AND THE HAMMER FELL

Robert Bowling (402) announced on Twitter today that the VAC Ban Hammer was about to come down on about 2500 cheaters playing MW2.All in all the time frame for the first ban doesn't seem too bad as compared to Punkbuster the other anticheat used for the previous COD games.Though without dedicated server and active server admin you are stuck waiting for VAC to gather it's victims before you are rid of the nasty vermin.

Bowling said

BASH 131: Teknogods

Written by jockyitch

Saturday, 28 November 2009

In today's show, we take a little time away from celebrating American Thanksgiving to give some thanks to our listeners. Today we invited you to be part of the show and ask questions - and you responded! So…in addition to my regular co-hosts, pst*joker, rudedog, garetjax, impaler and ibleedv20 we now also have *you*! Special guest on the cast is Reaver from the Teknogods.com site to discuss his groups’ efforts to make true MW2 dedicated servers. Reaver talks to us about his MW2 Co-op loader and hints at what his colleague Smurfette, who’s leading the charge on the dedi-server reverse-engineering program, might be planning for us this coming Monday.

Click here to continue...

BASH 130: Good Company Bad Warfare

Written by jockyitch

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

The PS3 demo for Battlefield Bad Company 2 is out and it has gotten some very positive reviews from the console crowd.  We here in the PC community are still awaiting our chance to play the demo. Interestingly, it appears that the tentative December date for the PC beta has disappeared from EA’s BFBC2 site (see BASHandSlash forum post ) and official spokesman for the game have told me to wait for an update soon (fingers-crossed over here). To get the PC community ready for Battlefield, we thought we would bring on Jag-Five-O from thecompanyhub.com, a Battlefield veteran of many years. We ask him to compare and contrast the Battlefield and Call of Duty series.

The PC Beta Sky is Falling.... Not!

• BY: GordonVanDyke
• POSTED: Nov 25, 2009, 12:21PM
• COMMENTS: 41 (Login Required to Comment)

Hey all,

We wanted to update you, and slow the flood of tweets, on questions surrounding the BFBC2 PC Beta being cancelled.  I'll get right to it and say "the BFBC2 PC Beta is not cancelled".  Now this all started due to changes made to an earlier blog that removed the PC Beta from the details and the reason for this was the plan changed. With the huge success of the PS3 Beta we decided to drastically increase the PC Beta's capacity to insure as many people as possible could participate.  Unfortunately this meant we had to delay the Beta to very early next year giving us more planning time to make it happen and implement more optimizations.  

Here is a recap of the current PC features, and we can now confirm DX11 support with more details to come later!

PC Enhanced Features

• Up to 32 Players on PC (24 on consoles) - Play with up to 32 players online in the biggest multiplayer Maps in Battlefield. Each with a different tactical and gameplay focus set across a variety of environments.
• Full DirectX 9, 10 & 11 Support - Immerse yourself in the Battlefield world as Frostbite engine brings tanks, helicopters and explosions to vivid life on your PC. The game will fully support Windows XP, Vista, and 7 with new tech that further improves things like lighting and shadows.
• Enhanced Gameplay - The PC version also includes wide peripheral support like Joysticks for flying, NVIDIA 3D Vision, Logitech LCD Keyboards and VoIP Support plus a variety of specific features tailored for PC play.
• Friend Support - Find your friends online with the new buddy list to see if and who is online so you can quickly join their game.
• Dedicated Ranked Server - Everyone gets non-stop action with no connection penalties based on some other player's internet. Ranked Server Provider program will give players opportunity to rent their own server(s) located in professional grade datacenters, ability to modify settings like map rotation, create reserved slots for friends or clan members, kick & Ban players, and custom name your ranked server.
• Clan Support & Private Servers - Independent Clan Tag, and ability to rent servers for hosting and controlling private password protected competitive servers with expanded control over the settings from public ranked servers.
• PC Squad Play System - Updated from previous Battlefield PC titles now gives control of your squad before heading into comb

The PC Patch 1.7, can be found here:

CoDWaw 1.6-1.7 patch

The final release notes are as follows:

-Fixed an MP server crash exploit.
-Fixed a voice chat crash on systems with no default recording device selected.
-Fixed an issue causing erroneous duplicate qport errors.
-Server admins can disable team switching by setting g_allow_teamchange to 0. Players will be restricted to Auto-Assign in team-based gametypes.

 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 video game gets Hollywood-scale launch

Activision Blizzard's marketing and publicity campaign has featured all of the trappings of a modern movie effort, a further sign that the two businesses are coming to rival each other in popularity.

Alejandro Medina, 20, of Culver City wears a sniper suit in honor of his favorite character as he buys the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 video game and night-vision goggles at a Best Buy in West Los Angeles. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times / November 10, 2009)

On a cloudy Friday afternoon on Venice Boulevard in West Los Angeles nearly two weeks ago, about 50 people were waiting to buy a video game that wasn't supposed to go on sale for four days.

"Do you have it yet?" an eager customer asked an employee of the store Game Play.

The object of his desire, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, officially launched Nov. 10. But despite the recession that has crimped consumer spending, demand was so high that many stores started selling it as soon as shipments arrived.

"I'm definitely buying fewer games this year, but I knew I was going to buy this one as soon as I could," said Jeff Katayama, 28, a self-described "Call of Duty freak" who drove 20 miles from Monterey Park to pick up the game early.

Thanks to Katayama and millions like him, Modern Warfare 2 generated a record-setting $550 million in sales through Saturday, besting not only the previous mark for a video game but also for movies at the box office. That represents about 8 million units sold, according to estimates by publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. of Santa Monica.

"This provided the entire industry with a shot in the arm," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, who predicted Modern Warfare 2 would ultimately sell 15 million to 20 million units, exceeding $1 billion in revenue.

Call of Duty cost $40 million to $50 million to produce, people close to the project said, about as much as a mid-size film. Including marketing expenses and the cost of producing and distributing discs, the launch budget was $200 million, on par with a summer popcorn movie -- and extremely high for a video game.

Unleashing a Hollywood-scale opening for Modern Warfare 2 has been a priority for Activision Blizzard. The marketing and publicity campaign has featured all of the trappings of a modern movie effort, including ads and trailers designed by top advertising shops, a Twitter feed on which news was strategically disclosed, and a controversial scene involving airport terrorism that leaked onto YouTube and generated much media attention.

"My goal was to create a launch that would compare very favorably to the biggest box offices of all time," Activision Blizzard Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said.

Theatrical box office and video game sales aren't equivalent because movie tickets are significantly cheaper and are followed by markets that generate additional revenue like DVD sales and pay television. Nonetheless, the fact that top video game launches now exceed the biggest film debuts is a further signal that the two businesses are coming to rival each other in popularity.

Modern Warfare 2 comes at a propitious time for Activision and the video game industry. Video game sales through October are down 12%, according to NPD Group, because of the recession and a lack of mega-hits. Activision has seen sales of a new sequel and spin-off to its Guitar Hero franchise lag significantly behind versions released the last two years.

Since the first Call of Duty, a simulation of World War II action, launched in 2003, it has been among the most successful brands in the industry alongside Super Mario and Grand Theft Auto. Five major releases before Modern Warfare 2, along with a few spin-offs, combined to sell more than 48 million units.

The high-water mark was 2007's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which brought the series to contemporary times. Produced by Infinity Ward of Encino, creator of the first Call of Duty, it sold 14.4 million units.

"Modern Warfare appealed to all types of gamers because it broke down the barriers of a traditional shooter and gave it the feel of a Hollywood blockbuster," said Sean Spector, co-founder of video game rental service Gamefly.

Because it typically takes at least two years to produce a video game, publishers tap different studios when they want to produce annual sequels. Infinity Ward started work on a second Modern Warfare game immediately after the first, while Treyarch of Santa Monica made 2008's Call of Duty: World at War, which sold 12 million copies.

Infinity Ward's past success gave it an extraordinary level of independence to design the game, but Activision did insist that Modern Warfare 2 expand its predecessor's robust online multi-player features. The first Modern Warfare has consistently been among the most popular video games played online for the last two years, keeping players engaged and generating revenue through downloadable content sales.

"With multi-player we deliver hundreds or thousands of hours of gameplay for about the same price as taking a family to the movies," Kotick said. "It's also a way to address the challenge of used games."

Many industry professionals scorn the used market, since it brings no money to those who make the games. To keep playing Modern Warfare 2 against friends, however, consumers can't sell the disc. In the five days after it launched, more than 8 million people played the game online.

As Activision seems to be discovering this year with Guitar Hero, there's danger when a title is overexposed with too many iterations. Nonetheless, the publisher has aggressive expansion plans for Call of Duty. Although Infinity Ward and Treyarch have produced sequels in alternating years since 2005, the publisher now has a third development studio working on future versions.

One person close to the company said it also was considering adapting Call of Duty as a massively multi-player online world. The genre, in which Activision's Blizzard Entertainment subsidiary is a leader, requires huge upfront investments but can be very profitable as players pay a monthly subscription fee.

Hacking MW2 For Dedicated servers

Are we creating our own heaven or hell

by ibleedv20
Omnilinkit

That's DJ Champion's No heaven

With the arcade version of MW2 being played by portions of the community a healthy attempt to crack the game open for dedicated server play is going on as this editorial is written.

But can we create our own heaven by altering this game in a way the developer clearly never intended.
.
All the work the community has put into the game series in the past has been and honorable effort to improve the game for the player.But cracking this game for the purpose of getting dedicated servers up and running is something different entirely.

Now instead of working to make the game better many hold out the hope of hacking it just so we can create our own niche of inclusion

During the Bashandslash webcast when 402 announced the lack of dedicated server support I asked him if hacking the game for dedi's would be considered piracy.His response was essentially that if copy of the game was purchased it would not be considered piracy.

Let it be noted here that this statement was not an official one.

I think it's important that the community try and visualize what it is that is going on here and pause to ask itself if this is the way it wants itself to be seen.

And That is: a community that hacks it's way into a game and makes it available in a way the game was clearly never intended to be distributed.

I want dedicated servers too.Yet I am not sure how comfortable I am being part of the Hacked MW2 Community.

They don't want us! They have told us as much.And for the community that has done nothing but good community work to settle for some underground rogue identity is troubling to me.

worrying about the next update and it's effects on dedicated servers and the players key or whether a Vac ban will be in force is no way to play a game.

This community has had great ethics if not downright morals about cheaters and we have to ask ourselves how hacking the game would appear against the backdrop of that historical integrity.

Would we still have the ethical highground from which we viewed cheaters and hackers of the games we love.

Or would we be relegating ourselves to the basement where integrity is compromised and operating in the dark is a step closer to reality.

Do you remember the issue of cracked servers in COD4 and CODWAW?

Would this be any different.

I asked 402 the question that was on my mind at the time and it was out of desperation.

I am not sure if I still feel the same way or if IW and Activision have
a position that could ever be stated that would make me feel comfortable about being part of the Hacked MW2 Community

They made the game.

I think it's only them that could make me feel clean about this.

How Bad Is Ping In MW2?

by ibleedv20

With the relase of MW2 and all the bruhaha around it we are starting to get the real picture of the merits and weaknesses of the game we all wanted to love.While the maps IMO are just fantastic the MP Matchmaking system is as disappointing as the  community thought it would be.While the game makes a great Arcade like experience it is painfully obvious that no serious competitor could be satisfied with this release as it stands right now

I imagine LAN play would be a great deal more satifying competitively yet the inability to mod the game will relegate this MP experience to the trashheap.In addition I expect IW will try and create their own competitive venues to try and legitimize it's import.Try as they may with competitive sponsorship and cash prizes, in the end they will only appear as imposters using their wallet to bribe young players into a new imitation competitive arena.

And the core of the problem lies in PING.That one item that creates a level playing field where competition can arise.No patch and no public relations speak can take away the glaring reality that this game is subpar and at times just plain horrendous as an online experience.After playing for several days I have encountered lag consistently that makes the poorest Dedicated servers shine in comparison.

As if that wasn't dissapointing enough the host migration experience compounds it even further.On several occasions I have experienced up to four in a single round.HM obviously destroys any public short and quick gametype.The following is a very nice post that I found that will help you understand just how bad the PINGS are in MW2.

Unless You're The Host, Your Ping Sucks in MW2

A post by

Zips

TGN

If you thought having three bars out of four for your "ping" in Modern Warfare 2 was a good thing, you may want to think again. A member of the Infinity Ward forums has broken down what those bars actually mean for your ping.

They also show how you can more accurately display your ping and more easily tell who the host actually is.

• Navigate to the folder: 'program files\steam\steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2\players' and open the file config_mp.cfg

• Change scoresping_interval from 100 to 20, and maxbars from 4 to 10 (10 is the max).

• This means that each of the 10 bars represents 20ms, with full green being 20ms or lower, and 1 red being 200ms or higher.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE:

WHAT HOST ADVANTAGE LOOKS LIKE:
http://img52.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=hostadvantage1.jpg

===============================

The sad truth? You might wanna pound a few beers before you read this:

• The host is immediately obvious, he's the guy with 0-20 ping (full green).
• I usually connect with about 101-200+ms.
• Most people are connected at 200+ms (3 or less bars on normal cfg settings).
• On regular cfg settings, 4 bars means up to 0-100 ping, 3 bars 101-200, 2 bars 201-300, 1 bar is 301+.

If you go into a server and everyone's ping appears to be good, but there's still a lot of apparent lag and rubber-banding going on, this may be the reason why.