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What you saw in MW2 was what everyone saw including me. A great FPS from infinity ward with more killstreaks, etc. Everyone couldnt stop talking about the killstreaks and thats one thing I miss form that game as i play Cod4 everyday on my PC but the thing is, I still have MW2 for my 360. Ill always play it. Its a Run and shoot FPS, thats the point of it.

No, they smothered MW2 in all of their perks, killstreaks and dumb features - They didn't just do it with some subtlety like in the first game, they just went all out and choked their game.

Not to mention it was barely tested as 35 new glitches appear every other day.

^ Oh I know. The fact they didnt do a Public Beta was a fail on there part. But my point is thats what we saw in the game, but like you said they smothered the hell out of it.

I still like MW2 for its run and gun and killstreaks. But I will never love it like I love BF2, and BC2. So my point was we all saw hope in it, but thats why I play MW more then MW2, besides the fact that i dont want to leave my PC for gaming haha.

We saw hope because the first game managed to be a splendid game, a great mesh of innovative features, sharp gameplay and hours of fun.

So MW2 basically just rode in on the little brother's back, shot him in the head and started doing the chicken dance ... naked.

The Call of Duty brand is dead for me because of MW2, an immense disappointment. Every time I hear about it or see game footage I feel like blowing chunks and crying.

Hey guys

when im playing bf bad company2 it runs pretty laggy.

i got an 2,4Ghz Dual Core, 2GB DDR3RAM and rx2600pro.

It is my computer that is to slow or it something wrong? i run on low setting 1024*768

while im playing mass effect on medium with no laggy performance.

Your card. It doesn't even meet minimum requirements.

Sethos I don't think anyone could of said that any better.

Btw I recon and I still join in on objctivrs. If I'm not arming I'm covering my TEAMS ASS so they can plant. Play a game with no recon. Your team WILL loose if there's no overhead coverage. I believe there should be 2-3 max recons for port but that's it. When everyone

plays recon it posses me off

I shouldn't post when I drive lol

you recon classes ruin the game, you don't participate in the objectives and make moving about death

Which shows you know nothing. You can contribute AND be Recon. I destroyed just about all the enemy tanks on my own, defended each objective hard, took out enemy snipers and infantry, spot tagged every thing I saw and ultimately we won the match. Yeah, those Recon players really suck! ;)

Which shows you know nothing. You can contribute AND be Recon. I destroyed just about all the enemy tanks on my own, defended each objective hard, took out enemy snipers and infantry and ultimately we won the match. Yeah, those Recon players really suck! ;)

Agreed, the number of times I single-handedly took out an objective, held several enemies at bay whilst my team destroyed an objective or defended the objective from a swarm of enemies are numerous.

Yes, there's people who sit around all day, jerking off and trying to get some long-distance kills but there's certainly also a lot of Recon players who likes to go a bit spec-ops and do so with flying colours.

Your card. It doesn't even meet minimum requirements.

Sethos I don't think anyone could of said that any better.

Btw I recon and I still join in on objctivrs. If I'm not arming I'm covering my TEAMS ASS so they can plant. Play a game with no recon. Your team WILL loose if there's no overhead coverage. I believe there should be 2-3 max recons for port but that's it. When everyone

plays recon it posses me off

I shouldn't post when I drive lol

aaah k. wich videocard around 100euro would run this game nice?

Agreed, the number of times I single-handedly took out an objective, held several enemies at bay whilst my team destroyed an objective or defended the objective from a swarm of enemies are numerous.

Yes, there's people who sit around all day, jerking off and trying to get some long-distance kills but there's certainly also a lot of Recon players who likes to go a bit spec-ops and do so with flying colours.

Exactly, I prefer to be in the thick of the action anyway. The ones sat back sniping the whole round are usually MW players if you ask me. ;)

I'm finding a frustrating lack of teamwork on most servers. Much like in BF2 I will be sticking to servers belonging to clans that I know from PBBans once this goes retail. Far too many matches where everyone sits on the hill sniping as attackers, or someone jumps in the Apache & doesn't bother waiting for a gunner - only to crash a minute later... thus allowing tanks to steamroll through and pwn everything in sight.

My goodness I hate public servers :(

Which shows you know nothing. You can contribute AND be Recon. I destroyed just about all the enemy tanks on my own, defended each objective hard, took out enemy snipers and infantry, spot tagged every thing I saw and ultimately we won the match. Yeah, those Recon players really suck! ;)

Any idea how I do that on the 360?

And completely agree. As a Recon class I am a tanks worst nightmare, I can cover while people are planting at objectives and I can make sure they do not disarm it. I find that playing a recon class successfully is a key component to a good squad. Anyone can get a high score throwing around med packs and ammo packs where as it takes skill to do this -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KejufkHj0Rc

Recon FTW!

Isnt spot tagging where you tell you team that theres an enemy or tank or etc? If so I do that a lot on PC when im recon'ing

What do you mean by spot tagging? I'm curious about this too... I play recon often but I'm not one of those dudes all sitting on the rock when assaulting. Isn't it what the motion tracker gadget is for?

What do you mean by spot tagging? I'm curious about this too... I play recon often but I'm not one of those dudes all sitting on the rock when assaulting. Isn't it what the motion tracker gadget is for?

On PC it's the Q key.. I guess Xbox 360 its the Back button.

So i just got an email with a beta key a few hours ago, and just got done trying it out now. It's not too bad overall but there's still a couple of annoyances. The main one is the damn hit detection. Like battlefield 2 it's a fricken game of chance if your shot will actually hit. Just like back then it's still totally possible to SOMEHOW miss shots when sniping that should never have been able to miss(and this is with a ~50 or less ping, so it's not high latency). A Minor annoyance would include how hard it can be to see at times. Whether it be from the snow blowing or the explosions. Another complaint is the server browser. I'd very much like being able to organize them in a way other than how it wants them to be. On the positive side though, It's still relatively fun and seemed to run quite well on my system(below) for being beta. I also like how it has support for the g15 lcd even in the beta.

What do you mean by spot tagging? I'm curious about this too... I play recon often but I'm not one of those dudes all sitting on the rock when assaulting. Isn't it what the motion tracker gadget is for?

K thanks, I knew about that but I didn't really know what it was called.

Totally off topic but maybe someone has an idea.. is there a mod or addon to Vent that would mute or turn down the volume for a music player and preferably supporting foobar when someone talks? I don't listen to music while playing fps games but I usually tend to do so when playing an mmo.

Some call it spotting, i refer to it as painting. More people should do it. I find myself being the only one most the time painting targets. It's actually the first thing I do before opening fire. Painting them first helps me lots on keeping my reticule homed in while they do their dance. Sometimes I'd lose them behind a brush when I didnt. Good habit to pick up.

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  • Posts

    • Nope. That lack of surround sound capability (analog) won't fly with me. Sure, I use headphones most of the time, but still.
    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
    • Or... just use Bitwarden. Free, and has on-prem option as well. Works both on desktop and mobile, wherever you are. The age of local password files is over.
    • Thanks
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