I have had a lot of success with the silenced scar. The silencer keeps you off their radar whenever you shoot, which is a surprisingly effective way to remain hidden. And even though I am usually terrible with iron sites, I find that I really like the scars iron sites, which allows me to take kick or focus instead of two attachments. If you don't like them, I would go silencer and red dot. I find the heartbeat sensor to be largely useless when compared to other attachments.

Do you get anything for being a "Founder"?

Spent a little over 3 hours in MP with fellow GTers and had a blast. My gripes with the game are the same ones from the previous 50 COD games: hit detection and that f*cking knife.

Got up to level 20 using just the assault rifles. So far I really like all of them. The M4 and M16 were great. The 4th assault rifle was ok, but I quickly moved away from it. My favorite so far is the silenced SCAR with the kick attachment. Silent death with no recoil? Yes please.

Can't wait to jump back into the fray tonight.

[Spoiler]

I don't suppose anyone can explain why

Spoiler for Hiden:

the guy who gets a pole through his chest during the foot chase through the streets is also with Dima at the compound at the end?

Spoiler for Hiden:

the story was told out of order. We first meet dima when he fails to stop the Paris bomb. We then see him again when Blackburn recounts how he first met dima and found out about the bombs.

I thought the single player was ok, but felt like all of the big moments were duplicates from previous call of duty games. The final level was exciting though. I will give them that.

I do think the difficulty on normal was a little too high.

Game purchased thanks to finding a $50 best buy gift card while cleaning over the weekend. Now I just have to wait until I get out of work at 7:00 to play.

Found a best buy gift card while I was cleaning my closet out Saturday. I just now checked the balance and it has $50 on it. Looks like I'm buying MW3.

I'm just now starting to get competent in bf3, but I won't even be able to play it that much again until Tuesday, which is COD day. I'll play both, but I'll focus on whichever one has more people from my friends list on it. Right now that's looking like COD.

Damn it. Looks like I'm swinging by blockbuster to rent this since I likely won't get it from gamefly until Wednesday or Thursday, which is frankly unacceptable.

Yeah. Unless they reduce the amount of XP needed to prestige, I'll be lucky to do it even once.

Nothing this week. I'll get MW3 from Gamefly next week hopefully, and then purchase either that or Battlefield depending on which game has more GT members playing on a regular basis.

I made a tactical error. I sent Batman back to Gamefly thinking this was coming out this week. I was very sad to see 11/8/11 as the release date. 

Bah. I don't think I've prestiged since world at war. Not because I didn't want to, but because I never maxed out the level.

I can easily see in a squad of people that are working together, having an assault guy to revive and heal along with a support guy to replenish ammo would be huge.

I could probably make that work going solo as well, but I don't know if I want to lose the anti-vehicle weapons.

Are the stingers actually effective against jets? Multiple times I've sent three stinger missiles at a jet and haven't registered a single hit. The first one will trigger flares, but it seems like the other ones just miss. Are jets able to outrun these missiles? I don't have any problems taking down helicopters, which are slower.

I'm really enjoying Conquest, but I see no reason not to be an engineer in that game mode. I might have to play some rush mode just so I can switch to other classes.

Arg. The mail did not deliver my copy of the game today from Gamefly. Sorely tempted to swing by blockbuster now that they have day rates.

Gamefly has my copy on the way. I hope to get it tomorrow and join in the mayhem!

I would love to ditch the case, or find a minimalist one at the very least, but I work in a machine shop during the day and there are any number of things that could damage my phone. Add to that my general clumsiness and I just feel better having it in a case.

So how many of you guys like the Newsstand thingy?

I want to like it. I downloaded the New York Times into it and find myself browsing every once in awhile. But the other magazines/newspapers you have to pay for, and I don't know if I want to do that. I think I would use it more if you could get one article per month from the other magazines, with the option to buy the full magazine or a subscription. But as it is now I'm not that interested.

I thought it started off slow, but quickly got back on track. And my jaw dropped at the ending, while my gf jumped up and shouted "WHAT!? THEY CAN'T END IT LIKE THAT!!"

Welcome back Walking Dead.

The case I received is not the one I ordered online...

Edit: Not only did I receive the wrong case, but it was the exact case that I actively didn't want. My step-brother has this case for his iPhone 4, and I hate it. So I called AT&T and they are going to overnight me the correct package. I was surprised at how quickly and easily they were able to help me.

Delivered! I'm setting it up now.

I wonder if i can switch my pick to the raiders now.

Phone pre-ordered! I had more money in my account than I was expecting, so I opted for the 32GB phone just in case. I don't think I would fill up the 16GB one, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

Gears of war 3. I want to try and finish it Saturday so I can return it. Maybe some dark souls if it comes I'm from gamefly.

Game length depends on how many units you have, but my step-brother and I found that 25 and 35 point games took 2-4 hours. Part of that is because we were constantly checking up on rules and we also took way too much time thinking things through. Especially with the menoth armies, where the order of activation is incredibly important.

Smaller games go by much quicker, especially if you are familiar with your models and have a good idea of what they are capable of. The more you play the quicker the games get.

I have a khador army. They have some of the hardest hitting warjacks in the game, but are typically slow. I settled on them after playing with a couple of different factions and realized that I wanted to get up close and personal and smash things.

My step-brother has a cygnar and menoth army. Cygnar has some cool units, and looks like a great way to start. Menoth relies a lot on synergy and the right combination of units, but when it works it works. I can usually mop the floor with menoth in smaller point games, but once you get up to 35 point games and higher they can be really tough.

Also, warcasters significantly affect the game. Khador has some hard hitting warjacks, but some of their casters work best with more infantry, and only 1 or 2 jacks.

Has anyone played a game on vassal? We don't have much time to play, and the idea of playing a game online and being able to walk away from it is very appealing.

This is why I didn't upgrade past my 3G and have been holding out to see what their new phone would be. Now it's just a financial question of whether to spend the full $200 for the 4s, or just the $100 on the iphone 4.

8gb is extremely limiting. I'd be completely content with the 4's performance, but not its capacity.

It's not a deal breaker for me personally. I've been living with the limited memory for awhile, and even though I'm close to maxed out on my memory I can have everything I really want on there and still not worry about it. I don't keep all of my apps loaded on the phone, and I have plenty of music that I don't need on there as well. Having that extra memory is a factor, but not a major one in my decision.

[Spoiler]

I'm now fully torn on this game. The beta had slowed down my excitement enough that I decided to renew my membership from Gamefly and use that to rent these games first. I also said that the beta made me want to go back and play BLOPS more than anything else, so yesterday that's exactly what I did. Only I found myself craving the slower pace and bigger maps of Battlefield. 

I'm enjoying the beta, even though I don't really care for the game mode and it's hard to play the same map over and over again, and now I find myself slowly moving back to the "buy it" category.

It doesn't help that I'm already having issues with Gamefly. I don't want to derail the thread with more Gamefly bashing, but it feels good to vent, so I'll just move this to spoilers. Out of sight, out of mind.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I had a Gamefly membership years ago, and quit because there was too much time between when I would send them a game and when I would get one back. I hate paying for the service and not receiving anything for it. This time I made sure to go the 2-games out at a time route. I figured they would quickly send me two games, and then I could just always make sure to keep one while the other is going through the system. Only problem: actually receiving those first two games. I signed up Monday and they still haven't even shipped me anything. I get that I've only got popular games in my queue, but those are the only games I'm interested in playing right now. I would have thought that being a new member and not having any games out would have moved me up the priority list.

I feel better.

The other factor was that there wasn't anything wrong with my 3G at the time.  That is no longer the case.  The device will freeze for up to a minute when attempting to enter text, especially when attempting to use the maps.  Apps routinely crash, and the bloat shoehorned into the OS has slowed everything down.  But that's to be expected from any device and any provider over the course of three years.

So once I have my 4S in my hands, I will revel in the ability to finally multitask, voice command my phone, and once again have the coolest phone out of anyone I know. 

This is why I didn't upgrade past my 3G and have been holding out to see what their new phone would be. Now it's just a financial question of whether to spend the full $200 for the 4s, or just the $100 on the iphone 4.

My step-brother convinced me to give this a try, and I really liked it. I have never played any game like it, but it didn't take long for me to get hooked. We used to play once a week, but haven't played since football season started.

7:00-8:00 Wake Up, coffee, breakfast.
8:00-8:30 Surf the web while eating breakfast. Get ready for work.
8:30-9:00 Drive to work.
9:00-1:30 Work at first job.
1:30-3:30 Gym + Shower. (Sometimes changes to "Working on Show Prep" on days where I have a show to do)
3:30-4:00 Swing by Tropical Smoothie for a post-workout smoothie, drive to second job.
4:00-7:00 Work at 2nd job.
7:00-7:30 Drive home.
7:30-8:00 Eat dinner.
8:30-10:00 Chores and/or web surfing, playing games, watching TV, fall asleep.

Sunday edition:
5:30 Wake up
6:00 Drive to work
6:30 Arrive at work, stay until noon.
12:00 Drive home.
1:00 Turn on Red Zone channel and/or Steelers game.
11:00 Continue watching football until I pass out.

Rush was the poster child mode for both BC1 and BC2, this is really more like BC3 than BF3

Ah. I didn't play those games, so this game mode is new to me.

Not only that, destructible terrain means there's not much to attack/defend by the third or fourth flag change...

I don't remember that being the case in 1943.

I spent a few hours with the beta yesterday. The first few games were a little overwhelming. I would take two steps, hear a thwip, thwip and then I was dead. But after awhile I started to remember how to play a FPS, and wasnt completely useless.

I can see where the game will be fun, but why they chose to do the rush game mode is mind boggling to me. When I think of battlefield games I think of the game mode with various objectives throughout the map that you hold in order to win. So far this just doesn't feel like battlefield to me, and makes me want to bust out my copy of blops more than pre-order the new battlefield.

Actually, the director said that the trailer reveal happens within something like the first twenty minutes and the story has plenty more twists and turns after that.

Even if this is true it's still a bad trailer specifically because it feels like they've revealed the whole story. Whether they have or not is almost irrelevant. Their goal is to convince me I want to see the movie. If the trailer makes me feel like I've practically already seen it I'm not going to run to the theater and pay for tickets.

I had the exact opposite reaction. I thought the movie was just another supernatural thriller and had no desire to see the film, but after seeing the full trailer I want to see it.

Why you little....

I've been incredibly busy the last few months, but tomorrow I have an entire day with nothing to do*. I hope to get some time in with the BF3 beta as well as continue beating random people in Madden 12, the game I swore I wouldn't purchase mere days before I purchased it.


*Nothing to do besides an entire closet full of laundry, mowing the yard, and meeting the gf's parents for the first time. But compared to the past two months, this is a vacation day.

I'll give the beta a shot over the weekend and see. Maybe I'll just register for gamefly this winter if both COD and BF3 are meh.

So I take it everyone is going to be playing this over COD this year? I need to figure out which game to buy.

My philosophy this year is that I don't want to risk $100 on Peyton Manning's neck. So I wouldn't keep him. He could really hurt you, and there's always the chance that he will fall to you in the draft anyway.

I strongly suggest keeping Charles and then drafting Ray Rice or Rashard Mendenhall. Both of those guys are strong options to begin with, and they both get to feast upon the NFC West this year. I would suggest Rice, but only because I'm shocked that Mendenhall is actually a top-5 RB option. And with McGahee gone, I expect big things from Rice this year.

Wait until round 2 or 3 for your QB. The difference between a top-5 QB and a top-10 QB isn't the end of the world, so you can wait on them. If Brady or Rivers fall to you, scoop them up in a heart beat. Rivers is poised for a big year, and Brady quietly leads one of the best offenses in football. Ryan would be third on that list. I think this is his breakout year. I might pick Schaub, but if all that's available is Schaub, Elisha, and Freeman, I'm picking RB/WR again. Go heavy on those positions and then hope you get lucky with a sleeper QB pick (Bradford, Stafford, Freeman, Schaub, Fitzpatrick, Henne) or trade one of your stud RB's to get a good QB.

And now that that is out of the way, it's time to talk drafting. I had one draft last weekend, but the big one is this weekend. 10 man keeper league where everyone must keep three players. One of them has to be a rookie and two players cannot be from the same position. This year we are adding two new teams, which means we have an expansion draft as well. All of the existing teams get to protect one of their players, and the new teams get to steal up to 2 players (cannot pick two players from the same position.

My rookie is TE Rob Gronkowski and my QB is Philip Rivers who will be protected. I also have Arian Foster and Ray Rice. I ultimately want Rice, but I'm going to dangle Foster out there in the expansion draft to be stolen, because if you lose a player in the expansion draft you can replace him with another player from last years roster. I'm hoping Foster will be taken. Outside of him the only other good RB that will not be protected is Mendenhall. With two new teams, one of them should bite on Foster even with the injury.