A poignant moment in COD4

Every now and then, a video game brushes up against reality with the emotion it stirs. One of those rare moments occurred this morning while I was practicing my banjo and Fortiscule was playing a campaign mission in Call of Duty 4.

Fortiscule was playing the mission in which Marine Sgt. Paul Jackson is helping to rescue the downed Cobra pilot. As he fought his way to her, I played "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," because it seemed appropriate for a rescue. As he carried her aboard the helicopter and they began to fly away, the scene shifted, and we all know what was coming.

I started playing "Amazing Grace" in a very gentle, sotto voice in a slow 4-4 time. As the nuke detonated and swept away all the life before it. I kept playing, and the song began to seem very poignant as Jackson staggered out of the crashed helicopter and looked around at the devastation in his last moments. As his vision faded to white light, it felt awfully sad, and Fortiscule and I were very quiet.

The images and music together evoked a feeling like the solemn sadness I feel when I see a picture such as the one above. Here are some real Marines, honoring a fallen comrade in Iraq. I found the picture at the Third Army site, which says the photo was taken by Marine Sgt. Jason L. Jensen in Barwanah, Iraq, on Oct. 25, 2006. I certainly don't mean to trivialize this dignified event by comparing it to a video game. The game did provide a reminder, though, of who the real heroes are who answer the call of duty.

---

Bumbling with buttons

On a lighter note, last night I played several rounds of Halo 3 multiplayer with Batsak. It was the first time I've played Halo in more than a month, because I've mostly played Call of Duty 4 in recent weeks.



Consequently, my Halo man provided some slapstick comedy for Batsak's amusement as I was doing melee attacks when I tried to aim, reloading when I tried to throw grenades, throwing grenades when I tried to kneel, and zooming my scope when I tried to melee attack.

I starting remembering the Halo controls after a few rounds -- my controls are set to "Boxer" configuration because I have such a hard time making timely melee attacks in Halo. But overall, it was a sad night for the Sythbane Squadron in the Halo multiplayer madness.

And here's a mighty Sythbane Squadron Sun Crow Clan salute to Batsak for doing well on his exams!

---

Recent reviews

If you're interested, my official reviews of Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4 , and the video game gift guide compiled by some other Sythbane Squadron members and me are now published on al.com's Techcetera. Please leave comments if you visit, so my bosses will think somebody on the planet reads my reviews!

My thanks to Fartknockker for his recent generous comments about my blog and reviews. Fartknockker is a good comrade and worthy adversary in COD4 and Rainbow Six Vegas, and a member of the no-frags cadre that plays with Big Daddy Ogre. Sythbane Squadron salutes you, noble Ogrerrati.

Duty calls, and we answer

The invasion of Call of Duty 4 has decimated my gaming time. All other games have fallen back before its unstoppable onslaught. I have lost sleep this week, staying up to ungodly hours trying to get a few more kills for weapon upgrades.

I've added the ACOG scope to my M16 and red dot sight to my M4, ranking up so far to gunnery sergeant in multiplayer. Fortiscule, as usual, is showing up his old man in kill streaks, but I'm the cunning one.

All of us who enjoy shooters will want this game. I've seen the crowd I played Rainbow Six with shift to Halo 3, and now the tide has shifted powerfully to COD4.

---

It pleases Crom ...


I have traveled through time.

In the future, I fought as an armored Spartan, fighting alongside my new friend Batsak against Covenant monsters.

Then I traveled the distant past, the age of the sword. I rescued the maidens you see here from pain and death. I slew the giant squid and began the final assault on the dark tower.

Next I arrived in the present day.

I flew among the clouds at Mach 2, firing missiles to chase enemy fighters and raining death on tanks and howitzers.

Now I shoulder an M16 and fight for freedom.

Soon, I will leap forward into the future and face a threat such as the galaxy has never seen.

I am spastic in time, like the hero of "Slaughterhouse Five." Can you guess what the five are in this story?

... Conan, Halo 3, Ace Combat 6, Call of Duty 4 and Mass Effect.

See you on the battlefield.

Sending dogs to Crom

Prepare to meet Crom, dog. It is I, Conan, the Cimmerian. Crom sits in his mountain thirsting for blood, and I shall send him yours!

I have rescued many maidens, which gives me great joy. They are very beautiful.

Right now, I'm stuck trying to kill this demon elephant. May his tusks need root canals!

Let me get done with this stupid elephant, Crom, and I'll get right back on that blood thing for you. Sit tight.

... There. I did it, you big elephant ... dog ... demon thing. Report to Crom to be laughed at when you flunk the Riddle of Steel.

And I burned down the misbegotten ships, too, so Crom can play boats in his Mighty Bathtub of Steel beneath his Mountain. Meanwhile, I will enjoy the company of these fine wenches I found chained to the docks!

Who's laughing now? Crom is!

Dog.

---

Rally to my banner

I finally figured out what my Halo 3 emblem should be.

I've tried several things. I first used a skull in a cowboy hat, but it just looked ridiculous. I've used a Spartan helmet for a long time because I like "300" so much, but it just didn't seem original.

Then I came up with this abstract image to represent what inspires me. The banner of the Bosom Brigade is very nice and I still like it, but I was concerned that it might not play well in mixed company. I reserve the right to come back to this one, though.

Today I remembered what would be perfect.

It resembles an original family crest that I created many years ago. I painted an emblem very much like this on hats for my dad, my brother and me. It's a crow silhouetted against the sun. Black and yellow are nature's danger signal: bees, poison tree frogs, etc. That's why we respond to that color scheme and they use it for highway danger signs. Danger, danger danger, as Steve Irwin used to say. And a bird in flight in a bright sky is always a glorious thing to see.

I hope that my brother and my cousins will join me in adopting this noble Sun Crow emblem. We'll be a perilous posse indeed!

Awaiting something completely different

My apologies, to all both of you who read my blog, for my laziness in posting during the past week or so. I've just about run out of things to say about Halo 3, and I think we're all tired of talking about it for now. I was holding out, thinking I would have something new to say because two new games I've been looking forward to were due out Tuesday this week: Conan, and America's Army: True Soldiers.

But thus far, I have been unable to get my hands on the Conan game, and America's Army has been pushed back to a mid-November release! So I'm still stewing, with little to say on the subject of games for now.

So, returning to this horse carcass to kick it a few more times: I did rank up to captain this week in Halo 3 multiplayer, which was by far the hardest rank I've yet achieved. But to my dismay, the rank unlocked no new Spartan armor components. I couldn't believe it.

I've also been tempted to vent about my frustration at people staging stunts to get achievements in Lone Wolf slayer matches. While this is not cheating in the glitching, hardware-thwarting sense of cheating, it definitely violates the spirit of the game. How can you consider this an "achievement" if you're not really earning it?

These guys basically call off the match and stand in a circle, taking turns shooting each other in various ways to fulfill the terms of this achievement or that. It's like an Elbonian firing squad. It cheapens the whole notion of achievements in Xbox Live, and I've lost almost all my enthusiasm for building my gamerscore after witnessing this silly phenomenon. If this is how you're building your gamerscore, it means nothing.

But, thank goodness, I have resisted the urge to say anything about this, because I know nobody wants to hear it. So I'll keep it to myself.

I have also started playing multiplayer without my headset most of the time. I've been concerned that I tend to cuss too much, and the best way I've found to avoid cursing online is to not put a microphone in front of my mouth when people are shooting me.

---

Witchy woman

A new Best Buy opened near my home, and the first thing I bought there is a DVD of the first season of a "Witchblade" anime series that I had never heard of. The artwork is very nice. In researching Witchblade art, I discovered an artist I admire greatly, Frank Cho.

I hope he will forgive me for posting this one image of his artwork, because I want to show you how brilliant the guy is and direct your to his web site. This Witchblade image is absolutely gorgeous.

---

Mass Effect book report

I finished reading "Mass Effect: Revelation" last weekend. I highly recommend you read it if you plan to play the game. I already feel comfortable in the Mass Effect universe, and I have a sense of some of the alien cultures and their personalities. So, without revealing any spoilers for the book or the game, here is a brief synopsis of what I learned in the book:

The novel takes place maybe 20 years or so before the game. A human officer named Anderson is the hero of the novel, and it appears he is your boss in the game, a good deal later in his career. The character is voiced by David Keith.

You're also introduced to Saren (sounds a lot like Sauron, doesn't it?), the turian on the cover of the book. Turians, who are described as a rather birdlike, dinosaurlike velociraptorish species, may be OK folks on the whole, but Saren is not a very nice person. That's all I'll say about him.

Krogans are like Klingons, warlike and strong. They're also described like dinosaurs, but not the birdlike ones. They're more like the squat, armor-plated tanklike dinosaurs.

My favorite alien species is the asari. These are the sexy blue-skinned women with tentacle things on their heads. They had me at "blue-skinned" (notice Cortana's pigmentation above), but tentacles on the head really clinch it. I loved Twi'leks already, especially Aayla Secura, and apparently the guys at BioWare do, too. What is it about the blue-skinned tentacle babe archetype that is so alluring? It's one of the great mysteries of sci-fi. As I always say, "Once you go blue, nothing else will do."

Friday frag frenzy

Say hello to my little fre'. This appears to be a "P-40" flamethrower. I have learned, to my dismay, that the P-40 is a treacherous friend. I'm almost as likely to incinerate myself with it as the enemy. It sure is fun, though, when you light 'em up!

The Spartan officer's helmet

The helmet I unlocked when I was promoted to lieutenant yesterday is the coolest one yet. It's reminiscent of a Greek helmet with its eye slits and cheek pieces. Compare those features on my new helmet, above, and King Leonidas' helm in "300."

I also learned an interesting tidbit about Spartans: they wore red cloaks so enemies would never see them bleed. The Spartan red was adopted by the Romans and later the British redcoats. I'm not sure if that's true, but it sounds plausible.

I've discovered a knack in Halo for splattering enemies with the Ghost. Look at this poor guy's neck and right elbow as I splatter him against a rock in Snowbound.

Cleared for takeoff

This is the reason video games were invented, as far as I'm concerned. Look at this picture from Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, due out Oct. 23. I would not have believed it possible for this to be gameplay had I not already played the demo.

I bought my first serious computer to play X-Wing and Falcon 3.0, which came out in 1991 (see image at right). Up to that point, all I had was a floppy-disc churning box that was good for nothing but word processing -- a glorified typewriter. X-Wing was fantastic fun, because it played better than the old booth-style arcade Star Wars game that let you fly a wire-frame X-Wing with a yoke control. But Falcon 3.0 had realistic flight characteristics, with freedom to look around the sky and "padlock" the view of your foe, so you could maneuver onto his "six," the 6 o'clock position on his tail.

As computers and flight sims got better, I advanced to Jane's U.S. Navy Fighters, Jane's WWII Fighters and others. But flight sims seem to have fallen out of favor in recent years. I got tired of the endless rat race of upgrading my PC to play games, and I got tired of sitting in front a PC to play when I'd already been sitting in front of a PC to work all day. I've migrated to consoles for play, but there haven't been any flight games for console that really pulled together the best traits of the genre, such as realistic flight controls, and lots of padlock and view options.

Ace Combat 6 for Xbox 360 might finally be the game I've been waiting for. Judging from the demo on Xbox Live, the flight characteristics are sufficiently realistic, it has good view options, and the graphics ... See the picture at the top. It's absolutely incredible. It just looks real.


I've been telling people, if only they'd come out with a flight controller for a good flight sim on the console. A real joystick, not just a gamepad thumbstick. And here it is, Ace Combat Six: Fires of Liberation with Flightstick Bundle.



We'll be able to dogfight over Xbox Live with this. I really, really hope this game lives up to my high hopes and expectations. I'd hate to have to eject.

Halo 3 highs and lows

I've hit Halo 3 hard lately, playing for an hour or two after work most nights this week. Then Saturday, I played most of the day. Late Saturday afternoon I got into a huge team battle with a bunch of my online friends. It was great fun. The big team battle slayers are super, but I discovered that I don't particular care for one game mode that many of the others seemed to enjoy, Infection. More power to you if you like it. It just seemed pointless to me, because eventually everyone gets infected. It's a depressing little demonstration of how a pandemic could wipe out civilization. Everybody loses.

In other game news, my padawan learner, Fortiscule, just beat a big boss battle in Stranglehold that brought a big triumphant whoop from the den and a earned him 25 gamer points. That game looks dizzying. Congratulations, Fortiscule!

Spartanhood achieved

Yesterday I ranked up to sergeant, and with it came an achievement for becoming a Spartan. So you're not a Spartan until you're a sergeant. That seems a bit odd, but there it is. Above you see the other guy's view of Sythbane's ruthless golden Orbital Drop Shock Trooper visor. There was some discussion online last night about how to rank up, and "ranked" matches seem to pile on more experience points toward ranking up faster than social matches.

When I ranked up, I unlocked the helmet at right, the original Halo Spartan helmet.

Yes, I know we might be getting a bit tired of the Halo 3 stuff after a week straight of it, but the Halo frenzy will subside eventually, and then we'll be on to THE NEXT BIG THING (Ace Combat 6 is waiting in the wings for its turn onstage). But for now, everybody on my friends list is playing Halo 3, and they probably will be for a while. So it's still the main topic of interest.

Our fellow Sythbane Squadron members show a wide range of choices for customizing, reflecting their own personalities and taste. My wingman, Fortiscule, chooses to be a red elite, as seen here in his bungie.net profile shot.

Squadron contributor HZG is something of a purist, as you see from his selection of traditional green Mark VI armor.

And our friend ANT Pogo is garbed in his traditional Halo white armor with blue trim, but with the Close Quarters combat helmet. This helmet is popular because it is the only choice besides the regular Mark VI helmet when you start out, but also because it looks very cool.



Notice how Pogo's CQ helmet has a "T" visor, which echoes the design of a famous Mandalorian bounty hunter's helmet.

I couldn't even finish writing this post before some of these guys changed their helmets (including me). ANT Pogo just now donned a Scout helmet, Fortiscule has Combat armor, and I changed mine last night, too. It just goes to show you, gamemakers: EVERYBODY LOVES CUSTOMIZATION. Games that don't allow it miss the boat.

Crush enemies, drive them before you ...

Here is Sythbane, wading into a King of the Pit match with gatling gun blazing. This is so cool I had to show you. Halo 3 lets you replay film of recent matches and capture screen shots -- freeze the action, adjust the camera angle and then snap it. You can also capture film clips. I was experimenting with this tonight and grabbed these screen shots. You can access your account on bungie.net to find your screen shots, once you've saved them on your 360. Try it! We need more action shots of Sythbane Squadron members in action.

The next picture is me dual-wielding spiker pistols in a slayer match in the snowbound map. I'm wearing the Scout helmet in this one.

Rise of a Spartan

Now that Halo 3 has finally arrived, we can start mixing it up on Xbox Live. You can read my official review of the game here.

On the first night of online play, I ascended to Apprentice Grade 2 rank. I won a couple of slayer matches in the Guardian map, but I got pasted in the Snowbound map. I recommend everyone try logging in to bungie.net. You log in with your Xbox Live ID, just like you do on xbox.com, and bungie gives you a detailed record of every match you've played online, your achievements, lists your screen shots and video clips, and shows your profile. One of my favorite features is that it shows your custom armor on your profile, too. When you log in, check out my profile on your friends list, or search for Sythbane. It even shows all the games you played on Halo 2!

I like collecting and customizing armor, like you do in an RPG. Above you see my Halo 3 Sythbane character wearing my favorite tan-and-purple armor, with the gold-dome "EVA" helmet that I unlocked when I finished the campaign. It's cool, in a spaceman kind of way.

Playing online, I also unlocked the Scout helmet and then the ODST helmet. I was surprised that you don't to unlock all the pieces of the armor type at once. I've unlocked the helmets for those two types, but I haven't unlocked any chest or shoulder pieces for them. I've equipped the ODST helmet, but bungie.net must be overloaded because it hasn't yet displayed my new equipment.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone online!

Halo reflects struggles of the real world

By Fortiscule
Sythbane Squadron charter member

I was playing Halo 2 not long ago, and I noticed some modern day traits of evil in the Covenant. They are like two evil entities that exist in this world: the Nazis, and the terrorists of the middle east.

The three "prophets," which are basically powerful alien preachers, are like the Axis, the Prophet of Truth being a Hitler figure. He uses false promises of glory and salvation in the "Great Journey" to motivate the Covenant to help him activate the rings. The rings, however, are weapons capable of wiping out life in a galactic scale.

The honor-guard elites are fanatically devoted to serving the prophets as the SS troops served Hitler. There is a point in the game when one of the prophets is displeased with an elite, and he says, "You let the humans land on the sacred rings and desecrate it with their filthy footsteps." This is sort of like the Nazi view toward the Jews. The Covenant wants to wipe out the humans as the Nazis wanted to wipe out the Jews.

There is another point in the game where the Prophet of Truth says, "The council planned to have you hung by your entrails and your corpse paraded through the city." This is like what the Romans would do after a victory -- parade their fallen enemy through the city in a chair to disrespect him.

The way the Covenant are like terrorists is like when the Arbiter character is introduced. A Covenant Arbiter is a disgraced Covenant that has failed in some way but is given another chance for "glory" by being sent on a suicide mission. This is like the suicide bombers who are told they will be rewarded for blowing themselves up. Their other trait is their fanatical dedication to killing "infidels," which in this case are humans.

In Xbox Exile

Halo 3 is almost upon us, and in the meantime, I'm waiting for Microsoft to send back my Xbox 360 after they fix my "three rings of death."

Actually, this "three rings of death" term isn't really accurate, because it's more like three arcs, or three quadrants. They're talking about those little lights around the power button that show which controllers are connected.

HZG was afflicted with the tell-tale red lights, and his was repaired and back in his living room after three weeks. But last weekend, a friend at the local game shop said he knew of a guy whose repairs took 10 weeks! So now, I'm pretty worried. Are they getting a backlog of repairs, as people race against the Halo release? To make my anxiety worse, Microsoft has just posted an intensely cool live-action video of Halo combat. Take a look: http://halo3.msn.com/videos.aspx

I got to play a little bit of Bioshock on my cousin's machine, but other than that, I'm back to slogging around with the old original Xbox, playing through Jedi Outcast. It's just not the same anymore, after getting used to the 360.

If you endured the Ordeal of the Three Rings of Death, how long did it take? Did you play an old system while you waited, or did you go cold turkey? Since I haven't been gaming much, I seem to be filling the time by starting blogs ...