100% M E MB E R CREATED CONTENT

MA D E B Y G A ME R S F OR G A ME R S

ISSUE 2 VOLUME 1
OCTOBER 2011

N E X T MO N T H YOUR CONTENT C O UL D BE H E R E !!!

P O P UL AR G A MI N G MY T H S D E BUNKE D!
www.alistgamers.com

T HE S E CRE T TO BECOMING A N A L G MO D

W H I C H I S T H E S U P E R I O R G A ME ?

C O D V S H AL O

ALG Amandah ALG Crusader ALG xDark ang3l ALG Invader ALG Kryzstov ALG Lord Rahl ALG Starscream ALG T r U m P ALG Tirkot ALG UnDeAd

THIS MONTH'S CONTRIBUTORS

The images in the background of this page are stolen from member's fileshares. All of these images can be found by searching Bungie for ALG. The ALG pumpkin on the cover was carved by ALG Amandah.

ALG INFO

H O W D O I B E C O ME AN ALG MODERATOR?
I get a message every single day from someone asking me this question. First of all, you don't simply become a moderator: you are chosen. Operators choose moderators to work for them in their division. When picking moderators, we look for members who have changed their gamertag, get along well with others, and have showed consistent effort to help ALG grow as a community. We also look for a certain level of maturity. By maturity, I do not mean to infer that there is any age restriction. If I met the right 12 year old that really had his shit together, then I would gladly give him a shot. If you are interested in being chosen as a moderator, the first thing you should remember is that the way you handle your own conflicts reflects how you would handle other peoples conflicts. Thus, you must refrain from causing drama, being dramatic, or maintaining grudges against other members. We are all here to have fun and no one is having any fun when we have to mediate stupid disputes. Another important thing is to make sure that you let the Operator of the division you are interested in being a mod for know that you are interested. However, don't bug the shit out of them (that is a quick way to not get picked), just drop them a message stating your interest and ask them what you could do to help. A great way to help every division and demonstrate your interest without being too forward is to offer to host a weekly lobby. The key to a successful lobby is not about how many people you have show up. Its about making sure that it regularly occurs when its suppose to. Otherwise, you make ALG look like a giant clan full of flakey flakers who can't tell time. We have many members join ALG and

By ALG Amandah

ask to become moderators within their first week of joining. When we don't immediately make them mods they often get mad. It doesn't matter how much experience you have running other clans. ALG is completely different. We have to know we can trust the people we chose for leadership, thus you must demonstrate your loyalty to us by being an active member first. The people who are often chosen are ones who may have been initially refused or overlooked for promotions, but despite this, they continued working hard for ALG. This illustrates their loyalty and character more than anything else. Also, just because you would make an awesome moderator, doesn't mean we necessarily have a spot for you... yet. Be patient!!! We are always growing and adding new members, however there can only be so many chiefs to so many Indians. The best way to help create more moderator spots is to recruit more members. Some moderator positions, like the website moderators, require a certain level of expertise that cannot be taught, so if you have special skills like HTML or desktop publishing, please let me know when expressing your interest. If you have any examples of your work, include them as evidence of your skills. Lastly, before you decide you want to be an ALG moderator, please consider the job requirements and if you can truly handle them. Moderators who do not live up to the expectations of their operators can be let go. Also, it is not fair to anyone if you accept a position if you can't do the job. If you still think you're up to the job, please let us know! October 2011

A Moment of Rage with Crusader

OPINION

By ALG Crusader

Warning: This article contains explicit language and is intended to be humorous and not offense to anybody the content may refer too. Folks if your like me, you hate squeakers, nomics, douchebags who play dumbass music over their headset, and people who have to comment on whats going on in the game every 5 seconds. But, if your deffinetly like me... You hate the assholes who use their Kinects to communicate more then anything else. Nothing is worse then those fucking Kinect users. You got a Kinect? Awesome, great yo. Dont fucking use it for game chat on games, use it for Kinect games. EVERYONE in the lobby hates you when you use your Kinect. Nobody wants to hear your mom talking to your dumbass uncles birthday coming up. Nobody wants to hear your tv noise picked up

through your Kinect mic, its fucking annoying, you sound like your talking with your head in a toilet. Also, the people that use them, almost always sound 5x shittier on the Kinect then they would on even a cheap mic. Whats wrong with these people? Are they really that cheap to get a mic, or too lazy to plug the one they have in? Everytime I hear that shit, I want to find that person, take their Kinect, and beat them over the head with it until they forget how to talk. So you know what you can do folks? Exactly what i do. Everytime your in a lobby and one of these Kinect using douchebags joins. Mute the asshole and report his mic for offensive language. They get enough of those, and theyll get automatically muted, so no one else will have to have their ears violently traumatized by the sounds of some squeaker screaming through water on his piece of shit kinect that his boney ass grandma bought them. And thats all for this time folks, thanks for sharing this moment of rage with me.

Who Will Survive T r U m P's Birthday Tourney? October 22nd thru 23rd, Sign up NOW!!

GAMING HISTORY

THE HISTORY OF MOTION GAMING

Have you ever wondered who was the first to think of the idea as a whole about "Motion Gaming"? Whether or not they copied the technology? Well the truth is, Sony started it all! The birth of MOTION GAMING came into life with the incredible idea of an unencumbered feeling of no wires and feeling free (instead of connected to your television). It first started with the EyeToy in 2003. The EyeToy USB camera was the first of its kind to translate your body movements into game controls, map your face onto ingame characters and more. It was created to allow you to physically interact with games, such as Antigrav, EyeToy Play and Kinetic, using your body. For a first step into our lives, the EyeToy left with a very faded impression as motion gaming stalled for more than 3 years. The big bang came crashing your store on November 19, 2006 when Nintendo launched the Wii as a seventh generation console to compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. This is where motion gaming really kicked off, although the Wii was not the start, it was a huge leap. It was such a big step forward because Nintendo's whole plateform was dedicated to motion gaming. The Nintendo Wii is an interactive system that relies on wireless controllers and a sensor bar to capture all of the movements and buttons that players use when using a compatible remote. Pioneer of the motion gaming, SCE had to come back with a "coup d'tat". First revealed on June 2, 2009, PlayStation Move launched in mainland Europe and most Asian markets on 15 September 2010. This was their Nintendo Wii style of motion gaming, with several minor and especially two major differences. The first main difference is that PlayStation Move uses a camera, much like

the EyeToy, to track the wand's position and inertial sensors in the wand to detect its motion. This is used for more precise tracking of your movements. Secondly, Move doesn't dedicate a complete platform for motion gaming. PlayStation Move is a motionsensing game controller platform for the PlayStation 3, syncing the controller to your system and going through a setup process. The last development of motion gaming is the Xbox Kinect (originally known by the code name Project Natal), is a motion sensing input device by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game console. Based around a webcamstyle addon peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller, through a natural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. Kinect was launched in North America on November 4, 2010. You'll need alot of room in your courtyard as the camera tracks the motion of your whole body, to be able to play games the camera needs to see everything. It's not a CON, it's for extensive gameplay, tracking your feet, body, hands and head movement to play in certain games. Although this does mean you'll need more room than the Nintendo Wii and the Playstation Move, there are many differences between Microsoft's Kinect and Nintendo's Wii system. So all of this new motion gaming technology makes us wonder, is motion gaming becoming the future of gaming? Will the future of motion gaming be geared more towards the Kinect or with the camera tracking body movement or even the Move approach, with the camera tracking the controllers movements? well... only time can tell. October 2011

By ALG Invader

GAMING KNOWLEDGE

A LIST VIDEO GAME VOICES

By ALG Tirkot

Games dont get the same respect that books or movies do for story telling. One thing helping blur the lines between whats considered artful storytelling and just a game is the caliber of actor/actress doing the performing. In some of our favorite games you might not even realize whose town you are saving. There are so many A List celebrities in games I thought it would be fun to take a look.
AXEL ROSE AS TOMMY SMITH JAMES WOODS AS MIKE TORENO ANDY DICK AS MAURICE

ICET AS MADD DOGG

PETER FONDA AS THE TRUTH

SAMUEL L. JACKSON AS OFFICER TENPENNY

San Andres was not the first game to have celebrity voices but never before had there been an ensembled cast of this magnitude. GTA4 had many notable celebrities as well, however they were more cameos than main characters. LIAM NEESON Fallout does a really good job of using A List celebrities. Matthew Perry actually got this gig by mentioning in an interview on Ellen that he is a fan of the series.

MATTHEW PERRY AS BENNY "THE MAN IN THE CHECKERED SUIT"

WAYNE NEWTON AS MR NEW VEGAS

GAMING KNOWLEDGE

MARK HAMIL AS THE JOKER

JOHN DIMAGGIO AS MARCUS FENIX

PATRICK STEWART AS THE EMPEROR

KIEFER SUTHERLAND SGT. ROEBUCK

AS

HEATHER GRAHAM ANTONIA BAYLE

NATHAN FILLION AS BUCK ALAN TUDYCK AS MICKEY

ADAM BALDWIN AS DUTCH

The story of Ghostbusters 3 was only told in a video game format. It's an incredable sequel that many thought would never happen. It was made nearly a decade after the last movie! There have been so many notable voice actors that have helped video games become a respected medium for story telling. I cannot wait to see who I have to save or kill next!

FEATURE

VIDEO GAME FACT OR FICTION

By ALG T r U m P

The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence. According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population. It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play. The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit antisocial acts. According to a 2010 U.S. Surgeon General's report, the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful. It has led adult authorities to be more suspicious and hostile to many kids who already feel cut off from the system. It also misdirects energy away from eliminating the actual causes of youth violence and allows problems to continue to fester. Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression. Claims like this are based on the work of researchers who represent one relatively narrow school of research, "media effects." This research includes some 300 studies of media violence. But most of those studies are inconclusive and many have been criticized on methodological grounds. In these studies, media images are removed from any narrative context. Subjects are asked to engage with content that they would not normally consume and may not understand. Finally, the laboratory context is radically different from the environments where games would normally be played. Most studies found a correlation, not a causal relationship, which means the research could simply show that aggressive people like aggressive entertainment. That's why the vague term "links" is used here. If there is a consensus emerging around this research, it is that violent video games may be one risk factor when coupled with other more immediate, realworld

influences which can contribute to antisocial behavior. But no research has found that video games are a primary factor or that violent video game play could turn an otherwise normal person into a killer. Children are the primary market for video games. While most American kids do play video games, the center of the video game market has shifted older as the first generation of gamers continues to play into adulthood. Already 62 percent of the console market and 66 percent of the PC market is age 18 or older. The game industry caters to adult tastes. Meanwhile, a sizable number of parents ignore game ratings because they assume that games are for kids. One quarter of children ages 11 to 16 identify an M Rated (Mature Content) game as among their favorites. Clearly, more should be done to restrict advertising and marketing that targets young consumers with mature content, and to educate parents about the media choices they are facing. But parents need to share some of the responsibility for making decisions about what is appropriate for their children. The news on this front is not all bad. The Federal Trade Commission has found that 83 percent of game purchases for underage consumers are made by parents or by parents and children together.

"violent video game play could turn an otherwise normal person into a killer"

FEATURE
Almost no girls play computer games. Historically, the video game market has been predominantly male. However, the percentage of women playing games has steadily increased over the past decade. Women now slightly outnumber men playing Webbased games. Spurred by the belief that games were an important gateway into other kinds of digital literacy, efforts were made in the mid90s to build games that appealed to girls. More recent games such as The Sims were huge crossover successes that attracted many women who had never played games before. Given the historic imbalance in the game market (and among people working inside the game industry), the presence of sexist stereotyping in games is hardly surprising. Yet it's also important to note that female game characters are often portrayed as powerful and independent. In his book Killing Monsters, Gerard Jones argues that young girls often build upon these representations of strong women warriors as a means of building up their self confidence in confronting challenges in their everyday lives. Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them. Former military psychologist and moral reformer David Grossman argues that because the military uses games in training (including, he claims, training soldiers to shoot and kill), the generation of young people who play such games are similarly being brutalized and conditioned to be aggressive in their everyday social interactions. Grossman's model only works if: we remove training and education from a meaningful cultural context. we assume learners have no conscious goals and that they show no resistance to what they are being taught. we assume that they unwittingly apply what they learn in a fantasy environment to real world spaces. The military uses games as part of a specific curriculum, with clearly defined goals, in a context where students actively want to learn and have a need for the information being transmitted. There are consequences for not mastering those skills. That being said, a growing body of research does suggest that games can enhance learning. In his recent book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, James Gee describes game players as active problem solvers who do not see mistakes as errors, but as opportunities for improvement. Players search for newer, better solutions to problems and challenges, he says. And they are encouraged to constantly form and test hypotheses. This research points to a fundamentally different model of how and what players learn from games. Video games are not a meaningful form of expression. On April 19, 2002, U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. ruled that video games do not convey ideas and thus enjoy no constitutional protection. As evidence, Saint Louis County presented the judge with videotaped excerpts from four games, all within a narrow range of genres, and all the subject of previous controversy. Overturning a similar decision in Indianapolis, Federal Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner noted: "Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low. It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware." Posner adds, "To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it." Many early games were little more than shooting galleries where players were encouraged to blast everything that moved. Many current games are designed to be ethical testing grounds. They allow players to navigate an expansive and openended world, make their own choices and witness their consequences. The Sims designer Will Wright argues that games are perhaps the only medium that allows us to experience guilt over the actions of fictional characters. In a movie, one can always pull back and condemn the character or the artist when they cross certain social boundaries. But in playing a game, we choose what happens to the characters. In the right circumstances, we can be encouraged to examine our own values by seeing how we behave within virtual space. Video game play is socially isolating. Much video game play is social. Almost 60 percent of frequent gamers play with friends. Thirtythree percent play with siblings and 25 percent play with spouses or parents. Even games designed for single players are often played socially, with one person giving advice to another holding a joystick. A growing number of games are designed for multiple players for either cooperative play in the same space or online play with distributed players. Sociologist Talmadge Wright has logged many hours observing online communities interact with and react to violent video games, concluding that meta gaming (conversation about game content) provides a context for thinking about rules and rulebreaking. In this way there are really two games taking place simultaneously: one, the

Many current games are designed to be ethical testing grounds.

October 2011

explicit conflict and combat on the screen the other, the implicit cooperation and comradeship between the players. Two players may be fighting to death on screen and growing closer as friends off screen. Social expectations are reaffirmed through the social contract governing play, even as they are symbolically cast aside within the transgressive fantasies represented onscreen. Video game play is desensitizing. Classic studies of play behavior among primates suggest that apes make basic distinctions between play fighting and actual combat. In some circumstances, they seem to take pleasure wrestling and tousling with each other. In others, they might rip each other apart in mortal combat. Game designer and play theorist Eric Zimmerman describes the ways we understand play as distinctive from reality as entering the "magic circle." The same action say, sweeping a floor may take on different meanings in play (as in playing house) than in reality (housework). Play allows kids to express feelings and impulses that have to be carefully held in check

FEATURE

in their realworld interactions. Media reformers argue that playing violent video games can cause a lack of empathy for realworld victims. Yet, a child who responds to a video game the same way he or she responds to a realworld tragedy could be showing symptoms of being severely emotionally disturbed. Here's where the media effects research, which often uses punching rubber dolls as a marker of realworld aggression, becomes problematic. The kid who is punching a toy designed for this purpose is still within the "magic circle" of play and understands her actions on those terms. Such research shows us only that violent play leads to more violent play.

I have obtained my information and facts from several sources, and have also interjected my own experiences and opinions. All facts are factual and percentages current for the information i was able to find on the web. I hoped this has shed some light on some of the things you have heard about and maybe wondered about.

What is the SCARIEST Video Game of ALL TIME?

In an attempt to figure out the scariest game of all time, I asked ALG members what they thought.

By ALG xDark ang3l

hitting you and the blonde kid screaming. Talk about weird... Some people can't play certain video games in the dark such as the game Resident Evil! Alan Wake has you running in the dark a lot which creeps out people who are afraid of the dark. Some people can't play games with with Mutants, such as Dead Space 2, Meto 2033, or R.A.G.E. Others are scared of The 1st Resident Evil because of the first cut scene of a zombie eating someone. GROSS! In conclusion, everyone is scared of different things, therefore picking one game that's the scariest game of all time is impossible because it would not necessarily scare everyone.

Some people admitted being scared not of the video game itself but of what is in the video game, such as rats. One member is so creeped out by rats that she can't play certain games, like Fable, during any portion that involves rats. Fable isn't even a "scary game" but it is to someone who is terrified of rats. For some people, Fallout is known as the "Creepy game" with its hardcore stories. I agree it is a very creepy game. Dead Space 2 is so scary for some members that they can't even get through the Demo because of the creepy looking monsters in it. Super Smash Bros is scary for some because of Brawl

REVIEW

VS

Call Of Duty or Halo? A never ending argument between gamers ever since CoD franchise exploded onto the scene with Infinity Ward's release of CoD4: Modern Warfare in 2007 with selling roughly 1.5 million copies in its first month, reciving 5 out of 5 from GamePro, GameSpy and Xplay, and a 10 out of 10 from Game Informer and the Offical Xbox Magazine. CoD as series has also won more Game of the Year awards then any game, especially Halo. But Halo3 still outsold CoD4 by almost 1 million copies. Halo started a generation of gamers and gave the Xbox console a heavy hitter to take on the dominating Nintendo and what most gamers were believing to be THE gaming console to have, Playstation back in 2001. Halo is the only game that can support a console, in this case the xbox, on its own. No other game can make most gamers buy a console because of just a single game series like Halo can. Personally I have been on both sides of the fence in the argument between CoD vs Halo. I defended the crap out of Halo3 when CoD4 came out, at my bus stop, school, and lunch everyday I was arguing with people how CoD4 was garbage. I changed opinions when Modern Warfare 2 came out, I went out my way to buy the limited edition for the game and I stoped playing Halo3 for almost 4 straight months, I was then on the CoD side, telling people Halo was a dieing franchise and that halo fanboys best get on the CoD wagon while they could. When World At War was released, made by a different developer Treyarch, I bought the game, thought it was crap, and I picked my Halo3 back up, and traded WaW and MW2 in. I actually used the store credit torwards my Legendary Edition of Halo REACH, When i got Halo REACH, I loved it, I loved the armor, the additions to forge, and the addition of firefight, but there was some siginificant disapointments for me, but well get into that later. I did not acquire Black Ops right away,

By ALG Crusader

and it wasnt until almost 2 months after it came out that I bothered, but I played it at a friends, and I fell back in love with CoD. Now real quick before I continue, let me cover a few things. While I enjoy CoD Black Ops, I do think Modern Warfare 2 is better. I Have played all of the CoD games, except the CoD1, and I have read most of the Halo Books (the ones that are good anyway) and I do also enjoy Halo: Wars and Halo: ODST. I DO currently enjoy both CoD and Halo and for different reasons, I just play CoD more, so therefore I would think im very well qualified to be as unbiast as possible for this type of article What makes CoD great? CoD has epic realism, and it strikes a perfect balance between capturing that real world authenticity and those "HOLY SHIT" moments of a blockbuster action movie. As you know, unless you did nothing but dig in your ass and stare out the window in history class, theres been alot of wars throughout humanity, especially in the last 70 years, i.e. WWI, WWII, Vietnam War, and the war in Afghanastan and Iraq. So games that are about during these eras are typically going to automatically greatly appeal to anyone with millitary service, and to just about anyone who grew up playing with those shitty toy mp5ks, M16s, pistols or even bibiguns. While Infinity Ward and Treyarch had a sort of already preset timeline of events and history to base their games on, they always in a sense write their own perspective of how you the gamer, will experience them in the game. With CoD4 introduced a new type of multiplayer where you level up and unlock new weapons and features as you play. MW2 Capitalized on this with a even more improved multiplayer. In CoD4, MW2, WaW, and BO they all sort of follow timelines and use weapons of the time in which October 2011

11

their games take place, they all tell their own amazing stories. A realistic shooter with realistic weapons and locations appeals to many gamers because, it dosent make gamers feel like their total nerds for what video games are tradionally make people known as. What makes Halo great? Bungies first release of Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001 was the start of something epic. I mean who dosent love blasting aliens in a super human suit made of tank armor? Halo has one of video games few unique and popular stories, that stacks up to only that down syndrome red and blue trowser wearing plumber. For a console exclusive game, Halo REACH still holds the record for most copies of any game sold in 24 hours, over 200 Million dollars worth. Intially with HaloCEs release, the story of Halo was a bit confusing and the cliffhanger of Halo2 was not much help, but bungie and mircrosoft quickly made up for it with releases of the Halo book series, giving fans of the series more backstory of their favorite spartan Master Chief, and a in depth look of the universe during the games timeline. Halo also boasts having one of video games first most adictive multiplayers ever. In Halo:CE it was simple and easy to get into. Halo2 steped it up with dualwielding and more custom games for players, and rocket propelled MLG gaming into popularity to even everyday gamers. Halo3 finally stamped its epic mark for the franchise with a new feature called Forge mode, which allowed gamers to make their own maps or to just slightly change already existing ones, or make whatever they like with the tools available to them, a ranked playlist where gamers could essentially "proffesionalize" in over a half dozen gametypes. Halo REACH a prequel to the gaming series increases the amount of armor customization one could have, great graphics and some strong changes to the gameplay. Now, time for our actual VERSUS part

REVIEW

having your chopper taken out by a nuclear blast, firefighting in the oval office, to being brainwashed to betray your own country. Halo creates its entirely own fiction, or should I say sci fiction, to bring you into a future of humanity, the UNSC, being exterminated by a covenant of aliens, and you, the last genetically altered and super human known as, Master Chief, are the last hope for humanity. In each game the alien threat and third party threat, The Flood, becomes more intense in each game, eventually ending with the UNSC teaming up with a species of the Covenant known as Elites, to destroy the Covenant and stop the Flood threat once and for all. All in all the series with its current ending, gives Star Wars a run for its money. WINNER. Halo Halo wins because versus CoD, it has a much more in depth story, and anyone who plays Halo feels a much more stronger attachment to the Master Chief and the Halo Universe and has carried it for almost 10 years now. With currently 6 games and several great books, it is the only video game to create and sustain its own universe and keeping many video gamers salvating for more. In CoD, its fight the same human bad guy except just a slightly different assault rifle each game, and at the end of the day, for the most part, each of its levels player vs CPU's end in you hiding behind cover and just doming each one in the head. In Halo, you have over a dozen different type of alien species to fight along with where a domeshot isnt always the best solution, and the different viechles you have to face them in. And Halo:CE The Library level on legendary is the most hardest level on any game ive ever played, ever. Because incase you didnt know, The Flood AI script on that level was set on unlimited respawn. CoD vs Halo: Multiplayer Halo wrote the book on console FPS multiplayer, Halo 2 introduced making your own emblem so you and friends, or even a clan, can all share the same emblem and roll in matchmaking lobbies together and stomp on people. MLG's increased popularity is thanks to Halo and in general Halo's multiplayer also increased the amount of gamers interested in competitive gaming online and even amongst friends. Each Halo game multiplayer is stepped up another notch along with each games new features and weapons. Even just amongst

CoD vs Halo on: Story/Campaign CoD story pulls from real life wars both current and present. They show you how gritty the worlds worst wars have been. Putting you in the boots of a solider and from watching your unit being slaughtered, betrayed by your commanding officer,

players, their are those who will argue of which is better The threeround burst battle rifle, or the designated marksman rifle. Wether it was right to remove dualweilding, or to nerf the combat shotgun and assault rifle. A awesome selection of armor pieces allow you to make your Spartan 3 look unique, and now players are able to matchmake on custom made maps thanks to the forge mode. Call of Duty came out with an amazing multiplayer in CoD4 and has kept the ball rolling with it since. Being able to customize different custom classes for either different combat situations, maps, or even game modes, allow players to be prepared for just about anything every game. Enemy team throwing a ton of grenades? Switch to your Flack Jacket class and eat up grenades like the fat kid eats cake. Sniper taking everyone out? Switch to your own sniper class and catch the fool when their not looking, or switch to a fastrunning flanking class and find the camper in his cover and blast his brains all over the wall. With well over 2 dozen weapons, perks, and equipment to arm yourself with in CoD game. Your never without options, and everyones got their favorite gun. Great a killing scrubs? Well youll earn yourself a few killstreaks drop predator missles on oppenents, call in attack dogs to eat their faces, your own chopper gunner to laugh maniaclly while you rain hell, or even call a game ending tactical nuke. WINNER. CoD I know im probablly gonna get some hate mail for this one. But allow me to explain. You have to look at the core multiplayer meaning the games actual unaltered maps and standard multiplayer. I know you halo fanboys well want to use MLG as arguement for why Halo's multiplayer is more dominant. But this isnt about Halo MLG vs CoD MLG, its strictly Halo and its standard multiplayer matchmaking that is in the game vs the same for CoD, not what another organization or whatever websites offer for extra multiplayer detail for both games. If I were to go back before Halo REACH and Black Ops was released, id be more leaning on Halo. But im not because Bungie messed up by not bringing the ranked playlists from Halo3 to Halo REACH, im sorry but the Arena is not enough for me. Its just slightly more competitive slayer then regular team slayer. I also feel Bungie messed up by adding balloning on weapons and taking out dual wielding. Straight up, they made too many

REVIEW

changes from Halo3 multi with Halo REACH multi, which was not neccessary.

CoD wins because they have stuck with what has made its multiplayer great, with the only major changes being different guns. Its prestige ranking structure is more addictive then Halos ranking structure, and while true, you can reach the max prestige and level in any CoD game, before the top rank in any Halo3 or REACH, but thats crap, thatd Bungie is that selfish to where they straight up actually expect you the play the game for an eternity to get to that rank. Alot of Halo standard matchmaking games are decided by whose got the best 5shoters on the other team. In CoD, if the other team is shitting on you, you can get your team to switch to shotgun classes, and bunker down in a close quarters area, you cannot do this as well in Halo, because once they move on you, it still turns back into whose got the best 5shot, just up close. In CoD use your own personal skills to carry your team. I have found this easier to do in CoD, then in Halo. While I have no problem with Halos weapons. But playing the same matchmaking game with the same DMR/BR and Pistol, or the same AR and pistol, or picking up the same sniper rifle and shotgun for the last several years, gets kind of boring. At least accross the last 4 CoD games, there has been a diversity of different weapons in each, while the MP5k, AK47, and M16 reapear in 3 CoD's, for the most, theres different weapons in each game. So that means new weapons to get to know and master, on top of that over a half dozen attachments on most of the primary weapons will help you to keep mixing it up and keep playing well after your final prestige. And kill streaks are a HUGE plus, i still get a kick out of earning a chopper gunner and unloading on the enemy team below. I would love nothing more to be able to call in a MAC Blast in Halo multiplayer (outside of Halo:Wars) if I could. Believe me, this was a close decison for me, Ive spent a good 5 hours writing all the shit out on paper. Halo does beat CoD on "DAMN! that was awesome" moments, from sticking a grenade on to the hull of a warthog and watching it blow up and flipover, to droping in behind ur oppenents and assassinating them in a few quick seconds. But just like using the same guns for the last several years, I swear ive seen every "DAMN! that was awesome" moment thatd id be able to, and let me October 2011

13

tell you, it dosent feel that awesome to me anymore, they feel more expected then random. In game leaderboards are easier to view and compare and are detailed to the very last actachment on CoD BO, I do not have the same experience on Halo REACH, i can check the entier enemy teams k/d and w/l in a fraction of the time it takes to do it on Halo REACH. Also you can check the lobby leaderboard, so you can determined quickly whose probablly good and whose crap all on one screen before the game starts. CoD vs Halo: Content/Replayabillity CoD for the most part is all about its Campaign and Multiplayer. In Infinity Wards MW2, you can play Spec Ops, which is not extremely popular, and some missions are aggrivatingly difficult. Halo's Firefight is somewhat similar to this, except primarly focused on survival and in a single location where each round and wave gets tougher and tougher. Treyarch's CoD Zombies is extremely addictive, and there is a huge following of CoD players who can be found all over CoD forums demanding that they release a CoD Zombies game, not just DLC. Many who play CoD Zombies are very competitive on the le aderboards, something that Firefight lacks. Hal has a theatre feature, which CoD BO incoporated but is not as great, which allows you to film or take screenshots of your campaign gameplay or even multiplayer. Halo also boasts its amazing Forge mode, which can keep you at the screen for hours, days, trying to make a map as perfect as possible. Halo has had coop since Halo:CE, something CoD Developers seem to continue to not want to incoporate in their game. Halo also has a much more dedicated community of gamers then CoD. Mostly greatly in part that Halo has been popular much longer then CoD, and Halos base fans, are nerds, folks who love Star Trek, Star Wars, and sci fi in general, and everyone knows how nerds are with their intrest. CoD's core players, are for the most part, the exact oppisite of Halo players, infact, most people who currently play CoD, have not bothered to play campaign. They just play multiplayer. WINNER. Halo Halo wins because Halo has more replay value then CoD in the long run. While short term, CoD is fun as hell, but after youve gotten to your last prestige and youve gotten to the highest rounds you care to get to into zombies to where your sick of it. Theres nothing left in CoD, while I will deffinetly will always occasionaly pop back in my CoD BO game, itd be just for zombies, I would never do so for the rest of them. Just recently I went back and ran

REVIEW

through and replayed HaloCE and Halo2 campaigns and had a blast. I could not do the same for any of the CoD Campaigns. I have lost count how many times ive replayed every Halo game campaign. And while I do not personally care for Halo's Forge mode and Firefight that much, I acknowledge theres a huge base of fans for them. Bungie has also done a better job at creating a community for its games with Halo Waypoint, Machinamas (like RoosterTeeths Red vs Blue), and Halo3 and HR Fileshare then CoD Developers currently have. THE COLD HARD FACTS Call of Duty Franchise Has made over $3 Billion in 8 years with the advantage of being available on multiple consoles Modern Warfare 2 is the 2nd Best Selling Game of all time with over 20 million copies sold Over 15 games as a franchise on console and handheld Almost every CoD game has earned at least one Game Of The Year award from various companies and organizations, with MW2 earing about a half dozen CoD has two major developers, Infinity Ward and Treyarch, allowing for games of the franchise to come out frequently Halo Franchise Has made over $2 Billion in 10 years as a console exclusive game Halo REACH sold $200 Million worth in its first day which is currently still the highest on record Halo as a franchise holds more hours played on Xbox Live then any game to date The Halo books are currently the best selling books based off a video game series Halo3 Limited Edition Console is the highest selling limited edition console Now I bet your thinking, "Well I guess Halo won right? Thats 2 out of 3". No, thats just where im stoping cause those are the major comparisons that people argue for them. Yes you could get into more specifics, but I made my points throughout this article, and in CoDs defense, I shat on Halo pretty hard in the multiplayer bit. Ultimately its for YOU to decide, Ive covered everythig I could think of without making this twice as long as it is. "Well what about you Crusader, which would you pick?" I cant, I think their both great. "What if we put a gun to your head and made you pick?" Pull the trigger my friend.

By Lord Rahl

CROSSWORD

1. HAS 2.

THE NEWEST FOR

POSTS.

THE

ACROSS
2ND
MOST

FORUM

2. IS

THE

4. IS 7.

THE ONLY CURRENT

COD.

MODERATOR

3. IS ALG'S POINT CZAR. 5. WAS 6. IS 2ND 11. THE

ISSUE OF

CONTROLLER

MODERATOR

DOWN

IN THE

WHO WON A

GOW3 RELEASE EVENT. SEPTEMBER 2011 JULY 2011.

GEARS

OF

WAR 3

ON THE COVER OF THE ON THE

ALGM.
OF THE

8. WON

THE HIGHEST THE

OPERATOR

10. WAS GAMER MONTH

RECRUITMENT DRIVE.
FOR OF THE

SEPTEMBER 2011

RANK

FROM

IN

CANADA. ALG.

9. WON GAMER 12. WON 13. THE

THAT

POINT LEADERBOARD. MONTH

FOR WON.

NAME OF THE THE

ALG CRUSADER 1ST

3RD CHATROOM CHALLENGE

CHALLENGE. HALO
TO

MARIO SPIN MATCH CHATROOM COD.

FIRETEAM TO SWITCH FROM

NAME OF THE THE

APRIL 2011.

14. WAS

HAT FOR THE

1ST

PERSON TO BE DRAWN OUT OF A

GOW3 RELEASE EVENT.

October 2011

15

By ALG UnDeAd

A L G
WORD SEARCH

starscream gearsofwar retrolancer kapellx modernwarfare moderator

shopkeep lancer battlefield birthday chatroom gnasher

october hammerburst amandah saucey donkeykong oneshot

By ALG Starscream

1. NAME ALL 3 CARMINE BROTHERS FROM GEARS OF WAR?

2. WHAT IS THE NEW ARMORED LOCUST THAT REQUIRES EXPLOSIVES IN ORDER TO KILL IT IN GEARS OF WAR 3? 3. WHAT OTHER GAME WAS MARCUS FENIX IN AS A COSTUME SKIN? 4. WHO IS THE CURRENT KING OF THE CHATROOM CHALLENGE? 5. WHO'S VOICE IS BEHIND ALL THE EASTER EGG SONGS' IN ZOMBIES ON CALL OF DUTY? 6. WHICH DOUBLE FINE PRODUCTION GAME DID JACK BLACK HAVE A HAND IN DOING THE VOICE OF THE MAIN CHARACTER? 7. WHAT 2 HALO MAP PACKS IN ALL THE GAMES DID CERTAIN AFFINITY HAVE A HAND IN? 8. WHAT NEW PHONE ON THE MARKET ALLOWS YOU TO ACCESS XBOX LIVE AND EARN REAL ACHIEVEMENTS? 9. WHAT FAMOUS MOVIE MONSTER MADE INTO THE NEWER MORTAL KOMBAT? 10. WHAT HALO GAME TYPE DID ROOSTER TEETH CREATE?

Monday October 24th Sunday October 30th is our monthly Recruitment Drive. Earn Double points for all recruits (+6 points). Also, there is no daily cap for recruitment points so this is a great way for a lot of you to catch up quickly. A recruit only counts when they sign up to the website. The member with the most recruits by Sunday at midnight wins a batch of cookies! Monday November 7th Are you getting CoD Modern Warfare 3? Already have it preowned? Well the day before it is released ALG Crusader will be hosting a See You Later Tournament on MODERN WARFARE 2 at 7pm EST. The tourney will start as a team tournament with random teams every game. After game the worst player on the losing team will be eliminated from the tournament. This will continue for however many games until there are only 6 players left. Afterwards the tourney will change into a FFA. The 1st and 2nd place winners of the FFA will each win a raffle ticket and 10 honor points. The final game will be a 1v1 between the winning players for a bonus raffle ticket, MS points and 15 honor points. See you there! The first person who correctly completes all of the games in the magazine and submits them by private message to ALG Starscream wins a raffle ticket for the 360th Day Giveaway! You must complete the crossword puzzle, the word find, and the trivia 100% correctly to win.
October 2011

ANNOUNCEMENTS

??
TRIVIA

17

ALG's 360th Day Giveaway

Coming December 26th 2011 Win Raffle Tickets for Your Chance to Break off a Chunk of Prize Mountain!

Check Out the Website for Opportunities To Start Earning Raffle Tickets! Limit 10 Tickets Per Person.

www.alistgamers.com