I'm all aTwitter about Skype Chat

For those of you who have downloaded Skype, I've added a Skype me button on my widget column (right hand side). In addition, I've created a Call of Duty chatroom in Skype.

Skype me, or see if anyone's in the chatroom!



You can download Skype at http://www.skype.com

Also, I've added a Twitter status page, so you can see what your humble BASH host is up to (so Alicia...save yourself some money, honey - call off the private eye - now, there's no need to have me followed!).

Matt Pruitt on BASH

Matt Pruitt, site director Fox Interactive Media/IGN Entertainment (planetcallofduty.com) is my very special guest on Episode 18 of BASH.

Matt talks to the BASH listenership about Call of Duty 4: Modern War.


Some of the questions addressed:

Why is Activision moving the series to modern warfare? And doesn’t modern war hit a bit too close to home?

Was the CoD4 trailer all gameplay? Or was it partially CGI?

What software engine will CoD4 use?

Is it true CoD4’s environment is completely destructible? What about multiplayer?

When will CoD4 be released?

Use Itunes to subscribe to the BASH webcast - or click on the link to the webcast (look to the right) to listen!

Simulated war against terror: CoD4 vs. Forterra

Knowing immediately what to do when faced with real world violence can sometimes separate success from tragedy.

The ability for soldiers to make the right decision even in the most anxious of scenarios usually lies with the training they have received.

Even in today's complex threat environment, training is as important as ever. U.S. soldiers need to be as conversant in large-scale warfare as they are in micro-warfare as found in the war against terror. For this reason, it is now wonder that the U.S. government leans on Forterra System's new Asymmetric Warfare Virtual Training Technology simulator (AW-VTT) to train their troops.

Contrast the simulation (click on photo) put together by Forterra and Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. You will never complain about modern game graphics again!

Raw Meat: Vegan Call of Duty player gets pwned

Jock Yitch, (c) 2007

BASH Culinary Expert and Diet Columnist

In a spectacular act of futility last night, vegan and well-known pacifist, Lance Boyle, a.k.a. "Cholesterol", as he is known in the online gaming world, managed to die a grand total of one-hundred and twelve times during a fifteen minute game of Call of Duty 2, Capture the Flag (CTF).

This feat of daring-do-not, came within three deaths of the current all-time record for being killed in a game of CTF. That honor of course goes to the late Finnish CoD2 player, Kai Knukleheden ({XMF} Shoot-me-now): 185 consecutive deaths.

While Knukleheden would later attribute his lack of skill to "a spate of bad luck", Boyle has not yet admitted any such deficiency.

This afternoon, BASH caught up with "Cholesterol" and we asked him where his game went horribly wrong.

BASH: Mr. Boyle, you were killed one-hundred and twelve times in twenty minutes, that's once every ten seconds. Were you having trouble focusing last night?

BOYLE: No more than usual. Well, about ten minutes in I got a bit of a cramp in my index finger. I worked it out eventually, but other than that, no I was perfectly fine.

BASH: How do you explain the number of deaths then?

BOYLE: The truth is that my philosophy...

BASH: ...you being a vegan?

BOYLE: No, my being a pacifist, requires me not to commit violence upon anyone.

BASH: It's a video game Mr. Boyle.

BOYLE: To you, but to me it is a way of life.

BASH: I saw some of the video from last night's game. Time after time people drew down on you and yet you turned the other cheek. And in a very troubling sequence, one opponent, {XMF} Cornholer, not only raked you with gunfire, but how shall I say this, he "tea-bagged" you.

BOYLE: All true. Though Cornholer told me it was a chamomile teabag. It's a pacifist's drink...how could you get angry over that.

BASH: Dude, your whole team deserted you. After death number fifty, they stopped auto-assigning and switched sides. Surely, that must have affected your morale?

BOYLE: Not really. Did Dr. King lose heart at Selma? Did Gandhi give up when he couldn't pronounce "Satyagraha" the first few times?

BASH: I suppose not. But why Call of Duty? Why not pick a game more in keeping with the pacifist philosophy? Maybe even join "Second Life".

BOYLE: Well, truth be told, my girlfriend, Sky, thinks I'm a wimp. By playing CoD2, I wanted to show her I'm not. She told me that CoD2 is played by overly aggressive macho types. And to take the kind of beating I took last night - it takes more than machismo. My opponents totally pwned my ass - and I kept coming back for more. I was a man.

How 'bout that, Sky? Now will you love me?

Oh...and the graphics totally rock. You want some cherry flavored tofu?

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BASH: Episode 17 Malware End of the Beginning

Show notes to BASH: Episode 17.

In last episode's show we zipped through some very important points.

We talked about the reasons why you should keep your operating system patched to the latest revision and we told you why it is important to use both a hardware and a software firewall when you go online.

We also recommended that you not to log into your computer as a System Administrator - instead log in as a simple user with no admin privileges. This way if a virus tried to install itself while you were logged in, it could not because you have insufficient privileges to install software as a simple user.

On today's show we go into some depth on changing your behavior on line and finally we round out the show by telling you what software you can use to fight malware. Let's first talk about changing your behavior.

First off, don’t open email attachments, even if the email is from a friend. Email attachments are the number one way viruses and Trojan horses spread and can get into your system. Turn off HTML email in your email browser.

The problem is that HTML email contains commands that can be executed by your email client. Some of these commands can be used maliciously to exploit common security holes. This can lead you to be exposed to spam, computer viruses, and worms.

On Windows machines, if you have ActiveX enabled, HTML email can directly infect your computer (without you even opening an attachment). Spam emailers embed viruses in their email that report back to the spammer that your email address is a valid address, this makes you even more vulnerable to spam.

HTML email can also embed JavaScript that will track forwarded HTML email and transmit text that has been added! This is known as "email wire tapping". It's no wonder that the U.S. Dept. of Defense has blocked HTML email.

If you do decide to read an HTML email, make sure you do not enable ActiveX, and instruct your email client to turn off JavaScript.

While we are speaking of email, don’t click links in email. Hackers regularly spoof the real link they want you to browse. For example you may think the link says cnn.com but in reality the hacker could actually be directing you to hack.com. If you need to go to some one's link, manually copy and paste the link into your browser. If the link is spoofed you'll see the real address in your browser's address window.

Now that we've modified some of your behavior - at least with respect to emailing, let's get to the final point for today: fighting fire with fire. That is, using software to fight malware.

I'll introduce you to some cool websites where you can download *mostly free* must have software that will allow you to stay safe on the Net so that you can spend more time gaming.

1. Anti Virus software.

Antivirus software has really become big business recently as organized crime, especially in Eastern Europe, has gotten into the game. The number of infections is way up and thus the number of Antivirus programs have rapidly increased. But, how do you know which one to buy?

Well, there's an excellent site that ranks these programs called:

http://www.av-comparatives.org

In their latest testing they found that the number one program for malware detection and removal is not Norton, or Macafee but a program called AVIRA, which can be found at:

http://www.avira.com

At over 99% detection rate - that is it detected 99% of the malware av-comparatives used in their tests. AVIRA beat out other more well known products such as Kaspersky antivirus which finished 5th and Symantec (the makers of Norton) which ended up 6th. These two programs had a detection rate of about 1% below AVIRA. McAfee, another popular program, was a lowly 14th on the av-comparatives rating chart at slightly above 90% detection rate.

Another program making a big splash with the critics lately is something called: NOD32 does both anti-virus and anti-spyware. It has optimized disk scanning, low memory usage and uses a very small footprint on your system; that is, it doesn't take up much in the way of system resources. The website for NOD32 can be found at:

http://www.eset.com

The previous programs I mentioned were not free by the way.

Now, looking at antivirus programs as a gamer, I want a program that has a small footprint. That is, takes up few system resources and does not lag my computer while I am playing - and if it's free, even better (after all, i want to spend my money on my next video card).

Well, clearly Norton and McAfee don't cut it in this respect. In fact, I highly suggest you remove these two programs off your machine if you have them...that is, if you are serious about playing online games. I personally have found a 30-40 ms increase in ping with these installed. They take up a lot of system resources. Sadly, it is very difficult to remove most antivirus from your system - ironic given that it is just as difficult to remove a virus of your system. Just going into control panel and removing them with the Add/Remove program tool is not satisfactory.

Norton and McAfee pose special problems in this regard, so if you have either of these programs and you would like to remove them you can download purpose built removal tools from Symantec and McAfee.

Use these links to download these tools:

Symantec:
Download the Norton Removal Tool: Norton Removal Tool

McAfee:
Download the McAfee Removal Tool: McAfee Removal Tool

Check out the article:

How to uninstall supported McAfee consumer products using the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR.exe).

Now, even using these tools may not completely remove all traces of mcafee or norton. For that reason you might want to Google how to remove these completely from your computer. For example,

http://www.askdavetaylor.com

will show you how to remove Norton.

We know what not to use...what should we use?
My personal recommendation is AVG 7.0. It is completely free and runs with a very low footprint - both great reasons for me to endorse it as a great antivirus for gamers.

AVG's website:

http://free.grisoft.com

and can be downloaded from:

http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition

finished 8th in the antivirus comparison. And as advertised they off their antivirus scanning and repair program AVG for free. In addition to an anti-virus program, AVG also offers a free Anti-Rootkit tool. AVG Anti-Rootkit is a program that can detect and remove rootkits. Rootkits are used to hide the presence of a malicious programs like trojans. If a malware program uses rootkit technology to hide itself it is very hard to find it on your PC.

Now, some folks on the Devil Dogz swear by another free low foot print antivirus package called Avast.

http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition

If you just want to know if you are infected then head to:

http://www.infectedornot.com

where you can get a free scan to see if you are indeed infected by malware.

This site is owned by Panda Software who started it after they discovered that in 2006 more malware was circulating than in the previous 15 years combined. The spread of malware infections was huge and it was now getting worse and worse. As explained to me by one of their spokespeople, Panda Software decided to launch their Infected Or Not campaign.

At their website you can quickly check if your computer is currently running malware using Panda Nanoscan. This checks your RAM for viruses however, we recommend a much deeper scan of your whole harddrive. For that reason you should try the PandaTotalScan.

Panda told me that so far, the numbers have been really impressive: almost 60% of the scanned computers are infected.

The only downside to the scan is that it requires you to turn on ActiveX. ActiveX downloads and executes programs on your computer. This is an easy way to download viruses. So don't forget to shut off ActiveX after you have scanned your machine. However, Panda Software is a respected company and very well known in the software security industry, and I would doubt they would risk alienating their customers by uploading any sort of malicious code to your machine so you should be safe letting them scan your system.

Antivirus programs in general have very sophisticated algorithms inside to detect what is and what isn't a virus. For that reason you should never run more than one antivirus program - I wouldn't even recommend have two on your drive - never mind having them both running. It is not uncommon for the two programs to think the other is a virus.

We told you that no antivirus is 100% effective. Therefore there is some chance that you may have been infected by malware, like a Trojan or a virus. If you have been infected, I'm afraid to tell you that it is very difficult to clean them off your system. Lately, viruses are being programmed to be unobtrusive and therefore, it is getting harder and harder to find them and root them out.

Sadly, some of the better malware actually target the more popular antivirus programs and will try to fool them into thinking you are clean.

This next tool is especially useful if you think you think your antivirus software has been compromised. You may not even know you have this software but you do. If you have XP you can simply go into Start, click on run and type in mrt.exe, this command will run Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool. If you don’t have mrt.exe it you can download it free from Microsoft. It is not a very comprehensive virus cleaning tool but they scan and remove some pretty nasty viruses. So try scanning with this one. BTW, this tool is not meant to be antivirus software – it’s made for specific viruses that try to fool your system into thinking you are clean.
In conclusion, I’m sad to say that if you have been infected, the only 100% proof positive way to ensure you completely clean off the infection is to re-install your operating system from scratch.

2. Anti-Spyware Programs

Many antivirus programs come with anti-spyware programs. Again, in my opinion spyware and virus programs are near enough the same thing - but technically they are labelled differently.
Two programs I highly recommend to keep you clean of spyware are:

a) Lavasoft's ADAWARE

A free program, that can be downloaded at:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com

this software has been around for years and is continuously updated. It will automatically detect spyware in realtime. I run both this and my second choice for Anti-spyware:

b) Spybot Search and Destroy

http://www.safer-networking.org

This program has become a bit long in the tooth: it's finding only about 90% of all spyware. When you use it with ADAWARE you get a potent combination that finds most of the spyware around these days.

There’s one more class of software you might be interested in and these are what I call:

3. Monitoring programs.

These programs are antivirus programs but they do check for suspicious activities…

One such program in Zonealarm – which is a software firewall, but it detects malware trying to phone home, so it falls into this category – and we talked about it last time.

Another of these types of programs is a little free program called Winpatrol.

http://www.download.com/WinPatrol

WinPatrol detects if any piece of malicious code has set itself up on your computer system. It does this by taking a picture of your key system resources and running processes and lets you know if any changes have occurred. Processes are programs that run in the background. Most of these that will be listed by WinPatrol are normal Windows operating system services.

Malicious programs do occasionally install services of their own, however. WinPatrol can alert you of these and you can disable them as you see fit.

While most antivirus programs are automated, this great little allows you to know exactly what is going on in your system and allows you to do something about it.

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CoD4 Trailer Intel

Jock Yitch, (c) 2004
BASH Intelligence Officer and Director of Oxymoron Operations

We have reviewed the 480p HD Call of Duty 4 Trailer, which you can download form charlieoscardelta.com, in an attempt to identify some of the military hardware that will be used in Activision's new game.

Here is what we have found:

6 sec: Boat interdiction, rain, nighttime.

What appears to be a UH-60 Black Hawk (or variant) flying at night in heavy rain comes across a ship at sea. Are these British Counter-terrorism SAS commandos inside the chopper? They appear to be wearing a one-piece assault suit, with knee and elbow pads and the soldiers also appear to have respirators. This would be in keeping with CT SAS. However, the chopper is American (you can barely make out the word "STATES" on the tail) and the SAS do not have Black Hawks in their arsenal. So this is a curious opening sequence.

8 sec: Boat interdiction, rain, nighttime.
Close up of one of the suspected British commandos dangling out the side of the helicopter.

9 sec: Forest, twilight.
Mi8 Hip lowering a group of what looks like Russian(?) Spetsnaz troops into forested mountainous terrain. The troops are carrying heavy assault weapons.

12 sec: Camo-force in tall grass, broad daylight.

Logo in the background suggests a hammer and sickle similar to that used on the old U.S.S.R. flag. Soldier waves unseen comrades forward. He's carrying what looks like a variation of an M4 carbine with silencer.

15 sec: Urban assault force, night.

View through night vision goggles. Soldier with a shotgun and night goggles breaks down a door in a middle east(?) town.

16 sec: Boat interdiction, rain, nighttime.

Helmeted, commandos (presumably from helicopter) have landed on the cargo ship and are combing through the vessel. They are armed with heavy assault weapons. Their faces are covered and are wearing padded vests and knee/shin protectors.

18 sec: Helicopter assault, daylight in a sea-side Middle Eastern town.

Eight UH-60 Blackhawks enter from the left of the screen in a scene reminiscent of Acopalypse Now! Side close-up of a U.S. soldier on the side of one of the helicopters. Three soldiers carrying assault weapons can be seen already on the ground moving left to right, weapons pointed.

20 sec: Middle Eastern Town, twilight.

Helmeted soldiers of what appears to be middle-eastern descent are getting into a vehicle. A red and white keffiyeh appears around their necks. The soldiers are carrying AK-47's. From the audience point of view, you are ushered into the back seat of the car and summarily beaten with the stock of an AK-47 by a ski-masked soldier (2-way radio in his pocket suggests the soldier may be the group's leader).

22 sec: Empty airliner

Helmeted, commandos (dressed similar to those who attacked the cargo vessel) walk slowly through a wide body airliner. This is either a very large business jet or the first class cabin of a commercial airliner. The aircraft seems empty. Most seem to be using MP4 variants and one appears to be armed with an MP5A3.

23 sec: Star and Sabres on red background.

Flag similar to former Soviet union flag. Sabres lend an islamic twist to the symbolism. Whose flag is this?

24 sec: Forest, twilight.
Airborne assault troops meet resistance. Trip mine?

24 sec: FLIR image from AC130 Spectre.

Eight man (platoon?) of enemy combatants visible in a FLIR image taken at nighttime. Aircraft appears to be 6003 feet above ground level. We are assuming this is from an AC130 given the three gun selections available on the scope. 25mm, 40mm and 105mm.

28 sec: Middle Eastern Town, twilight.

Two arab gunmen enter picture. Lead gunman appears to be hit by a projectile and somersaults.

28 sec: Forest, twilight.
Special forces ranger (Russian?) shoots older man in head with pistol.

30 sec: American attack on arab position, twilight.

American foot soldiers attack Arab gunmen in an urban setting. AH-1 Huey Cobras are in support. Multiple RPG's are fired from the Arab side (apartment complex). The soldiers must be Marines, they're the only ones who operate Cobras.

35 sec: Gritty Middle Eastern urban scene (laundry hanging)

Two Mig-29's fly low over urban scene as an American soldier walks past. The problem here is that the two aircraft that fly overhead are air-superiority fighters - not tactical fighters. What are they doing so low? Also, the lead and wingman are nearly at each others 3-9 line (line-abreast). Why would they fly line-abreast over the FLOT (forward line of troops). This is clearly a dangerous area they are flying in and they are very l-o-w! U.S. doctrine over Kosovo for example forbade pilots to fly below 10,000 ft. These two Sierra-Hotel pilots are just waitin' to get their butts waxed. 10 points for the flyover effect IW - but minus 5 for realism.

37 sec: Middle Eastern Town, twilight.

Dead bodies of keffiyeh wearing soldiers are strewn around scene. Black garbed militia man (no keffiyeh) armed with AK-47 staggers past.

38 sec: Forest, twilight.
Three special forces soldiers climb hill. Snow is falling.

39 sec: Twilight, Rocket launcher base.

Hatch opens on what is presumably a nuclear launch tube. High hilly ground surrounds launcher.

40 sec: German Shepherd dogs patroling.

42 sec: Helicopter assault, daylight in a sea-side Middle Eastern town.
Americans repel from Black Hawks into town.

44 sec: Helicopter assault, daylight in a sea-side Middle Eastern town.
Arab militaman with RPG attacks American troops.

46 sec: Arab courtyard.

Leatherjacketed bald man hands silver pistol to bearded commander of what appears to be an elite Arab force. The pistol could be a Desert Eagle 0.50 calibre.

46 sec: Armored assault.
American tank deflects RPG and then crushes an automobile.

48sec: American attack on Arab position, twilight.
U.S. infantryman goes down after being hit in right hip.

51 sec: Gritty Middle Eastern urban scene

U.S. infantryman points M-16A2 towards unseen highrises. Mig-29 overflight heads off into distance.

51 sec: Arab guards, nighttime.
Arabs carrying multiple RPG's lit up by laser scopes and shot.

54 sec: Armored assault.
Closeup of American troops assaulting Arab held town with heavy armor backup: M1A1 Abrams in background.

55 sec: American attack on Arab position, twilight.
AH-1 shot down.

56 sec: Twilight, Rocket launcher base.

Appears to be a Russian setting...difficult to tell. Vehicle explodes just to the right of a missile silo and to the left of Hangar 6. Soldier walking past open hatch of missile silo. Was a Russian silo taken over by terrorists? Soldier goes down as vehicle explodes.

58 sec: Mi-8 assault.
Russian(?) soldiers repel from Mi-8 helicopters while being fired on by Arab militia with RPG's hiding in a bus.

59 sec: Night scope view.
Arab looking soldier wearing keffiyeh and carrying an AK-47 leg sweeps an American soldier and shoots him with a pistol. The point of view is from someone on the ground through a night scope.

1:01: American attack on Arab position, twilight.
American soldier carrying a light machine gun does a baseball-slide to avoid gun-fire.

1:02: Middle Eastern Town, twilight.
Abrams fires a round into a built up area.

1:04 sec: Boat interdiction, rain, nighttime.
Front view of helicopter and cargo ship.

1:05 sec: FLIR image from AC130 Spectre.
AC130 fires 40mm cannon into target.

1:06 sec: Air to ground missile.

Air to ground missile strikes a tank and blows it up. The missile does not appear to be an anti-tank weapon (seems more like an air-to-air missile).

1:17 sec: Nuclear strike aftermath.
Was this caused by terrorists?

1:26 sec: Boat interdiction, rain, nighttime.
Back to the SAS(?) special forces soldier on the helicopter as he is about to board the cargo ship he slips on his respirator.

Please let us know if you can ID any of the hardware on the trailer.
Post corrections and/or comments below or email me at jockyitch@devil-dogz.com

Related posts:

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CoD4: More multimedia

More CoD4 files!

Matthew Pruitt's planetcallofduty.com has some great new multimedia links for CoD4 including a great .mov file that depicts a Blackhawk crew being flown into combat. As well, there's a new version of the CoD4 trailer with some added scenes.

Check out his site!

This guy needs a diagnosis, Dr Phil.

Boom Headshot - Funny bloopers R us

What do you think Dr. Phil would say 'bout this dude?

Dr. Phil: dodge this bullet

Dr. Phil, known to many North Americans as Oprah Winfrey's T.V. psychologist, is a vocal critic against video game violence. A few days ago, his criticism of the gaming world stepped over the line.

Dr. Phil claimed that the Virginia Tech shootings, an act performed by a lunatic (by any one's definition), was due to violent video games.

“The problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me - common sense tells you - that if these people are playing video games where they’re on a mass killing spree in a video game, it’s glamorized on the big screen, it’s become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath, or someone suffering from mental illness, add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is just too high. And we’re going to have to start dealing with that. We’re going to have to start addressing those issues and recognizing that the mass murderers of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose.”

For Dr. Phil, the fact that this homicidal psychopath once played the first person shooter game Counterstrike made the link to violence solid as steel.

Like many in the gaming community, I am frustrated that the main stream intelligentsia trots out it's usual target, gaming, every time a tragic event like the Virginia Tech shootings occur. They blame the desensitizing effect of video games on the increased chance that players resort to real-world violence. Hours and hours of headshots and nade tossing makes us more likely to take out our frustrations on our colleagues and loved ones I suppose.

To be sure there are numerous studies that suggest a link between exposure to violence or violent images and violence itself.

The point I would like to make here is that there are many sources of violence and violent images - why single out video games?

Television, radio, contemporary music? Don't tell me that those media are free from violent imagery or refrain from descriptions of violence.

Let's look at the effect of television on increasing our exposure to violence.

In 1992, TV Guide ordered a study of a typical eighteen hour television broadcast day to assess the level of violence shown. TV networks and the cable channels were monitored for "purposeful, overt, deliberate behavior involving physical force or weapons against other individuals."

TV Guide reported that there were 1,846 acts of violence as follows:

cartoons 471
promos for TV shows 265
movies 221
toy commercials 188
music videos 123
commercials for films 121
TV dramas 69
news 62
tabloid reality shows 58
sitcoms 52
soap operas 34

That's a great deal of exposure.

Apparently, after reading the statistics, former TV mega-mogul Ted Turner was quoted as saying: "They're guilty of murder. We all are -- me too."

So it's Ted's fault! I knew it.

I'm sure previous generations were much less prone to kill - as they were exposed to much less violence.

Um. Maybe not. My parents went through a little thing called World War II. You may have heard about it Dr. Phil (don't Google it...the pictures might upset you). The folks who came through that experience seemed to have done alright; although, they were a bit tightly wound - army training tends to do that of course.

After WWII came Korea, a war that apparently was caused by politicians reading too many comic books.

My generation (somewhere between the baby boomers and Gen X) have apparently been desensitized towards violence by newspapers, radio and television since we were five years old. I have not found any of my peers any more or less caring and loving than the previous generation that came before.

Recently we have had Gulf War I and II and we now are going through the messy occupation of Iraq. We have had to constantly deal with the images from these events on the nightly news. I am sure that has done some desensitization. Funny though...I don't hear Dr. Phil say anything about that.

You would think that all the televised stories about people strapping themselves with nitro and blowing themselves up at their version of the local Publix would have provoked a stronger response from the good doctor.

Before this week's Virginia Tech massacre, the most deadly school shooting in history took place at the University of Texas in Austin, way back in 1966. This seriously predates video games.

Those damn comic books!

But what of the video game link?

Violent video games do tend to attract people already pre-disposed to violence and could skew the anecdotal evidence of them affecting our behavior.

For me, my experience with FPS's and the like is that they do not perceptibly make me more likely to reach for a gun or a club (a mouse...maybe). Nor have they desensitized me: yes, I still cry at weddings and funerals.

Phil's comments on the VT tragedy must be clearly viewed as a cynical ploy to get his name injected into that week's news cycle. Those good folks who perished did so at the hand of a raving loon. A loon who gave ample warning. By the way, warnings that should have been picked up by Dr. Phil's colleagues.

There is more exposure to simulated violence nowadays. But I'd rather it be fake violence than the actual thing. As a kid I played cowboys and injuns. Nowadays, kids play it online. Two hundred years ago, our ancestors were playing it for real. Progress I think.

Please spend a minute thinking about those who perished last week.

http://www.vt.edu/tragedy/list.php

Gimme a shout if you're in a bind

This article may now be found here: BASHandSlash.com

Word: COD4, an early critique

This is the first, of what we hope will be a regular series of guest editorials from an outspoken CoD combatant and wordsmith, Morphine Fiend. Mr. Fiend has agreed to share his thoughts on CoD4 with the BASH...the blog readership. For reasons which will become self-evident, we're dubbing his editorials: "Word". Morph has chosen CoD4 as his first editorial - perhaps in response to the criticism I meted out against early critics of CoD4.

All the opinions in Word are Morphine Fiend's. So, if you have any issues or comments, please direct your fire to him. Lol. Please post any comments below, or email him directly at: morphinefiend@devil-dogz.com.

- Jock Yitch, BASH

Word: COD4, an early critique
May 2, 2007 Edition
by Morphine Fiend
BASH Guest Editorial

Today, I take issue with Call of Duty 4.

I realize that my position may be unpopular with gamers, but I am not excited about Call of Duty 4 at all. I abhor the mere thought of moving this game series to the modern day era. I believe that there are a vast number of avenues that this franchise could have gone down in World War II.

I for one, would have liked to have seen Call of Duty take on the Pacific Theatre of Operations. I am stunned that they steered clear of that front altogether, especially after the recent Hollywood offerings—Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima.

Far be it for me to criticize the work that everyone at Infinity Ward and Activision have put into their latest offering. The trailer is visually appealing and extremely smooth. I applaud all of the talented designers, programmers, coders, and such in the work that they do. However, I do feel as if Call of Duty for the PC is a game that has been abandoned, neglected, and generally discarded. I say this due to the lack of expansion packs, new gametypes, new maps, and many other additions that could have been made. Activision and Infinity Ward introduced the use of vehicles in UO. I for one would love to be able to hop into a jeep, tank, Deuce and a Half, or even a motorcycle. Yes, I am aware that an expansion pack is in the works, but it was gamers who created this idea, and are working on it.

I like the modern warfare era too, so don’t get me wrong by any means…please, I implore you. I believe that part of the reason that World War II first person shooters are so popular to begin with is because they’re familiar. A lot of people have seen Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day, and the list goes on and on. The young men who fought during that war were amazing--their stories captivating. These were young men who overcame insurmountable obstacles and odds to challenge evil and tyranny half the way around the world. Their story deserves to be told, their actions honored, and the lessons they learned taught. They did not ask, nor did they want, to become heroes. Actions and fate come together under dire circumstances to breed honor, bravery, and duty. These young men wanted peace, quiet, and a guarantee that they could raise families and live long lives away from the horrors that they witnessed, read about, and saw at the matinees in their movie theaters.

I believe that “playing war” cheapens what young men and women are doing for real every day. Soldiers are living today the threats, atrocities, fear, and horrors that will be coming tomorrow to our consoles and PC’s. For that reason I am uncomfortable "playing" at a war that is being experienced by our soldiers - right now. World War II however, is a distant experience from today's reality. It's distance allows me to view it objectively and play it dispassionately. For that reason, I feel that playing a WWII game actually honors the exploits of the soldiers who served during that time: I am remembering their sacrifice.

The sacrifices made in today's wars are too visceral and immediate. Playing out those sacrifices in near real time simply diminishes their importance.

Word.

Morphine Fiend
morphinefiend@devil-dogz.com

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COD4 Editorial: Lamers and flamers

BASH Editorial: Jock Yitch

Activision has finally officially stated that their Call of Duty series will continue in a new setting: the modern age. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was announced today and whereas we still as yet do not know whether CoD4 will even be released to the PC platform, rumors and leaks released to industry wags suggest it will.

Yet, not one hour after the release of the CoD4 trailer by Activision, a cursory scan of gamer forums resulted in posts that were similar to these:

The jaded:

Just saw the trailer. Arab jihadists,rogue Russian generals and military chatter. "Been there, done that" is an understatement..
- BAFOMET

The faded:

Gah! What a horrible setting. It's ether going to be a right-wing propaganda wankfest, or a limp-wristed PC pile of crap! Yay! Surely there are more wars then just WWII to base games on. There's even a few where the Americans didn't make a complete arse of themselves, so why pick this other to generate contrvesy (sic)?

-Poisoned Al

The traditionalists:

I'm a little disappointed that it's not going to be a WWII game...I'm even more disappointed, however, that this looks like yet another "Hunt the Terrorists!" game, which I find incredibly stupid...it appears that they are going to grab the low hanging fruit of a glorified WMD hunt in the desert.
-EVEWALKER

The completely daft:

Seriously, its about time. The WWII games are fun and what not, but they've reached their limit. If the actual battle was pretty lame in itself (from a gamer's standpoint, mostly because there were no lasers), then a video game about it can't be that much better. The game-play and graphics were great in all of the previous games, but the limits on weapons and movement (no agility orbs),makes the game just slow to begin with. I also propose a name change for thistitle, superpowered alienz don't have a "call of duty", they do whatever thef@#$ they want.

- FAPMaster

Those painting things black:

im not buying this crap.. i might never buy a IW game again...
-Joueflux

Can you imagine a programmer or graphic artist at IW reading these quotes? If you can, then also imagine, that you have spent the last year hunched over your computer every day so that the gaming public can get a little bit of entertainment after a hum-drum day. I guess you would expect a thank you from this same public, but on the contrary you get this tripe. Geez, you might just decide to chuck it all in and send your resume off to the group doing Super-Mario: the Las Vegas Adventures.

It is very disturbing to me that the gamers are no longer awed by the incredible realism of today's computer simulations. Games are being rendered at a level of detail we all thought unattainable only a decade ago.

Even with what comes close to a Star-Trek Holodeck in their homes, gamers have turned to contemptuous criticism against the very makers of the programs that supposedly give them so much joy. This is cheap, unschooled criticism leveled against picayune targets: the game has no lasers, I am bored with yet another extremely-detailed World War II sim, the colors are to brownish.

What a joke.

These lamers - not gamers - feel the need to criticize the artists who make these epic programs not because they have a genuine gripe, but clearly to counter their deep sense of inferiority. It always make you feel good if you can knock someone who has achieved success. Make you feel important, right?

The whithering criticism of CoD4 from these haters is not only unjustified it is damn near libelous.

If you want criticism, then let's be critical not whiny, try these on for size:

The negative:

- Yes, I do think there were some CGI effects mixed in with game footage in the Modern Warfare trailer. Wouldn't be a first for Activision. I can tell you that after seeing the CoD2 trailers I was AMAZED that the game played nearly identical to what I had seen. So I'm giving the folks at Activision a big pass on this one.

- I agree, the dogs (shown for a split second, mid trailer) were hideously rendered RELATIVE to the rest of the graphics in the trailer.

- There was no indication whether in game physics would finally be applied to the bullets in the game. This is the real elephant in the room with CoD. I can aim two miles downrange and never have to compensate for gravity. Raytracing insta-hit bullets are a sop to the arcade crowd. The game would be much harder to play - and that is what most of these elitist "critics" are looking for right? Well why doesn't anyone ever complain or want true ballistics in the game? Could it be that for all the CoD haters out there that despise the game for its arcady style - actually enjoy the arcade experience?

- There are many folks that think the WWII FPS scenario is out of style and thus embrace a change to modern war. This problem faced the flight sim crowd years ago - something I am a little familiar with. I've noticed some parallels I will share with you. When you go from WWII scenarios to modern, many times you take tactical subtlety out of the game. However, in both genres, you are managing systems. In WWII the system was the sight and the trigger. In modern scenarios the system might be complex firing systems or organizing an integrated arms attack. They both offer challenges. I like diversity as much as anyone, but I like fidelity more than anything. I would rather take a high fidelity (good graphics, good sound) WWII any day over a low fidelity game of any genre. It's the PLAYABILITY stupid!

- For me, the big negative from yesterday's introduction of CoD4 was that there was no indication of the gaming platforms that the game will support. That's inexcusable as far as I'm concerned - but probably, this was done as a pure business decision. Another pass for Activision.

The positive:

- The game trailer had a huge amount of 'tude. And attitude is very important in the marketing of the game.

- The colors and look of the game were great. There was a strong blue tone throughout - and it made the game look really cool. Yes it took some flavour from the Clancy Rainbow Six series - but that's what art is all about. They haven't copied that game - they've borrowed elements of it. We all borrow elements from everywhere when we create. It's called *inspiration*.

- The level of detail in player animation was simply incredible: sliding tackles and leg sweeps are what we have to look forward to!

- Aircraft, armor and maybe even nuclear options!

- The graphics seemed to be good enough to wow me but were not too over-the-top. I may not have to buy a new computer just to run this game when it comes out.

Conclusion

Overall, the trailer has me wanting more and I really hope the rumors are true and we get PC support.

For the lamers and flamers out there...shut the computer down for a few hours and go read a book or something.

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare Trailer

Here's the trailer from youtube.com.

COD4: Trailer

Things are heating up fast on the Call of Duty 4 front. Here are a few links you'll need to check out:


Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare Trailer: http://www.youtube.com

Here is a 720p version - in surround sound: ve3d.ign.com

Or download it here: www.codhq.com


Now, check out screenshots from callofduty.com


The trailer is filled with tracer rounds and explosions, assault helicopters, night and laser scopes, roping ingresses, Arab terrorist types with a deft hand for spinning their 9mm cowboy-style, and of course RPG's.

Charlie Oscar Delta (Infinity Ward's CoD4 website): http://www.charlieoscardelta.com

Related articles:

CoD4: Modern Warfare Officially released