Commentary – Page 13

April 29, 2008

Call Of Duty 4 Prestige Rank Update

Currently:

Level 40-something. I flipped over this weekend during the Double Experience Point Extravaganza that was part of the new map releases.

While double experience points helps you level up faster, it kinda screws with you. I’m somewhere in the 40’s but my weapons have only been upgraded to about where they’d be if I was in the 20’s. So this kind of puts you a little behind the 8-ball if you will.

You just don’t have the tools you’re used to having at this level (perks aside).

I was half thinking about stopping at this level but will need to do at least one more to round out my weapon differential.

The new maps are great, they claimed (4) new maps but only 3 are really playable. Kill-House is pretty useless.

COD 4 remains one of the better games I’ve played, but it’s wearing thin. There are things they really need to fix. (these probably won’t make sense if you don’t play the game).

* Party or Lobby Migration is good, but host migration during a game needs to take place, even if it only moves to the user with the best overall connection. That won’t help when that person leaves, but it would help game performance.

* It needs a messaging system that pops up to let you know you’ve received an invite. Similar to the way the PS 3 notifies you that friends are logged on/off. In game is when you need this. When I push the start button it’s to switch weapons, not to see (and dismiss) a bunch of useless invites received 5 minutes prior.

* When someone performs an invite, they should be forced to wait for those to expire before moving on. It would help with those impatient folks who invite people then go join another room, only to screw up the folks that they invited.

* Tone down the noob tube.

* Tone down Jaugernaut.

* Fix the sniping with the ACOG, for real this time.

* Show the blast radius of what killed you in the kill cam. I die from stuff (claymores usually) that I’m no where near.

* mute in the Lobby, please…

* Oh and fix the hard core team killing… Allow users to vote a player out.

April 25, 2008

A Hero

A hero is not someone who pitches a shutout, hits a game winning home run or makes a game saving catch.

Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter is a Hero. He defines heroism.

His story is here via Newsday.

I did not personally know him, but I have met and ridden with his father a couple times. I am deeply saddened today. I am thankful for the men and women in our armed forces who keep us safe and free.

Freedom certainly isn’t free.

April 5, 2008

SkyBus, ouch

So Claudine is on a trip in Vermont with Michael and Matthew. It was driven by the death of her cousin but they planned to visit for a week. They flew SkyBus up, and certainly intended to fly them home.

It’s a darn good thing she checked the web today. Had she shown up Tuesday to get on the plane it would have been really bad.

Fortunately she was able to find a flight that wasn’t too expensive. It involves a lay-over somewhere and she won’t get home until the evening.

March 25, 2008

Bad Boys Bad Boys what ja gonna do?

The problem with having any amount of land is that people seem to think they can just use it. Our property is situated in such a way that it’s pretty convenient to ‘cut through’ it. We’ve tried to discourage that as much as possible. It is ‘fenced’ but that doesn’t seem to stop folks.

This morning was exciting. I was woken up by one of the girls letting me know there were kids in our field again. Last year they had built a hide out among the power lines. Which as far as that goes doesn’t bother me as much as they had taken tools from the barn to build their hide-out.

I’ve scared the bejezus out of the kids in the past, and have waited until they have crossed our property only to make them turn around and go back. Apparently this isn’t enough.

So I hopped up got dressed, grabbed the Excursion and headed out to the field and caught one of those nasty trespassers. I kindly explained that this was private property, and he was trespassing and I didn’t want to see him here again. Then I asked where his friends were, and he said there were a couple ‘over there’.

Over there as it turns out was a complete camp, with tents, tables, chairs, and a roaring fire.

Technically though it was on our neighbors property but I knew they didn’t have permission. So I decided to play camp counselor.

I popped in and introduced myself, let them know they were where they didn’t belong. I asked them to pack up and move along. They weren’t very enthusiastic, (I’m not sure I would have been either having slept through the cold last night). I explained to them that the Sheriff was on his way and if they left before then, well, that be in their best interest. Still they didn’t seem to move too fast, which was unfortunate for them.

Apparently this camp site has been there for a while. Possibly even last summer, which just proves my neighbor isn’t all that in tune with what happens at his property.

The ‘Law’ showed up, and hassled them a bit, and made them clean up. I think that probably scared them enough. Not like I ever did anything like that when I was a kid 🙂

We assume they’ll spread the word that the camp site is closed. We’ll keep an eye on it and have something special for the next round of visitors.

I’m thinking maybe we’ll drop a nice stink bomb in the middle of their camp at 6am next time.

I had tried to take photos of the camp site but my camera had spent the night on the bike and was essentially frozen. By the time the ordeal was over, it was working again.

It’s always something.

January 31, 2008January 31, 2008

The cake is a lie!

Yeah I know I’m a little late to the party but last night I finished ‘Portal’.

Portal is this amazing game that’s part of the ‘Orange Box’ from Valve. It’s one of 5 games in the game pack, and in my humble opinion the only game in it worth playing.

It’s a 3D puzzle game that puts you as a test subject at the Aperture Science Institute. “We do what we must because we can.”

The portal concept is difficult for some to get. I’ll try to explain it.

There are two portals, one orange, one blue. If you walk in one you come out the other. In early stages you only get to control one, the blue portal.

Imagine that if you walked out your front door. But instead of walking out onto the porch you ended up coming in the back door of your house. Like wise you could turn around and walk out the back and instantly be in your front foyer, as if there was no ‘outside’. That’s what a portal would be like, only you get to shoot them and place them where you need them in most cases.

There’s a 2D flash version on the net that might help explain this [here].

I won’t spoil the ending for those who haven’t played it.

I played this on the PS3. It’s available for X Box, PS3 and the PC platform. You can buy Portal by itself for $20 from Valve and I’d recommend that if you’re not into the half life series.

On the PS3 the game played fine, though it loaded like a slug.