Shock and Awe

In the light of a recent video game release CoD:MW2, I have had to explain my Activision boycott stance to countless just a few people who seemed shocked that I would be in the small minority the one person on the planet who would not purchase Modern Warfare 2.

"Gasp!" you exclaim as your fist clutches your chest due to the pains that have no doubt occured as your heart falters after reading the paragraph above. I know you wouldn't dare use words yes, you would, you tool like fanboy or douche or noob or nub or nublet to describe me. I mean, it is my choice, after all.

1. Being the avid PC gamer fanboy that I am, I have a close, tight love/hate relationship with dedicated servers. The members of =TPE= http://www.thepublicenemy.net/ I met on their dedicated server for Battlefield 2142. I popped in, owned some people with my superior machine gun claymore skills running the medic recon kit. Given an odd addiction to WoW (that I overcame through some serious counseling and intervention from some of my most caring friends and family members) that caused me leave them for a bit, they have been a steady group of guys that I have gamed with. If we had matchmaking on the PC, I would have never met these guys and would still be the former Lone Wolf sad and lonely PC gamer that I once was.

2. The CEO of Activision, Bobby Kotick, is a jerk. http://www.geeks.co.uk/7282-activision%E2%80%99s-bobby-kotick-hates-developers-innovation-cheap-games-you There is this idea of PR (Public Relations) which many use to "reach out" to their consumers, or supports if you have the misfortune of being a politician. Some of the comments that come out of this guys mouth makes me wonder how many other companies follow this ideal insanity but just aren't stupid enough to blurt them out in public for everyone to hear. Sorry, this guy does not deserve my money.

3. Raised prices. Now, I know many 360 players would argue "Hey, you PC fanboys have only had to pay $50 for the same games we pay $60 for. It's about gosh durn time!" and I would counter with nananananana the fact that we pay FAR more for the rigs that run our games. I have owned two "real" gaming PCs (as opposed to the HP laptop that barely played Diablo 2 and the Dell whose case was so small I couldn't upgrade the video card). The first was an Alienware that I paid $3600 for. WHAT!?!? Yes, that much but it lasted me 4 1/2 years and ran awesome the whole time. I only upgraded the video card once and bought a skinny monitor. I don't count the wireless card for when my roomate at the time would not run a ground line down to the basement. We call that time The Dark Ages. And the gaming rig I have now was $1500 and I built it all by myself under the proper guidance and instruction of someone who knew what they were doing.

4. There is a sneaky suspicion that the whole idea of "matchmaking" is to force us PC fanboys to purchase the DLC, when in the past we have received it as a free download. Optional, but still free. With matchmaking, you play a map or two and then get kicked off when a new map comes up on the rotation from the brand new DLC that you didn't buy because you spent all your money on your gaming PC. Again, gamers may argue that they had to pay for it on the 360, why is it free for me. Please recognize the $1200 price difference between what I use to play games and what they use. Someone may argue that's my choice. That's true but I am far better with a mouse and a keyboard, for one. Not to mention games that exist only on the PC, such as Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 which are on my must have desperately want list.

5. This is the smallest of the reasons because even though all my clanmates have banned and boycotted and refuse to play an CoDs after 2, the games have their balance issues. "Hey," Bobby Kotick says one day in his office while brainstorming about how to be a bigger douche and rip people even more. "I've got an idea. Let's reward people for kills so they get more kills which unlock more rewards that net them more kills. It'll be great. Oh, and we'll make a Martyrdom perk so if you suck at shooting you can still run into a room and die and get 5 kills and get an artillery strike... cuz you suck. Oh and for the noobs who are good at shooting and exactly how many bullets from each gun will kill an enemy, we'll create juggernaut to piss them off. Oh, and claymores for general lameness and three fag perk to completely erase the need for guns. The whole battlefield will be one big frag fest and by the time you throw the third nade, you'll die anyways (dropping another nade with Martyrdom even though your inventory says you have zero frags left). I'm the genius douchebag of the century! Eat your heart out, Bill Gates!" I put Bobby's direct quote in bold to emphasize how important he is. I can jump in CoD:WaW with Rifle Grenades and Martyrdom and get numerous kills without ever pulling a trigger on a gun. And yet the game is classified a First Person Shooter. Where does the shooter come from?

In the end, I'm not really alone. http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?dedis4mw There are a LOT of people who want dedicated servers. BUT, this reason alone is not enough to persuade me to boycott MW2. However, I may purchase a used copy of the game so that my money goes to Gamestop instead of Activision. Of course, that's like selling your soul to an Archdemon as opposed to Lucifer himself. They are both pretty evil.