SideWinder Theater: Battlefield Bad Company 2 – Squad Deathmatch
So started playing Squad Deathmatch in Battlefield Bad Company 2. I have to say I am definitely loving it. The Squad Deathmatch mode puts 4 squads of 4 players against each other. No other objectives, just 4 squads battling to get the 50 kills first. This is something I have been wanting in a multiplayer shooter for a long time. Multiple teams (more than 2), Gears of War 2’s Wingman mode came close, but having multiple teams of 4 players adds a lot of strategy and teamwork to your standard team deathmatch formula.
On the Xbox 360 version you can choose to play Hardcore Squad Deathmatch. Similar to the rules of Hardcore games in Modern Warfare 2. You get less HUD, and bullets do more damage. There is also no kill cam in Hardcore mode.
But beware, if you play Squad Deathmatch, there are only about 3 maps that it uses for this playlist, and you better like snipers, since almost everyone plays as recon.
Anyway, here is an HD video capture of one of my latest matches, PWNage cookies have been served. Due to popular demand, I am going back to adding a soundtrack to my videos 
More Coming soon. What do you like/love about Battlefield Bad Company 2 so far?
Music:
Artist: Sick Puppies
Songs: War, You’re Going Down, Survive
SideWinder Theater: Battlefield Bad Company 2 – I’ll take that
This is my first game of Battlefield Bad Company 2 now that the game has released. I came into the match late, and my team lost, but it was a blast. I started with the Assault class, got sniped pretty quickly, and decided to hunt down the sniper. After sneaking up on him and stabbing him a few times (he deserved it…) I picked up his rifle and spent the rest of the match destroying his team with it! Pwnage cookies have been served… Anyway, here you go:
Definitely more to come…
SideWinder Theater: Supreme Commander 2 – Tutorial 1
Here is the first gameplay tutorial in Supreme Commander 2. The gameplay seems more streamlined and simple than the first Supreme Commander. I will have more in my first impressions once I get my hands on the full retail version (Downloading and installing now) For now, here is Tutorial 1:
More to come once I have the full game in my greedy hands…
SideWinder Theater: Aliens vs. Predator Multiplayer – Alien
So this time around I chose to play as the Alien. Talk about a world of difference! I have not played the alien outside of about 10 minutes of the single player campaign so far. But the movement of the Alien just makes sense to me. I have a much better time controlling the Alien than the human. I am not all that familiar with the different Melee attacks yet, and tend to lose when it comes to face to face Melee, but I feel like I rocked pretty damn hard during this match. Since I am not as good face to face, I really tried to take advantage of the Aliens speed and stealth. And the jumping from surface to surface really makes it fun. I have to say I enjoyed the Alien much better than the human so far.
This time, I did the hunting. Everyone else was the bait…
Let me know what you think, and if you have any pointers or tips on playing as the Alien, let me know.
In Beta: Starcraft II – Ranked 1 vs 1 as Protoss
So here is a 1 vs 1 ranked match where I chose to play as the Protoss. This match went fairly well considering I haven’t played the original Starcraft in over 10 years. So far the game feels very familiar, though compared to some RTS, it does feel a bit like you can tech to the upper tier units pretty fast as long as you are not being rushed by your opponent.
In this match I decided to focus on getting a ground force in place as early as possible. My main starting build order was:
3 Probes (worker/resource collector)
Pylon (Energy/Population cap increase)
2 Probes
Gateway (barracks for Ground units)
More Probes
Pylon
Cybernetics Core (Unit upgrades)
Assimilator (Harvest Vespene Gas)
Once I got to that point, I did make a mistake though, I wasn’t paying attention and created a second Cybernetics core wasting time and resources. But still managed to get things going my way. Note that the bases are blocked at choke points by rocks. This is due to the fact we are playing on the novice version of the map. In the beginner league, you play on these maps as they stop better players from rushing those trying to learn the game. It also stops any affective attempts at scouting out your enemy until you get air units, or break the rocks.
Anyway, on to the video:
Are you in the beta? If so what are your strategies for playing as the Protoss? I will have more videos coming soon so stay tuned.
The New Hotness: StarCraft II Closed Beta
So I got my invite for the Starcraft II Closed Beta today. I have played a couple games (lost all of them ) and will begin posting video here to the blog along with any tips and strategies that I pick up along the way. Stay tuned…
First Impression: Aliens vs. Predator – Multiplayer (Human)
Aliens vs. Predator released today, well the newest iteration of the series did at least. I have played as the human marine so far, and I have to say it is a bit stressful. Playing as a human means you are slow and have no special abilities. You just have your rifle, your motion tracker and your wits. Honestly, you feel like bait… but that is how you are supposed to feel. The marines are not a match for the predators or aliens up close, your advantage is accuracy over a distance. Once they get close though, you have no advantage at all. You are meat!
One thing you will note however, is that the starting machine gun (pulse rifle) is actually extremely accurate over a distance and has very little spread. Note in the video below, that I am able to take out enemies from a good distance with the pulse rifle, without too much effort. But the tight stream of bullets also means it is not as useful when you are being rushed, players using the aliens will usually zig-zag towards you and the lack of spread on the bullet pattern means that you have less chance of hitting them unless your cross hair is right on them. Picking up the heavy machine gun is nice as it seems to have a bit of motion tracking built in and will auto-aim at enemies to a certain degree. I have found that the flame thrower is really not that good.
Honestly I haven’t really looked over all the options or controls for the game, so there may be some things I am missing at this point that would help me, but second place in the match as the only human doesn’t seem too terribly bad. Although watching some of the other players using aliens and predators and scaling trees to get the drop on me really gives you climbing envy as a human player. So far I like the game, I need a lot more practice and will be posting impressions and video of the each of the other races as well this week. I will also do the same thing next week, once I have had time to get more experience at the game and see how much things change for me once I have the hang of it.
Here is my first 15 minutes of gameplay as a human marine on the jungle map. Since it is my very first game after installing the game, it is a bit slow at first, as I don’t know the map or the controls that well. I never played the PC demo, and only played the 360 version once as the aliens. So this is all new for me. Not too bad though considering I finish the match in second place
Have you played yet? Got any good video? Let us know, what your impressions are and feel free to share any tips with me, I will share them here on the blog as well.
The New Hotness: Windows Phone 7 Series and Xbox LIVE
So for any of you who were up this morning, you may have watched the Mobile World Congress Press Conference where we announced that when Windows Phone 7 Series launches, it will include Xbox LIVE as part of the experience!
For me as a gamer, this is finally giving me the ability to carry my gaming habit’s and interests across all three devices that I deal with on a daily basis, TV, PC and Phone. I think it will be great to have my Avatar, Friends, Gamerscore etc… directly on my phone. Now when I am sitting in the dentists office, or riding the train into the city, I can be increasing my gamerscore at the same time
You will also be able to keep up on news, tips, etc… similar to how you do now on your Xbox 360 Dashboard. You will have access to leaderboards, etc..
No word yet on what games, etc.. will be available at launch, but stay tuned as there will definitely more info as the service moves closer to release. But after playing some of the games on my Zune HD, I can only imagine what kind of goodies will be coming to Windows Phone.
And speaking of Zune… Another piece that I am really excited about is the fact that Windows Phone 7 Series will include the Zune software. Basically, all Windows Phones will be Zunes as well. The experience will be very similar to that of the Zune HD. So I guess now I don’t have to bring my phone and my Zune with me everywhere Your phone will also use the Zune PC client to manage your libraries, etc…
For now if you want more info:
Here is the Press release over on the Gamerscore Blog
Also for info check Major Nelsons Site
And here is the Windows Phone home page
Also check out what the fellas over at Gizmodo thought about the Windows Phone 7 Series:
http://gizmodo.com/5471805/windows-phone-7-series-everything-is-different-now
SideWinder Theater: QuakeLive got Jumps Like a… Truck… Truck?
So this week I finally got back to playing some QuakeLive. Since I am rusty I decided to get back into it by going through some of the training. One set of training challenges focus around Rocket Jumping. For those who haven’t played Quake (1, 2, 3, Arena, 4), getting to certain areas on some maps, required that you rocket jump to reach them, and I don’t mean simple shoot at your feet and jump… QuakeLive expects you to not only be able to rocket jump, but to also be able do it around corners and off of walls to cover greater distances… The Rocket Jumping Challenges come in three sections.
Section 1: Basic Rocket Jumping to get over an obstacle.
Section 2: Rocket Jumping across large gaps.
Section 3: Multi-Rocket Jumps and Wall Jumping.
Below is the video I made from my run through the Rocket Jumping Challenge. I still can’t beat the final challenge, but I am working on it. So here’s today’s SideWinder Theater, I chose a song with a fitting name for this one:
Video: QuakeLive Rocket Jumping Challenge
Music:
Song: Falling
Artist: Gravity Kills
You will see me turn to the side during some jumps, this helps if you do it right at the apex of your jump, you turn to the side and hit the strafe button (A or D) to move in that direction to get more distance. Also when doing the multi-Rocket Jumps, the trick is to make sure you are still moving upward when you hit the next rocket, if you start to fall, it is too late.
Any of you play QuakeLive? Let’s see how you did on these challenges
Community Query: How do You Mouse?
So lately I have been tweaking mouse settings trying to find the best mixture of accuracy and movement with my mouse. I figure I should ask all of you and see how you configure your mouse for optimum gameplay. In the past I would use a medium mouse setting (say 1000 dpi) and then use the in game adjustments for sensitivity in order to get a comfortable control experience. Back when gaming mice first started having high dpi, I used to turn the windows and game mouse settings to their lowest (off in most cases), and then practice using my mouse on a huge mouse pad since I had to make so much bigger movements. Once I got used to this, I was much more accurate, but required a lot more desk top space. The main downside is that even little precise movements in games required a great deal of arm movement. Lately I have been leaving the windows and game settings at default (but turning off mouse smoothing) and just using the dpi adjustments on the mouse to get a comfortable level of movement.
What I want to get from you all, is what do you use and why? How does it help? here are two common scenarios, do you use one of these? Or something different and why?
All Mouse:
Turn Windows Mouse Acceleration Off
Turn Windows mouse speed all the way down
Turn in game mouse sensitivity all the way down
Turn of in Game Mouse Smoothing
Set Mouse DPI to your comfort zone
Windows + Game:
Leave Windows Settings Default
Leave Mouse DPI set
Use in game sensitivity to set mouse speed
What works best for you and what advantages does it have? Also if you use different settings for different types of games (FPS, RTS, RPG, etc…) let us know too. Put your responses in the comments, and I will add them to the article.
SideWinder 24x7
Tainen