[Dakar V]

I forgot to add, terrible night for Guardian, I don't think our leader survived once, though we did win a few rounds.

[sek929]

While dead my new favorite thing is taking close-up pictures of various weapons and/or Locust mugshots.

It'll be my xmas present to this thread.

[Dakar V]

I keep taking photos accidentally, but more annoying, I wish they'd upload the photos the website automatically.

Kevin, when we playing now, huh?

[klb5090]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

I keep taking photos accidentally, but more annoying, I wish they'd upload the photos the website automatically.

Kevin, when we playing now, huh?

Tonight if you ladies are available, pens play at 7 so i'll be on around 10...

[Dakar V]

I'm sure I can manage.

We'll see if I can get Guardian Leader for once... and win while we're at it. I'm still two shy for the achievement.

[Dakar V]

Joystiq hating on Gears 2:

That Combustible map pack didn't seem to ignite much passion into Gears of War 2, as the shoe-in for Best Shooter Involving a Chain Saw-infused Rifle Award remains numero quartro on the Xbox Live activity chart for last week. The game was also 4th place the week prior, and 3rd place for two consecutive weeks before that. Far from being a bad position, but it's certainly not dominating the service like its predecessor.

Really, how much good can releasing maps do so soon after a game? It's almost a slap in the face given that it reeks of them being held back.
(Personally, I don't see the point in buying them, I rarely see the Flashback Maps to begin with and virtually everyone technically has them).


---


I came upon something interesting the other night. I was bored so i decided to see what was being said about the ranking system, since Fatty is long overdue for a rank up.

What I came upon was mention of a shotgun glitch that could possibly explain my frustrations early on: Apparently depending on which team has host, the shotgun will shoot the ground when blindfired. This makes so much sense it's creepy; I've probably mentioned in this thread that most of the time I couldn't tell if I was even hitting/damaging my opponents (Though groans and blood clearly occur if you're paying attention).

Of course, I've been bitching less about the shotgun lately. Have I gotten better with it? Perhaps. But here's the interesting part: In redoubling my efforts with the shotgun, I've started using the aiming a ton, and increased my zoom sensitivity. Wait, what's this? If you aim using the left trigger the glitch does not occur.

Coincidence? Wishful thinking? I won't say it's true with certainty, but it does make a good amount of sense (And I was talking with sek how I had host one game and became a shotgun savant, coincidentally, free-aim and all)

[sek929]

If you get the pleasure of seeing me on Gears tonight expect a certain level of inebriation.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by sek929 

If you look at the sun, expect it to be bright.

Yeah, thanks for the tip.

Edit: You need a special tag for when you're lit, like SloshyMcDrunkicus

[sek929]

StoneyMcBoozicus

[Dakar V]

Dammit KB, I just signed on, I just needed to recover my GT.

[Dakar V]

Fantastic job by Matchmaking tonite.

A++

[sek929]

Sarcasm?

[Stogieman]

You ****ers were playing Left 4 Dead tonight?

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Sarcasm?

You betcha

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

You ****ers were playing Left 4 Dead tonight?

No, but my buddy gave me it for Christmas, with the reasoning that'd I was never going to buy it for myself.

[sek929]

That settles it, we gotta kill some Zombies one of these nights Dakar.

[Dakar V]

Say when.

---

I'll probably be on tonight playing BioShock. Message be if someone is up for Gears (or L4D, sek)

[Dakar V]

Jesus Christ, I'm never gonna get the Guardian achievement at this rate.

[klb5090]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Say when.

---

I'll probably be on tonight playing BioShock. Message be if someone is up for Gears (or L4D, sek)

I saw on my widget you were playing Bioshock last night, what are your feelings on it? its definitely one of my favorite games of all time (i'm pretty sure sek feels similar)

In other news... anyone up for some gaming tonight? i'll be on say around 9/10 EST

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by klb5090 

I saw on my widget you were playing Bioshock last night, what are your feelings on it? its definitely one of my favorite games of all time (i'm pretty sure sek feels similar)

I love it. I knew I would, I just kept put it off since it had no support for a legacy control scheme. What sucks is between it and left for dead, my controls are all ****ed up. Reloading in L4D uses a Health Pack in BioShock, which is annoying. Jump in Bioshock is Y, which kinda sucks. And then crouch in L4D is a shoulder button instead of the joystick, which is driving me nuts. Damn, I thought that was standard by now.

---

Since I have no where else to ask, why is stogie playing a 2 year-old game that got a terrible reviews? Really bad Xmas gift?

[sek929]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

I love it. I knew I would, I just kept put it off since it had no support for a legacy control scheme. What sucks is between it and left for dead, my controls are all ****ed up. Reloading in L4D uses a Health Pack in BioShock, which is annoying. Jump in Bioshock is Y, which kinda sucks. And then crouch in L4D is a shoulder button instead of the joystick, which is driving me nuts. Damn, I thought that was standard by now.

I use the last scheme in L4D, which makes crouch the usual LS click. BS's control scheme is so weird it confuses me. At least they made X reload....why L4D uses B to reload also baffles me.

[Dakar V]

It's sad, but I rarely check control options anymore. I remember back in the PS1 days everything was customizable. Then during the PS2 days, most of that was revoked and the I slowly stopped checking and being disappointed.

Anyway, I'll look into it when I'm done crying.

[sek929]

It's weird because Valve's other 360 game(s) include completely customizable button maps (not the sticks though). Must be because of the other game developer that worked on L4D.

I personally like reload to be the RB, just like Halo 3 and GoW.

[Dakar V]

I'm used to X, thanks to GoldenEye, but the shoulder button is a very natural evolution of the concept.

[klb5090]

speaking of valve i broke down and bought Portal Still Alive, its awesome and for anyone who didn't get the orange box (ala not sek or I) should pick it up... only one achievement to go.

[Dakar V]

Our game threads have been blurring together more than usual.

[sek929]

The Wii has been a really hot seller lately.

[Dakar V]

Not a game!!!

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Since I have no where else to ask, why is stogie playing a 2 year-old game that got a terrible reviews? Really bad Xmas gift?

I got it for free so I can't complain. Fighting robots gets boring and repetitive really fast but blowing stuff up as Bizarro Superman is awfully fun. I also got Kameo, Splinter Cell - Double Agent, and Virtua Tennis.

p.s. - I passed 4700 kills in GoW 2 last night.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by klb5090 

speaking of valve i broke down and bought Portal Still Alive, its awesome and for anyone who didn't get the orange box (ala not sek or I) should pick it up... only one achievement to go.

My local Game Crazy has a used copy of Orange Box for $16. I think I'm going to pick it up. I haven't played any of the Half Life games yet. However, I did play Natural Selection which was a mod for HL. That game was extremely fun.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

Virtua Tennis.

3? Because i have that.

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

p.s. - I passed 4700 kills in GoW 2 last night.

The last time it rolled I missed it because I was in a fight, but I suspect I'm not over 4300.

[Stogieman]

Yeah, I meant Virtua Tennis 3. I picked it up because I remembered how much fun the first one was on the Dreamcast.

[Dakar V]

It's a fun game. We'll have to play online at some point.

[jokell82]

New news from Epic:

Originally Posted by Mark Rein

Happy New Year!

First of all I hope all of you had a safe and happy holiday season.

As I mentioned before the break we’ve been working on a major title update for Gears of War 2. This update will address bugs and exploits as well as add some new achievements related to downloadable content. We don’t have an exact date for it but all indicators are it will go live within January. If that changes we’ll let you know.

We’re fixing a whole bunch of online exploits. For example we’ve fixed the ability to wield an invisible shield, melee through some walls, gain infinite Lancer ammo and equip a shield and a two-handed weapon simultaneously plus many more.

We’re also making several small changes to improve the overall online gameplay experience. A few of the ones that might interest you are; increased penalties for quitting matches early, adding additional spawn protection against planted grenades and chainsaw attacks, and adding the ability to see the Submission flag carrier destination by using Tac/Com.

We know you folks love achievements so on the achievement side we’re adding achievement progress numbers to the War Journal, increasing the frequency of in-game Achievement progression notifications and adding some new Achievements for DLC.

This is just a very small list of some of the things that will be in the next title update but one more item which has been talked about a lot in our forums deserves a special call out...

About that shotgun...

We fixed the client side hit detection on the shotgun so that in a high-latency (i.e. “laggy”) match, the shotgun will be more reliable. We’ve also fixed another bug whereby shotgun and boomshot rounds could strike the ground when firing from the hip.

So there’s a brief status report on the next title update. At some point I expect we’ll post a more detailed list but I assure you we’re working hard to get this out the door and once it’s done we’ll start working on the next update. We’ll try to do a better job keeping you informed of our progress on future updates and we’ll try to be a little more active in the forums once this update is released.

http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/sho...d.php?t=650739

[Dakar V]

I liked joystiq's commentary

Most importantly (to shotgun whores), the new patch will fix "client side hit detection," so even in "laggy" matches the gun will be more reliable. That's great, because those shotgun folks really make the multiplayer an inviting experience.

[sek929]

Fatty O Rama™ Gears of War 2 Edition

[Dakar V]

Alright, I think I'm officially off multi until the next update (which is rumored soon).

I played a couple of games this morning.

Game 1: In the pregame lobby - 3 peeps on my team, 2 on the other (That's to start –– no drops occurred). I managed to get a game of Guardian, and get leader, and win the round, but when I checked my War Journal, it didn't count towards my achievement. #$%@!

Game 2: If you've never noticed, a lot of times when you start a round people on your team will be firing their weapons for no reason. So I thought, "Hey, remember that glitch I posted a while back with the free-aim shotgun blasts that hit the floor when aimed at a wall? Maybe they're checking that." So I fired my shotty and sure enough, my blasts were hitting the floor, even when aimed way up high on the wall. Fantastic. (Also we lost a guy before the game starts, and another two quit during the next 2 or 3 rounds)

Game 3: Gametype and Map are selected, countdown beings, and suddenly the bottom (character and weapon select) glitches out (disappears) and makes the map/game selected sound as one of my players drop. This repeats two more times (BONG! BONG!) as two more players on my team drop. Suddenly the game pops up, and while textures are loading, I notice I'm the only one on my team. Sign out > Shut down console.

[Dakar V]

Oh, I forgot to mention, Epic released the Flashback Map Pack onto Live, so those who bought it second hand or pirated it can now download them. Adding to the hilarity, these 5 maps are available for half the price of the combustible map pack.

[klb5090]

sek banned?!?!?!?! what happened

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by klb5090 

sek banned?!?!?!?! what happened

The Political Lounge strikes again...

[Dakar V]

I saw this and I was thinking, "Someone actually posted in the Gears of War thread." Click the link and the answer makes so much sense...

[Dakar V]

I see how it is maroma. I announce I'm officially off the game, you wait a week and start playing it. Well played, sir, well played. I look forward to your return to L4D once we all move on to the GTA DLC.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Alright, I think I'm officially off multi until the next update (which is rumored soon).

So does this mean we can schedule that Halo 3 meet up now?

[Dakar V]

Why would we want to play Halo when we have L4D?
*evil giggle*

[Dakar V]

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/20/ne...ears-of-war-2/

Nice try Gears, but you patch the multiplayer first.

[Dakar V]

Well, the update dropped last night. Some of the highlights:

Exploit Fixes
* A player could pick up a dropped meatflag without having to knock him down.
I'm not sure what this refers to, but if its quickly regrabbing the meatflag when it's been concussed out of your hands, I thought that was a feature.


General Fixes
* An issue with client-side hit detection of the Gnasher Shotgun. The fix makes the shotgun more reliable in high-latency situations.
Fi-na-lly
* An issue where players who quit during voting didn't show up in the end game stats, which meant other players couldn't easily provide negative feedback on them.
* An issue where players couldn't chainsaw enemy meatshields (if the meatshields were already damaged).
I honestly thought this was a feature (not one I liked). Idiots.


Balancing
* Made planted proximity grenade mines much easier to shoot off the surface they're planted on, by giving them 50 percent less health.
* Set grenades to respawn less frequently. When a player picks up grenades from a spawned location, a new set of grenades does not respawn until the previous grenades have been used.
* Added additional spawn protection to prevent proximity grenade mines and chainsaws from killing a player within 5 seconds after spawning.
Yes, yes, and yes.
* Increased the penalty to rank for players who quit Public Xbox LIVE matches early.


Improvements
* Added the ability, during Submission games, to see the flag's final destination by using Tac/Com.
* Increased the frequency of most of the toasts for in-game achievement progression.
* Added achievement progression numbers to the War Journal.

---

Notably absent? Any acknowledgment of the widespread problem regarding the co-op achievements. But at least I'll get to see what number I've been stuck on.

As an aside, I find it ridiculous you can't blind-fire a weapon while in roadie run. Doubly so, when you can reload. I can't tell you how many times I've successfully roadie-runned away from a team because they can't chase me and fire at the same time.

Still, I'll be getting back on the horse to try and finish a few of the achievements soon.

[Dakar V]

So I just logged in to find myself suddenly with 3 bars. WTF?

Also my co-op achievement is 28/29. Troubling.

[sek929]

Still one measly bar over here....

[Dakar V]

Can't get a freakin' game, tho.

[sek929]

You want to Gears it up later on tonight old Daky me boy?

[Dakar V]

Hahahaha, oh Jesus. Finally got a game, lobby sets up 5 on 3, me on 3. Another guy on my team drops as the map is selected, and then the lobby glitches again where it doesn't show me the character/weapon select part before it eventually loads the game again.


Hahahahahaa, my god what a piece of ****.