As I announced last week, this last weekend was the F00T clans Gold Cross 55 Marathon. I just wanted to take this opportune free moment to let everyone know how it went, in as brief a fashion as I’m able.

It was about 10am when my buddy showed up and woke everyone else up, at which point we all helped him unload all his gaming gear into my third story apartment. We figured it’d be a good idea to stock up on food that was quick to make so we ran to the local Papa Murphy’s for some bake it yourself pizzas and finished off the trip with a run to the store for some energy drinks and soda pops.

We finally got the party started at just before noon and it wasn’t more than 20 minutes before Will realized he’d need cigarette breaks. If we were going to make it to level 55 we didn’t really have time for any break that didn’t involve food going in or coming out of our bodies. Thank the lord he’s smarter than he looks because he pulled off one of the more clever moves I’ve ever seen. He put the television up against the sliding glass door and played in a lawn chair on my deck.

With smoke breaks taken care of and everyone on board things were rolling fast, we lost only 10 of our first 50 or 60 matches and the points were flooding in. After about 5 hours it really looked like we were going to make it!

Sadly however, a lot can change over the course of an entire day. It was about 7am on Sunday morning when one of our key contributors had to pack up and take off. Within an hour of that our spirits had been seriously depleted…things were looking grim. As you can see in the pic below, even our in game selfs were throwing in the towel.

In the end we made it to 24 hours played straight. We were however not able to hit 55. I myself got through 46 levels. My counterpart made it to 43. There was much sweat, many tears, excessive use of eye drops and a garbage bag full of empty cans. I can’t give enough thanks to all those of you who joined us in our endeavor. There is no way I could have made it as far as I did without my in house teammates and those from the forums.

• Orangekiss
• BabeeDoll
• RuFiO813z
• MyKillMyBonus
• Elevendy7
• G Machete
• o iM LiVE o
• theblacklions
• VIPER MAN 13

Special thanks go out to Howy96 - we played with Howy when he woke up for a couple hours before he went to work, then he joined back up with us when he got home 9 hours later. And one more time when he woke up the next day before work again. That really made us realize how long we’d been sitting in front of our LCD’s. Thanks Howy, we love you too.

With the upcoming release of Call of Duty: World at War, I thought it a good time to look back on the last year. More specifically the last year with Call of Duty 4, a game most consider THE game of the year. Having spent most of the year as the number one most played game on Xbox Live one has to wonder…is it’s reign as king of the FPS universe over? The second installment of Gears of War released last week, World at War comes out this Tuesday, and a handful of other first person shooters are releasing over the next month or so. Mark wanted in on the action too, so I’ll let him lead the way.

Mark Orr–

“When Call of Duty 4 was announced I was ready for a walk into the lines of yet another shooter that would be fun, but expected nothing new. Once I started seeing screen shots though and reading about the perks, that was all out the window. Then the day came when Luke got the VIP beta release, I had to wait another week for my beta key *fisty shake* so I headed over to check it out…Luke passed out shortly after my arrival, having had a long night of cod4 action. Lucky me! I got it all to myself. Leveling up was brilliant, and unlike Rainbow Six Vegas once you capped out you could ROLL OVER! Yes that’s right, after spending countless hours getting everything and working for those better weapons you were allowed to give them away and start all over. Why you ask? The answer of course is prestige, bragging rights, and belittling those who had only rolled over 9 times. It was brilliant. And yes, I was one of those who rolled way to my giant gold cross and I will do it all over again in 3 days when World at War is released.

The pace of the game play is unparalleled, I immediately quit playing Halo, it just felt like moon physics after playing Cod4. The graphics engine is amazing; even now they’re using it in World at War. What I really liked was single player achievements and online prestige. The controls are natural, and level design suited all sorts of strategies: run and gun, snipers, mid-range m-16 shooters. Nothing has given me more of a rush than not feeling safe behind a concrete wall. BAMF clan…if any of you read this, I will never forget shutting you out on Shipment in domination and getting my 114 kills Thank you for that That aside I assure you until there is no one left playing COD 4 you can find me online next to my gold cross. Gamertag:Mykillmybonus.”

I look back at this past year like a love affair. It was a dream come true. Game of the year, I agree. It surprised me that no one else saw this coming. The moment I loaded up the beta I knew what it was going to become. Like Mark said, the pace of the gameplay is blazing with level designs that still allow for some slower tactical gameplay if that is what you seek. What that ends up doing is creating some of those most dymnamic interactions you’ll ever find in the FPS genre. 20 minute matches always seem to come down to the last 30 seconds. You can pull out a shot gun on 9 out of 10 levels and do well for yourself if you know what you’re doing, and that is saying a lot. Infinity Ward is either the king of developers, or a group of the luckiest sons of bitches there’s ever been. This game was magic. Pure magic.

The World at War beta is great. It’s gorgeous, the maps are diverse, and the gameplay is quick yet somehow still ends up being well thought out. Everyone is going to love this game for all that it is. It is the shiny new sports car you park inside at night. But no one better ever forget, Inifinity Ward’s COD4 is the garage you park it in.