If you were one of the lucky few who picked up a copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 "Prestige Edition" -- you know, the one with the night vision goggles -- you already know this. But heads up to anyone who hasn't gotten theirs yet -- don't forget to buy batteries.
The bundle arrived in our Baltimore offices today, and after being "wowed" by what a slick package it was, I spent the next 15 minutes trying to pry the thing open. The game itself appears to be the metal "Hardened Edition" tin, which you could have bought as a standalone thing, if night vision goggles aren't up your alley. With that comes the game, an art book, and a token to download Call of Duty: Classic. That was easy to open; I tore the shrink wrap off like a wild beast.
The night vision equipment, on the other hand, is a different story. One paper cut, a meat cleaver, and piles of tape and trash later, I removed the goggles from its former home. After putting together the weird, tiny plastic dude's face (it acts as a stand for when you're not prying around your neighbor's backyard in the dark), I was ready to find a dark corner of my house and give the goggles a try.
But that didn't happen today. You see, the goggles require five (yes, five!) AA batteries be inserted into the slot that's protected by a Phillips screw. Those batteries, unfortunately, are not included. A few ideas came to mind, including pulling the batteries out of my other Activision peripherals (drums, guitars, a turntable), but then it dawned on me -- I'm simply too lazy for all that mess.
That, of course, is why I'll be playing Modern Warfare 2 on my couch instead of actually joining the military.
Contest:
2:40 PM on 11.10.2009
| 
Oh you are gonna pay for that Brutal Legend review hardcore.
No, no! The "offices" are in Baltimore. I live in, uh... Virginia. Or Guam.
More at 11 on eyewitness news.
I have a new found respect for anyone fighting a war in night vision googles.
@whateverthismeanstoyou
Yup.
Well, these don't work like "real" nightvision goggles. All they do is shoot out IR light. A camera picks that up and displays it on a screen. If there were two cameras and a screen for each eye you could have depth perception.
"Real" NVG's work by either amplifing what little light there is or by using "Heat-Vision" (not the superman kind). I learned this from Splinter Cell, so it is most definitely true.
Actually you're partially right. Real NVG's also have a small IR emitter that can be turned on in the absence of a light source (such as stars or the moon). I drove around the desert in Humvee in California wearing NVG's quite a bit during Army training exercises. Humvees and other vehicles also have small IR lights that go on when you turn off your headlights to provide added "lighting" when you're driving with NVG's.
Bam.
let's be fair, anyone with a ps3 and a grain of sense shelled out for new USB cables for charging to replace the crappy 2 foot long ones the system came with. Or at least stole the ones from thiet digital cameras.... Seriously my digicam has an 8 foot cord and my controller has a 2 footer, what were either of those people thinking.
(I know slims come with longer cords, but I have a launch system because unlike what Sony says about thier demographic, I actually care about backwards compatability)
All in all, pretty damn sweet. The BW Illumination mode is fun to mess around with too.
Oh, and Chocolate, why don't you think about something for a minute. If your Dualshock controllers battery dies (and it will), explain to me how you will replace it? So my battery is 10 bucks, yours is essentially 55. Oh, and try using AA's with a DS3. Oh, and forcing people to buy wireless controllers? You want to talk about fking people over for money, you just got your answer.
Bam.