Saturday, June 23, 2012

Midaged Gamer Report 6-22-2012




Well we're getting into the summer silly season for gaming.  Origin is celebrating it's one year anniversary by offering half off the price of current games with a pre-order (meaning full price) of upcoming EA titles like Need For Speed Most wanted or Dead Space 3.  Strange to be celebrating an anniversary when the Origin client still says, "Beta"

On the Steam side of it we're closing in on the Steam Summer sale and the run up to is characterized by spot sales on weekends or mid-week.   This  week's Steam deal is 75% off all Deus Ex titles including Human Revolution.  Check the Origin Store page in your Origin client for more information.

This week also found the release of the latest DLC pack for Modern Warfare 3 in the Collection 2 package.  This latest collection includes 3 new Multiplayer maps ( Sanctuary, Foundation and Oasis) and 2 Special Ops (co-op) missions (Kill Switch, Iron Clad).  Also new is a game mode called Face off.  This is basically a Multiplayer mode with either 1v1 or 2v2 players on maps designed for close combat deathmatch style play.  The new Face-off maps are: Getaway, Lookout, Erosion and Aground.

The MW3 Collection 2 DLC pack is available now on Steam for PC for $14.99.
Check this link for the release DLC release calendar and more information.

If you happen to play Cryptic/Perfect World's Star Trek MMO, Star Trek Online they're currently offering a lifetime membership for $199 ($100 off)which basically gets you all the gold (paid) subscriber goodies like 400 cryptic points per month and upgraded features for a onetime fee.  The Season 6 special mission events are also close to release and promise players the ability to build their own starbases among other things.
In other news Max Payne 3 is still available for $60 and is still overpriced...

It seems there's been more interest in the BF3 cheating problem lately and Kotaku did an article this week about it going so far as to interview a Canadian BF3 player who until recently was actively cheating.  I've been banging the drum about cheating in popular titles for awhile now so it's gratifying to finally see a more serious treatment of the topic.  I've provided the links to both my and the Kotaku article below.

My article on Technorati: http://bit.ly/MJv6VO
The Kotaku article that inspired it : http://bit.ly/L8FR6r

Thanks to shotglass for turning me on to the Kotaku article.

 In other tech news it seems Apple has finally done it.  They've released a Retina display on a laptop.  With this new Macbook Pro Apple has managed to push display technology forward while simultaneously relegating the device to appliance status.  The $2199 base 15" laptop has an impressive list of features including:

·         2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz) with 6MB shared L3 cache
·         8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L onboard memory
·         Storage: 256GB solid state flash drive
·         Screen: 15.4" diagonally, 2880 x 1800 native resolution
·         Size: 14.13" width, 9.73" deep, 0.71" thickness
·         Weight: 4.46 pounds
·         Power supply: 85W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter

Looks good till you realize that you have virtually no upgrade options since the hardware is sealed and difficult if not impossible to access without destroying the laptop.  So configure yours as big as your dreams because you're stuck with it till it dies.  You can't even  replace the battery in it and BTW they've nixed the Ethernet and Firewire port.  If you need wired networking or firewire they are making a separate thunderbolt adapter available.  The laptop comes with HDMI, USB 3.0, SDXC and Thunderbolt ports as well as a couple of Mag Safe ports.  Oh, and the power supply costs $199 to replace.  I guess Apple wants to discourage accessorizing your macbook pro with pricing like that..

Yes Apple you've managed to produce the most expensive disposable PC on the market.  With limited upgrade or even service options, reliance on external dongles for basic connectivity functions you've turned best of breed hardware into an overpriced IPAD with a keyboard.  It's basically an appliance and my toaster is now jealous and wants a retina display too.

Finally I'd like to announce the addition of a periodic guest segment.   It's just a chance to get another perspective on gaming and tech related topics each week.  

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