http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDDfPxF3EFE

I originally started writing a relatively long post imploring gamers to look at Battlefield 3 over Modern Warfare 3 for their contemporary military shooter fix, especially if they’ve bought the previous three Call of Dutys set in the present-day. Then I saw that the console player limit is 24. Sure, that’s the same deal as MW3, but BF3 is meant to be played on a grand scale. I can’t imagine the console versions coming close to the massive 64-player battles that will take place on the PC. That’s without throwing in the graphical advantage any halfway decent PC will have over the half-dozen year old tech of the 360 and PS3.

So while the above video is absolutely ridiculous looking, it’s the PC version featuring a 64-player battle. I don’t know if the graphics on the consoles will approach that level, but I’d put my life savings on them not coming close to a computer that satisfies the recommended specs. The little research I did on the matter unearthed a quote from an EA employee working on the game saying they limited consoles to 24 players and shrunk some maps in order to keep the graphics and other features intact. Either way, it’s obvious that the PC version will be superior, but PC gamers are already the ones who want BF3 much more than MW3. The consoles are where the battleground for market— and mind-share will take place.

And is there truly anything that I can say to change anyone’s mind on their decision? I haven’t played either game and I’m already an outlier with regards to the usual console COD player due to not owning Black Ops. Everyone owns Black Ops. Overhearing a conversation about the game is a somewhat regular occurrence. My 13-year-old cousin complains about his baseball teammates talking about Black Ops even during a close game. Battlefield doesn’t have anywhere near that popularity, so it’s going to need to blow people away upon release.

People know about Battlefield 1942 and the Bad Company games much like people knew about the Call of Duty games before Call of Duty 4 released. But COD4 created a phenomenon and an absolute monster of a franchise. It was a beautiful, responsive, 60-frames-per-second breath of fresh air among console shooters. I never felt completely comfortable playing a FPS with a controller until that COD4 beta. BF3 will need to be the COD4 of its series, and I’m going to take that thought to its logical conclusion and say that EA is smart in having a multiplatform beta. I think that’s the type of action needed to create hype of a critical mass. I look forward to getting a code somehow at the last minute so I can enjoy stunted 24-player vehicular action on my 360 or slightly prettier 64-player action on my newly acquired (hopefully), but gaming-mediocre laptop. Maybe then I’ll actually be able to write something of substance about BF3.

Bioshock Infinite is Bioshock in the sky, only it seems this city is on the other side of the political and social spectrum. Instead of social libertarianism and amoral scientific progress got awry, this successor revolves around nativism and I assume religious conservatism. This is the game we all wanted after the original Bioshock. I wasn’t even interested in its sequel (I’m still not), but I can’t wait to get my hands on this game.

Remember when you first saw that trailer for BioShock where the Big Daddy drilled a hole through that guy’s hand and you were convinced it couldn’t have been rendered in real-time? Well, the following gameplay video isn’t quite that impressive relative to its time, but it’s probably the most exciting early-game footage I’ve seen since then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLFy7P0isE0

I can’t believe it’s not coming out until 2012. What a fucking tease.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V31POD2otRk

The real reason Steve Jobs hates Flash – I don’t know if I buy the argument, but it’s a pretty interesting one nonetheless. Personally, I think the move towards “cloud computing” is slowed every time Gmail is down.

The Definitive Guide to Telling Vermont and New Hampshire Apart – Summary: New Hampshire = libertarians; Vermont = dirty hippies.

MLB.tv and the PS3 – “Last week, though, I discovered MLB.tv in a way that is no longer just good enough. It is amazingly awesome, and it’s MLB.tv through a PlayStation3.” Goddamn it.

Yankees Fans Are From Mars… – A comparison Yankees and Mets fans in New York City. It even has a handy quiz that tries to guess which one you are (it worked for me).

The 15 Most Exciting Summer Movies – I only link this list because it has the right movie at #1. I haven’t even heard of a few of the movies on the list. God, this summer sucks.

Hue Shift on Kongregrate – I think I’m the only person I’ve showed this Flash game to that loved it, but I’m posted it anyway. The problem isn’t with me, it’s all YOU people. Rock, Paper, Shotgun liked the game and they know their PC gaming shit, ok??

New York Times

The Sony Corporation will announce Thursday that it has signed a deal to bring Major League Baseball’s live streaming service to PlayStation3 video game consoles.

By the end of the week, PlayStation owners will be able to sign up with MLB.TV to watch out-of-market baseball games transmitted over the Internet. It is the latest in a series of digital distribution deals recently announced by sports franchises.

The PlayStation deal is MLB’s first with a video game maker, giving Sony a leg up for the time being. Users of the PlayStation Network online service will be able to gain access to the existing MLB.TV package, which includes hundreds of baseball games — excluding local team games and others that are broadcast on TV — for an annual fee. There is a revenue split associated with the deal, but Sony would not specify the terms.

People in the NeoGAF MLB thread have already tested out the MLB app on their PS3s and the responses seem to be a bit mixed. The big problem is the MLB.TV blackouts. Since I actually live in the same area as my favorite (shitty) team, I can’t watch them on MLB.TV. So I couldn’t cut ties from cable if I wanted to, since I want to watch Oliver Perez suck and Jason Bay strike out twice a game.

Nonetheless, it’s really cool to see MLB allowing its fans to watch games in as many ways as possible: internet browsers, iPhone, iPad, now PS3. They should just have an option to be able to pay to watch local games — JUST local games if that’s what the person wants. I guess that would be too utopian, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8toHfZm6jNE

Leave it to Infinity Ward to tingle my balls with this epic trailer. It’s better than pretty much 95% of movie trailers. If it were a movie trailer, the music would be the Requiem theme or some similarly overused song, the voiceover would be done by one of the three guys that does it for a living, and the reveal would have been handled like total shit.

Modern Warfare 2 is going to totally destroy everything in its path. Even though I barely follow the gaming scene, I do know that plenty of games have been moved away from its release because companies are afraid of this fucking beast. Apparently this trailer was aired during the Sunday Night Football game — I bet at least 5 million of the guys watching that game already have 60 bucks put aside to give to Infinity Ward.

A note: The music in the very beginning sounds similar to the TDK trailer music, right?

A magical parachute and grappling hook, feet that stick to the hoods of vehicles, and being able to blow seemingly everything up. Yeah, this looks pretty awesome.

friend: so ive been playing killzone
friend: and it looks great
friend: but fps sucks on a controller im sorry
me: lol
me: hey, you enjoyed COD4
me: greatly
friend: very true
me: COD4 > KZ2 confirmed
friend: well, yes
friend: easily
me: another ps3 exclusive annihilated

In case you don’t know what Tumblr is, it’s a combination of blogging and social networking. It calls itself a micro-blogging service. People post shit like this. It’s a bit more substantial than something like Twitter, but I think less useful. And uglier. I made one just for the fuck of it, and named it accordingly.

That is neither a typo nor a lie. By Rock Band bundle, I refer to the game+guitar+drums+microphone, for both the 360 and PS3. I think this is officially called the Rock Band 2 Special Edition, but I think “bundle” gets the point across a bit more. You can get all those goodies at Toys “R” Us this week (12/14-12/20) for $110 plus a $25 gift card, bringing the net total to $85. Hence the “basically $85″ part of the title.

I, of course, could not resist this deal. Less than half the price it normally goes for? I am fucking THERE. Especially since Pearl Jam’s album Ten has been announced as upcoming DLC. J.I.MP. I recommend this deal to every single person with a 360 or PS3 who hasn’t already bought a bundle of Rock Band 1 or 2 or Guitar Hero: World Tour, because even if you hate it due to being soulless, you could sell the shit off and make your money back and then some.

And for those counting at home, I now have three fake guitars in my possession, with my first fake drum set to keep them company.

The Dark Knight on Blu-ray will be the best-selling piece of software for the PS3 this year.

The next person who tries to say the poker scene in Casino Royale was good gets an angry internet telegram complete with a kick to the balls. The last hand was more improbable than Pierce Brosnan windsurfing up a cliff, or whatever the fuck happened in that scene in Die Another Day.

Every year, I try to convince myself that I’ll get really into the football season, but the passion never materializes. If Brett Favre can’t do it, who can?

The same thing goes for the basketball season. But in my defense, no one wants to be a Knicks fan. Just look what they drove Isiah Thomas to. Oh wait, it’s mostly his fault that they’re a disaster.

More proof that Borders blows ass: I ordered Absolute Watchmen off their website in JULY since it was the only place I could find selling it and also because I had a 30% off coupon. But then once I ordered, it said “backorder”. Next thing I know, it’s October, I haven’t heard a peep from Borders, and I see Absolute Watchmen for sale on Amazon for even cheaper than what I paid at Borders.com (coupon included). Naturally, I order it on Amazon. I just got notice that it shipped from Amazon yesterday. I still haven’t heard anything from Borders. They have to be worse than AIDS. I can’t wait to cancel my order once Watchmen hits my doorstep.

Leave it to the guys behind It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to make Sinbad and Rob Thomas hilarious. I think the last time Sinbad was funny was in the modern holiday classic Jingle All The Way.

What little gaming I’ve done in the past two months has been limited to cheap downloadable games and demos, and nothing has impressed me more than the demo for Mirror’s Edge. I never thought first-person platforming could be pulled off so ingeniously. When the hell did EA become so creative?

This entire post was just an excuse to post the hottest Little Red Riding Hood ever:

Kate Beckinsale wins Halloween. Flawless victory.