So conquest mode for Battlefield Bad Company is up and running. Having played all the previous battlefield games (with the exception of 2142) on my pc, I was looking forward to this update. There's a amount of nostalgia for the conquest mode since it played a large part of what made the battlefield franchise so special, along with the open maps/classes/vehicle warfare of course.

After playing a bunch of games of conquest mode in Bad Company I have to say I feel the standard gold rush mode is actually better suited for the console experience. While conquest is very well implemented into the game, complete with new lightning and reworked map layout, for some reason the more funneled experience of the standard gold rush mode seems better tailored for the game. I'm certainly not dissapointed with the new addition, it's actually very well done, especially considering it's a free download.
Personally I'll stick to gold rush, with the occational visit in conquest just to mix things up. What this game needs now is more maps and an ability to mute annoying people online, Call of Duty 4 style. Having maps made specifically made for the new game mode could also probably make it more viable. To reiterate, there's nothing wrong with conquest mode, it's just obvious that Bad Company was made with the online mode that it was orginally shipped with in mind.

Remember the days before the internet? Yeah, it's fading for me too.

However I can remember not reading sites about games every day. With the influx of gaming sites flooding the internet during the middle of the 90's we also saw the mystery of games disappearing. Being naive about games, for example thinking of George Lucas as the mastermind behind the Lucasarts games seems hilarious today. Tough there's something to be said about going into a game without reading about it months ahead, and maybe even been spoiled on major plot events beforehand. Making notes in the back of the manual rather than having a Gamefaqs window open. Having a games greatness spread via word of month between friends is certainly more intimate - where coolest kid on the block was the trendsetter rather than a massive comercial campaign and alpha footage from E3.

I wouldn't want to go back to the days of old, but as B.B put it - The thrill is gone.

I love PC-gaming - don't get me wrong. I have no problem installing drivers. Neither do I miss gaming in a sofa.

What I do hate is ordering stuff and never getting it. Right now it's been over a months wait for my new comp, and it's the shops building of it that takes time. I can't bring myself to cancel the order either since they've corrected the price to match those of today. The graphics card is a Nvidia 9800GTX, and with the announcement of the ATI 4850/4870 here in Sweden the price was lowered quite a bit.

The problem for me is that this symptomatic of the PC world. I put away money for a new box for a long time, and was set on spending a certain amount of money for this purchase and by now that same sum could get my a noticeable better graphics card.

However, as stated, I love playing PC games. I can't wait to play Company of Heroes, Spore, TF2, Left4Dead, Crysis, Dragon Age, Dawn of War 2, HL2: Episode 3 etc. Sometimes I wish I could block out these made-for-pc games. It certainly would be easier and cheaper. But as anyone that enjoys these types of games, I know that the PC is still unmachted as an networked platform and for free user created content. It's like an abusive relationship, i truly love/hate PC-gaming.

I'm really happy that I can play PS2 games on my PS Tripple, granted, I live in Sweden the machine only uses the software emulation used in the PAL units. Still, it's always nice to see those favorites from the past blown up to HD resolution.

Anyway, is it just my imagination or does playing games using backwards compatibility drain the battery of the Sixaxis/DS3 faster? For example, while going through another replay of Resident Evil 4 the PS3 tells me the battery level is low, showing the charge bar totally empty. Exiting out to the XMB shows the same bar with one line left. Getting the same information while playing a proper PS3 game and then exiting to the XMB the battery charge level is correctly shown empty indeed.

This is stuff you noticed when summertime hits and you have too much time on your hands, and too few new games to get your claws on. This calls for a thorough investigation.