Boycotting on the Battlefield

I just would like to direct you folks HERE, in helping with the boycott of EA's Battlefield: Bad Company.

We cannot let EA abuse its consumers like this. Its utter stupidity.

Great job to Sarcastic Gamer for taking a stand on this.

Trade-ins at GameStop

Firstly, I want to thank all of you folks that have been giving me the kind words on my blog and digg.com. It really helps me out a lot. And to all of those ridiculously negative people on Digg.com, keep your negativity away from my blog.

Okay, ALL of us at one time or another has traded in a game to a game store for store credit. I have traded in old systems, games, attachments, etc. But once I got old enough to where buying gaming stuff came from my own pocket years ago, I have COMPLETELY stopped trading in games.

The fact that you can buy a $60 game on its release day, go back and trade it in THAT SAME DAY, and only get about $40 for it, when they are going to sell it for $55 is RIDICULOUS. I understand that they are a business, and they are trying to make a buck like everyone else, but I am not forced to help them make that buck in that way, so I won't. When I am in a Gamestop and see a guy bring in 5 games that aren't that old and he only gets maybe $20 for them, makes me want to puke.

Ebay is the way to go. When I am done with a game, I sell it on ebay and usually get $15-$20 more than I would at GameStop. Let's all face it, $15-$20 is a big difference on a $60 game. I know, I know, you gotta put it up for auction, wait for it to be sold, then ship it out, blah blah.
But to me, THATS WORTH IT!! Because in the end, I have about $20 more towards a new game than I would if I would have been lazy and went to GameStop.

So that's my little rant on GameStop and how we aren't forced to get ripped off there, although most gamers do.
I would also like to recommend some websites for you to do game trades or donations:
www.TradeinsForTroops.org.
www.Playswitch.com
www.Goozex.com

Negativity in the Gaming Community

I am getting quite tired of all of the complaining that happens within the gaming community. This may be a post that is complaining about complaining, but I don't care. Something needs to change.

So many gamers sit at their homes, looking for something to get pissed about. Whether its someone over LIVE, or a gaming company, they seem to need something to complain about. Have you folks forgotten that we live in the greatest countries that have ever been?

We should have nothing to complain about. Just be thankful for what you have, and know that it could be worse. We are also living in the greatest time on Earth to be a gamer. Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, all great systems in their own rights. We should feel privileged to have the freedom to sit at our air conditioned homes, with our cars in the drive way, a Starbucks down the road, and controllers in our hands. Just sit there and game, and be thankful that you can. Life is good my friends. Enjoy it. I enjoy everyday of my life. Sure, you may have heard me complain in a podcast or a forum, but I had forgotten about how great we have it as gamers of today.

Games are getting better narratively, graphically, and gameplay is ramping up with the newer games coming out. So just enjoy what you have folks, and be thankful.

Lets all start talking about the positive more than the negative. I will try my darndest to stay positive (Especially with Sony and Nintendo news :). Its good to have goals, and thats one of mine.

Remember, talking negative only brings the negative. Speaking growth and positivity is how change takes place.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2

As if I wasn't excited for Vegas 2 enough, they just released two developer diaries on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Within these two diaries, I learned:

• You can now be a female character
• Ranking up (Persistent Elite Creation, P.E.C.) can be accomplished in single player, co-op, and multiplayer. All are universally the same and tied together.
  
• The graphics and framerate has been upgraded (Could tell just by looking)
• There will be seemless, jump in jump out Co-Op, which allows you to complete the single player campaign which allows friends to jump in and out, whenever you want. Just like Gears of War. If you are the host, you control the 2 AI characters.
• They added 11 new weapons
• 13 new Maps, 2 New Game Modes
  
• They added maps from the previous juggernaut RainbowSix: RavenShield
• Terrorist Hunt is back, and better
• There is a map with a MLG LAN room
• New mode called 'Demolition' is just like Search and Destroy on COD4, 2 targets, one team has bomb, other team must defend.
• New mode 'Team Leader,' each team has 1 leader which has a star above his head. You must eliminate the enemy leader, while defending your own. As long as the leader is alive, you can respawn unlimited amount. When leader is dead, that team has no more respawns. You can also win by escorting your leader to an extraction point
  
• 'Total Conquest' is back. Hold the three satellites for 30 seconds to win.
  
• Matchmaking has been improved, giving you balanced gaming.
• Character customization is just huge
• Single player story comes to a big, explosive, conclusion
• Every action and victory will earn you a reward.
• ACES (Advanced Combat Enhancement Specialization)
• Close quarters, Assault, Marksmanship is your three areas to excel in. Using flash and smoke, getting headshots, etc.

Thats enough to put me over the edge! I have been a Rainbow Six fan since RB63 on the original xbox. This game WILL rival COD4 and Halo 3, mark my words. It looks as though Ubisoft took a page from Infinity Ward, giving you tons of challenges to complete throughout your gameplay.

So, go pre-order this game now, because you will not be disappointed.

Bad Blood with Me and Sarcastic Gamer?

If you don't know, or don't listen to the Sarcastic Gamer.com Podcast, then you should.
But recently I have joined a 4 man team with one of the hosts from SG, Lono, for a Gamercast Network Tournament. I figured it would be great fun, which so far, it has.

The other hosts of the SG show got a bit...unrested....with the fact that Lono didn't ask either of them to be on the team, but asked me, someone who doesn't work on SG website or podcast. After two shows in a row of their complaining, I had to post in their forums and handle bitnezz.

Check it out HERE

Finished All the Challenges on COD4!!

Well, this post may be only for my own self-gloating, but I am pretty proud of getting all the challenges in Call of Duty 4 done. It was for sure a hard thing to do. If only I could get an achievement for it........ I still don't think I will do prestige.......or do the rest of the gun challenges.......Oh, I promise, I will make this my LAST COD4 blog post for a while. Thanks again for stopping by.

Gamerscore: Explained

Well, not to have a misleading blog post title, but this will be MY gamerscore explained. I feel that other gamers will share some of my views here.

As you can see below my picture on the right side, I have a rather high gamerscore compared to the majority of LIVE users. When I first got my 360 on launch day back in 05', I NEVER would have thought I would have become so addicted to gamerscore. The thought of actually having a 'paper trail' for my videogame career on the 360 was quite amazing to me, and actually getting points for doing stuff in games just blew my mind.

Now, the year of 2006 was a slow one for me. I was freshly out of high school, had an amazing new job that was paying for college (Still is!), and had all of these amazing games to play on my fresh new high-def capable Xbox 360. We're talking Call of Duty 2, Oblivion, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, etc. Those games were a PLEASURE to suck gamerscore out of. Of course, there was the Madden, NBA, and college games, BORING but still gave easy gamerscore.
As I continued to gain gamerscore for playing these amazing titles, I liked it more and more. Especially when I could get achievements for beating COD2 on Veteran, which most didn't have. I hooked up with a buddy that I kinda knew in real life (Thats the life without a controller, you know?), found out he got a 360, and found out that he was loving the gamerscore as well. So we started trading tricks and tips on how to increase our gscore. It grew from there, and BAM, I was playing everyday trying to reach 20,000, 30,000, and then 40,000. I have been in the 40k's for I am guessing a year or so now. Life happened, responsibility in life happened, and gamerscore didn't have the same draw as it previously did. Don't misunderstand, I still get all happy inside when that little blip shows up on the screen. But I don't go out of my way and rent crappy games just to increase my gscore anymore like I did in 2006 and part of 2007.

So now, as I play on LIVE, I still get the, "Hey, look at that Camerogoui's gamerscore! What a loser! He must have no life!!" There isn't really a way to explain to the foul mouthed punks that can't pronounce my gamertag that I got the majority of that years ago, so I stay quiet knowing that they are only speaking because they wish theirs was there as well.

So that's my story, what's yours?

26 Wins Away....

I know it seems to be a trend here on the blog to talk about COD4 lately, but trust me, this blog won't be all COD4 stuff.

I am currently 26 wins away in the game mode 'Sabotage' from completing every online challenge in Call of Duty 4. This is not including the gun challenges because, lets face it, who wants to attempt to get 150 kills with the flippin' MP44?

This is not to boast myself, but I think it is pretty cool that I have come so far in my gaming career as of late. In 2006, if a game didn't give me an achievement every hour, I wouldn't let it see my 360. But there is just something about those darned challenges in Call of Duty 4 that keeps me coming back.

I haven't, and probably will not, do prestige mode. Why? Mainly because everyone else already has, and its actually rare to see someone not do it. I spent many many hours getting those challenges completed, why would I throw them all away so I can try and do it again?

So, I urge you, try and finish those challenges and say NO THANKS when the prestige option is available to you again.

Call of Duty 4 Sniping

Finally, the COD4:MW patch is out. If you listen to The Gamer's Garage, you know how much I love to snipe, no matter the game. Call of Duty 4 had some issues with sniping immediately after its title launch. Sometimes when you would shoot a guy, crosshairs dead center mass, it wouldn't actually do any damage to the opponent. They fixed it with this long, long, long awaited title update.

Sniping in COD4 is by far the best sniping experience in any first person shooter. That sentence includes the Rainbow Six series, Ghost Recon series (Number 2 for sniping in my opinion, mainly GR2: Summit Strike), and an original Xbox title called 'Sniper Elite'. Sniper Elite was a third person shooter that had some innovative qualities. There was actually trajectory on the bullets, so you had to aim higher at longer distances.
The movement is so fluid, precise, amazing in Call of Duty 4. The feeling of head shotting a fully-sprinted enemy is one that cannot be explained. Even the distance at which you must lead your enemy before firing is dead on realistic. The closer they are to you, the less you have to lead the shot, the further the more you have to lead. Sometimes I lead a shot about a foot and a half in front of a perpendicular running enemy to make the kill.

If you do not snipe in COD4, I encourage you to give it a try. Especially now that it is fixed. The sneaking, the pistoling, the accuracy needed to be a true sniper is truly a great experience in the number 1 selling game of 2007.

Remember, don't run, you'll only die tired.