I had been playing the second phase of the Closed Beta (CB) for about a month — along with hundreds of other lucky GRO fans and loving it — now, alas, it’s going on hiatus. I guess we will all have to busy ourselves with yard work, cleaning the toilets or other mundane activities until this game comes back online.

In the interim, I’m going to miss the game a lot. It’s been a long time since a shooter got my blood pressure up and this game tends to do that to me. Though sometimes it’s been difficult to find balanced teams during the CB phase –simply because of the lack of players, but when the teams did balance well, I’ve had some of the best “shooter” experiences in my life.

Note that I said “shooter”, not “FPS”. This is simply due to the fact that technically the game is a Third Person Shooter. TPS not your bag? Ya, I didn’t think it would be mine either. Suspend your prejudice and try it out. Frankly, I’ve had my world view change significantly, thanks to this game. The third person view enhances your ability to scout around and look for enemies and actually feels much more natural and realistic. However, the FOV (field-of-view) is narrow and that curtails some of the situational awareness. Many of the old Rainbow 6 and original GR guys, can’t stand the third-person switch. Coming from the old CoD community, which saw CoD:UO and CoD2 get morphed into an unrecognizable MW2…hey, I understand the anger. Having said that, I stayed open-minded about the third person view and as a result I’ve learned to love it — admittedly, I don’t want to play all games as TPS, but in this game…it works!

About four days ago, Ubisoft introduced patch 0.6.0. The patch notes can be found here.

This patch significantly nerfed some of the shotties in the game (like the Pentagun) which were very OP in my opinion. The 0.6.0 patch does not go far enough unfortunately. For me, there still are quite a few things in the game which need ironing out before the game can go full Open Beta.

• There are a few visual glitches in the game. Some allow you to snipe behind cover without being hittable (especially while lying on stairs).
• Balance. The devs are currently focused on getting rid of bugs so they haven’t spent much time on balance. Currently, the Recon SMG’ers are far too quick and their guns far too effective. SMG’ers can go “invisible” due to cloaking devices, add speed and OP guns and well…you get some pretty skewed results. I’m fairly happy with the way the assault guns are split into counter-sniping and counter-smg’ing, though I’d like to see the Assault rifle damage relative to an SMG be much higher.
• Some of the nuances of the game do give the player an odd feeling from time to time. Hard to explain…but it almost gives you the impression that others are haxing. Like I said…hard to explain. For example, you’ll be going 1v1 with someone and they’ll head-shot you with almost no reaction time. Stuff that you couldn’t counter. I chalk this up to netcode, imbalance, or something…but I can imagine that if the game’s idiosyncrasies are not looked into, serious players will start dumping on it after a few weeks of play.
• Matchmaking has been odd. Hopefully this has been as a result of the lack of a large population of players (it’s a small select group playing this right now).
• Devs have to decide whether they would like a full run’n'gun game like CoD or a thinking man’s tactical shooter. Right now they have a miss-mash of both and are probably running the risk of alienating the old fans as a result. I personally enjoy run’n'gun and hope they make the game play even more wide open. My guess is that the old timers will prevail and force Ubisoft devs to dampen down the hyperbolic stuff. Some of the dampening includes:
• Significant fall damage that prevents acrobatic take downs
• Sllllooooowwww health-regen that inhibits heroic acts of run’n'gunism.
• Sluggish ADS times, especially for Assault guns.
• Massive gun recoil that requires you to prone for accuracy (various visual corrections also prevent CoD-style dolphin-diving).

Here are some commentaries I did this weekend to give you a better idea of what the game is all about:

Remember that we’ve already reviewed the game and you can read that review here.

I’ve also got a few more Youtube vids available showing some in-game play, here are those vids:

Heroes & Generals (H&G) was going to be a free to play online FPS with a twist. That twist embodied a strategic Multiplayer Campaign overlay of the European theater of war during World War II. It was going to be back to the age old struggle of  Axis against the Allies! H&G was going to mix the heart pounding excitement and heroics of pure FPS gaming and the cerebral satisfaction of being general-like in managing the logistics and strategy of the battlefield.

I’ve been playing the alpha version of the game for some time now and it was with some anxiety that I read the following email from Reto-Moto last week:

ORDER TO REPORT FOR DUTY

The pre-beta version of H&G was ready! I grabbed my kit bag, lucky condom and my wool socks and headed to the staging area…no time to lose!

The Breakdown

The mix of the tactical and strategic has a long tradition in military gaming and has been the holy grail for many of us who still fondly remember the days when war gaming involved pushing cardboard cutouts on map boards covered with hexagonal squares. Since those times, video managed to kill the radio star and FPS video games killed the strategy board game. Thanks to Reto-Moto, the satisfaction of playing those board games can now be relived and even sampled for the first time. And you don’t have to give up your addiction to FPS, because their game has an exciting FPS mode built right into it.

The shooter mode doesn’t just have foot-soldier versus foot-soldier action. Players can take on the role of tanker or even fighter pilot.

Going contrary to the ubiquitous class system, favored by most games these days, H&G uses a characters’ equipment to determine what type of soldier they will play as. H&G literature states, for example: “…putting on a pilot suit will make the character a pilot, but at the same time limit their weapon selection to smaller firearms that can fit in a cockpit.”

Action Game

Reto-Moto calls the FPS component the “Action Game” and it is played on a variety of maps ranging from large trench-covered battlefields to tight, close-quarter combat within small towns. Each map features multiple game modes.

You can play the tactical Action Game by yourself or in so-called “Assault Teams”. These teams can be customized and upgraded with special equipment that benefits the entire group and gives the leading ‘General’ a greater chance of success on The Strategic Layer.

The game is browser-based and powered by the custom build Retox engine. The graphics engine is designed specifically towards online gameplay minimizing downloads and
supporting frequent updates. Retox offers great graphics and is capable of running in most web browsers: IE, Chrome and Firefox are supported. It uses DX11 for high end PC’s and DX9 for lower spec PC’s.

Minimum System requirements for the FPS (Action Game):

● 2GHz CPU w. SSE3 instruction set- dual-core recommended
● 1.5 GB RAM – 2 or more recommended
● ATI HD 2600 or above (with >256mb RAM)
● Nvidia 8600GT or above (with >256mb RAM)
● Windows XP, Vista or 7

Strategic Layer

The Action Game is controlled by a strategic top layer (“the War Game”) that binds individual FPS games into a larger war/campaign. On this strategic level, players are able to command other players or entire Assault Teams in combat.  On top of that, these strategic players have to manage resources and reinforcements in order to secure key locations on the battle map.

The “War” is essentially stored on their central “War” server which keeps track of all the resources and the location of armies. Players can interact with the server and affect the outcome of the war.

F2P

As with most free-to-play models, players can choose to spend in-game experience points on special upgrades for their personal characters (Personal F2P) or their Assault Teams giving benefits to other players as well (Social F2P).

In-game money is earned by being active in the game, completing Action Game missions and controlling Assault Teams — or it can be purchased with real money.

Welcome to multi-platform gaming

Gamers who spend most of their time playing the strategic side of the game will rise to Commander level and will have the power to use the resources on the War server. Orders to that server can be sent from any device.

Though Heroes & Generals is a browser-based game and while the FPS (Action Game) is currently only playable on PC, the strategy-part of the game is accessible on both PC and on iOS/Android platforms through a free app.  In the first version of the app, players will be able to get a live overview of the Campaign showing enemy and friendly Assault Teams movements, and the built-in chat client allows them to stay in touch with their buddies from just about anywhere. In the next version of Heroes & Generals: Mobile Command players will be able to move and manage Assault Teams in the app as well.

My take

The game is currently still in the alpha stage, though admittedly, the current version of the game is being termed as a pre-Beta, an interesting marketing term…but I’m calling shennanigans: to me, pre-Beta still means its in the alpha stage, so…booya Reto-Moto!

H&G has come quite a long way with their quality since I started playing this game a few months ago and it bodes well for the future.

Given that it is still pre-Beta, I won’t try to be too critical of the product given that the game is still developing. Here’s my quick take:

• The pre-beta installed flawlessly for on my system (Quad, Firefox, nVidia graphics card). The download was ~480 Mb and expanded to approximately 1.75Gb. We were booted from the game server a few times during the few hours I played today, so it wasn’t all smooth sailing — but again, this is an alpha (going on beta).
• The menu screens were easy to navigate and I found myself playing the FPS game really quickly and smoothly.
• Spawning into the Action Game (FPS) is intuitive, thanks to the interactive map system which shows you clearly where all the action is concentrating.
• In the FPS game, the maps are huge and well populated with assets (buildings, roads, trenches, trees, bushes).
• Textures tend towards the cartoony side, but again, this is a browser game. Overall, the art style of the game is the big star…simply put, the game is extremely pretty to look at.
• In-game characters are rendered for the most part, adequately.
• Though most player animations (aiming, standing, proning) are great, a few obviously need some work (moving in prone is too linear, for example). As well, the game’s collision model/mapping is not perfect (players sometime seem to sink into terrain): it’s still early days and the game is being worked on.
• Firing your weapon as a foot-soldier is satisfying (though I had some reg issues — undoubtedly due to the high ping players on the servers).
• Vehicle renderings are a mixed bag. The jeeps are well-scaled and wonderfully rendered and are awesomely fun to drive; however, some armored vehicles seem a bit off as their scale is not quite right (then again I’m playing a lot of World of Tanks — and those models are so superb they can be a difficult act to follow).

Current Status

• The FPS game is currently artificially capped at 10v10, but that restriction will be lifted as the game matures.
• The shooting mechanics are a bit clunky right now but are being constantly improved. Reto-Moto is currently asking players to come in, test the game and provide feedback. Bug fixing has been the priority up to now and since many of their high-priority bugs have been squashed, the dev crew is now turning to tweaking and balancing.
• While the current game does not have much in the way of destructible components, the plan is to introduce some in the future: fences, vegetation…light structures, etc.
• Game is currently in Pre-Beta. It is scheduled to go into Closed Beta soon, then followed by an Open Beta stage: Road Map

Some in-game action

Here’s some in-game FPS action I recorded during Reto-Moto’s press day showing of the pre-Beta. It features some exquisite in-game art, making H&G one of the prettiest browser games I’ve ever seen. In the vid:

• I defend a bridge against some lone-wolf infantry attacks (the gaming press that was playing write a good-game, but they’re not the best with the tactics)
• uhh…ya more-than-likely I TK someone while trying to capture an objective
• I get run over by one of my own armored units and then return the favor
• I get into a jeep duel with a member of the Nazi party
• I ride a cool two-wheeler and finally…
• I get into a fender-bender with a tank.

Conclusion

In the pre-Beta state, Heroes & Generals is a beautiful-looking browser-based strategy-FPS game that admittedly, still needs a little scrubbing and polishing. It should be a worthy competitor to other games in this genre (WW2 online comes to mind). Strategy + FPS? Well, we’ve seen this formula before, of course. In fact, even in the Call of Duty franchise, there used to be two community mods back in the CoD2 days that incorporated roughly the same ideas seen with H&G.

When it comes down to it, it seems that the desire to re-fight World War Two in both the tactical and strategic sense is overwhelming for many (yes, include me here) and this genre will continue to attract fans.

The game is not a pure FPS game and it shouldn’t be judged in that way. This game rises above being just an FPS game as it also combines a huge strategy component that rivals the experience of a good ol’fashion board game and when you put that combination together, this game really comes into its own.

Should you download this game? Absolutely. Especially so if:

• you love playing hardcore online games in a structured setting
• you’re a military history buff wishing to try your hand at leading an army
• you are a casual FPS gamer that relishes the tactical side of shooters

Get H&R as soon as it goes Open Beta.

Links

Heroes and Generals Official homepage

Heroes and Generals Campaign description

H&G Youtube page

Game Tutorial

I was reminded of that episode of Happy Days yesterday when I watched the latest Call of Duty trailer for Black Ops 2 (BO2). True, there is no shark in the trailer (though, a horse is) and Fonzie is nowhere in sight, but the parallels to the jump-the-shark episode are there.

My interest in the CoD series began about six years ago when I caught sight of a trailer for CoD2. As with many of you in the FPS scene, I was hooked on the series for years. So as to maximize their profits, Activision alternated two devs on the series. Infinity Ward was known for their technological savvy and Treyarch, for their fresh take and story-telling.

Since CoD3, Treyarch has taken CoD on a trip through time. After CoD:WW, they took us twenty years on from WWII into the Cold War with Black Ops. This installment, BO2, zips us into the 80′s and then forty-five years forward from that time right into the future.

While I did not predict Treyarch would take CoD into the future, in hindsight, it was pretty obvious simply by extrapolating the events from CoD:WW to Black Ops.  The MP5′s and Katana’s we saw in CoD:WW are now replaced by Halo-like Quad-rotors and mechs. Black Ops historical backdrops are left behind and replaced with futuristic guess-work as the game teleports deep into the 21st century.

One in three

Some of what you will be seeing in Treyarch’s latest offerings is a direct result of several members of CoD’s old modding community. I must admit that I am a bit conflicted by this game, because, while I wish those guys only success and huge royalties…I can’t help bemoan the fact that what I’m seeing in this trailer no longer resonates with me.

Interestingly, nearly one-third of the viewers on YouTube also seem to have some issue with it as those are numbers that have voted thumbs-down to the vid.

Why?

Here are just some guesses:

• The graphics look tired.
  Advancing System Requirements used to freshen up most games when they were marked for PC customers. Cranking up graphics settings alone used to keep fans happy. Not any more. CoD is now as Console-oriented a title as you can get; however, Console hardware has not progressed for years and CoD has suffered greatly because of this. Developers can’t simply draw more polygons and drop jaws due to technological constraints…they actually have to innovate. CoD has not exactly been known innovative since CoD4.
• The SP  “rail-ride” concept was old two versions ago.
  After eight, fairly repetitive versions of this game, fans finally have tired of the CoD SP ride-on-rails formula.
• The “story” is not compelling.
  As much as I cannot stand SP modes, many of the Console crowd buys CoD for the story…no, really. That story was poorly told in Black Ops and the SP campaign was uneven for a AAA game. My guess is that fans have no confidence that BO2 will be any better. The now, no longer dead, Frank Woods is an example of this. Does Treyarch even care about being true to its story-arc fans?

It really is unsurprising that Treyarch had to propel the series into the uncharted future…they have exhausted their idea bank and are looking to the future for story-line fodder. The “idea-bank”, by-the-way, is what they threw in last time into Black Ops right after they tossed the kitchen sink. Now, they have horses and ducted-fan helos to show off in their TV ads…guess they couldn’t get the shark mo-capped.

Success

Having said the above, I wish Treyarch success with this title. For the most part, the studio is filled with good people and as I mentioned, there are ex-CoD modders on their team. I’m sure the title will sell well and Mark Lamia will be assured of having another $50M+ payday (like he did in Black Ops) and Kotick will undoubtedly go off and have another $1B+ year. The game’s massive advertising budget will guarantee these payouts.

When it comes to both the game’s story-line and the foregone-conclusion of BO2′s economic success, I think Black Ops 2′s once-dead character, Frank Woods said it best: “…none of this surprises me“.

Golden Treasure, or has Wargaming laid an egg?

- Sean Pwnery

Behold, the JägdTiger – The Hunting Tiger “Tank Destroyer” with its “Fresh out of the pool” look.

This is the “new” Tank Destroyer being offered up at the tier 8 level. Here is what we know so far.

The JägdTiger will be fitted with the 8.8cm PaK 43 L/71, which if you do a little digging, is the exact same final gun the Henschel Tiger I comes with – a tier 7 heavy tank.

That’s right folks, a Tier 8 “premium” tank destroyer will come with a tier 7’s heavy tank’s modest main gun. What’s the problem you might ask? Taking a quick browse around all of the normal Tank Destroyers in the game, you will quickly notice that they all typically sport a main gun 1 to 2 tiers above the chassis.

Tank Destroyers in general are notorious for the ability to shoot and scoot; that is, hide in the weeds, lay a crushing ambush shot deep into the hull of an unsuspecting enemy, and to get out of Dodge. This TD will do none of these.

• The gun will be incredibly weak compared to the battle-tier it will be placed against.
• It will face heavy tanks such as the tier 9 US M103 heavy tank, and the new Soviet IS-8.
• Its enormous casemate and height will make it stick out like a sore thumb regardless of the bushes it’ll attempt to hide behind.
•  Its reputation for having a notoriously soft lower glacis plate, and even softer side and rear armor will literally tell the oncoming enemy “Here I am – easy credits here!”

This tank is literally the weakling kid coming to the plate in baseball, and the entire outfield heckling “Easy out! Easy out!” while moving into the infield.

So, how does the weakling at the plate knock one out of the park and shock the outfielders? That’s rather simple – give it a formidable weapon befitting of a “Tank Destroyer” and historical accuracy be damned! Wargaming has to find that balance of historical accuracy that AFV aficionados seek, while balancing the tanks in such a fashion that the player base will accept, while giving the tank a fighting chance to be combat effective in what is basically an arcade-style shooter.

Wargaming does not want to make their premium tanks “OP” by giving them crazy armor, ultimate maneuverability, and a sledgehammer of a weapon. Premium tanks by design are supposed to be better than their “stock” like-tier counterparts, but weaker than their fully outfitted ones (elited). The JägdTiger has a thick front upper plate, but weak armor everywhere else; most people who’ve ever come across one already know this, and know where to hit one. Its traverse is poor for a TD compared to something like a JägdPanther which can seemingly spin on a dime. The main gun will have low alpha damage but a high rate of fire. Unfortunately, against the large heavy tanks the matchmaker will throw it into, the JägdTiger 88 will fruitlessly fling spit wads much to the humor of a Tier IX heavy tank until it’s destroyed and laughed off the battlefield.

To fix the deficiencies, I had proposed to the developer to keep the caliber the same. You can keep the 88mm main gun, I said, however the gun should be replaced by the E-50’s 88mm KwK 46 L/100.

Let’s compare some figures:

The first figure is the proposed main gun given to the JägdTiger 88. The second figure is the 88mm main gun as seen on the E-50 medium tank. Notice the Damage figures are identical. This keeps the alpha damage the same, which keeps the tank in ‘balance’ against tanks it’ll face of same or lower tiers (which will also be lumped in their battles). The Penetration value is what’s important here. There’s only a 20mm gain with standard armor piercing rounds. This isn’t much to ask, but this will go a LONG way when facing the new M-103 heavy tank with its curved and seemingly impenetrable front armor. The rate of fire is slightly higher too, which is advantageous for a tank destroyer with such a large and roomy casemate with two loaders – logically fair in that aspect.

I’d like to point out that his subject is of heated debate even on the WoT NA forums.

The NA Community, for the most part feels it falls on its face on several key points:

• The JägdTiger has notoriously weak armor on the lower plate, sides and rear making even a modest tier 6 French Light a threat
• The Tank Destroyer by definition is supposed to excel at accuracy, damage, rate of fire, cammo value, and mobility. The 88 L/71, while accurate, will have no real firepower against the tier 9′s such as the IS-8 and M103′s it will most certainly face and simply be cannon fodder with little to no camo value
• The 88 KwK 46 L/100, while not a historically accurate weapon to the TD, is a superior choice that meets the balance of penetration, and rate of fire, at the cost of alpha damage. The extra penetration is only 20mm but every little bit helps. Furthermore, the 88 KwK 43 L/71 while historically accurate, was the least used variation of the JägdTiger produced (only 4 were completed out of 12 that were to be built due to a lack of gun sights!)
• The 7.3 Open test patch notes clearly stated that this TD and the IS-6 would be available for Super testers to… well, test. This is ONLY applicable to RU Super testers, which is yet another shot in the arm to the NA Super test community – some who have been idle and awaiting an assignment for over 6 months! If they are not going to allow the NA or EU Super test teams access to these tanks, then why even disclose that information in the patch notes? Why give them false hope?
• Nobody… absolutely nobody in their right mind will lay down real cash for a tank they never even had an opportunity to test, and formulate their own opinion about – especially one as seemingly controversial as this one.

I had really high hopes for this TD, and was willing to purchase one, even though I have a fully outfitted Tier IX JägdTiger already. This tank destroyer is a massive let-down before it even comes out of the gate. Basically what Wargaming is saying to the NA and EU player base is “Look, you’re going to like it, you’re not going to be able to test it and form your own non-biased opinions on it. Just take our word for it.”

Sorry, but no. I’d much rather know what I’m getting in to before I vote with my dollar; that’s what a ‘public test’ is supposed to be all about.

Hi there!
There have been a lot of developments with Ravaged since the last update I sent out and we’ve had a lot of excitement over our Kickstarter campaign as well!
Check out our Teaser Trailer which gives a great sense of the over-the-top action and attitude of Ravaged!

Thanks to mentions by “TotalBiscuit” of CynicalBrit.com and our friends at Epic Games, we’ve seen a surge of support on Kickstarter and went from under 50% funded to well over 100% in a day! In fact, we’re currently at 150% (and rising).

Now that we’ve surpassed our original funding goal the question people are most asking us is “What next?”

We’ve posted the answer in an update to our Kickstarter campaign page (check out the link below) but basically, the more money people send us the more crazy stuff we’re going to add to the game! We’ve set our next funding goal at $50,000 and are hoping to add things to the game like additional amazing settings, vehicle chases with eighteen wheelers, over-size dump trucks as movable bases and more!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2dawngames/ravaged/posts/211548

We’ve also gotten many requests for Mac and Linux support as well and if our funding keeps increasing, it isn’t out of the question.

Visit our Kickstarter campaign at the alias we set up http://2dawn.com/ks to see what the excitement is about!

Also, our Apocalypse Supply Contest has ended and we’ll be announcing the winner soon this week!

Whether you are new to Ravaged or been following us from the beginning, we’ve put togther the attached press kit with more information about the game and a series of images that we think give a good sense of the kind of characters, vehicles, levels and action you will see in the final game!

Ok die-hard TF2 fans, I know you are going to belt me for saying that, I know TF2′s been a F2P for a while now and your game is great…so I will be a bit more specific so you all won’t feel too bad: GRO is the first “AAA, photo-real shooter” to be released into the Free-to-Play (FTP) arena.

I’ve been playing the Closed Beta for a few weeks now and given that the devs have lifted the NDA on GRO, I can now bring you some details about the game.

My name is Jock and I’m a GRO addict

Wow, it’s been quite some time that I’ve played a shooter, be it for-pay, triple-AAA, triple-BBB or otherwise, that tightened my sphincter as much as this game did. Sorry for the mental picture by the way; however, not only is GRO officially the best looking shooter in F2P (easily trouncing Blacklight Retribution for this title), it also is the most compelling.

Think Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six meets Modern Warfare.

I’ve been playing GRO to death and I’ve really grown to admire its core gameplay. While I admit to being prejudiced against Ghost Recon franchise due to the fact that it billed itself as a Tactical Shooter — they tend to attract too many anal-retentive players — this game is fast-paced and has many run’n'gun elements. Overall, I think it really appeals to competitive players who like team-play.

GRO advertises itself as a TPS (Third-person shooter) — yet another reason why many FPS gamers might give it a pass. Don’t make that mistake. The TPS feature is super-immersive and actually grows on you. Of course, when you zoom in (ADS) the game goes into full blown FPS mode.

GRO’s gameplay simply rocks and I must confess, I’ve become addicted to this game.

What blew me away

• The Sound.  Easily the best sound since Battlefield. It’s loud and proud. The sound effects really enhances the weaponry used in the game. Missed shots crackle as though they were searingly hot as they brush by. Grenades explode like nuclear bombs and stun you with an overwhelming thud. Your assault gun or sniper rifle pounds out a rat-tat-tat that only Neil Peart can match. And tell me you don’t feel the screams of agony ripple up your spine when you are being roasted by the microwave energies emitted from the Assault class’s Heat device. Crank the audio up as high as your neighbors will allow you before calling the cops. The only downside I found was that directionality was only adequate and found it difficult to determine where an enemy was simply by his footfalls.
• Graphics. Fantabulous. On par with CoD’s MW2…possibly, less than MW3. Lack of rim-lighting makes it very difficult to pick up enemy targets…but as I said, picking up targets is why they use the word “Ghost” in this game. By the way, enemy targets are rim-lit in red when you put them in your crosshair and stay lit up for a few seconds.
•  Movement. I felt completely connected to my avatar. Movement is superb and fluid. The way you move through the game…crawling, rolling, hopping over obstacles, is truly awesome. Very natural, very realistic.  GRO has its own mechanics and unlike many run’n'gun games, you can’t simply move and shoot. The game delays your ability to draw on a target — just as moving in real-life would. As an ex-CoD player, this little delay caused me some initial difficulty as I was darting into the open well before I had my gun ready. Once I compensated for this, it was great!
• Cover. The Cover system is a winner. By pressing a key, you can tuck yourself into a corner and easily cover both approaches. The movement is fluid and realistic.
• TPS. While the game is officially a third-person shooter, when you scope in, your view becomes a traditional first person game. While the game may be a TPS, it feels like an FPS and the view does not detract in any way. Being able to see body position and stance in the game gives you the sense of being there.

The good

• Guns. Guns feel good and are fun to shoot. The early Level guns have massive recoil and take a lot of skill to use. The early level guns are barely usable due to this recoil, but level-up and the guns get much better. A Level 5 gun was much better than the Level 1 I started with, for example. Early in the beta  I noticed that the noobish Shotties were seriously OP. I tested to see how I’d do with an As Val (early tier assault rifle) versus a Pentagun (an early tier shottie),  for example and found that the shottie gave me a huge advantage (same map, same enemies), nearly doubling my score and kill ratio.
• Maps. Maps are narrow, linear and have only moderate flanking allowance. Overall, I think they are excellent and really fit my play style.  Well lit, their collision points guarantee a suspenseful and thrilling contest.
• Snipers. Sniping is reasonably good in this game, after all, by its very name, this game is supposed to appeal to our camping, ground-humping, ghillie-covered friends. Snipers are not overwhelmingly strong and can easily be neutralized by other classes (an Assaulter with a 3-1/2 zoom scope will do nicely).
• Abilities. Each class in this game has special abilities that are truly unique and special. While I hated the much ballyhooed CoD perk system, the GRO system, which is somewhat similar on paper,  actually grew on me. Why? The abilities, like the
• Specialists’ protective umbrella-like Aegis or the
• Assaulter’s Berzerker-like shield charge
• or the Sniper’s Oracle scan which detects enemies

 can actually be useful in a game and are quite unique.

• Team-play. GRO stresses team-play, without hitting you over the head with the idea.

Not so much…

• Too fast. Game speed was a bit too high for a tactical shooter. In close, I felt a bit overwhelmed as the draw speeds were just not keeping up with player speeds.
• Mouse Sensitivity. Aiming was difficult. The mouse sensitivity does not seem to differentiate between the ADS and the non-ADS mode. This should be reviewed by the devs.
• Shotties are OP. OK, I’m whining, but really…shotties are way too OP in this game — as it currently stands (hopefully they’ll be dialed back when the open beta begins).
• Min Specs. The minimum specs are a bit high for a F2P game:
• Core2Duo 2Ghz or higher
• 3GB of RAM or above
• 250GB HDD or above
• X850 XT 256MB 500Mhz (or higher)

• Hud Clutter. Yet another game where the devs just fill the screen with so much clutter that most time you can’t even see the enemy through all the waypoints and targeting information being displayed.

A closeup of HudClutter:

Gametypes

Onslaught:  Maps contain three strategic points. Attackers must capture the first two points before unlocking and then proceeding to the last point. Lost ground cannot be retaken.

Conquest: There are five strategic points that have to be captured sequentially. These points can be lost back to the enemy. Conquest is kinda similar to BF’s RUSH mode.

Maps

As a new-comer to the Ghost Recon franchise, I’m finding all the maps to be challenging. They are typically long and thin and perfectly suited for the gametypes being played. All are reasonably well lit, they are well thought out and offer really good challenges defensively and offensively. There are stages in each map that favor certain classes (recon, assaulters and specialists will all have their fave spots), but all-in-all, they produce great in-your-face, nail-biting action.

Korolyov Towers

Onslaught map.  Wide open vistas, but lots of cover opportunities.

Shearwater 51

Onslaught mode. This is one of the most chaotic maps currently available. It has wide fields of fire and you literally need to keep a 360 degree watch on things.  Lots of flanking and sneaky ninja action. Map is somewhat dark, but visibility isn’t as bad as you would think.

Chertanovo LZ (formerly Moscow City)

This is a Conquest map.  Probably one of my fave maps. Great lighting. Awesome chokepoint at A.  Great flanking opportunities.

Markov Station (formerly Moscow Metro Station)

This is a great conquest map.  The action is very challenging – also highly recommended.

Class

There are three classes in-game. Each have their own set of weaponry and special capabilities.  Special capabilities differ by what they can select for their “Device” and “Squad Support” hardware.

The Assault (soldier) class: High health, Medium damage

This is both a heavily armed and a heavily armored beast. This class specializes in frontal assault on hardened enemy positions. Their armor is heavy and their weapon types are assault rifles and shotties.

Assaulters by their very nature are found at the pointy-end of any attack. They’re usually the ones who try and capture or defend objectives. The good Assaulters participate in flanking action and derail enemy pushes, before they start.

The Assault class initially comes with the default HEAT device, this is a directed microwave energy transmitter that can incapacitate an enemy soldier by literally baking them like Orville Redenbacher popcorn. As you level up through the game you’ll eventually get BLITZ. This is a shield device which Assaulters hide behind and launch “blitz” attacks on lone enemies. The BLITZ offers ballistic protection and provides the user with a significant speed boost.  With the shield protecting you, you can run up on an enemy and knock them down. This disables them and allowing you to switch to your firearm and fill them with lead. BLITZ is typically used to clear log-jams at objectives. While BLITZ looks cool, it is ineffective given that you are susceptible to being shot at while you are blitzing. The HEAT device is my choice for Assaulters.

On the Squad Support side, early hardware configurations allow you to use HARDEN. Harden improves your armor and that of your nearby allies. Another configuration allows you to select REGEN, which provides in-combat regeneration for you to aid nearby allies.

The Recon (sniper) class: Low health, High damage

This class is what gives the game its name. This class specializes in gathering battlefield intelligence and in removing enemy personnel at extended distances. Armor is light and Weapon types are Sniper rifle and SMG.

Recons have some very effective sniper weapons to pick from and have ninja-like capabilities they can choose to buy. They can be nearly invisible for short periods of time, for example. The device that pulls off this trick for them is the CLOAK. Using advanced metamaterials, the Recons CLOAK bends light rendering them nearly invisible for a short while. At the best of times, Recons are very irritating given that you can prone in-game. This makes them hard to detect at the best of times…imagine if they can make themselves quasi-invisible! Early in the game however, the main “trick” up a Recon’s sleeve is the ORACLE.  The ORACLE collates all IFF tags in an area and marks enemy forces on Allies’ HUDs on the fly. This device allows Recons to see through walls and find enemy combatants for a short period of time. The enemy show up for teammates as well, so anyone daring to leave their cover or hidey-hole, will get sniped, naded and generally, shot-to-pieces. When you hear the distinctive “ORACLE” audio-cue, you generally will want to keep your head down.

Squad Support hardware is also available to the Sniper. Early hardware that can be purchased in the VECTOR DETECTOR, which detects sprinting enemies and highlights them to you and nearby allies. You can also get a GUNSHOT DETECTOR which detects shooting enemies and highlights them to you and nearby allies.

The Specialist (Engineer) class: Medium health, Medium damage

This is an advanced class that specializes in the use of ruggedized electronics. Armor is medium and their weapon choices are LMG’s and Shotguns. The Specialist’s main Device is the AEGIS. The Aegis disrupts the gyroscopic flight of incoming rounds with high speed kinteic impulses. Essentially, a specialist can erect a dome around him where enemy rounds cannot penetrate; however, outgoing fire can! As teammates can use this protective dome to shield them from enemy fire as well, the AEGIS can sway the outcome of a battle.  Specialists can also use BLACKOUT, a man-portable EMP generator capable of blacking out all electornics within its radius. Their Squad-support capability allows them to use AMMO SUPPLY, which restores spent ammunition to you and nearby allies. As well, they can use DEVICE RECHARGE, which increases energy regeneration for you and nearby allies.

Specialist Guide

Rock Paper Scissor

This game really takes the rock-paper-scissor approach seriously to balancing.

For example, take DEVICE balancing…though the Specialists’ AEGIS appears extremely effective – perhaps over-powered, it can be totally negated by an Assaulter on the other team firing up HEAT, which is unaffected by AEGIS.

What about weapon balance? Sniper weapons are incredibly powerful and given the map layouts, you would think that Recons would completely dominate; however, Assaulters can put 3.5x scopes on their rifles and countersnipe with incredible efficiency.

Gameplay balance is also kept in check…while you would think this game would be a camp-fest (and it does have some of that tendency), counters to camping can consist of HE grenades which will literally blow campers away from their protective lair. Missed with the nades? How about highlighting the campers with ORACLE and getting everyone on your team to fire at them?

For every move there is a counter-move in this game.

Ranking up

There are two in-game currencies: XP and RP. Experience points are given post-game and are used to rank up through the ranks. As well, you get Requisition Points for in-game prowess and RP is used for purchasing in-game goods.

Teamplay

GRO is meant for teamplay. Each class has a specific purpose and working together, a team with average skills working together can overcome a team with above-average skills working as lone-wolves. One of the great ways the GRO devs convey the sense of team in this game is by the virtual tethers (see pic) that are shown connecting teammates that are close by. The appearance of these lines is initially off-putting, but once you get used to them, you quickly know where your support is situated. In fact, you don’t even need the mini-map (below and to the left on the pic) to help you spot your mates.

Menu System

The Menu system is full-featured and contains social functions like add friend, emailing and IM’ing.

You can chat in the game Lobby, Match Lobby or just whisper to your buddies. The concept of gathering a large “fireteam” is easy as clicking on your friends’ names.

There are Daily Missions in game which reward you bonus in-game money or hardware. First-Victory, for example, rewards you with 300 RP.  There are Solo missions, e.g. Kill 15 enemies with an Assault rifle and there are Fireteam missions e.g. Win 3 rounds with a fireteam size of at least 4.

You can customize your character as follows:

Loadout – Contains your equipment. There are finite slots within the loadout screen. By default you get enough to slots to have a Primary Gun, Secondary Gun, Body Armor, Helmet, Device, Squad Support and Frags.

Storage – Excess equipment can be kept in storage. By default, you get 18 slots.

Weapons – You can buy weapons with RP or with real-world money (Ghost Coins).  Just head to the GRO Store. Most of the early guns have so much kick to them, you could swear that they’re firing rounds the size of bowling balls. The assault rifles, at least the ones I tried (< level 30) had the most recoil of any weapon I’ve ever used in shooters. To say that you will need some skillz in their proper use, is an understatement. Here are some of the guns you will have access to:

Assault Rifles

M27C 1350 RP Level 1
M27D10RS 1350 RP Level 5
M27 D20 2000 RP Level 1
As Val 2500 RP Level 5
As Val C 2000 RP Level 5
VSS 2500 RP Level 5
MK16 CQC 3000 RP Level 10
MK 16 SV 4500 RP Level 10
MK 16 3750 RP Level 10
Sar 21 6500 RP Level 15
Sar 21C 8000 RP Level 15
Sar 21 SD 6500 RP Level 15
ACR 13250 RP Level 20
ACR C 13250 RP Level 20
ACR SV 16000 RP Level 20
AR-21 18500 RP Level 25
AR-21C 23000 RP Level 25
AR-21SV 27500 RP LEvel 25
F2000 32000 RP Level 30
F2000 SP 40000 RP Level 30
F2000 SD 48700 RP Level 30

LMGs

Mk3SP 2000 RP Level 1
Mk4C 1350 RP Level 1
Mk5 1675 RP Level 1
M96 2000 RP Level 5
M96C 3000 RP Level 5
M96SV 3000 RP Level 5
M249 3750 RP Level 10
MK46 Mod 0 3750 RP Level 10
M249 Para 4500 RP Level 10
L86 SV 6500 RP Level 15
L86A1 1W 5250 RP Level 15
L86A1 LSW 8000 RP Level 15
MG4 13250 RP Level 20
MG4 C 13250 RP Level 20
MG4 SP 16000 RP Level 20
MG36K 25000 RP Level 25
MG36KV 23000 RP Level 25
MG36 23600 RP Level 25
6P41 32000 RP Level 30
6P41SP 48700 RP Level 30
6P41SV 40000 RP Level 30

SMGs

MP5A2 1675 RP Level 1
MP5K 1350 RP Level 1
MP5SD-NZ 2000 RP Level 1
OC-14 4A01 2500 RP Level 5
OC-14 4A02 2000 RP Level 5
OC-14 4A03 3000 RP Level 5
PP2000 4500 RP Level 10
PP2000C 3000 RP Level 10
PP2000 SD 3750 RP Level 10
MP7 5250 RP Level 15
MP7C 6500 RP Level 15
MP7SD 6500 RP Level 15
PP-19 13250 Level 20
PP-19 SD 10500 RP Level 20
PP-19 SP 13250 RP Level 20
MP9 23000 RP Level 25
MP9C 18500 RP Level 25
MP9 SD 23000 RP Level 25
P90 40000 RP Level 30
P90C 32000 RP Level 30
P90 SD 32000 RP Level 30

Snipers

M24A2 1675 RP Level 1
M24 SV 2000 RP Level 1
M24 C 1350 RP Level 5
SRS 2500 RP Level 5
SRS C 2000 RP Level 5
SRS SD 3000 RP Level 5
Sentinel SR-1 3750 RP Level 10
Sentinel SR-1 SV 4500 RP Level 10
Sentinel SR-1 SD 3000 RP Level 10
SR-25 5250 RP Level 15
SR-25 SD 8000 RP Level 15
SR-25 SP 6500 RP Level 15
MSR 13250 RP Level 20
MSR C 10500 RP Level 20
MSR SD 16000 RP Level 20
M-200 18500 RP Level 25
M-200 SD 23000 RP Level 25
M-200 SV 27500 RP Level 25
SVD 40000 RP Level 30
SVD SV 48700 RP Level 30
SVDS 40000 RP Level 30

Shotguns

M500 1675 RP Level 1
M500C 1675 RO Level 1
M500 SV 2000 RP Level 1
Pentagun 2000 RP Level 5
Pentagun SP 3000 RP Level 5
Pentagun SD 2000 RP Level 5
PM5 3750 RP Level 10
PM5 SP 3750 RP Level 10
PM5-350 3000 RP LEvel 10
M104 6500 RP Level 15
M1014C 5250 RP Level 15
M1014 SD 7000 RP Level 15
NS2000 13250 RP Level 20
NS2000C 13250 RP Level 20
NS2000 SP 13250 RP Level 20
Model 10a 23000 RP Level 25
Model 10c 23000 RP Level 25
Model 10a SP 23000 RP Level 25
KPS-12 40000 RP Level 30
KPS-12C 40000 RP Level 30
KPS-12 SD 40000 RP LEvel 30

Pistols

P250 1350 RP Level 1
USP 45 1350 RP Level 4
TR-1 1350 RP Level 9
FiveSeven 8950 RP Level 14
P-45 8950 RP Level 19
Redhawk 9999 RP Level 24
PX4 17900 RP Level 29

In addition you can buy Devices, Armor and Consumables.

Conclusion and Rating

I highly recommend this game. I’m going to give the Closed Beta a rating of 8.5 out of 10…once it goes Open Beta and then releases, my score should go up.  I think it is a great game and on par with anything I’ve seen come out of AAA-franchises. Heck, not only is GRO much, much better than any of EA’s free-to-play offerings (by a long shot), it even rivals its top-dog BF franchise shooter. In fact, I think the suits at Activision or at EA should start worrying about what games like this will do to their cash cows.

What will CoD or BF do in light of games like GRO? Personally, I see them going more and more towards the direction of story-telling. That’s one thing that F2P games are currently avoiding and if GRO is any indication of the trend in gaming, multiplayer will be a F2P-only arena within a few years — maybe sooner.

Ghost Recon Online is currently in Closed Beta and has recently gone 24hrs round-the-clock. The Closed Beta will end soon and I’m guessing that by next month, the Open Beta will begin. Download this beast!

Links

GRO Site

GRO Beta key applications

Ubisoft GRO Forums

PAX East

For those of you who don’t know what PAX is, it’s short for Penny Arcade Expo. It was conceived around 2004 by the guys who write the Penny Arcade webcomic.

The first show started out in Washington initially and then it expanded to the east coast in 2010 when they brought it to Boston. The show in Boston became known as PAX East and in the past, it has drawn tens of thousands of fans.

In Edmar’s report he goes over a few of the main elements in PAX that make it the gamer-centric conference it is:

• About PAX: http://paxsite.com/.
• Exclusively for gaming…for the gamers!
• Tabletop included.
• Console freeplay area.
• Handheld lounge.
• Classic arcade room.
• Tournaments.
• Freeplay Area.
• Concerts.
• Panels
• INSTA-COMMUNITY.

Natural Selection 2

You may remember us talking to Charlie Cleveland back in 2010 on BASH 157. Looks like Charlie and the gang are getting set to spring NS2 on us. Edmar caught up with his dev crew over at PAX East. Check out their latest video for the game:

Ravaged

Ravaged, by 2DawnGames, is in the middle of a crowd-sourcing run on Kickstarter.com. Visit Kickstarter and send 2Dawn some love.

Wargaming Interview with Victor Kislyi

Victor Kislyi is the CEO of Wargaming.net.  Wargaming is a company based in London and its main development studio is in Belarus. Wargaming started out as a strategy game development company in 1998 and since then it has made it big.

Real big.

Victor Kislyi the CEO recently talked about having 20 million users in World of Tanks and they’re now making about 2 million bucks a month – the game launched in Russia back in only 2010.

• Edmar got to meet with Victor during PAX East and they shared some treats (see pic).
• Wargaming Synopsis:
• 120 -> 800 devs in 18 months
• 3 titles in production: complement each other…fast, medium, more tactical/calculated.  Games not competing with each other.  Use one game’s xp in other game.
• Best Decisions: no publisher
• Worst Decision: no USA presence
• Guiding Principles: Be professional.  Be transparent.  Be kind.  Don’t be greedy.
• I asked how they keep design consistent and he said that since Tanks doesn’t need the same design support anymore the leads can move to other projects and jump back as needed.
• They do well enough with about 30% of players making purchases in game, compared to Zynga which has 1-2% of players paying…so no need to charge more.  He regularly denies design ideas that would encourage more spending.  1-2 movie tickets/month is the sweet point.
• Future:
• cross franchise play?
• consoles

World of Warplanes

• Optimized graphics and effects for plane battles.  15v15.  Full joystick support.
• Dog fighting and ground objectives
• Expect fun environments…hinted at cities such as NY!
• Planes: 1930’s to Korean War including planes based on actual blueprints that were never made production.  No missiles.
• Ranked battles / tournaments
• Cross vehicle play may be in the future…maybe in a year. 5-10 year plan for the franchise.

Check out these exclusive PAX East screen shots:

WoT’s just recently celebrated a year in business and who doesn’t celebrated with a catered, all-you can drink, music-thundering, hot-chicks shakin’-what-they-got, partayy?

You can bet the Vodka was flowing at this Wargaming shin-dig! Thanks to Edmar and his cracker-jack reporting, we get to hear all about it, cuz he was invited to it thanks to Victor and he’s got the scene evidenced through his phone’s camera. Blurry, underexposed, but it’s evidence dammit!

Thanks to Arthur, Victor and all the good folks at Wargaming for inviting us into their inner sanctum and getting to talk-the-talk with them. Congrats on the one year anniversary of WoT and we cannot wait for the Beta of World of Warplanes. I’m warming up my joystick as I speak.

As a special bonus, Edmar and I will be giving away WoT gold to our listeners. Thanks to Wargaming.net for providing us with the bullion. Here’s how you can get in on it:

1. For Edmar’s WoT  gold, listen to the podcast.

2. For my WoT gold, watch my Twitter stream in the next few days: twitter.com/bashandslash

The code you will see is for WoT gold. You have to register at WoT to use it.

Log in to your profile and enter the code I tweet.

Keeping a BASHandSlash-eye on things down there is our good friend and co-host of FBS, Edmar. Edmar sends us these pics of the goings on:

In the next week or so, we’ll be summarizing all the big news from Boston…so stay tuned.

Support Over the Top Action Indie Games with the RAVAGED Kickstarter Campaign!

April 4, 2012 — Ravaged is a post-apocalyptic vehicular first-person shooter. Think Mad Max meets Battlefield where a group of Resistance soldiers fight for humanity while Scavengers look to control it all. The game features vehicles that are fun to drive, crazy melee combat, fast-paced mayhem, cool characters and great new game modes.

Publisher 2 Dawn Games is kicking off a Kickstarter campaign today for Ravaged to enable the game to be published without the restrictions of a publisher and instead focus on making the game fun and supporting the community!

From the Kickstarter campaign page:

“As video game developers we often get pulled into the land of publishers. While it’s good to have someone backing your game, it also tends to focus games towards trends, numbers and executive goals. This has sucked the life out of most games and killed off many good studios.”

“Well here is your chance to be part of a game where the fun is the focus. To do this, we are going to need your help to put the finishing touches on the game, join our beta and help us get the word out.”

The studio plans to use funding from the campaign to:

Finalize marketing and publishing material for Steam
Finish production of the game trailer
Set up beta testing equipment
Develop more vehicles and weapons
Add finishing touches to gameplay and levels

Ravaged is currently in development with a beta planned for Spring 2012 and releasing on PC in Summer 2012 via Steam and other distribution methods.

Visit the Ravaged Kickstarter page and check out our new trailer at http://kck.st/HiV9E2

About 2 Dawn Games

Established in 2009, 2 Dawn Games is a team of AAA game and indie developers dead set on bringing the fun back to games. Our team is made up of passionate gamers who have worked on games such as Desert Combat, DCON, the Battlefield series and more.

Public Relations
Mitch Gross
PR & Community Manager

2 Dawn Games Online

2dawn.com
twitter.com/2dawngames
facebook.com/2dawngames
gplus.to/2dawngames
youtube.com/2dawngames

One of the more nightmarish recollections must surely involve the 2009-2010 Modern Warfare 2 release…remember BASH 123 and our interview with Rob? That whole no-dedi-server affair? Ya, that was a nadir for PC FPS gaming. Rob took a lot of hits during that time from the PC community as I recall. To be redundant about it, he never quite understood those of us that enjoyed the PC platform and he definitely never championed its cause. Rob was unfortunate to have been the mouthpiece for Infinity Ward, during the exact period of history when the dev house turned its back on PC gaming to concentrate on the cash cow called console-gaming. Unsurprisingly, Fourzerotwo was pilloried by PC gamers when this shift became apparent. He became the living embodiment of a near-paranoid belief that mainstream gaming was at war with the keyboard and mouse.

Back then, Fourzerotwo seemed to dodge the salvos tossed his way by disenfranchised PC gamers and fled to the warm bosom of his admirers in the console arena. Alas, PC gamers never forgot their treatment at the hands of CoD’s original caretakers and this week’s shock announcement by Rob, that he has left Infinity Ward and Activision, has made many people in the FPS scene quite happy — in a smug, spit-in-the-eye, sort of way.

Rob marked his resignation by tweeting the following:

“Today, I resign from my position as Creative Strategist of Call of Duty, as a lead of Infinity Ward, and as an employee of Activision.”

Call of Duty PC gamers finally have closure

Rob’s departure has made many people wonder whether he was fired, laid-off, or simply quit out of his own volition.

The outward signs are a bit murky to determine this exactly.

Activision thanked him for his years of service (he was with Activision since 2006) and recently Rob’s tweets seem to indicate that he has some project going on that he can’t talk about. That seems to indicate an amicable separation. Perhaps Bowling just got fed up with being the nexus of crying, whinging consolers complaining about the usual minutiae we are now accustomed to from online gamers.

Nevertheless, I cannot see Rob giving up a lucrative six-figure job at IW voluntarily. The conspiracy theorist in me tends to think that Activision finally found a way to get rid of him, or maybe I vindictively wish this to be the case.

Don’t forget, IW tried years ago to dump Rob when he verbally taunted ATVI’s Noah Heller (at the time, CoD:WW producer).

Remember the “douche” incident? Link.

ATVI CEO BobbyKotick had HR press the eject button on Bowling, but Zampella and West, then Infinity Ward head-honchos stepped in and saved Fourzerotwo’s career. Neither Zampella or West are around at IW anymore, having been unceremoniously escorted out a few years ago and thus Bowling had no one to buffer blow-back from his latest rant during a Machinima interview where he seemed to come out against ATVI’s corporate strategy of charging for every scrap of DLC, including older re-hashed maps.

The thought that Bowling was axed because of this Machinima interview has now become mainstream lore: check out this Link.

Whether he was let go, or not, is a moot point. The bottom line here is simple, with Rob going off to other things, we can finally close the chapter on PC gaming’s connection with the CoD franchise

CoD had a huge, vibrant PC following. Modders, clans, competitive players…you name the scene, CoD had it. All of it was destroyed during Rob’s tenure at IW. Not that he was the sole factor in the demise of FPS PC gaming at Infinity Ward…but the fact remains, he was PC’s link to the game’s developer. Ironically, that link is now finally gone.

Joins JD_2020 as ex-CM of CoD

Fourzerotwo now joins Josh, aka JD_2020 in the exclusive “ex-CM of CoD” club. While they may not be eligible for future CoD game royalties, both Rob and Josh do get lovely parting gifts…hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers.

Tweet, tweet

Somehow, mind-bogglingly, Activision failed to grasp the importance of social media years ago and both JD and Fourzerotwo were allowed to create personal Twitter accounts to tweet out game missives. When it came time to leave, both former CM’s failed to give up those accounts to ATVI and thus the CoD franchise now is deprived of hundreds of thousands of followers (370K in Fourzerotwo’s case and approx 160K for JD_2020). Bad for CoD, but a huge win for these ex-employees.

What to do with all those Twitter followers? You leverage them of course!

JD_2020, ex of Treyarch, was one of the first people I know to latch on to Twitter and actually taught Rob about the technology. It’s no surprise then, that social-media-savvy JD is way ahead at trying to leverage his huge social media following. Recently, he began to expand his thoughts beyond the 140 characters.  With over 5000 Tweets credited to his JD_2020 account alone, Josh has decided that he needs to string out his thoughts into longer sentences and has started up a new blog called, BlameJD.com.

The new blog will almost certainly be successful given that Josh is still plugged into the gaming scene and therefore will be able to create fresh, insightful content. And furthermore, didn’t I say he has over 160,000 Twitter followers! And though most of those staggering number of followers came on board during the years he was representing Treyarch and the CoD franchise, most have continued to stick with him now that he’s left. To those who would argue that JD is only now elbowing his way into blogging in an attempt to keep his Twitter army content, I would say “duh”.  Followers can be gold, if properly handled and I’m sure if anyone can translate popularity into a lucrative career, it would be JD.

Always on the forefront of technology, Josh was one of the first to ever use Twitter and instantly recognized its potential. The ability to quickly push data to thousands of people, across multiple platforms became quite a useful tool for him when he took on the job as Treyarch’s Community Manager. Now that he’s left Treyarch, Josh will rely on the experience he gained within the Activision family and through his blog to give us clear and deep insight into the video game business.

I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing him several times on BASH and a few times on FBS and I am always astounded how he can read so much nuance into any news story and extrapolate the information into reasoned summaries of the past and accurate predictions of the future.

I wish Josh’s newest blog endeavors only success (as I do Fourzerotwo’s) and I hope that he keeps his quality standards high and keeps giving us the straight poop on gaming, as he sees it. Oh, speaking of poop…what I also would like to see Josh do is to deep-six all that scatological nonsense he talks about from time to time on Twitter. Like this gem he tweeted tonight on his personal Twitter account recently:

“RT if you’ve bidet’d, without ever actually sitting on a bidet…. No, I’m not above poop tweets.”

I wish you were Josh, I wish you were.

Poop comments aside, Fourzerotwo should pay attention to JD’s use of Twitter as he has used it as a great marketing tool for his career-after-CoD.

IW irrelevant

Back to Fourzerotwo…his departure portends a slow-fade into irrelevance for Infinity Ward and an ascendancy for Sledgehammer Games (CoD’s newest dev). Sadly, that fade occurred years ago for the PC community.

Failed CM/Strategist

Looked upon from the PC point-of view, Bowling’s tenure as CM and then as a so-called Creative Strategist, must be graded as a complete failure.

In his CM role, I can count on only a few fingers of one hand how many times he actually used the term “PC” during any CoD marketing campaign. He was effectively a no-show for our community and ultimately he became irrelevant. He never “got” us and frankly, we didn’t have time for him either.

On the Strategist side of the ledger, CoD’s bland gameplay since 2009 suggests that he was unable to make any innovative changes to the franchise.

Failing grades aside, I hold no personal grudge against Rob. He’s a loyal family guy and I hope he goes on to something rewarding and lucrative — I just hope he stays clear of anything PC-related.

We certainly won’t miss Fourzerotwo’s interaction with us…he never really had any to begin with: Bowling’s gone from IW? Whateva…