1.Palidi studied Tae Kwon Do when he was younger.

He reached black belt rank 1 status before the dojo he trained at closed down. He has since forgotten most of his techniques, and fights with a mix of what little he can remember of the martial arts, and fighting moves that he thinks look cool from video games(he's kind of a coward though, so don't expect to see this often).

2.Palidi has a Sonic the Hedgehog plushie(Sonic Adventure era),

and loves it dearly. He once even threw it to safety to protect it when confronted by a thug at an anime convention(he amazingly didn't get beat up himself either). He also has a classic Sonic plushie which has been put into storage to preserve the condition.

3.Palidi gets homesick easilly.

He goes home from college every weekend because he misses home so much. Eh, that new HDTV his parents got in the living room has nothing to do with it either, seriously.

4.Palidi really REALLY...like Metal Gear Online

Seriously! Took him roughly 6 months to buy another PS3 game.

5.Palidi almost drown at the bottom of a pool when he was an infant

He also got tangled in pool floats upside down in the same pool as an infant. Man, he sure has some bad luck with pools.

6.Palidi once played The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion...

on PC running at 12-15 fps for so long that, for a while, he could only perceive the world at 15 frames per second(seriously, his eyes got screwed up for about an hour. Remember kids, take breaks from your games every so often to avoid eye strain.).

7.Palidi once went shopping at a street bazaar in Nicaragua

He picked up a Japanese copy of the Playstation versions of Megaman 1-3 while there. He's pretty sure they weren't legit though...

8.Palidi wasn't born in the United States of America

His father is an American though, so he was born one too. He was brought to Central Florida before he was a year old, and he as grown up there since. He was born in an English speaking South American country called Guyana(formerly British Guyana), and is descended from a Native American tribe that lives in the area.

9.Palidi has been around on Destructoid for quite a while.

He's pretty good at lurking though, so you may not have heard of him. How long's it been now for him? Two, no three years? Something like that.

10.Palidi wrote this blog post because everyone else made one

And he's kind of an attention whore who wanted to play with some of the cool kids. The fact that he had nothing better to do and is procrastinating had nothing to do with it, seriously!

image source

Earlier today(or maybe just a little while ago depending on where you live), the MGO servers were taken down for maintenance. When they came back up, we got a new update. A BIG new update.

Here's a link to the official release page which im putting instead of a straight copy-pasta due to the "engrish" in it.

---------------------------------

We all know about the MEME expansion, right? Well, there are 3 new maps, you can play as Liquid Ocelot or Mei Ling now. There's also a new tournament mode you have to register for if you want it, but I don't know anything about it yet.


Anyhow, LIQUID OCELOT IS FUCKING GOD!!!! He runs fast, has the G.O.P(guns of the patriots) primary weapon that lets him lock the weapons of whoever he yells "bang" at, and as an alternate fire, he becomes a SOP Destab(with less range and a shorter duration). He also has unique CQC skills. Like Snake, he can stun with one slam, and do a CQC hold like everyone else. Unlike everyone else though, he stuns people with his knife instead of slitting their throats(and it looks cool). His combo is also a triple punch(much like he does in the rest of the series), but the third punch can be switched out for a headbutt. He also comes with a nifty secondary weapon option called the Thor, whose description is "a large caliber hand rifle". It works well in close range.

Oh, did I meantion that instead of an evasive back step, he gets a full-on back pedal with armes spread open laughing all the way(think of the last scene in act 4)? Yeah, he does!

Then there's the walking porn mag, Mei Ling. I say this not to be offensive, but because her taunt has the ability to immobilize soldiers the same way the porn mag does.



She can't choose a primary other than the Missouri though(which is a one hit kill anyhow, but has a delay). She has her soliton sonar available though(a secondary "weapon") that allows her to see enemies through the wall she points it at. She cant CQC(she can combo, but can't hold), but she can scan knocked out enemies on the ground.

The maps are cool. Two of them are returners: Silo Sunset(an 'aged' version of the Silo Entrance map from Portable Ops), and Forest Firefight(one of those forest maps from MGO1 with the cabin in it). The third map is Winter Warehouse, and has snow. You can leave footprints in it. IDK, I haven't played it enough to make a call yet.

Outside of MEME, there were also changes. 3 new skills were added. I haven't unlocked them yet, but one seems to have to do with using the shield(50 successful shield attacks to unlock), another has to do with preventing SOP leaks(GET scanned 250 times to unlock), and the third has do do with bolstering scanning capabilities(use Lv. 3 Scanner 200 times to unlock, probably get the ability to scan knocked out people).

There were also some interface tweaks such as adding a level display to the waiting rooms(so now you can see a persons rank and level). This is good because all the ranks are shit anyhow because of the stat boosters. You can also now set up to three sets of skills and gear(appearance) for quick access between matches. CQC+ lv. 3 got a major buff with a sped up animation, faster knock out time, automatic disarming, AND introducing...CROUCHING DISARM!! Yes, CQC is useful once again.

There were also three new modes added: Interval(which makes a game have no affect on the players stats), Stealth Deathmatch, and No Headshots(there are new servers dedicated to this mode). Stealth Deathmatch is awesome on the level of Team Sneaking. You get the full selection of weapons you would have in normal deathmatch. Everyone starts with stealth camo equipped though. There,s a lot more hiding involved because when a person gets hit, their camo deactivates temporarily. It adds a much appreciated level of strategy to your average deathmatch, especially considering that there are no respawns each round. To prevent a stalemate by camping, near the end of the match, the area you can fight in starts to shrink, stepping out of that area starting to cause damage. In short, pure win.

There were also some new music tracks added from the various metal gears(including Duel from MGS, and The Boss's boss music from MGS3 aka. Slightly cut Snake Eater) and two tracks from Zone Of the Enders. There were also some glitch fixes I heard on other message boards, so that's good too.

All in all, I think this update is pure win. No one has had any errors with purchasing, and the update made it out ok. Any of you guys feel like this update brought enough to the table to draw you back in? If you haven't bought the GENE expansion, is the MEME/GENE bundle a good enough deal for you? Will any of you be joining ME out on the battlefield?

Me, out on a battlefield

Oh, as a side note: even if you don't play regularly, log into your account and play a round or two sometime before December 9th for 10,000 free reward points(to be dolled out on the 9th) you can use to deck out your soldier. Maybe you'll get lucky and be one of the few chosen to receive 100,000 points. Its a good deal in my opinion, take it.

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tl;dr version: GO PLAY MGO RIGHT NAO!!!!!!

Yesterday I reported that Japan would be getting MEME on the 25th in Japan, but it would go on pre-sale starting the 18th. Well, now it's confirmed in America too. The two items(MEME standalone, and the GENE/MEME bundle) are available for sale for $10 and $15 respectively. I have heard of no one encountering the same issues as the GENE launch fiasco, and purchases are going smoothly. I myself have purchased the MEME standalone(cuz I already has GENE) and can report that it went through without error.

There is also a new info page(here) detailing the MEME expansion. Sure you may know of the two new characters and the three new maps. Did you know though, that there's going to be a new mode added? Yes, the "Official Tournament Mode". Teams formed of random people will compete in a tournament.

Source: MGO Official Web Site(USA)

Also rumored to pop up with the MEME update will be two new modes, the "No-Headshots" mode, and the "Stealth Deathmatch" mode. Yes, you read that right, a mode where headshots do the same damage as body shots, because only in MGO, does that actually make the game harder. Stealth Deathmatch, will be like normal deathmatch, but everyone starts with stealth camo equipped. Truly epic if true.

Source: Joystiq

...in Japan.

Some interesting information comes about from this though. The GENE expansion plus(the one with the extra (character slot) will be discontinued at the time of MEME's release. Replacing it will be a MEME+GENE bundle for the same price(1500 yen/$15 American). There will be a MEME standalone pack for 1200 yen/$12 American, but only those who have GENE already will be able to buy it.

There will be a pre-pay service starting the 18th, where they can get their payments in until the update finally drops on the 25th. Hopefully this will help keep MEME from launching to the same fiasco that GENE did.

Hopefully, we here in America won't have to wait too long after for MEME. If you passed up GENE when it came out, looks like you guys get the good bargain, while us "early adopters" get the shaft. Isn't that how most things go though?

Source: Metal Gear Online Official Web Site(Japan)

In other news:

Log on to your MGO account between November 25th and December 9th to receive 10,000 free Reward Points. There will also be a lottery to select 30 people world wide to receive 100,000 Reward Points. Visit the MGO site for specifics.

Also, they got some Japanese guy to make instructional vids for MGO. The beginner vids are as you'd expect, and not all that useful except to...well...beginners. The advanced level vids are *gasp* actually useful highlighting the amazingly useful box, "dancing"(as it is known to the MGO community), weapon characteristics, skill maxing, and a few more things.

[Authors Note: Sorry for some odd spacing in some areas, but BBCode sux and doesn't
complete the URL tag when posted over multiple lines. Seriously, Hamza, or whoever would
do something about that, please do something about that. I think I was able to compensate
well enough in the vid list though.]


Saturday I posted some [url=http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Palidi/-tgs-aftermath-mgo-
world-tournament-2008-107297.phtml]weak coverage(warning, tourney spoilers)[/url] of
the MGO tournament. I said if I found more videos I would post them here. Well, the host
of JJBBLive.com has finally uploaded his stream as youtube videos. The stream was split
into seven minute videos(considering its 125 mins total...) making the total amount of
videos 20. In the efforts of saving space, I'm just posting links and not embedding all the
videos. I'll put the links in blocks centered around the event they're most related to.
Considering the event went down at the Tokyo Game Show, all the commentary is in
Japanese without subtitles or translation(though English speaking contestants still speak
English). And so...

The videos in chronological order:

Individuals Competition Semi-Finals:
Vid 1:
Individuals Competition Opening; Rules, player intros
Vid 2:
Individuals Competition Semi-Final Match 1
Vid 3:
Individuals Competition Semi-Final Match 1 Result and Player interview
Vid 4:
Individuals Competition Semi Final Match 2
Vid 5:
Individuals Competition Semi-Final Match 2 Result and Player interview

Team Competition Semi-Finals:
Vid 6:
Team Competition Semi-Final Match one
Vid 7:
Team Competition Semi-Final Match one continued
Vid 8:
Team Competition Semi-Final Match one Results and Player Interview
Vid 9:
Team Competition Semi-Final Match Two
Vid 10:
Team Competition Semi-Final Match Two; Restarted due to a Disconnection
Vid 11:
Team Competition Semi Final Match Two Continued
Vid 12:
Team Competition Semi-Final Match Two Results and Player Interviews

Intermission:
Vid 13:
Waiting for The tournament to resume. Random MGO in the background

Individuals Competition Final:
Vid 14:
Individual Competition Finals(skip to about 2 mins into the vid for it)
Vid 15:
Individual Competition Result and Player Interviews

Team Competition Final:
Vid 16:
Individual Competition Player Interviews continued, and Team Competition Finals Rules and
Map explanation.
Vid 17:
Team Competition Final
Vid 18:
Team Competition Final Results and Player Interviews

Award Ceremony:
Vid 19:
Award Ceremony Begins
Vid 20:
Award Ceremony - Kojima meets the winners, makes a speech


--------------
The MGO website also updated their tournaments page with a list of the
winners and
participants. So, was
this exciting, or are you disappointed that North America didn't
place first in either competition?


In other related news, it was revealed that the MEME expansion pack will be released in
November of this year. There is not a specific date though.

Around mid-day today(Japan time), Konami held the MGO world tournament live at TGS.
There was a live stream on the MGO web site, but considering the time zone difference,
here in the states, it was shown after midnight.

The best teams from all over the world(of legal age) were flown in to Japan paid for by
Konami. There was a LAN setup for 8 teams(if im not mistaken, I missed the first few
matches).


You can stay tuned to [url]JJBBlive.com[/url] where the whole stream(125 mins) will be set
on a repeat loop on channel one until Monday(though it doesn't seem like he started the
loop yet).

Tournament Spoilers ahead:

Things almost went without a hitch, but in the semi-final match between Japanese team Rita
and North American team KoK, someone from team RITA lost the connection to the
match(proving that we should never trust Konami with computer networks). This forced a
match restart(after the mods noticed 2 mins later). Some were quick to say that Japan was
covering its own ass, but the disconnection ocurred less than a minute in(and they just took
a while to notice).

The finals came down to the other American team, WiN, and RITA. The match was Capture
on Grozny Grad. WiN put up a decent effort in the two rounds, but was, in the end, SMOKED
by RITA.

There was an individuals tournament also, but I missed it. I saw the result though, and the
Japanese guy won that event also.

Heres a slide show recap of the tournament(I did not make, missing the finals match;
Warning: Rap music):



Semi-final match, WiN vs. PBO(Germany) round 1:



Round 2:




----

I'd like to say there are more vids(including the final match) but there aren't. I think the
MGO site is suppose to update with coverage of the tournament after TGS ends, so you
could look out for that too. I'll update this post if I find any more vids.