It wasn’t too long ago that online shooters offered up far less intimidating experiences for first-timers.  There was little to no customization as far as what you could bring in to battle with you.  You just chose a basic loadout and shot at other people who were using the same basic loadout.  It was simple.  It worked well.  Everyone had a fighting chance—even the noobs.  The only real advantage veteran players had over beginners was more practice.  They knew the maps well.  They knew all the good spots and maybe a few glitches—but that was all.  They didn’t have increased health and armor, airstrikes or choppers, martyrdom or any other seemingly magical abilities.  Just guns and nades—it was the good ‘ol days.

But Call of Duty changed all that.  In 2007 Modern Warfare exploded on to the scene, bringing with it a leveling system ripe with Perks and rewards that would become the standard for online FPS’s.

Because of Modern Warfare’s popularity, more and more games are following its formula for character leveling.  In this new generation of online shooters, players are rewarded with better equipment as their skills improve.  This deadly mix of more practice and better equipment further increases the gap between ‘leveled’ players and players just starting out.  The result is an environment where natural ability can only get you so far.  What was once a pick up and play experience for casual gamers has become a case of the haves and the have-nots.

Now, this system is a great idea from the standpoint of developers who want you to play their game for countless hours.  It gives the player a reason to keep playing; and it gives you a sense of progression that some earlier games have always been missing.  It’s also a great system for competitive gamers who join clans and love playing against other clans with similar skills.  The problem is that it’s unfair punishment for the players who aren’t playing every night.  It locks out casual gamers who don’t necessarily want to put in the time and rank up enough to become competitive.  Frankly, the noobs are suffering.  Frustrated and mal-equipped, casual gamers are likely to crawl back to single-player and non-competitive game modes and leave the competitive modes for the rest of us.

So, what do you guys think?  What can the developers do to level the playing field?  MW2 addressed the problem a little bit with “Death Streaks” and Halo keeps it even by only letting you customize your armor’s appearance.  What’s the answer?  How can the developers give hardcore gamers and casual gamers an equally fun experience?  Is it even possible?

Let your noob-flag fly!  Join the discussion in our Modern Warfare 2 forums.  We want to hear from both sides.

Carefully designed to give gamers more leverage, the FPS Freek adapter adds movement precision without disturbing the natural game-playing feel. Team FeaR felt the advantage of using the FPS Freek first hand in recent MLG tournaments they’ve won, including the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare National Championship this November.

“We’ve been using FPS Freek’s for months and wouldn’t dare play without them”, said Joey ‘Moho’ Morehouse, Captain of Team FeaR. “We’re competitive gamers and winning matters – using FPS Freek is now just part of our winning routine.”  “We’re extremely proud of Team FeaR and their recent top place finish in Anaheim,” said Ashish Mistry, CEO of KontrolFreek. “We can’t wait to see how our guys do at nationals in Orlando this January.”

The KontrolFreek products are approved for use in MLG tournaments and have been widely adopted across the first person shooter, fighter and sports gaming genres. In fact, gamers have been evolving the products original use across many gaming titles.

In addition to the FPS Freek, KontrolFreek also offers the SpeedFreek. Designed to gives gamers added control and comfort when playing racing and aviation games, the SpeedFreek's supporting slide walls enable sharper movements while adding control and precision.The FPS Freek and the SpeedFreek are $9.99 each and can be purchased at www.kontrolfreek.com or participating retailers.

About KontrolFreek
KontrolFreek designs and build products for serious gamers, giving them a competitive edge and helping them to improve performance and accuracy. KontrolFreek products are developed based on a careful study of ergonomics, ensuring each product also helps to reduce gamer fatigue, improving overall gaming comfort.

It’s pretty hard to keep a secret these days.  And with the insane amount of excitement surrounding Modern Warfare 2, it’s apparently impossible.  Leaked copies of MW2 have shown up all over the globe and spoilers are flying around like… something that flies around a lot.  The complete list of perks and kill streak rewards have recently been leaked, but Infinity Ward is still keeping mum over certain details of the game and won’t really confirm or deny much.

So without further ado, I give you the unofficial, but pretty much official, list of MW2 perks and kill streak rewards:

Note:  Three perk slots are available with each perk being upgradeable from “standard” to “pro.”

Perks:  Slot 1

Marathon - Standard: Unlimited Sprint - Pro: Get over obstacles faster
Sleight of Hand  - Standard: Faster Reload - Pro: Aim down sights faster
Scavenger - Standard: Retrieve ammo from dead bodies – Pro: Extra Mags
Bling - Standard: Dual attachments on primary weapon - Pro: Dual attachments on secondary weapon
One Man Army - Standard: Switch classes in game (no respawn needed) Pro: Same perk, but works faster

Perks:  Slot 2

Stopping Power - Standard: Increased bullet damage - Pro: Increased bullet damage to aircraft and choppers
Lightweight - Standard: Move faster – Pro: ?
Hardline - Standard: Killstreak rewards require 1 less kill - Pro: Deathstreaks require 1 less death
Cold Blooded - Standard: Undetectable by UAV, air support, sentries, and thermal – Pro: ?
Danger Close - Standard: Increases explosive weapons damage – Pro: ?

Perks:  Slot 3

Commando - Standard: Increased melee distance - Pro: Same as “standard” plus no falling damage
Steady Aim - Standard: Increased hip-fire accuracy – Pro: Hold breath while aiming longer
Scrambler - Standard: Scrambles the radar of nearby enemies – Pro: ?
Ninja - Standard: Invisible to heartbeat sensors - Pro: Move silently
SitRep - Standard: Insertions. Reveals enemy explosives and Tactical Insertions – Pro: Louder enemy footsteps
Last Stand - Standard: You remember this one… remain alive on the ground for 10 seconds after being killed, pistol equipped - Pro: Use grenades and equipment along with your pistol

Kill streak rewards:

Note:  Kill streak rewards can be unlocked in the order that you choose (except the default set).  You can also select your choice of 3 rewards to use for each character class.

3 Kills -- UAV
4 Kills -- Care Package
4 Kills -- Counter UAV
5 Kills -- Sentry Gun
5 Kills -- Predator Missile
6 Kills -- Precision Airstrike
7 Kills -- Strike
7 Kills -- Attack Chooper
8 Kills -- Emergency Airdrop
9 Kills -- Pave Low
9 Kills -- Stealth Bomber
11 Kills -- Chopper Gunner
11 Kills -- AC-130
15 Kills -- EMP
25 Kills – Tactical Nuke

I used to be good at Halo.  So when ODST came out I decided to plug in the Halo 3 Multiplayer disk and relive some of my former glory.  Sure, I figured that I’d be bit rusty from not playing for a while, but I never thought that I would still be getting straight-pwned after multiple hours.  Ouch!  This concerned me.  So after a lot of frustration—and maybe even a few tears—I decided to get to the root of the problem.

My first thought was the obvious: I suck.  Then, right before hanging myself, I decided that I wasn’t really as bad as my stats were demonstrating.  I mean, I’m not god’s gift to gaming or anything, but I do have nearly a 2.0 kill/death ratio in Modern Warfare.  My conclusion: everyone must be cheating (well, maybe not everyone--but you can see what I'm getting at).  I have certainly fallen victim to cheaters in the past but it was usually something relatively obvious.  When you are constantly getting shot from outside the map in Call Of Duty, Ghost Recon, Halo, Gears of War, and every other popular game in the history of multiplayer gaming, you know when the C is O (“cheat is on…” stay with me).  But this was different; I was being outgunned—by the same guns that I was using!  I decided that I was being beaten by hardware mods (rapid fire controllers, specifically).  Had this exception to the rule become an epidemic?

Now, I’m all about obtaining advantages (that’s why I use FPSFreeks, after all) but when does this lust for the upper-hand become cheating?   Where do you stand on the issue?  Where do you draw the line in your quest for that tangible edge?

With a wallet-draining mess of sequels coming out between now and the end of the year, you could say that 2009 is set to be yet another “year of the sequel.”  Now, we know that all of these top-tier games are probably going to be great—and we’d love to have them all.  But since many of our wallets are looking a bit thin these days, buying them all is going to be a problem (unless that plan to win the lottery finally works out).  So, if you could afford to buy only ONE of these games, which one would it be?

Halo 3: ODST

Forza Motorsport 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Left 4 Dead 2

Assassin’s Creed 2