Don't forget to jump down the Seatown well for 500XP.

I know, I know, the first Elite maps haven’t hit PS3 yet, but we still have plenty of reasons to play some MW3 on PS3 this weekend. For instance: Hardhat, a P90 with Rapid Fire, Drop Zone, and this bad boy. So join me, won’t you? I’ll be on PlayStation Network this Friday, February 3, from 6pm Pacific to 8pm Pacific. Facebook even is here. Come out and play!

The trouble with dual platform gaming: You get used to one or the other. Back when I wrote PlayStation 2 for Dummies, the Dual Shock controller felt completely natural. Over time — and especially after serving as the 360 editor at GamesRadar and features editor at OXM – the 360 control became “normal” to my hands. Now I feel a little cramped on a PS3 pad, and my thumbs bump into each other when I use the Dual Shock’s analog sticks. Of course, other people have the opposite problem, where the 360 controller feels alien and they want something that feels like the PS3 pad. I’ve wondered if there was an answer to this problem — and I found it at PAX Prime this year.

Mad Catz showed a prototype of a Major League Gaming Pro Circuit controller for both PS3 and 360, which promised unheard of customization through removable parts. Like the 360 layout but prefer convex thumbsticks like the PS3? Change them with a simple twist-and-click move. Removable weights let you change the heft of the controller. Prefer matte black instead of a gloss finish? The faceplate panels are magnetic; just pull them off to swap them out. All this with a removable braided cable and a carrying case too. It was a neat demo, but the controller was inside a display case, so I wondered if it would fulfill on its promise.

I finally got one this week, and the answer is a resounding yes.

Change the sticks, the d-pad, the weight, the faceplate...it takes seconds to customize.

Once I got it out of the smexxxy presentation packaging, I found that the rubberized non-slip surface didn’t feel irritating or tacky; it was just comfortable. I regularly fiddle with the weights in my PC gaming mice, so I liked having two 35-gram weights here. I found not using any weights felt about the same as a PS3 Dual Shock, and one was right for a wireless 360 feel. Actually, both weights together felt quite comfortable to me. The nubs on the concave analog sticks were very pronounced and I had no problem with traction.

Reverse Trigger activated

The PS3 controller offers one crucial additional feature that the 360 version does not: Reverse Trigger mode lets you swap the L1/L2 and R1/R2 trigger assignments on the controller itself. Just hold down Start and Select for five seconds and the controller lights will swap positions — that is, if your controller is player 1, after this trick, the lights for 2, 3, and 4 will all light up. Now, in MW3, the R2 curved trigger fires your weapon (as it does on 360) instead of the smaller R1 bumper button (the PS3 default). If you are used to the 360 layout and you don’t take advantage of this feature, you will die a quick and horrible death.

There are a very few compromises. It’s not wireless (but the 3-meter braided USB cable is removable for storage and transport) and it doesn’t feature analog L1 and R1 triggers, so it might not be the best controller for all your games. But these are sacrifices I am very comfortable making in exchange for the performance and comfort.

No more broken controllers from wrapping the cable around the body. A threaded connector makes removal easy but attachment secure.

Last night, after trying the default PS3 config on MW3 Drop Zone, I swapped in the concave thumbsticks in a 360 config and used the PS3-style d-pad. I normally scrape by with a KDR of 0.55; my average after the first three games with the MLG Pro Circuit was 1.11. Dumb luck, lousy opponents, or the greatest controller ever? It’s all subjective; I simply felt more confident and comfortable than I normally do when playing MW3 on PS3. There’s a lot to be said for ergonomics and personal preference.

I ultimately went with 360 layout and sticks but a PS3 d-pad.

The MLG Pro Circuit controllers are $99.99 a pop (£109.99 in the UK). Significant investment, certainly — but this is exactly what I was looking for and then some. Hell, I want one for 360 now, and I’m already crazy happy with the MW3 360 controller I’m currently using. I do know this much: I’m not playing MW3 on PS3 any more without this, and I’m even more excited for Twisted Metal now.

I don’t have a rating system, but this gets eleventy-hundred icons of whatever. In my opinion, the MLG Pro Circuit is a shining (or matte finish) example of what customizable controllers can and should be.

New maps for Call of Duty Elite premium members, new Playing With Swords event. Surprise, it’s Modern Warfare 3 on a week when MW3 gets new content on Xbox 360!

The Italian Job

I will play in the new map playlists this Friday, January 27 from 6pm to 8pm Pacific time, but please note that other maps from the disc are also part of that playlist, too. Wanna know how to join? The Playing With Swords FAQ is your friend. A Facebook event reminder is here.

Playable first on Xbox 360, per the 2010 business deal.

The release of the official MW3 season content calendar has fired off a new volley of comments, questions, and confusion from PlayStation 3 gamers. The main question: “You said I would get content early. I paid for Elite just like the Xbox 360 gamers; why do they get content first?” A good question, and one that has a clear answer, I’m happy to say.

Back in 2010, Activision and Microsoft entered a business deal to release DLC on Xbox 360 earlier than other platforms; this contract is valid through the year 2012. This business deal was very widely reported by the games media when the announcement was made at E3 in 2010, and the DLC releases for both Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops was released in accordance with that contract. All DLC for MW3 will follow the terms of that deal as well, because it’s still 2012.

This is the short answer. Read on if you would like the long answer.

Vader in SCIV PS3 was such a big deal, he's on the Japanese box.

Exclusivity in the game biz is not uncommon, whether it’s a game franchise only appearing on one platform (Gears of War for Xbox 360, Infamous for PlayStation 3) or content that is only available to one audience or the other (Darth Vader and Yoda in Soul Calibur IV on PS3 and Xbox 360, respectively). Sometimes, as with Soul Calibur IV, this exclusive content eventually shows up on other platforms. Sometimes, as with Kratos in Mortal Kombat or the playable Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum, it does not.

Thankfully, for Call of Duty DLC, all consoles get all the same content, but there is a delay as to who gets what when. This type of exclusive is not that uncommon either; other games, such as Battlefield 3 and Skyrim, have also arranged timed exclusives, anywhere from a week to a month. Eventually, though, everybody gets everything.

Eric Hirshberg explained Elite's offerings and pricing at XP 2011.

Enter Call of Duty Elite. Premium members pay $49.99 up front and get all the MW3 DLC that will come out over a nine-month period — DLC that Eric Hirshberg said at XP 2011 would cost $60 if it was bought via traditional map pack bundles. Even if you didn’t care about anything else that Elite premium offers, that’s a no-brainer for dedicated CoD players. But somewhere along the way, people convinced themselves that an Elite subscription would trump the 2010 DLC exclusivity deal that was created before Elite existed — that by paying for Elite, they were somehow invalidating a contract between Activision and Microsoft. It doesn’t make any sense, but it is what people started to think.

The Elite team tackles Elite audience Q&A at XP 2011.

I wondered where people would have gotten that idea — had someone actually promised that, or said something at XP 2011 that I missed? — so I researched it. What I found was that you can’t prove the non-existence of something. I can find no evidence of “buy Elite, get PS3 DLC same time as 360″ ever being so much as suggested by any official source. It was never one of the things listed in the official benefits chart; it was never promised by any representative of Activision, Call of Duty, Elite, or its developers. Honestly? I think gamers just convinced themselves that it would happen because they wanted it to happen. That makes sense, but it doesn’t make it true.

Still, the Call of Duty team must have known this assumption could be a source of confusion. So the Elite FAQ is very clear:

Similar to Map Packs, X360 Premium members will receive their Content before PS3 Premium members. All Call of Duty ELITE Premium members will receive a steady stream of content released monthly for 9 months through the Content season, and they will also receive their Content before non-premium members on their console.

I know I am not everybody’s primary source of Activision information, but I also noted this back in June 2011 in my massive “What I Know About Call of Duty Elite” article:

Elite subscribers will be able to access the DLC before it goes on sale to a la carte purchasers. The window of time has not been disclosed. For PS3 owners, this does not override this business deal that currently brings Call of Duty DLC to Xbox 360 first; that deal is valid through 2012. However, Elite members will get the DLC before the non-Elite members on their respective platforms.

So…that’s where we are. The deal from 2010 is why DLC comes out on Xbox 360 first. I’m seeing people scream “rip-off” and stuff like that, but nobody’s going to get ripped off; every gamer will get everything they were promised and everything they paid for. It’s unfortunate that people assumed things about Elite that turned out to not be based in fact, but I hope the truth is clear now. Unpopular, I’m guessing, but clear.

Also, you don’t have to pay to play Call of Duty multiplayer. But everybody knows that now, right?

UPDATE 1/28: I’m sorry to see people taking this article the wrong way. My intent was not to be mean or arrogant; my intent was to clear up the confusion and dig into how we got to this point, because ultimately this is a case of what was said vs. what was assumed. That’s always difficult.

But sorting out the facts does not mean that I don’t understand how frustrated people are. I totally get where the confusion came from; it makes sense and I totally understand why people are upset — and I am sorry about the situation. But I think the flames are starting up now because people wanted to hear something else, and I can’t say what they want to hear. I’m sorry about that, too. All I intended to do was offer the facts and show my work, and I had hoped being clear would be helpful to people who were still confused and asking me about it on Twitter. Perhaps not, in hindsight. So if you need to rage at me about it, okay.

I see this angle a lot. I protect C.

I like to live in both the console and PC worlds, though dual citizenship makes me feel like I should always be where I’m not. So Friday, January 20, I’m committing to be in a non-MMO PC space: I’ll be playing Modern Warfare 3 from 6pm to 8pm Pacific and I encourage you to join me. (What time is that where you live? The internet knows.) Facebook reminder is here and Steam group event reminder is here.

A purely personal note: My podcast co-host Hugh Sterbakov discussed his upcoming book for the first time on this week’s podcast. It’s called City Under the Moon and he describes it as a “Tom Clancy action thriller with werewolves in New York City.” It will be published in March and the website is just a teaser at this point, but it does give a more compelling plot overview than I just did.

Hugh will no doubt be talking more about it on future shows, but if you want to know more (or you want him to discuss it on your podcast or website), drop him a line of Facebook or Twitter.

Blackout.

Today marks a big day for social protest online. SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are being discussed in the House and Senate respectively, and many sites around the internet are blacking out their content in protest.

I support content creators and publishers getting their fair share, but I don’t think SOPA and PIPA are the best way to stop piracy, that’s all. I think we can and should create something better and more targeted to solve this problem.

I don’t believe in blind rage, so I would encourage people to read the actual text of both SOPA and PIPA for themselves to be fully informed. Google (which blocked out its logo today in protest) also has a concise summary of the core issues. Also, I used Wikipedia’s links to easily find my local representatives and tell them I don’t want them to support these bills. If you feel one way or the other, you can write to yours too.

Welcome home.

OXM’s Dave Rudden recently posted a preview for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD, and the first line struck me as a universal truth that is often universally ignored:

As The Birdman himself will attest, you can’t master the art of skateboarding without taking risks and falling down.

The article goes on to say that where Tony Hawk: Ride and Tony Hawk: Shred didn’t live up to expectations, the franchise is picking itself up and trying again.

This is, of course, how all of life works — no risk, no reward. But too often, I see gamers surprised — if not angry — when every attempt at making a videogame does not result in perfection.

I am not the only one beating this drum. GamesRadar’s Taylor Cocke has coincidentally written a related editorial. The most critically praised games, he suggests, are the sequels that refine the known. Who is exploring the unknown — and shouldn’t we respect the risks they take even when they do not turn out perfect? “Even if they fail, they often offer something others haven’t tried yet, and that’s incredibly important,” he says. “I’m rarely inspired by games that simply perfect ideas that are already out there.”

Now, he’s not citing the Tony Hawk games specifically, but I see a correlation. I know from my days in the media that the later pre-Ride games were getting a lot of criticism from fans. “It’s the same thing every year,” I’d hear them say — whether that was true or not, it was the perception, and that’s all that mattered.  ”Why don’t they do something different?” The feedback was very clear: We want a big change.

Yeah, I've played it. You?

Well, the developers listened and agreed. They considered what a skating game was and completely reconsidered what it could be. They tried a wildly different idea and reinvented the franchise — a big change. But that attempt did not meet with approval: The controls in Ride weren’t responsive enough. (Agreed.) The price was quite steep. (Agreed.) Some gamers simply didn’t like getting off the couch. (Uh…) For all those reasons, it wasn’t a success. Having played it, I feel Shred paid off on Ride’s potential — the learnings from game 1 are evident in game 2. And now, another idea is on the table, and THPSHD will shift gears again.

There’s a reason they call it game development, not game instant-winning. Every game is only a collection of ideas, followed by commitment and execution. There are many variables and lots of risk, and it won’t always work out the way you think or you want. But you won’t know until you try, and you’ll know even more when you try again.

This isn’t news, really. Gamers constantly experience failure themselves when they don’t get that headshot, when they don’t make that platform jump, when they don’t get the high score. Next time, you try a different weapon; next time, you get a running start. You take away some valuable information from the first try, and you apply it to your next one. You learn by doing. We all do. Even game developers.

So, we’re back to Dave Rudden’s opening sentiment: You don’t master anything without taking risks and falling down. OXM gets that. GamesRadar gets that. I hope more gamers do too.

Last week, per popular vote, we played Blur on Xbox 360 and had a grand old time. This week I wanted to show the PS3 some love and realized…why reinvent the wheel? Blur was the PS3 game with the highest number of votes last week, so let’s go with that.

Why not? You're already revved up for it.

Don’t let the whole Friday the 13th thing scare you, but do show up between 6pm and 8pm Pacfic to get your race on. Facebook event reminder is here.

Every day, millions of gamers play online RPGs. And every day, their rich fantasy lives are shattered by an all-too-common problem: Dumb names.

Hi, Lunaea. Thanks for the effort.

You’ve seen it in your MMO of choice, I’m sure: The guy at the auction house named Spydormann. The female mage named Magicwitch. A dude LFG named WellHung. A hired killer named HiredKiller. These people have made the commitment to immerse themselves in a world crammed with fantastic detail, and they complain loudly when its virtual reality does not live up to their standards. Why, then, do they intentionally ruin it for everyone around them with a stupid moniker that breaks that suspension of disbelief they just paid to support?

I’m hoping it’s just a case of people not knowing how to make an interesting name that matches their virtual realm. If that’s the case, I have some suggestions that will work for both medieval fantasy and science fiction games, online or off:

Change a letter. Start with your middle name, then swap a vowel or three. A double-swap on David yields Divad. Amanda, replace all the A’s and you’re Emendi. Still not hitting? Pick any letter in your name, look at your keyboard, and move one key to the left or right. Terry becomes Terru; Sarah is Satah.

Drop a letter. Daniel becomes Danil. Steve is now Stee. Taylor, meet Talor. Not enough? Use the above, then drop the last letter.

Anagram it. Rearrange the letters in “Dan Amrich” and you get…um, “rancid ham.” But you also get Archimand, which is my go-to name for any wizard I create. Try shuffling all the letters in your full name; if it’s not quite right, change or drop a letter as above.

Abbreviate it. Just as Jennifer Lopez is J-Lo, you can use the same first-letter-first-syllable trick, or the first two syllables. Dan Amrich becomes Danam; Robert Kotick becomes Arkot. Don’t like how your name works out? Try a teacher or a friend’s name instead, or swap in your mom’s maiden name for your last name.

Go international. Scandanavian and Gaelic names often put vowels and consonants where American gamers don’t expect to find them. As a result they can sound exotic if not downright alien. Not unusual enough? See the above steps.

Use a name generator. Available in sci-fi and fantasy flavors. Weapon of last resort, but better than HiredKiller, Spydormann, and WellHung.

Do your part. If you want to live in a fantasy world, at least show that world some respect. Because the rest of us are tired of seeing Laserguy and Hárrýpöttèr wherever we go.

UPDATE: Thanks to @AngeloAlcid for this Penny Arcade comic that totally validates my entire outlook!

I’ve been enjoying a lot of Modern Warfare 3, but I feel like I’ve been neglecting other games for Playing With Swords sessions as a result. So let’s get one of those non-CoD titles in the rotation this week. I’ll let you choose the title and the platform, and whatever wins the poll is what we’ll play this Friday, January 6, from 6pm Pacific to 8pm Pacific. I’m going with recent titles as well as games that have had strong turnouts in earlier polls, successful events in the past, the one where we have a guild, and one game that has come to renewed light due to recent product announcements.

And please remember, this is not just a popularity contest. Vote for what you will actually show up to play. I got hosed by this last year when a fan community mobilized to vote for their title, then only three people actually showed up to play. Don’t do that.

Poll ends Friday at 3pm, so…vote!

I’m off for the holidays next week, but I wanted to add a personal note before closing up shop for the year. Next week, there will be a podcast full of embarrassing outtakes from earlier in the year, so that’s your gift. And there might be another post or two set up and ready to go while I’m away.

Year Two of Swords…well, that happened, didn’t it? In many ways 2011 was better than 2010 for me, because after starting this job by getting shot out of a cannon, this year I kind of learned how to fly a bit better. There was still plenty of turbulence: The launch of Elite was rough (and I got frozen out of Twitter for posting too much during the crisis hours). The publisher rhetoric took up too many headlines. Developers closed; franchises stalled. There were awkward lawsuit things lurking about. A lot of people yelled at me.

But the highs of 2011 were awesome. The Supreme Court said that games are protected speech. Millions of people got MW3 and liked it. Skylanders made a stunning debut. PAX reaffirmed my faith in gamers not once but twice. Two indie devs split $250,000 from Activision to live their dream. Call of Duty XP was one hell of a party. Tons of great games came out, from many publishers on many platforms. A lot of people said nice things to me.

Of course, you know all that, because you were right here with me through it all. Thank you all for reading this site, following me on Twitter, downloading the podcast, and supporting all my One of Swords efforts in 2011. There’s no point for me to do any of this unless someone listens. Thank you for listening.

I guess, more than anything, 2011 was completely exhausting. Which is why, with Kat in her kerchief and I in my cap, we are just settling down for a long winter’s nap. Enjoy your holiday and I’ll see you next year.

Deck the halls with lots of gunfire

Friday is a wash, isn’t it? I don’t want to do any real work on the last day before the Christmas break. Instead, let’s play Modern Warfare 3. It’s the biggest-selling game of the year and the most popular multiplayer console title right now, so it’s a pretty safe bet that people will show up. I’m setting up three two-hour sessions (with breaks so I can actually do any necessary real work…and pee) this Friday, December 23. Here’s how it works and here’s the times:

10:30am to 12:30pm Pacific – PlayStation 3

1:00pm to 3:00pm Pacific - PC (via Steam & P2P lobbies for leveling)

3:30pm to 5:30pm Pacific - Xbox 360

Just drop me a note online and we’ll get our gaming on. Sound good?

It’s been a busy year at One of Swords. Hell, just this week, I’ve had trouble catching up on end-of-the-year awards shows. And I realized, hey, I can do that too for my little corner of the gaming universe, thereby increasing both noise and traffic. Welcome to the totally arbitrary, extremely subjective, entirely self-centered, and only half-serious 2011 One Of Awards!

A tragic crash.

Worst News of 2011
The closing of Bizarre Creations, after weak sales of both James Bond 007 Blood Stone and my beloved Blur, was a risk late last year but became official reality in January. Activision tried to find a buyer for three months and nobody bit, but several developers accepted positions elsewhere or formed their own studios in the aftermath. We’ll see them again, but the loss of Bizarre still stings.

Best Silver Lining
My Facebook group almost collapsed under the weight of angry fans demanding the return of True Crime: Hong Kong after it was officially canceled by Activision. Some of the fans’ logic (“Why not just release it for free if you don’t want to put it out?”) still makes my head spin. But after a few months of discussions, the folks at Square Enix took over the publishing of the project and they’re working with United Front Games to complete the title. It won’t be called True Crime next time you see it, but it’s great that the developers get to finish their work and the fans get a game they really want.

Most Popular Podcast Episode of the Year
Episode 080 – featuring Glen Schofield from Sledgehammer Games and Robert Bowling from Infinity Ward, talking MW3 — had the most downloads of any other episode this year. I’m going to credit that to the guests and not Hugh’s story about the Playboy mansion, but you never know.

It's what's outside that counts, too.

Worst Execution of a Good Promotional Idea
Doritos, who teamed up with MW3 to provide fans of both products with double-XP codes. Mountain Dew was smart enough to put those codes on the inside of the package. Doritos printed the codes on the outside of the package, meaning any unscrupulous person could take a photo of the bag in the store and screw the gamer who actually wound up buying the bag.

Biggest Overreaction
Within hours of hearing of Call of Duty Elite’s existence, The Gunn Shop uploaded a scathing protest video that blasted the service as “absolutely ridiculous” despite acknowledging they really didn’t have any information about what it really was, what would be free, what would be paid, or how much any of that paid stuff would cost. The video has received 360,000 views and is still online. (Irony bonus: Their motto is “lack of knowledge is the cause of suffering.”)

Biggest Surprise Business Deal
Bungie and Activision announced a 10-year publishing deal back in April for…something that they haven’t talked much about since. But the length of the deal matches the scope of Bungie’s plans. ”This is not about specific games,” said Joseph Staten in our interview. “This is about ten years of creating a universe where we can tell any story that we want, any story we can dream up – and give it to people on whatever device platform that they would like to use.” The terms of the deal keep Bungie independent, and they retain the IP rights, which could be a game-changer for future development deals.

Most Swearing in a One Of Swords Podcast
Dave Fracchia, studio VP at Radical Entertainment, dropped so many F-bombs on Episode 093 that I didn’t even bother to censor it. I just marked the episode “Explicit” on iTunes and let it roll.

Most Unexpected Cameo
Bobby Kotick showing up in Moneyball, opposite Brad Pitt. Turns out he traded the appearance for a film that’s being made for the Call of Duty Endowment. Said Kotick: “I don’t get a credit and you’ll never see me acting again.”

Best Helicopter
To promote Prototype 2, Radical Entertainment brought a fiberglass helicopter to PAX Prime and New York Comic Con and gave attendees the chance to recreate a famous Penny Arcade comic. The number of people who really decided to take out their aggression on it still frightens me. It’s just a prop, people!

You gotta commit.

Best Hugh Sterbakov Story on the Podcast
The Superman II story, Episode 057. This is the defining “It Sucks To Be Hugh” anecdote — a terrifying tale of geek desire, child abuse, and simply not taking no for an answer. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it should tell you a lot about how Hugh got this way.

Worst Hugh Sterbakov Story on the Podcast
See above. After the show, I asked, “Do you really want me to put that out there?” He said yes.

It just kept respawning.

Most Popular Article on OneOfSwords.com
No article generated more traffic in 2011 than…an article from 2010. Every time I checked the logs, 9 Cool Things About Nuketown was at the top spot or close behind — all the way through September 2011. I learned a valuable lesson: Never underestimate the appeal of easter eggs.

Most Welcome Vacation
I really do love Guitar Hero, but in February, I was relieved to hear that the franchise would be taking a break for 2011 and possibly longer. You can’t argue with declining sales over a three-year period, and I am simply tired of arguing with the GH haters on Twitter. Time to give it a rest, in all respects. But I’m happy that “on hiatus” is not, as popularly reported, “dead”; Eric Hirshberg says it’ll be back “if we can generate meaningful innovation and meaningful reinvention.” I think that’s the right answer.

Non-Activision DLC of the Year
Zen Studios released so many good tables for Pinball FX 2 on Xbox Live and Zen Pinball on PS3 that it boggles the mind. Some were licensed, some were original, but all of them are worth playing. Each new release is a little more polished, a little more sophisticated, and a little more true to the spirit of pinball.

Activision DLC of the Year
Call of the Dead, the Zombies level within Black Ops Escalation, stands out immediately not only for its use of Hollywood talent and self-referential jokes, but also its excellent design and action. At the time of its release, I heard people say it was good enough that it could have been built into a game on its own; I agree.

Strangest Tweet I Actually Received

Someone finally caught me speechless

Weirdest Giveaway
“Win an Action Figure of My Wife.” Kat challenged people to make LOLcats out of her photos, and the winners got Miss Spell action figures — Kat’s alter ego at GamePro.

Non-Activision Game of the Year
Portal 2 was probably my most anticipated game coming into 2011, and it did not disappoint. The new fluid dynamics and multiplayer options added a lot without ruining what was great. I played it on PC so Kat and I could tackle the co-op on our own machines.

Activision Game of the Year
I loved MW3’s breakneck campaign and I play multiplayer almost every day, but Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure surprised me with its humor, polish, innovation, and lack of pandering to the younger audience. It’s a legitimately fun game that is designed to appeal to kids but does not exclude adults – much the way a certain plumber operates. Hardcore gamers will find more than their share of challenge in here. I have more detail on my choice here.

Here’s to 2012. I’m sure it will be interesting.

After the VGAs, I saw Twitter allegations of “rigged” awards, “biased” choices, and other manifestations of “you didn’t pick the game I wanted to win, so you must be corrupt.” Well, let me give you an actual biased game award: I’m picking my favorite Activision game of the year, and I work for Activision. (My non-Activision pick is here.)

I still had to give this some thought, though. I am surrounded by (and cheer for) Activision games every day, but I am directly invested in none of them. I’m proud if something is successful, but I don’t get anything beyond the pride. In that respect, I’m just like every other gamer out there: some games impress the hell out of me, and some games don’t leave a lasting mark.

I expected MW3 to be great, and it lived up to (and in some cases exceeded) my expectations. But I keep going back to the game that defied my expectations: Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure from developer Toys for Bob. I went in expecting “a kids’ game” and came out with a lot more than just a shoebox full of toys. Here’s what impressed me: 

It’s beefy.
The single-player campaign spans several quests and more than 20 levels. Within each level are optional side quests that will earn you extra treasure and hats (which in turn give you bonuses for critical hit, armor, and so on). There are speed run times, heroic challenges, hidden items — even without the optional expansion packs, there’s a lot to do. I chipped away at it for several days, swapping characters as I went.

Character-swapping on the fly stops frustration.
I know some will see Skylanders and cynically dismiss it as a cash grab — “oh look, Activision swapped plastic guitars for plastic figurines.” That would ignore a crucial difference between Skylanders and other games: You never have to die again. You don’t have to bang your head against the wall trying to do some impossible stunt, and you don’t have to get so frustrated that you throw the controller across the room. If your tactic isn’t working with one character, try another that fits better — stronger in melee, faster speed, more defense. Right in the middle of the fight! Don’t just sit there and watch your character die; swap it for another. This is wonderfully liberating, and while it’s been a feature of fighting games for a long time, it felt new to me in the action/adventure context.

Drop-in/drop-out co-op works great.
Not revolutionary in and of itself, but a very smart choice for a game like this. Not only can you switch characters on the fly in the game, but you can enlist a second player’s assistance just as easily. Consider the target audience, and the parents who are looking to be part of their kids’ gaming lives; if ever there was a game built for “Dad, can you help me get past this part?”, it’s this one.

One figure, any platform
There have been times I wanted to level up my characters, but I also wanted to spend time on the couch with Kat watching TV. Problem solved: I loaded up the 3DS version (developed by Vicarious Visions) and everything I’d earned in one game carried over to the other, and back again. The default format means I can go to, say, PAX East next year and play Skylanders PvP with anybody on any system. This incarnation of cross-platform play removes the concept of the console wars. Skylanders supports the simple truth that it doesn’t matter what you play on; it only matters that you play.

You choose your power-ups on demand.
Little accessories can be placed on the Portal of Power for temporary, on-demand gameplay boosts. Need more money? Add the bonus treasure chest. Having trouble against tough enemies? Ghostly pirate swords will fight by your side. Armed with these extra trinkets (they come with the Adventure Packs) and the freedom to use them when you see fit, no matter where you are having trouble in the game, Skylanders makes you feel greatly empowered — and like help is always nearby.

Patrick Warburton!
The guy who plays Skylanders’ egotistical balloonist Flynn is the guy who plays Brock Sampson on The Venture Brothers and the lead character in the live-action Tick. ‘Nuff said.

If bullets were sharks...

Bullet Hell — you know, for kids.
Certain Japanese space shooters fall into the category known as “bullet hell” – so many enemy shots fill the screen that the challenge becomes merely navigation and survival. (My favorite if Ikaruga.) Skylanders’ boss battles bear a striking resemblance to manic shooters, albeit simplified and with more regular patterns. Still, it was a challenging mechanic that I did not expect to find in a “kids’ game.”

It doesn’t underestimate its audience.
The boss battles are one example of this. I started to think about why many adults still play Mario games, yet they don’t play, say, licensed family-movie games. It’s not nostalgia that leads them back to Nintendo; it’s the legitimate gaming challenge that the Mario series offers and that most kiddie fare does not. Skylanders features tricky puzzles, difficult enemies, and rewards you for your mental and physical agility. Kids don’t waste their time with games that are too easy — and neither do adults. It’s clear Toys for Bob set out to make a quality game first, then made sure it would appeal to kids.

Skylanders is not perfect — no game is — but it does represent something I value in gaming: a fresh idea, excellently executed, that values fun above all. I can’t ask for more from a game.

Tonight is the annual Activision holiday party. Some posters of people smoking cigars, enjoying adult beverages, and gettin’ their dance on have appeared on the office walls this week. This morning, I found an energy drink waiting for me on my desk, and upon closer inspection…

For those who have immediately made assumptions about CEO wealth and custom extravagances, it’s not uncommon or expensive to make some custom-label energy drinks. It’s a vinyl wrap around a normal can; you could do it too.

Anyway, that made me smile as soon as I arrived this morning. And this is why I shake my head when people brand Activision as an evil empire. It’s still a bunch of people, tossing around creative ideas. Everybody here works hard, but we also have fun.

Hell, we MAKE fun.

I am honored to be a guest on G4′s Feedback this week, which is available as an audio podcast as well as the video below. We talk about game journalism, the end of GamePro’s run, “critic” vs. “journalist,” and where the comma goes, among various topics.

I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve gotten to meet Garnett Lee!

It started a few years ago. My wife Kat and I were home for the end of the year break, enjoying our time off, when we found ourselves playing games like Borderlands and Left 4 Dead 2 — games that, to be honest, didn’t have a lot of holiday spirit. Kat solved that by creating a new holiday: Headshotmas!

Headshotmas is the time when gamers finally get the time to play the games they have been looking forward to all year long, whether they got new titles as a recent gift or they’ve been staring at the box on their gaming shelf for the last four months thinking “When am I going to have time to play the rest of that game?” Headshotmas is a time to say not only “I love you” but also “I need to raise my KDR at your expense.” Headshotmas is the time to connect with long-lost friends and shoot them in the virtual eye.

In that spirit, Kat has created three Headshotmas holiday cards for you to send to your family and friends. To let them know that you are not just thinking of them this joyous season — you’re coming for them.

Click each image for a higher-resolution version:

This holiday, I've got you in my sights!

Friendly has Huggernaut.

This holiday, focus on the things that splatter.

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to dress up your Xbox 360 avatar in Modern Warfare 3 gear, here it is: From December 2 (that’s today) through December 16th, all proceeds from MW3 avatar items will go to the Call of Duty Endowment, And to sweeten the deal, there are two new outfits up for sale: American Special Forces and Special Ops Juggernaut. I am pretty sure these were bonus outfits for Amazon preorders and the Hardened Edition, respectively. You can browse and shop here, and know that you’re helping a very good charity by doing so.

You mean that guy?

I’ve been playing a lot of MW3 online lately, and in the spirit of Sesame Street, I’ve identified ten personality types of the people in my neighborhood — the people that I meet each day. You have probably met them too, and not just in Call of Duty games. Tell me if any of these sound familiar:

The Whiner
“Aw, why does the predator always hit me?” “What a loser, using [overpowered gun of the moment].” “I hate this map/mode/lobby.” If there is a reason for failing, the Whiner knows it – and it’s never his own lack of skill, bad aim, poor judgment, or lack of situational awareness. It’s the game’s fault. Or maybe yours. Why can’t you just let him win?

The Psychic Commander
He knows exactly what to do, where to go, and how to complete the mission. He just won’t share his strategy out loud. He expects you to know already, or to read his mind to find out. And when you don’t, he explodes in a rage about your incompetence. He’s the guy who screams about nobody covering him when he never asked for cover.

The Commentator
This guy’s here to give you instant updates on what is happening on his screen in real-time. “Wow, I just got shot in the head!” “Oh, I just got a double kill with a grenade!” “Damn, someone just blew up a car in front of me!” Sadly, the Commentator never realizes that people are watching their own screens, where they are the center of their own attention.

The Passive Broadcaster
Coming to you live, it’s whatever conversation, television program, radio station, or hyperactive children may be in the room. Broadcasters are unaware because they have learned to filter it out when they’re playing…but they’re also unaware that everybody else in the lobby has to hear whatever’s going on in the background, from Oprah’s latest guest to stories of what that rude woman said at work that day.

The Conversationalist
Never mind the game we’re playing – let’s talk about every other game, news event, sports score, movie review, gamer habit, or other completely unrelated topic. The Conversationalist only wants to have a big live chat room, and he will talk over your frantic attempts to share useful info with your teammates to be heard. And if you do engage, chances are good that he doesn’t really want to hear your opinion so much as create a context to express his own.

The Moderator
You and your friends might want to have a chat during gameplay – maybe even share some tactical info – but nobody is allowed to talk except The Moderator and the people on his friends list. The Moderator is in charge of any conversation, and if you speak without permission, you will be told to shut up.

The Operator
The Operator works the phones…even though nobody wants to hear the call. “Hey, what’s up? Oh, nothing…playing games online. Yeah.  Yeah. No, I didn’t. Well, I was going to ask you about that because Friday I thought we were going out.” Pause the game? Let it go to voice mail? No, and no. The Operator is too important for that.

The Fighter
He won. Ergo, you suck. Every victory ends with an arrogant tirade about how bad you are and how good he is. The whole lobby is invited to log off, change games, or apply suction to a part of The Fighter’s anatomy. As a hilarious, paradoxical bonus, The Fighter will sometimes call you a loser for wasting your life playing games.

The Stone
Nothing. The mic is on; you can see the icon in the lobby. He could say anything he wanted. He doesn’t want to. You ask him a direct question. He ignores you, or he has muted you. To play games with a microphone attached but no desire to use that microphone is confusing to you and me, but it makes perfect sense to The Stone.

The Homophobe/The Racist/The Homophobic Racist
You know what this guy says; I don’t need to repeat it. But he makes you miss The Stone.

Of course, there is a way to handle the people in your online gaming neighborhood: you have to talk with them. I firmly believe that the gaming community is only as good as you make it. A lot of people immediately mute anybody that annoys them, but that doesn’t solve the problem; that ignores it. If you let these people know — politely — that what they’re doing is annoying, maybe they’ll say “Oh, sorry,” and turn down that TV or think twice next time the phone rings. Seriously, this happens. If they come back at you with hate, well, mute away; you don’t have to take their abuse. But if you speak up first, you might be surprised to find they’re receptive to feedback — or that you have allies in the room who feel the same way you do.

It’s worth a try. They can only shoot you with virtual bullets anyway.

I love this map

Sorry, meant to post this earlier in the week but got distracted — I’m up for MW3 on PS3 this Friday night if you are. Hit me up December 2 from 6pm PT to 8pm PT and let’s keep marching toward Prestige together. Facebook reminder here!

It doesn’t matter whether you play on console, computer, handheld, or smartphone – the holidays are a time for asking for stuff. You ask for stuff, stuff is asked of you, and regardless of which way the stuff-asking flows, you need to come up with answers. In that spirit, I have assembled a mix of blatant plugs and left-field ideas that may actually help. And everything is different from last year, I swear.

Anything with an Modern Warfare 3 logo on it (Price varies)
There’s official MW3 gear from Turtle Beach, Microsoft, Munitio, and Gunnar. But you know that already, and having the guy who works at Activision tell you they’re great gift ideas is hardly surprising — or even useful. Instead of filling the article with those obvious items, I’ll just fill this paragraph.

Ready Player One ($12)
This is not just the best book I’ve read this year — it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Being unrepentantly geeky and oozing 80s nostalgia helps its case significantly, but even if you don’t get every last reference, Ernest Cline’s fantasy of a near-future where society is essentially replaced by a giant MMO — which itself turns into a life-or-death treasure hunt — cleverly and respectfully plays with everything gamers know and hold dear, quite literally from Adventure to Zork. I was genuinely spooked by this book because I felt it was talking directly to me. Who the hell else really would have appreciated that one-two combination Tron/Sneakers reference on page 326?!

Skylanders Tower Case ($40)
OK, so the only “problem” I’ve had with Skylanders is how to keep my figures organized, and also portable because sometimes I play at work. This carrying case holds 8 figures (which, if you choose one from each element, is all you need to see all the optional side quests in the game) and is shaped like a tower, so it becomes a decoration in a kid’s room. Looks like you might be able to fit the Portal of Power in at the bottom, too.

Astro Gaming Audio Systems ($200-$250)
I’m often asked for my opinion on gaming headsets, and I’m a picky bastard about them for a few reasons. One, I have a degree in audio (fun fact: I did not actually set out to do this for a living). Two, I reviewed plenty of them during my time in the press and I’ve seen the good and the bad. Three, I can buy any headset I damn well want now that I’m Mr. Fancy Pants, and the headsets I use every day are Astro Gaming A30s an A40s. That is, I have a set of A40s at the office and A30s at home, and I always use them with the MixAmp. The Astro system works with Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Mac…hell, I used my A30s as an iPhone headset on a conference call this weekend.

The A40s are bigger and the over-the-ear design is great for sound isolation (you can even put foam inserts in the sides to block out even more of the outside world). The A30s are slimmer with an on-the-ear designs that make them a great choice for use with your iPod or PSP when you’re out and about. I regularly wear both pairs for hours with no fatigue and excellent clarity. An investment? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. I love my Astros.

Nuketown Mannequin shirt ($20)
I bought one of these shirts at Call of Duty XP 2011 because Nuketown is my favorite Black Ops map, and I thought the show would be the only place I’d be able to find them. Surprise — Jinx has the same shirt; all it’s missing is the XP 2011 logo on the back. What’s more, it’s $10 less than I paid at the event. I’ll be damned. Jinx has more Black Ops gear too, if you’d like to show your allegiance to the Cold War missions that never officially existed.

2D glasses ($9)
You know what sucks about 3D movies? The 3D thing. In my case, I have trouble seeing them because of my legendarily lazy eye (get motivated already, dammit!), but I’ve also heard from several other people that it’s just freakin’ annoying and they would rather pay attention to old-fashioned stuff like story and acting when they go to the movies. These glasses have two lenses featuring the same filter — they turn any modern 3D movie into a two-dimensional affair. Now you can see the plot holes much more clearly!

Call of Duty Elite premium membership ($50)
A premium membership gives you additional benefits beyond the usual free stuff. Primarily, premium members will get all the DLC for MW3, for 360 or PS3, as soon as it’s available and before it’s available to non-Elite users. It’s one of those “gifts that keeps on giving” that you hear about. There are other benefits too, such as more video storage space, longer video clips, the ability to win real-world prizes in competitions, and all that stuff you’ve probably heard me talk about before. But consider this: If you give it to a friend, you can make them thank you every time each of those 20 pieces of MW3 DLC arrives. Ho-ho-hold it over their head all year long!

Mad Catz MLG Pro Circuit Controller ($100)
While the FightStick TE is still my weapon of choice for UMvC3 (and SSFIVAE on Steam, for that matter), the new MLG controllers gave me new gear lust when I saw them at PAX. The d-pads and analog sticks are swappable — so, say, if you’re a PS3 player and the 360 controller layout feels weird to your thumbs, move the analog sticks so they feel right to you. Don’t like the texture of the thumbsticks themselves? You can get different ones. Want the controller a little lighter, or heaver? Adjust the removable weights until it’s just right, Goldilocks. Prefer a matte look to a glossy one? Swap faceplates. Throw in a removable braided cable and a hard case and you something I’ve honestly never seen anybody attempt to bring to market. Right now the 360 version is available for preorder at Amazon, and the PS3 is coming soon. But the gamer on your list will probably accept a photo and an IOU if it’s not ready in time.

Starfire LS-24 Light Sword ($130)
Admit it, you big geek — you would love to hang a real sword on the wall or over your fireplace. This is the one I actually own, making it the official sword of OneOfSwords. It’s designed for stage combat, so it can handle some action (um, don’t sharpen it, dummy), but I’ve used it as a damn-that’s-cool accessory for ren faires and costumes for years. Oil or WD-40 and a scabbard will keep the blade rust-free; just keep an eye and some steel wool on the hilt from time to time, too.

A donation to the Call of Duty Endowment (Price varies)
It is the season of giving, and perhaps you have a person on your gift list who really doesn’t need anything physical this year — maybe the knowledge that you made a donation to a worthy cause in their name is what would really make them happy. Heaven knows it would make the veterans that benefit from the Call of Duty Endowment happy, as they return to civilian life and get the jobs they deserve. It’s as simple as PayPal.

Whatever holidays you celebrate, I hope they’re happy, for yourself and others.

OK, so I wasn't in the front row.

Some of you may have heard of Jane McGonigal. She’s the author of Reality is Broken, which suggests how and why games are quite possibly the key to a better world for everyone. She’s sparred with Stephen on The Colbert Report and she was the keynote speaker at PAX East 2011. She’s also one of the brains behind 42 Entertainment’s I Love Bees and its lesser-known ARG cousin for Activision’s own Gun, Last Call Poker. Naturally, I think she is awesome.

Jane spoke at Activision today as part of the ongoing “Activisionaries” series, and unsurprisingly, I took notes. 

Among the interesting things she covered that jumped out at me:

• There are now 1 billion gamers on earth (mostly in China, the US, and Europe).
• Games are often seen as the opposite of productivity, but gamers work hard at games. It’s fun, but it’s not easy. We all expend serious effort in our virtual lives because we find the rewards satisfying.
• People generally feel productive when they are doing things they do not want to do. This is the nature of a “to do” list — the stuff you have to do. You don’t generally make lists of things you simply do right away because they are enjoyable or natural.
• One of the core side effects of gaming is resilience. Gamers spend 80% of their time failing — retrying a level, dying, starting over, learning as they go. And yet we are having tons of fun. Failure is an extremely valuable educational tool.
• Studies have shown that co-op gaming leads to co-operative behavior in real life — and the resulting time spent helping real people in real life is much more time than was spent playing the co-op game.
• Online gaming has proven to be a better depression treatment for women then prescription drugs.
• Her favorite Activision Atari 2600 game is Enduro. I invited her to race a bit — I have a working 2600 in my office — but she had to go.
• It was an obscure Activision game — Tass Times in Tonetown for the C64 — that inspired her to think more deeply about games and get into development.

She also spoke a bit about why she’s interested in Call of Duty Elite. Jane’s on Twitter and her book’s available now.

Surprise, we’re playing MW3 again this week. But there’s a wrinkle: This one’s official and stuff. I was asked by my friends at Activision Customer Support to join in their Community Playdate session this week. It positively reeks of legitimacy!

It takes two hands to tackle @ATVIBernard

They called the time as 5pm PT/8pm ET to 8pm PT/11pm ET this Friday, November 18, so that’s when I’ll be on Xbox Live. My Gamertag is listed on the event advertisement on the 360 dashboard, which is a great way to get, like, 150 Xbox Live messages a day (most of which say “u wrk at callofuty?”), but my guidelines for how to find me during these three hours of insanity still live here in the form of the Playing With Swords FAQ.

Now that we have some meaty updates on the evolving status of Call of Duty Elite, I have another one of my weird analogies to share.

I’d like it to be clear that this is neither an apology nor an excuse; it’s just an observation based on my personal life, hence the Editorial tag. Some of you know I was a child actor. I did a few commercials (most of which never made it to TV), but mostly I did a lot of live theater. And when I think about my days on the stage, the whole situation with Call of Duty Elite starts to feel very familiar.

Games, like movies or TV shows, are complete experiences when the public first sees them. The creators tell their story, edit it, polish it, and when it’s ready for the public, someone presses play. But Elite is much more like live theater than a movie. There’s a script, there are rehearsals, and people paid money for their tickets, but nothing is certain. The performance is planned out, but the execution of that plan is utterly live — you’re watching it all unfold in real time. You have dozens of people who are playing parts either on the stage or behind it, and anything can go wrong. What if the actors forget their lines? What if someone trips and falls, or a piece of the set comes apart? Hell, what if the curtain doesn’t open at the beginning? All these things have happened to me during productions, but there was not a single show I was in that didn’t improve after opening night.

I am in this photo of a production of The Music Man. That's all I will admit.

“The show must go on” is not a joke; it’s a reality. It’s also a point of pride. You don’t stop in the middle of a musical number because someone forgot to sing their part. You can’t call a halt to the production because a setpiece falls over. I’ve been in theaters where the power went out — pitch black, with a freaked-out audience.  The lead actor simply spoke to the audience, basically doing stand-up comedy and telling anecdotes in the dark, until the power was restored. And when the lights came back on, he said “So, as I was saying…” and was right back in character. He didn’t try to convince people there wasn’t a blackout; he acknowledged the obvious issues and kept going. That’s life on stage.

So, after years of polished experiences that just work when someone presses play, I think gamers are getting their first taste of live theater (especially if they weren’t around for the birth of Xbox Live). Call of Duty Elite is planned out, but the execution of that plan is utterly live — you’re watching it all unfold in real time. The obvious issues have been acknowledged and they’re going on with the show. That’s life on stage.

One thing that has grown steadily since I started working here: Activision has begun to celebrate the good stuff. Everybody here works really hard, but I think for a while the company forgot to sort of stop and smell the roses. Or the napalm, in the case of MW3. So when big games arrive, we’ve had celebrations commensurate with their importance. Here’s some of Kat’s shots of Tuesday’s shenanigans at Activision HQ.

You couldn't miss the front of the building: Twin MW3 Jeeps with a giant banner and some military set dressing.

I'm not a big car guy, but I was impressed by the customized details in the limited-edition MW3 Jeep.

Our humdrum lobby was transformed with fresh paint, lasers, smoke, and a video history of the MW franchise.

I didn't know if I was supposed to touch these, so I didn't. But we got MW3 water pistols for an interoffice game of Kill Confirmed. I lost right away.

After a day including Spec Ops and multiplayer tournaments, we all headed out to the party tent for liquid refreshment.

Speaking of Dew, I was really hoping this was one of those "guess the number of boxes in the pile and win the whole thing plus the double XP codes." It wasn't.

At most events, they have a fun digital photobooth that puts you on the cover of the game. And I never seem to make it over there to get my picture taken.

That is the Elite logo. In ice. Who knew water could be badass?

Eric Hirshberg spoke to the attendees, thanking Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, and Raven in particular -- and even recorded the crowd's thunderous applause for each.

NASCAR driver Joey Logano's special MW3 racingjumpsuit was on display. I wonder if most people knew what they were looking at!

Logano's ride wasn't there, but we found a few more Jeeps in the parking lot. Dig the Elite logo on the cover for the spare.

Because I was working so late at the office Monday, Kat and I got to the Gamestop in West Hollywood moments before the first copy of Modern Warfare 3 went on sale at midnight — and Kat was armed with her camera, so she grabbed a handful of quick shots for the blog. Here’s what it looked like on La Brea!

The line didn't stretch around the block...but it would have if they hadn't split it into two more managable lines.

Need hardware? Gamestop had people covered.

If you waited since 8am to be the first in line, you'd be thrilled when you got your copy too.

Infinity Ward dev team members were on hand to sign stuff for fans. Always cool to see.

I rolled up in my bad-ass PT Cruiser and unloaded six cases of Mountain Dew Game Fuel for the folks in line. Hey, they were going to stay awake anyway.

Some greedy dudes took six bottles each. I know why -- they saw those orange caps and thought "double XP!" Nope; these particular bottles were first-run testers and didn't have codes under the caps. Enjoy the Dew, dudes.

What happened in your neck of the woods?

Is there such a thing as "too much of a good thing"? Let's find out.

Okay, it’s a Call of Duty launch week, so that means it’s time to get crazy. I wanted to do something different for the launch of Modern Warfare 3, and I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. What would be big? What would be epic? What would be downright silly?

How about a 12-hour Playing With Swords session, spread across two platforms?

Starting at 9am Pacific on Friday, November 11, I will play for 12 hours more or less straight (allowing for the usual food and bio breaks, not to mention work emergencies) and I will alternate between PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 every three hours. It breaks down like this:

ALPHA SESSION: PlayStation 3
9am PT/12pm ET/5pm GMT to 12pm PT/3pm ET/8pm GMT

BRAVO SESSION: Xbox 360
12pmPT/3pm ET/8pm GMT to 3pm PT/6pm ET/11pm GMT

CHARLIE SESSION: PlayStation 3
3pm PT/6pm ET/11pm GMT to 6pm PT/9pm ET/2am GMT

DELTA SESSION: Xbox 360
6pm PT/9pm ET/2am GMT to 9pm PT/12am ET/5am GMT

These alternating times give the UK gamers a chance to jump in during the first chunk, and the US gamers some evening opportunities during the second. And who knows, maybe you night owls will stay on in the UK if you’re barmy. (Do you Brits still use the word “barmy” or have I been watching too many old comedy shows?)

What’s more, now that I have finally dipped my toes in the stream, as it were, and I am hoping to broadcast most if not all of the gameplay on my channel on Twitch.tv. This is new for me and hopefully I will be able to make it happen with my freshly obtained gear and the office’s hefty bandwidth. I hope it works — no promises, but this is the plan. UPDATE: The stream doesn’t look likely; I’m not happy with the results and need to work on this some more. Anyway, join me and see what happens! :) The FAQ is here.

Classic GoldenEye multiplayer is now on PS3

Early reviews of GoldenEye 007: Reloaded are good — three sites gave it a 9 out of 10 — which is only positive news to me, since I was already planning on a PWS session for the game. The PS3 edition features Move Sharp Shooter compatibility and an exclusive character, so let’s do some multiplayer on PlayStation 3 on Friday, November 4, from 6pm PT until around 8pm PT (longer if I lose track of time). Hugh says he’ll join us later in the session, too. Here’s a Facebook reminder.

I call Max Zorin!

I like Domination in the zoo. Wow, that sounds wrong.

It’s a double XP weekend on all platforms for both Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops this weekend. Kat is still pushing toward her next Prestige, and I did Black Ops on PS3 last time, so let’s do 360 this Friday, October 28, from 6PT/9ET to 8PT/11ET and start soaking up that XP. After all, now that you know there are tokens in it for you, why not? Facebook reminder is here.

I suspect Kat will join in. We’ll be playing Domination more often than not, but I’ll try to hop around to different groups frequently so I can play with as many people as possible.