Black Ops Ground War not working with expansion packs

For a long time I thought that I had connection issues with COD Black Ops. Ground War is probably my favorite game mode in Black Ops but I could only remember playing it a couple of times when I first got the game, then one day it just didn't work. I would search often but I could never seem to find other players. Then one day a friend of mine got COD Black Ops and he was connecting to Ground Wars all the time, I still couldn't find a connection but I was thankful that I could at least play Ground Wars whenever he was online and I joined his group.

I've downloaded two of the expansion packs for COD Black Ops (First Strike and Escalation), I think these have some fun maps so I told my friend that he should download an expansion pack, he downloaded First Strike yesterday and as soon as it was installed we couldn't connect to Ground Wars anymore. Considering that Ground War was our favorite game mode, we felt punished for having it taken away because we purchased expansion packs. Why would Treyarch do this?

Are you having trouble connecting to Ground War? If you don't mind getting rid of some expansion packs for a while then here's your solution, go to your game data utility and delete Black Ops. This will uninstall the game and expansion packs from your system but thankfully all your online stats will remain the same and are not affected. After that pop the game back in and install it again without the expansions. It's not the best solution but at least you can have Ground War back and you can install the expansions again later if you really miss them.

Treyarch please stop punishing those of us who buy your expansion packs, someone should fix this issue!

I wasn't a fan of Red Dead Redemption right away, I thought the storyline was slow and repetitive. I still think that but after having beat the game I have to admit that I'm definitely a fan. At first I was just trying to beat the game because I felt guilty. After buying it, I felt like I had to beat it. Like I said it was really slow at first but by the time I got to the end I had honestly gotten a little attached to John Marston. In fact, I enjoyed the game so much by the time I finished it that I actually downloaded Undead Nightmare and all of the other expansion packs.

Red Dead's expansion packs have been lots of fun and I'd say they're definitely worth it if you have the money. I particularly enjoy being able to play Texas Hold'em or Liars Dice against real players but I do wish there were more people playing the grand prix mode; the largest race I've manged to join has been 3 people, me against 2 other players. But even if you don't have the expansion packs, the online play is great in Red Dead Redemption. If there's one thing that Rockstar Games did right, it was the online play.

When you're in free roam online you can play on the whole Red Dead Redemption game map. In free roam you can complete journal challenges like in the single player mode (ie. hunting, marksman, etc...) and you also have other classic shooter modes like gang matches, capture the bag, and free for all. Over all Red Dead Redemption did blow me away like six shooter in a high noon showdown, but it does take some work to get into it.

I've also been playing L.A Noire recently and I must say it does waaaay better in the story department!

Is it too late to play Oblivion?

I just found out that someone found this blog with the question is it too late to play Oblivion? I say hell no! If you've never played the game before and especially if you haven't played Skyrim yet then why not play Oblivion? I'm actually still in the process of playing the game myself with a Dark Elf character that's a bit of a hybrid of a thief, assassin and mage. 

On a similar note I'm also playing Fallout 3 for the first time. I already played Fallout Vegas a lot a while back and beat the game. Recently I had a craving for playing the game again and I thought "why play Vegas again when I haven't played Fallout 3?", so I went out and picked up a copy of Fallout 3 and I've been enjoying it, in the end it's a new Fallout experience for you. Oblivion is a great game, if you feel like giving it a shot I suggest you pick it up enjoy!

What happened to the online Bare Knuckle championship?

What happened to the bare knuckle online world championship for Fight Night Champion? I used to enjoy a couple of bare knuckle matches here and there, especially when I couldn't find a suitable opponent in the regular championship mode. Recently I had stayed away from Fight Night because I'd been playing other games like Red Dead Redemption and Fallout 3. I came back to climb the online ranks in Fight Night Champion and was disappointed to find that no one is playing the bare knuckle mode online. I've been playing a lot the last few days and I keep checking if there's anyone in any weight division but I've had no luck so far. What happened?

Combat King Update

Well it's good to hear that some readers are enjoying their Combat King arcade sticks. One of my main issues is that I have a Hori arcade stick and a Combat King. The button layout is different on both controllers and that's slightly annoying when I'm hanging out with friends. Instead of getting right down to the action you have to map out the buttons for both controllers and do that for every game. That's not really a flaw with the controllers, it just means that it might be a good idea to have two of the same kind of controller if you're going to play with two players.

The main reason I wanted to give an update on the Combat King is because someone left a comment the other day saying they were glad to hear that the protective cover on the controller comes off because they want to draw their own Ninja Turtles cover on it. Well the plastic doesn't come off that easily but it's also not impossible to get rid of. I've been rubbing the plastic and the graphic off a little bit at a time with each use. Once a bit of the cover came off I figured I'd just let the whole thing go. Here's a picture of what it looks like at the moment.

As you can see, a lot of the original picture has come off where I usually rest my hands while playing. If you were actually trying to get rid of the entire picture then I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard. You'll also notice that I had to label the 4 buttons on the left side so that they show the PS3 buttons. If you're familiar with PS3 controllers then you can see that they layout isn't the same as on a typical controller. This is one of the things that makes having a Combat King and a Hori stick kind of annoying. The 4 buttons on the right are a little more straight forward with L1 and R1 at the top and L2 and R2 at the bottom.

I'd love to hear more feedback from anyone else who owns a Combat King, I've been having lots of fun with mine.

I'm off to put this controller to good use now with some Marvel vs Capcom 3, thanks for reading.

Fight Stick Review Part 3 - Hori Fighting Stick 3

After using my arcade sticks on different fighting games (SFIV, MK, Marvel vs Capcom, and MK vs DC) I've decided that the Hori Fighting Stick 3 is the one I like best. It may not be pretty, but it gets the job done easily and with no hassles. The joystick and buttons are more loose on my Hori stick than they are on the Combat King controller that I also purchased. When I reviewed the Combat King controller I mentioned that I preferred the tight feel of the buttons on the Combat King. This is still true but the fact that the controls are a little more loose on the Hori stick is only a minor detail. I also mentioned in a different post that a friend of mine preferred the Hori stick from the beginning because it was a little more loose, I guess it's all about your personal preference with that kind of thing. 

I got my Hori stick used. I'm not sure how long the previous owner had it but it works great and I have no problems with it at all. In a few ways the Combat King feels like the more professional joystick. The Combat King both looks and feels a little more like the sticks that you see people using at tournaments. The Hori Stick 3 doesn't have a macro setting, but it does have a turbo button and the R3 and L3 buttons. When I first got my fight sticks I liked the Combat King a little better than the Hori 3, now that some time has gone by I actually prefer the Hori 3. This is really just because of convenience. I use the sticks on a PS3 and (rarely) sometimes also on a PC. For me, choosing the Hori stick is just a matter of convenience, the buttons are laid out more or less like they are on a PS3 controller so it feels a little bit easier most of the time to get right to the action. People using the controllers are usually familiar with the standard PS3 controllers already and the layout of the buttons, it's just more intuitive.

Recap:

Although I originally preferred the Combat King over the Hori Fighting Stick 3, I know like the Hori 3 just a little more than the Combat King. I still use my Combat King and they are definitely both well made sticks, they do their job like they're supposed to and are fun to use. The edge now goes to the Hori 3 mainly as a matter of convenience for a PS3 user.