My Thoughts On EAs BF2 Booster Packs

By now, you have heard about the “Booster Packs” EA is releasing in early 2006 for the BF2 game. I have too much free time on my hands this week. During that free time, I have been thinking a lot about this issue. In fact, it has consumed me.

I have a few thoughts on these “Booster Pack”.

1. The term Booster Pack is very telling. A Booster Pack is something you buy with card based games like Pokemon and Magic The Gathering. There are tons more. They appeal to a younger generation than our typical crowd. A Booster Pack gives you a chance to obtain something your opponent does not have. It does not guarantee you anything other than the opportunity to get said reward. I believe it is being used as a marketing term to reach this younger audience because they have been exposed to its marketing for many years.

2. I love custom maps and would love to get more maps, even going as far as paying $10 for a good set of professionally created maps.

3. This is not a map pack. It is an attempt to create a new revenue stream through the MMORPG carrot on the stick syndrome. It is not about maps. It is about weapons and being able to get weapon unlocks that others can not have.

4. EA in their attempts to create additional revenue is actually going to alienate their core audience of players and while these gamers already spent their money on BF2, the backlash will happen down the road. It may not be today or tomorrow, but it is building steam and momentum.

With all of this said, I have reached a turning point. After buying every single BF game and expansion pack, I will not be purchasing the “Booster Packs” or traditional “Expansion Packs” for that matter. In fact, I imagine I will no longer be playing the core game with the exception of Mods.

In the future, I will no longer purchase a DICE made game simply because I think they “are/were” a great company that developed great games. EA has taken the reigns and things are quickly going down hill.

Should DICE develop a new WWII FPS, I will consider purchasing it. However, if said game includes any “Booster Packs”, you can count me out.

Its a shame really. After deep reflection, I feel like I just broke up with a long time girlfriend. Battlefield, its been fun, but I must move on….

Intel growing out of Pentium?

A while back Intel was sporting a new logo design as well as logo sticker designs for their products. They removed the images soon thereafter.

Funny thing about the new logo stickers for the new processors supporting dual core and single core processors, they did not have the name “Pentium” on them.

Check the new logo and the lack of Pentium.

Could Intel be moving on from the Pentium name that they have successfully stood behind around 13 years?

Harmony In My Head is Back!!

As some of you may know, I am a huge Henry Rollins fan. I enjoy his spoken word and have liked all of his music back to Black Flag. Henry is one of those guys who has known many bands and seems to know every guy who ever picked up a guitar. He has resumed a show he did last year from Indy 103.1 http://www.indie1031.fm/ called Harmony in my Head. Its on 8 PST on Tuesdays the website is: http://www.harmonyinmyhead.com/

This is a cool show where he DJs for about 2 hours. He plays music that he likes, and he cover quite a range of genres. For each song he gives a lead-in about why he likes the song and typically he will tell some “back-story” about the band.

You can stream this from the Indy 103.1 website, check it out.

Time to IPOD

For the past few months, Ive contemplated whether I wanted an IPod or not. Ive been weighing how much it costs vs. how much I would use it. Right now, the time I would use it still doesnt seem to fit the price. I was reading news on the Internet the other day and ran across a new article that President Bush and VP Cheney have IPods. I quickly realized how square I really was.

ABC News Article

Hackers Extort White Wolf Games

We thought you might find this interesting….

White Wolf Publishing Inc., a company responsible for some of the most popular role-playing game brands, has shut down operations after international hackers exploited a software flaw and stole user data that included user names, e-mail addresses and encrypted passwords.

Following the breach, the company, based in Stone Mountain, Ga., said the hackers attempted to extort money by threatening to post the potentially sensitive user data on the Internet.

Read the full story at EWeek.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

This is a time of year that many reflect on the year that passed, for me it is a time that I reflect upon my faith and the things that I may face in the future. For me the holiday is about Jesus and what he has done for me. Each of us here celebrate different things this time of year, but I wanted to share mine.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

EA Gives Away Free Battlefield 2 “Booster Packs” (Unless you play on a PC)

Somewhere deep in the bowels of EA, someone decided that because I bought Battlefield 2 for the PC, that I care about Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for XBox. This is part of a Battlefield Newsletter email that I received today:

“Play 3 new maps; Frostbite, Full Frontal and Hidden.
Take control of the new attack snowmobiles with dual-mounted machine guns, modified pickup trucks with .50 cal armament, assault vans loaded with mini-guns, and a RIB boat with four open positions.
All-new arctic camouflage for your soldiers helps you blend into the winter background.
Download the Warsome Booster Pack from Xbox Live TODAY!”

In what I can only hope is a marketing SNAFU, DICE issues a Press Release on the same day touting the success of the Special Forces Expansion and discussing the future of Battlefield 2. That future includes releasing two “Booster Packs” for Battlefield 2 in 2006, for $9.99 each. So, if I am reading this correctly, XBox owners get new content and weapons for FREE, while us lowly PC players have to pay.

Merry Christmas!

The entire press release is included if you click on “read more”. Continue reading EA Gives Away Free Battlefield 2 “Booster Packs” (Unless you play on a PC)

Free Online Flash Arcade Games Updated!

In the spirit of Christmas, we bring you a few new Flash Arcade Games. A few of them have a Christmas theme or Snow/Ice theme. A few are fan favorites. As always, dont forget Bloody Pingu Throw. After all, it is our number 1 most played game….

Here are the new games.

Bulbs Away

Christmas Adventure

Ice World

Jewels

Labyrinth

Pazzo Francesco – Escape from Rakoth Dun

Penguin Push

Simon

PS A BIG THANKS to Raze for the Holiday Theme!

Quake Wars: Enemy Territory Character Class Review

At first, I was not paying attention to the new Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. The initial information I received made it sound cheesy. Having recently received more details, I can honestly say I am excited to see how this game turns out.

It is being developed by the guys who created Enemy Territory for Wolfenstein. Based partially on Quake: Team Fortress and sharing some concepts with Battlefield 2, this game is poised to be a big hit. That is if they can actually pull off everything they are talking about. With vehicles, deployables, artillery calls, objective based large maps, this game looks to combine the tactics I enjoy in Battlefield with a slightly SciFi experience.

For a list of the current classes for both the Global Defense Forces and the Strogg, click Read More… Continue reading Quake Wars: Enemy Territory Character Class Review

Track List Revealed For Underworld:Evolution Soundtrack

The track listing has been revealed for the upcoming soundtrack to the film “Underworld: Evolution”, check it out below:

01 – Puscifer (Maynard James Keenan of Tool) – “The Undertaker” (Renholder Mix)
02 – Chester Bennington (of Linkin Park) vs. Julien-K – “Morning After”
03 – Hawthorne Heights – “Where Do I Stab Myself In The Ears” (The Legion Of Doom Remix)
04 – My Chemical Romance – “To The End” (RnR Cheryl Mix)
05 – Slipknot – “Vermillion Pt. 2” (Bloodstone Mix)
06 – Alkaline Trio – “Burn” (Alleged Remix)
07 – Aiden – “The Last Sunrise” (Dusk Mix)
08 – Senses Fail – “Bite To Break Skin” (The Legion Of Doom Remix)
09 – Atreyu – “Her Portrait In Black”
10 – Trivium – “Washing Away Me In The Tides”
11 – Mendozza – “Eternal Battle”
12 – Lacuna Coil – “Our Truth”
13 – Gosling – “Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)”
14 – Bobby Gold – “Why Are You Up”
15 – Meat Beat Manifesto – “Suicide”
16 – Cradle Of Filth – “HW2”

The album is due out on January 10th via Lakeshore Records. Puscifer is a side project of Tool/A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan.

Desert Conflict CTF Mod Update

These guys are on a role. They are back again with an update on the progress of their Capture the Flag mini-mod after releasing their first version just last weekend. In addition to adding in Kubra Dam as a CTF map, the flag icons can be seen across the battlefield and update them in near-real time. The flag icon also shows through solids and has a distance reading on it for those all important “Get Our Flag Back!” moments. They have lengthed the time the flag hangs around after being dropped and it should not disappear immediately any longer.

They expect to be testing this week and have version .2 out to the general public soon along with some more BF2 maps included. Anyone will also be able to host a server with the .2 release as well now that they are more confident in the stability of the server side game.

Look for more information at the Desert Conflict website

The next BF2 Patch

Still no timeline and apparently this isnt a complete list, but it does look promising.

Directly from the EAUK Battlefield 2 Forums

New information on the 1.2 Update:

Hi all,

We are currently working on the next Battlefield 2 update. We believe this update has some significant improvements that everyone will appreciate. We’ve seen the discussions on the forum and will do our best to address as many issues as possible, as soon as possible.

Here is a quick run down of just some of the issues we have been working on.

– Helicopter now carry 8 missiles rather than 14
– TV-Guided missile now have a shorter range
– Hit points on all air vehicles has been reduced
– AA missile lock has been improved
– Support kits have had their primary weapons adjusted for accuracy
– Sniper kits have had their primary weapons adjusted for accuracy
– Anti-Tank kits have had their primary weapons adjusted for accuracy
– “Dolphin Diving” is no longer possible
– Players can no longer jump and shoot at the same time
– “Prone Spamming” is now fixed
– “Sprint exploit” is now fixed
– The Sa80 weapon has been improved
– The G3A3 weapon has been improved
– Reload while sprinting has been enabled
– Chinese and MEC APCs can now shoot through penetrable materials
– Damage decreased for the M134
– Medic defibrillator paddles have been adjusted. They now reload while not in use.

Well be announcing further additions to this list, but that will have to wait until the next update. This is NOT the complete list of items we are working on. As we have more items go through testing and we are sure of a change we will update you.

For now, cheers.

Armando “Aj” Marini
Battlefield Team

Discuss it with us in the GR Forums

Desert Conflict Capture the Flag v 0.1

I have been playing the Desert Conflict Capture the Flag mini-mod (version .1) for BF2 since Saturday and must say have been having a blast. While this is an early release and there are some things that I think need changing, it is a challenging and fun game and for me any how, has completely surpassed the fun that I was having with the Special Forces Expansion. At this point, there are only three maps (Mashtuur City, Wake, and Zatar Wetlands) but Karkand is coming as soon as some bugs are worked out.

If you played CTF for BF42 and liked it, give this one a shot.

Get the mod here: Desert Conflict Mod for BF2