So, I was playing Gears of War 2 on-line last night when I started thinking about the matchmaking system. Sorry Epic but, Gears has a long way to go in terms of on-line play to catch up with the near perfected system instated by Halo 3. The reason Halo's is so good is because, of the little things it offers to the experience. Such as, being able to prioritize your search to best connection, closest rank, or fastest connection. It also allows you to team up with party members after the match. Changing hosts was an amazing idea, everyone hates quitters but, it happens and sometimes the host quits so; it is nice to have the host change instead of the match finishing. Finally it allows for a respectable amount of time to look for a match, not too long but, long enough to give it the chance to find a good connection. The reason I pick Halo over a game like Call of Duty is because, in COD4 you stay with the same people all the time which can get repetitive and annoying, especially if you are losing. I think if Gears 3 has any chance at a good matchmaking system they should take the things Halo does into consideration.

All that aside what would make a matchmaking system perfect? For me I think it would be a more refined ranking system. What I mean by that is, every company tries to make matchmaking teams balanced; well we all know they never are. It is rare that a game is "close" in terms of score and not a "blow out". This is because, the ranking system is broken. It should rank you based on your reputation (of course they would have to fix it a little bit) but, like just because a person has a high rank does not mean he is good. He could have been put up against people worse than you or he could be a quitter (Like in Gears) where they keep their rank because it does not penalize them enough. I cannot tell you how annoying it is when the little whinny b$#&@!# quit after the first round because they didn't win. Anyways what are your thoughts on how to make a perfect matchmaking system?

What started out as a small community of die hard PC gamer fans, has grown to astronomical sizes. The launch of the Next Gen systems (Wii, 360, PS3) has sky rocketed on-line play to the point where almost every person in the world (unless Amish) has played or owns an on-line game. Not to mention World of Warcraft controlling 10 million of that number alone and the control 62% of the MMORPG market! The sheer actuality of this is staggering. However, one question arises; How could something so bad, be so good? I love playing a game on-line but, I remember the time when you had to gather friends and play split screen to have multiplayer fun and there was nothing wrong with that. It is just that on-line gaming has become so popular that any, excuse my language D-bag can get on and play. Like I said before, I like on-line play and I have made actual friends through matchmaking on Halo 3 but, what gets me is the irony in on-line play.Think about it, we love something that pisses us off by putting us in situations where you get taunted, beaten and annoyed beyond belief. Maybe it is cynical of me but, I see this as a problem. I do not know about anyone else, on-line games of any kind are the root of all my pent up anger and anxiety. The sad thing is, the day I stop playing on-line, is the day my thumbs get cut off. So, I will continue to be hypocritical.

In my quest to tie up the loose ends of the Gears of War story, I came across some credible information that fans of Gears might want to take a look at. If like everyone you found yourself with a hand full of questions at the end of Gears 2, this information might shed some light on these things. First off many people were always wondering what the Pendulum Wars were well, The Pendulum Wars was a decade long fight between the governments of Sera for control over the planets natural resources, mainly imulsion. It was caused when a oil miner discovered imulsion and with the discovery came cheap fuel and nuclear science break through (i.e. the Lightmass Bomb). The low price of imulsion caused Sera's economy to collapse and people that were not so fortunate to have a sea of imulsion under their land, waged war against those who were. During this 79 year war the Coalition of Ordered Governments, commonly known as the COG, was established. One of the many soldiers serving in the Pendulum Wars was Marcus Fenix. During the course of the war Marcus fought alongside longtime friend Carlos Santiago, Dom's elder brother.Thirty years after this the Union of Independent Republics surrendered to the COG and the Pendulum Wars ended. Shortly after this new era of peace was ushered in the Locust invaded causing all humans of Sera to band together against this new enemy. Catching the COG off guard the Locust quickly over ran all industrial and urban capitals of Sera on E-Day (Emergence Day). Shortly after the Locust attack on E-Day the COG ordered all survivors of Sera to fall back to Jacinto Plateau which proved a safe haven from the Locust do to its thick granite base. Sadly many people were left behind (stranded) and the Hammer of Dawn laser offensive against the Locust began. After this laser assault the humans appeared victorious and won E-Day but, at the cost of scorching 90% of the land in Sera. Millions of Locust were still hiding in their caves however and the war continued for 15 years until the events of the games. Ten years after E-Day Marcus was on patrol when he caught wind of his father Adam Fenix, being in danger. Abandoning his post Marcus rushed to the aid of his father and was sadly too late, Adam was killed. Marcus was then sentenced to 40 years in Jacinto Maximum Prison for abandonment. Having only served four years of his sentence Marcus was broken out by Dom Santiago who he served with for many years during the Locust - Human War. Another character Marcus shows as having a prior relationship with is Tai Kaliso who apparently served alongside Marcus and Dom during the early years of the Locust War. Tai and Marcus were known to have a long history of saving each others lives. I hope this has helped answer some of the questions people have and if you would like to read more into it go to http://gearsofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Gears_of_War_Wiki

I am a bit of a movie buff so I made this list of movies I am most looking forward to this year, feel free to share or comment on any movies I did or did not mention...

1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine - it will be nice to see Wolverine put his claws to flesh for once.
2. Year One - Jack Black and Micheal Cera, you can't go wrong.
3. Land of the Lost - I used to LOVE that show.
4. Up - Pixar movies are always great.
   
5. G.I. Joe - all I can say is, amazing.
6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - though I am drawing a blank as to who the villain could be.
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - yes I am an HP fan and I will be there at midnight.
   
8. Watchmen - never read that comic but, I still think it looks good.
   
9. Dragonball - what? I have to see what these shenanigans are about.
10. Crank 2 - Crank = great movie.