MLG Providence

So I just got back from MLG Providence, day three. This was the only day I went to Providence to attend the competition, and boy did I pick a good day. The friends I went with were there to watch Starcraft II, which is mostly what I watched, but I did see some Black Ops as well as some Halo: Reach.

Insight took the Halo competition. Not something I follow, but apparently they win all the time. And then a team called Quantic won the Black Ops against Envy (those aren't full names, but the important part, there are always X's and whatnot in people's names.) Anyway, that seemed kind of close (unlike the Halo, which was a blowout), but what I didn't like is that literally every single person had a FAMAS with a red dot. (Save one lone AK-74u, which I hate anyway.)

But both of those games were over well before SCII was done, and boy were those some great games. Throughout the day I, along with most of the crowd, became a huge fan on Leenock, a sixteen year old Korean zerg player who was an absolute beast. My friends were cheering for Naniwa, which was the final matchup (Naniwa vs Leenock). And at the time everyone thought Naniwa would win, but it just took a single game for Leenock to pick apart Naniwa's gameplay strategy, and after one loss, Leenock took the next four, taking home the trophy, the title, and the check, for $50,000!

For my first MLG event, and even thought I went just for day three, it was amazing. I had a blast. I'm more pumped then ever to jump on GameBattles for MW3. Can not wait to start. Stay tuned here for how I do when the team starts up.

Go Deep. Go Hard. (Which by the way was printed on the back of my shirt today, in case anyone saw me in the live stream)
-K1ng K00p4

PS - Here are some pictures taken from the god awful camera on my phone. The first is a view of the Black Ops stage, then Leenock taking his $50,000 check.

M.O.A.B.

So. I played MW3 for a few hours last night with some friends from GrassRootsGaming. We typically just play TDM, though we're looking to soon expand our horizons. Anyway, I had unlocked the P90 recently and decided to work on it. We got into a game on Fallen after I had unlocked 2 attachments, so I put on a silencer and rapid fire, my dream gun from COD4 (Double Tap and a silencer on the P90).

Needless to say we destroyed. I forget my exact K/D that game, and couldn't look at it directly in theater mode, when I was playing it back I found that the back button didn't break up the scoreboard, which was kind of strange. But I think it was 34/4. (EDIT: Actually 34/2)

Anyway, I got a M.O.A.B. And what was especially funny about it was that I didn't even realize that I was close, or that I could get one. I knew about it vaguely from some videos, but didn't have it in mind when I was going on my streak. But without further ado here is a clip from theater mode.

EDIT: My friends were faster than I thought! This isn't a clip anymore, but the full game. You can still view the clip here.



My friends at GrassRootsGaming are going to record and put up the full game from my point of view soon, I'll be sure to link that when it happens.

Go Deep. Go Hard.
-K1ng K00p4

PS - I'm hoping to do my gun series that I had started on Black Ops (way too late in my opinion) for MW3. It might begin with the next prestige that I hit or I might just jump in come winter break, but expect in depth breakdowns and analysis of each weapon in the future, most likely starting with my favorite, the SMG's. There are a lot of different options to run here so expect these to be looooooooong posts.

MW3

As everyone knows by now, unless you've been living under a rock, MW3 is out! Unfortunately I'm stuck studying for the Physics GRE, but come Saturday I'll have the game and be playing.

Have some good plans for this game. Can't wait to get going, how's the game for everyone so far?

Go Deep. Go Hard.
-K1ng K00p4

Modern Warfare 3 - Spec Ops and Survival Mode

So, I've been reading a lot of news about Spec Ops and Survival mode being discussed by Infinity Ward's fourzerotwo. The short story is that Spec Ops has returned, bigger and better than ever. They've included rankings, matchmaking, and leaderboards. As for mission types, I can only guess they'll be similar to what we saw in MW2. But ... there is always a but ... they've thrown in an additional part of Spec Ops called Survival mode.

Survival mode is going to be played on the games multiplayer maps, in hopes that newer players will play Spec Ops first, most likely learn the maps, and then go online. I'm sure the thought being that map knowledge is a serious problem for new players fighting older players who know the map. Which can be true, but I really enjoy the games that happen right when a new game comes out, or a new map pack, where everyone is running around not knowing where the heck they are and almost no one is camping.

A lucky reporter over at USA Today, Mike Snider, got to play some Survival mode recently. Here's a link to the article. Survival mode in 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'

Mike summarizes his gameplay experience in the article, which can confirm a few things for us. He states:

Rubin passed me some in-game currency and I bought and installed a turret to keep the evildoers at bay, while I watched for attack dogs.

So, we know that there is a currency system for at least Spec Ops. It might even just be in Survival mode, who knows. The other thing that may only be in Survival is the attack dogs. The fact that they are here does not mean that we will be seeing the same currency based weapon unlocking system from Black Ops, nor does it confirm attack dogs as a kill streak.

The next paragraph really gets interesting:

After a few waves, the attack dogs became suicide bomber dogs that exploded a few seconds after you shot them. The next wave brought the kamikaze soldiers who exploded similarly.

Suicide dogs and soldiers. I'm starting to see Survival mode as more of a Horde game mode from Gears of War. Or you can look at it as IW's version of Zombies, since that is in an infinite wave style just like this is going to be. Oh, and in later waves you can expect a variety of our good friends, the Juggernauts.

Now, this isn't the type of innovation that I expect from Infinity Ward, as some are saying that they're taking a page out of Treyarch's book, essentially copying Zombies. But the release is hardly here, and I can't wait to see what IW does with the multiplayer, since we all know that is where the real game lies.

Stay tuned for more MW3 news, and more. Until then,
Go Deep. Go Hard.
-K1ng K00p4

Gaming with K1ng - Black Ops - Friday, May 27th, 2011

So, I figure this is a blog, I can write my thoughts about some games I play on some nights, need a good naming system though so they're easily looked through, sort of a log if you will.

Anyway, played with a bunch of good people tonight, started off fooling around with Gun Game, there were five of us, pretty fun. Played some One in the Chamber and Sharpshooter as well. I like wager matches as a whole, they're part of the reason I bought Black Ops, something less serious. I'd like to see them in MW3, but no biggie if they are not there. Something I do not want to see is COD Points, which I suppose wager matches uses as a base, but I'm sure some substitute system could be thought of.

The reason I don't want COD Points in MW3 is because they completely remove the motivation to use any gun that you aren't good with. Once one gets to their favorite gun, they buy it, the respective attachments, camouflages, and emblem displays and they're all done. What would have taken hours of play time now takes seconds. Unless IW can implement them in a more compelling way, I'd rather go back to the old system.

That said, I also played some of a game type I have very little experience on, Search and Destroy. I've never liked it. I always play it like I play any other game type, run and gun, and sometimes that works out, but most of the time it doesn't. Usually that means the other team plays Search a lot, and either "camp" or have a better feel for what they're doing than my team does. What ever the situation, it never ends well for me in this game type. And it didn't end well for us tonight. Oh well, it's too slow a game type for me anyway. Any game where the good strategy is using ghost, ninja, and a silencer and head glitching to the point of near invincibility doesn't sound like a game type I'd like to play. (That's actually probably not the good strategy, I just see it more often there than anywhere else.)

Moving on. Sabotage was next on the list. We had a full party, which made it hard to find any games that the other team would stay in for more than one round. Which outlined a clear problem with Sabo for me, it's only one round. You play to one, what's the point of having the score counter in the bottom left then? It'd be a bit more interesting if it was best of three. One of the guys I was playing with was suggesting a shorter timer between games, and I know this was done in a TDM game type in MW2, maybe it should be done here too.

Regardless of whether people would stay, we were racking up the wins. But eventually that got tiring. I don't think we lost a game for the two or so hours we were playing that before finally moving to Domination. Ahhh... Domination. Fun game type. I didn't play much of it before Black Ops. But tonight was good. Had a bunch of decent games on Jungle after unlocking the MPL. Four of us could hold a decent spawn trap.

As for guns for the night, I bounced around a bit, getting to Level 36 at the end of the night. Used the Galil for a bit early on, moved to the MP5K with Rapid Fire, that helped my K/D for the night, mainly because of the lightweight and marathon setup. That allowed me to beat all my friends to the kills. Because when you play with five other good players it's really just a competition for kills, especially in TDM, which strangely enough I didn't play at all tonight.

Anyway, I sprinted around with the MP5K until level 35, then hello MPL! My love has always been with fast shooting SMG's in the COD series, and an MPL with Rapid Fire fits that description. It's the first SMG that I get that I'm really excited for, the other one being the Spectre. The MP5K is a decent substitute until these two guns. But the Rapid Fire is key. In other games I'd normally run a silencer, but SMGs in Black Ops need the Rapid Fire, I just wish it wasn't so damn expensive.

Hopefully I'll be able to bring some more Guns of Black Ops posts soon, as that seems to be where I'm getting the most hits. I also have started tracking the MW3 news very closely, so I'll be sure to keep you posted on any new I read.

Until then,
Go Deep. Go Hard.
-K1ng K00p4

Not a Prequel

So, based on an email I got this morning announcing the reveal trailer for MW3 I'm wrong on the whole prequel thing.

The email says this below the video link:

Modern Warfare is back.
On November 8th, the best-selling first-person action series of all-time returns with the epic sequel to the multiple Game of the Year award winner Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Now, this doesn't rule out the possibility of playing prequel-esque parts. We all remember playing as Captain Price (then a Lieutenant I believe) in One Shot, One Kill back in COD4. Who's to say we won't have a similar experience with Ghost.

That's the update, I'll keep you posted on anything else I hear. Until then,
Go Deep. Go Hard.
-K1ng K00p4

MW3 Reveal

So, tonight during some NBA something or other the reveal trailer for Modern Warfare 3 was shown. fourzerotwo shortly after tweeted a link for the video. Here it is.



Initial thoughts are hard to describe. I love the Modern Warfare series, and waiting until November to see how they proceed with the story will be tormenting. But something I want to bring up is the possibility of a prequel to COD4, this may be it. Let me explain why.

Back in January of this year it was posted on thisisxbox.com, that a "source within the industry" informed the site that Infinity Ward was working on the next Call of Duty game after Black Ops, nothing new I know. The new part is that the story will consist of a prequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare focusing on Ghost's character and the start of the conflict that is focus of the previous two games.

Now, great, this is all speculation, maybe a hoax, you can never trust these sorts of rumors anyway. But, in this reveal video, if you take a look at around 0:57 into the video you'll see this:

It's just a shadowy figure, yes, but doesn't it look oddly reminiscent of our old friend Ghost? Yes, yes it does.

Now, this obviously neither confirms nor denies the rumor, but it sure as hell gets one excited about it. You all may not have been sad when he died in MW2, but I certainly shed a tear. Ghost was the epitome of badass, and if I can get the chance to play as him in MW3, IW has earned another sale. Not that I wasn't going to buy it already.

MW3 - November 8th, 2011. Mark your calenders boys and girls, and get ready to stand in line at midnight, it's sure to be a long one.

Go Deep. Go Hard.
-K1ng K00p4

The Guns of Black Ops - MP5K

MP5K
Unlocked at Level 1 - Cost 2000 CP

This being the first in the series I'll be trying to hammer out how I'm going to format things, and since blogger isn't very HTML friendly I'm finding it a little more difficult than anticipated, bear with me, as this might not end up as envisioned in my mind formatting wise.

Weapon Stats

Since I just got a lobby full of 2 bars and ended up getting dropped I'll start of with the basics of the MP5K, it's stats. Since this is my first rundown of a gun I'll explain rather thoroughly everything I'll be displaying. First off the game stats shown,

Damage - 6/10
Range - 6/10
Accuracy - 5/10
Mobility - 10/10
Fire Rate - 5/10

Now, that's nice to know, but what does that all mean? Well thanks to DenKirson, we can find out the exact numbers. His site can be found here, and shows all the nitty gritty numbers, some of which I'll discuss here.

Damage/Range - The MP5K does 40 damage up close (around 20 meters) and 20 damage at ranges of 25 meters or greater. That makes it great for close range, but pretty bad for long range gun fights. Since each player has 100 points of health, that's 5 bullets to kill at range. Chances are if the enemy is shooting you from range he's got a gun that can kill with less bullets than yours and is more accurate at that range, your best bet there is to put something between you and him and try to get within that 20 meter magic range.

Accuracy - The MP5K is reasonably accurate. I tend to hit what I'm shooting at, especially close range, where the gun is most effective. While you can hit targets at range you should be trying to get in close for the kill. In terms of recoil the gun will tend to recoil up and slightly to the right over time.

Mobility - Being an SMG the MP5K allows the player full speed which is useful for getting to the fight faster than those using assault rifles and LMGs.

Fire Rate - With a fire rate of 750 rounds per minute (RPM) the MP5K provides one of the lower fire rates of the SMGs numbers wise. This is comparable to the Skorpion and the AK74U in terms of firing speed.

Attachments
We now come to what I consider to be the meat of this series, the discussion of what attachments work best with each gun. Now, some attachments fall under a common ground, so I won't go super in depth on how they work on each gun. These will mostly be things like the ACOG, Red Dot, and Reflex sights. That said, let's dive in, shall we?


Extended Mag - Cost - 1000 CP
The extended mags raise the MP5K's ammo capacity from 30 to 45 bullets per mag. While this provides those extra 15 bullets, those bullets are only going to be needed in the event you come upon more than 3 enemies, as a standard clip can handle a triple spray. There are better attachments to run.


ACOG Sight - Cost - 1000 CP
Brings range up to 7/10 rather than 6/10, though I've never really noticed a difference in my ability to kill people at range given a certain scope, either I can or I can't. Especially if they're at range and shooting, they probably have a better gun than you do for that range, so you're best bet is to work your way into them using cover to try and bring the fight to a level you'd rather fight it on. Again, not one of the better attachments.


Red Dot Sight - Cost - 1000 CP
I haven't used it much on Black Ops due to my bias towards a suppressor, but I was surprised when the Red Dot ended up being the most effective attachment for me in MW2. If you don't run a suppressor and don't like rapid fire, I'd go with the Red Dot for the simple reason that it'll enable you more effective targeting at range.


Reflex Sight - Cost - 1000 CP
I really don't like the reflex sight at all. It's just a Red Dot that takes up more screen space. Try to avoid this one people.


Suppressor - Cost - 2000 CP
I prefer a silencer on all my submachine guns since most of their iron sights aren't terrible, so this is my go to attachment with the MP5K. While it does take the range of it's higher damage down a bit I still find it highly effective, since it allows me to get in close where the submachine guns reign while staying concealed on the map. Now I just need to stop them from getting a spy plane.

As far as shooting with it at range, I don't highly recommend it. While you'll be concealed on the map it will take 5 hits to kill someone, which, given the recoil will be a task under pressure. If flanking the enemy, get closer. If attacking head on, consider flanking. Remember, the closer you are the better.



Rapid Fire - Cost - 3000 CP
I very much liked rapid fire on the MP5K. This comes from a huge fan of double tap on the P90 in COD4 though. I just like the way guns kick when they shoot extra fast. There is something about it that I find easy to control.

My love for double tap aside, I'd say give rapid fire a try if you have a spare 3000 CP, it's definitely a worth while investment, just expect the number of people you're going to kill with a clip to go down, as the increase in speed increases wasted ammo.

There is one thing I don't like about rapid fire. It's loud. If it wasn't so crucial to run slight of hand with it I'd want to run it with warlord and a silencer as well. But onto the downfalls of being loud.

The defining moment for me was when followed two enemies out of their spawn and onto the flank of my team, and ended up missing a knife, a knife I tried to take because I know shooting would give me a way, and upon missing I was flashed, resulting in me spraying to try and kill the guy who saw me, which I did, but the 2nd guy killed me, something I feel I'd have avoided with a silenced weapon. Thanks to theater mode I can bring you that clip as described so you can see what happened.

To give an example of how rapid fire can be helpful I've uploaded this clip, demonstrating it's ability to beat another MP5K, even when they shoot first. I also found it efficient in taking out an RC car, something I usually have trouble doing, though honestly this one was a mistake.

My MP5K
My stats for the MP5K, as of midway through writing this post are as follows:

Kill / Death - 2.54
Accuracy - 20.55%
Kills - 502
Deaths - 198
Headshots - 43

Game Notes
In this section I'd like to include things I jot down right after I finish a game, noting what I like and do not like about a particular gun. Think of this as written live commentary.

Just went 29-6 with the MP5K. Things I like, it's great with a silencer. Great for drop shotting, got a lot of those that game. Has a decently well controlled hip fire spread, meaning firing from the hip will get you kills, and I do use it, though aiming is always better. Only 30 bullets in the clip, so anything past 3 guys will be a tough spray. Ran into that problem a few times.

Bottom Line
One of my favorite SMGs in the series, and while it might not handle the same as in past games, it's similar. So if you're a run and gunner like myself you will undoubtedly already be well acquainted with this fine piece of machinery. If you dread the SMG, then consider this a good place to get a feel for them.

Thanks for reading the first in the series, The Guns of Black Ops, be sure to check here next time when I discuss the M16 -- same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

Until then,
Go Deep. Go Hard.
-K1ng K00p4

The Guns of Black Ops

Since I've hit 1st Prestige I've been thinking about what to write. I want to dive into everything, but I need some sort of structure, otherwise you'll probably end up just reading a lot of nonsensical rants by a fellow COD player. Which, to be honest, would not be that fun to read.

That said, throughout the next few weeks I hope to bring to you a rather large series that I'm going to call The Guns of Black Ops. Allow me to elaborate. I've only used a few guns throughout the 0th Prestige (for lack of a better term to call the first 50 ranks). One thing about Black Ops is that it does not provide an incentive you use any particular gun like the older games. Thanks to COD Points you can use your best gun 24/7 and unlock every attachment, camouflage, what have you, for every other gun in the game, all without using them. While this provides some benefits, it's still a draw back in my opinion.

Working through all the guns from level 1 I aim to discuss each one, in detail. I plan to do so by using each one for around 150 kills using what I think feels right to me in terms of attachments. I will then experiment with each attachment and discuss my experience with the gun, it's attachments, pros and cons, stats, recoil, etc. You name it, I'll talk about it.

And thanks to the theatre mode hopefully some educational clips will arise from my gameplay, if not, no big loss. So look for my first post soon, covering the MP5K, one of my favorite SMGs.

Until then,
Go Deep. Go Hard.
-K1ng K00p4