Someone made a pretty sweet remix of CoD4 gun sounds to make an impressive song.

As I'm sure many of you are aware, I have been unable to play COD4 multiplayer on Xbox Live due to the "Create-A-Class data corruption" issue that has been haunting about 2% of Xbox 360 players since the game's launch.

The long-awaited patch that finally came this weekend fixed it. Or did it?

So I joined up on some games of Free for All death matches, figuring I'd get to a Level 4 and then change my weapons. Level 4 came after two or three games. I then went to "Create-A-Class" and found out the true meaning of data corruption. "Hmmm," I thought to myself, "If the data wasn't corrupted before, it sure the hell is now!" Both primary and secondary weapons on all 5 slots were set to "M-9", and none of the weapons nor perks were unlocked. Read: I cannot create custom classes w/ different weapons/perks. I can only use the default "Assault", "Heavy Gunner", etc.

I found no mention of the "Create-A-Class" phenomenon in the official patch release announcement from fourzerotwo on InfinityWard's website:

http://www.infinityward.com/community/forum/index.php?topic=20255.0

Hey Everyone –

Just as I called it, the Xbox 360 patch for Call of Duty 4 passed certification by the weekend, and started hitting consoles near you this morning. For those of you wondering what’s been changed, a full list of the newness is:

New Kill Cams - Everything that can kill you has a Kill Cam now. Grenades, Airstrikes, Claymores, C4, M203 Rounds, RPGs, anything. So jump online, get owned alittle and check them out. They’re awesome, especially Grenades and M203 shots that go across the map and through a window.

Host Migration - Host migration was added, so now when the host leaves you won’t get dropped back to your own lobby by yourself. Everyone will stay together. Host Leaves, everyone returns to lobby, selects next best host, and the game starts up again. No more re-inviting, re-partying up because a host ended the game.

Three of my personal favorite combinations in COD4:

Weapon: RPD (Light Machine Gun)
Perks: 1. RPD Grip Attachment (w/iron sights)
2. Stopping Power
3. Deep Impact

The RPD Light Machine Gun might have taken over as my favorite. It's extremely powerful, accurate at long distances, has good iron sights, a huge clip, and with the added grip attachment gives a very strong punch at long distances. Fire off a couple rounds per burst to get maximum effectiveness. I was aiming this beast at random dots on my radar and getting kills left and right with deep impact. It's strong enough to let me make a mistake or two, while still overpowering my opponents with accurate bursts at short, medium and long distances.

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Weapon: M16 (Assault Rifle w/Red Dot)
Perks: 1. Frags x 3
2. Douple Tap
3. Extreme Conditioning

I'll admit, this combination is tough at close distances personally, but if you're good at getting the full burst into your opponent, this one is very strong. I add extreme conditioning to keep a bit mobile since it's a bit more of a medium/long distance weapon.

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Weapon: M4 Carbine (Assault Rifle w/Red Dot)
Perks: 1. Frags x 3
2. Stopping Power / Juggernaut
3. Deep Impact

The M4 is the go-to gun if nothing else is working for me. It's the one I trust the most since it's so well rounded and good at all distances. This one was also my most used until I discovered the RPD could have as good or better accuracy with only 2 round bursts.

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Of course, there's tons of other weapons to choose from, but I keep going back to these three for some reason. Maybe they just fit to my playing style or our gametypes. I had a run with the M40A3 sniper rifle for a while, but eventually I gave up on it because it just wasn't as effective as the assault rifles or light machine guns for me.

Source: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/849/849158p1.html

Clash of the Titans: Call of Duty 4 vs. Halo 3
How did Infinity Ward go toe to toe with Master Chief?
by IGN Xbox 360 Team

February 1, 2008 - On January 21, 2008 the unthinkable happened: Microsoft announced the Xbox Live activity for the previous week and Halo 3 was not on top. "I don't wish to be melodramatic," said Bungie's Frank O'Connor, "but upon hearing that news, I started listening to My Chemical Romance and scrawled all over my tear-streaked face with soft crimson lipstick, screaming, 'Don't look at me I'm a dirty girl!' at the top of my voice." After the dust cleared from the bombs that went off in our heads and Halo 3 regained the top spot the following week, we began to ask ourselves whether Call of Duty 4 being on top was really all that surprising of an event.

Both games are the newest entries into blockbuster franchises with massive marketing campaigns behind them. Xbox 360 owners proved that there's room for more than one first-person shooter when they propelled both games to mind boggling sales numbers; Call of Duty 4 has sold more than 7 million copies across all platforms while Halo 3 sold over 3 million copies in just 12 days before going on to lead all games in sales for 2007. These are the games that are going to compete for the number one ranking for months to come.

Where do Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 succeed? Where can they improve? What makes them so addictive? We explore the differences between the two titans. It's up to you to decide which game is worth your Xbox Live time.

Campaign Mode

What is your 2007 Game of the Year?

My Game of the Year
Mass Effect

The sci-fi setting is EXACTLY what I've always wanted from a sci-fi universe in ANY medium (books, TV, etc.), and I am extremely happy to be able to interact with it. The story is deep and involving, and so is each and every character. The voice acting/conversation system is superb on every level, and combined with the facial expressions, they really help immerse you into the story and characters. After getting used to the combat, I subsequently owned everything and enjoyed every bit of it. I haven't had this much fun playing any other game this year. I can't wait for the sequel (which is confirmed to use the "finished" saved file from this game).

Runner-Ups
2. Halo 3 & CoD4 (tie)
3. Assassin's Creed
4. The Orange Box (for Portal)

My favorite XBL multiplayer title is getting a much needed patch, and fourzerotwo has announced many of the details on his blog here.

Highlights from my perspective:

-Fixed "corrupt create-a-class data" so Disavowed can play online with us
-More bandwidth required to host Ground War games
-Showdown, Bloc, Ambush, and Pipeline have been added to almost all of the playlists that they were excluded from
-Team Hardcore is now split into Hardcore Death Match and Hardcore Search and Destroy
-Added kill cam to everything (bombs, claymores, etc)
-Added host migration so the game doesn't end if the host leaves

What's not included that should be:

-XBL style party system for LAN environment
-Removing Shipment from Domination and Headquarters gametypes

This weekend Major Nelson posted the top 10 Xbox Live titles for the past week (measured in number of unique users). If you keep up with this list you know that the top two titles don't change very often. Before the release of Halo 3, Gears of War was solidly in #1 each week. Since the release of Halo 3 took #1 Gears has been #2. No more. This week COD4 has upset GoW (by how much we do not know). With Infinity Ward already discussing the first round of patches for COD4 and huge demand selling out many stores on launch week, it's reasonable to say that this change may be semi-permanent. Word of mouth is also selling many copies of COD4, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

If you're interested in the upcoming COD4 patches, here's an executive summary:

Additions / Features:

* Added Kill cam to Airstrike bombs and Claymores.
* Addition of Host Migration so if Host Leaves auto-chooses next best host.
* Tweaked the following Oldschool Mode settings based on feedback:
- Added Unlimited Sprint
- Increased Magazine Size
- Added Ragdoll Cam
* Addition of New "N0M4D" Control Scheme.

Optimizations / Tweaks:

* Identify party by background color (in Lobby).
* Optimized server selection for first match for better connections.
* Improved network performance for 18 player games.
* Optimized 'Chase Cam' when Spectating.
* Fixed Playlist error when attempting to join from other games.
* Handle Corrupt Create A Class data instead of kicking player.

Unfortunately, no release date has been set for the upcoming patch. However, given the frustrating nature of some bugs, we all can hope it's soon--very soon. Major Nelson and E also discussed last week's XBL troubles on Larry's podcast this weekend. Apparently the problem was elusive and not based on user load, but E is confident they squashed it for good.