The atmosphere in this game draws you into the fray

Single Player:

The single player campaign uses a moded version of the Unreal Engine 3. From the get go, EA wanted its single player to be as close to real military operations as possible and they consulted many military professionals for assistance in the making of the campaign. It takes place in Afghanistan in 2002 and is loosely based off of the events that happened in Operation Anaconda (Wikipedia it, I didn’t even know they could release this kind of information so soon but there you have it). You play from the perspective of a variety of different military personnel from the Army Rangers and some Special Ops units. Objectives come in a variety of flavors from raids, to recon and even CAS (Close Air Support) operations. In my opinion, Medal of Honor (2010) is probably the most authentic to real life military combat that you can get in an FPS. It’s also one of the most enjoyable single player campaigns I’ve played in a long time. And at the end of it all, they pay respect to the members of the real US armed forces, which I took to heart.

Desert Cammies and Jungle Assault Vests.....sounds like the Military to Me

Multiplayer

The multiplayer was a bit lackluster in comparison to the single player, but it still provided me with hours of enjoyment and FPS joy. The multiplayer also brought on a bit of controversy with the fact that players could take the role of “Taliban” members. Many US military higher-ups as well as Coalition country officials concluded that it was “tasteless and disrespectful” which in my opinion was understandable. Players could choose between  3 classes: rifleman, special ops and sniper, each with a handful of unlocks which include weapons, ammo types, and scopes. There were also multiple game types from all out TDM and objective based games such as Raid and Hot Zone. The game played like most MP FPS games with kills getting you experience which is accumulated to help level up and unlock extra weapons for both sides. However, when you reach level 8 with a specific class, you become a Tier 1 operative which alters the player’s appearance. At the same time, when you kill a Tier 1 Op, you receive an additional five points for the kill. Staying alive and gaining kills starts a kill chain. Kill chains added up with kills and when you reach a specific amount, you get to choose between an offensive or defensive support action. Offensive support actions came in forms of mortar strikes, air strikes and guided missiles while the defensive support actions were either a UAV (or RPA for the more in tune with Military accronyms), which lasted roughly 3 minutes or ammo reload for everyone on your team. All and all the game wasn’t anything special but it did provide a new perspective of things to be implemented in later FPS games to come.

Games like Fire Fight require Communication and Team Work

Overall

Mostly the game’s single player is what I really appreciated in this game. It really does give people a good idea of what really goes on in today’s military operations. Other single players like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 were a bit more far-fetched but Medal of Honor sells it with little embellishment to heighten suspense and keeping things believable. The multiplayer like I said was nothing extraordinary but it did offer a new game to play when other games I had were getting stale. Not only that, but from the minute I opened the box, I was gratified with a certificate that guaranteed me early access to the Battlefield 3 Beta…which I’ve been playing alllll week. Its pretty awesome. Medal of Honor will have another installment coming in 2012 to continue the story and although it hasn’t been a “Blockbuster” title in the past few years, thats not to say you should let this next game fall off your radar.

Dice brought their Forstbite Engine to the Multiplayer Experience. Thanks Dice!

This has been your first Game reload brought to you on The Drop. I’m JP, thanks for reading and keep you mags stocked and loaded for the next edition.

Ok, so I’m like…3 weeks late with this, but hey, better late than never, right? Besides, she’s been in a ton of shit, and a real cutey to boot, so I’d say she was worth the wait.

Laura Bailey was born May 28, 1981 in Biloxi Mississippi. And as mentioned above, she is married to fellow video game and anime VA, Travis Willingham, and was once roommates with Colleen Clinkenbeard. Other than this, there’s really not much on her early or personal life on the interwebs, so onto the roles!

Bailey has gone on record to say that her favorite character role is that of Shin Nohara from the hilariously raunchy adult anime, Shin-Chan. But whether you realize it or not, Bailey is the woman behind some of the most popular video game and anime characters of all time, both male and female.

Where to begin? Bailey has voiced Kid Trunks in the Dragonball saga, Chun-Li in Street Fighter IV and every evolution of it since, Keiko Yukimura from Yu-Yu Hakasho, Lust of Fullmetal Alchemist, Rayne of Blood Rayne, Serah Ferron from Final Fantasy XIII, Isara Gunther from Valkyria Chronicles and as Catherine, from the fantastic video game by Atlus bearing the same name.

Super Saiyan Trunks

Her list of credited roles is extensive, but she’s also one of the least credited voice actors so far in this series. Why a talent such as hers would go uncredited is beyond me, but nonetheless, here’s a list of characters  you won’t see attributed to her when the credits roll at the end of a game or TV show:

Platinum The Trinity of BlazBlu Continuum Shift, Raspberyl of the Disgaea series, Spinel of Crimson Gem Saga, the female protagonist in Persona 3 Portable, Shura of Soul Caliber IV and Christie Monteiro of Tekken 6.

Admit it, you've played as Christie for the sole purpose of watching her jiggle around...

Laura is also featured in a number of upcoming titles, including Mario and Sonic at the London Olympic Games as Blaze the Cat and Star Wars: The Old Republic hitting PC in the VERY near future.

To see the rest of Laura Bailey’s credits, be sure to check her Wikipedia, IMdB and Official Website!

As of today, the Battlefield 3 Beta is opened to the public on PS3, XBOX 360, and PC. Being the geek that I am, I was awake at 8 a.m. so I could start playing the beta immediately.

Right away, the colors and graphics are, without a doubt, the best I have ever seen. This was even before I even joined a game. First thing I’ll touch on is the connection. Some people have been having difficulties with finding and joining a game. In my case, this was not a problem at all. I joined a game immediately and was completely amazed by the graphics. It was a little cartoonish but still looked incredibly real. The every little part of the map was perfect down to the smallest detail. The guns, the animations, the sounds, everything made it feel like you were watching a movie in surround sound. I have the Astro A40 setup, so every RPG and bullet shot by my head seemed surreal. If you have any form of headset, you’ll get the best experience out of it.

Now that I’ve talked about the visual aspects, let’s get to the gameplay. As I said earlier, I started playing the game as soon as I could get it downloaded. Yes, it is one map. Yes, it is one game mode. That didn’t even matter to me. I was able to play it for 2-3 hours straight without getting bored at all. I can only imagine where my time will go once the full game comes out. The controls were a little tricky at first but it didn’t take long to get the hang of them. Panic knifing is almost completely gone. It’s slow and most likely you’ll get shot before you can even remember which button is the knife button. On XBOX, the knife button is the right bumper and grenades are the left bumper. Different from CoD, right? The beta doesn’t let you see a button layout of the different options, but they are available.

Of course, it is still in beta so there have to be a few glitches. Some that I ran into are your typical screen glitches here and there. Occasionally, there are times where I’m unable to sprint, which isn’t a huge deal. The third glitch I ran into was when a bomb is armed or disarmed, I have no idea because I don’t get the memo voice. Again, not a huge deal and it only happens every so often.

This game is almost flawless to me, and it’s still in beta! After playing the beta, my excitement level for this game went through the roof. I will definitely be playing this game a lot more than Call of Duty when it comes out a month later. The fun factor of CoD is nowhere near that of BF3.

Written By:

Katy Yeager

Katy.TGT@gmail.com

@yeagerrrr 

If you want to play 1.9, I have no idea why you wouldn’t want to, it can be downloaded here.

If there is a problem with the link, drop us an email or leave a comment. As of now, it works.

+ Added a brand new biome generation code that simplifies life a lot and makes things much more exciting for the future
+ Added new mob; Endermen
+ Added FOV slider
+ Added brightness slider
+ Added randomly generated ravines
+ Killing a monster makes it drop experience orbs
+ The player can level up by gathering experience orbs
+ Added randomly generated houses
+ Added huge mushrooms
+ Using bonemeal on small mushrooms grows the mushroom into a giant mushroom if there’s room
+ Rewrote the light rendering to use multitexturing instead of direct colors
+ Sky light and block light have different tints, cool colors for sky light, warm for block lights
+ Added critical hits that deal +50% damage, plus an extra point to make critics with weak weapons worth it
+ If the player hits a mob while falling, they always hit a critical hit
+ The game now keeps track of damage sources and types
+ Some damage type ignore armor now; drowning, being on fire (but not being IN a fire), falling out of the world
+ Ice now only spreads next to existing ice or from coast areas
+ Made the explosions prettier
+ Made level height depend on a single variable (the level height still is 128, but it’s more moddable now)
+ Added sprinting
+ Added hunger
+ Food is now stackable
+ Improved the logo
+ Added suspended particles to water
+ Added a server list so you can remember multiple servers
+ The player regenerates slowly while the food bar is high
+ Eating food now takes time
+ Skeletons hold their bows better now
+ Added melons
+ Made melons and pumpkins farmable
+ Animals that get hurt will flee randomly for a short while
+ Pigs have snouts now
+ Made a flashier title screen
+ Looking towards the sun during sunset/sunrise changes fog color
+ Added fence gates
+ Added a player list to multiplayer
+ Added Silverfish
+ Added Cave Spider
+ Added huge underground dungeons (stronghold)
+ Added underground mine shafts
+ Added melon
+ Added sprouts for melons and pumpkins
+ Added vines
+ Added iron bars
* Fixed mushrooms spreading infinitely
* Fixed caves generating with too many dead ends
- Removed Herobrine

From minecraft.net and/or  mcupdate.tumblr.com ]]> http://thegamersthumb.com/blog/2011/09/15/minecraft-1-8-is-officially-out/feed/ 0 http://thegamersthumb.com/blog/2011/09/12/vote-with-your-wallet/ http://thegamersthumb.com/blog/2011/09/12/vote-with-your-wallet/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 23:04:27 +0000 The Middle Finger http://thegamersthumb.com/blog/?p=3945 It’s been a tough few weeks for The Gamer’s Middle Finger.  In addition to being swamped at my regular employment, I’ve had to stomach multiple commercials for Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star.  Does anyone remember a more annoying ad campaign?  I mean these things are “Dane-Cook-in-a-femine-hygiene-ad” terrible.  I liked this guy better when he was the dick QB in The Waterboy.  I’ve got two topics to cover this week.  I couldn’t really see writing 1,200 words on either topic, so we’ll hit them both here.  Part I of this week’s offering will deal with political statements and video gaming, while part II will take a look at upcoming releases.

Your Bucky Larson commercials make you come across as a...well, a needledick.

Part I: Don’t You Have Other Things to Worry About?

A few weeks ago, a controversy enveloped the video game world involving the favorite target of the young outraged video gamer: Gamestop.  It seems Gamestop decided to remove a publisher-included coupon from their copies of Deus Ex for the PC that gave buyers of the game access to a free downloadable copy from a competing service.  Gamestop made things worse by not telling their customers the games had been opened and the coupons removed.  Consumer response was predictable.  You had many angry customers, and I completely understand why.  You like to think that your fingers are the first ever to touch the shiny plastic disc.  I also understand Gamestop’s reasoning as well.  Retail businesses are generally not in the habit of providing coupons for competitors.  They should have told potential buyers of Deus Ex what they had done, but hey, I should also eat more salads.  I didn’t think too much more about this story because I have more pressing concerns, things like “why are the police at my neighbor’s house?”, “why are there lipstick stains on my wife’s underwear?”, and “Do all prostate exams last 35 minutes?”.  My fellow gamers though lost their collective mind.  Here’s a sampling from the comments section of another video game website’s article on the story:

“GameStop’s job is to sell games to customers that want to buy them. Not fucking censor the products they’re selling because of something therein that they don’t like.”

“Gamestop has a fucking monopoly on the dedicated gaming store and now they want to own the digital market too? Fuck that.”

“The company enforces non-ethical business standards that screw over the developers and now they seemed focused on screwing over the customer.”

“So yeah, fuck you Gamestop. I hope somebody sues your fucking pants off over this bullshit. Fuckers.”

Relax, people.  It’s just a store.  Don’t shop there if you don’t like their policies, but let’s ease up on the hyperbole.  No one from Gamestop is censoring your games.  No one is trying to screw over the customer.  Companies will not stay in business if they repeatedly screw the customer, unless we’re talking about a brothel.  Do we have to turn video games into some kind of moral and political stand?

My point is that I just don’t give a shit anymore.  Bobby Kotick’s statements are irrelevant to my enjoyment of video games.  I don’t care what Gamestop is paying for my used copy of Madden 2011.  I don’t care if you’re outraged, oppressed, disgusted, or any other word ending in -ed which conveys angst.  I just want to play the goddamn games and read some video game articles.  I yearn for the innocent days of the internet when you read your email, checked for Bigfoot sightings, jerked off to some porn, and went to bed.  Somewhere deep down, I bet you do, too.

He's still real to me, damn it!

Part II:  When Too Much of a Good Thing is Too Much

I want you to consider the following list of AAA titles:  God of War Origins, Gears of War 3, Dark Souls, NBA 2K12, Rage, Forza Motorsports 4, Batman Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, and Saint’s Row The Third.

There’s a list with something for everyone, and most of us will buy more than one of those games.  In fact, most of you would agree those games would represent a great YEAR for video games.  Now what do those 14 games share in common?  They don’t come out in a year; they all come out tentatively in the next 60 days.  How in the fuck am I supposed to come up with that kind of cash?  I’m guessing $60 for twelve of those games, and the two HD collections for Metal Gear and God of War will likely go for $40 (if they have already been announced as $60, you can call me a dumbass in the comments section).  My superior math skills tell me that’s $800 worth of games in 2 months.  Now I have some disposable income because I have no mouths to feed, but this is a stretch.  What do you do?  These are games are all leaders in their respective genres, and not to be missed.  I feel like I’ve just walked into General Knoxx’s armory, and the clock is ticking.

The last two months have been fairly quiet in the video game world outside of the Madden release.  It’s hard to believe none of the developers were able to take advantage of the lull in the release schedule.  Maybe it ultimately doesn’t make a difference, but I can’t imagine some of these folks won’t miss out on some sales because of this gaming glut.

While Jenn should probably write one of her excellent PSA’s on how to make some extra money, I’ll share with you my idea on how to enjoy these great games.  A friend and I went through the list and literally divided up the games.  You buy these, and I’ll buy these (with the understanding we are both buying Skyrim).  He’s got Batman covered, and I’ll be buying Uncharted 3.  This goes above and beyond merely lending someone a game.  This is strategic planning, goddamn it!

Now you can only eat 2 pieces...

I want to hear from you guys.  Which games are you buying?  Which game takes precedent over all others for you?  Post in the comments below, or send an email to steve@thegamersthumb.com.  (Notice I didn’t ask for your thoughts on any Gamestop controversies?  Don’t fucking worry about Gamestop.  Just go buy an awesome game somewhere!)

It’s not fair, really. Some guys get it all.

Oh well…

Travis was born August 3, 1981 in Dallas, Texas. Much like last week’s VA, Mike McFarland, Travis has worked on a wide range of anime, video games and even some live action dubbing. Including Mike McFarland, Travis has worked with many of the other voice actors from previous weeks’ spotlights in this series.

Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang, who tends to be absolutely useless in the rain.

Perhaps best known for his role as Colonel Roy Mustang, the flame-fingered alchemic posterchild of the Fullmetal Alchemist universe, you can still hear Travis in countless other projects and productions.

As I hinted above, Mike McFarland and Travis have worked on many of the same projects, including the Dragonball Z video games, D. Grayman, Darker than Black, Black Blood Brothers, One Piece and Hell Girl. They’re also both from Texas… Maybe that’s where I need to move…

What you might not know is that Travis is also involved in more live action productions than most voice actors, including roles on Nip/Tuck, Prison Break, the coastguard-centric action drama, The Guardian and even as the lovable, troublemaking master thief, Ishikawa Goemon from the live action, Funimation full-length feature film, Goemon. If you’ve never heard of it, look it up on Netflix Instant Queue. It’s beautiful, stylized, action packed, funny, heartbreaking and well voice acted. I can’t recommend it to action/anime fans enough.

Master Thief and champion to the poor of feudal Japan, Ishikawa Goemon.

Travis has quite a few notches on his VA belt, but some of his more recent and notable exploits come in the form of Johnny Ariga, one of Vincent’s drinking buddies in the PS3/360 hit, Catherine, Super Street Fighter IV as Guile, additional voices for  Red Faction Guerilla and the  Square-Enix PSP title, The 3rd Birthday, Yodai Higashizawa in The World Ends With You (Oh my god, what a fantastic game!) and as the Narrator of Valkyria Chronicles II.

Coming in the next few months, Travis is wrapping production on a few new video game titles, not least of which is the upcoming, hotly anticipated PC exclusive, Star Wars: The Old Republic. He will also be voicing Cyclops in an upcoming X-Men game and has officially been named as the voice of Knuckles the Echidna for the Sonic the Hedgehog series for the foreseeable future. So keep an eye on the man. He has gone and is still going places in the world of voice acting.

Johnny Ariga, from Catherine.

If you’d like to know more about Travis Willingham, including the fact that he’s engaged to next week’s spotlighted voice actor, be sure to check out his IMdB and Wikipedia pages.

I guess no one ever taught THEM to use suncream

1. Humans in real life cannot, under any circumstance, spin-jump to get changed. All that will happen is that you’ll go flying into your dresser and probably crack your skull open. Trust me.

2. If you scream “shoo flee” at someone loud enough, they WILL leave you alone. After they report you to the insane asylum.

3. No matter how hard you try, you cannot win over real people by giving them bear hugs over and over. They will just smack you

4. I don’t see clowns when I’m sad, or bunnies when I’m lonely. In the real world, nothing fun happens when you are either of those two things. So suck it up.

5. Babies don’t come from kissing people. Thank GOD

6. You can’t get rid of your enemies by building walls around them, removing the doors to their house, or stuffing them in a room filled with only chairs and a fireplace.

7. Aliens do not impregnate you upon abduction in reality. They get to know you first.

8. Unlike in The Sims 3, ghosthunting is not a registered profession in the real world. You can’t just bust into people’s homes with a vacuum cleaner screaming “WHOEVER YOU WERE GONNA CALL IS HERE”

9. Maids don’t work for $10 an hour in Australia. And the ones that do, probably won’t even do a good job of cleaning your house, let alone sleeping with you.

10. Trying to “woohoo” in an elevator, change room, hot tub, shower or your child’s tree house will more than likely end in disaster. Under no circumstances do I recommend trying it.

But the real reason I went back this year, my main attraction, the one thing that could hold my attention longer than some chick’s assets busting out of an improperly sized leather getup was to see a panel speaking on anime and video game voice acting. My raison d’être.

There were some extremely talented individuals on the panel, including Richard Epcar, Kyle Hebert, Tom Kane, Ashley Eckstein, and Mike McFarland. Advice was given, voices were tossed around, a Yoda voice-0ff was held and prizes were distributed. And then, everyone dispersed. No meet and greet, no questions for the panel, no pictures, no nothing. It was over just as soon as it had begun. I was a little despondent…

Being the low-maintenance kind of fanboy that I am, I derive great pleasure from the simple shaking of hands and expression of appreciation toward my favorite voice actors. Last year I met John DiMaggio and Phil Lammar in much the same fashion mentioned above. But this year, I didn’t get the chance…

Or did I?

Cain Nightroad

Fast forward about an hour to me and my crew of geeks waiting for our names to be called for a table at the culinarily tasty yet morally tasteless Vortex Bar and Grill. With about an hour to kill before we could eat, we stopped by the local alternative clothing and costume shop, Junkman’s Daughter, and who do we spot checking out a black button up, not unlike the one he was currently wearing? None other than the same Mike McFarland mentioned above.

As I hinted before, I don’t gush with celebrities. I’m sure they get enough of that on a daily basis, and I refuse to contribute to their fear and loathing of rabid fans. Clearing my throat, and taking a deep breath, I calmly walked over to where Mike was browsing and simply inquired, “Mike McFarland?” to which he smiled and replied, “Yes.”

Chicks!

O.o BAAAAH!!!!! I’m talking to and shaking hands with the voice of Master Roshi and Yajirobi from Dragonball Z! The voice of Toma from D. Grayman! Goemon Ishikawa from Lupin III! Cain Nightroad from Trinity Blood! JEAN HAVOC FROM FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD!!!! o.O

It was at this point I had to tell my inner giddy school girl to STFU and focus. “Wow, great to meet you. We just now came from the panel. It was fantastic. Very informative.” To which Mike said, “Cool, thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

To keep it brief and as professional as I could manage, I requested a picture, asked how he was enjoying his visit to Atlanta, told him to enjoy the Vortex and then went on my way. There were so many things I wanted to ask the man, but I was able to contain the fanboy within me and leave him to his business.

OMGWTFBBQ!?!?

There are some things fanboys can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Wikipedia. Mike McFarland was born July 14th, 1970 in Texas City, Texas. While not a lot other than his filmography is listed on his Wikipedia or IMdB pages, he did mention during the panel that he has done of lot of improvisation and theatre, and that having a background in both definitely helps when trying to land a voice acting role. For every 100 auditions you attend, you might land 1 role. Maybe. As an aspiring VA myself, this statement was a little disheartening, but it did make me realize that even the greats have to work their asses off to get the jobs they want. Why should I be any different?

Buggy the Clown, from One Piece.

Besides the roles mentioned above, Mike has also voiced a ton of other anime characters. Janaway from Black Blood Brothers, Haru from Desert Punk, Buggy from One Piece, Cheif Ekoda from Speed Grapher, Franco from Gunslinger Girl II and Makoto Hyuga from Evangelion, among many others. He is also the Line Producer behind the fantastic ongoing miniseries, Eden of the East. If you haven’t watched it yet, check it out, and if you have, be sure to check out the sequel, Eden of the East: Paradise Lost on DVD and Bluray as well.

If you’d like to know more about Mike McFarland, be sure to head over to his Wikipedia and IMdB pages