G3

So, I play a whole lot of Battlefield 1942. I play even more of the modded version of BF called Desert Combat. And let me tell you, it’s a whole lotta fun.

So, some people in the gaming “clan” I’m in start making some posts in our forum about Battlefield 2, including some screenshots and videos and such. And they post about how cool the new graphics engine will be. So I look at these screenshots and think, “Wow, that looks nice.” Then I look at the movies and think, “Dang, this is lookin’ really cool!” But it wasn’t until today that I actually bothered to go read some articles and previews about Battlefield 2.

I have one word for you: ThisGameIsGonnaBeFreakinAwesome. After seeing what kinds of things EA is putting in, I’m just as eager for this release as I am for Half-life 2 (maybe even more).

Anyhoo, so I started at PlanetBattlefield’s Battlefield 2 site to get the scoop. I read the Gamespy and IGN interview’s first and MAN they got me hooked. Then I read the PlanetBattlefield’s First Impressions article. Wow! This is going to be an amazing game. I highly recommend reading these articles, but here are a few highlights:

• As a server option, the maps in BF2 will dynamically expand and contract to concentrate the players and vehicles to help ensure the action is always hot.
• We are also reworking the scoring system to reward players for more than just getting kills and capping flags. Ever played in a game where that one thankless guy did nothing except repair vehicles or heal the wounded? These guys will be rewarded in Battlefield 2 for their roleplaying. We are designing other reward systems as well to encourage teamplay.
• Here is another aspect that was really darn cool. You can shoot through stuff! Meaning, if a soldier is hiding behind a wooden wall or barrier. They are by no means safe and/or bullet free. The bullets act as they would in real life and penetrate the wood and break it. So, you no longer will feel safe behind anything in this game or you will find yourself dead rather quickly. As Lars said, “No more will a person be able to hide in a small weapons shack and survive a tank fire fight”.
• Players can form squads, create clans, or play as the Battlefield commander. This system is knitted together by a VOIP feature which allows squad leaders to communicate up and down the ranks.
• Did you ever wish you could run faster? Well soldier.. now you can! The game adds a new running feature that allows you to run a lot faster when needed.

I’m psyched. Oh, and I also decided to drop the demo movies into my gamestuff directory here on niftymonkey rather than point you guys at the FileYouWaitInLineForeverForPlanet links. They are all worth checking out:

• Preview Movie #1 (mov)
• Preview Movie #2 (mov)
• Preview Movie #3 (mov)
• EA Show Trailer (wmv)

Some of us are reading through and discussing Romans 11 and 12. Here are the study questions for this passage.
(more…)

Looks like The Man is catching up with the SmackPerps who stole the Half-Life 2 source code:

Cyber cops nab ‘Half-Life 2′ thieves

Just line ‘em up and give us all a crowbar. We know what to do.

The trailer for this looks interesting… looks to be fully 3D (roving camera) battlefield tactics… an “eye in the sky” version of Starcraft meets Battlefield 1942.

D-Day Trailer

Some of us are reading through and discussing Romans 9 and 10. Here are the study questions for this passage.
(more…)

Push a button once on your phone: Free
Push a button twice on your phone: Micro$oft gets paid.

The folks in Redmond managed to patent the “double click” on non-PC devices. Palm pilot users beware: your “push to start, push again to stop” software is now in patent violation.

Just when you thought they already controlled enough,
Microsoft Nabs Patent on Double-Clicking.

(Reposted from No Smorking).

Welcome to another installment of….

The What The? Files

So it’s fun sometimes to pretend you are somebody else on the internet. People do that sort of thing all the time for thrills, or dates, or to get busted by the FBI.

But if you’re really looking for something interesting to do in a chat room, try to convince somebody you’re a spy so that you can then convince them the real you needs to be murdered.

Consider, if you will:

Internet Boy Posed As Spy to Arrange Own Murder

If this was a movie plot, would anybody believe it? All that creativity and angst for nothing, and now he’s in jail. Maybe he should have spent more time ordering around a chicken and less time… well, doing everything else.

“John pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.” What a perfect choice of words.