Make Your Gaming Knowledge Useful

You've put hundreds if not thousands of hours into different games. Whether it is the halo trilogy or World of Warcraft, you may have an opportunity waiting for you to make some money. This isn't to say you writing about it has to be profitable, as it could be purely for fun and the notoriety that comes with people reading what you have to say. It makes your presence in the gaming community even bigger.

It can be as easy or complex as you would like it. Here is an example of a 13 year old boy who now makes $x,xxx+ a month from the knowledge he gained by blogging about video games. The income stream comes mainly from the site that links you to, but that isn't to say you couldn't make four digits blogging about your video game love.

If me sending you to that page makes you interested in starting your own blog I'd like to hear about it. Leave a comment with a link to your blog so I can head on over to check it out. If you don't have the time, or don't care to monetize it, you are more than welcome to become a guest poster here. You can blog under any name you like, post on any topic, and get a presence in the gaming field. The blog averages 150-200 uniques a day, what a better way to get known?

Halo 3 Blackout

Bungie has just announced the map Blackout. Blackout is a remake of everyones favorite Halo 2 map, Lockout. They made everything about this map the same. They even included "jumps" if you actually take the time to read the interviews they include with the pictures.

The creators at Bungie have finally done something right. Halo 3 has been a complete bust for maps so what do they do, the create Blackout. Way to go. Blackout is great for team slayer, free for all, and king of the hill. Although the map doesn't have the same color experience as the one in Halo 2 it has the same layout.

April 15th, you will see Blackout being released with Ghost town and Avalanche. Obviously Blackout was the last to be announced because they needed to end it strong. They couldn't top this map. As I've said before, Avalanche is the most likely to be the new "Isolation" or "Snowbound" where the gameplay is determined by who controls a certain weapon, and that gets vetoed 50% of the time.

Blackout will single-handedly make this pack sell. Honestly, I would have considered passing on this map pack had this map not been remade. The only differences we'll see are a few easier super jumps, a couple jumps removed, and the advantages gained with the items. They put one power drain, one bubble shield, and one gravity lift.

RockBand Set to Release for Wii

Harmonix has just announced that Rock Band will be released for the Wii on June 22nd. It will contain 63 songs, plus five bonus songs. These will most likely include the 58 songs from the Xbox 360, PS2, and PS3 versions, along with some of the songs you can purchase on Xbox Live.
A Special Edition bundle will be sold with a wireless guitar, drum kit, and microphone for $169.99. Stand alone instruments and software will also be available at release which will allow buyers to purchase them as needed. It appears as though the Wii Guitar Hero guitars will not work with Rock Band, what a rip off. They steal the game idea and won't even make it compatible with their guitars.

The downside to the Wii version is the loss of the online multi-player and downloadable content. While Wii has stepped into the online market with Brawl they aren't going to offer it with Rock Band. This isn't going to sell more Wii's. They need to step it up. Lure some of the big names to Wii's online play and it will explode.

Xbox Live Too Dirty for Kids

Last night I was browsing the Xbox.com forums when I was looking for threads to post on I came across a rather unique thread. It describes this whole scenario where a teenager made an adult feel uncomfortable and they were warning parents to put parental settings on games like Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, and Gears of War. I thought this was rather comical. Here is the reasoning.

Ok well first of all when I'm on the Xbox I'm like every other teenage gamer from the ages of 15-21. I talk smack, talk a little dirty, and of course, make fun of the little kids. All that aside I'm not one to make fun of somebodies religion, race, gender, or anything like that. I'm saying this so you don't think I'm defending the people that do this.

The parent was suggesting that they turn on a whole bunch of security settings when they let their kids play these games. Now here is what I'm thinking. Call of Duty 4, rated "M" for mature, Halo 3, rated "M" for mature, and Gears of War, rated "M" for mature. This is your problem. The games not safe for your kids in the first place. I've played all of these games, and I know through many many hours of experience that these games can get pretty bad. I'm not talking so much about the game play, even though it's too much for them, but the talk of the players.

So you think it's our fault that your child may be getting harassed in these games and that Microsoft isn't doing enough to control this? That is total crap. These games were made for us, and Xbox Live will continue to cater towards their audience.

Another thing, you may be overreacting. If your boy is in 5th grade, it's not like he hasn't heard and used almost every single word they will hear on Xbox Live. Whether or not they speak like that around you is irrelevant.

Xbox Live wasn't made for eight year olds, that's why they have games like Mario, the Wii, and PSP's. Xbox Live will forever be made for an audience made up of primarily teenagers. If you choose to let your child play on Xbox Live you will continue to expose them to adult language and actions.

Halo 3: Heroic Maps Free

The Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack will be free to download on March 25th. Bungie is allowing the free download due to the upcoming legendary map pack. The free heroic maps will be required to play Ranked Big Team, Social Big Team, Team slayer, and Rocket Race.

To those of you the haven't gotten a chance to play these maps you may wish to download some videos of them on bungie so you can get a feel of what they are like before they go live for you. This will help you learn where the weapons are I imagine. I'm not so sure what else it will do, as I've already purchased the maps and have no need to download the videos.

If you fail to download the maps then you will not have access to any of the above playlists. They will remain in the DLC Games until the Legendary Map Pack is released. So congrats, you have successfully waited it out saving yourself 800 microsoft points or $10.

How to Tell If You're a Noob At Halo

How would one know if they are considered a noob at halo? There are hundreds of different definitions of what a noob is, and how one should consider whether or not one is a noob. This is generally what I go by, and is as accurate as you can get.

As you are probably aware there are some ranks you don't have to become. Major grade 3, Colonel grade 2, and any of the other ranks where you are being held back because your highest game rank isn't up to par with what you need to move up. Most common example is brigadier. To become a brigadier you must have 500 exp and a level 45 in any game mode. If you pass the 500 exp it will not let you move up without the level 45. If you hit 600 exp before you hit level 45 you become a colonel grade 2.

Hitting an unnecessary rank is what I consider to be a noob. Granted that of course you don't only play one game mode. You get experience for social, which could cause a large inflation because you are getting experience and not able to move up. Your goal should be to move up as fast as possible. If you aren't playing ranked, then there is a little exception; however you are still meriting the noob title.

Then of course there is basically the standard everybody under lets say 20. If you cannot hit a level 20 in any ranked game mode, you are a noob. Once you get some skill you can easily move your ranks in every game above this mark in practically 20 games. If you can't reach this, you're a noob.

What is your opinion on what makes a noob?

Lag: Notice It or Not, It's There

Lag, commonly given as an excuse in a game. What is lag? Lag is when somebodies connection to the host of the game is not good. It causes a short lag (delay) in the gameplay which is often complained about. While Halo 2 was infamous for the laggy games, it's there in every game.

Most people only experience it once in a while. This would be in the games where everybody is lagging terribly due to a terrible host connection. This is inevitable. I'm writing this post to tell you guys, there is lag in every game.

Now you can't go around saying, you only killed me because I lagged. This is complete bullshit. You most likely were not lagging. I've been playing with people all the time when they say the lag is bad, yet I never used to notice it. It was something I always let go as thinking, this person is just making up excuses.

The other day I was alerted my NAT was changed to moderate. There are three different NAT settings, open, which is ideal, moderate, and closed. If you are moderate or closed then you will have many problems connecting with certain people, hearing people, or lag. It is nearly impossible to change this because it takes a very computer literate person to do this. I consider myself way over knowledgeable with computers yet a step by step guide was very confusing. Routers are one of the problems.

Ok, what does this have to do with the lag? Well until you experience playing games with people whose NAT is open when yours is set at moderate or closed you will have no idea. You will shoot people longer, and hit them numerous times and your beat down is still out powered by theres. It will seem as though every beat down is very slow. Your shots will lag, your stickies will lags majorly and at times go through people.

This won't happen in every game, because each new host brings on a new set of difficulties. Most games you will be fine for the most part. You may notice a few instances of minimal lag, but when shots and grenades go through people you'll see the seriousness of it.

I just wanted to write this post to let you all know, it's in every game, in some form. Just keep your eyes open to the idea that your opponent may actually be lagging as they claim. If you are the one lagging you will realize the frustration that occurs through this. To fix your lag problems, you need to fix your connection. This is no easy task, personally I'm just going to buy an Xbox Live compatible router.