Hey guys,
It's the Midaged gamer report for 6-8-2012 and I just
finished up an awesome BF3 session.
But before I go any further A big tip of the shades to
Patrick Norton for donning his own specs in this week's TWICH pre-show.
He can do it because he's famous, me I can do it because I have
self-image issues.
See what happens when you don't have a wife and kids
Patrick?! This could be you!
Then again, no, probably not... :-)
Enough about me...
The first bit of news has to do with the Battlefield 3
patch. It came down Monday night and
judging from the slow download speeds a whole lot of people were anxious to get
the 2GB download. Luckily, or perhaps
unluckily, I didn't try till Wednesday so speeds were better.
One sweet little surprise was revealed to me by a friend of
mine who also plays the game. It seems
that the latest patch has fixed the joystick control issue when flying
aircraft. Previously you couldn't
necessarily map all the buttons on a joystick controller which made flight more
difficult and control setup irritating.
OF course the big reason for the patch is the soon to be
released Close Quarters DLC pack. Now
that's
interesting if you're into deathmatch style FPS but I'm far
more interested in the upcoming (Sept) release of Armored Kill. I'm a gearhead so my passions tend to involve
more metal than anything with a shoulder strap.
Also new this week is the Battlefield 3 Premium
subscription. Basically, for $50 you get
all the DLC packs, access to play them 2 weeks early, plus some special weapons
and premium member only 2x experience tournaments.
I can't help but see this as a direct response to Call of Duty's Elite
membership. The terms and perks are
virtually identical. I don't know how
well that will translate to Battlefield, however.
I know I already have Karkand, not interested
in close quarters which leaves one DLC pack I want, Armored Kill and 2 I'm not sure about yet,
Aftermath and Endgame. For me it's
cheaper by 5 bucks to just buy the DLC I want.
I don't see anything else attractive about it. While playing tonight I did notice a few
players with "Premium Member" under their splash page. They died just the same only with more props
I guess.
I'm really not interested in Close Quarters So I'll probably
pass on the bundle. I'm ok with just
buying DLC I want.
THe real question is with special weapons and "members
only" gameplay is a premium membership going to unfairly tilt the odds
toward EA's Premium member cash cows and is the game going to be worth playing
by the a la carte' set?
In an earlier
post I questioned whether the Free to Play/Pay for upgrades model would work in
a major title. The shortcut kits have
already had an effect on BF3 multiplayer. If EA tries to milk the cash cow this way much
more they run the risk of damaging their existing player base. Time will tell.
I've included links to the BF3 premium and COD Elite
websites so you can compare and contrast.
In another piece of EA news, It seems the reboot is in full
swing with Need For Speed. Need For
Speed Most Wanted Limited Edition has been re-imagined by developer Criterion
who also did the new version of Hot Pursuit and is available for pre-order for
$49.99.
Like the BF3 Limited Edition that gave early access to
Karkand, Most Wanted Pre-orders get early access to cars and double speed
points in your first 4 hours of play.
Considering the first 4 hours is generally wasted trying to figure out
the game that's not much of a perk. Still
if you're interested check it out at the link.
I may pick it up if Amazon has a sale.
So this week's PCPER episode had a segment on some new
ultrabooks with discrete Nvidia GPU's.
Specifically these were Keppler based mobile GPU's
There was also mention of a 680 Mobile GPU that Alienware
was getting first. Apparently ultrabooks
are shaking off their netbook roots with ever more powerful and efficient Intel
CPU's so Nvidia wants to get discrete GPU's into them to push gaming more
firmly into the ultrabook space.
What was striking was a general consensus of disappointment
in the podcast over the relatively small screen sizes and resolution of the ultrabooks. I think that may be an unfair judgment
considering the form factor. If
ultrabooks continue to evolve we may see the power of a desktop replacement
notebook in this type of package in just a few years.
Another consideration is that the ultrabook could become the
portable replacement for the set top box and HTPC. Imagine taking your entire home theater
system with you when you travel. You could
have all the power of a full sized desktop connected via Thunderbolt port on an accommodating hotel television.
Just a thought.
In AMD news, they have officially dropped the monthly update
cycle for their graphics drivers. After
the confusing round of 12.x drivers at the start of the year it's a welcome
change. After all it's a driver not a
subscription, I don't need updates just for the sake of new ads during the
install of a fresh HDMI driver.
Finally, there's rumor of retina displays on new
macbooks? Speculation says that next
week's WWDC conference in San Francisco
will have information about new hi definition displays in the redesigned
macbook. If that means retina that may
mean some trickle down of the technology in a few years to the PC market.
Imagine BF3 on a Retina display!
One final note from my experiences this week in BF3 land...
I'd like to direct this at the vehicle hogs in BF3, you know
who you are. For one thing if we're
playing on a ranked server don't expect that anyone cares about your points,
assignments or otherwise. We're all
trying to improve our stats. So if
you're waiting for your best buddy to jump in the chopper gunners seat and I
happen to get there first, just take off.
Chances are I've got a better chance of saving your sorry ass with me in
that seat than your buddy so just suck it up and go.
More than once I've seen what equates to a digital tantrum
and a stream of obscenities in the chat window because someone else got in
instead of your buddy. Meanwhile your
side is losing the battle and you're losing points. I mean
really, who the hell do you think you are?
It's called multiplayer for a reason.
You wanna cuddle up to your friends the whole game play co-op or join a
clan and play on their servers. Now
unranked servers on the other hand, well, anything goes...
You know I couldn't let a week go by without at least one
rant.
That's all for this week.
I'm out!
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