We look back on 2011.

After a year of major game releases, the game industry & gamers from all over the world are set to pick the best of the best for the 2011 Video Game Awards.

Shane Bell (Urgent Fury CIO) & Doc (The Tester (Season 1) & Replay w/ Doc) join Commander Fury to preview a few of the categories & make their 2011 VGA picks.

We are only 2-Weeks into the first Urgent Fury Socom 4 tournament and we are already halfway complete with the first campaign. With 36 wars played, the standings are as follows: TNU leads with 10 points followed closely by 101, ReD, $K$, cKs, and 26* with 8. In the middle of the pack we have LPK with 6. Rounding out the field we have RVN, <N>, and WDA each with 2 points and IX still looking to pick up their first W. This tough field of competitors proved to be too steep as R2H never made it in by failing to submit their roster.

Going into week 3 of the first campaign, TNU looks to continue its winning ways after a rough start due to typos on their roster which cost them their only loss. Being the highest ranked clan in the tournament on the Socom in-game ladder, TNU has proven that they know how to win by leading the field with the most points.

A match between the current #2 and #3 seeds, 101 and ReD, resulted in a tie during the second night of wars when there was an glitch in the ladder system. Each team took a match in the first two but for some reason the game sent both teams back to their lobbies instead of sending them to the third match to determine the overall winner of the war.

$K$, cKs and 26* all locked up with 8 points each will be working to catch the current leader in hopes of capturing the top seed and a bid to the playoffs later this fall. After a close match against TNU and ReD, LPK looks to bounce back after a bumpy start. With only 6 wars remaining RVN, <N>, WDA, and IX hope to make up some ground after a very tough 2 weeks.

The Endurance format is much different than what most UF clans are used to. Previously each night would feature one war on a predetermined map and mode. Due to the lack of a party system, UF was forced to use the in-game ladder system to conduct the wars. When asked about the best-of-3 format for wars a few of the clan reps had this to say. darth_cedaus from Canadian Killing Squad said, “Love the best of 3 format. Much better than the 1-map wars back in the day.” ShadowOfaSolja from Threat Neutralizing Unit said, “Best of 3 is the only way to go ”

With a party system just around the corner, we will found out whether or not traditional 1-map per war formats will ever be possible again.

None of the clan reps had too much other to say about the tournament other than they really appreciate the great sportsmanship shown by UF clans. Respecting all of the rules set forth by tournament staff, participating clan are able to play Socom 4 without having to worry about exploits, cheating, Grenade Launchers, or Double Rounding in Bomb Squad.

Time will tell as we see how the wars play out to determine the winner of the first Socom Endurance Campaign.

After taking a little “R&R“…Urgent Frequency returns with another special “live…on location” episode.

We help the rest of the world celebrate the Midnight Launch of both

SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs (Zipper Interactive) & Mortal Kombat (NetherRealm/WBIE).

Plus we have not one…but TWO exclusive interviews with

[SHO] Shadow Ops & [101] 101st Screaming Eagles…Urgent Fury‘s latest set of champions!!!

Suprised to see an update come across today, but Travis Steiner, Lead Designer at Zipper Interactive for Socom 4 changed his Facebook Status today. He is now with a startup. We can only assume that it is with a gaming community, Travis is sure to bring some great experience to the table. His work history also includes Sierra Entertainment working on one of my favorite PC games growing up, Police Quest: SWAT. Good luck Travis.

I emailed Travis and received this auto reply:

Hi there,

I have decided to leave Zipper to pursue a new opportunity. If you need to contact me, you can find me on Facebook.

 http://www.facebook.com/

Thanks!

 -Travis

This comes as bit of a shock less than a week after the release of Socom 4 though. There have been mixed feelings amoungs Socom veterans about the game. Many are just not liking it, while many say if a few things are fixed it will be great and then there are the many that are very happy with Socom 4.

We do agree there are a few things to tweak, but overall, the Urgent Fury community is once again addicted to another Socom release.

Now if we can only get PSN up and running, we can get back to playing the Shooter that started it all on consoles.

PSNation’s Glenn Percival Co-Hosts this very special Opening Day 2011 special.

He gives us a complete “hands-on” break down of MLB The Show 11.

Plus, we make our picks for the “Fall Classic“, and spell out Kevin Butler’s S.H.A.F.T. Method.

In this episode….we welcome some real heroes to talk about tactical gaming  from the perspective of

prior military service members….as we welcome the Off Duty Gamers.

Plus, we have an Urgent Fury:In Country SITREP shocker!!!

Urgent Fury Directors L to R…CIO Shane Bell, CFO Armond Compton, & COO John Ostrow at PAX East 2011.

The official attendance count for PAX East 2011 was 69,500. Breaking last year’s attendance of 52,290.

Brink TM from Splash Damage &  Bethesda shows off it’s final build of the game before it’s scheduled

launch on May 17th, 2011.

Don’t worry little buddy….the wait is almost over.

SOCOM 4 launches on April 19th, 2011.

Zipper Interactive’s Kevin Scmitt (Lead Designer, SOCOM 4) gives his Zipper colleagues a

crash course in the mysterious art of Parkour.

Urgent Fury covered the PAX East 2011 SOCOM 4 tournament.

Where 64 fans got to compete for a very nice trophy.

This guy has his sights set on victory. And a shot at SOCOM superstardom.

Shane Bell on the PAX East 2011 SOCOM 4 tournament…

“it  had all the intensity of classic Urgent Fury tournaments”.

The team of 8 shooters who won it all, are scheduled to be featured on a future episode

of Urgent Fury’s podcast Urgent Frequency.

This is just one of the reasons that Urgent Fury has plans for several

“live” tournament events in the coming year.

Stay tuned for more on PAX East 2011!!!

Urgent Fury CFO Armond Compton gets a hands on sample of Zipper Interactive’s SOCOM 4 at PAX East 2011. (Inset) Urgent Fury Media Assistant Will “disfsk3x14″ Pulistar gets some stick time on SOCOM 4 as well.

He says…Meow!

Stay tuned for continuous updates from the expo.

Urgent Fury CIO Shane Bell stops by for a very “loosey goosey” episode of Urgent Frequency.

An episode that features the usual Urgent Fury SITREP, a complete PAX East 2011 Preview, a surprise guest, and Charlie Sheen. WINNING! Duh!

From the Socom Blog:

There will also be a special limited run SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs Full Deployment Edition. Priced at $149.99, the SOCOM 4 FDE is packed with all kinds of awesome. What kind of awesome are we talking about? Check it:

• SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs video game on Blu-ray disc
• PlayStation Move Motion Controller
• PlayStation Move Navigation Controller
• PlayStation Move sharp shooter
• PlayStation Eye Camera

At the heart of this limited edition bundle is the PlayStation Move sharp shooter, giving you pinpoint precision and a streamlined and authentic design. On top of all that, you also get easily accessible buttons, responsive digital trigger, realistic pump-action, a firing mode selector, adjustable shoulder stock and convenient access to the navigation controller. Sold separately, the contents of the SOCOM 4 Full Deployment Edition are valued at nearly $220, making its $149.99 price tag a savings of more than 30%!

Click here to reserve your Socom 4 FDE from Gamestop today.

Thanks to the continued support of Jeremy Dunham, Community Manager for Zipper Interactive, we had the pleasure of going to the Socom 4 media Day at Zipper headquarters in Redmond, WA. So part 1 is my take on our preview of multiplayer. Part 2 will come after our visit to PAX East where we will be preparing a future episode of UFreqTV for Playstation Home and visiting some more of the shooters out there that make Urgent Fury what it is today.

Now let me set the bar here, the game was not in anyway a finished product and even in the time that I have taken to publish this, many changes have been made. In addition our video that we compiled has not been approved by Sony PR, so I am going to release the written version. I do apoligize as we had some great gameplay footage as well as some great Q & A with one of the Dev team members.

So with that being said, here is Part 1…

Socom 4: The renewal of Tactical Gaming

Socom in my opinion was the beginning of tactical multiplayer gaming for consoles. Originally launched on PS2, Socom set the stage for one of the greatest phenomenon’s in console gaming. You and fifteen of your friends could group together online and with team work conquer another gaming team. You did this from your gaming lair. Friendships have been forged, and in many cases members of your team known as clans would put their gaming clan ahead of their wife and family. Many players such as I have been playing with our clan mates for many years.

The community of Socom fans is by far one of the most critical in the business. You can visit the Socom forums at Socom.com and read thousands of posts asking for different functions and game options in Socom 4. Community managers Jeremy Dunham and Chris Roper have spent the last several months answering questions and gathering intel for the dev team at Zipper interactive Studios.

Recently I had the privilege to visit Zipper Interactive to preview Socom 4 as the release date of April 19th approaches. As hoped we were treated to a first look at Socom 4 Multiplayer and a new Single player level. Our visit started with the true experience of the security required at a development studio. It was nothing less than expected.

So we started with a presentation by Travis Steiner along with a demo of both a single player level and some multiplayer game play, but I have to be honest, I kept eagerly awaiting our turn to get our hands on it. I played Socom 4 at E3, but it was a very short demo. I was excited to play multiplayer as that is the staple for Urgent Fury, so I was like a starving boy in front of the desert buffet. You can find more about the presentation from Commander Fury on Urgent Frequency www.urgentfury.com/podcast.

So we take position at our Playstation setup, no sharing, no taking turns, just one on one with a Playstation 3, Socom 4 and me. First let’s talk about what multiplayer has to offer in this version of Socom. I will admit this is truly a new version of Socom. Zipper has been taking notes on how the giant shooters out there are attracting hundreds of thousands of gamers to play. Unlike the latest release by Slant Six had horrific load times, to the point I spent many a night grilling dinner between rounds, but Socom 4 is a true improvement. If you want to jump on and get your game on, you will only have to wait a few minutes max. You choose a game from the list and you get to work.

Now I won’t lie, there are grumblings by the Socom faithful saying this type of setup is not true to the series, and I will say you are right it isn’t, this is called innovation.
 
The team has taken the time to research what gamers abroad want and incorporate some of those that work. One that really surprised me was open mics in the multiplayer. Push to talk (PTT) is one of the most vital features to Socom; no other shooter has ever adopted this and is a failure by all other games in my opinion. But rest assured by the team, PTT is used in the Classic settings.

What are Classic settings you ask? Well here is the best way I can describe it. Socom 4 is actually two multiplayer games in one. Standard multiplayer is truly the new Socom, it includes everything that seems to be popular among young gamers today:

• Health Regeneration
• Respawn Matches
• The new Cover system
• Quick Matchmaking

While the Classic Mode disables all of these new features and returns the game to the Socom we all know. There is no need to cover Quick Matchmaking, Health Regeneration and Respawn, we all know how that works, but I will give my assessment of the Cover system. I am extremely pleased with it, I used it every chance I could to test for strength and weaknesses. The Cover System can be a little clumsy, but that is probably due to the fact that it was my first time at some uninterrupted play. But other than that it works quite well, I was able to get to cover by hitting O, popping in and out to shoot was somewhat easy and throwing a grenade was easy. Now aiming the grenade without the arc was a little tough, but with a little practice anyone will be killer with them. I will say that I would like to see the Cover System as an option in Classic mode, it really replaces the D-Pad Lean in my opinion. In real life I see the movements of the Cover system looking around corners and over cover really is much more realistic that the leaning out around a corner.

I did ask about the arc, and they said it was a tough decision on whether the time it took a person to place the arc or to take the time to learn to aim. I agree that learning to aim is much more realistic. And yes for those that know me on Socom, I had no problem killing myself with a nade or two.

We played a couple of the game types including Last Defense and Classic Suppression. The maps I must say were amazing, and we had the pleasure of even getting our hands on the Socom classic “Abandoned” which I must say was beyond beautiful. So last defense definitely had a MAG flavor to it, as the attacker, you are looking for three Satellites and once you have control the defender’s base is located and you have two minutes to get there and plant an Airstrike beacon.

As the defenders you can recapture the Satellite dishes to stop the attack. By doing this you are on an ever evolving clock to hold down your headquarters. Expect to see this mode in an upcoming Urgent Fury TacMap. Of course we are all familiar with Suppression, and to say that it had the Socom flavor we love is an understatement.

We experienced Abandoned in Classic mode, basically removing all of the advancements to Socom that have been made, and several times I was the last guy trying to get the “W”. If it were not for the catering company bringing me food and beverages, I would have been in the dire straits of old trying to find a way to run to the kitchen and grab something quick and a drink. Do you remember those days when you did not have a fifteen minute break between rounds? Looks like I am going to have to create an express route to the can for this Socom, because there is no time for the luxuries of a bathroom or a snack break.

As much as I wanted to play the single player mode, they had to cut us out of the multiplayer to get us out of there. So other than watching the demo, I did not even get to touch the Single player mission in 2D or 3D. That is right I said 3D. And I am extremely impressed that the 3D is not only at full spec with 2D, meaning they did not cut anything to make it 3D, they have added the ability to adjust the 3D settings to maximize your TV’s output. What a concept, who thought that TV’s might not have the exact same specs throughout the different manufacturers.

So overall, coming from not only a Socom Veteran and longtime fan of the franchise, but a gaming professional, I rate Socom 4 Multiplayer a 9.9 out of 10. The only negative really is the lack of Demo. This is a staple in Urgent Fury, but we will adjust to the new game modes and still make the most intense Tournament with Socom 4. As for the positive, I am extremely pleased with the innovations of Socom 4 has shown with adapting to today’s gamers, while still leaving classic setups for the veterans out there.

Urgent Fury has just announced its expansion into PlayStation®Home only on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.  Urgent Frequency TV, or UFreqTV, will air its inaugural Episode 1, beginning Thursday 2/17/2011.  Each subsequent episode will run in PlayStation Home’s Community Theater for 2 weeks.

Each episode will focus on a variety of topics, such as game reviews, PlayStation news, as well as exclusive interviews with individuals and companies in the gaming industry, community gamers, and teams competing in Urgent Fury’s different tournaments.

In Episode 1, you will learn the origins and focus of Urgent Fury, explore Zipper’s return to SOCOM 4, and finally after a few months on the market, UFreqTV gives another look at Electronic Arts Medal of Honor.

Join Jack “UK” Dellhouse, Wolfie-D and Commander Claymore Fury as Urgent Fury’s newest Videocast team takes Urgent Fury on a new journey into PlayStation Home.

Urgent Fury is an online console-gaming community who has built its impeccable reputation by providing unique, intuitive, and exciting scenario-based TacMap style tournaments.  Urgent Fury also has opened the Urgent Fury Gaming League (UFGL) where new and veteran teams will be able to compete against each other on a variety of games.  Giving new teams to Urgent Fury a chance to catch a glimpse at the type of gamesmanship that is expected of its members before joining a TacMap event

Urgent Fury was founded in 2002 on the motto of “Win with Honor, Lose with Dignity.” With new teams being evaluated on gamesmanship, integrity, and fair game-play during many of Urgent Fury’s entry level evaluation tournaments.  Using the motto above the community is able to maintain a highly successful tournament arena for like-minded console gamers.

“PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. 

With all of the questions that surround the next title in the SOCOM:U.S. Navy SEALs franchise, Urgent Fury decided to do some forward RECON to get some real answers regarding what some are saying, is the most important release in the franchise’s long history.

After being invited to participate in ZIPPER INTERACTIVE’S SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs “MEDIA DAY“ event in Redmond, WA…..Urgent Fury immediately deployed UFreq correspondent Brian “Inadub” Carey, and he joins Commander Fury with a full report which includes the official SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs press conference.

All that…plus UF gets a new “home”.

So as many have been waiting for, we spent E3 gathering intel for all of you guys and well instead of spoiling it for you, I just will let you start with Part 1 of our 2 part series for the E3 Debrief…

Audrey Cleo with Commander Fury and Shane Bell of Urgent Fury

Commander Fury and Kevin discover the pleasure of the Move

The Urgent Fury Crew with Travis Steiner

Heads up guys we got so much intel, its going to take a few podcasts to do it… Ohh and there are prizes too…

I will say it looks like Socom 4 is a true progression for Zipper… As you watch this video you will see the begining of what Socom 4 is going to look like.

From what it sound like the Move will be on both online and offline, but this could dramatically change the feel of Socom for those that are willing to jump on the Move wagon.

The more I watch, this looks like it may actually make Socom even more intense. I know that I am not the only one excited to play with this at E3. And for those of you in the New York area, keep you ears open cause there is word of a Live tour.

Video is below.

UPDATE: Here is the video showing Socom 4, you will find it at the 32 min mark as Travis with Zipper gets into some single player.

Well for those that did not see it, we are working on getting video footage, but PlayStation unvealed the PlayStation Move at GDC this evening and to cause even a larger ripple in the reveal, Socom 4 was showcased as one of the many games that will support the Move…

Stay tuned as we will post updates with footage as soon as possible!