In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin mourns the loss of one the best games ever made for the PC and is less than satisfied with the service at a certain bar.

( Read the rest of the blog entry after the jump! )

Everyone’s saying how Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and the fifth instalment World at War is one of the most played multiplayer games across all 3 major platforms, and the Wii isn’t one of them mind you.

I logged into COD 4 earlier and there were 17 000 servers online.

But you would be amazed if I told you how many servers are still up and running for a 2005 game.

The last time I logged into the network for Battlefield 2 was last night, and there were 585 servers, occupied or not. At least there’re servers, not like some pathetic game called Rainbow Six: Vegas 2.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to play the game. In fact I had been trying to join a server, any server, for the past two days but to no avail.

I already sensed something was not quite right when I replaced the Fifa 09 CD with the BF2 one. Instead of the usual menu that would pop up I was instead asked to choose a language.

That window only appears when you’re installing the game.

But BF2 has been on my computer for the past four years! Why should I be installing something that has already been installed? Did you get the Changeling reference by the way.

Ok never mind. Maybe the computer was screwing up once. So I closed the menu and launched the game from the programs menu.

Everything was fine, so far. The EA announcement, the intro movie, the log-in screen.

Then I double-clicked on a EA Thailand server because of its low ping.

BF2 >> Unable to connect due to network error.

Alright then, let’s try another server.

Click click.

Mountains and flowers.

My game had crashed back to the desktop.

At this point I must tell you all that I’ve been playing BF2 on this rig for 3 years now without any problems.

Suddenly my game crashes to the desktop?

I didn’t believe it, so I tried again.

This time I saw a baby’s face – my wallpapers are on a cycle.

There was no way I was going to be able to play the game.

So I tried uninstalling.

The usual procedure would be to go the program menu and click on ‘Uninstall’ right?

BF2 >> Are you sure you want to remove BF2 and all of its contents?

I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but you definitely need to see the doc.

mortpenguin >> Yes.

Nothing happened. No window, no error message. Nothing.

It’s like the game ran away.

BF2 >> No I don’t want an injection!

Now it’s getting really weird. First you don’t let me play, now you won’t let me remove you. So you just want to idle around on my computer and do nothing?

So I looked up online and found out that there’s a number of players around the world who have the same uninstaller problem. And somehow EA had added instructions on removing the game manually from the computer, meaning that this was a widespread problem. So I followed the instructions and removed the game’s folder and it’s registry.

But Battlefield 2 still showed up on my desktop, on my list of recently used programs and in my programs list. I have no idea what’s going on now.

Anyhow it signals the end of a successful era of multiplayer gaming on the PC. I’ve never played any other shooter which requires so much team-work; the different classes and respective roles really force players to interact with and help one another. While healing players and reuspplying ammo are mainly to rack up the points, it still injects more life into the game rather than just shoot the whole time. Yes, COD 4’s multiplayer is intense but it is nothing more than a frag fest. In BF2, there’re so many other ways you can play the game and you can never get bored. Want to be Jesus? Then keep throwing those medic packs and make sure your shock paddles are always ready. Want to be a lunatic? Then strap on a couple of C4 charges on a FAV and ram into that tank. You choose what kind of soldier you want to be, just make sure you don’t leave the battlefield and your men behind.

This year will see the release of two new Battlefield games – Battlefield 1943 which is a remake of the original BF1942 available for download for the consoles ( PC version is still undecided ) and the sequel to Bad Company. There are also rumours that DICE might be making a new Battlefield game for the PC and given the leaked details of Battlefield 3 two years ago, we PC fans could have something to cheer about!

In the meantime, that’s one less game on my PC and I still can’t get over the fact that I only had a few hundred more points to get promoted to the next rank.

—

I May Be Young, But I’m Not Poor.

On Valentine’s Day, a group of six friends and myself went to the Loof at Odeon Towers for a drink after dinner. Someone in the group recommended the place because it was open-air and had a view of the City Hall area.

Out of the seven of us, four were relatively new to drinking, so they couldn’t possibly finish a glass of alcholic beverage by themselves. Thus we ordered a few different mixes to share in case they had a low alcohol tolerance or any allergic reactions.

Now the waiter who served us certainly had an attitude problem. I don’t know what’s wrong with being teenagers – we’re all well-behaved and properly dressed, yet this waiter treated us as though we were a group of beggars who had walked into his bar. Did he have a deprived youth life? Maybe he was jealous of the shirt my friend was wearing, or the phone I was using, or the girls we were with.

Let’s give this waiter a name because I don’t want to keep typing the word ‘waiter’.

Smuggy it is.

We ordered three drinks at first. Smuggy was fine initially but when he saw the glasses being passed among us, his attitude instantly changed. Being a cynic myself, there was no way I could miss the sarcasm in his tone when he talked to us.

I must also add that he had brought the bill along with the drinks. I’ve been to bars around the world and have never been forced to pay before I could even drink. Have I gone to a vending machine instead? I also don’t see the Japanese folks at the next table having to pay for their drinks either, or another group of guys further down.

Smuggy >> So will you all be paying by cash or credit?

Then my friend decided to order another two or three drinks. There was this moment of silence from Smuggy and his look easily told me what he was thinking.

Smuggy >> What the fuck who do you all think you are ordering so many drinks.

Smuggy finally spoke.

Smuggy >> Wa so you all going to whack the first seven is it?

Translation: Wa you all order so many can pay or not?

I already wanted a drink for myself, so to show that we’re not cheapskates as they had thought, I ordered a Pear martini.

The drinks came, and so did the bill again.

Smuggy >> That will be a hundred and two ( forgot the cents ).

Because we don’t carry credit cards, everyone dug into their wallets to get the notes. To save the troube, I gave Smuggy my POSB card.

Smuggy must have thought it was a credit card because it took him 3 seconds to return me the card.

Smuggy >> Sorry we don’t accept POSB.

Very funny. NETS not accepted? Smuggy must have thought that we did not have enough cash to pay, then he could use this opportunity to embarrass us in front of everyone else at the bar.

Too bad for Smuggy we had enough, and they were all notes mind you – no funny business with coins.

My martini had a cinammon stick and I was so tempted to stuff it up Smuggy’s nostril, to stop him from inhaling hot air into his head.

I don’t understand why we deserved that kind of treatment we had on Saturday night. Firstly we weren’t underaged, so it means we were not unwelcome at the bar. Secondly, we were the customers and having worked in the service line for more than 2 months, I know Smuggy has forgotten the one golden rule – treat everyone equally. Unfortunately at Loof it seems that the foreigners are more equal than others.

Times have changed and more youngsters are hanging out at chill-out bars. Whether they behave appropirately or not is another story – but F&B operators should realise that we like all customers are sources of income to them and should give us equal respect. There’s certainly no need to treat us differently unless our actions suggest so. I don’t see why a damn ang moh has to be treated like a king while I feel like I were his dog. Or the need to view us as not being able to pay up – honestly speaking those Caucasians are most notorious for avoiding payment yet they are still pampered with extraordinary customer service.

Sometimes Singaporeans are just so blind and stupid.

Well goodbye to Loof; thanks to Smuggy I’m pretty sure I won’t return there unless it is for some unfinished business with the cinammon stick.