Here is the end of support.

I have some exiting news for you guys. Dice is coming out with the ultimate and final patch for Battlefield 2. Note that this information has not been released, I have gotten hands of this and now released to the public! Here are the changes made:

Increased armor on the J-10: Dice has gotten so many complaints of Chinese pilots getting owned by the 1337 JSF h4x pilots that here at DICE we will be increasing the armor of the J10 to equal the jet balance.

Carriers are now Drivable: That’s right, you heard. This is what all have been waiting for. Now sailors can operate the aircraft carrier and drive it around maps. Don’t worry about inexperienced players beaching the vessel. Well that’s no more with new and improved way to avoid beaching. When the carrier hits land it will automatically form boosters on its hull, making it able to hover.

Decrease splash damage on the Blackhawk: Now that the Blackhawk has been too overpowered due to the 1.22 patch, we will decrease the splash damage of the mini-guns, so that it fires harmless paintballs, and an occasional bullet. Now the mini-guns will overheat after firing it for 2 seconds. Still think this is still unrealistic? Now the Blackhawk can only take off with 1 or less persons. Too much weight in the compartments will not make it take off.

C4 Damage: Here at Dice we have received many complaints of the C4 exploit. Now we decreased the amount of damage so instead of plastic explosives, it will now explode harmless dust. We know that dozens of Battlefield 2 players complained that they have been killed by C4 strapped on a vehicle. It’s now no more. If somehow, Battlefield 2 players get through this, there is a delay on the detonator. After you click on the detonator, it will only detonate after 2 rounds have completed.

Water Damage: Since the beginning of the game, DICE has received numerous complaints about players getting killed when making a wrong turn into a body of water. Now this is no more. In the case of driving into water, the trunk will automatically pop out propellers and can get across safely.

Battlefield 2 modifications are now illegal: There has been a shortage of players during the past months. DICE has found out the reason. Battlefield 2 players have downloaded modifications (we call it 3rd party hacks). Such modifications that are included in the list are: Point of existence 2, Battle racer, United States Intervention, Nations at War, Sir. Mod, Sandbox, Project Reality mini-Mod, Surreal mod, Operation Peacekeeper, Battle-paint, Desert Conflict, and more to name. Any player found playing any modification will be warned, 2nd time caught will have their CD-Keys banned. We can not have a shortage in players or it will hurt EA badly.

Grenade Launcher: We have had so many complaints about the grenade launcher, that the damage is now greater than ever, best effective at ranger between 0-5 feet. Also now assault classes will have 20 grenades.

Claymores: Claymores will now stay there until the round is finished. It can not be destroyed. DICE has received many complaints from fellow Battlefield2 players that their claymores disappear after a period of 10 minutes. This will be fixed. Also snipers will now have 9 claymores as it would be easier to set traps around his hiding spot, so he’ll stay safe.

M95: The M95 will have more damage. That means it takes 1 shot to destroy a helicopter and 2 shots to kill a tank. Also it takes 5 shots to kill an infantry and 9 shots to kill an enemy sniper. It will be changed to semi-auto and snipers will now have 8 magazines for the gun.Now all sniper rifiles will shoot rubber bullets and a huge muzzleflash, that it can be seen and heared all throught the map.

Hand Grenades: Hand grenades will have more damage radius. Anyone standing within a radius of 20 feet from the grenade will be killed. Also players will have 20 hand grenades. New feature allows throwing the grenade by ripping the pin by your teeth.

Ammo/First Aid bags: Now medics/support will have 20 ammo/first aid bags and be able to aid someone in half a second.

Anti-Tank: The firing rate of SRAW/ERX/RPG will now be changed to semi auto (3 times per second). Numerous complaints from Battlefield 2 players stated that it takes too long for Anti-Tank personnel to destroy a tank. The anti tank will have 999 rockets.

TV guided missile: So many complaints from DICE, of the TV missile being too powerful, here at DICE we have decided to decrease the damage so that it is the same damage as an anti tank rocket. If this is still unrealistic, DICE has made it so that attack helicopters are equipped with 1 missile, and are unguided.

Engineer: The engineers will have the same guns; aside we will be changing the wrench. To make it more realistic, engineers will not have the ability to repair a commander asset, vehicle, or mine. Instead, the wrench is used as an anti-infantry weapon, knocking enemy players out and killing them.

Maps: Since some maps are too much exploited, we here at DICE will be changing the map cycle. We will remove ‘Strike at Karkand’ and ‘Wake Island 2007’. We will replace them with ‘Strike at Karkand 2’. Strike at Karkand 2 is a rural map, very similar to Zatar wetlands, where a small tin shack in the middle of the map contains vital materials for both sides. USMC and MEC fight their way to the shack in order to claim the materials. ‘Wake Island 2007.5’ will not look like Wake Island at all. Instead, it will be in the middle of China with no water. It contains a vital gold, in which both sides can turn the gold into bullets.

New Awards:

Basic Team-kill badge: 5 teamkills IAR, 15 global teamkills

Veteran Team-kill badge: 10 teamkills IAR, 30 global teamkills

Expert Team-kill badge: 20 teamkills IAR, 100 global teamkills

Legion of Dishonor Badge: Basic teamkill badge, Veteran teamkill badge, Expert teamkill badge, 250 global punishes for teamkills.

Basic Shock-Paddle badge: 5 kills with a shock paddle IAR

Veteran Shock-Paddle badge: 10 kills with a shock paddle IAR, 30 global shock paddle kills.

Expert Shock-Paddle Badge: 30 kills with a shock paddle IAR, 250 global shock paddle kills.

New rank: The 5 star general (Supreme-Allied Commander) will be the highest rank earned in Battlefield 2. You must have 1,000,000 global points, and all the awards earned.

Squad hopping exploit: The squad-hopping exploit is still going on in Battlefield 2. To put a stop to it, DICE has disabled the uses of squads. That means everybody is a lonewolf or commander.

Illegal servers: We have seen many Battlefield 2 players playing on ‘knife and pistol’ servers. We banned only a small number of them, but they keep coming. Here at DICE, we decided to remove the Knife and the pistol from the weapons.

Artillery: Artillery will now have 50 cannons on each side, to provide a deadly artillery strike in maps. Any player within 1 mile diameter from the strike, will be killed immediately by the strike.

Wall Hacks: Numbers of players are hacking the files or using glitches to go inside buildings. Now it is easier for them to, once you walk to the door, press shift and you are inside the building.
 
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The man who co-created the whole of fantasy gaming died Tuesday, March 4th, after several years of failing health at the all too early age of 69. I'm talking about E. Gary Gygax, the man behind Dungeons & Dragons. Gary and Dave "Invulnerable Coat of Arnd" Arneson created D&D back in 1974, and from then on the world was changed.
Even if you never played D&D yourself, you probably have played video games. Gary is the inspiration behind any RPG (role playing game) you have ever played, because without D&D in '74, RPG games whether they are tabletop or PC/Console probably wouldn't exist without his contribution.
World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, The Witcher... I could go on for hours about games influenced by Gary and his creation. I would be willing to bet most of the designers of these games have probably played D&D or other RPG tabletop game inspired by Gary at some point in their life before they made these great games for all of us to enjoy.
Whether you're a tabletop or digital gamer, if you enjoy RPG/MMOs, or even FPSs with storylines, take a moment and give some thanks to Gary. He made all our days a bit brighter.
Gary, thanks for all the fun you've brought to my, as well as all of our lives.

Source:
AP News
 
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Welcome to the new year here at GameCast Arena.
We've been busy with new games (Call of Duty 4, Team Fortress 2, and some free online MMO/RTS games like Dark Orbit), real life jobs, and setting up a online store so you can buy GameCast Arena swag like T-Shirts and mousepads. As January comes to a close, we here at GCA hope that you had a great holiday, and got a lot good stuff.
Speaking of good stuff, our new online GameCast Arena store can be found at http://www.cafepress.com/gamecastarena. You can get T-Shirts, caps, mousepads, and more. Who wouldn't love a GCA thong? Check it out, buy something, and show the love for GCA.
For those of you interested in what we are playing, you can find the source links below to the game site homepages.

[Sources]

GameCast Arena Online Store - http://www.cafepress.com/gamecastarena

Call of Duty 4 - http://www.callofduty.com/

Team Fortress 2 - http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=440

Dark Orbit - http://www.darkorbit.com Free online play, free registration, good fun.

In a homage to a famous dwarven paladin who at least has chicken, Toyota's newest commercial (clicky there) for their Tacoma features a spoof of a outrageously famous video from World of Warcraft. Now, we all know WoW has over 8 million players and every gamer who's out of the basement knows what WoW is, but damn, being used for a car commercial? I got to admit though, running everyplace in WoW sucks, and one of these would be great. For a bonus point, see if you can spot the line from the original video(clicky there).
 
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Microsoft and Bungie are parting ways but not in a nasty breakup kinda way. Microsoft will keep an equity interest in Bungie, while continuing to be the publisher on Bungie games

If you remember Bungie actually USED to be independent. They were bought by Microsoft in 2001, specifically bought for the game Halo. I'm glad to see that they are back out on their own now. Maybe we'll see Bungie mac games? or maybe even Halo on (I dare say) a PS3!
 
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