But it really should.
During my vacation last week a demo for Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for the Xbox 360 was released on Xbox Live (Microsoft’s online gaming service for the Xbox). I’ve gotten most of the demos that have come out, and some have been good for a bit of fun, but none ever really grabbed me.
Until this one.
I must’ve spent 20 hours (at least!) over the last 4 days of my vacation playing this thing. It’s a first-person, team-based (USA vs. China) combat game, where the objective is to control three locations in the middle of the map. The demo is a bit buggy (it lags some times and voice isn’t working as well as it should) and it’s just one map. Plus, you can only play two rounds before getting kicked back to the main menu and having to restart it, which makes it tough to stay with the same team for very long.
But damn if it’s not one of the best online gaming experiences I’ve ever had.
I never got into Xbox Live on the original Xbox, since my system was modded and I was more into downloading games (which can’t be played online – not on Live anyways) than buying them. Live on the 360 is a whole other matter, though, and more than worth the money it costs ($50 a year).
What I’m loving about it so much is that even though the voice in the game is flaky, you can still use the 360’s “out of game” chat to keep an open line with a friend so that you two can stay in constant contact in the demo. (If you’re playing the game and want to know the trick to this, you have to start a private chat with a friend through the 360 dashboard, and use that channel instead of the game channel.)
Probably half my gametime with the demo was done with a friend here in Tokyo. (He was at his home, I was at mine.) We teamed up and wreaked all sorts of havok in the game. Instead of dealing with the 14 year-olds trying to spoil everybody’s games by constantly talking in the mic (and thereby prohibiting anybody else from being able to talk) we were able to come up with plans and discuss tactics on the fly. And by having two different viewpoints on the game (through our characters’ eyes) we were heaps more effective than if we’d be flying solo.
Bottom line: the game is solid, and we’re both looking forward to getting the full version later this month.
Now, what does all that have to do with the title of this post?
A couple years ago I blogged about how, after spending a lot of time playing Spider-man 2, I started looking at the world around me a little bit differently. Then, I’d look at a row of buildings along a street and plot out (in my head) the best path to take while swinging down the street.
Something very similar has happened again.
I helped a friend move this past Sunday, and while we were waiting for the movers to arrive at his new place, I went out in search of a convenience store. He’d told me there was a Lawson’s nearby, so I figured I’d have a go at finding it. As I was wandering I spotted a blue sign a few blocks away. It was partially obscured by light poles, so I wasn’t sure if it was the right shop. And what was my first thought?
I can just pull up the sniper rifle and look at the sign through the scope.
No, I’m not joking. That honestly was my first idea on how to find out what the sign was for.
I don’t think it’s a serious problem, though. Sure, it’d be cool to have some in-game stuff available in the real world, but it’s not vital.
Besides, who wants to lug a Barret .50 cal. sniper rifle around just to read signs? ^.^