Strategy Informer  

Hey guys anyone here still play Nazi Zombies? I've just gotten back into it recently and had some thoughts about it, in terms of strategy what's preferred tactics on Der Reise? Whats you favorite weapon setup?

Mine is:
Rounds 10-25 stay in the cage and get crawlers at the end of each round.
Have the teleports linked by round 15 if not sooner.
Rounds 25+ Teleport you way around the map.
(keep in mind however i always use the 3 weapon glitch on Der Reise, i find it's a necessity to always have a back up)

Weapons: MG-42/Browning, DG-1(laser gun)/PPSH, DG-2/Panzerfaust and of course the monkey bombs!

Anyway just thought id post it, if anyone still plays Zombies on PSN message me here and we'll get a game some time!

So SI readers does the proposed "internet kill switch" idea in the US scare/anger anybody else?
Do you think power over the internet should be given into the hands of a single or any government in the world?
I personally think that this is one of the most dangerous ideas ever proposed and could have serious global consequences if it gets passed.

So what are your thoughts?

Well its been a while since I posted a blog so I thought id try to get your gaming juices flowing again!

So SI gamers what makes a great game for you, are there things that transcend genres to make any type of game great or is there something genre specific for you that you can't seem to find in any other game?

For me id have to say that while I do have my favorite genres(Strategy,FPS and RPG(except the ones with a "J" in front)), the thing that makes a really great game is not necessarily the graphics or the excitement but how the story works in with the gameplay. For this i will take Fallout 3 as an example:
-The beginning of the game where you watch your character grow up was a stroke of brilliance.
-The way you're thrust out into the outside with no real sense of direction of where to go(well other than the marker and objectives list!).
The bottom line, the immersive the game the better!But thats obvious.

Now while there are many things I don't like about the game, Vats being the thing i hate most, the way the story and the world merge is brilliant.There are many ither games I could use as examples, Killzone 2, Oblivion, most of the MOH games I don't want to make this blog too big!

So whats your recipe for brilliance?

Thats right folks, im sure you've heard Steam are giving away Portal to all of their customers for free, so if you want Portal go and get a Steam account now and download it!
http://store.steampowered.com/freeportal

Now that coolness aside, why do you think Steam are doing this, prehaps they're preparing us for Portal 2?Its defiantly a good advertising move from them!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Portal!

Well after the psn servers crashed on me continuously for 2 hours i finally downloaded the new maps yesterday so heres a quick 24hrs later review.

As we all know the "new" maps aren't so new, two of them are from Modern Warfare, while still solid maps and fun to play it makes me wonder how hard IW where stuck for new ideas, none the less i shall review them first;

Crash, My personal favorite, great for headquarters and very challenging in "capture the flag" very good, but well-known sniping/camping positions balance out the gameplay to make it playable with almost any setup you choose.My only problem with Crash is that it doesn't seem to have any well defined "sides" this early on making battles sporadic.

Overgrown, Obviously a snipers paradise, its great for "Domination" and "Search and Destroy", however my preferred setup for this map would be a Famas with a grenade launcher attachment and the "scavenger" perk.The layout of the map is good because it almost forces the player to be tactical in their choice of moves.

Storm, I havent quite managed to crack my game style for this map yet, again it seems good for "Domination", but it seems tricky to play an assault strategy as there are soooooooo many hiding places for annoying campers!

Salvage, I think im gonna like this map, its laid out very well with close quarter spots and sniping areas, although i didnt get a chance to play "S&D" on it i think it would be a great map for it with all of the different routes you can take to your objective.

Bailout, I have not had good experiences with this map except in a game of "Sabotage" where i was holding off the other team for the entire match way at the back of the map while my buddies faffed about in all over the place, i do feel a bit cheated with this map as it seems so linear in its construction, it's neither long or wide and the "multi-story apartments" have only two playable stories on each side!

All in all the new maps are ok to good the €12 or so it cost was pricey for what it delivered and only time will tell if it is indeed a "stimulus package". I hope they integrate the new maps in with the old ones as i would to play a mix of all of the maps on my own choice of game mode rather than switching from one to the other.

In todays world, sitting in front of your Pc or Console and socializing and playing games with people from all over the world is nothing short of one of the greatest human achievements in the world.But like all of our achievements, once given into the hands of the general public they find some way to ruin it!

In this blog ill try to discuss what makes a good gamer and what makes a ass. Now im sure everybody here knows how to be nice to others but when your in an online game it can sometimes seem like every other person is a rude and annoying ass not fit to be allowed into the real world.

Every game has its assholes, the people who shout at you for getting camped by a sniper in an fps, or shout at you for not knowing what you're supposed to be doing in an mmo, calling everybody in your team a dumbass or a noob. The latter of the two insults, i find are the most ignorant.

We all get frustrated with other gamers who make a lot of mistakes and we think to ourselves "oh what a noob", but what does this word mean to you?To me a noob means somebody who has reached a very level, has great gear ect, but isnt anywhere near as good as they should be, some people think its an inexperienced player for that i would call them a Newb, if anything.

But how should people be nice to each other online, well ill try and get some points across.
>Never shout at other players who dont know what to do, everybody was new at some point.
>Dont try to control a group if it already has a leader, tell the leader what you think you should be doing, if he/she doesnt agree with you go with what he/she thinks or leave the group.
>Dont showboat, this is very common in fps' "teabagging" while funny sometimes can just be annoying and pointless, in some games of "Search and Destroy" on MW2 ive lost games because the last guy alive was too busy "teabagging" some dead player to defuse the frigging the bomb(that is a good definition of a noob!).
>And lastly remember that people make mistakes experience comes with time!

A lot of people tend to create their own "personas" when playing online, if somebody in a game has got you down with insults, remember that their probably shy and weak with the personality of a turnip in real life!But if you want to confront an asshole the best way to do so, if find, is to simply tell them to shut the hell up or leave group, they usually get the point!

Good luck and happy gaming!

I'm expanding on my last blog about the future of gaming to ask all you SI members about the future of the gaming industry.

What do you think will happen to the industry in the near future, or the far future?Do you think that indie gaming companies will make a breakthrough into the market, it certainly seems likely, what with "Respawn" studios being created out of ex-infinity staff.

Do you think the time has come for big producers like EA to realise the only way to make their shareholders happy is to make gamers happy?Again this seems likely, with EA teaming up with Crytek to produce Crysis2 a game which may have the power to make every one of us to drool at a thousand paces!

We all know that the gaming industry, as it is, is a mostly broken mechanic. Only on rare occasions does the industry listen to its customers and as a result every time a bad or flawed game is released gamers let the industry know, one way or another. But this makes me think, many of the companies were created by gamers, werent they?, surely they, like us know the only way to make a good franchise is to listen us and take some of our comments on board.

Anyway, what are your thoughts SI members?Sorry about the length of this blog if you think its too long!

We've all had one,or several,of these times: its 3am you've been gaming for 10 hours straight stopping only to eat and exchange pleasantries with those you live with and you're considering going to bed only to forget about it and continue gaming for the next 2/3/4 hours or more!

My question to you my fellow gamers is do you think this kind of gaming has an effect on your mental health?The next day you dont feel so great maybe a little grumpy from the lack of sleep, but is it something more? Are you effectively "coming down" from a gaming high? or is this ok the odd time now and again where as continued repeats of this would be dangerous.

In times when a kid will go as far as killing his parents just to play a game a few hours more, http://digg.com/people/Boy_14_Kills_Dad_With_Sledgehammer_Continues_Playing_Games ,no im comparing him to us he obviously had some serious issues but it puts it into perspective i guess.

So gamers what are your thoughts on this?

Hey guys random question for you all here, where do you think the future of gaming is?
Now not just in terms of tech, but the industry if gaming itself, doo you think consoles are here to stay? Do you think the Pc will eventually win out?
Or do you think the two will continue to co-exist indefinite?

Myself, i belive that eventually technology will be so great and cheap that people will just stop buying consoles but who knows what the future holds!

So gamers what do you think?

Hey guys, i was lying in bed last night unable to sleep when an idea came in to my head.
I had watching "Gamer"(i think thts what its,and if you havent seen do!!)and i was thinking about how if Microsofts "Project Natal" is all its cracked up to be and Sonys "Wand" is as bad as it looks then surly Sony is for the pits.
Then i thought of an idea all of those thoughts came into my head and then the key one;The Nintendo "Power Glove"(its so bad!).
If the future of games is motion sensing why dont Sony create their own updated version of "The Power Glove", i can see project "Natal" being as glitchy as hell, what if Sony created their "Power Glove" to handle some of the processing(or whatever im not good with hardware), you know something to really challange M$ instead of just ripping off the Wii(i know its Hypocritical to not rip Wii but rip of nes).
Do you think Sony thought of this, i was really exicted when it cane into my head, i want to E-mail them!!

What do think?!