New maps , no way

So today the new Call of Duty MW2 maps hit the DLC in XBLA , however this just in . . they dont work that well for now . . shocker . .

reports of lost connections, no connections, bad connections, clearly on M$ shoulders, but it just goes to show just how well things haven't been going for the game.

$15 dollars for maps that cannot be played yet, clearly this should have been a wake up call to the fans that the game is doomed . . I'm sure the minor hickup will pass and soon wnough we'll here stories somewhere, "DLC RECORD BROKEN!!!!"

It's comming, I know it is, I predict at least 1 million DL by midnight, being that the game has what? 25 million coppies in cerc. ?

Its sad that the community as a whole doesn't beat down Acta-stealin's door and demands a lower price

I mean shoot M$ has Dorittos and Mt. Dew and Diet Dr. Pepper and a plethera of different sponsers, why didn't IW maybe put a bilboard up somewhere in the new maps ? or maybe scattered doritto bags or dew bottles in a map

and if you look close enough on some maps there are things like that you just cant make out the label

anyway, i am sure there were ways to bring it down (THE COST) but for now some of us will wait for the fix, the drop, and the . . ummm . . well thats all i got sorry

My Banter and me being a n3rd

So today on IGN a Q n A session with *chuckle* Rob Bowling from IW was had. To apparently to talk about the "stimulous package" you made read said artcle here: http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/107/1079800p2.html

"Of course me being an interweb thug had to post this: Good job Arthur Gies from IGN for completely avoiding the ONE question everyone wanted to know , "WWHY THE COST!!' on maybe every message board that has anything to do with the game wants to know, no one gives a crap how they picked the maps, they care why we car paying another $15 for a broken game.... IGN ladies and gentlemen, yet more proof they as well are in teh back pocket of papa corp. fail post is fail"

I feel that yet again the questions on everyone's mind were avoided yet again . . and again . . and again , everytime they talk to IW, my thoughts are this now, before the interview is had , i expect Rob to be like "look don't talk about how broken our product is, the hacks, the glitches , the price of the DLC or the fact that we had some internal fall out"

cuz ya know, we care about how they picked the maps and which was their favorite? I dont think so , 2 of the worst maps from MW1 are being used AND the other maps look like more of the same

I'll keep at it tell someone tells me to shut up, to which I am sure no one will, but in the meantime i will get my interweb jabs in where i can . .

Movies are gettin expensive . . again

So in watching CNN this mornin , come to find out that movie theatres have decided to raise ticket prices again . . so your average movie will cost $10 bucks now before 5pm and $14ish after 5pm

CNN stated that movie theaters have made this decision to raise ticket prices based on the recent surge of people paying more for 3D movies, which are usually at a premium anyway.

So it seems to me the thought process is "well the public has proven they do have the money, lets go get it"

which bothers me because entertainment medias are doing this across the board, forinstance Call of Duty MW2 , is charging $15 for their next map pack, 3 new 2 old maps, so 2 maps i already paid for, i am paying again for

i gotta tell ya i think many industries are doing this, many are poking the coles to see how much heat we can take, and with young adult with very disposable income paying more to do the same , its going to make it really ahrd for the rest of us to get a reaonable price on things

personally i'd like to see the entire system shut down, everywhere, so that the greedy pigs that run big corps get nothing, and have to seel their homes and cars and nice things to survive, and then when they want to do something, the ticket kid says "that'll be $23 sir" . . yep for his popcorn

Holy friggen buttons and knobs batman Pioneer over did it again

So as I have stated in the past I am/was a Dj, and back when I used to get down cd turbtables or "decks" were uncommon, today more so than ever but . .

I played on one deck at every rave i frequented , the Pioneer CDJs, various models and damage levels depending on the miles , but that aside they were great for mixing cds, believe me carrying around 50 to 60 vinyl all night was a pain, and leaving it somehwere was always a risk, because you didnt know if somone would steal them while you were away at the party

so when i found my favorite music formats on mp3 i was hooked, to say that cd spinning is easy is and understatement, the only thing different was the layout, and that was fine by me

purist hate cds, but all the things that can go wrong with vinyl almost always did, needles busting dirt on the records from all the desert parties, so on , and so on and so on

in the meanwhile since i dont actual own any cdjs or tables anymore i have had to resort to virtualdj, but more on that later

so its been a while since I actually researched more equipment that is out of my price range and went over to my fav website to take a peek see at the newest overly technically advanced piece of "it mixes itself"

i found these the CDJ2000

So holy cow this thing does it all apparently from on screen beat wave display to bpm to mp3 orginizing , memory card loading dvd playin goodness

If anyone out there has a pair of these laying around I sure would love to give them a try , i need the practice

About $1700 out the door (and another $1400 for the DJM800 ) your looking at a small car purchase in owning them, but as I have played with the MK2s and 3s, they are probably worth it

In my experience big clubs usual hop onto the newest equipment in this format , but rave promoters and sound guys are usually behind the times on stuff like this due to cost effectiveness, and that they know 20 or 30 dj will beat on them in any given weekend, in a dust wherehouse or desert rave , so durability is still a factor

but for studio use, i am sure they are a dream, and i keep saying "i am sure" because it not easy to demo this stuff, usually considered high end Guitar centers or your local music shop wont let the random ravey wanabe dj dork play with their demo version , but "here go play with the old ones everyone else had ruined"

If i could pick a job in life would be to demo and provide feedback to companies like Pioneer to tell them just what i think , if anyone has a job like that out there, i am very very jealous . . . very

The Heaviest Matter , the Gears of War , and the emotional tune

Like that title ? I'm proud of it.

Anyway , today I'd like to talk about a game that is def not on anyone's A list, despite how proud it makes some game devs feel. Also the music that should have been connected to it . . just sayen.

So first I'd like to point out a Metal band from France that does everything right. Gojira

The funny thing about music is everyone likes something different, everyone has a common interest and everyone has an opinion on some one else's tastes. Well if your reading this I am gonna shove mine down your throat.

Gojira is an embodyment of everything done right in a Metal band, technically these guys know their intruments, the drums are perfect the bass and lead guitars are perfect, and the lead vocals is exactly on par with what is going on. I feel its not my place to pick apart lyrics, and different music means different things to people and thats apart of what makes it sacred

Gojira always places the listener in a world of despair however makes you feel as if there is hope, gives you the ugly and shows you the truth to feel better about it. i am always wisked away to foriegn dreamt lands to over come the forces of ev1L , and I think that is the best part about it.

Gojira def does not try to push you passt their sound, by sounding like someone else, they have their own thing, that is familiar and you can feel good about it, please give these guys a listen specifically their from Sirius to Mars album, I promis you'll be tworting minions in no time.

Music I feel and games, go hand in hand. I can truely appreciate the hard work that goes into makeing noise sound good. It provides and atmosphere are depth to a situation. being that I just introduced you to a great band, I'd like to talk about the game i put on mute to listen to said album

Gear of War:

What can be said about a game that everyone has said everything about? What is to be said for the game that brought the 3rd person shooter genre into the forefront? Should I show you what it looks like? Post one of thousands of videos of player montages? Go over the many arguements that being the host in a PVP match determines the winner?

nope. I wana talk to you about what I think GEARS could do to become better, and as a 28 year old HC gamer , tell you what connection I had with it.

So when GEARS was first released it was my first stint to XBOXLIVE , I spent hunderds of hours wasting away in front of the TV trying my best to figure out the shotgun kills, sniper head shots and the "roddy run " glitch (your always running and chainsaw smokin" I also got pretty good at chainsawing people out of nowhere , to which i was kicked from alot of games for being a N00b, I gotta tell ya , if you can chainsaw someone while they are shooting at you, your not a n00b, your L33t

So LIVE games aside the game really sucked you in, the story line in the first GEARS made you really feel connected to the characters you were playing. You were really scared of the Horde, and you really felt like your gun was your BFF.

Now, in the second GEARS the sorty just got bigger and grander, you were taking the fight to the HORDE, you were gonna whoop them at their source, we learned about DOM and his past , and got a sense of urgency in gettin through the game.

Aside from visually being the best looking game out there, the story rockin something fierce, a few things added, yet took away from the game

Now I can't speak too much about the online game now, as I sold it as soon as i tried getting a match going online a few times (big connectivity issues in the begining), but I didnt like it, I didnt like meat shielding, or portable shields , or any of that, the PVP was unbalanced, attaching a grenade to a wall so that someone could trip over it was stupid to me. It felt as though the core of the game play was taken away, that as long as you placed a few 'nades around a map you could catch someone off guard, and no way to detect it comming. All in all too much added from 1 and no balance, the shotguns were no longer and equalizer, which was nice because very diffcult to pull of one hit kills, buit if you could you were rewarded. The other weapons seems too touchy the next time around.

I have not touched GEARS 2 online in quite some time, but as I can tell from message boards and the like, not much has changed, except things are a bit faster when connecting.

It feels like a game like that could have maybe done with map upgrades, maybe some traps, maybe some new weapons , not shields and stunning smoke nades. . . i really hated those. .

anyway as alway i am going to tell you to go off and do your ownt hing with these games, as where I might hate it, you might enjoy it, thus is the beauty of things like that

However what I think would make for a better next go round, maybe a more roots things, could be better . .

How about a mode where the first team that get to the Bornack (the giat monster things the Hordes ride) get to control it , then the point would be to pull the other team off its back via Harpoons and floor traps?

or a rush mode where the Bornack thing runs from one end of the map to the other, and you have to take it down before it gets there, for the Horde it would be some form of tank the GEARS would have

and maybe a really big map with 32 people, with bugies and walkers and flyers and all kinds of stuff, call it WAR mode, last team standing wins.

How about a vehicle only mode, what could be cooler than 8 to 10 Bornacks on the screen trying to kill each other?

and cliffy b if your out there bro, somewhere is cyber space, loose the friggen shield and planted nades please, please for the love of the unholy loose the stuff that cluttered the play , refine the "shotty" give us maybe better cover, actual environment damage, like the ability to take away someone's cover, no more meat sheild "if you shoot it enough it goes away " thing . How about some battle damage instead, how about if i shoot someone enough they loose a limb? or bleed out if i dont stop and heal up? what about some kill perks. no listen before you leave

how about at 3 kills i get a map, showing everyone no matter what, at 5 i get a care package with a random weapon and at 7 i get maybe a better weapon? or a helicopter ride with a turret

not too much of a rip off but something

and how about a classic kill mode, non of this "downed" first business, you shoot him, he dies. period.

Also how about some friggen heavy metal damn it . . heavy . fukinn M E T A L

The story should evolve more, maybe how the Humans got there, what in fact is emultion? ( i know my spelling sux) Will there ever be a GEARS movie now that it been scrapped?

I can go on and on, but the fact is GEARS has def not been the talk of the LIVE table these days , more people are FPSing it up, which is fine, but believe it or not GEARS 1 took more skill to play that any FPS , and damn it cliffy b (again if your out there) give me , us , them , something to be passionate and proud of again, make me want to go out and get a COG tatoo and not regret it

oh and cliffy . . if your there, dont count your chickens before they hatch, and don't release the game unless you are SURE its done, glitch free, beta tested, and you will be supporting the content for at least 5 map packs of new maps, not rehased maps . . new ones . .

k i'll leave it there, i go off on tangents and make no sense , but listen to Gojira, play Gears , and someone tell cliffy b back to basics, but on a grander scale . .more on my twisted brain later

A plea to fall on the def ears of Infinity Ward

So I made a post today on the IW message boards about Call of Duty MW2 , to which I am almost certain will fall on def ears , I figured i post it to show people the lack of support that goes on inside said walls there. . .

"So as I am sure many of you are aware the game MW2 is considered 'broken' by even the smallest standard. thousands of threads and responses daily about bends and breaks to the game itself. New hacks and 'glitches' on almost a weekly basis.

I ask anyone, ANYONE @ IW to please respond to your community , an opinion , a fix, SOMETHING that tells us your actually seeing this stuff, over even care that your brand , your baby as it were, is being dragged through the mud by people who find it necessary to ruin everyone elses good time.

There is a debate even on this board as to why you are charging people for new content even when the current content is "broken" or "not working as intended"

Its also really sad to see locked threads, and changed posts when all you have to do is actually respond to these things to let people know your listening

Its unfortunate that IW has some internal issues that were made public, and that there is doubt about IW's future with Actavision, but the more (or less) you don't respond gives off the public opionion that you don't care and are not listening, and will just continue to sell a broken product

your pedal is stuck IW , where's the fix? talk to us? reassure people that they can spend another $15 on this product"

I have gotten some checky and cute responses from some of the other forum trolls here:http://www.infinityward.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=298842&p=4274862#p4274862

however I am trying to make a point, and my point is that now large video game companies churn out a product, and at some point, let it go, make some DLC and make more money and move on

Gamers want to be vested in a game now these days , $60 is hard to come by for alot of kids, more over a broadband internet connection with a monthly fee. People really do want to be part of something they are passionate in , hense why people get into things, a community is established, and they are helping it to grow

For instance MMOs , they are the quitisential place for people to A. play a fun game and B. connect with people

A common place to where they can be accepted for what they like , a FPS is no different, thousands of people with a skill set for a game come together and do something fun, and expect some level of help or support , for their time

All to often it feels on consols that a company will make a game , fix some bugs, and move on, but people want more than that now, they want to feel like someone cares a bit about what they do, that they can continue to invest in a game and have it last

case in point , look at guitar hero, we are on 5 now, i didn't even know we were on 5 until I went into a store and saw it for myself , and really why should i buy 5 if 6, 7, and 8 are obvisouly comming

more over why cant someone just make Guitar Hero , and let me DL songs I want, and not make me pay for the other 75% of the disc i dont

anyway, it's too bad that no one really has made another game that is as fun or as customizable as COD series, I have seen the Halo Reach stuff, and I will say this, give us a hardcore play style Bungie, please give us a one hit kill playlist option, i am so tired of laying a full clip in some kid only to have him punch me and i die . . . really?

The Tools to mix well

I'd thought I'd share some thoughts on my favorite mixer in the DJ world, of course there are 100s and 100s of them, everytime I play out at a party there is always a Pioneer something something waiting to be beat on by the next guy , and 2 Technics decks , maybe some cd players. I have had the fortune though to play with what I feel is the greatest mixer ever concived: Rane MP2016A 19-Inchclub DJ Mixer

and it can come with this : Rane ZP2016A Expansion Unit For Mp2016A

you can find both here : http://www.pssl.com/DJ-Mixers?s=&c=&c=Rane-Serato

So, anyway, this or (these) bad boy(s) are it for me, I have played on various pioneer rigs, numark , dennon, and everything else , however THIS was it. The sound that comes out of this thing is all but amazing, a warmth and feel that only RANE can produce. To be sure RANE makes other great mixers I also can't afford, but this one is very good.

All rotary goodness everywhere, beautiful and even signal strengths and gains, amazing cuts makes this one a dream to use, there is a learning curve to be sure going from flippy crossfaders that seems to be either on or off, however this one is pure groove. It made my cds sound like vinyl, and yes your mixer can have everything to do with how your music actually sounds, whatever inards tehy put into this made it perfect for mixing house and breaks

i can only compare this mixer to making love, if you know what your doing you'll be thanked for it :0

So if anyone out there can afford it ($1700 just for the main board and about $600 for the trim) get it, dont even think about it, 4 phono/lin ins, and a effects support ins/outs , make it perfect for everthing you got

I still dream of the day of owning one of these for myself

Welcome to OG N3rD! Games , Music , Movies

First I'd like to welcome you to OG N3rD , to which I am sure it is the #999999999999th blog about . . video games , toys, video games, music, video games, Magic the Gathering , video games , cars ,World of Warcraft. . and anything that is N3rDy . . (see what I did there)

So where do we start ? Well as always , what I am listening to , watching, playing with, gaming, breaking, and critisising for no damn reason . . gig-a-dee

SO!

Gaming I will be doing of course my own reviews on games, to add to the billion other reviews on games that everyone else has already reviewed, because . . you need yet another opionon on sh!t right? Right.

On a daily basis I take out my frustration in my own daily life on 12 - 25 years olds on XBOX LIVE via Call of Duty MW2. The game def had a rocky start, lots of issues with people cheating and finding ways to cheat , (and rumours of people still being able to cheat) as well as internal issues at the company itself almost made me want to switch to Battlefield Bad Company 2. While Battlefield is fun, I believe a differnet type of game, and not as defined or fast paced as I am not accostomed to. New maps to be releases soo (see http://www.mapathy.com/) and costing about $15 in M$ points, we get 5 new maps. Well 3 new maps and 2 carryover maps from MW1. Which is nice , but if you are are going to do something I believe it should be done all the way.

Why not all the maps from MW1 , thats right, all of them, ecspecially the ones I technically already payed for. What could have made the kiddies, fans, fan boys and critics really shut up would have been to give us ALL the maps fromt he previous entry. Now it seems we have to pay for some , and not getting all. Which is sad because some of those maps were lots of fun.

MW2 is a great game for sure, but not much in the way of direct developer support to its community, they have really one employee that conects with the millions of players, via his blog here: http://fourzerotwo.com/

He responds to some people not all, and even on the official message boards its random peoples throwing about various threads about how the game sucks, or how things need changed. I think there are few developers really involved with actually communicating with their fans, as I am sure they are busy or just don't care, and hard to tell if either is really happening, but brass tax is, its a fun arcade FPS and I am going to keep playing it because it's more fun that GEARS of WAR 2 . . lots on that master piece later . .

What I am listening to to today ?

Well I guess everydayI will give you goodies, but first I will say I love all kinds of music , from Hip-Hop to Dark Industrial Dutch Hardcore and everything else in between , good music is good music regardless, however my main love, is anything electronic dance, lately I have placed my focus in Break Beats, electro and hard Break Beats. i'd love to bore with the many years of trolling the rave scene, DJing it and the people I have met , but you just wana listen to what I am listening to, and thats fine by me . .

On the menu today i have for you: Colombo - Inzekt (Kulture remix)

Very yummy electro-tech Breaks, very atmospheric, very acid vibe to it, I can def see this in a set with some other simple breaks with random computer sounds, well produced, very well placed breaks and builds. Go find this one, Beatport.com or itunes i am sure can help you with this one.

Curtis B - Trash it feat. Liz Melody (original mix)

Very nice elctro glitch breaks, solid builds and break downs in this one, the vocals couldn't be finer, I can def see the B-boys swinging to this one. Lots of synths and groovy bass lines make this a must, very mixable very nice.

Toys : ahhh yes gadgets gizmos, things that make cool noises but don't really have a use:

my newest peek see is in the word of video cards, as I have a super old computer, parts are hard to come by these days as to a proper upgrade, ecspecially in video cards, however there is a solution for us AGP guys , for now at least , to keep up with some games:

XFX HD-465X-ZPF2 Radeon HD 4650 1GB 128-bit DDR2 AGP 8X HDCP Ready Video Card

Here are some specs on this $74.99 wonder

Radeon HD 4650

Core Clock 600MHz

Stream Processors:
320 Stream Processing Units

Memory
Effective Memory Clock
800MHz

Memory Size
1GB

Memory Interface
128-bit

Memory Type
DDR2

3D API

DirectX 10.1

OpenGL 2.0

So basically if you have an old AGP setup, get this, the only issues I have read about here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150433 , are that drivers can be sometimes diffucult to install, but overall can be done

lots of bang for buck , ecspecially since they have this monster floating around :

Sapphire HD 5970 OC 4 GB Graphics Card

now why anyone needs 4gigs of graphics card is beyond me, 3 screen hook up and all kinds of things onboard that make it faster than God can think , to which I am sure makes your 22 inch screen hurt. spec can be view @ Saphires website: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=000101&pid=295

I can only hope that one day I have a gamming rig nice enough to actually use this thing, so for now I will imagine just how nice thise would look if I had Star Craft 2 Beta playing on it.

well thats enough for now l8tR!