MOGS

Modern Warfare 2 Ridiculous Knife Kill

Hats off to this guy. I wonder if he’s considering joining the military.

-Christian

50% off Star Wars Galaxies until November 26th through Steam!

Until November 26th (Thanksgiving) you can purchase Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures for 50% off the normal price through Steam. This includes the game’s four expansions: An Empire Divided, Jump to Lightspeed, Rage of the Wookiees, and Trials of Obi-Wan. This would normally cost $19.99! For any of those who have thought about trying the game, now is the time.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/24170/

-Christian

SWG GCW Update

The new GCW update is getting closer, here are some screenshots of what we can expect to see in game.

It looks great but why did they use AT-XT’s from the Clone Wars? There will be fighting in the cities again and there is supposed to be work for the Entertainers and the Crafters of the galaxy. There will be 3 cities to defend from attack. More to come as I find out more.
Mark
SWG Guru

Xbox Live Class Action Investigation

Abington Law Firm is currently investigating the possibility of starting a Class Action suite against Microsoft, seeking possible reparations caused from the massive bannings of Xbox Live customers using a “modded” version of the Xbox system to play pirated games.

Tens of thousands of Xbox owners have had their modified Xbox consoles banned from Microsoft’s Live service. Although modification of Xbox consoles is against the terms of use for Xbox/Xbox Live, Abington feels that Microsoft “conveniently” timed the Xbox console ban to occur just after the release of the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game and less than two months after the release of the very popular Halo 3: ODST game.

This “convenient” timing may have resulted in far more Xbox Live subscription revenues from Microsoft than it would have generated had these Xbox console bans taken place at some time before the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3: ODST. Additionally, sales of both COD and Halo would likely have been greatly diminished had the Xbox console ban occurred prior to the release of these games.

While Abington does feel that Piracy is a very LEGITIMATE concern for Microsoft and other content producers, they feel that Microsoft has chosen to use on of the most indiscriminate “weapons” in its arsenal in an effort to combat piracy – as a result, the use of this “weapon” has resulted in a great deal of collateral damage – many people were affected who had nothing to do with piracy and Xbox console functions that have nothing to do with piracy were also affected or disabled. Details aside, Microsoft’s bans could have been more measured.

Side Note:
Personally I think the facts are simple. It violates the systems terms of use, and also the Xbox Live services terms. They could just have easily R.R.O.D’ed all these systems, but instead they only banned them from the Xbox Live service. Essentially they are saying: Want to play online? Buy the game, otherwise have fun playing with yourself.

I’m sure there was some “collateral” damage like Abington says though, I’ve seen numerous reports of people getting banned for doing a simple fan hack to improve the cooling in their systems.

If you are an Xbox Live subscriber, had your modified Xbox console banned from Xbox Live, were not refunded a prorated sum for the time left on your subscription or have experienced other problems as a result of being banned, and would like to participate in a class action against Microsoft, Abington Law asks that you follow the link bellow and fill out the Contact Form to receive more information if they can get this lawsuit moving forward.

http://www.abingtonlaw.com/Xbox-Live-class-action.html

Starcraft II

Blizzard recently released another teaser for SC2, in the form of a new Zerg unit. The Brutalisk is one of many of the custom units that will be available for use in the single player campaign mode. As you can see in the picture, it towers over the Marines gathered below it, and seems to be on a much larger scale than any of the ground units we have seen thus far for SC2. SC2 Beta has been pushed back to 2010, so hopefully Blizzard is getting close to putting the final touches on a fully playable version of the game.

Jake

Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV is a new MMORPG that is in the works by Square Enix. It is slated for a worldwide release in 2010, in almost every language. Details are scarce at the moment, but they have been slowly pouring in as we grow closer to 2010. Square is hoping to redefine the MMO with Final Fantasy XIV, with its deep story being via in game cutscenes and through questing.

Firstly, the game is set to be in more of a futuristic world, in contrast to medieval setting of Final Fantasy XI. The job system of FFXI will be included once again, but it seems the emphasis behind character growth will focus on the weapons this time around. The weapons will have some kind of tie in with character progression, and will influence how you play the game and attack.

Interestingly, there will be no experience points or leveling system in this game. Square Enix wants the game to have a very organic feeling, where players have the freedom to quest and try new and different things at their own pace. Character growth should then be a natural progression of this exploration, rather than a grind.

The two newest classes that were released a few days ago are the Gladiator, and the Pugilist. The gladiator is a heavily-armored close range fighter, with their weapons including swords, shields, throwing knives, and even a blade encrusted shield that can be use offensively and defensively. On the other hand, the Pugilist is a lightly armored melee fighter that utilizes hand to hand attacks.

Final Fantasy enthusiasts will also be pleased to know that Square just announced a release date for Final Fantasy XIII. It will arrive for the Xbox360 and PS3 on March 9, 2010. So it looks like we can look forward to two new Final Fantasy games next year.

Jake

Star Trek Online Episode Missions

Cryptic just announced Star Trek Online will be released February 2nd, 2010. Cryptic also announced that there will be episode missions, where you would be playing through an episode of the tv series. Each episode will build upon the Start Trek storyline and challenge your abilities as a tactician. There will be three ’seasons’ at launch, with 14 episodes per season. While the three seasons available at launch will have common themes, and many episodes are related to one another, there are only a few episodes with prerequisites to meet before you can play through them. Episodes generally last between 45 and 90 minutes and are designed with transition in mind. In many classic Star Trek episodes, the characters were never on one set very long. In the game, you’ll find yourself moving between different maps, both on the ground and in space, to blend literal movement with plot development. This game is definitely one to look out for, and I can’t wait till February to join the Star Trek Universe.

http://startrekonline.com/screenshots?img=77

-Jon
Mogs.com

Atlantica Online

Atlantica Online is a free to play game that offers strategic turn based game control of several characters. If you are looking for a break from traditional MMO’s and just want to try something different, fun, and free, Atlantica Online is a pretty good choice. I was surprised at how smooth the play was and how fun it is to pick up new boxes and follow the quest line. What are these boxes? They are packages that contain items and goods. When you open them it is somewhat like a lottery or slot machine, items spin around and you win something. There are tons of rare and unique items that pop up.

Characters are pretty cool, a selection of mercenaries are available for you to grow your army. All those little items popping out of the boxes give you opportunity to gear up all the characters that follow your main toon through the game. I can’t say I’ll invest a great deal of time in the game, but for something different now and then it’s better than most of the free to play games sweeping the industry.

Dan@mogs.com

SWG Entertainer/Trader GCW Banner Suggestion

I’ve been thinking about what to do about the GCW banners for a ranking Entertainer or Trader. Why not make it so that anyone of the same faction gets double the buff from Entertainers, I’m not talking about duration either. It would help those that have no 5 piece set. Sure it would make those of that do stronger but that’s just part of the game.

For the Trader profession its a bit more difficult, for a Domestics Trader why not make their GCW banners give double the buff of the food/drink that a person has. This would also give a boost to the economy due to the fact that people would be more inclined to get the best foods that they can. For a Weaponsmith, Droid engineer, and Armorsmith the banners could give a Trader prof specific buff, like say 5% bonus to armor or weapon damage. A structures traders GCW banner could give a bonus to armor protections, maybe another 5% bonus.

This all in turn would give people a reason to play their crafters in space to get GCW or even try their hands at ground combat with Traders. If crafters and entertainers will (finally) play an active role in the GCW with the GCW update then the rewards obtained from GCW ranks should also be updated to include these professions.

Microsft Bans Modded XBox 360 Units

A big launch can lead to big piracy, especially with the console version of Modern Warfare 2, which was available online for modded Xbox 360 systems for a week or more before launch. Microsoft knows you shouldn’t be playing the game before its official release, and activity on Xbox Live gives them an easy target. Consequently, an unknown number of consoles have been permanently banned from Xbox Live.

The techniques Microsoft uses to separate those who have wrangled early copies of the game from retailers and pirates remain nebulous, but once a console has been banned from Xbox Live, the system is useless to anyone who wishes to play online. That’s a problem—or an opportunity— for the second-hand market, as waves of banned consoles are now up for sale on eBay and craigslist.

No online play, but free games!

The banned consoles come preloaded with hacks and, in many cases, copies of popular games. The problem isn’t with gamers who knowingly buy a banned system in order to play copies of software or to simply enjoy offline, the issue is that there is no easy way to check if a console has been banned or not aside from logging into Xbox Live.

Microsoft’s Major Nelson put it bluntly “This would also be a good time to remind you that the warranty on an Xbox 360 console is not transferrable and if you purchase a used console that has been previously banned, you will not be able to connect to Xbox Live,” he explained. If you’re in the market for a used system, in other words, this is a large risk with the seemingly high number of banned consoles hitting the secondary market.
The problem is that when a retailer like GameStop takes a system in, it at the very most will plug the unit into a television to make sure it works. No one is going to connect the system to an Internet connection to check and see if the console has been banned. You can’t tell by looking at it, and if you find yourself in possession of a banned console, Microsoft is going to be unsympathetic to your plight.

There is no magic bullet. Many systems that have been banned are being sold with the caveat that online play has been disabled on the unit, but it’s impossible to tell how many Xbox 360 systems are being put on eBay or traded in to GameStop that can no longer go online. If you’re buying a system on the secondary market, this is a good question to ask.  If you’re buying at a store, be sure to check out the return or exchange policy if it turns out the system has been banned.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to keep Xbox LIVE safe and secure for the more than 8 million members of our community, it is our policy to ban modified consoles from the Xbox LIVE service. We have found that a small percentage of gamers are playing with modded boxes which would potentially compromise the gameplay experience for other gamers on the service. We believe that even one modded console on the system is one too many. That said, if one of our customers feels like his or her console was wrongly banned from the service, he or she can contact 1-880-4my-xbox.”

The downside to modded consoles

A pirated game is copyright infringement, not theft, and it’s doubtful that the cops are going to bust in your door simply for buying an inexpensive modded system loaded with burned games. If you’re not modding systems for profit or putting your tools online, it’s a civil, not criminal, infraction of the law. Having a modded console may put you on the wrong side of the DMCA, but the authorities have much bigger fish to fry when it comes to criminal action and lawsuits.

That being said, you’ll never be able to update your system to the newest firmware. You won’t be able to play against your friends online. So many of the features that make the Xbox 360 worth owning are tied into Xbox Live; permanently banned systems are crippled in a very tangible way. With systems available new for as low as $200 and used, non-banned systems available for less if you do some digging, it’s not worth giving up so much just to save a few bucks.

Releases of huge titles like Modern Warfare 2 lead to spikes in piracy, which is a good excuse for Microsoft to bust out the Xbox Live ban hammer. It’s doubtful that this deters pirates in any real way, but it’s an inconvenience, and may work to discourage gamers who may be tempted by piracy. So be aware of what you’re buying if you’re in the market, and be sure you understand just how much you’re giving up by buying a modded system, no matter how many games it comes with.