Do you still enjoy playing mulitplayer games on your original Xbox? You better enjoy them fast, read the letter below from Microsoft about all the money you have tied up in original Xbox multiplayer games. A clear reason to stick with PC for your multiplayer gaming needs.

Dear Xbox LIVE Members,

On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn't a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.

Seven years ago we laid out our vision for the connected console when we launched Xbox LIVE. We believed then that the power of the Internet to connect people would revolutionize living room entertainment. It started with amazing multiplayer games, and we've since seen that bet pay off again and again with the launches of Xbox 360, Marketplace, Netflix and powerful social features like Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. None of this would have been possible without the success of LIVE as a multiplayer gaming network.

There's no greater example of the power of the Xbox LIVE community than the "Halo" franchise. "Halo 2" has had an amazing run on LIVE, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play video games. And while it's difficult to see that run come to an end, the "Halo" franchise continues to act as the benchmark for multiplayer gaming in this generation, with "Halo 3," "Halo 3: ODST" and soon "Halo: Reach" on Xbox 360.

Your Xbox LIVE community has grown to 23 million strong. And as we look down the road, we'll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games. We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.

We'll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox LIVE. I believe we'll look back on 2010 as a landmark year in gaming and home entertainment, and I couldn't be more excited about what we have in store with "Project Natal" and LIVE. The LIVE community is the driving force behind everything we do, and it's because of the community that ground-breaking experiences on Xbox continue to be possible.

See you on LIVE,

Marc Whitten

Hey everyone, the beta is finally here for the PC version of Bad Company 2. Day one of the beta produced numerous problems, first of which was trying to download it. Two out of the three sites were already "down", five minutes after the beta went live due to the high volume of traffic. File planet successfully stayed up, but with 5 minute page loads as you walked your way to the actual download link.

The next issue was actually in game; LAG, horrible horrible lag, you couldn't move at times and when you did you moved forward and then got sent back. Another problem was the server browser, it would cause the game to just crash when you tried to bring it up. Both of these issues have been acknowledged by DICE in the scrolling message at the bottom of the Main screen and they are working on them. Luckily, they took a page from console gaming and included a "Play Now" button which automatically searches for a server for you. That seemed to work, but, yes there's a but to this too, most often ALL the servers were full and it would just come back saying you lost connection. As a side note, as usual during PC betas from EA, the majority of the servers are in Europe. In the past, the US game hosts have managed to jump into the fray with more servers, but this beta is only a month long so they better hurry!

Graphics in the game were excellent even though they did not seem to be as good as one might think. I played the game with everything on high and my AA & AF both set to 4. I don't think it's going to be as intense on your graphics card as we were led to believe. Fire was the best i have seen yet in a PC game. Destruction 2.0 brought some interesting explosions. You could watch trees fall and the sides of buildings disintegrate.

In just a little over a month, everyone will be able to play the finalized version of Bad Company 2. I believe the wait will be worth it. I also strongly encourage everyone to purchase the PC version as opposed to the console version as you will have a much better gaming experience, especially playing with your fellow clan members.

See you on the battlefield!

Well as you can see the website is in progress with a new make over design. I am currently helping out designing the new layout and  our clan leader bigbadjames is putting up new updates to the =MOFC= like modules, blocks and some mods for the forums. Keep checking the website for further updates.

As promised here is the PC Blog on the Beta & a few other things, yes some people, places, and things may have leaked a little something, but we are here to clarify everything and make it all official since we can now commit to the listed dates! :-)

BETA Details:

Beta Begins/Ends
Jan 28th/Feb 25th
Map Name
Port Valdez
Players
32
Game Mode
Rush
Environment
Snow
Theme
Vehicle and Infantry
Back Story
The battle for Port Valdez is fought alongside the waterline towards a great oil industrial landscape in the Alaskan mountains. Using basically everything they've got the Russian forces are launching an airborne assault to knock out the oil industries in the area. In their arsenal there are Main Battle Tanks as well as fast-moving Quad Bikes and mobile armored AA. It's a vehicle focused battle, but with plenty of infantry combat.

How to Download: Check back to the Battlefield Bed Company 2 Beta Page closer to beta launch date for download instructions.
How To Get Access: Reserve Battlefield Bad Company 2 is the most sure fire way and right now we are still finalizing which Retailers & e-Tailers will participate (it's up to them). If you're eager to ensure you get in confirmed distributors to Pre-Order consumers are the EA Store and at GameStop.com. We'll have another Blog to update new retailers & e-Tailers that have teamed up with us as well as alternate channels to obtain a Beta Key.

Misc. Details

Steam Beta: Yes there was a leaked image of a Package file we propped on Steam. People with illegal accounts can see games in this environment, but this is not a Beta in the term of Public Test Beta, but a real development Beta installer client for the Steam version of the full game. We are however working with Steam to have the Public PC Beta available on Steam, but can't confirm this quite yet so cross your fingers Steam users. :-)
Anti Cheat: We're going with PunkBuster supporting the same options BF2 and BF2142 had to run unranked without PunkBuster.
Mod Tools: There will not be mod tools for BFBC2. However a majority of the the games logic is controller by the server and there will be Serverside control options for the dedicated servers.
Public Server Files: We will not distribute these publicly. There are many factors for why we have decided this with the biggest factor being security & integrity of our game & Dedicated Servers.
 

MOFC GAMING has joined forces with GODz clan. This partnership will help strengthen both clans presence in the Battlefield 2142 community and help them both grow individually. Together, we bring you the new Allied server, administered by both MOFC and GODz. We ask that you bear with us while new graphics are prepared and new admins are brought up to speed. There were a couple minor changes made to the server rules as well.

This joint venture was inevitable as the 2142 presence in the gaming world has seen a rapid decline over the last year. It is our hope to bring a quality server with quality gamers to the battlefield in order to spark interest in others who may be wavering on the edge of leaving the 2142 scene.

The upcoming March release of Battlefield Bad Company 2 may see a new surge in the Battlefield series.  MOFC and GODz will be prepared to take advantage of the many new players that it is sure to bring and the old ones who will return.

Don't lose hope on 2142 yet though. We still have one more patch from DICE coming soon. This patch will stop name spoofing, add 3 new maps and include Northern Strike FREE for everyone. One minor detail that I'm sure we will all love as well; the ability to play without the CD in the drive! Hopefully many players will return to see if the new patch is worth it!

See you on the battlefield!

**MOFC** BigBadJames