I go onto Killzone 2's website, and I often see some pretty funky readings on the game counters: 783 players logged in, 0 players logged in, 0 games in progress. Eh, so they have issues, not just a drop in community population.

It's a huge shame the online has lost momentum. I have a blast with this game most of the time, even though I've never used voice chat on it. I'm still able to find games, as long as I don't pick any specific maps or any specific gametypes on the list. No one wants to play just the DLC maps apparently.

The Killzone 2 DLC has been good. They are intricate maps that are also large and they even trophies with their DLC as incentives to play. Now they have every right to charge for these maps, but I'd like to see some console developers see if giving the maps away boosts their communities. But there's probably a bigger reason for the drop.

Looking back, it now seems that locking away the different classes and requiring new players to level up for them was just an arbitrary restriction, and limited the accessibility. Players could unlock SMGs, shotguns, and then LMGs at first, but they'd be running into air drones, turrets, C4, and invisible snipers without being able to play as them. Sure, sniping isn't easy in this game, the snipers perform very specialized roles, but the new players really should have had the opportunity to use the sniper rifle and cloak right from the beginning, see what that is like, and then choose how they want to play.

Looking into the bright and gritty future, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is coming out in March of next year. That's much too long. The destruction truly makes the difference between it and other games. It looks like the movement and shooting is much smoother in 2, so it's the best of both worlds, almost. Big levels, big destruction, and the fundamental shooting is satisfying and not awkward.

I do have some concerns about the game however. At first I was worried they were simplifiying the game by merging classes together so there were only 4. It looks like that is just the smallest part of the assymetry present in the game, with primary and secondary weapons being changable, as well as equipment. But will the SMG users be able to become unstoppable CQB gods with the motion tracker? How is that going to be balanced? Assault rifles can now have scopes attached. That is totally awesome, but is that going to overstep the role of sniper too much? Everyone can have the tracer dart gun as a sidearm, what will that mean for the tanks? Will the confirmed kill-cam kill the strategy of stealth? So many questions.

The info section for the game says it will have the characters from BC1 but with a "more mature story". Wait, what? What needs to be mature? The un-seriousness was a fresh sty/e. I don't want some super-serious war story, there is plenty of that in other shooters, and not all of it actually works.

I have a huge research paper to turn in at the end of the semester. The subject I chose was the poem "The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling. It's a poem with pretty ambiguous wording: was it an affirmation of imperialism and racism, or was it satirical, quietly making fun of the concept in plain sight?

15 sources required. 5 of them peer-reviewed journal articles. 5 weeks estimated time for studying. I also need to use that dang library, I mean I did take a course on how to use it. I need to pack up the games, and focus.

So the shall have to go away while I work, and some may have to go away for good, like Infamous. Infamous is an okay game. Fun, but the city is pretty repetitive and the moral choice system annoys me. I may trade it in with Operation Flashpoint 2 in exchange for Assassin's Creed 2 or maybe L4D2. Still not sure about L4D2 though. That game will be a quality product as usual from Valve, but it just doesn't convince me that it's 60 dollars of quality following a 1 year old game.

-Assassin's Creed 2 (that itch for some stealth has returned, but will AC2 really raise me into the heavens of next-gen glory like AC1 was supposed to? who knows, but at least it won't be hard to surpass 1 at least a bit)

-Borderlands

-Demon's Souls

-Forza 3

-Left 4 Dead 2

-Brutal Legend (again, for myself)

-Infamous (old, but want to add to collection, maybe)

-420 dollars

I bought the new Operation Flashpoint last week, and played the first mission. It was very different for me. Interesting, very slow paced, sometimes boring, sometimes tense. I stopped playing after the first day. I pretty much got it on impulse, not sure if I should stick with it. Sometime I'm going to have to give the online coop a try to see if that makes it a better experience.

Finished Uncharted 2 on Thursday, and have resisted the urge to start a new game, so far. I want to reflect on the first-time experience. It may not have been the most epic story, but it was a very good one. I laughed quite a few times, especially during the little in-game exchanges of dialgoue. The cutscenes, my god, they are the new standard for detail in games, period. Shooting was super-smooth, and the stealth-bits were a great way to spice up the firefights.

I read two interesting things on Eurogamer, a tech analysis of ODST, and a retrospective on Bushido Blade. Please you must all read them, for the good of gaming-kind.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-odst-tech-analysis-article

It always seemed to me that complaints about Halo 3 and ODST's graphics were simply unreasonable. "What do you want?" was always on my mind, and this article pretty much sums up my thoughts, except for all the technical babble which I don't understand.

Class-based enemies make Halo interesting, simple fact. Halo is capable of rendering large enviorments with lots of said-class-based enemies, even simpler fact. Halo has vehicles and ragdoll physics, very simple fact. Oh but noooo, it should have looked like Killzone 2, with the tight corridoors and no vehicles!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/retrospective-bushido-blade-article

When I thought hack-and-slash games, even Ninja Gaiden, were a little too ridiculous with the trivialization of getting cut across the chest with a blade, I didn't know a game already existed as an answer to that. A modern incarnation of this would be amazing.

As a matter of fact, before the new Prince of American-Accent-Persia came out, hearing that the combat was now all about very focused one-on-one fights made me imagine deep combat mechanics involving striking and blocking different hit zones and making every strike significant. That direction pretty much lends itself to something deeper like that, don't you think? But, it turns out the only thing PoP had worth playing was the platforming. I hate to bring up something old like that, but hey, when I have something that belongs on my "Stupidest Things Ever" list, it's pretty much a moral imperitive to always remember them. The more we remember these mistakes, the quicker we can make sure they don't happen again.

Have you ever seen graphics... that made your face go numb while you stare slack-jawed at the textures, particle effects, animations, depth-of-field, motion blur, and lighting?

Uncharted 2's third level made me feel that way. The mansion enviorment that Uncharted 2 begins with, or even the snowy train prologue, pale in comparison to the jungle you enter an hour later.

... and then, stop... dazzling.

These aren't just games where you are blown away at first and then the buzz wears off before you finish. These are games where the immersion and sense of newness is consitant till the finale, and upon going back to replay it, you find yourself just going "meh".

GTA4 doesn't count because I got bored with the main story 3/4 of the way into it.

The true one-shot games, that go from full-throttle-awesome to snooze-fest right after:

COD4, Resident Evil 5, Dead Space, Batman: Arkham Asylum

what about you?

I just had a thought about Halo: Reach. While Bungie may be putting the Halo 3 engine to rest, there's nothing stopping them from using a storytelling structure like ODST's flashbacks for the single player campaign. That was really a great move for that game, and for a story that covers the destruction of the human race's second-most well-defended planet, it could work even better. Play as a weak little marine on the surface, getting wupped by Wraiths, then play as a MAC gun operator, shooting down approaching Covenent ships (just kidding. Bungie never did those forced turret-section shooting galleries so many other FPSs insist on pushing on us )

But there is something we can be sure about: The Elites will be our enemies again. So those who hated the brutes can now rejoice. (what was wrong with the brutes? I mean, I liked fighting the Elites, but the brutes were perfectly adequate replacements I think)