Our friend Sal over at Scrawl got his hands on some early scans of Shonen Jump (shown above). In addition to showcasing the Chocobo new look and giving us a glimpse at yet another summon, the magazine reveals that Japanese versions of Final Fantasy XIII will come with a beta code for Final Fantasy XIV.

This of course doesn’t mean we will experience the same good fortune here in the states, but I for one will be keeping my fingers crossed. Either way, there will be plenty of leaked internet footage for us to drool over when the time comes.

Update: The latest issue of Famitsu clarifies the beta code as something that will allow players to download an exclusive in-game item for Final Fantasy XIV as appossed to an actual demo of the game itself.

I’ve never had the pleasure of playing the Tropico games, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve become a bigger fan of sim games, so Tropico 3 caught my eye a while ago. The closed beta is either starting soon or has already started, so you can go sign up for a chance to get your Tropico on.

Stardock President Brad Wardell has put up a post on his blog regarding the Demigod beta, during which he delivers an interesting piece on the state of PC betas at the moment. They’re “not supposed to be fun,” he says, “they’re supposed to be solving specific problems.”

Wardell also notes that Stardock makes sure that its beta releases follow this pattern:

Beta 1: Buggy/Sucky.

Beta 2: Less Buggy/Sucky.

Beta 3: Less Buggy/AWESOME

It’s an interesting take on the market at the moment; I can’t help but agree that betas are simply marketing tools, a demo with a different name. I appreciate a free game ahead of time, but I’d rather they used the beta to actually correct problems, instead of patching the game once it’s already out. Stardock, Valve, and other companies that release proper betas: we salute you!

The PS Blog has the news that PS3 owners have been waiting for since, well, they got their PS3- the Home open beta launches tomorrow, December 11. As an ‘open’ beta, this means that all PS3 owners can download and use PlayStation Home; the words ‘open beta’ are becoming more and more synonymous with ‘you can use it, but don’t complain if it sucks’ nowadays. In case you hadn’t heard about Home, it’s an open platform for social interaction, similar to Second Life, with customisable aspects. More after the jump.

In short, Home is a place to meet Internet friends, customise yourself and your house, and visit special places- for example, as reported by Gamezine, Far Cry 2, Uncharted, Warhawk, MotorStorm and SOCOM will all have special areas within Home, and more big names in the industry are on their way. Plus, non-gaming companies are getting involved as well, so expect to be admiring people dressed in Diesel fashion drinking Red Bull while watching a Paramount movie on a Bravia HDTV. It’s just like real life, kids! Still, it does sound like a nice service, and I’m looking forward to trying it out. See you there.

Electronic Arts has apparently teamed up with Brad Borne (of Borne Games) to create a flash version of the just-released Mirror’s Edge. The beta is playable now online, and even though it’s essentially just a repeating level, it’s a nice taste of what the full release may be when it lauches in “a week or two”.

This beta/demo actually reminds me of some old-school Prince of Persia, and that is definitely a good thing. I’m not entirely sure if the full game will remain a simple flash application available for free on the interwebs (Brad claims it will be, but we never know how EA will want to market it on PSN/Xbox Live), but it’s certainly worth checking out. In all honesty, I think this version looks better than the actual console Mirror’s Edge, but maybe that’s because I like being able to see Faith in all her hotness instead of “being” her.

Head over to the Borne Games website right the fudge now and play the demo.

As a huge fan of the SOCOM series, I eagerly anticipated the release of SOCOM: Confrontation since the PlayStation 3 was first unleashed. Once the game was actually launched last month, however, my anticipation turned into sorrow as the game was plagued with problematic issues such as locking players out of the servers, players “warping” around the map, and people shooting through walls. To keep things short, the game was really unplayable — not the launch Sony and Slant Six Games had in mind.

I played in the Confrontation Multiplayer Beta that was released in September, and the game had much of the same problems and issues then as well. I was sure Slant Six was going to fix the bugs that haunted the Beta, but nope. They instead released a 1.20 patch a few weeks after the original launch, and I must say the game is a lot better than before, which makes me happy.

I’m glad I didn’t review the game immediately after it came out, because it would’ve gotten a much lower score than what I’m about to give it. As we reported before, another patch will be coming in the next few weeks to add Trophies and few new features, so the game will only be getting better.

Now that the worst seems to be over, we can actually talk about what SOCOM: Confrontation has to offer. If you’re a fan of the franchise (like me), Confrontation is pretty much everything you liked about SOCOM II’s online play, but with four all-new maps and three favorite maps remade. If you’re looking for a Campaign mode or a deep single-player experience, however, look elsewhere — Confrontation is online-only, offering up to 32-player matches.

For those of you who haven’t followed the franchise or never played a SOCOM game, let’s get this one thing straight: this is no regular modern-day military FPS. If you play this game like you play Call of Duty, you’ll end up dead last every round. While there are respawn matches, the real SOCOM experience comes in the ranked games, in which you just get one life per round. If you die, you die and sit out until next round. It’s kind of like Search and Destroy in Call of Duty 4, but in SOCOM, careless play usually leads to you spending more time watching the game than actually playing.

This is actually one of my favorite things about SOCOM. The extremely intense and adrenaline-pumping gameplay that it offers because death holds a real penalty just makes it so much more thrilling and meaningful to stay alive. But, once again, there are respawn matches, so you don’t necessarily have to play the “real” way.

Because of the way SOCOM is designed, matches usually take longer and tend to move more slowly compared to most shooters. This wouldn’t happen without the great level design and a focus on strategy and tactics. No place is ever safe on any map as every move you make can be countered, and the only way to really succeed is to change up strategies when opponents become familiar with them. The levels are big enough and complex enough to allow the game to almost continually change along with the players’ experience.

Graphically, the game looks great. Characters and weapons look good, but could have been sharpened a little more. The maps are by far the best-looking aspect of the game with extremely detailed and realistic environments. Again, the level design and complexity just help the game feel that much more realistic.

Deep down inside, I feel like SOCOM: Confrontation is a really fun game, but it still has some issues. Confrontation lacks many promised features including clan ladders, matchmaking, and a party system. Along with these omissions, the game still suffers from occasional freeze-ups and stuttering gameplay. It even locked up my PS3 once before, requiring a reset. Unfortunately, Confrontation still needs some work, even with the recent patch.

SOCOM is a great shooter. One of the best of its kind on the PS3, but it’s not for every shooter fan. If Halo and Call of Duty fast-paced action is your kind of thing, you’re likely to find the realism in Confrontation annoying and too slow, but if you’re looking for a different kind of shooter, a game that really involves strategy and wits, then you’ll find it here in SOCOM: Confrontation.

Overall, the game has improved enough from its launch date that I’m okay with saying that I like this game and can recommend it to anyone owning a PS3. It doesn’t exactly give me that same feeling I had with SOCOM II years ago, but it comes damn close.

With just a week until the full game’s release, the Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer 360 beta is now open to all Xbox Live Gold members.

I’ve been in the beta for a while now, because I’m so special, but if you’d like to check it out simply head to Xbox Live Marketplace and find the beta in either “New Releases,” “Games,” or “Demos.”

Keep in mind that this is a multiplayer beta only, which features three maps and a current level cap of 44. You’ll have to wait until next Tuesday to play the single player campaign, but feel free to check out our preview.

Cinema Blend

Call of Duty: World at War Image Gallery – Click Here To View

So, I have been playing the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King beta for for some time now. I took a break for a few weeks, after they moved around the arms tree for warriors, and decided to come back when I saw that they had removed the speed nerf from the highly anticipated fury warrior 51 point talent, Titan’s Grip.

For those who don’t know, Titan’s Grip would allow a warrior to duel wield two hand weapons. When originally announced, TG came with a speed penalty, but warriors had the option to spec additional points into it to reduce the speed debuff. Blizzard then changed their mind, moving TG down one level, making it a 51 point talent with no penalty — but the fun didn’t stop there.

I saw this and decided to log in and give it a whirl. Unfortunately, as I tried to log in, the game notified me that I needed to download another patch. The new patch contained a new nerf to TG, and this time, we had no option to spec additional points to reduce it. No longer was Blizzard going to decrease our speed, instead, they opted to increase our miss rate by 15%.

Considering that the amount of hit rating you need scales as you level, one can only imagine that warriors will need an insane amount of hit rating at level 80 to not miss on yellow (critical) attacks. The biggest problem is that most fury warriors strive to not only not miss on yellow attacks, but they also want to make sure they are reducing their chance to miss on white (normal) melee damage.

If you rolled a warrior, and you raid as DPS, you are likely not happy with the new changes to the warrior tree. In addition to the new “Titan’s Wiff”, Blizzard has reduced Blood Frenzy, which previously gave a 4% damage increase to a target, down to 2%, and your Battle Shout no longer stacks with a Paladin’s Blessing of Might. In other words, your 2-3 minute buff has been nixed by a 30 minute buff.

Blizzard has both indirectly and directly stated on their forums that they do not want one talent point to be more powerful then others across different character types, but many WoW gamers hold PVP at fault for the warrior debuff as they believe the company feels it would be too powerful for player versus player action.

Of course, this is still the beta, and things may change multiple times before release, however the introduction and emphasis on a mix of PVE and PVP seem to have watered down the traditional 3 headed talent tree approach. Might it be time to try something new?

Afterthought: What do you think of the talent tree approach? Do you think talent trees make sense in general, or is it time for something different?

If you did what I did and pre-ordered a copy of SOCOM: Confrontation at GameSpot, you were lucky enough to get a passcode for the Public Beta that launched last Friday, September 5th.

If you were even luckier, you were actually able to get online and play the game.

Yep, as painful as it is for me to tell you this, the Confrontation Public Beta has got some serious issues. Not only lag and loading time issues, but even being able to get onto the servers was incredibly frustrating over the weekend.

I mean as soon as I downloaded the beta (which took like half an hour alone), I couldn’t even log onto the servers. After maybe six or seven tries, I was finally able to get online, but as soon as I did, there would be another issue joining a channel or getting into an actual game. And if I did get into a game, it would take like five to ten minutes just to load and begin. Ridiculous, I say.

That’s why last night Slant Six and the SOCOM team put up a patch to try and correct these issues.

“Due to overwhelming demand for the SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation Public Beta, we are experiencing load related issues,” reads a statement on the SOCOM website. “These issues are causing abnormal latency, disconnects, long load times, login errors and community features such as clans and stats not functioning correctly (or at all).”

The SOCOM: Confrontation Public Beta 1.10 Patch was released last night and is ready to download now. The patch adds support for servers located in Europe and Australia and “addresses a number of stability and late joining issues.”

The SOCOM website also stated, “The server maintenance and patch are not meant to address all issues. We will have more updates to both the server and client in the future.”

Being a big fan of the SOCOM series, I was really looking forward to this beta but I was really let down because of the way it turned out. Over the weekend, I had so many issues with getting online that I didn’t even want to play.

I just downloaded the patch before I started writing this and the patch has made the beta a little better. I logged onto the servers in just one try and got into a game easier than before, but the loading issues with the game were still there, taking at least five minutes to start a game up.

Looks like the patch has helped, but there still seems to be some issues that need to be resolved. I know its only the beta, but with just little over a month to go until the full game comes out, I hope Slant Six can fix these issues before the retail launch. Look out for my review of the game next month, and until then check out my E3 preview of Confrontation.

Source: PlayStation.com

We’re going to have a very large closed beta almost to the point where every hardcore gamer in the world will probably be able to get a key if they want to – it would just be within a closed beta so that we can control the size of it to a degree.

Cousins says they aren’t expecting to have a huge splash release, but that they’ll have built up a large player base by the time the game leaves beta.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

A member of the Official Sony PlayStation message board got tired of waiting for his invite to the Home Beta (originally scheduled to go out yesterday) and decided to take matters into his own hands by calling up the all knowing customer support team for some answers.

The first rep he spoke to (call recording here) stated that if he applied via email, per the company’s instructions, that he would be finding out soon, and then adding that “it should be arriving today.”

While this news may sound good for those who genuinely want to believe, he tried back again, this time getting a different rep (call recording here) who responded by saying that the company doesn’t tell them those things and that he should check the site for answers. Give that girl a Klondike bar.

Source: boardsus.playstation.com (via: feedonps3.com)

This just in: In some epiphany of clarity (and insanity, surely) EA/FilePlanet have decided that they’d like more people in on the Red Alert 3 beta. If you’re a long-time fan of Command and Conquer or just someone who has a minute interest in real-time strategy games, go for it — you have nothing to lose. But hurry! It looks like it’s on a first come, first serve basis. All you have to do is click here and sign up for a free FilePlanet account and you’ll have your key (maybe). The only downside is that you have to wait in the atrocious download queue… and that supplies are limited and possibly already gone. Good luck!

EA opens the door to its Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning beta on September 7th, and those wanting in will have to pre-order a copy of the title.

Those already in the closed beta are good to go, but everyone else will need to hit up one of the select retailers, including Amazon.com, Best Buy, GameStop, Circuit City, and several others listed here.

Hit the jump for the full press release.

EA reveals open beta details for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

Mythic Begins Preparations for September 7th Open Beta

FAIRFAX, Va. – August 18, 2008 – Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, today announced that the open beta for their highly anticipated MMORPG, Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR), will begin on September 7th, 2008. This means that hundreds of thousands of fans will be able to enter the gritty fantasy world of WAR to experience the thrill of Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) combat before the game goes live on September 18th, 2008.

“For three years we have been saying that ‘WAR is coming’ and the team has been working hard to deliver on this promise,” said Mark Jacobs, co-founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. “In just a few weeks, we are going to throw open our doors and invite more players into the game than ever before. They will have a chance to delve into the open beta and see for themselves that WAR has arrived and it is glorious!”

Players can get into the North American open beta by pre-ordering Warhammer Online from select retail partners. Participants of the North American closed beta will automatically be granted open beta access. For more information about the WAR open beta, visit www.warhammeronline.com/openbeta.

Available for PC, Warhammer Online is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. WAR will be the first MMORPG to launch servers simultaneously in North America, Europe, and Oceania when it goes live on September 18th, 2008. For more information, visit http://www.warhammeronline.com/.

Calling all gamers: we have a situation on the internet, all units respond.

All Points Bulletin, the MMO from UK developers Realtime Worlds – the people behind Crackdown, that game that you bought for the Halo 3 beta – is accepting email addresses in preparation for beta testing.

From the facebook page

APB is a city based community game where players choose between playing the criminals or those out to catch the criminals; carry out or thwart opposed crimes and build up areas of the city you control, all with unprecedented levels of character and vehicle customization

The latest news is as follows:

As for APB itself, well things have moved on quite a lot over the past weeks, and testing has advanced to a very exciting stage internally, as such, we are preparing the initial steps towards beta, and are ready to open up our ‘Register your interest’ sign up page.

This will enable you to get your email added in anticipation of the upcoming beta activities, and will ensure you keep up to date with all the news from Realtime Worlds regarding APB and future projects.

Beta is expected to open in late 2008 or early 2009, so keep your ears glued to the scanner. In the mean time, click here to “register interest” for the APB beta.

Want into the Resistance 2 Beta program? Well, if you live in the US, you will be able to log into the PSN, buy episode three of Qore (Sony’s online monthly subscription based programming) for $2.99, watch some advertisements, and boom — you are cleared for Resistance 2 Beta action.

Of course, according to Insomniac’s Community Manager, James Stevenson, this is only one of the many ways you will be able to get into the beta. However, as he explains on myresistance.net, their will be a pre-order option that will allow the earliest form of access, but that has yet to be announced.

Stevenson’s clarification of the Beta announcement is available below.

Hey guys,

Lots of confusion thanks to the Qore announcement.

Here’s the deal. We are running a Public Beta, and you will have many ways to get in. The best way which will give you the earliest access to the beta will involve a pre-order program that should be announced soon, (for those of you who don’t know what pre-ordering is, you essentially reserve your copy with five dollars down, and that five dollars will go towards the price of the game when it releases).

For all of you folks outside of North America are up in arms because Qore is NA only, please don’t worry. This is one of many ways to get in, and we plan to make the beta available in all territories, as we need to test all servers and worldwide play.

Further details on how to get into the beta will be forthcoming.

I apologize for any confusion that has happened given the various offers beta codes. Rest assured, we understand how excited you all are to play Resistance 2, and we’re going to do our best to make sure the beta program runs as smoothly as possible.

If you have questions, post below. I’ll try to answer over the course of today.

JS

So there you have it. Other options are planned for access, but as for now, the only way in is going to require US residency and three bucks of your hard earned money.

Source: boardsus.playstation.com (via CVG)

Two things: Do you play World of Warcraft? Do you live in Europe? If you answered yes to both of those things, then I have some good news for you after the jump.

Starting now, European subscribers to WoW have the ability to register for their chance to play the Wrath of the Lich King beta.

While currently only an option for European WoW users, North American registration can’t be too far behind. However, for all our readers across the pond, head on over to the European accounts page and sign up fast. There is no telling how long this open registration will last.

Even though the registration process does not guarantee access to the beta, it does give players a nice feeling of comfort knowing the cards are in their favor.

Source: Shacknews

Pixel counters at the ready!  There’s been some debate over the final rendering resolution of Metal Gear Solid 4.  Screenshot pixel counting has been hazy, so the first sign of a possible resolution is found in the launch of the Metal Gear Online Beta.  The Beta has now begun in Europe (yes it’s up, go and play!) and the results are in.

Over at Beyond3d technical forums, resident video game investigator Quaz51 (who also happens to be Eurogamer’s source in their console face-offs), has now proved his suspicions right.  MGO renders natively at 1024by768.

This resolution is not 768p as you might suspect, since 1024by768 is not a 16/9 isomorphic resolution.  Instead, it’s equivalent resolution (contains the same number of pixels) is 1182by665 – or 665p.  It is thus accurate to say MGO renders natively at 665p.

Why this resolution? Rendering at this resolution can aid in post-processing effects, help with tiling through the RSX graphics chip, and also has the advantage of natively supporting 4/3 Standard Definition TV’s.  In addition, MGO has been confirmed to run at 30 frames per second.

There have been many “sub-HD” games this generation, from Halo 3 to Call of Duty 4.  To most the differences will be negligible and won’t detract from the gameplay experience.  Moreover, with MGO offering a higher resolution than the above two games along with 2xAA (gets rid of teh jaggies), you’ll be hard pressed to tell the difference.

It’s still uncertain whether this will be the final native resolution of MGS4. For now, go and enjoy the Beta!

The long awaited beta for Metal Gear Online is finally upon us, but for some unfortunate people the codes supplied to access the beta are invalid.

Some people in America who pre-ordered MGS4 to get in the MGO beta have found the expected 12 digit download code to have the last few digits missing, presumed hiding under a cardboard box.

Upon entering the shorter code, the helpless player is treated to an error message and not much help. A quick scout around the forums and blogs swarming with angry Metal Gear fans found one possible solution, sending an email to Konami support.

The response PS3Blog.net got gave a few more instructions:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for contacting Konami Support. If your code is appearing with only 9 or 11 digits, then this is incorrect.

Please copy your code exactly as it appears on your voucher in your reply to this email. We’re very sorry for this inconvenience and we will do our best to rectify the situation in time for the Beta start.

Regards,

Konami Customer Support

So, to get a working code, send an email to kdeussupport@konami.com giving the 9 digit number.

No solid figures on the quantity of incorrect codes have emerged yet, but from the frequency of complaints showing up around the net, it looks to be a rather substantial number.

When you do actually get your code and can download the Beta, you might be unable to download a patch for the game, nor will you be able to set up your Konami ID/Game ID since their servers are being battered.  Hopefully Konami will get this all sorted in time for April 21st when the Beta begins.

Over the next couple of weeks things will function as usual on the PlayStation Store, but no new downloads will be made available as Sony is in the middle of updating the store’s interface.

Due to arrive in mid-April, the store’s new design is intended to make navigation of content easier by adding more categories and allowing more space per page to list items.

In addition, the store will lose its previous web interface, embedding itself into the Playstation 3 for faster loading. Noel Silvia lets us in on some other goodies on the Playstation Blog, telling us that the store will dynamically change each time you enter, though the background will currently remain the same.  Moreover, the mouse pointer is on its way out. Navigating the new store will now be more like scrolling through a menu.

The downside to new design is that no new content will be made available for the next two weeks while changes are being made.

When the store re-opens it will be accompanied by firmware update 2.30 that will allow users to access the new store, and the Thursday content releases will be resumed. 

What can we expect on the day the new store arrives?  Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror, the Metal Gear Online Beta, and if this is to be believed, a new Lair pack and the first trailer of Resistance 2.

The PlayStation.Blog promises a closer look at the new design soon, including a video walkthrough.  For now we have these four images:

Indie developer Silverlode Interactive accosted me outside the press room at GDC to show me their new MMORTS (Massively Multiplayer Online Real-Time Strategy) game, SAGA. The game looks interesting enough, and given the fact that it’s essentially free, it very well may be worth your time. I checked out the beta yesterday, and I have to say that I have no idea what I’m doing. There seemed to be plenty of people who did, however, so maybe I just missed something.

Either way, SAGA has just entered open beta for the public, so you can give the game a shot for yourself. Full press release after you click the link at the end of this sentence… wait for it… okay, now!

SAGA Enters Open Beta

Silverlode Interactive opened its servers to all players for SAGA– the persistent world MMORTS.

Provo, UT – February 26, 2008

The World’s First Collectible MMORTS entered Open Beta testing on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008. All players who sign up at www.playsaga.com will receive accounts, allowing them to create nations on the Beta servers. For the duration of the Beta test, all game features will be unlocked and available to testers. At release, a full unlocked copy of SAGA will cost $19.95; however, promotions will be available during the open beta period to purchase the full version of SAGA at a reduced price.

During the stress test conducted on Saturday, February 23rd, the servers performed excellently, with no crashes or other server issues. The SAGA servers are expected to support up to 20,000 players per realm with thousands of simultaneous users. Should a greater-than-expected number of players attempt to login to the world at the same time, a login queue will be implemented and additional realms will be brought online.

Go now to www.playsaga.com to check out SAGA Open Beta!

About SAGA – SAGA is a persistent world RTS in an epic fantasy setting. Players collect troops, build armies, conquer new lands and build up kingdoms, complete with resource collection, city building and peasant management. SAGA’s features include massive armies, multiplayer questing, guild wars, espionage, and an auction house for trading troops and spells.

SAGA has no subscription fees. Players pay as little or as much as they decide, by purchasing ‘booster packs’ of random troops and spells, which are traded and customized to create the strategic army of choice for each player. Visit www.playsaga.com

SAGA Screenshots

22 Photos

 

After reporting the revelation that Playstation 1 games could now be played on PSP’s via remote play, they can now be played on Apple’s iPhone, though the touch-screen controls could take some time getting used to.

The emulator is unofficial, but after being under an intensive beta it is now fit for the public on both the iPhone and the iPod Touch. At version 1, psx4iphone already sports impressive controls, a good compatibility rate and save states.

The software is on Installer.app (unofficial website for iPhone software) and can also be downloaded for manual installation here.

For more information please visit the creators of the emulator at ZodTTD and watch this following video demonstration:
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Ok, the good ol’ boys (and girls) over at Infinity Ward have made the single player beta for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare available for everyone to download on the PC. It is approximately 1.37 GB, so if you want to download it, make sure you have a fast internet connection — or just set it, and forget it, like the Ronco Rotisserie.

After my download was complete, I fired up the self-extracting executable. In about 10 minutes or so, I was up and running. You enter the game, and it wants you to create a profile. No biggie, we’ve see this before. You click on “Play Demo” and then your mission starts.

You start off as a Marine, and while the mission is loading, you get an aerial overview of the terrain ahead. This is a much better use of the loading time than the note you read while waiting for COD2 to load, plus it’s pretty fun to watch.

For those of you who have seen the trailers, the mission should look very familiar. You start off in the middle of a war-torn highway as bullets whiz by your head. You end up running under buildings into the cover of dark where night vision will need to be enabled in order to proceed. Snap those bad boys on and you are in business.

I normally don’t like night vision goggles in games, but Infinity Wards on screen representation is done very well. A quick flip of a switch and you are in night vision goggle mode. The transition is very smooth, and killing people just looks cool when you are wearing them.

After a few objectives, you have to make it to the top of a building and use the “Javelin” to take out a few tanks. Now, I had no clue what the hell a Javelin was. I thought for a split second that they wanted me to throw a spear at them — what the hell? This is modern warfare?!? Well, I found the Javelin, and man was it cool. You lock on to a tank, shoot this thing, it fires, and after a secondary explosion sends it up in the air, it then flies right down and takes out the tank. Very cool.

After destroying a few tanks, your next objective is to protect one under heavy fire. You are part of a small group of marines surrounded by what appears to be a ton of enemies. I ended up just running around and shooting everything that moved, (Oh by the way, friendly fire is still not tolerated). There are a few more objectives, such as taking out a big gunner, (similar to taking out tanks in COD2) you have to run up, plant some C4, run away, and blow it up. No biggie there.

Then you have to call in an air-strike. When the helicopters come in, they just lay waste to everything. It is quite a site to witness. After which, you meet back up with your group, getting orders for your next mission, then bam, the demo is over. Hey, it had to end sometime, and it definitely leaves you wanting some more.

This thing was so intense it was scary. In terms of performance, it ran pretty good on my PC, which is not totally jacked up either. It has 2GB of RAM, and I am running a 64-bit processor, but that’s about it. It ran well, with no choppiness at all.

Once we get our hands on the full release, you can be sure we will play the hell out of it, and post a full review just as soon as our fingers cool down.

If you are interested in playing, head on over to www.charlieoscardelta.com and download it today. You will not regret it!

After playing the Call of Duty 4 Beta until our fingers bled, we decided to bounce a few questions off of Infinity Ward’s Associate Producer Pete Blumel.

One topic that was mentioned a lot during our time online was “spawn protection”, specifically whether or not it would be in the game. We asked Pete and he mentioned that “spawning is part of the beta test.” This is good news for those that constantly found themselves getting ambushed shortly after spawning into a map.

We also asked about customization, specifically character customization i.e. changing of camouflage colors, bandannas, etc. What we were told was that “customization [will come] in character class and weapon skins”. So we think it is safe to say that you will not be able to pimp out your soldier similar to Rainbow Six Vegas, and really — who wants to see a neon pink soldier streaking across a battlefield?

Although we did not notice this next issue during our time online, we received a good amount of feedback regarding the lack of debris created when grenades went off indoors. Pete mentioned that they had not received any such feedback that he could recall regarding the issue. Other complaints were pertaining to the lack of ammo, in which Pete stated;

“Bandolier perk will let you carry more ammo, but you gotta shoot true.”

Lastly, and probably the coolest thing we learned from our email contact with Pete was that the game will feature lots of dynamic entities.

“There are a lot of dynamic entities in the game … Rolling tires are the coolest.”

We do not know exactly what the other entities will consist of or how many there will actually be, but it seems that the team at Infinity Ward has been having fun thinking up creative ways to send tires zipping onto the battlefield.

If you have any other questions you would like us to look into leave a comment below and we will do our best. Stay tuned as we plan to follow this game very closely as it approaches its launch.