Ah, the Joys of Multiplayer

So, as announced before, I am now having a bit of fun with Red Alert 3 Beta. A few things have taken me by surprise about it:

First, the graphics resemble those of Red Alert 2 much more than they do the more recent Command & Conquer 3. Not so much the graphics quality as much as the style, but still, a bit disappointing.

Second, this game takes a leaf out of the outcast Command & Conquer: Generals and allows players to choose from different powers which they may acquire with some manner of "Honour Points" they earn from building their edifices and demolishing other's edifices and such. The main difference is now the player isn't restricted to a maximum of being a Five Star General, and may purchase the whole tech tree of powers, if the game runs long enough.

Third, similarly to Melbourn House's KKND, Ore isn't available in fields but in pre-placed mines, which, unlike KKND's Oil Puddles, don't really become exhausted, as they keep replenishing, like Ore fields, and at an equally slow rate.

Not surprisingly, water dwelling units are back, as are the series's staple Tesla Coil weapons and Time Rift utilities.

So the Beta is restricted to multiplayer. Not my cup of tea, but still, rather OK. So I've played a few matches and gotten a feel for the game. Wins some, lose some, all good sport. Now, just now, something funny happened: My opponent, who was playing with the Soviet Faction, hurled a satelite at my camp. Taken by surprise, I jokingly asked "What was that, the Mir?". My until then silent opponent, became much more vocal, starting with "YES". Now, I don't mind trash talking - actually, I do, just a little, hardly worth noticing - but would you please have the decency of trash talk with propper spelling? Being trash talked to is one thing, but knowing that you're being trash taked to - trash yelled to, in fact, as ALL CAPS SEEM TO BE THE FASHION - and not even understanding it is a bit more than I'm willing to endure for my defeat. Now I remember why I like single player so much.

I wonder if I should tell EA something about it. You know, as positive feedback, suggest that they implement a filter of sorts.

Pax vobiscum atque vale.

ArabianShark would like to end this entry by making a point that he was no ill will against deliberately cronically poor spellers, trash taklers and people who are yet to know moderation for the rather wider key to the right of the 'A' key on any standard qwerty keyboard for as long as they keep well away from me; otherwise I have a bit of a will to carve slits every half inch going all around their bodies from head to toe with a dull, kinky-edged knife and dipping them in molten lead... slowly. I'm a terrible human being