Phyrfight Intel

Team Phyrfight routinely de-geekafies at the range.

Here TomCat gets some practice with a 308 caliber Remington 700, in an Accuracy International AICS chassis system, Nightforce 5.5-22×56 scope with NPR2 reticle, Jet Titanium suppressor, The action was trued and tactical bolt handle added by Texas Brigade Armory. TomCat shoots quarter MOA groups at 100 yards with this rifle and can hold sub-minute groups beyond 500 yards. On a recent trip to the 1000-yard range both Maverick and Q Ball took turns knocking down a ten-inch plate at that distance. Maverick was shooting a Remington 700 similar to this one but Q Ball was shooting an AR-10, not bad for a gas gun.

For several years now I have had an on going dialog/debate with my “operational” friends about the practical value of FPS (first person shooter) video games. My argument has been that if you use a com tool like Roger Wilco, then not only do you learn the value of communication but some games provide the opportunity to learn and practice tactical movement. This covers two of the tenants of our motto: Shoot, Move, Communicate. Let’s just say that for the most part we have agreed to disagree. Needless to say, that does not keep us at Team Phyrfight from our weekly forays in the world of virtual combat. Our current game of choice is Joint Operations- Typhoon Rising. Here is an AAR (after action report) on a recent Friday night outing.

The five of us, 3wire, Bluey, Hi-power, Q Ball and TomCat find ourselves pinned down in a narrow valley with steep cliffs on both sides. Our objective is a village about 2 km up the valley. An APC is hammering on our position with its 30mm gun. We are hunkered down behind some large boulders. Several emplaced 50 cals open up anytime we try to move. And we are taking sporadic small arms fire from the surrounding hills. Basically we are FUBARed. Attempts to get a shot on the APC with an AT4 have been futile. We simply can’t see shit and they are zeroed in on us. I’m humping a Javelin but there is no way I can get into position to get a lock and fire the thing. If we don’t do something we are all going to die here.

The Plan.
The map indicates that there is a road that parallels the valley half a click to our left on the other side of the ridge and we can see a trail that looks like it will take us to the road. The other three team members draw fire from the right side of our position while TomCat and I make a mad dash for a trail that runs up the left hill. We are totally exposed for about 20 meters but we run like hell for the trees. The APC doesn’t notice us but a 50 cal opens up on us. We hear the rounds zip through the trees around us. We dive for cover behind a low berm. The rounds pound the berm but we are safe. We crawl up the trail and eventually find our way to the road. We hump down the road as fast as we can, occasionally pausing to glass the area ahead. Our plan is to flank the APC and take it out with the Javelin.

We run into one patrol along the way but neutralize them from about 300 meters. TomCat makes quick work of them with her SR-25. Did I mention that TomCat is a 13-year-old girl? TomCat’s favorite real-world shooting these days is precision rifle so naturally in Joint Ops she always kits up with a sniper rifle of some sort.

The mountainous terrain doesn’t allow us a shot at the APC. We keep on the move until we have hiked all the way passed the village and by then we can’t see the APC. The rest of the team has managed to extricate themselves somewhat by crawling back down the valley where they set up a mortar and try to pound the APC to death.

TomCat gets in position on a ridge high above the village and with me spotting and ranging for her she takes out a dozen or so hostiles. Joint Ops has pretty realistic ballistics for a video game. You have to know the range of your target and dial in the right elevation or you wont hit anything. At long ranges you can even see the swurl trace of the rounds arcing into the target just like reality.

We work our way slowly down the side of the mountain to the valley floor then into the shallow creek that runs through the valley. By this time the rest of the team has managed to take out the APC and are working their way up the valley toward us. TomCat and I can see a lot of activity in and around the village. It seems that everyone is hunkered down behind cover waiting for the main element of our team to come in from the other side of the village. They don’t notice us. We get as close in as we can then lie down on the bank of the creek and set up. About 165 meters away are two tangos behind sand bags. One is on a 50 and the other has an AK. They are looking toward the advancing team and are totally exposed to us. TomCat dials in and gets set. I tell her to take out the guy on the 50 and I’ll hit the other guy with my M-4 on her shot. I get ready. The head of the 50 operator explodes in a crimson spray as he flips over the sandbags. The other guy is turning toward us bringing his AK to bear but before I can squeeze the trigger on my M-4 I hear another round from the SR-25 and see this guy’s head explode too. That’s my girl. Two quick shots, two kills. Could a father be any more proud?

We mop up the rest of the bad guys and finish the mission without incident. Practical training? Maybe yes, maybe no. Quality father-daughter time? Absolutely!

Today, teamxbox.com ran story that claimed Sony has patented a “method and system for generating sensory data onto the human neural cortex.” It is almost scary to think that at some point, the video and audio outputs of a gaming console could go stright into someone’s brain.
What is more scary, however, is that the patent office actually granted a patent to a company that only has a “prophetic invention” that is only “based on an inspiration.” How is this possible? Now, even if someone else invents what the patent describes, Sony will own the rights to it. Maybe I should patent the idea of a teleportation device while its still available.

I am lucky enough to be the proud owner of Sony’s brand new protable media center, the Playstation Portable (PSP). The PSP is not only a portable gaming device (and one that is more powerful than the Nintendo DS I might add), but it can also store and play mp3’s, videos, and photos. Wireless play between PSPs without an access point is just icing on the delicious, super-moist cake. All of that and it’s cheaper than an iPOD! Well, okay, that’s not saying much since the iPOD is grossly overpriced, but the PSP is still a great buy.

My only complaints with the system are as follows:
1.) The system is simply too hard to keep clean. The screen is amazing and the fact that the whole thing is a nice shiny plastic is cool-looking, but it smudges quite easily. I hate to see my fingerprints.
2.) The battery life is a bit short. The system will only play high intensity games for a little over 2 hours.
3.) The PSP will not play just any video file that you save to it. The files must be converted to a specific format that can be saved on the memory sticks. Sony has a program for sale that will do this, but it’ll cost you a cool $20. Luckily, I’ve saved you some time and found a program that will do this for free. Thank the nice guys over at PSP Video 9 with a donation to their cause.

“The chip, named the PhysX, was created by Ageia and is designed to perform the same role that a typical GPU performs for accelerating pixel rendering.” PhysX is a new GPU that will be put in some next-gen consoles and future PC’s. While it will not waist time with “elementary graphics processing,” the PhysX chipset is designed to handle particles, bodys, and life-like human animations. Before, the graphics card handled the physics as well as the physics, but now the two GPUs can share the job and give games twice the processin power.

Personally, I think that the current Xbox controller is absolutely the best thing to happen to console gaming (especially first person shooters)in this generation. The Xbox controllers, both the original and the controller-S, are generations beyond both the Sony and Nintendo controllers. Why are the next-gen controllers being changed? I personally like the original controllers and want to use them when playing the next Xbox console, but that has already been shot. Now I hear that the triggers, which are vital to the success of games like Halo, Halo 2, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, have been replaced by shoulder buttons! Do the “genius” engineers at Microsoft actually think that what consumers want is another N64 controller? I simply can’t believe that the Xbox was so incredible and Microsoft is screwing up its successor so badly. Your thoughts?

Check out this HL2 mod. Its a work in progress but looks like it will be pretty cool. The back story reminds me a little of Phyrfight. Cant wait to play it!

http://dystopia-mod.com/

Anyone who has played Halo 2 online knows how awesome the experience is and how innovative the party system is. The guys at Bungie really knew what was important when it came to the multiplayer experience.

The most impressive part of the entire thing, however, is the online integration on bungie.net. Not only does Bungie track the stats of every player online, but they also track the stats of every game. From kills to plaver vs. player to medals, everything you would want to know is on there. What is even more impressive is that with a Microsoft “.net passport” a player can even look at a map of the game and see every kill that any player made, who they killed, with what weapon, and where on the map. It is hard to imagine the complete scale of the integration until you actually see it for yourself.

If you have XBOX Live and are a fan of Halo 2, you have to get a “.net passport” and get going with this. It is amazing!

“Chaos Theory” is a good subtitle for Sam Fisher’s next assignment to protect America from those who would harm us, but I think a more well-suited subtitle would be “The Game We Wanted the First Time Around.”

The original Splinter Cell was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and the primary focus of that game was to incorporate light and sound into an espionage game like no one had ever done before. Long story short, they succeeded. What they failed to do, however, was to create compelling and interesting gameplay and level design. The levels became tedious and mundane near the conclusion of the amazing story, and the EXTREMELY linear gameplay turned off many who enjoyed the idea of being a spy.

The sequal, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomarrow, developed by Ubisoft Shanghai, almost went backwards in terms of single-player gameplay. One or two of the levels had interesting and unique segments, and occaisionally there were even multiple paths, but for the most part the levels were even more repetative than the first’s. To add insult to injury, the developer did a poor job of informing the player of exactly what was happening in the plot, leaving the player with little or no idea why Sam was doing what he was doing. Apart from the added multiplayer, the game was a failure. The future was not looking bright for the series untill….

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory! Ubisoft Montreal reportedly handed over control of SC:PT because the team wanted a jump start on their own next attempt at the game. What has been told and shown of the next installment is, for lack of a better phrase, “The Game We Wanted the First Time Around.” Ubisoft has widely expanded the gameplay with greater player control over what is taken into the field, multiple paths through every scenario, and new equipment such as a 3-D map to help the player find the multiple paths and a knife for deadly close combat. Mix in the revolutionary adversarial and brand new cooperative modes and the game is shaping up to be something special.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005
By Jared Goldman
FOX NEWS

Suggestions like this one can be heard in playrooms across the country, as more and more video games come out re-creating the world’s deadliest conflicts.

Game-makers say digital entertainment like “Conflict: Desert Storm,” “Conflict Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad (search),” “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon” and the recently released World War II game “Call of Duty: Finest Hour (search)” can teach about the perils, triumphs and history of war.

read more

I just finished Half-Life 2. Yes, I know I’m far behind many fanatics, but I’m just as passionate about it now that I’ve played the game. It is truly revolutionary. Anyone who hasn’t played it should. Anyone who hasn’t played on the highest quality needs to upgrade their computer and play it because the experience is drastically different and much more enjoyable. Thanks. Have Fun!

Has anyone else played Knight of the Old Republic 2? For the most part its a carbon copy of the original with a different story. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining but even the story seems to lose its ground and almost fall apart near the end. Anyway, just a thought.