With the Battlefield: Bad Company demo being released a little over a week ago, I got a welcome break from Halo...

Anyway I ranked up to Rank 4 (Corporal), the highest in the demo, which gives me a submachine gun for the full game! That's my second unlock of those special 5 weapons (that you previously had to buy), after the M-60 for signing up for the newsletter.

But the point of me posting this; I just found a glitch (I'm not sure if that'd be the right term...) to skip the reload of a rocket launcher (demo class). After shooting, press the reload button, and immediately sprint. When you come out of sprint, you press the reload button (X on the 360), and it instantly reloads, without the animation and stuff. I might try this with other weapons later, in the full game (I don't want to waste more time on the demo). But I think it works with all weapons, but I just didn't notice this on more than one occasion.

And, of course, I did manage to get Halo 3 in...

I just got a message from Ubisoft saying that I got accepted in the Tom Clancy's EndWar Beta!

The Beta lasts from the 16th of June to the 7th of July. So, who else signed up, and did you get accepted (all you had to do was say you have Beta-testing experience)?

Incase you haven't heard of the rumoured Xbox 360 with a built-in Blu-ray drive, you don't deserve a link (damn, my imaginary editor did that...).

Okay, here's it quickly; even if this ends up being true, and you already have a 360, there isn't much point in trading it for a Blu-ray one, because:

a) Chances are, Blu-ray players are going to get fairly cheap by next year.

b) If there's a Blu-ray 360, it's likely that there'll be a Blu-ray add-on as well. Unless MS is really stupid and/or Sony has wierd licensing terms.

That's a long title.

Anyway, I missed a few points in my earlier demo impressions (no link- just scroll down you lazy... person!). I thought that no one would go back and read an update, and these are important things that lead to the reader being misinformed about Bad Company, which eventually leads to fanboy wars. I are apologize...

+Battlefield: Bad Company uses High Dynamic Range Audio. It really does improve the audio. "Loud sounds are loud, soft sounds are soft", like they said in a dev interview. Noises far away are, well, far away. Though this may seem vague, you'll notice this ingame.

+The controls: I was frustrated with them, as many others, but upon reflection, I realised that they do make sense. Now, if only I could get the chopper in the air...

+Environments look beautiful. This may be under graphics, but I just have to point out how good the mist looked in the campaign.

+Oh and yeah, one word; physics.

So, the Battlefield: Bad Company demo came out yesterday, and, having been waiting for it for months, I eagerly downloaded it. I couldn't get in the Beta (it wasn't available in my region), so these are my first impressions.

Here's a quick summary of my stint with the campaign mission, "Green Acres", and the map Oasis (in Gold Rush mode). (+=positive, -=negative)

+Graphically, the game looks good, especially the campaign, and despite it's size.

+Weapons, etc. handle really well. I personally like the Life-2 injector...

-The controls are unlike most console first person shooters. It'll take a couple of games to stop zooming in while sprinting, thus negating your the latter's effect.

+The unlocks will give you a reason to keep playing.

+Textures are smooth, no popping.

-Games tend to last really long with Gold Rush. If you're an Attacker, it's in your power to end the game quickly. But if the Defenders are better, it's gonna last for an hour. At least. Unless the Attackers get their act together.

-It would be great if the player limit was a bit higher. I know this might not be possible on consoles with people with varying connection speeds, but parts of Oasis were deserted (no pun intended). But maybe that's just because it's the demo, and I was playing at an odd hour when most demo-ers were probably sleeping. Unless they really like BF: Bad Company.

+Campaign=a decent story. The characters may seem stereotype, but it can be humourous at times ("you're motto should be 'Verba, Non Acta', coz you never shut up!").

+/- It's odd how your team magically appears in a vehicle when you get on... I'm just saying you might get confused at first.

+Destructible environments... though they're underwhelming, they're more than enough. They do affect gameplay, even in the campaign. But don't worry, there is enough permanent cover.

I can think of more, but they're really small details, so meh.

EDIT: I've heard people complaining about lag... I've not experienced any in four multiplayer games. The framerate has been smooth throughout and in single player as well.

EDIT 2: I just team-killed every time I tried to switch from sniper to pistol...

Overall, the game seems to be very polished, enjoyable, and uses vehicles well, like all Battlefield games. I haven't played BF 2: Modern Combat, so this was my first experience with Battlefield on a console. And, being a console-only game, it seems to suit this platform... except for the damn controls. I recommend it, unless you absolutely hate Battlefield/DICE/EA.

Not having anything gaming-related to talk about, and since I won't get any new games till Battlefield: Bad Company comes out, I decided to pick this super-original subject for this post; what are you playing?

If I need to explain that, you have comprehension problems. Comment away!