Gearheads of War

So Uncharted 2 releases today and it's getting nothing but rave reviews. Even Jimmy Fallon admitted to playing it this entire past weekend on his late night show last night. I've played the MP beta and I liked it. The matches can be fun and the cover dynamic works pretty well. Also, climbing and exploring each map is fun in itself. The blind fire is quite ineffective though. And earning a "booster" (i.e. COD 4 perk) to increase blind fire or aim-sight accuracy seems misplaced and I can see it giving experienced players a huge advantage they really don't need against newcomers.

So I'm about to hop on PS3 Network, player id: johnart, and get some Uncharted 2 MP beta in. So if anyone out there would like to party up send a friend request. I've been waiting to team up and coordinate some battles as this game seems perfect for coordinated attacks.

Hopefully I'll get the full game soon.

I know that everyone here loves to play online against other Gearheads in private matches because of the fun social aspect of Gears/Gears 2. But I know that quite a few of us like to play online because we can get full matches and sometimes Gearheads are on at different times. I myself am usually not home friday nights and play in the later pacific hours and often on weeknights. With that said, I've been playing a lot online using the matchmaking over xbox live.

I'm a big fan of the MS Trueskill system since it allows you to play people who are at your skill level and makes for some amazingly close and competitive online matches. But right out of the gate Gears 2 has some severe issues with matchmaking wait times as well it seems people exploiting by standbying. Just this early afternoon I was on my Xbox for about 1.5 hours and for nearly half of that time I was staring at a matchmaking lobby screen. For some reason today it was very slow. I tried several times changing the playlist because in the past some lists got me into a match quicker. Today it wasn't really different but I had the best luck in the Flashback playlist.

There will be tons of new things to try like the new arcade releases as well as video. And for sure I'll be getting the WSOP episodes off ESPN XBLM.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the Elite price drop. If I'm on Live it's gonna be on my bro's 360.

See you guys soon.

What if a future update added podcast support? That would be nice. Or possibly game channels where you could browse IGN, GameVideos, Gamespot, and other noteworthy gaming mags/news sites and view their reviews and audio/video content. I know this sounds like a web browser but this would be like a slimmed down website that you can easily navigate through with a controller. I know MS isn't big on free content since I had to pay for a video E3 preview from Spike TV. Using the PS3 browser is a pain with the controller and I'm not sure if it supports a mouse.

What do you guys think we can see in the future?

So, will anyone be joining me in checking out BF 2 tomorrow?

So enough with all that, here's the info/email:

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Dear Microsoft Game Studios Beta Tester,

We are gearing up for a year of great betas. To prepare for these upcoming betas we have a new survey on the beta website. Please follow this link to access the new survey: https://connect.microsoft.com/MGSBetas/Survey/Survey.aspx?SurveyID=5450. We will be using this new survey to select participants for our betas. If you do not complete this new survey, you will not be able to participate! But don't worry, the survey is quick and painless.

Remember, we are always looking for all types of game players. Whether you play once a year or every day, whether you pre-order the latest consoles or wouldn't think of paying for a game - we want feedback from you! If you know of someone who would be interested in participating in the Microsoft Game Studios Beta program, please feel free to forward this mail or direct them to: http://connect.microsoft.com/mgsbetas.

Questions? Please contact: Microsoft Games Studios Beta Program Administrator

Thanks!

MGS Beta Program Administrator
*****************

If you want I can also forward the email directly to you guys. Just leave me your email address here on a comment or send it to me in a message over xbox live if you don't want it posted here.

So I saw someone right now on my friend's list (xbox.com) and he was playing Halo 3. I asked him how and it turns out that he won an early copy from a Pontiac promotion. What a lucky fool!! I also heard from another friend that his friend has it already. I'm not sure how he got it. I'm guessing not from the same promotion. So I'm wondering just how he got it. Anyone on here get lucky somehow?

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Yup, you got it. The three red rings again!! Hooray for me, it's only my second time. Just in time for me to miss the majority of the COD 4 beta too! And I was getting into BioShock too.

Anyways I just wanted to know what you guys have done to replace your console in the interim. I heard someone say they bought a 360 at Best Buy and were able to get most of their money back, maybe after paying for some warranty. I would forego $50 or less of a sunk cost to play the COD4 beta while I wait on my next unreliable 360.

Thanks.

Courtesy of http://www.xbox360fanboy.com:

"Update: 1UP incorrectly states that XLSP stands for Xbox Live Silver Platform. DXL540 informs us that it is in fact Xbox Live Server Platform, which makes a bit more sense. Furthermore, DXL540 sends us an SEC filing from Activision detailing what's possible with XLSP."
   - from http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/08/15/ms-softens-stance-on-user-created-content-for-360/

Also, here's the SEC filing
http://www.secinfo.com/d11MXs.u1EK7.t.htm
that was mentioned above. I only read the first paragraph of it. It's heavy on the legal jargon but it's very specific and I like that.

Either way, very exciting news I think.

What do you guys think?

P.S. By user mods I mean user made maps and gametypes and such. As well as possibly alternate levels and scenarios with scripts and such, and enhanced or alternate MP.

From http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2007/07/29/vista_xbox_saas_its_all_in_the_fam.html.

"
Robbie Bach covered the Xbox, Zune, Windows Mobile, Mediaroom etc, and commented on the Xbox problem. He said:

    Since somebody will ask in the audience, I'll just answer the question, you know, "Tell me about the specific component that failed that caused you to have to do the warranty reserve." And I will tell you that it would have been easier for me from a questioning perspective to tell you that it was a specific component, but it's not. It's a design challenge that we've had to work around and create a new design to solve that problem, and for the interaction of a variety of different components. And so that's a Microsoft design question, not some component manufacturer's problem or our manufacturing partner's problems. It's something we've had to work on. We know we have a much better design in the market now. We verified that. We feel very good about the quality going forward, and we think we're going to be able to deliver on our goals for the year.
"

I think it's comforting to hear that straight talk, although the 3 year warranty extensions was the perfect example of putting your money where your mouth is for Microsoft.