Reboots and other complaints.

So this is something that has been bothering me for a while now, it seems everyday we hear about some franchise (either game or Movie) that is getting the "Reboot" treatment. This is a highly disturbing trend in my honest opinion. There are a few good examples, like the new Batman movies, I really liked the Micheal Keaton Batman movies from the late 1980's and early 1990's. Then they went into disarray with George Clooney as Batman and once Tim Burton dropped from directing I knew Batman was indeed in trouble. Flash forward to 2005 and we get a new Batman, this one turns out to be great, Batman Begins was perfectly cast, acted, directed, written.

I really enjoyed how they made Batman less fake, he used equipment that is actually around and it was very feasible and realistic. Enough time had passed to make these new movies successful. For every success there is utter failure however.

Now I really enjoyed the last three Spiderman movies, I thought they were really well done, we the fans were all set to get a Spiderman 4 movie sometime this year or next year, however when the Directer and cast and crew didn't want to shoot the movie in 3-D because they were unfamiliar with the technology and felt it was too much of a gimmick, we get a Reboot taking Peter Parker back to high school, which is someplace we've been with him less then eight years ago.

Another Rebooted series is X-men, the reason for this reboot is simple, the original cast was too expensive to get for a new film. Now days when people or film makers smell money they lock up the cast for a multi picture deal, so most of the original X-Men cast were signed on for three movies, now they reboot it with lesses known actors and save money. It's a mistake in my opinion and I pity the people that actually want to see such a travesty.

Games get rebooted now it seems too, Tomb Raider is getting a new look, where she pretty much looks like a guy with short hair, Tomb Raider has come out with some of the best games in recent memory, so why the reboot? I guess the creators just felt she needed an update, this pretty much coincides with the reboot Tomb Raider movie I've been hearing about, not sure why Angelina Jolie couldn't still play the character, she isn't old and is still attractive enough to play the part. It's just one of those things.

The Punisher reboot is another horrid debacle that I suffered through, I actually really enjoyed the Punisher movie from 2005 with Tom Jane, it was filmed locally and I thought it was well done without being over the top, they they reboot it, with a crummy actor who didn't even have a line for thirty five minutes into the movie, the enemies were all over the top, much like the late 1990's Batman films, too colorful for what it's supposed to be.

Switching notes here, I want to say I'm kind of pissed off that some of our great American Super Hero's are now being played by Non Americans, the new Superman for example is played by a British actor, Henry Cavil. The new Spiderman isn't American, even the Green Hornet is played by a Canadian. It's slightly upsetting.

The main reason we get reboots is because Hollywood and film/game makers have run out of original ideas, they bank on the name selling tickets or games, no matter what slop they throw in front of us. I for one will not get suckered into this type of trash. I hope at least some of you feel the same way.

{MOH} is three and a half years old...whoa.

I was looking back and I noticed that {MOH} is officially three and a half years old. This is a lifetime for a gaming clan and or community. It's not like the clan has ever been on life support or struggling either, we've pretty much always been active and together. I know of some clans that have "Technically" been together longer, but those clans either aren't competitive or have totally different leaders and members by now.

I think of the most unique and interesting things about this clan is we pretty much have all the same leaders, minus a few. We have been able to keep a large team and keep everyone relatively happy. It's so difficult to cater to all the different personalities in a gaming clan, it really is in large part thanks to all the great leaders and the members themselves in the clan.

One of the things that I think is really helping us is the fact that we are generally an older clan, most are 18 years of ago or older, the younger ones are pretty mature and that is a must in my opinion. Also, even though we have older players, I know and the other leaders know that it's always a smart idea to recruit the next great wave and generation of players. In the beginning it was always me and Snipes and the other long term guys that had to always play in every match, now I hardly play in anything serious, while the newer guys help take the clan to victories.

Proper recruiting is an important part, for every one single, loyal recruit we get, we have to go through probably five or six recruits. I am always up front and honest with people. {MOH} might not be the right clan for you, if people are looking strictly to rank up on Gamebattles or be a leader in the clan right away then this definitely isn't the right clan for you. We have people who have been here for years and aren't yet leaders.

When you think back to the sheer amount of games we've been active on and on the different consoles it's mind blowing.

Playstation 2

1.Star Wars Battlefront 2

2.Battlefield 2 Modern Combat

Playstation 3

1.COD4

2.COD WAW

3.COD MW2

4.COD B.O.

5.Killzone 2

6.Resistance 2

And I'm proud to announce we'll be fielding a team on Killzone 3 and possibly Resistance 3.

XBox 360

1.COD4-Achieved Playoffs in 2009

2.COD WAW

3.COD MW2-Beat five top fifty teams in our first season

4.COD B.O.-Already beat two top fifty teams

5.Halo 3

6.Gears Of War

7.Left 4 Dead-Finished in the top 50 our first and only season

That's a lot of games on a lot of consoles, the best part is, combined we have a winning percentage of around 700% on all these games, I think this makes us the most successful clan ever to star from Star Wars Battlefront 2. Were consistent and we've done everything from go to the Playoffs to being sponsored by people and gaming sites. We've managed to do all of this without really busting balls to try hard. We don't practice everyday, we don't no life the games, we are just a group of people who are used to playing together and have solid chemistry and natural talent and it really shows. Were never really out of any match, we give people more then they can handle and that's important to me. Going the distance against great teams is such a confidence booster. I can still remember on Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360 we played Team Fear and Barely lost to them 2-1. Same with ATR, we lost 2-1 and actually had the lead on the final map with less then one minute to go.

The things I look back on and remember the most are the early Star Wars Battlefront 2 wins and of course our epic COD4 playoff run where we won all those matches in a row. Really though I am thankful and happy about the cool people in the clan, really a lot of those people have grown and matured and it's been a joy to see.

Maybe we weren't always the most well liked clan or the most respected, but we didn't take shit from anyone and I don't regret a single thing about any of it. Looking back to when I left Merc all those years and I was so unsure if I could even run a clan and now I realize how successful we've been I still cant believe it.

I think the moment I realized we made it big was when people, mostly haters started trying to find flaws in what we were doing, jealousy and envy are two poor characteristics and we've had our fair share of haters. I think the thing that pisses off these types of people the most is the fact that we can poke fun at ourselves and laugh along with you, were not uptight or afraid to laugh. If someone makes something funny or does something to us that I find entertaining, I'll most likely post it up on our site.

You cant keep us down, no matter what happens, We'll endure.

Happy Holiday's and my thoughts on supporting game developers

I'd like to start off by wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year! I hope everyone has a great Holiday no matter what you believe. This time of year is always my favorite and there are always a ton of games that come out around the Holiday season and this year was no exception, with the biggie being Call Of Duty Black Ops. Next year looks even bigger with another Call Of Duty game, Gears Of War 3, Star Wars Kinect, Mass Effect 3, Oblivion 5 and more slated to come out right in the Holiday season rush. Now I have a sneaking suspicion that some of these games will be pushed back a bit, but I'm not here to share my thoughts on that at the moment.

I'd like to say that 2010 was the year I've bought the most games in my whole life, in general I've spent more this year on gaming then any other year as a whole as well. I got the new XBox 360 slim, Kinect, Mass Effect 2, Fable 3, Splinter Cell Conviction, Kinect Sports and many, many more titles. I'll be the first to say I usually buy games used, I'll buy a game I'm not sure of used for certain. That being said I now realize the total lack of inventiveness in most games out in the world today, things are cookie cutter and they pump out sequels to no end. Even though I love Gears and Halo and Call Of Duty and I buy those games new, I also feel the need to buy other ips new and show support in that way as well. It's the people's lack of support that causes us as consumers to be bogged down with lackluster titles and sequels.

Great titles like Metro 2033 and certainly Alan Wake, both which are XBox 360 exclusives were both well received by critics, however they lacked the selling power of other games that came out this year. Alan Wake was a game made by Remedy and was in development for about five years. The graphics are wonderful and the story itself is amazingly well done. However, they decided to release it the same day as Red Dead Redemption and we can guess what happened to Alan Wake. It's sold only around one million units. It should receive a slight bump because the game is being bundled with the Xbox 360 Holiday bundle, which is $299 and comes with Alan Wake and Forza 3.

People talk big talk when it comes to "exclusives" but then they don't buy them. I mean I too am weary of blowing $63 on a new ip that I'm not sure about. A good comparison would be the new Epic made game "Bulletstorm". Now this game looks pretty good, an over the top style shooter. I have it on my maybe list, I love most everything Epic has done, especially Gears, but when I heard you can get access to the Gears 3 beta by pre ordering the Epic edition of Bulletstorm I felt the urge to do so, but at the same time I felt the urge to hold off a bit. Next year is going to start off with a ton of great games and I'm looking forward to Dragon Age 2 which hit's early on. I don't want to spend $2000 a year on games and gaming again next year, so perhaps I wait, but then again what if Bulletstorm is really amazing and yet other people think like I'm thinking? Then the game goes the way of other top games like Transformers War For Cybertron, which was an amazing game made with the Call Of Duty engine. It was really fun. I played the demo online and it was an utter blast. Instead of getting the game though I got a sequel to another game. Now Activision isn't sure if they want to put money out to do a sequel for the game or not.

Looking back I wish I had bought the game. I know a lot of you buy used games and I do too, but I urge you to really support the makers of interesting and new games as well as your favorites and sequels to your favorites. In this cookie cutter world we need new ideas and new directions to go. We as people are turning into such sheep and conformists it sometimes sickens me. A few examples of this are Myspace and Facebook. I loved Myspace when it first came out, you could design it the way you wanted it. Add your own music, backgrounds ect... Then Facebook comes out and people flock to it, though everyones page is all the same. Cookie cutter at it's best. People are also so worried about keeping up with technology and things like 3-D that movies and games both are going to suffer greatly. Companies will slap 3-D on something that is mediocre and it will cause a ripple effect on other media.

Why let what others think about games or movies or anything influence the way we feel about it? I've never lived my life this way, I've always paved my own way. Sometimes I'll be on a single player game, say Viva Pinata or Kameo, both games made by Rare and are Xbox 360 exclusives. I love these games, they are colorful and bright and a lot of fun. Yet some people might be ashamed to play those games for fear of what a fellow clan member or friend would say. My advice is don't miss out on amazing games, movies or music because your afraid to not be a sheep.

My new years resolution is to better support game developers and new ips. Who knows the next Halo or Gears could actually be better then those games. Sometimes you need to take a risk to reap the benefits.

Good day to you all and Happy Holidays from Crapgamer and Team {MOH}

Just finished up Mass Effect 2

So admittedly I loved the first Mass Effect game on the XBox 360, I really, really wanted to play the sequel that came out earlier this year, however at the time there were lot's of other games, mostly online multiplayer games that were about to come out that I thought would be more worth the $60 since they would have the online aspects.

Well I finally picked the game up a few weeks ago and was casually playing through it, then this last week I really got into the story and the fact that my previous game was imported into this one made it all the better, all my choices were saved, all my decisions had relevance and everything I said or did had a "Mass Effect" on this story as it were.

To be honest I enjoyed this game more then any other game I've ever played, the epic proportions to story telling and the characters and character development were tremendous!

There is about fifty hours of gameplay, without Down Load content and there might be a little bit more then that if you want to do all the little side missions and quests.

I truly love what Bioware has been able to do and this is more of the same, but taken to a whole new level. I enjoyed the interaction with the people, crew and even the quests were well done and actually fun. I am a person who hates level grinding, which is why I prefer the Western style RPG's.

I wont give away any of the story but it picks up where the first Mass Effect left off, the story itself is much better then 95% of the stuff coming out of Hollywood right now.

The boss battle was epic and there were surprises even after that. I already want to go and do the whole game again, not only to get the gamerscore for beating the game again, but I also want to get the other ending. I beat the game, but sadly three of my crew died. I'd like to try to get all of them through the battle the next time.

Anyway, Mass Effect 2 is my Game Of The Year without a doubt, the most complete game I've ever played.

Check it out if you haven't yet. You can get it new for like $17.99 right now.

A++ all the way. Take my word for it.

Call Of Duty Black Ops Review

Call Of Duty Black Ops is an interesting game in the storied Call Of Duty Franchise. I must admit I was disheartened with Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 last year, I went to the midnight launch at Gamestop and played the game and I enjoyed it for all of two days, then I got hit with people duel wielding model 1880 shotguns from across the map, super tact knifed by people holding the care package smoke and it got worse as the day's and week's went on.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Black Ops, I tried not to get my hopes up, after all Treyarch was making Black Ops as opposed to Infinity Ward, who made Call Of Duty 2, COD4 and MW2. Treyarch made COD3 and COD WaW. Now I enjoyed WaW a bit, so I was hoping it would be somewhere between COD4 and WaW.

The campaign in Black ops is solid, I really enjoyed it, short as it was I still found it really fast paced and to the point, it wasn't drawn out or anything like some games try to make their campaigns. You play as different people throughout history, mostly Cold War Era, though a WWII map comes at you with a familiar face or two.

After you beat the campaign you unlock the Zombie mode, which was a fan favorite in WaW, it's still a fun secondary game mode, it gives you more bang for your buck. Also there is a little easter egg in the title screen, if you toggle the left and right bumpers you get up from the chair and you can walk over to the computer screen and type in DOA and play a arcade style zombie shooter, it's a lot like the Indie game I M4d3 a g4m3 w1th z0mbi3s in it. It's quite fun, there are also other things you can input, like Zork and a few others you can look up on the internet.

The real meat and potatoes on Black Ops is of course the online mutiplayer. The thing I noticed right away was no Stopping Power perk, which at first I wasn't too sure about, now I've grown to like this. You see such a variety of guns being used now, unlike MW2 or COD4 or even WaW, where it was all MP40's all the time.

The other thing I really like about Black Ops is the fact that their is no "Game ending" Killstreak, also Killstreaks don't count towards other higher killstreaks. I've played around forty online matches and nobody on the other team has gotten past a 5 killstreak on us. The camping that made MW2 horrid is nowhere to be found here.

Shotguns are back to being a primary weapon instead of a secondary, which is how it should be. while there is some pistols you can duel wield , it isn't nearly as overpowering as in MW2. The maps are tight, most just the right size, there are some that have corners that are easy to camp, but it's rare to actually find people camping thus far in Black Ops.

Teamwork is needed more so in Black Ops as well, a solid team that communicates well will do much better then a group of highly skilled team that lacks communication. Also I must admit I love the credit and wager system, It's nice that you can just purchase sights and attachments to the guns you love without having to do a million different challenges with said weapon. Custom logo's and cards are also a nice touch, I've never seen so many dirty pictures in my life.

Now on to the bad parts of Black Ops. The only complaints I have are the lobby system, I'm not sure about other versions of the game, but on the Xbox 360 it can take upwards of thirty minutes to find a match, I hear Treyarch is already working on a patch for this though. To be fair there are over 3 million people on Black Ops at a time on 360 and this could be some of the issue.

Also, when we are able to find matches the other team backs out halfway through the game and for some reason, even with all the people on the game, no new people come into the lobby, so unless we get into a lobby just by ourselves, nobody else will ever join, you'll just sit there and wait until you back out and try again.

The lag is the other thing that I have a problem with, it's not "host lag" it's game lag, WaW had this issue as well, for some reason no matter the host or connection there is lag, it's very frustrating to say the least. This is another thing treyarch is supposed to be patching "soon"

I held off on a review for a few day's because I feel you cant accurately judge a game with just a hour or so of game time, now I have around six hours of multiplayer time and I've beat the campaign and played zombie mode. I feel now I can honestly say it's a unique Call Of Duty and it's a lot of fun when you actually get the chance to play in a room. When Treyarch fixes the issues, it'll be the best or one of the best in the series.

For now I give Black Ops 4.5 T-Bags out of 5.

My Kinect Review

Let me start by saying that I decided to get Kinect as I watched this past E3. I was impressed, I knew right away it probably wouldn't be something a clan can get behind, but as a gamer I saw the possibilities and I was pretty excited for this. I wasn't sure how it would work, it's pretty futuristic, I mean voice commands are nothing new, but what is new is the fact that these voice commands actually work. The sensor itself is rather small, they sell stands that lock them to the top of your television or stands that sit on the floor like a tripod, what's cool about Kinect is, it doesn't have to be right in front of your television to work.

I'll start with the positives. The sensor is extremely accurate, if you have enough room, around six feet from the sensor it's pinpoint accurate, if you have less room, it's still accurate but not pinpoint. It has facial recognition, which blew me away, I was playing it with Hellhammer and when he jumps in for his turn it automatically recognizes him and changes the avatar over to his, same with when it's my turn.

The games look good, colorful and are a lot of fun! Try it and you'll want one. Hellhammer was skeptical as well, but he was having a blast in no time, you totally forget your making an ass out of yourself and just have fun. That's why I got it. Above all else I'm a gamer, I was gaming on the Atari back in the day and I've been gaming since before internet enabled gameplay, so I just enjoy gaming for fun. This is a lot of fun.

The games can give you a good workout, it's so fun though that you don't even realize it until the next day when your arms and legs are a bit sore from gaming. The variety is a big plus as well, right now there is a wide array of different games to choose with more "Core" titles due next year, I knew that Dance Central was going to be a big hit, though it's not my thing, I can see why it's so popular.

The Kinect sensor has motors on it, so it tracks you, the sensor itself moves up and down and left to right.

Every Kinect game is online. I love the Wii, but to me a huge failure on the Wii is the lack of quality online, Microsoft made the online more of a social thing, you can disable voice chat and it matches you up against someone, so it's just fun, no trash talking, no B.S.

The games are cheaper then standard games, $49 is pretty fair, there is a lot of content and gamerscore to be had. I'm excited to see when some titles come available used.

Even though it's controller free, there are already some add on's.

Though the boat add on doesn't interest me, I'd love to see a Light saber add on down the road, maybe for that Star Wars Kinect game that is due out next year.

As for the negatives, I'd really say the price to some people $149 is a bit negative, but when you consider you need nothing else and it's capable to do multiplayer right out of the box and it comes with a game (Kinect Adventures) it's worth it. The best deal for Kinect would be to get the 360s Arcade bundled with Kinect for $299, you save $50 that way. That would be best for those new to the 360 and wanting to try Kinect.

If you have an older Xbox 360 you need to use a separate power cable that comes with Kinect as well as a USB cable that also comes with it, if you have a 360s, it hooks up into a USB hub in the new 360 and thats all you need, so it's very little to set up.

I'd also say if your strictly a "Core" or online shooter person you probably wont find much use for Kinect, though being able to use voice commands on the dash and control media this way is pretty nice on it's own.

If you get the chance though, try it. It's a lot of fun, you'll lose yourself just having a good time gaming, which is what it's all about right?

I'll give it 5 T-Bags out of 5. I wasn't prepared for it to work as well as it actually does, it's impressive to say the least.

I admit it, I'm a Xbox 360 fanboy

I guess it happened gradually over time. I really did try to be objective. In the past I've always enjoyed multiple gaming consoles, then again in the past I was able to actually have fun with the games themselves.
I recently bought the new Xbox 360 slim and I fell in love with it instantly, it's so small, quiet and efficient. I also paid for Kinect in full, which comes out November 4th, 2010. It was something I got more for myself then for clan gaming applications. Also I pre ordered Call Of Duty Black Ops. Now while that is a multi-platform game, I have started to consider those as 360 games. My reasoning is they are meant to run on the superior Xbox Live, more people buy multi-platform games on 360. I mean by a rather large margin, now there are a few exceptions, but games with online components always sell better on 360.
I also recently found myself buying up every and any 360 exclusive title, I didn't realize the sheer amount of quality games, Rare has mad some very enjoyable games for the Xbox 360 over the last few years. I also just bought all of the Halo games, so now I own Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo ODST, Halo Wars and recently at launch Halo Reach. I admit it, I'm a Halo fanboy as well. I enjoy the customization, community and game modes.
I was informed of an interesting fact the other day, Doom 1 on XBox Live arcade has more online users then the Playstation 3 title Killzone 2. A game from the 1990's has more players then the most hyped game of last year. That in itself is the problem I've found myself having with Sony and the PS3. There exclusive titles and even the Multi-platform games don't have a lasting community. I like competition, not running into the same people over and over again. It's like there are more people on Halo Reach at a time then all of PSN.
Rather then turning this into flame bait, I'll just say it's a lot of little things that made me such a fanboy of Microsoft and their console. Rather then hate because they are a quality company like so many seem to do. I realize the quality of the products they offer and they tend to cater more towards the American market, which makes me like them all the more. I used to use my PS3 to stream movies or play Blu Ray, but since I got my new slim I totally unhooked my PS3, using the HDMI cable on the slim and stream movies, Netflix right to my new 360. It has so many applications I cant help but use it everyday.
One of the biggest and best features I loved about XBox Live was the voice chat and Party chat, well with the new Dashboard update they improved the voice codecs and system even more! I am in the beta for it and the new voice chat sounds better then phone quality, better then Skype, it's simply amazing.
To me XBox Live is worth every red cent they get, people aren't stupid they know value and quality when they see it. PSN stopped being fun for me a long time ago, I guess I slowly started leaning more and more towards the 360, even though I tried not to be biased. I don't think I'm one of the crazy, hardcore fanboys, I just prefer the 360, the games on it, the communities, the competition and the little extra's.
To each their own, but in a way this is me coming clean finally about my love for the Microsoft brand.
Good day to you.