BASH

BASH is pleased to present Battlefield Bad Company 2’s producer, coming to us all the way from the home office of Digital Illusions CE (DICE) in Stockholm Sweden, it is none other than the legendary Gordon Van Dyke.

Gordon is on BASH to talk to us about all the awesome tech going into his new baby, BFBC2.

This is a wide-ranging interview and we cover a lot of ground. With me to help cover that ground with Gordon (aka “Lex Luthor”) is BASH regular, Garetjax from codtv.tv.

Among the interesting personal facts that Gordon drops our way is that he was a former competitive player (hence the “Lex Luthor” tags), but get this…he was also a PC modder. And his mods are the reason he got to work at DICE. I’m sure his street cred with our community just shot straight up, huh?

Of course we asked about BFBC2 as well.

- We go into depth on the Frostbite gaming engine.

- We talk about the possibilities of modding the game.

- We talk about the potential for competitive BFBC2 play.

- We of course talk about the fact that BFBC2 will have dedicated servers.

- The PC beta is also discussed.

Thanks to all the folks who helped make this cast happen: Gordon at DICE, Matt Pruitt, Jino T. and Kelly E. at EA. Thanks guys.

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Though it should have been a runaway romp, the marketing of Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to the iconic CoD4, has been a muddy slog.

Activision, the game’s publisher and Infinity Ward, its developer have seen the game’s release troubled by an ever growing list of issues, many of their own making.

MW2’s ball-handlers have dropped their fair share of pig-skin in the last few months. Here are just the lowlights:

- Activision brass increase the price of MW2 during the deepest recession since the Great One, just because they can. This causes great resentment even amongst the game’s fanboys.

- The PC community forges a 170,000+ petition demanding the restitution of dedicated servers after it pieces together the dev’s plot to have their online experience replaced by a peer-to-peer system.

- PC pre-orders of the game drop, as does Activision stock, soon after the news of the lack of dedi servers hits the internet.

- IW devs single out hardcore CoD PC gamers as bad influences. They are effectively fired. Modders, competitive gamers and tuners go into anaphylactic shock.

- PC Modders revolt after they see that their creativity is harvested and used blatantly in some of MW2’s more appealing features, without so much as any recognition (never mind any monetary compensation).

- Console gamers get a hold of MW2 DVD’s and begin live-streaming SP missions over the internet. Hundred’s of spoiler alerts go unheeded as the game’s closely guarded secrets get spilled.

- Pirated MW2 console torrents are being seeded across the world, two weeks before the game is officially released. This finally dispels the myth that illegal PC downloads were the real problem.

- CNN ireporters call in to say that MW2 lets kids play terrorist characters. The alleged opening scenes of MW2 see the wholesale slaughter of civilians. Acid-tongued CNN readers suggest that the only terrorism is the cancellation of dedicated servers.

To discuss these and many other topics are:

Rudedog from fpsadmin.com

Garetjax from codtv.tv

Bleed from omnilinkit.com

and our guests:

Josh from planetmedalofhonor.com and planetcallofduty.com

console expert Mattks from weplaycod.blogspot.com

competitive player, Andy “The Impaler” Coons from Loaded (goloaded.com)

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BASH 123 detonated over the CoD community like an atomic blast.

It has been a week now and we have all had a chance to recover.

On this week’s BASH, we look forward into the future of Call of Duty. A future that might be missing the elements that brought us into this game in the first place.

Today’s webcast features a status update on Modern Warfare 2, with an emphasis on community reaction.

We also talk about the stinging rebuttal from MW2 developer, Infinity Ward.  Jason West’s reply was particularly strong and no doubt a stiff rebuke to the outcry from PC gamers.

We talk about the success of the online petition against IW and the wisdom of a server strike.

After what has happened, will you buy this game?

SERVER GIVEAWAY!

On to show PC community solidarity is, friend of the show, jimmycorps (jimmycorps.com) who will give away a dedicated 60-slot Linux server to a lucky BASH listener.

Trivia question: Besides PST*Joker, who’s the only other person to win on an episode of BASH’s quiz show “Kill or Be Killed”.

Kill or Be Killed Ep 2

Kill or Be Killed Ep 1

We have on PST*Joker, Bleed, Josh Peckler, Mattks and Ian Tannehill to talk things CoD.

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Rob Bowling, community manager at Infinity Ward was kind enough to join our panel on BASH today. He let us in on the news that IW was taking Modern Warfare in a new direction. The online game on PC has changed. Dedicated servers are out. IW.net is in.

This is a game changer and many of you may not be too happy. I for one will be willing to listen and try it out. It’s all I can do.

For the folks in our community that mod and map, the future does not look as bright as the past.

Thanks to Rob, PST*Joker from mycallofduty.com, Rudedog from fpsadmin.com, Garetjax from codtv.tv, Josh from Planetmedalofhonor.com, MatTks from @weplaycod (Twitter) and weplaycod.com, iBleedv20 at omnilinkit.com and the hordes in our chatroom and ventrilo.

I’m glad the day is over.

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A hectic week for MW2 news junkies. There was a great deal of information released about the game. It started last weekend with the release of the Infamy video and it continued with the GTTV special on MW2.

However, what should have been  a straightforward marketing bonanza for Activision and IW became anything but…in the PC community that is.  Activision/IW lost the marketing highground and their message was hijacked by rumors of a delay in the PC SKU.

That’s our topic for today’s cast and with me to discuss the issue, as well as to talk about other relevant MW2 tidbits are Rudedog from fpsadmin.com and Xiao from Blackmonkeys.de.

And in a historic first for the program, BASH introduces MaTtKs from Twitter’s WePlayCod and weplaycod.net. Matt, a staunch CoD console community member is on to bring his community’s viewpoint into the cast. Welcome Matt!

In addition, we talk about Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising. How has the release process gone for this new FPS shooter?

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We have tried for some time to get Ian Tannehill, head of game at CEVO, to come on and talk to us but something has always gotten in the way. Whether it was food poisoning (…pork’s not as easy to cook as you might think!), or structural fires (Ian’s a much-in-demand firefighter) something has always kept us from having him come on the show and share his insight.

Well on this week’s BASH, we had Ian get up early to talk to us about the exciting end to season four of the CEVO-P season.

In addition to CEVO’s CoD guru, we have John from efragtv.com.

John and his shoutcasters casted the final game, which saw Loaded go up against Team Pandemic for CoD4 bragging rights in North America. John brings us his thoughts on the championship game and on the season.

Along with Ian and John are my co-hosts.  PST*Joker from mycallofduty.com, Bleed from omnilinkit.com and Rudedog from fpsadmin.com are on to discuss the rest of the news in the CoD world for this week.

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Has Activision’s plans to monetize Call of Duty left the PC irrevocably behind the console in relevance? Does it matter? Can our community do anything about it?

On to talk about these and other topics are pst*Joker from mycallofduty.com, Bleed from omnilinkit.com, John from efragtv.com, Arseynimz from Gamestah.com and Chris from blackmonkeys.de

Topics from the show:

Germans get MW2 without censorship (see source) What’s new in MW2 this week (perky question)? Is Activision leaving the PC community behind? Is there any PC game worth buying? Community info for September

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Today we present BASH 119, recorded live in prime time last Sunday night.

On with us to talk about MW2 was Rudedog, from fpsadmin.com, fresh from his experience at the IW Community Event in Los Angeles. He takes us into the event and tells us what happened and what Modern Warfare 2 has in store for the PC community.

Are we in for a bumpy ride? Also with us today is Garetjax from codtv.tv who will tell us his progress on the CoD:WW CoDTV front.

CoD:WW v1.6 was released this week and we marvel at the logistics of producing the mammoth downloads available to us. Has Treyarch become the developer of choice for the PC community? It sure looks that way to us!

Co-hosting the program with Jock are PST*Joker from mycallofduty.com and Bleed from omnilinkit.com.

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Thanks to Rudedog from fpsadmin.com, you get a chance to sit in on tonight’s MW2 community event in Los Angeles!

Rudedog tweets and skypes us all the info going on behind the scenes at MW2’s first showing to the glitterati of the gaming community.

PST*Joker and Sanity are on hand to listen in.

Thanks to the hundreds that came and listened live!

This cast is the raw, unedited audio of the live cast we did tonight at the community event.

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In this week’s episode, Jock and the gang discuss the Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer video “Flagrunner” that came out this week. Flagrunner shows Capture the Flag (CTF) being played. Missing in CoD4, Infinity Ward, MW2’s developer, has brought back CTF.

We have a big group on to discuss the video and every part of the CoD community is represented. pst*joker of mycallofduty.com, sam from omnilinkit.com, rudedog (fpsadmin.com) are back as well as first time BASHer, adam (aka Uzi) from the competitive gaming outfit Area51 (Area51gaming.com).

In addition to the MW2 vid…we discuss CoD:WW’s Map Pack 3 and its impending release to the PC community.

We touch on the state of CoD competitive gaming.

And finally, we look at the Demon Mod from Demon Seed…or “Bruce Wayne” as we know him by.

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Is that a disturbance in the Force I sense …or have the blackMonkeys.de just gone and created another great mod?

On today’s (live) BASH we bring on Xiao, spokesman for this prolific German modding group, to talk about the new total conversion mod for CoD4 that they are working on called…

STAR WARS: Galactic Warfare

Galactic Warfare is a total conversion, that means that you will not recognize that this was CoD4 other than by the fact that the gameplay will feel CoD-like. Make no mistake, just about everything else is being touched. The scenery, the avatars, the sounds, the guns, the gametypes…it’s all going to immerse you into the futuristic Star Wars universe.

In addition to talking about all the great stuff in the new upcoming mod, we also discuss the latest news with Modern Warfare 2. And there’s much to discuss.

Sam from omnilinkit.com helps me host the show.

Come on and listen in…Master Yoda would have wanted you to.

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BASH 115 was recorded LIVE on UStream in front of a worldwide audience of CoD fanatics. Our topics covered everything from CoD Community goings-on, like the DDOS attacks currently underway against anti-cheat sites to the problems IW has been having staying on schedule with MW2.

Why hasn’t IW or Activision even mentioned the PC game? Why has the PC SKU been left completely out of their marketing blitzes? Has something gone awry with the PC community’s flavor of CoD?

That and more on this program.

Cohost: PST*Joker from mycallofduty.com Special guests: iBleedv20 from omnilinkit.com and Decisive Gaming’s [!d]Frag.

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On today’s cast, we look at the CoD news that came at us in the month of July ‘09. With me to discuss that news is PST*Joker of mycallofduty.com, as well …Hitman from codmaps.org makes an appearance to talk about his successful launch of a community file sharing site.

Amongst the topics we discuss are:

-The unboxing of MW2.

-PST*Joker talks to Ice-T about MW2

-Treyarch sets a new standard for support

COMMUNITY NEWS

COMPETITIVE NEWS

-A new version of Promod Live comes out.

-The BASH server running Promod Live is up: 216.246.110.163:29060  thanks to clanwarz.com

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An Estonian, two Swedes, a Singaporean and a Canadian walk into a gaming webcast…yes, it does sound like a setup for a joke, but we really do have all those folks on the show today. Ingram from Estonia and Swedes Trivve and Abhi are on the show to talk about the new competitive standard mod for CoD4: Promod Live v2.

Yet another competitive mod for CoD4 you say? Well…it’s a long story and frankly, I understand quantuum mechanics better than I understand the tortuous path that took this community from PAM4 to Promod Live v2. But we try to explain it on this show.

In a nut shell, Carlisle’s Promod Live (remember BASH 102), which was selected by the CoD Alliance over Promod v4.40 (Trivve) has been supplanted in Europe as the standard competitive mod. Carlisle has retreated from the scene and this has allowed Trivve (and Ingram and Abhi) to step in with an evolved version of their old mod, now renamed Promod Live v2.

On the show we explore the history and politics behind Promod Live:

- Carlisle’s Promod Live was the standard competitive mod. Where has he gone? - Where is the CoD Alliance (TCA), the group that had chosen Promod Live as the competitive mod of choice a few months ago? Will they select v2 as the new king of competitive mods?

We explore what’s new in Promod Live v2 (like new modes like Strat). And , we talk about some of its drawbacks: maxpackets forced at 100 (a hold over from previous Promods).

What is Raf1 (maker of Promod) doing behind the scenes to unify the CoD community when MW2 comes out?

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News from the east on today’s podcast.

Gamestah shoutcaster DeathAdder (DA) from the [JEDI] clan of Singapore talks to us about competitive gaming in CoD.

One of the hot topics: Promodlive v2

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The term “lull before the storm” is a bit hackneyed, but with the impending MW2 media-storm about to hit the CoD community’s coastline very soon…it’s an apt one to use for this week’s webcast.

PST*Joker and I look at the going’s on in the CoD landscape this first week in July and find that there’s a surprising amount of happenings.

Everything from mods to mayhem.

So make sure you have plywood up on your windows and strap in for a listen.

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In today’s cast, PST*Joker and I spend a bit more time talking about the e-drama behind the hacks that felled game-cheat site Netcoders and (in an unrelated event) CoDNerd’s CustomCOD.com.

We also talk about a few other events of the day:

1. Treyarch talks about Map Pack 2 and the PC community. Finally! The tea-leaves look good.

2.  Rob Bowling on MW2 co-op mode: Source

3.  OpenWarfare mod

4.  CoD4 Frontlines mod v5: final version.

5.  GenSherman’s Devil-Dogz celebrate their 3rd anniversary (Jock’s old clan). PST celebrate their 4th (PST*Joker’s clan).

6. From Jamie of Tactics and Cunning:

“Just to let you know I like your website and have included links to it on a new toolbar I set up for our clan.  We’re a UK and European S&D COD clan but I’m promoting it where I can with the emphasis on it being a great place to get the latest COD news, therefore there is a link to your RSS feed and to your website under “Useful Websites”.

Heres a link if you want a look: http://TacticsandCunning.OurToolbar.com/

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Euphoria.

Activision has finally recognized PC gamer requests that CoD TV is a “must have” requirement for the continued viability of the Call of Duty franchise into the future.

Do they really see it that way? Well…that’s my optimistic take on it. For all I know, Treyarch and Activision may not look upon this modification in the dramatic light I do. But right now, I don’t care. The CoDTV code-hook appears to be in the upcoming v1.5 revision of CoD:WW and that’s all that matters.

On this edition of BASH (…yes, we’re doing these casts somewhat infrequently now), I interviewed Garetjax - the heart and the brains behind CoD TV - literally minutes after CoDTV support was announced.

Listen to the cast to find out his immediate reactions to what should be a dramatic turn for CoD competitive gaming. It’s a new day in CoD.

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This week we introduce you to the two gentlemen behind TheCompanyhub.com: Buster and Jag-Five-O.  They are on to talk about their own community and the phenomenon they have been noticing lately…the disinterest in modded versions of Call of Duty.

Modded servers are being found deserted in our community of late. It is a trend that started just after CoD2. We have noticed it. Buster and Jag have noticed it. And we’re sure you have too.

Why is this happening? Is it a generational thing? What can be done to reverse the trend?

Listen in for almost an hour of challenging thought and discussion about the relevance of modding in today’s Call of Duty community.

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For some like myself, the thought of a professional NA CoD season without Nabore at the helm of the perennial favorites Team Pandemic is unthinkable.

Yet here we are.

When Nabore took me aside the other day to let me know he officially was turning in his M16, it was not unexpected but still a shock.

In today’s podcast Nabore tells us the reasons behind his decision.

Another shell-shocker in this podcast is that, not only is Joe leaving, he let’s it out that his Pandemic-teammate and good friend Justin DeMara, aka prank`, arguably the best sniper to have ever played any CoD game, is also calling it quits.

We asked Nabore all the obvious questions regarding his career and threw in some curves as well. The podcast is compelling and emotional.

If you love CoD competitive play, chances are you have seen Nabore in action. Have a listen and bid this champion adieu.

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