Modern Warfare 3

[Nonentity]

I know, I'm the only one who likes this game. I like my thread. It's my guilty pleasure.

They just talked about their Call of Duty: Elite package, where you pay $50 bucks a year subscription to get access to all the DLC, plus TV content? And increased video storage? And leveling clans? And enter tournaments to win a Call of Duty Jeep?

I dunno. If you're gonna buy the DLC, it ends up being cheaper, and they split out the content like an MMO for those subscribers - they're putting it into monthly content drops, and also adding new game modes instead of just maps.

All the new Multiplayer stuff looks interesting - No more Last Stand, no more Commando, Kill Streak 'packages', individual guns level up to get 'Proficiency' perks.

[Malakili]

If I must buy another twitch shooter (which I may), it'll like be CS: GO, but the most interesting part about MW3 is watching who is going to alienate more people, BF3 or MW3.

[tgr]

Eh, they'll both be making moneyhats.

[rk47]

Not gonna subscribe to this shit. BF3 has a healthier community than this on PC.

[Azazel]

I'm more a Battlefield MP guy myself, though I'll pick up MW3 in a couple of years to play through the SP. I recently purchased MW2 for that, and hope to play through it sometime in the next year.

[LK]

Buy Pepsi Products, get Double XP time in MW3.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2011/09/28/modern-warfare-3s-pepsi-cross-promotion-steps-over-the-line/

I think it is brilliant, though I accept it with resignation. Brilliant way to take advantage of Double XP / RMT Buffs for cross-promotional purposes. The resignation is from the fact that the progression curve is being affected by outside influences, but that curve is already different for every player dependent on their skill and history with the franchise, so I guess they decided to say screw it and make money off it. That's in addition to the points the article raises.

[Malakili]

Sigh.

[tgr]

Eh, they'll both be making moneyhats.

As I was saying...

[snowwy]

And as last time, new game modes will be old maps with ... ..."new" game mods

[Rendakor]

It's not like progression really matters in COD anyway; once you get to max level you Prestige and restart anyway so people who buy tons of Dew will just get there a little faster. If this were something like an MMO where getting to the cap was a big deal I could see the rage, but everyone Prestiges over and over anyway.

[Tairnyn]

Pepsi's got what gamers crave. It's got electrolytes.

[Ginaz]

Saw this trailer on Gamespy and thought it was pretty funny.  Its a trailer featuring actors Sam Worthington as "The Vet" and Jonah Hill as "The nOOB".  I didn't recognize Hill at first.  Looks like he lost a shit-load of weight, which must be fairly recent since he was fat as fuck in Moneyball.

Edit: I think Dwight Howard is in this as well at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zuzaxlddWbk

[Sky]

I caught that ad on tv and wasn't sure if that was that (formerly) fat kid.

[HaemishM]

It's a good ad, but it doesn't change my mind about the COD series. I'm a Battlefield guy.

[Merusk]

I borrowed MW2 from the library because I don't give a rats ass about multiplayer FPS.   It was actually a tolerable system for a console shooter and I enjoyed the 4-5 hours it took to play the SP campaign.  I can't say I felt the same about Bad Company 2 when I played it. There I Liked the story and characters but hated the interface.

I might just check out MW3 based on that experience alone.

[WayAbvPar]

It's a good ad, but it doesn't change my mind about the COD series. I'm a Battlefield guy.

This. Only CoD I played was 4, which was mildly amusing, but BF series does almost everything better.

[HaemishM]

Except single-player.  Which is exactly what I DON'T play a modern military shooter for.

[WayAbvPar]

I haven't even loaded BF3 single player yet. COD4 was a decent campaign, however. I will just task my 9 year old nephew with completing it for me and getting the unlocks next time he visits 

[Azazel]

So, I'm thinking of picking this up tonight, since I've found a trade-in deal that will have the game cost half of RRP - and I'll get it eventually anyway - just like I got both MW2 and Blops 2 weeks ago .

Anyone here played it yet? What's the feedback and thoughts from the non-14-yo, non-CoD-fanboi brain trust here on the game?

[Merusk]

It comes out tonight at midnight so I dunno how anyone could have played it yet.

I can give you my 15 year old nephew's impressions in about 3 hours.  He doesn't have school tomorrow because of the election and his mom is dumb enough to have agreed to take him to the midnight release. 

[Azazel]

Ah, okay. I just assumed you guys were getting the release before we do (as is usual). Also, street dates were broken left and right yesterday here as well.

[Nonentity]

The PC version runs great, obviously an iteration of the MW2 engine.

Only got a couple matches in, but god damn does this game still feel incredibly solid. The work they've done on the weapon sounds is great, everything has a really chunky feel to it.

[Azazel]

I picked it up through my trade deal. Haven't had a chance to open the shrinkwrap yet. 360 version since they don't do trades involving the PC versions.

edit - just checking out some of the non-spoiler reviews around the net, I found this awesome quote from Game Informer:

most of the weapons are recycled from previous games

Perhaps he's disappointed that a Phased Plasma Rifle in the 40-watt range isn't included in the loadout in this Modern Warfare game set after the world has gone to shit. 

[tgr]

"Internet connection required for activation." I guess not.

As to the sounds, from what I hear from the videos, they've got nothing on DICE's weapon sounds. That's one of the things that impressed me the most about BC2, and by extension I suppose BF3 as well.

[WayAbvPar]

Doritos Double XP code for the first taker-


Had to try the Fiery Fusion flavor. They were pretty good, surprislngly- really had some actual heat to them, which I didn't expect.

[Malakili]

Doritos Double XP code for the first taker-


Had to try the Fiery Fusion flavor. They were pretty good, surprislngly- really had some actual heat to them, which I didn't expect.

This game truly is on the cutting edge of the industry.

[WayAbvPar]

I washed them down with a Diet Dr Pepper (which had a BF3 code, my secret reason for stopping at 7-11 in the first place).

[Jeff Kelly]

The mass appeal of Battlefield, Call of Duty and their army of clones makes me realize yet again that I just don't understand people.

I try one of those games every other year hoping that I might 'get' it in the newest incarnation of the game but I still don't understand why people spend days on end to play one of maybe a hundred different variations of tag, while being fucked over by EA and Co. more each year.

I can't help it but I find multiplayer in shooters to be utterly boring and repetitive. That 12 Million people seem to enjoy just that and even so much so that they agree to be groped and fucked over by EA and Activision for every dollar they've got is absolutely mindboggling to me. If I was still in school I'd procrastinate with homework to avoid playing multiplayer in shooters that's how it bores me  .

It's also sad because single player in those games is no longer a viable playing option but just an alibi feature because the publisher don't yet dare to just release a multiplayer game. This makes single player in all of the games released over the last few years to be a short and half-assed experience. I also don't like the precedent it creates when publishers introduce the harshest DRM measures, DLC that milks you for very penny and game clients that practically work like trojans and collect more personal info from you than Google would have imagined in their wildest dreams possible.

All this + 70 dollars per game just for the opportunity to be called 'fag' by a 12 year old on x-box live. That even games like Uncharted or Mass Effect feel the need to include multiplayer to appeal to that crowd shows me that we're heading to yet another console crash as every game studio tries to "out-Battlefield Battlefield".

That was my "get of my lawn" old age rant for today, thanks for reading.

Seriously does anybody of the Battlefield or COD fans care to explain to me the appeal of repeatedly shooting people in the face in deathmatch or capture the flag? There must be a huge appeal to put up with all of the publisher bullshit but somehow it eludes me completely.

[Engels]

Well, in CoD W@W and BC2 there was a je-ne-sais-quoi about the gameplay. The larger maps in particular were keen, since here were different approaches and strats that would work to get close enough to ambush the enemy. That said, I think I can empathize with you regarding the more closed circuit shooter maps, which just seems a matter of memorizing the limited terrain.

That's why I've been playing WoT, since it does reward a strategic outlook a bit more, and its not entirely twitch based.

[rk47]

Sorry, I don't play it on X-Box, maybe that's why I don't encounter 12 year olds.   Oh yeah, I'm not getting MW3 - There's just so much difference between it and BF3, I might as well just settle for one and never look at the other. I don't know about your community or country or server, on my side, there's no one talking in the game chat. Everyone's just shooting each other, capping objectives, coordinating on teamspeak. Just because public server is the den to leet kids, doesn't mean a grown community doesn't exist. I've seen 2 clan tags matches executed well in Battlefield games, I wasn't part of their clique but I enjoyed tagging along as a public guy and join their teamspeak to know what's going on in some open servers because they don't have enough members for a 24 v 24 maps.

Like you, I don't see the appeal of Dota and LoL even. Or Guild Wars even. It was too team-focused and I can't be bothered to focus so hard on working with 3-4 other people to achieve in games. Battlefield had the right blend of solo brilliance and some teamplay that can turn the tide of matches pretty easily. And that's what make it fun for me.

[pants]

Seriously does anybody of the Battlefield or COD fans care to explain to me the appeal of repeatedly shooting people in the face in deathmatch or capture the flag? There must be a huge appeal to put up with all of the publisher bullshit but somehow it eludes me completely.

Its no different from repeatedly kicking a ball through some sticks, or even stranger, paying money to watch other people kick a ball through sticks while Sepp Blatter gets bribed to offer world cups to grossly rich middle eastern countries.

Its a competitive team sport.  Young men (on the whole) like competing against each other, with some way of keeping score to show a winner.  The fact it includes playing with guns just increases the appeal.  Adding in unlocks just adds a skinner box component that WoW did so well.  I'm not at all surprised its like crack cocaine to young men.

Why do I enjoy BF3 (as a not-particularly-young man)?  Because I enjoy playing soldier without having to worry about making my wife a widow.  Because its fun to hop on vent with some friends and work as a team towards an objective (ie killing other internet men).  Because I can play 10-15 minutes if I want.  Because I enjoy running around in a tank blowing stuff up (not much of a CoD fan here).  And I'm not a particularly competitive person - the whole joining clans thing is all too srs bsns for me.

I'm not saying that someone who doesn't enjoy this is broken - but thats why they're popular.

[Engels]

Nice summary pants. And not to turn this into a 'lets lynch Jeff' convo, but it does beg the question whether Jeff enjoys any group sporting activity, or if he can describe some type of game on the internets he does enjoy playing cooperatively, and how its different than CoD.

[Margalis]

Someone point to a group sporting activity where purely by investing time you can accrue advantage.

That's really the secret sauce in COD. Unlocking stuff is fun and unlocking stuff that makes you more powerful has a lot of appeal to certain folks. Compare that to the fighting game community where such a feature would most likely be rejected. COD is not a fiercely purely competitive game. Which a lot of people obviously like a lot, though personally I'd much rather play a purely competitive game.

[AcidCat]

Because I enjoy playing soldier without having to worry about making my wife a widow.

Seriously. Who didn't play fuckin Army Man as a kid with little tanks and soldiers and shit, or run around with toy guns. Battlefield is just getting to play Army Man and still pretend you are all grow'd up. Much moreso than CoD it's just a playground, with guns and tanks and airplanes.

[tgr]

The thing I hate the most about the current breed of competitive FPS games is how it's so infested with achievements and unlocks. I'm not playing a competitive FPS game to get unlocks just so I won't completely suck at it, I play it to compare my own skill against others.

Or, I would've, if it hadn't been for a few other ... aspects of them.