Games

8-Bit Salute To Veterans : Chicago Event

In the near western burbs of Chicago, Operations Supply Drop will be hosting an event on Saturday, November 10th.  If you are in the area, please consider joining in person or if you are not in the area, you can join in online to support our troops.  More info below at Off Duty Gamers:

Off Duty Gamers, in conjunction with Kona’s Korner Productions and Game Pazzo presents an evening supporting our veterans and recognizing Veterans Day with a little fun, prizes and support for a great cause.

The Location, Time and Date

Game Pazzo
2011 63rd Street
Downers Grove, IL 60516
http://gamepazzo.com

Saturday November 10th, 2012

1800 (6pm) until 0100 (1am)

GAME PAZZO is THE entertainment destination located in Downers Grove, IL for all ages and families. 2000 sq feet of retail game store where you can BUY, SELL, or TRADE-IN your games/accessories; followed by 13,000 sq ft in the back which is the Gaming Center, offering the ultimate gaming experience where you can play on your choice of gaming systems – Playstation, Wii, XBOX 360 & Kinect, PC games and Rock Band on our very own state-of-the-art Rock Band Stage. In addition to gaming areas, Game Pazzo features a full service bar and kitchen with areas to hang out, grab a bite to eat, drink with friends, catch a game on TV or play pool.


Mastiff Games and Tenyon Announces - Heavy Fire: Afghanistan

HEAVY FIRE_A_Wii Pack
Mastiff Games is helping with merchandise to promote the Stachebash and Soldiers' Angels so, in the absence of a great review by Off Duty Gamers, here is the trailer and some information on their latest combat game available for PlayStation®3 system, Wii™ and PC, Heavy Fire: Afhghanistan.

Heavy Fire: Afghanistan is a super fast playing, high-intensity experience set in modern-day Afghanistan. Whether fighting up close and personal with guns and grenades, raining down fire from a helicopter or laying waste with a main battle tank, Heavy Fire: Afghanistan is all about constant, edge-of-the-seat action and beautiful graphics combined with straightforward, intuitive controls to give hardcore gamers and novices an immediately fun, pickup-and-play experience.  

  • 24 high-action missions
  • More than 60 awards, ranks, and equipment upgrades
  • Leaderboard to see how you stack up
  • 1-4 players, cooperative play

Heavy Fire: Afghanistan is rated “Teen” by the ESRB and is set for national release in early November. Pre-order is available at participating retailers.

* Pre-order on PS3: http://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Fire-Afghanistan-Playstation-3/dp/B004L5SJ58/ref=...

* Pre-order on PC: http://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Fire-Afghanistan-Pc/dp/B004M2DWGQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=U...

* Pre-order on Wii: http://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Fire-Afghanistan-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B004L5SJ5I/ref=s...

Heavy Fire: Afghanistan will soon be joined on shelves by another title in the series, Heavy Fire: The Chosen Few 3D for the Nintendo 3DS hand-held system.

For game updates and more, follow Mastiff on Facebook and Twitter.  

About Mastiff:
Mastiff is a leading publisher of games on all platforms including those from Sony Computer Entertainment, Microsoft, Nintendo and mobile devices including iPhone, iPad and Android as well as online gaming. Mastiff has offices in San Francisco, Florida, New York and Tokyo. Titles include the hit Remington Super Slam hunting series, the critically acclaimed RELOAD tactical shooting simulation and the smash hit Deer Drive. For more information please visit www.mastiff-games.com.

About Teyon:
Headquartered in Krakow, Poland, Teyon is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment for all platforms. With sister offices in Lodz and Tokyo, the company employs over 60 people to develop and launch titles worldwide using proprietary cross-platform technology.  In addition to the Heavy Fire series, Teyon titles include the Linda Hyde series, 1001 Touch Games, Mini Golf Resort and KidFit. For more information, visit www.teyon.com.


Controversial "Medal of Honor" video game reviewed by Off Duty Gamers

Our friends at Off Duty Gamers reviewed the single player version of Electronic Arts "Medal of Honor".  I'm a fan of the series, but don't play the modern era games (stick to WWII).  This version has been controversial for the ability to play as a Taliban in multi-player mode and kill GIs.  That part has changed - now you can kill GIs anonymously instead of as a Talib.  That's not supposed to be a joke, and it is typical (playing as a Russian or a German, etc) of combat games where you can have dozens of players fighting it out on various maps.

Here's what the good folks at ODG had to say:

...From the military gamer perspective I say you’re going to like Medal of Honor and you’re going to appreciate what went into the details to remain faithful to those who serve. There’s going to be a lot of other opinions out there, some tinged with political ideology, preconceived notions of what the real military is like or flat out wrong assumptions based on Hollywood or other games. The ultimate review is the one you give but remember, some of what Medal of Honor excels at isn’t about the ‘game’ any more than the actual ‘Medal of Honor’ is about an ‘award’...

And as for the realism of the game:

...EA even went to the level where if you’re standing next to the guy on coms talking you not only hear the transmission (in your virtual ear) but his voice as well...

It's a great review by a team that knows what it's like to be in the military, they're just off duty when they play the games.


Are you an Off Duty Gamer?

Got this message from a good friend starting a new project.  OffDutyGamers.com is a portal that focuses on video game reviews, news and technical assistance that's by military and for military (ie. no 12 year old experts commenting on the games realism): 

ALLCON: The concept is pretty simple and goes like this. A lot of games in the console and PC market are either directly or indirectly military related yet the primary people who would know this genre best are the least polled or heard from.

In a time when gaming has gotten very realistic it is time for those of us who know the material to have a place to go and be among our own community. The site will cover things such as:

- Game reviews (normal areas like graphics, performance story) but also adds tactical ability, weapon realism, historical accuracy, military-life realism etc.

- Articles on tactics that might be able to be employed in games, CQC techniques, Room clearing, playing WITH other players (no man is an army of 1!)

- Forums that are FOR veterans and active military, policed by veterans

- Giveaways that not only appeal to military gamers but also act as a small THANK YOU for your service

- Support for OUR community like working to get items to Wounded Warriors as they recover or sending items to the deployed troops to let them enjoy R&R a little better

- Provide future military technical advisers and beta testing to game companies as they build the next generation military games in order to provide guidance and feedback


I'm putting this all together and a small team is emerging but I DEFINITELY could use more interested volunteers so if you're a military gamer, contact me at [email protected]

Off Duty Gamers is in pre-launch phase now.  You can check it out here (Facebook and Twitter links on the home page).