More info after the bump!

Console brethren–feeling a little left out? A little jaded at the jaggies and the lackluster graphics? Okay, they’re not that bad, but if you want the true Battlefield 3 experience, you’ll be pleased to note that the Xbox 360 version will come with a second disc, as reported by VG24/7. Install this disc on the hard drive and you’ll be treated to high-resolution graphics, so those constant jeers from PC gamers won’t sting nearly as much. Be sure to clear up some HDD space–fragging is sweeter with God beams raining down on you

While unconfirmed, one would have to postulate that the PS3 version will have these high-resolution textures on the Blu-Ray due to the higher capacity storage.

Unfortunately for Xbox 360 gamers, multiplayer, co-op and campaign modes will be on separate discs. Which means you’ll actually have to get up during your 24-hour binge of Battlefield 3 action when the game releases on October 25.

There is a flash of flight as fire reflects off a sniper scope. I see it out of the corner of my eye and jump to the ground—but, too late. The bullet zips right through my head and Battlefield 3 cheerily sends me to the all-too-familiar YOU ARE DEAD screen. Fortunately, respawn times are so short that I can hop right back into the foray in the metro, but there’s a second of hesitation before I click that deploy button.

It’s not that I think Battlefield 3 isn’t a worthy successor to my favorite multiplayer shooter Battlefield Bad Company 2. It’s not that I think Battlefield 3 isn’t as deadly gorgeous as I thought it would be, even if my taxed out rig can only handle high graphics settings. I’m just… concerned. Paranoid, even.

The general consensus among my friends after playing about a dozen rounds of Battlefield 3 is that the game seems more like in an alpha state than beta. With the official release just 25 days away, I’m scared that the game I’m looking forward to fixing my testosterone-driven, Keanu Reeves-dramatic bro-fest military shooter itch might be suffering from a large list of problems.

It seems that DICE is on it, and I should have faith. But, like those seemingly out-of-nowhere snipers lurking behind rubble (gorgeously detailed rubble, mind you), there is a danger that things might not be so shiny in Battlefield 3 land.

Let’s compare. I’ve now logged some solid time on both the Xbox 360 and PC version of Battlefield 3. (Pro-tip for PC gamers: be sure to update those graphic cards—not that many of you don’t. The patch for my AMD Radeon HD 6650 card really helped improve my stability). Although I had some difficulty getting connected on the Xbox 360 version, surprisingly the console version seems to be running a bit more stable than the PC version. DICE has rolled out a number of server improvements for PC, and I can confirm that the PC build does seem to be running better now. I still see the occasional bug, but I’m pretty impressed with how fast DICE and EA have put out fixes.

The PC version, even only on high settings, does look substantially better than the Xbox version. And there are more players (64 max compared to 24 max on console). Not trying to start a flame war—ask anyone and they’ll tell you I like my controller much more than WASD. On Operation Metro, dust falls from the ceiling as battles wage on the floor above. Outdoors environments feel vibrant and bustling: particularly on the last stage of Operation Metro, every inch seems filled with incredible detail.

But does this detail come at a cost? Maybe I’m just not as good at first person shooters as I thought I was, but I have a hard time picking out enemies hiding in all the gorgeously rendered environments. With the addition of prone to Battlefield, it seems harder than ever to figure out if that bump is a helmet or a pile of rocks. There is also still the issue of lag, which seems to account for a lot of dramatically sudden kills.

A lot of people are also complaining about Battlelog, which is far more vital on PC than the Xbox 360 version. A lot of my friends have issues with Battlelog not working properly—games not loading, getting stuck in loops, etc. I personally haven’t had any issues, and with a built in social community just a click away from the Join Server button, getting into clans and friending people feels fast.  I’m not sure if Battlelog is going to be the dedicated multiplayer suite for the final build, but as it stands now, I’ve had far worse multiplayer experiences.

So am I worried about Battlefield 3? No, not really. Am I a little paranoid that it won’t live up to The Perfect Game I thought it would be? Yes, but that’s to be expected. We hype up every game and make it something in our minds that could never be in real life. It’s amazing what DICE and EA have done, and the gameplay seems exciting, even without Battlefield’s signature vehicles. (Operation Metro has no vehicles, sadly, and I wasn’t able to log sufficient time on a Caspian Border server to make a solid judgment).

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

As always, if you wish to join the Starcraft 2 LIG, send an email with the subject LIG to moralitypts(at)gmail(dot)com. Stay tuned for more Round 5 action!

Prepare to rage quit!

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Also, if you have any interest in joining the LIG for next season, send an email to moralitypts(at)gmail(dot)com with the subject LIG Membership. You won’t be sorry*

*You actually will be. You will be.

Very good! [Videos after the jump]

Game 1

Game 2 (The audio gets loud for some reason in this one…)

Game 3

The first series took place between myself (NeutralKotic on Battle.net), repping the Protoss, and thebrotoss, a Terran player ironically. Unfortunately, those videos were a little choppy. We’re working on a solution to see if we can salvage the problem, but as of right now, they are unavailable to watch. However, I did take the series 2-1. BOOYAH BROTOSS! I have a website to gloat about it, and you don’t!

(I keed.)

(Not about the score though)

The second series of the LIG took place between CrAzian[P] and Cervantes[P]. There was a lot of P-ing, if you catch my drift. The videos for those games are as follows:

After Cervantes and CrAzian finished the fight (sorry, Halo, I did just rip you off), the next series took place between clicK[Z] and Ridal[T]. Enjoy these videos!

A select group of awful gamers, myself included, have decided to start a very amateur league for some of our favorite games. We call it the League of Inadequate Gamers. We’ll be playing Starcraft 2, and I am going to start casting some of my favorite games. This is just a preview game (also, KLied isn’t a member of the LIG), and yes, it’s awful. But trust me, things will get better. It’s Morality Points, after all. You’ve been coming here time and time again, even though I’m a lazy asshole and haven’t been posting anything.

So consider this the worst reward ever for loyalty: 

The League of Inadequate Gamers is real. God help us all.

Prepare to rage quit

-Neutrally Chaotic

*Note: if you have not encountered Yurt the Silent Chief in Demon’s Souls, or if you do not know what his purpose in the game is, read this article at your own risk.

“Death be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so” –John Donne

We all die, and in video games, we all die a lot. It’s a given. But what if you knew exactly when you were going to die? How you were going to die? Who was going to kill you? Inevitable, mysterious death suddenly becomes tangible, something to rage and struggle against rather than resign oneself to.

I had survived a flurry of crossbow bolts, a teleporting sorceress, a cult of religious fanatics and a number of agile gargoyles. It was the longest time I had ever spent in a physical body form in Demon’s Souls. Those messages glowing on the ground that read “I’ve been in spirit form for so long…” had made so much sense—I had even bemoaned my similar fate to others—but now I had left the dead behind. I was reborn.

I approached a seemingly dead end in my travel, a broken bridge that dropped down to a circular platform below. A eerie trail of multicolored lights pointed towards a cage containing a character I recognized from the loading screens—Yurt, the Silent Chief. I did what I always did while playing Demon’s Souls: I consulted the wiki.

I quickly discovered that Yurt, upon his rescue, would return to the game’s hub, the Nexus, and murder everyone one by one. The vendors, the blacksmiths, the spell and miracle trainers would all be slaughtered, and I had a chance to stop it. All I had to do was kill Yurt before he reached safety. I had bested Death. For the first time, in a game that revolved around the physical realm and the hereafter, I had defeated the ultimate enemy.

I stabbed the newly freed assassin in the back and kicked him off the platform into the nothingness. And then I had a realization. All this time I had spent hating death, dreading every moment that my health bar slipped to zero, and I had missed the whole point. Death had become inconsequential to me. “I’ve been in spirit form so long” that it no longer mattered. I had grown accustomed to death—the exact opposite lesson Demon’s Souls hopes to teach.

Death is a recurring theme throughout Demon's Souls

Yurt was meant to be the great teacher. He was meant to show the players the consequence of death in a game that, like so many others, diminishes the absolution of death into a respawn. I had saved so many back in the Nexus from a fate that wasn’t as frivolous as my own relationship with Death. If I hadn’t known about Yurt’s true nature, I would have felt pain, loss and hardship.

When I reached the end of the level and was promptly slain by the fast-moving Maneater demons, I took a moment and thanked the game for giving me another chance. It’s not every day that Death can be so forgiving.

Written by Neutrally Chaotic