Will skip gaming with the clan tonight. Did the same thing last night.

I'm already a bit burned out with the game and its just a beta. I wish they'd fix some of the faults soon so that the game would be more desirable and I can further focus on testing the game...

Pulled this off of Twitter:

OfficialBFBC2

BFBC2 Lead Designer RT @locust9: Fyi we will not add prone based on anything. You can stop asking now, but share your feedback with me. :)

All I can say is...wow.

It's a good thing there are still legacy servers still around. When I get tired of BC2, I'll be installing the old BF clients and playing something a bit more realistic. I'm anxious to see what other things they change for the sake of game pace.

I have to say that I'm not trying to be difficult with the dev team. Most of my thoughts seem logical from the standpoint of previous versions and the norm in this genre of game.

So, I've prepurchased Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (BFBC2). As a bonus to prepurchasing, I've access to the beta environment. I downloaded the BFBC2 client, installed it, then tested things and played the game.

BTW, my gaming system stats are below:

Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 940 Processor, MMX, 3DNow (4 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Hard Drive: 1 TB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
Monitor: Westinghouse 19" 1680x1050 @ 60
Sound Card: Realtek HD Audio output
Speakers/Headphones: Altec Lansing VS4121
Keyboard: Logitech cheap cordless
Mouse: Logitech MX1000 laser mouse
Mouse Surface: Neoprene
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090206-1234)
Motherboard: FOXCONN DigitaLife A79A-S
Computer Case: Ultra

Some things I've noticed:

1. In trying to remap keys, I've noticed a nagging issue. In every other game I've ever played (I first started gaming with Descent and Duke Nukem), I was able to map the Delete key as an action. I'm using something similar to this. See the keys above the arrow keys? The arrow keys and the keys above them are the ones I usually use for gaming...screw using the WASD keys! Well, BFBC2 won't let me map the Delete key, as it uses that key to delete mappings...WTH. Most games use the Esc key to wipe away mappings.

** Adhoc Update: **

Found someone else complaining about the delete button and the fact that you can't map it:

"There are problems with mapping some keys. Enter and the delete keys can't be mapped. Enter is used to bring up the menu and delete key cancels the input."

2. Within a game, when moving, you can't kneel without constantly holding the button that is mapped to that action. You can't lean left or right, either. You also can't go into a prone position.

** Adhoc Update: **

Found someone else complaining about having to continue to press the crouch key to stay crouched:

"Please add an option to toggle crouch, having to hold down to crouch is not good IMO."

3. Tanks are way too powerful. There are almost no ways to kill tanks until you gain experience enough to get the better weapons. That means that you're going to get killed again and again by tanks when trying to rank up enough to get the tank-killing weapons. IMO, the tanks should be neutered in the beta.

4. Sound is generally awful, but the artillery and big guns sound very good...the developers should find a happy balance between the two.

** Adhoc Update: **

Some links I saw of people complaining about sound issues:

one
two

three

four

five

six

5. The game itself felt like molasses were poured into the code. The game feels sluggish, even with a good internet/host connection. It is definitely not as fluid as games such as MW2.

** Adhoc Update: **
Found someone else complaining about "movement feels abit slow or sloppy":
"soldier movement feels abit slow or sloppy, dunno how to define it"


6. What's up with the infinite running ability? Wouldn't a real soldier get tired of running while carrying a full battle load?

** Adhoc Update: **

Multiple complaints of this in the whole feedback thread.

Note that I know this is a beta, but my thought is that this beta is being conducted close to the release date. The 'molasses feel' issue makes this game undesirable. No idea how they're going to fix that within a month.

One thing that's rather scary: I've participated in beta programs before, but I've never quit inside of 4-5 game sessions of the testing because of frustration. The guys I was testing with quit and went straight into an MW2 session (to go play something as controversial as MW2, no less)!

I'll update this entry with more feedback as I critique the game.

Update:
OfficialBFBC2 has publicized that a patch has been released for a client-side crashing issue, amongst other issues. See http://bit.ly/c5oBJy for further info.

Update #2:
Unlike the DICE forum comments, I've had no issues with the RC2 patching. I like the way the client updates itself (and even asking you if you want to update and giving you the chance to opt out). I prefer this over trying to download a gigantic file from a swamped mirror. I'm not having crashing issues like some are and I didn't experience issues with applying the patch (although some of my clan members did, and they're also experiencing other gaming issues with the beta client). I've noticed a speed-up (non-molasses effect) within the game, which is good. The key-mapping issue is still very annoying, though, with the fact that I still can't crouch without letting my finger off the keyboard, and the fact that I can't lean or go prone. I've also had to dial my video card WAY back, setting Overall Quality to low and running a resolution of 1280x1024. Any higher within either setting and the game gets like 20fps. Another thing I've noticed is that I can't map my joystick within the BC2 client unless I'm in the game...kinda hard to tune when you die within 3 sec. It's already tuned within Windows (XP here), so that's not the issue. The issue is with the mapping, as the default settings won't work, and you can guestimate but if you get it wrong, you're not going to be flying a chopper right (or at all, depending on how bad your mapping is). Lastly, this game, as much as they appear to be working on the 'molasses' issue, still doesn't 'flow' like its predecessors (BF2 and such). It appears your player moves and aims slower. Also, there appears to be a hitbox/damage issue is almost too tight...I'm hitting some people 7 times before they finally fall). Either make the damage model better or at least adjust the hitbox...something ain't quite right, there. [Note: see here for someone else complaining on this.]

Now, there are some things I like. I can form a squad with my friends and if the group of friends is big, we can have several squads of clan members. The map (Port Valdez) is also BIG!! The selection of vehicles (while I hate vehicles) is pretty good. There's a Blackhawk, along with an Apache Longbow. There's one main tank for each side (M1A2 and T90), and also an IFV for each side (Bradly vs. what looks like a BMP). There's also the Quads and the UAVs (which is VERY cool).

If I'm sounding so harsh, it may be because, while I can afford $50 for this game, the last few games that I purchased in the last six months (OF:DR and COD:MW2) were serious disappointments. OF:DR has an issue with multiplay (and there are next to NO servers running for this game, no matter how hosting is implemented); COD:MW2 has a development team that thinks their shit doesn't stink and won't listen to their userbase. Well, either its time for a new hobby or its time to start playing hardball by being anal about my future gaming purposes...its one or the other, but either way, it will mean that game makers will have to be more open-minded about working with their end-users and providing a proper game.

I'm not raging about this but I felt I needed to be as detailed as possible since I've already had one person comment about my beta review being too personal. Thanks for taking the time to at least leave a comment, though, Snipeor.

Update 3:
http://tinyurl.com/y8hrkyn lists EA's forum tracking of the beta, focusing on suggestions and feedback. It appears most of my concerns are already listed. This is a wealth of information and a good read if you're participating in the beta testing.

Update 4:
Noticed something else last night. I shot down a UAV as a sniper. I'm not saying that this can't be done IRL, but I shot it 3 times without missing...that's a bit far-fetched, as bullet deflection and aim angle are key in getting a hit. It was like I used a laser to shoot the UAV and I believe it was at max height. It was TOO easy. I may report this to EA as feedback, if someone else hasn't already commented on it.

One full round of MW2 - Xfire Video

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (for PC). The original .wmv video file has been heavily compressed to the .mp4 format, making it smaller but less clear (video- and quality-wise). There is also no sound (blame that on Xfire). The FPS person is me.

I've finally decided to wipe the drive of my Toshiba Satellite and install a full (and only) install of Linux. It previously had WinXP and Slackware 10.2 dual-booting. It is now a blank drive. My intention is to put Hakin9.live on it. This is a live security distro, but I wanted to give it a spin in a non-live environment by installing it on my laptop.

I created an 11GB partition initially and attempted to install the distro on it, but I had to kill the install, as disk space was at 96%! I was still able to boot the distro up but by the time I got around to creating a regular user, disk space usage was at 100%...the system wouldn't let me make any changes, because it had to track the changes in logs and such and since the drive space was gone, it couldn't perform seemingly simple tasks.

I ended up wiping the partition scheme and giving this install the whole hard disk. I'm about ready for the install to begin.

One thing of note: when installing this distro yesterday, the system began to complain that the CPU temp was extremely high and that it was going to shut itself down. It reported 91C, which equates to 195.8F. The laptop's CPU is a Pentium III 1.1GHz, which is a desktop CPU. I've propped it up so air can get under the unit during the install. Hopefully I won't run into that problem today.

I'll keep you posted.

I found this link from a colleague's site at http://blog.vodun.org/

It's a good read. It would be better if they'd left out the political slant, as it's VERY obvious that the author doesn't agree with what's happening in Iraq. It's only assumptions and it IS his research, but I think authors should take that into account when writing papers, as it lends more credibility to their work. I myself try to write without a chip on my shoulder.