Not really a solution, though—more of an eye for an eye. Admittedly it’s probably the best option. I always have to fiddle with my router options before I can get my NAT to stay Open, though.

Also – dont hate the makahs, hate the play-ahs. For every A$$-Clown you met in GoW, I’d met their doppleganger in Halo 2. It’s the luck of the draw and the nature of the beast. The only time I ever found gaming nirvana – where a group of people seemed mature and willing to play and strategize together – was in the orignal Ghost Recon for XBox.

I feel comfortable laying some blame at the feet of Epic. They really didn’t try to do anything innovative with multiplayer (by their own admission), and it’s a testament to GoW’s gameplay that such an unimaginative multiplayer system has so many players (meaning the gametypes and the way matchmaking software works, not the combat system).

It was Epic who decided to make players wait for the round to end after being killed, meaning I either have to wait after being teamkilled or just quit the match (which no doubt happens a lot).

In Halo 2, you can get teamkilled and respawn instantly, then continue playing and avoid the teamkiller until he gets banned. I was in a game where this happened, but I stayed in the game and my team eventually won, adding much-appreciated points to my ranking. What’s more, it was just a fun match. In GoW I would have quit rather than wait for the round to end and risk getting teamkilled (and another wait) again the next round.

That said, I have had a friend say to me that he likes the “realism” of the perma-death system, claiming that the constant respawning in games like Halo 2 strike him as nihilistic. I see where he’s coming from, but from another perspective, I’ve paid $60 for a game and $50 for bandwidth to spend X amount of time sitting around doing nothing. (To which one could say: “then suck it up and become a better player, you wussy.” But I can’t spend all my time playing Gears of War…which plenty of those players do.)

Also, Halo 2 obviously offers many more gametypes than GoW. Epic chose to cram everything into the graphics and combat system and let the story and multiplayer slide.

Sure, one’s answer to all this might be, “Just play a different game, like [insert Tom Clancy title here].” But I happen to enjoy the gameplay of Gears of War and Halo more than those games and wish I could have a better multiplayer experience with them.

I think they’ll find better ways to deal with teamkilling, cheating, and general immaturity in FPS and other games. It may be through technical innovation or it may occur more gradually through market forces and shifting demographics, but I think it will happen.

Sean: Remember Bloody Wild Bill. That was one cool cat.

Compare that to my recent experience on Gears of War, where I jumped into a game and was immediately shotgunned to death by my own teammate. Teamkilling is 10x worse when you have to sit out the rest of the match.

Plus, here’s something you may have noticed–unless you host a game of GoW, you are going to be on the Locust side and you are going to lose. I find that to be true almost 100% of the time because a.) the host has an advantage already, b.) the host always chooses the COGs because they’re cooler, c.) the host often has friends playing with him which means they’re working together as a team, and d.) You’re stuck on a team with crappy Locust characters, without the host and his advantage, and with people you’ve never met.

And that’s just player matches. Ranked matches are much worse, because people are always trying to get achievements. “No one get the torque bow I’m trying to get the achievement!” I hope Bungie thinks long and hard about their multiplayer achievements. I know I’ll never get one in GoW (other than the “play a ranked match” achievement).

Sorry for the digressional rant. Anyway, can’t wait for Halo 3.

As for Fantasy Moguls, it’s basically a fantasy movie studio league where you “draft” movies based on projected box office, aggregate review ratings, per-theater averages, and so forth. I’ve got 300 on my slate, so your and Ed’s attendance helped boost my take, if ever so slightly.

As for Halo 3, I can’t wait. We’ll have some legendary sessions I’m sure. Checking out the new Bungie site had be remembering days now long past (hard to believe I haven’t played a multiplayer game of H2 in over a year).

No, my interest in it is strictly for the HDMI port, particularly since I have a 1080p set. I suppose the all-black factor is cool too. A quieter DVD drive and cooler running chip would also be nice considering how much I use mine due to Media Center and that I use it as a DVD player.

As you know, I’m now thinking BR-DVD is going to win out over HD-DVD, so that drive doesn’t mean much to me since I figure I’ll eventually pick up a PS3. I see where you are coming from on the price difference, but doesn’t the lower PS3 currently lack the holy HDMI port???

You should link to that first comment as an Aside from the Zone. That’s almost a post of its own…

I too am irritated by the Elite deal, but, like Ed, I’ll wait until that day–far off or soon, who knows?–when my 360 scheisses the bed.

As for TMNT arcade, Sean, I think this might be enlightening. Note that it was determined by reader votes, not editor selection.

And the new movie has been getting pretty good buzz. I may see it myself. But first I have to see The Host and 300.

And as I’ve mentioned, it looks like Halo 3 could arrive as early as September. Can’t wait. Gears of War is okay, but the vehicles and weapon selection in Halo multiplayer is a lot more fun.