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Okay folks, I am one lazy-ass gamer: quick to temper, but never one to do anything about the object of my dissatisfaction. So what has prompted me to leave the comfort of my chip-encrusted sofa and come and rant on the internet to nobody in particular? Metal Gear Online, and those people that play it like it’s some sort of run-and-gun arcade game of yesteryear. This is not Warhawk or CoD4, it’s MGO. Like it or not, you’re going to have to work as a team if you want to get anywhere playing this game. Yes, you can play like you’re the only person that matters, but playing like that is ignoring the spirit of the game. To get that, you have to use one thing; teamwork. What is the first step towards teamwork? GETTING A FREAKIN’ MIC!!!
Continue reading for more of Jacob816’s rant…
Its not the early 2000’s anymore, and you’re not playing on a PS2. There is no excuse… NO EXCUSE for why anyone playing a modern online video game should not have a mic. If you’re going to be playing, even in some freakin’ fairytale world of make-believe (with other people I guarantee you,) you are not sitting in stone silence with absolutely nothing to contribute to the game. In the case of MGO, voice communication is key if you’re ever going to be able to effectively communicate strategy, designate targets, or coordinate movements.
Konami tried to work around the unfortunate fact that seemingly no PS3 players have mics by marketing a special Metal Gear themed headset, which is both a legitimate business strategy and a gaming initiative. They have also included a system of prerecorded commands, acknowledgments and such available by pressing the Select button during gameplay but I would now like to say that anyone who thinks that these prerecorded messages are useful must have been dropped on their head as a baby.
My god, what the hell are prerecorded dialogue doing in a game in 2008?! First off, the commands themselves are rather vague, like “advance” or “fall back”, two things that any player with half a brain and a pair of eyes could figure out on their own. Secondly, in the heat of battle, these commands aren’t going to be the first thing that pop into a gamer’s mind. If someone is shooting at me, my first instinct is not going to be to take my right thumb off the right analog stick, press Select, then press the directional pad once for a list of sub commands, and then again for the actual message. They might as well use an in game telegraph system for all the ease and convenience that the current method offers.
I have other gripes about MGO as well, like how you can’t add a friend unless they’re online, and how two shots from across the map with an M4 will sometimes kill me, while me emptying an entire P90 clip into some guy’s back leaves him disappointingly alive, but I’ll save those for another day. If you want my opinion (and you probably do if you’re still reading this,) there should be “mic-only” lobbies in MGO where players without a mic can’t play. Hell, I’d even settle for a match option that makes mics mandatory. However my favorite option would be if Snake secretly snuck into the houses of offending players, and CQC’ed their mic-less asses.
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15 responses so far ↓
1 Gpig07 // Jun 25, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I know how you feel about the P90 not killing anyone. I feel that alot of game developers fail to realize that all it really takes to kill some one is 2 or 3 shots to the back or chest to kill, and that most body armor can’t hold back more than 5 shots.
2 Kiltman67 // Jun 25, 2008 at 5:01 pm
As someone who doesn’t own a PS3 mic and doesn’t use his 360 mic, but does play online a lot, I feel I should speak up.
Without speech I may not be able to play a part in strategized tactics, but I can still do relatively well and importantly have fun, which, last time I checked, that was the point.
3 journeyman01 // Jun 25, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Even though I haven’t played MGS4 yet I really think this rant is important to all online mic based games. I have to spend half the night on COD4 hoping to find a game that has players with mics. I would love to see Sarcastic Gamer post some kind of a protest like the one we did for bad company in order to get the makers of these games to have mic only rooms in their online line up. Well maybe protest is a bit harsh how about some kind of petition.
This is kind of a pet peeve of mine but in reality the P90 and its variants is kind of a pea shooter. If that weapon was as powerful as the games make it out to be (COD4) our guys would all be issued one but they’re not. It’s kind of like a 22 on steroids. So I’m glad to hear that MGS has toned this weapon down.
4 Ratchet8clank // Jun 25, 2008 at 5:09 pm
i too hated the annoying “shoot at them, they turn
around and kill you” so i switched. yes, no more assault rifles for me! now with my trusty sniper in hand, HEADSHOT, HEADSHOT, HEADSHOT!!!!!
5 Sean "Rothbart" Workman // Jun 25, 2008 at 5:34 pm
@journeyman01: Let me tell you how this would go down (to save us time)…
DRAMATIZATION:
Lono would get on the Red show and rant for about 20 minutes about how people playing online games without mics should just throw their consoles in the garbage, calling them names, etc. He’d carry it over into the Orange show after that… it’d go on for maybe a week or two. Then Sony might announce they have plans to pack a headset in, we’d all cheer… you’d see Lono online playing a game, go to voice chat with him… and he’d not have his headset on.
It’s just LIKE the BBC boycott… only realer.
6 Frantik // Jun 25, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I have yet to try out MGO–in fact I just beat MGS4 this past Saturday and haven’t really turned on my PS3 since. From the sound of things, it’s Subsistance all over again but with prettier graphics.
Oh look at that–a microphone ad at the bottom of this article. Weird coincidence!
7 ShortHairedOffender // Jun 25, 2008 at 11:33 pm
I don’t have a mic because my Wal Mart does not carry them and I can’t go online.
8 KillYourFM // Jun 25, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Hey Jacob816, you totally remind me of the written version of Yahtzee (Zero Punctation) - seriously, read your post back in his voice…
I’d like to also add that I am downright disgusted with my own idiot teammates CQC’ing me to death as soon as the game starts. Apparently you don’t get an SOP lock for using something other than bullets on your teammates.
NO Penalty for this kind of team killing? Ridiculous.
Let’s hope MANY patches are on their way, huh?
9 Jacob816 // Jun 26, 2008 at 8:59 am
@ KillYourFM: Man, you’re totally right. I do sound like Yahtzee. Actually, when I was writing it, I thought it was in the same vein as Yahtzee, but his actually voice. But actually being compared to Yahtzee is quite an honour
10 Justin // Jul 2, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I think this rant is uterly retarded, I have a mic but I do just fine without it. I mean I can point which direction to go, say “clear” etc.. What really bugs the hell outa me is all the stupid ppl holding random conversations like whose cooler? Tupac or Chingy? I mean half the time I cant hear you ppl because your too busy yelling IM GETTING SHOT AHHH ALHSDLFHASDL…. Its all instinct, putting the mic into play on this game, i think its a failure.. Then you join a match where everyone has a mic on a 5mbs connection and everyones lagging… Who wants to deal with trashtalk? Who wants to deal with idiots calling Snake Liquid? I mean wow if you wanna rant, rant about that… Youve got people playig MG4 and theyve never even touched a Nintendo Cartridge.. Let alone never owned a Playstation…PS2 maybe but youve gotta know the roots before you play something new.. Dont just pick something up because ITS THE BEST SELLING GAME… I mean that is a valid point but your not even gunna know half of whats going on.. So yeah, dont b mad cause you get automatched with a buncha noobs, happens to me all the time… Thats why you make a clan I suppose.
11 Mr Mantis // Jul 2, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I totally agree, now that was worth reading..
12 Sniper Wolf // Jul 2, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Amen Justin.. Thats like not knowing how the American Government was established.. and BOO to mics! Learn how to play without it, if you need that kind of advantage… “You Suck”
13 Stealth Camo // Jul 2, 2008 at 1:16 pm
haha for real, see i like you 3.. we should banish the newbs to go play Pokemon and Portable OPs!
14 Justin // Jul 2, 2008 at 1:19 pm
lol if your comparing those to eachother, i think you mean metal gear acid?
15 Frank Yaeger // Jul 2, 2008 at 1:21 pm
ok camo go play Pokemon
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