Well the Modern Warfare 2 Simulus Package is out and not without a few hiccups.. if you can call it that.
Here we are last night, all waiting in anticipation for the maps to be released, 11pm rolls by (was reliably informed that they would be out 11pm Sydney Time) – no maps.. grrr.. so we play some more and every couple of games check for the maps.
Just after midnight they show up! woohoo lets download! 329mb slowly comes down. OK lets play!
Sorry, we can’t play, Microsoft forgot one little thing.. to play the maps MW2 needed the Title Update. Going into MW2 at this point was really slow, hanging the Xbox, black screens or just no go. We ended up playing some Private Matches Free-4-All on Rust. How many times did I shoot KingRoc in the back.. anyway that story is for another day.
Then we see the twitter updates coming from MajorNelson – these are over a 4-5 hour period.
“The Stimulus Package needs a Title Update and it didn’t go out properly. We’re pushing it out now – it won’t be long. #MW2 (via @thevowel)”
“I’ll have another update in about 30-mins. Until then, you may see some weirdness if you try to d/l the map pack or update.”
“If ur getting “Can’t download the update” that’s us putting the latest update in place. Excuse our dust, we’ll be done ASAP.”
“The MW2 Title Update is now live! It may take a few minutes for everyone worldwide to get it – our apologies for the delay. #MW2”
Title update is live and can be downloaded, but wait there is more… Matchmaking is now totally broken! MajorNelson fills us in again via Twitter..
“Matchmaking is in a bad state on Xbox LIVE right now. We’re working on it and will resolve it as quickly as we can. #xboxlive #mw2”
then finally..
“#XboxLIVE matchmaking and #MW2 are in a much better place now and I see many of you playing. We’re still cleaning up a few loose ends.”
FYI RT @XboxSupport: Matchmaking across #XboxLIVE is fixed! You may still have trouble purchasing and we’ll let u know ASAP when fixed.
I went to bed way before this, though it was still 2am, so I woke up this morning, turned on, Title Update came down and…. Oh look it’s Overgrown! Let’s see if this matchmaking fix has worked.. checking <50 ping, checking <60 ping, checking <70 ping, checking <80 ping, checking <90 ping.. and so it went – took about 3 minutes or so to find a match – granted it was 7am, so hopefully when more Aussies are on this arvo and tonight, that should be fixed.
The ping checks are a bit crude, but if it works who I am to complain – a bit of waiting is way better than one dirty red dot!
So that was the night of Stimulus! You would think that MS would know better with such a massive release – this DLC will be the fastest and most downloaded in Xbox history by a long way – but considering there have been other major releases in the past (GTA4 anyone?) – you would expect alot better from MS. It’s all fixed now, so all good.
So notes on my limited playtime on the Stimulus Package.
1. Overgrown is really overgrown this time round and the foliage is much more lush! 😀
2. There are only 2 playlists for the Stimulus package and in those, the game type is random. This has to change, I am not a fan of Search and Destroy and Capture the Flag. I hope this changes in the future.
3. Double XP is only on the Stimulus playlists.
Have fun everyone! You know what I will be doing tonight. Msg me if you want to play tonight, you can join the Capsule Computers crew as we head deep into Stimulus and Double XP!
** NEWS FLASH **
FourzeroTwo has just posted an update that the Stimulus maps and Double XP will be integrated into all playlists tomorrow!Â
