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A Beautiful Bloodbath – Review of Killzone 2
What do you get when you mix a better ranking system than Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and the intensity of the Unreal Tournament series? Full Story
Gears of war 2: Snowblind map pack review
Hello everyone. I am glad to write this review for you as now we have yet another reason to come back to the problematic yet charming world of Gears of war 2.
The new map pack, available for 800 Microsoft Points, can be considered the second part of the most recent update that encourages us to come back to the multi-player part of this game. If you haven’t come back to Gears of War 2 in a while you’ll find a few needed improvements such as a shorter matchmaking time, new ranking system from 1 to 100 and bots for those ridiculous situations when you are alone against a 5 member team.
Talking about this update first, I have to say its pretty much ok except for the bots part. The Bots are very weak compared to the very competitive players found when playing Gears of War 2 online. Rankings are ok as you gain experience according to your match score. The more kills and recovers you have, the faster you’ll level up.
Now let’s get down to business. The snowblind map pack includes 4 now maps; 3 brand new and a very welcome remake of fuel depot, all of them available for traditional matchmaking and horde modes.
Grindyard was the first map I played. It is a big industrial junkyard place ideal for long matches. Grindyard is pretty symmetrical on the first floor and has an elevated bunker on each side and is perfect for being able to provide cover fire. Everything you need for attack and defense is here; flamethrower and grenades have proven to be a big part of strategy when trying to protect your meat flag.
Under Hill is a pretty cool exterior and interior map. The exterior part is pretty straightforward. It has a lot of covering so you will be pretty safe on your way to the central weapon (torque bow or sniper). The lateral part is underground and has narrow ways leading to a central area of the map where all the action takes place. This map is pretty fun and invites you to explore inside and out in order to find your best strategy.
Courtyard is another awesome addition to multi-player maps. Courtyard is fairly big with a good view of the horizon. Snipers, Boomshots and mortars are deadly in the right hands. There is a good elevated area where snipers are very valuable however be careful as there are 3 ways your foes can corner you. Great map for explosive matches.
Finally we have Fuel Depot, the long awaited remake of the same map of the first Gears of War. Winter arrived to the depot with no considerable in-game effects but definitely adds that elegant wintery touch to the game. This map is practically the same one we all know and love but gets the benefits of the new game mechanics like the weapon swap, making it even better. I could tell you more about this map, but you already know it, it is one of the strongest reasons to buy this map pack.
We also get new achievements with the Snowblind map pack. All the achievements invite you to play these new maps and some require you to reach a determined level according to the new ranking system.
Final words…
Overall I really enjoyed playing these maps. Epic knew its matchmaking was very poor compared to Halo 3 or World at War. However Epic has made the proper adjustments to make the multi-player experience more desirable. If you enjoyed Gears of War 2 try its new matchmaking system and if you like it I’ll suggest you download this map pack, it’s a lot of explosive, bloody fun.
This review by Reeve
Check out his work in Spanish Here: http://alecker.blogspot.com
Exclusive Coverage – Mike Tyson’s Punch Redux!
That’s right you heard it here first. Mike Tyson’s Punch out Redux and we have the Exclusive Full Story
Preview Fight Night Round 4
Check out some early action from Fight Night Round 4
Sony PS2 Price drop to $99 Bucks! STFW!
Really Sony? Seriously? Wow from $129 to $99 about three years too late! What next the Playstation is dropping price to $19.95 with three easy payments of $7.
Time to Patch Firefox 3.0.8: two 0day security holes fixed
Just days after a hacker released code that could be used to attack the Firefox browser, Mozilla developers have a fix. They released an updated 3.0.8 version of their flagship browser Friday afternoon, just two days after the code was posted to the Milw0rm Web site. This update also fixes a bug disclosed to research firm TippingPoint last week by a hacker who used it to win the company’s Pwn2Own contest at the CanSecWest security conference. It was one of three used by a German hacker, who gave only his first name, Nils, to claim US$15,000 in cash and a laptop as prizes. Mozilla developers had described the release as a “high-priority firedrill security update” thanks to the attack code, known as a “zero day” exploit. The quick work paid off, as they had expected it to take until early next week to complete testing. Mozilla says both bugs are “critical.”
Nils’ flaw exploited a bug in a Firefox routine known as method _moveToEdgeShift. He used it to hack the browser running on Mac OS X, but it could affect other platforms as well. The other flaw, which has to do with the way the browser processes XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) stylesheets, affects Firefox on all operating systems, and also affects the Seamonkey Internet application.
Both of these bugs could be triggered by tricking a victim into viewing a maliciously coded Web page, which would then allow an attacker to install unauthorized software on a victim’s system. This kind of Web-based malware, called a drive-by download, has become increasingly popular in recent years. Firefox’s next update, 3.0.9, is set to be released April 21.
Source: PC World
Action Games improve Eyesight…”Told ya Mom”!
According to a recent study adults who play a lot of action video games may be improving their eyesight, U.S. researchers said on Sunday. They said people who used a video-game training program saw significant improvements in their ability to notice subtle differences in shades of gray, which could help people that have trouble with night driving.
“Normally, improving contrast sensitivity means getting glasses or eye surgery — somehow changing the optics of the eye,” said Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester in New York, whose study appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience. “But we’ve found that action video games train the brain to process the existing visual information more efficiently, and the improvements last for months after game play stopped.”
For the study, the team divided 22 students into two groups. One group played the action games “Call of Duty 2″ by Activision Blizzard Inc and Epic Games’ “Unreal Tournament 2004.” A second played Electronic Arts Inc’s “The Sims 2,” a game they said does not require as much hand-eye coordination. The two groups played 50 hours of their assigned games over the course of nine weeks. At the end of the training, the action game players showed an average of 43 percent improvement in their ability to discern close shades of gray, while the Sims players showed none.
Bavelier found very practiced action gamers became 58 percent better at perceiving fine differences in contrast. “When people play action games, they’re changing the brain’s pathway responsible for visual processing. These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it,” Bavelier said in a statement. She said the findings show that action video-game training may be a useful complement to eye-correction techniques.
Source: Reuters
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 – Trailer
It’s official COD Modern Warfare 2 has been Announced. We have the trailer post for your viewing pleasure. Check it out and let us know what you think.
