Oops!

Thought I was only 4 days behind, only to find out I'm almost 3 weeks behind!

Alright here is the update:

Duke Nukem Forever was delayed. (I know, how is this news? It only has taken 12 years to make)

Duals of the Planeswalkers is getting a sequel, Duals of the Planeswalkers 2012 (yes it will be a yearly release now). It introduces new cards, new art for old ones, less bugs and Archenemy game mode.

Red vs Blue season 9 is coming in April or summer (real specific there) and focuses around the Freelancer project.

Tuesday the new Mass Effect 2 DLC arrives, called The Arrival. 560 MSP ($7)

Also on Tuesday, quite possibly the cruelest thing ever concieved, Through the Fire and Flames hits Rockband...with Pro Mode added.

Starting March 29th, Bungie is adding a buttload of Reach Playlist updates.



ACTION SACK
This is a new 4v4 playlist inspired by community map and game variants. The initial lineup isn’t as insane as some players may expect, we’re using this playlist to introduce new gametypes that we’ve scripted up. We’ll be looking at feedback and suggestions for future additions to this playlist, so drop by the Optimatch forum and tell us about your favorite wacky 4v4 gametypes!

Power Slayer
This Slayer gametype is designed to allow players to gain special traits based on the types of kills they perform. Currently there are traits for Basic Kill, Melee Kill, Assassination Kill and Headshot Kill. Each time you perform one of these kills you will gain the traits assigned to that kill for 10 seconds. Killing another player during this period will refresh your timer back to 10 seconds and extend your powers. You can also chain them together to gain multiple types of powers, so if you Melee Kill a player and then Headshot Kill a player before your timer runs out, you’ll gain the traits of both kill types. We haven’t finalized the default traits for each kill type yet, but these will also be configurable in custom games so you can create your own!

Speedpile
The idea of this gametype was based on Stockpile and allows players to carry multiple flags on their back while still using weapons, vehicles and equipment. When a player touches a flag it will automatically attach to their back and will only drop when they are killed. Flags can be assigned different point values which are displayed above the flag in your HUD. Flags which are worth more than 1 point will be larger and on fire as well. Delivering the flags to your Speedpile goal zone will instantly score them and cause the flags to respawn at their original location. This is not a Stockpile variant, so if you want to setup your own maps to work with the gametype you’ll need to Forge it using the Speedpile game variant to have access to the appropriate labels.

Speedflag
This one is pretty simple, it’s a CTF variant which allows you to carry the flag on your back at all times. Just like in Speedpile, you can still use weapons, vehicles and equipment without dropping the flag. It’s worth mentioning that the only way to drop the flag is to either score or be killed, so make sure you want to carry the flag as long as possible before picking it up, you can’t pass it off to a teammate without sacrificing yourself. This game variant will work with any map which is already setup for CTF.

HammerBall / Hockey
In this gametype, Golf Balls spawn on specific points and players use Gravity Hammers to hit them towards a board which has multiple goals that each have different point values. The map we setup was one we found in the Community and we mirrored it so each team of 4 is back to back with a barrier preventing them from interfering with each other, unless of course you’re playing HammerBall Xtreme. The goals are created by team specific hill markers labeled as goals with spawn sequencer set to the point value of the goal. If the Golf Ball reaches the goal, it will be scored and your team will score points equal to the score specified in the object properties. This brings me to our next gametype… Hockey! Hockey uses a game variant of HammerBall and is played on a hockey rink map that we found in the Community as well.


TEAM CLASSIC
This is a new 4v4 playlist featuring game variants with no equipment and custom settings, as well as remakes of Classic Halo maps we found in the Community.

Player Traits which differ from default Slayer:

•Shield Recharge Rate 110%
•Health Recharge Rate 110%
•Damage Modifier 110%
•Melee Modifier 75%
•Player Speed 120%
•Jump Height 125%
•Player Gravity 150%

Maps we plan to use:

•Battle Canyon (Beaver Creek?, Battle Canyon
•Dreadnought
•High Noon (Hang 'em High)
•Hydro (Water Works?, Beaver Creek?)
•Magus (Wizard, Warlock)
•Prolonged (Longest, Elongation)
•Prophet
•Rat Trap (Rat's Nest)
•Rockout (LockOut, Blackout)


COMMUNITY BTB
Our first round of Community BTB will run in April, featuring BTB maps from the Forgetacular submissions. Future rounds of Community BTB will be lovingly crafted by our Community Cartographers group.

Maps we plan to use:

•Bendarius Ridge
•Montana Gambit
•Outcrop
•Renegade
•Ridged
•Rift

MLG
The MLG playlist will be updated with the MLG V3 maps and gametypes, the lineup can be found below. Visit www.majorleaguegaming.com for more info!

Due to the inclusion of more 100% Forged map variants which do not adequately support splitscreen, the MLG playlist now has a Max Local Players count of 1.

MLG Team Slayer v3

•MLG Countdown v3
•MLG Element v3.1
•MLG Nexus v3
•MLG Sanctuary v3.1
•MLG Zealot v3
•MLG Retroactive v3
•MLG Android v3
MLG CTF 5 v3

•MLG Countdown v3
•MLG Element v3.1
•MLG Zealot v3
•MLG Nexus v3
•MLG Android v3
MLG CTF 3 v3

•MLG Sanctuary v3.1
MLG Bomb Zeal v3

•MLG Zealot v3
MLG Bomb Count v3

•MLG Countdown v3
MLG Bomb Sanc v3

•MLG Sanctuary v3.1
MLG King v3

•MLG Zealot v3
•MLG Countdown v3
•MLG Element v3.1
MLG Territories v3

•MLG Sanctuary v3.1

DOUBLE TEAM
We’re adding sequential King of the Hill to our 2v2 lineup.

The following maps have been modified to support sequential hill in Double Team:

•Unanchored
•Countdown
•Asylum
•Arena Zealot

•KOTH now has game variant support for Multiple Teammate Scoring allowing multiple teammates to gain score for their team while in the hill.
•All KOTH matchmaking variants now have a hill movement time of 1 minute.
•All KOTH matchmaking gametypes now allow equipment use while in the hill (2v2/4v4 gametypes limit equipment to Sprint, Jetpack and Hologram – Armor Lock removed from all KOTH loadouts).
•All KOTH matchmaking gametypes now have 1 frag starting grenades.
•Added a HUD widget for CTF gametypes which show when your flag is away from home or held by an enemy.
•More softkills on Pinnacle, Uncaged, Hemorrhage, Countdown and Asylum.
•Modified all default matchmaking map variants to support a static initial hill while playing Crazy Random King.
•Slayer game variants in 6v6 playlists are now 75 to win.
•3 Ball is now 300 to win.
•Replaced Banshees with Falcons in all non-Invasion gametypes on Breakpoint.
•Increased Banshee respawn time to 180s on Paradiso.
•Decreased the frequency of Bro Slayer and Invasion Skirmish in the Noble Map Pack playlist.
•Replaced all Slayer game entries on The Cage with Uncaged in all playlists.
•Removed all objective game entries on The Cage in all playlists.
•Removed Pinnacle from Team Snipers.
•Removed Evade from The Arena and Double Team gametypes.


That's it for now!

March Update 1

Okay, I'm tired as hell at the moment, but it has been 2 weeks so I must update this.

Halo Reach Defiant map pack is coming out March 15th 2011. It'll be 800 MSP.

Gears of War 2 is having 22x EXP this week, not that anyone still plays that game regularly.

Mygamercard.net is shutting down. Why is this important enough to put on the blog? 1. The blog used them. Specifically for combining all our gamerscores to one mega number, Like The Megazord from Power Rangers. 2. It shows just what Microsoft is starting to do to it's fans, due to thier lack of support for fansites and such.

Now, I'm one of the last people to dis Microsoft. I have refused to use Macs unless I absolutely need to. In the Fanboy wars of 05-08, I was on Microsoft's side. However Lately it has been feeling like Microsoft is treating thier customers more like garbage since the recession came.

Lack of cool, original games, Price INCREASES on new product (honestly, besides Limbo, most Recent Arcade games are overpriced by at least $5. And I can Guarantee that the developers aren't getting that), few Price reductions for older product (Nobody plays halo 3, MAKE THE MAPS FREE!), and my favorite, CHARGING FOR DLC THAT IS FREE ON OTHER PLATFORMS FOR THE SAME GAME! You make Kinect, produce no games that haven't already been on the wii (but called something else), and Honestly the Wii versions seem better (it pains me to type that)! How about something like, Mirror's Edge 2 with Kinect compatibility? Kill two problems with one game. Dlc and arcade prices increase, no decreases in prices ever (yes, that happened at one point), Xbox originals servers shut down, a drought of good games (4-5 games last year, all sequels) and what does Microsoft do? INCREASE LIVE'S COST. I pay for a Live service. I shouldn't have to deal with this crap. We shouldn't. Noone should. The only thing stopping me from simply switching to Steam, is I require another RAM card to be able to play without as much lag. At least when they charge me for Data that has no effect on the world what-so-ever, My money goes to a company run by its community and a Fat White Guy, who hasn't hit the tenth digit in his bank acount yet.

Wow, Kind of went on a rant there, sorry. Will I stop going on Live? Well when my Live expires, I'll slow down. Ultimately: no. Just trying to say my disappointment at how Microsoft is acting. By doing what you are doing Microsoft, you have confirmed all the negative stereotypes about you.

Tl;Dr- Microsoft, I am disappoint.

Anyway, It's sad to see Mygamercard.net go. The Xbox Community has lost much.