I apologize for ignoring my precious little blog for the past couple weeks. I’m a mess. School’s been kicking Ultra Combo-ing my dumbass on a regular basis for the past three weeks but it should all end by 10am tomorrow when I finish my last final exam. There’s so much to write about, too: GTA4, Mario Kart, The World Ends with You, my unhealthy addiction to Call of Duty 4…I’ve missed out on a lot.
Things will change this weekend. Promise.
Oh, what’s that? You’ve heard enough of CoD4? Too bad.
Ah, memories. About two years ago I remember a friend of mine bursting into my room at 1 AM to show me the megaton of all trailers. Yes, it was the E3 2006 trailer of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The same trailer that wet your pants when you found out Solid (effin‘) Snake would be breaking necks in the Nintendo beat ‘em up. Now that its way in the past, I can safely say I watched that trailer about a hundred times (yes, really) within the next couple of days. The next two years would test my patience unlike any other two years of my life.
Today, I’m almost as happy as I when the game was finally released. Why? Because Brawl sold 2.7 million copies in the month of March. That’s Halo 3 statues people, without the $10 million marketing budget. I’m happy because I can safely that my favorite franchise is now a franchise that can not be ignored. The numbers, please. Continue reading ‘March Software Sales Madness: Consider the Competition “Final Smashed”’
Just when I was getting tired of grenade spamming the crap out of Vacant, Infinity Ward decides to release a new map pack for Call of Duty 4. It’s about time. I’m sure the COD faithful have been jealously eyeing the Halo camp and the community love Bungie has been giving them. For 800 MS Points ($10 for those of you who think points are point-less) we get four maps: Creek, Broadcast, Chinatown, and Killhouse.
If you thought Call of Duty 4 couldn’t suck up any more of your time, think again. On April 3rd you get four new maps: Creek, Broadcast, Chinatown and Killhouse for 800 MS Points ($10). The maps coincide with the release of the Call of Duty 4 Game of the Year Edition, which is pretty much the same game but with a lot more “This game won a lot of awards. Yeah, it’s that good.” on the cover. Oh, and the new edition contains a token that lets download the map pack for the great price of free.
Four new places to stab newbs in the chest? Sold!
It’s “as you were” for the big three in February’s sales numbers. The Wii and DS run rampant like always and the PS3 beats out the Xbox 360 for a second month straight. Is this going to be a trend? Microsoft expect hardware shortages for another month or so. Hmm. I could have believed that back in January but I’ve seen plenty of 360’s in-stock recently. This is going to get interesting especially with GTA 4 on the horizon.
On the software side of things Call of Duty 4 keeps sniping ass even though Devil May Cry 4 was released in the month of February. I’m glad to see Rock Band stay in the top ten. Wii Play, not so much.
01. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) – 296,200
02. Devil May Cry 4 (Xbox 360) – 295,200
03. Wii Play (Wii) – 289,700
04. Devil May Cry 4 (PS3) – 233,500
05. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) – 222,900
06. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS) – 205,600
07. Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360) – 203,600
08. Turok (Xbox 360) – 197,700
09. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) – 183,800
10. Rock Band (Xbox 360) – 161,800
[Kotaku]
If I was a drug addict then Call of Duty 4 would be my crack/cocaine. I love it so much that I completely ignored Super Mario Galaxy, No More Heroes and my Wii in general. Yes, I admit it, I have not played Super Mario Galaxy. Why? Because CoD4’s multiplayer is just that damn good. It’s not perfect though but that’s what patches are for, right?
Some of the notable ones are host migration, new Killcams, and a quick-mute option for blocking all those whiny pre-pubescent kids from your XBL headsets. From my playtime this weekend it’s all looking good.
[Call of Duty 4 Xbox 360 Patch it OUT by IAMfourtwozero]
Here we go again.
Nintendo Wii – 274K
Playstation 3 – 269K
Playstation 2 - 264K
Nintendo DS – 251K
PSP – 230K
Xbox 360 – 230K
Woah. Something looks different. Well, not too different. As always, the Wii appears at the top of the list, but take a look at second place. Yes, the PS3 managed to defeat both the DS and Xbox 360 in sales numbers for the month of January. Now wait, before some of you get all excited and proclaim “Teh end of M$ has come!” and “Sony FTW!!1!” you have to take a lot of things into perspective. Yesterday morning Microsoft released a statement claiming to have had a hardware shortage after the recent money-makin’ holiday season. Hmmm, believable although somewhat skeptical; upon browsing my local electronic stores I did notice a number of Halo Edition 360’s (they’re not very pretty, are they) but not Premium or Elite models. Either way their statement saved them much embarrassment when the numbers hit the net. In December the Wii and DS went Incredible Hulk sales beasts on us and were definitely supply constrained, so as expected they had Bruce a more Bruce Banner like appearance in January. So with Nintendo and Microsoft having only leftovers (table scraps, even) from the holidays to sell in stores is this a huge victory for Sony? It depends on how you look at it.
It’s like pitting two teams against each other yet one team is without their starting line-up. You could defeat the Lakers by 15 to 20 points, but was it a significant win if Kobe was out injured? No. But the fact that you won in the first place is pretty impressive if the Lakers are considered better than you. Supply constraints or not, it’s a solid effort by Sony to top Microsoft especially with only one game in the top 10. Will they win next month? I doubt it. If the hardware shortages the MS claim are in fact true, Kobe (and a fresh new shipment) will return next and change it all. With the Wii staying undefeated in probably it’s most depleted state means the demand is not going anywhere for a while.
On the software side of things Call of Duty 4 is still tearing sh*t up. Rock Band narrowly eclipsed Guitar Hero III for the 360. No More Heroes apparently sold just over 100K units, which is OK for a new mature IP for a child-friendly console. Burnout Paradise debuts in the Top 10, which is a good thing. Look at that GH3 for Wii…
1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) – 330,900
2. Wii Play (Wii) – 298,100
3. Guitar Hero III (Wii) – 239,600
4. Rock Band (Xbox 360) – 183,800
5. Guitar Hero III (Xbox 360) – 182,700
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) – 172,000
7. Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360) – 144,100
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3) – 140,000
9. Mario Party DS (DS) – 138,500
10. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS) – 133,000
My tireless efforts have finally paid off.
I managed to convert almost all my Halo-playing pals to regular COD4 noobslayers using pre-launch hype as my weapon of choice. According Major Nelson, Xbox Live’s head honcho-type, Call of Duty 4 has surpassed Halo 3 in XBL activity for the week of November 14th. The list counts the amount of unique users that log on to each game during the week.
Xbox 360 Top Live Titles
1 Call of Duty 4
2 Halo 3
3 Guitar Hero III
4 Gears of War
5 Rock Band
6 Madden NFL 08
7 Assassin’s Creed
8 Mass Effect
9 FIFA 08
10 Forza Motorsport 2
This is big. Consider how big of a cultural phenomenon Halo is, as well as it’s incredible sales numbers. COD4 sales are about a million copies or so behind Master Chief’s, so wouldn’t that mean a larger percentage COD owners take the heat to the online scene than Halo 3 players? It seems as if Xbox owners have finally come to recognize the superior online shooter. Yeah, that’s right, I said it. The two will most likely end up trading positions week-to-week though, so its not like the death of Halo or anything.
LET’S DO THIS!
Much to my delight, Call of Duty 4 managed to drop an airstrike on the competition and top the software sales charts in December. It’s great to see a game get appreciated for its true excellence even though Master Chief casts a large shadow over it. Super Mario Galaxy was happily gobbled up by hungry Wii owners and came in at a respectable second, only seven thousand units behind CoD4. Guitar Hero III continues to sell to the large casual crowd on the PS2 while Wii Play, the John McClane of the 2007 sales charts (it simply refuses to die), makes the top ten once again. The rest is pretty familiar with Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed selling well, although Mario & Sonic somehow managed to crash the party.
Looking back at 2007 we find that Halo 3 was the best-selling game of the year (no surprises here) followed by Wii Play and CoD4. Again, the remaining cast is quite familiar.
December Software Sales
1.Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) — 1.47m
2.Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) — 1.40m
3.Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) — 1.25m
4. Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) — 1.08m
5.Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) — 894K
6.Halo 3 (Xbox 360) — 743K
7.Brain Age 2 (DS) — 660K
8.Madden NFL 08 (PS2) — 655K
9.Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360) — 625K
10.Mairo & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) — 613K
Software totals for 2007
1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) — 4.82m
2. Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) — 4.12m
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) — 3.04m
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) — 2.72m
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) — 2.52m
6. Pokémon Diamond (DS) — 2.48m
7. Madden NFL 08 (PS2) — 1.90m
8. Guitar Hero II (PS2) — 1.89m
9. Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) — 1.87m
10.Mario Party 8 (Wii) — 1.82m
The Nintendo DS is a beast. No, a robeast in fact. It managed to weasel its way to the homes of 2.47 million people in December alone, which is almost as much as the PS3 sold in a year. Scary. It almost doubled the Wii’s numbers, which is saying a lot! The 360 did remarkably well and gave the Wii a good fight, with fists nicknamed Call of Duty and Halo. I’ve got to hand it to Microsoft; with all the hardware failures, bad publicity, and recent Xbox Live issues they still came out of 2007 in excellent shape. Hats off to them. Meanwhile, the PS3 continues to get embarrassed by its older brother as well as the PSP. Hopefully, 2008 will be a different year for them.
December Hardware Sales
DS 2.47M
Wii 1.35M
Xbox 360 1.26M
PS2 1.1M
PSP 1.06M
PS3 797K
Hardware totals for 2007 (life-to-date in parentheses)
DS: 8.50 million (17.65 million)
Wii: 6.29 million (7.38 million)
Xbox 360: 4.62 million (9.15 million)
PS2: 3.97 million (41.12 million)
PSP: 3.82 million (10.47 million)
PS3: 2.56 million (3.25 million)
[Source: GameDaily]
PART I: Character Customization
PART II: PACE & METHOD
Like the introductory paragraph to a good essay, pace is what sets the tone for the multiplayer experience in a first-person shooter. The speed at which Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 are players is a main factor that sets players from both camps apart. As soon as a COD4 match starts the first thing you notice (apart from how bad ass the SAS guys sound saying “Let’s do this!”) is that the game is fast. Thanks to the new sprint mechanic (done by holding down the left analog stick) your character is able to zip across the map in short bursts. This new ability makes each match feel more like a true warzone rather than a game of Team Deathmatch. Soldiers sprint from cover to cover in the real battlefield don’t they? You even die fast. It doesn’t take a lot to get killed in a game of multiplayer. The chances of you catching a bullet with your face within the first ten seconds of a match are fairly high. In fact, the chance of you dying every ten seconds is also very high. This may sound frustrating, especially to newcomers, but it makes sense. A shooter that claims to be “realistic” should have somewhat realistic bullet damage, which I feel COD4 gets right (although not perfect). A few shots to the chest are enough to down any soldier and all it takes to kill someone in COD is a few well placed shots. A single shot in the head leads to instant death in the game we call life therefore one headshot in COD means you’re hitting the respawn button. The idea will piss you off at first but if you think about the logic behind it you might come to appreciate it.
Continue reading ‘COD4 vs. Halo 3 Multiplayer Part II – Pace & Method’
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