Happy E3 2010 everybody!  After seeing Microsoft’s big unveil of the new, Kinect ready Xbox 360 yesterday, we thought, wouldn’t some Stealth on Stealth FPS Freeks look super-tight with that shiny new skin?  We certainly think so!  And that’s why we’ve decided to give you a chance to win 1 of 10 ULTIMATE KontrolFreek GamerPacks.  Each ULTIMATE GamerPack includes a KontrolFreek GamerPack and a NEW Xbox 360!  That’s right, the brand new, glossy black one Microsoft JUST announced at E3!  All you have to do to enter is become a fan of our Facebook page – that’s it.  Oh, and the contest will end in 72 hours; so that should make for some pretty good odds!

All Facebook fans, new and old are eligible to win.  After 72 hours, we will randomly choose 10 fans from our list.  You guys who have been with us for a while know that we love doing stuff like this.  It’s our way of saying “thanks” to all of you KF veterans and “welcome” to all you new fans.

Thank you “I Play COD” for supporting us and good luck to everyone!

Kisses and Headshots,

KontrolFreek

Enter “KFE3DEAL” at checkout for 10% off anything in our store!

Last night was a long one.  With energy drinks and the Halo: Reach Beta fueling my frenzy, I went long in to the night and awoke this morning to swollen eyes and a strong urge to remove them from my face.  But, having the opportunity to play in the biggest public beta ever is totally worth the pain, right?  I mean, this is something we’ll probably tell our grandchildren about (immediately before they laugh at us for the primitive games we used to play).  Ah, kids… I really don’t care for them.

My early impressions of the beta are pretty good.  That old, familiar gameplay is back and probably tighter than ever.  The new weapons seem fairly balanced and are mostly fun to use.  And playing with the new Armor Abilities has proven entertaining, too; although it’s pretty annoying when the guy you were about to kill drops to his knees and encases himself in glow-y-ness.  It just seems a bit cheap to me.  But I’ll still use it from time-to-time—especially when I see someone else do it—so that we can both be crouched there glowing and not shooting at each other.

My only major complaint during my marathon Reach session was the lack of gametypes and maps.  I seemed to always be doing the same thing over-and-over again.  So I did some research for about 10-seconds and found a statement from Bungie over at the official Halo: Reach Beta site that I will now share with you:

“… [We] will be releasing the maps and gametypes on different dates throughout the duration of the beta test, with only a subset of them being available immediately on May 3rd.

The good news is that once a map or gametype is released, it will remain available through the end of the beta even as other gametypes become available. Below is the schedule of release:

• Grab Bag – May 3
• FFA – May 3
• Arena – May 3
• Invasion – May 7
• Network Test 1/Generator Defense – May 14”

Yay!  So, be patient and enjoy the short time that you and the Reach Beta have together.  See you all later tonight—I’ll be the one stabbing you in the back.

Is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 consuming your life?  We know.  We can’t stop playing it either. 

Speaking of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, did you know that Team Fear (Kontrol Freek sponsored MLG team) earned a podium finish at last weekend’s COD 4 National Championships in Anaheim, CA?  That’s right! Out of all of the really awesome players in the U.S. who play Modern Warfare, they manage to be awesom-er.  We think that’s pretty... awesome!

So congratulations, Fear, on your third-place finish!  Keep dominating!  And keep on using those FPS Freeks.

I love co-op as much as the next guy.   Well, maybe a little more than the next guy.  Okay, so I'm a junkie for co-op, whatever.  And I have been to some pretty shady places to get my next fix--like Army of Two, and yes, even 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.  Sometimes I just need a break from playing competitive multiplayer with a-holes and a nice, casual game of co-op is just what the doctor ordered.

So that's why I'm always disappointed when a top-tier game comes out and there's no cooperative campaign to be had.  I have seen a trend building by which more games are including, at the least, an independent co-op mode.  But this rarely cools my importunate co-op fever.   Let’s focus the stank-eye on Ghostbusters: The Video Game for a moment.  I loved the campaign—and the included cooperative multiplayer was fun.  But in a game so naturally fit for cooperative play, the lack of a true co-op campaign seemed like a serious missed opportunity.

Now, here comes Modern Warfare 2, ready to set the world on fire with its Michael Bay-esque campaign and top-notch multiplayer modes—the perfect recipe for an unforgettable co-op romp!  But to my dismay, the game will only include an independent co-op mode.  I'm sure it will probably be fun for a few minutes at least, but why do game developers continue to shatter my dreams?

Well, Infinity Ward's reasoning for not including a full co-op campaign is sound: they don't want their vision of the campaign experience to change by adding another person to the mix that could break the immersion.  I know that they are just protecting their game from cut-scene-chatterboxes and run-ahead-and-steal-all-the-kills-guy, but I just wish that I could have made that decision for myself.  Many times I like to play a game through the first time by myself and then invite a friend (not an obnoxious stranger) to play along with me.  This assures me the optimal gaming experience and adds replayability to a single-player campaign that I would otherwise never play again.

What do you guys think?  Are your cooperative fixes met by these independent co-op modes, or do you think full co-op campaigns need to become the standard?