll only play a fraction of these. Just like with a real flying disc, the manner in which you throw it will determine if you manage a straight shot. Tilt your wrist a bit, and your shot will curve. You can even throw the disc using a sidearm motion instead of the "classic" technique. The "holes" you play vary greatly in scenery from a forest on a fall day to what amounts to a snow covered glacier. All holes provide a great challenge, but none so great as to be frustrating. Once you have the hang of the throwing mechanic, finishing under par for a round will be no problem.

Gladiator duel is one of the jewels of this title. It gives everyone what most have wanted out of motion gaming from the beginning: A sword fighting game with true one-to-one motion. This event is the only one of the bunch that I would say two controllers really should be a requirement, but it is playable with only one. The catch to this is that you must hold the trigger in order to move your shield. Not the most desirable of control schemes, but again, including those of us short on coin wins points. The premise is simple. You against your opponent in a ring. Drain the opponent's energy with attacks or knock them out of the ring to earn the victory. This game is pretty much all about defense. Since blocking with the shield or even parrying an attack with your weapon temporarily stuns the attacker, you can't just flail away wildly and expect to succeed. In addition, each successful block charges a "Super Strike" meter. When it fills, pressing X makes your weapon glow for a limited time. Landing a blow during this time produces an unblockable quicktime event. Both single and two player are a blast to play, and this ties for the best game in the collection in my book.

Archery is just that, but there are several variations to the standard "shoot the bullseye" formula. There's the shooting gallery, where you'll skewer everything from apples to bags of money, Tic-Tac-Toe, where you try to shoot faster than your opponent to win multiple games of Tic-Tac-Toe, a speed event, where a single target appears, and the first to shoot it gets the points, the "Push" event, where there are three targets that you and your opponent try to push to each other's side, and even the challenge mode where you're shooting zombies!  As noted earlier, I seem to have difficulty aiming upward in this event, but I believe this is due to my height more than anything.  One other annoying thing about the controls in this event is that it seems to keep the controller used to aim in the way of what I'm trying to see, which makes things a bit more difficult.  I've actually found this event to be easier with only a single controller, though far less realistic.

Next is probably the weakest of the collection, and that's volleyball.  Now that being said, I've still had a lot of fun with it, but it's essentially a series of mini-games.  You're unable to move your own character, the computer does that for you.  What you do is either serve, bump, set, spike, dive or block depending on what the situation calls for.  There's very little depth to the gameplay here, and I just can't help but think that this event should have been left out or fleshed out better.  I get the feeling that this would be more fun in multiplayer than it is in single player, because at least you could talk some trash to your opponent then.  You're either a little insane or need some more friends if you're talking trash to the computer...

Bocce is the event that surprised me the most with its depth.  When I think bocce, I think mostly of either stuffy rich people on highly manicured lawns, or our family days where balls are very likely to be thrown overhand in some instances at a target that is on the side of a hill or obstructed in some other way that would make the aforementioned rich people lose their lunch.  Thankfully, this event caters more to the latter than the former.  The first few matches in Champions Cup will be played on the standard style Bocce setup, but then you move to other locations that make things much more challenging, and a lot of fun.  From locales such as a park, a dock, or simply different Bocce courses shaped in unconventional ways, the variety is plentiful.

Lastly is Table Tennis, tying for what I believe is the game's best event.  The precision the Move controller affords and the intelligence of the software provides an experience that is rivalled only by real table tennis.  The upside to this version is the lack of a need for space for a table!  You want to hit a shot with topspin?  Go for it.  You want to hit a dropshot?  Go for it.  You want to use any of the various "non-standard" racket grip styles you see in the Olympics?  Go for it.  On top of this, this is not simply a "swing the racket/hit the ball" proposition either.  On the contrary, you really do need to be at the right spot in 3D space to hit the ball.  You also must pay attention to the angle at which you're hitting the ball, as that is what provides the spin on the ball.  I've spent hours playing just against the computer and have not yet tired of the game.

The Verdict

Sports Champions is a worthy sports game collection that has few faults.  Calibration is slightly annoying, but nothing that can't be overlooked.  The Move implementation is fantastic, and only in Volleyball do I feel that it was a less than optimal implementation.  Kudos to the team at Zindagi Games for making a great game to show off the Move hardware.

Pros:

• All games are worthy of your time
• Move controller response is impeccable
• Navigation controller and second Move controller not required

Cons:

• Calibration slightly annoying
• Limited to two player simultaneous multiplayer

Score:  4 out of 5 stars - Worth Owning

Now Playing - 10/3 - 10/9

I realize it's a bit late in the week for this, but I thought this would be a good regular feature for you the fan to know what I'm playing and where I'm at in each game.  I'll avoid spoilers in newer games, but if a game has been out a while, well, you've been warned.

DaringOne's Playlist:

Final Fantasy XIII - PS3
Sports Champions - PS3
Borderlands - Xbox 360

Final Fantasy XIII - I'm nearing the end of the game now as I've put quite a bit of time into chapter 11.  Just entering the tower now.  My understanding is that the final 3 chapters fly by once you finally complete 11.  I've determined I'm going to go for the platinum trophy in this game, and make my number 4.

Sports Champions - Played enough of this that I'll have a review up soon.  Spoiler alert - I like it.

Borderlands - A friend and I play this game once a week every Wednesday(ish) and as a result, are still finishing up the Knoxx DLC.  Only two missions to go though, the last mission for Marcus, and the battle with Crawermax the Invincible. 

On the shelf waiting for playtime:

Uncharted 2 - PS3
Fallout 3 - PS3
Dragon Age: Origins - PS3

Yes, I realize it's pretty criminal that these three games are on my shelf not being played, but in my defense, I'm near the end of Uncharted 2, and a good way into Fallout 3.  Dragon Age, sadly, is unplayed.  This is what happens when you own too many RPGs at once.