Xbox 360 Clans

In the wake of the PSN outage that is pushing  three plus weeks, there have been reports flying around that PlayStation 3 users have begun to jump ship and trade their systems in for Xbox 360's.

It has been said that Edge was on of the first to report this news. From there others began to follow simply by reporting the same rumor repeating the original report as the Holy Grail.

Joe Wilcox from betanews.com states that there is a problem in the original report from Edge. The information edge reported on is largely based on facts and figures from the United Kingdom. Joe continues to say

Based on a massive poll conducted by Betanews and random calls to a half-dozen GameStops, there is no evidence of mass consumer exodus from PlayStation 3 to Xbox 360 -- at least in the States.

This tends to make sense for a couple reasons. The first being, PS3 users are one of the most die hard, hard core gamer groups out there. Ask any PS3 owner what they think of their system, You will likely hear about it being the greatest console ever made. The second, it the recent releases of console sales reports and even the PS3 reported increased sales as well as the Xbox 360.

Personally, I talked with a local GameStop manager and heard the same thing, no PS3 users were rushing in to trade in their systems for 360's. Also interesting enough many forums and even on Twitter and facebook, Ps3 owners have been posting "can't wait wait for the PSN to get back up and running. I'm sure if one looked hard enough you could find someone posting their intention to switch consoles but it simply does not seem to be a trend as many have stated in blogs and news reports everywhere on the internet. 

Don't believe everything you hear or see on the internet, just ask someone you know who owns a PS3 and see if they switched...

Tweet

If you have not seen any of this yet it is comical as hell. I thought it was fake when I first saw this on twitter today. Nope, it is real! Hey programmers, thanks, that was funny!!!!! Just thought I'd share....

[video:www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHcVlchlwNM 600x400]

Well if you purchased BulletStorm you have more than likely been playing the Gears of War 3 beta for a week now. The rest of us have to wait until the 25th of April. 

I have been counting the days until i can run to the TV with my code and enter it in. So far, what game play I could find on Youtube looks feakin awesome.

Anyone else loosing sleep at night waiting for this to come out like I am?????

I have been on Twitter the last couple days and people like Major Nelson and others with ties to xbox are giving away free VIP codes for the Gears3 beta. Of course they are making you jump through hoops to get them but thought I'd pass it along. Go to www.twitter.com and search #gears3beta...

Well, where to begin? As a person who plays with their friends on Xbox 360, I love squad or team based games. When a new one like Homefront is due out, I can't wait to get my hands on it and play with my friends. If you feel the same and don't own this one yet, wait to get it or you will be playing alone, a lot...

Server Issues:

It would appear that the game servers simply can not handle the load being put on them by the people that want to play this game. Now wether that means the server can't handle all the connection requests or just aren't fast or big enough I don't know. What I do know is this, THQ is saying they are experience more people trying to get on the servers then they expected, please be patient while they bring more servers online. OK, I get it I really do. Some times you just get more people buying and playing the game online then you expected and the servers can't handle the load. But wait, what's that? They announced months ago that this was the #1 largest pre-sale in the companies history. I would think that might have clued them into the fact that , your servers need to be upgraded before the release date. But noooooooooo,,, I get the game, call up a friend that I know got it too. "Hey dude, lets get on and play this thing", I say to him. After an hour or so of trying to get in a match, he finally ops out and tells me he will go watch a movie instead. A frickin hour and still could not connect to a match. Get in one and there is a chance you may get kicked out right in the middle of it. Although this has only happened to me a couple times, it has happened. for the most part, once you get in a match there is no lag and the game runs pleasantly smooth.

Graphics:

Maybe it is just me, but... In this day and age when new games come out I guess I over expect. I am always thinking the new games will have graphics to knock your socks off. If this is you, you will be disappointed once again. The graphics are not hideous but sup standard compared to other games recently released. Everything looks pretty nice when you spawn in and have a view of the entire map but move around and get close to something, raged edges and sub standard art work are easy to spot.

I can't comment on the story mode much because I have not played through to the end. I will add to this once I do. So far I have heard a couple people say they they won't be playing Black Ops anymore since this game has come out and I have heard the same for people that have complaints about this game. My advice at this point, If you don't already own it, rent it before shelling out $60 and see if you think it is worth your time. I spent the money so I will play it but I could have spent it elsewhere and been happier...

Being a long time lover of Medal of Honor I am looking forward to this new release. the more modern warfare and multi-player game play should be nothing more then a great experience.

ORIGINAL POST BY: AJRFOX

Humanity lives on a Artificial world called coccoon. Their the people live in a safe, secured and controlled exsistence thanks to the fal cie. These Fal cie are godlike machines that not only constructed the world coccoon but also grow food and maintain the weather. Coccoon floats over the lowerworld call Pulse. This world also is ruled by its own set of Fal cie though they do not nurture their human populace. Long ago the two sides faced off in a bitter war that ended with pulse defeat and the outter shell of coccoon shattered by a eidolon called Ragnarok. The story takes place several centuries later as it seems that a pulse fal cie has been found on coccoon. The story centers around six characters through fate are brought together as mythical beings called L'cie. These are servents of both fal cie factions and they are tasked with a mission called a focus. The characters struggle against government forces angry crowds and overwhelming hoplessness as they struggle to survive and undo their fate.

The battle system allows your characters to take on certain roles in battle. this allows you to counter your enemies spells and protection and to deal enormous amounts of damage. The classes you can take are ravager, commando, sentinel, saboteur, synergist, and medic. In the menus you can set several different combinations of these classes called Paradigms to use in battle. At first the characters can only access certain ones but later will have access to all of them. Your characters each have roles that they both excel and suffer in so experimentation with these classes is vital. Characters are upgraded in a system called crystarium. After a battle you get CP points and you spend these to get upgrades for each character. The crystarium is similar in function to final fantasy X's sphere grid.

As i played the game ive noticed only a few problems. One is that when the character you control is killed in battle then you get a game over. Regardless if your other two characters are still alive. This has caused me to lose several battles that shouldn't have. Another is that the monsters in the game have a tendancy to attack only one character heavily causing to waste time and turns keeping that character alive. The last is that when you switch your party up all the battle paradigms are gone and even when you switch back to the old party they are gone. So each time you change your party you haft to reset your paradigms. The last is that gill(currency of the game.) is very scarce.

Otherwise this game lives up to the final fantasy name. Amazing graphics and enviorments make every city and forest you visit a beautiful site to behold. A story line so compelling that you must play through to know how it all comes together. Your summons or eidolons are able to fight along side the caster in battle and can prove effective in saving your ass from a difficult fight. Weapons are numerous and each can be upgraded to become stronger than it was. This allows you keep any weapon you like and save you precious money on gill in the game which is scarce. I recommend this game to any FF fan that has waited a long time for a new and awesome Final Fantasy game.

To start this off here is a somewhat brief description of what happens during the mission and what you have to work with as far as weapons are concerned. In this mission you are only allowed to use explosives and knives to kill 10 enemy Juggernauts in the Favala campaign map (you know the place with all the crappy little poor shacks). The specific weapons you are given is a Thumper, RPG, 10 C4, Flashbangs, Frag Grenades, and 10 Claymores. Also the enemies come at you 1 Juggy at a time until you have 8 left, then two come out at once. At 7 enemies left 1 more adds himself into the bundle of fun and you will have a total of 3 Juggy's on the map at once at all times for the rest of the mission. Now the fun begins...

Unless you sold your soul to satan and you are an amazing shot with the Thumper and get headshots with it (yes, I said HEADSHOTS) then you are going to want to employ some guerrilla tactics in this fire fight. The only weapon you are going to want to use is the Thumper because it is easy to shoot and duck around corners quickly, RPG's just take waaaaay to long to fire to make this strategy effective. This strategy involves running away from every Juggy you see with a gun (if they don't have a gun you don't need to run away) (haha, that was a trick statement THEY ALL HAVE GUNS). You run around the outer edges of the map to avoid enemy fire, never take a shortcut or run straight through the middle of the map. Why, do you ask? Because by running around the outer edges of the map the Juggy's are forced to follow your direct path and they eventually all clump up in a group. Cutting through the middle/buildings just makes them split up and they will cut you off and gang bang you in an ally.

How do you kill these bastards if you are running away so much, you ask? Well its simple, as they are chasing you hit them with a Thumper shot as they are coming around a corner to kill you. Just one shot, then run away and do it again at the next corner. Rinse and repeat until one of them dies, do this for every Juggy. Now when you shoot your Thumper remember this isn't golf these guys have guns and want to kill you! Don't admire the beautiful shot you just took and watch it go through the air to hit him...by then you will be on the floor watching red stuff flow out of your body. Just shoot him and right when the grenade leaves the barrel run like hell to the next corner, ALONG THE EDGE OF THE MAP remember? One more helpful hint, use your flashbangs they stun for a couple of seconds to give you a much needed break in the action if you need it. This gives you time to pick up your stupid friend that watched his grenade hit a Juggy or gives you time to flash a Juggy in front of you (out of formation with the others, he just spawned) so you can run passed him and around a corner to safety.

This whole strategy is the only legit strategy that I know works, it is pretty tactically sound and reasonably possible. Also this strategy's key to success is knowing the map pretty freaking well, which isn't hard to learn since it is a rather small location. By the way, there are ammo stashes all over this area so you pretty much have unlimited ammo for your thumpers.

This concludes this explanation of how to do one of the toughest ops of Special Operations in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Have fun, it will take some practice to get it down right, and enjoy your 69 Star achievement!

Team Deathmatch

Pretty simple, they kill us, we kill them using any means reasonably possible, moving as a group is key here. Even running around defending the campers on your team to make it that much more difficult to kill your friendly neighborhood camper like myself. The sooner your campers get 7 kills closer to their nukes, the sooner you either have a massive point lead or they have a big explosion that levels everything on the map; I dub this the I win button.

I will say though here in this game-type you don't have to be that coordinated to achieve victory, but the more coordination, the faster the victory. Having a small team of guys that like to flank the enemy with cold blooded silenced weapons, w/ or w/o ninja wouldn't be too bad here either but like I said brute force can win the day easily if our teams brute force is greater than theirs. But I'm a tactical kind of guy what can I say? It's in my blood to want to destroy the enemies hopes and dreams and maybe ruin some controllers and headsets in the process through our enemies sheer rage quiting!

One final thing to look out for, if our team is facing a tactical/camping team, don't try to brute force them out of their hole/spot. I would say stop running toward them from the same direction and dying 10 times in a row and try to flank them after getting killed twice in the same roadway! It may take longer to run around the map, but it sure as hell beats dying to the same guy over and over just giving him a crap load of kills toward his killstreaks. It is rare to find people that are covered from the rear 100% of the time, and who knows you may run into some random scrubs and nab some kills on the way over to that guy's hiding spot!

This concludes the Team Death-match tutorial have a nice day and thank you for reading the Nightmare287's guide to complete ownage. More to come about domination when I feel bored and in the mood to write about this some more!

Signed your complete idiot sniper, Nightmare287, Dan for short.