For 2011, the winner of the Game of the Year, according to Sword and Shield Gaming is….

a tie!  When all the votes were tallied, it came down to not one game, but two!

Our community selected both Modern Warfare 3 and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as the games of the year.  Coming in a close third was Gears of War 3, followed by Portal 2 and Battlefield 3.  2011 was a great year for gaming.  Here’s to 2012!

Monday Knight Halo is here to ring in the new year.

SSG had 2 separate parties of 8 rolling around match making this evening.  MKH has had it’s highs and lows this last year with the plethora’s of new games that game out, but it sure looks to have stabilized in a big way.  So mark your calendar and show up next week.

Can you spot SSG IrishGirl in her Ghillie Suit?

How about now that she’s sniping a Banshee?!

SSG takes to the air to reek havoc.

But things don’t always go to plan…

High-Five!

SSG iAmGrant standing on one foot, like a boss.

Taking out a Warthog from the air.

Failing to your death can still look cool, right?

BOOM!

I want to thank all the Knights that came out for MKH this week, and we hope to see you all next week as well.

Below will be some pics of just the vast amount of titles that can make you go bankrupt.

Have you ever played an RPG? Well this is the latest installment in the Elder Scrolls Franchise. Other big names in the series Morrowind, first RPG for Xbox, and Oblivion that was released in 2006 for xbox 360. Both titles have been spoken of as a couple of the greatest RPG’s made for the xbox. Skyrim is no different as it puts together great graphics and a new land to explore. Skyrim overall gives the chance to the gamers to either explore the entire land finding artifacts and doing side quests for hours upon hours, as well as doing the main quest for hours upon hours. The basis of Skyrim is that Dragons have returned to the land of Skyrim and with that a champion arises to fight them off. The rest of the story is your choice. Want to be a mage? You can, and there is a guild for that. Want to be a warrior? You can. A thief? You can. Not only that but you can even at one point turn into a werewolf. The possibilities in this game are endless and if your trying to stretch your dollar, every dollar you spend on Skyrim is worth a few hours of game playing.

Modern Warefare 3 is a big name in the first person shooter category. Even people who don’t play video games have heard of this game. Why? It could be the simple fact that the Call of Duty series have sold millions of games and procuded billions of dollars in profit. Many say that the multiplayer is the reason the games sell so well. I personally never been in to Call of Duty but I can say that the gameplay is great, story line amazing, and multiplayer worth the hours spent on it. If you’re into first person shooters MW3 is hard to resist.

EA was given a challenge. Make a better version of Call of Duty games. Battlefield 3 is the answer to that. Some say the game is too realistic. Some say the game is just too good to be true. I personally don’t want to pick favorites in the BF3 vs MW3 is battle. I will though say that the game provides a good storyline, and a multiplayer experience. Which ever one is better is up for debate.

Yes this game came out in September. Yes it’s another 3rd edition to a game. I would suggest this to anyone that really likes a good story. I mean you can just play GoW3 by it self and it will be worth it but I say try to play GoW and GoW2. Why? The game is a continuation of the story and it will just mean something more to you. The multiplayer experience for this one is amazing. You’re talking to someone who failed epicly in the first and second one. This one redefines the multiplayer experience for GoW. So, I say get this and if you played the first two ones I don’t need to sell it to you.

If you like Halo this will just make the first game a much more cooler experience with the campaign graphics. The real reason I say get this is for the multiplayer maps. If you like Halo get it, if you don’t… what is wrong with you? I mean… that’s cool I guess.This isn’t a new game so not much to say about it. Cool graphics, nice remakes of old maps.

Monday Knight Halo: Many of us jump into games together so that we can team up against the onslaught of prepubescent mongrels. This is pretty typical. However, sometimes we don’t even want to face the riff-raff and would rather play with just our fellow knights. That’s just what we did in the TU Beta hopper this week. Let me just say, having Kistov AND nzapters on the same team is cheating. The Kiwi Connection, as I have some to call them, are lethal enough on their own. Putting them on the same side is a kind of demoralizing slaughter that Grunts must feel hopping off a Phantom on easy mode.

Eventually the gang went back to proper matchmaking against some internet randoms. However, the blood lust did not cease. I’m not sure if there were some hidden grudges, or if wrath transcends all sense of color and team descriptors, but  some knights went on some betrayal sprees. This was all in good fun mind you, which was picked up on by the other team… who proceeded to assist in that fratricide. While this isn’t typical behavior for knights, everyone involved was having a good time. No harm no foul.

Wednesday Knight Warfare: Final Session: So what better why to celebrate the passing of a game than to mortar, napalm, and grenade your teammates? Wait what? That’s right, the team killing didn’t stop at Halo. You know the thing with a fast paced game like Black Ops is you have to keep your head on a swivel. Not every single person darting around a corner is your enemy. As I discovered multiple times as BIGG NATE responded to my calls for help… only to be shot in the face by my M4. Indirect fire weapons are a dangerous tool as SSG Jettstream learned as I, once again, failed to see where my teammate was and burned him alive with super hot napalm. Napalm sticks to kids… and Canadians. Finally, after having given up on killstreaks I decided to use my ‘nades… much to MadMike’s displeasure. You see, when you throw a grenade you should be sure that your partner isn’t about to run into the same corridor that you just chucked frag down…

Thursday Knight Horde: They say dying is a part of life. I say dying is a part of dying. SteelValor, SSG Gideon and Apoc came with me into some new maps for Horde mode. I had gotten used to SSG CodeMonkey’s awesome mutators and  figured I could just run up and slaughter what ever I wanted as Big Rig Dizzy. Well I was wrong, but I took everyone with me. Anytime Steel, Apoc, or Gideon attempted to save my sorry butt they ended up dying a terrible death. So you don’t always have to be the one to pull the trigger to get a team kill…

Other Big News: We have more knights included in our family. SSG Gideon was made official this week and we all are super excited that he has joined our ranks. I didn’t get a chance to mention SteelValor in a blog so I’ll do so now and congratulate him as well. I hope you like your new armor. Remember it chaffs

SSG Jayman has some trouble deciding which one to knock the hat off first.

Monday Knight Halo: This week I decided to try some customs. I went to Achievement Hunter’s website and pulled a few “horse” maps. Next I went to Halo Waypoint and secured a neat little Duck Hunt map and game type. Was there a score? Maybe. Was there a victor? Who knows. What I do know is that I can now recognize the sounds of Knights giggling like children and just having fun messing around. That is until we played this game…

If Hockey had race cars and explosions...

Rev Ball comes from our good friend Wheels36. It’s fast paced explodey fun. Unless you are SSG Wookiee. Once Wookiee understood the premise of the game for a moment he put down his sword and lifted a Hockey stick. Trouble is there were no refs to put him in the penalty box for high sticking. It was like watching a monster being born of ice and fire. He sent me and my vehicle flying out of the way several times! Later he said he was having flashbacks of his Hockey days and that it was so much fun he may get back to it someday. To me my friends this is what it’s all about.

Wednesday Knight Warfare: What can I say about you Black Ops? You and I are like lovers dancing around each other waiting for your party system to to allow us one fiery embrace. Alas, you are a fickle mistress and sometimes you make me choose between my friends and you. No but seriously, it took us 45 minutes of messing around in the lobby before we finally got games in. Then the hosts tended to favor every team but ours resulting in probably one of the worst personal experiences with this game. However, I still had fun. Running around with SSG iAmGrant, SSG IrishGril,  SSG Marvel, and apprentice MadMike mad the wait and frustration bearable. We lamented together, figured out how to make the best of a bad situation. Together we found the fun, despite outside forces attempting to thwart us.

Thursday Knight Horde: Sometimes it isn’t always about the challenge. Sometimes it’s about feeling like a hard ass. So we turned on some mutators and made boss battles seem easier than farting on a jello mold (man Gran-Gran was mad). But hey, don’t take my word for it. Watch us take down some reavers…

Yup, nothing says bad ass like rolling over fools with your lancer. Or if you are SSG TomaZero, nothing says bad ass like getting murdered…several times….

So ends another edition of This Week in SSG. Tune in next week when we talk about the nature of smell.

Starting the (k)night off, Dalcaeus introduced us to an experimental game type meant to replicate “Hardcore Team Deathmatch,” where shields are disabled and headshot weapons like the DMR and Pistol are removed, making for an interesting old-school experience before the days of regenerating health and one-shot kills.

Hunter finds himself double-teamed by Jayman and Kyli3...

...and gets a Double-Kill.

I toss a grenade toward the ducts, which mere seconds later is threaded perfectly to nail an unsuspecting Dalcaeus.

Prelude to an "Oh Crap" moment...

I lose a teammate as Dal and Kyli3 rush in from the bridge.

A hotly-contested area.

Next up was the Ski-Jump game.

Jett, Dal, Jayman, and myself take a long slide down with the hope of landing in a small target bunker.

Argh! Just missed it...

After that was The Shredder!

We had to dodge a ton of debris raining down in order to get to the top.

Dalcaeus, Wookiee, and I charge upward, dodging Banshee parts and mines.

It just keeps coming! Steel Valor tries to ascend without getting slammed.

The field was a complete mess, yet we pressed on...

We were also introduced to a fun game called Revball.  Think of it as Hockey, with Revenants.

Ball high!

Regroup! The ball easily goes flying thanks to all the 'splosions.

The swarm closes in...

Frantically defending the goal.

Nice hang time, Dal!

Ten seconds left! Keep it out of the goal!

We ended with a tie after a well-fought match.

We also played a bit of Duck Hunt, courtesy of Achievement Hunter’s community gametypes.

We make our rush.

IrishGirl is the first hunter up.

We lost one! Keep moving!

I finally make it to the goal up top and deal some retribution...

With a bigger crew by now, Dal brought us to Reflection for a return of Hardcore Team Deathmatch.

On the blue team, I was joined by IrishGirl, Jett, Grant, Dalcaeus. and Dark.

On the red team was Marvel, Heathen, Wookiee, Hunter, CodeMonkey, and Steel Valor.

Marvel has nowhere to run as Dalcaeus and I close in...

Codemonkey and Heathen take the high ground.

I get caught in a crossfire of grenades between Grant and Hunter.

Gotcha! Irish drops a red.

Fun times were had by all, and it goes to show that with a little creativity, a game may never get old.  See you next Monday!

Monday Knight Halo: For some people the word “Assist” is synonymous with “kill steal.” This action would result in any number of slurs and insults. Additionally, feelings of having the stage kicked out from under you can foster feelings of resentment. While partaking in the Firefight Challenge this week I noticed how different we really are from that of the standard fair of gamer. The festivities started with SSG Jettstream, SSG Cazril, and myself. With the two of them they each had a fair fifty-fifty chance of winning 1600 MS Points. That was until SSG Apocalypse showed up. While Jett, and Caz put up a valiant effort it is safe to say that Apoc secured a resounding victory. There were no harsh words, no ill will. All I heard was heartfelt congratulations from bested teammates. Later, the four of us decided to try our hand at the Title Update playlist. My kill count in the first skirmish was… abysmal.  My shots were missing their mark, but luckily I had a teammate that was right on the money. SSG Jettstream is the new John Wayne. This man pulled out his .45 and ended more lives than any spaghetti western ever did. Every assist I earned in that match was his kill.  I was proud to have him at my side. You see, unity means teamwork, but more than that. Unity means we desire victory for our comrades more than ourselves. We feel this way because deep down inside our friend’s victories are our victories. It doesn’t matter whose name is on it.

Wednesday Knight Warfare: Just another gaming session? Maybe. That is until Bigg Nate and I started a discussion. That discussion was on politics. Now the specifics of those politics are unimportant. The very nature of politics is contention, Nate and I are no exception. There were things that we didn’t see eye to eye on. However, there were no raised voices, no insults. He did not call me a “conservative nazi” and I never called him a “liberal hibbie,” or “communist.” We politely discussed our points of view and respected each other’s differing opinions. Unity is respecting our differences, embracing those differences and understanding how diversity can make us stronger.

Thursday Knight Horde: Violence, lots and lots of violence. One of our apprentices DarkFusion arrived and promptly showed SSG CodeMonkey and I the proper use of the Gnaser Shotgun. As bits of body parts flew gracefully in all directions Code and I could not help but marvel at the proficiency at which Fusion wielded his weapon. He was like an artist that used internal organs as means to sculpt his master piece. Rather than be insulted by the impudence of this upstart we offered him praise for his performance. Albeit with the occasional jab after I “Retro Charged” him a few times. Unity is accepting the fact that sometimes members of our team can be better, much better, then ourselves. Unity means we embrace and nurture teammate to make our team stronger… even if they are shotgun campers….

Unity in SSG is what brought us here, what keeps us here, and what makes us strong.

Jayman SMASH!

Monday Knight Halo started off normally, but with one small difference. It was up to me to get the ball rolling on the festivities. I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about it. Luckily for me, SSG Jayman showed up to lend a hand. At his suggestion, we loaded up custom games while we waited for the rest of our group to show up. Juggernaut proved to be a good ice breaker for some of the newer people joining us. Jay’s experience and initiative paid dividends in making MKH a success for me as well as everyone who attended. Leaders show the initiative.

Breach and Clear

Wednesday Knight Warfare isn’t always something that I attend. However, given the example SSG Jayman set I decided to rent Black Ops for the evening. As the session got underway, things were a little rocky. Lag, and my general lack of skill, resulted in a string of loses that can only be compare to the amount of times Michigan has lost to Ohio State. Many of us were frustrated, and understandably so. SSG IAmGrant took an initiative in his own way. He decided that his mood would soon no longer be conducive to the general fun of the group. He laid down his controller and allowed SSG CodeMonkey to take his spot. This demonstrated the dedication he has toward the ethos of Sword and Shield Gaming, by setting an example of temperance. Leaders set the example.

And the Winner is....

Thursday Knight Horde is our shiny new weekly event for those of us that put “ed” and the end chainsaw. In order to make it official it needed a banner. So I instituted a small contest to ensure the best possible banner was selected. I could not have hoped for more out of our knights and apprentices. However, one knight’s entry stuck out the most to me. Aelius’s entry stuck out to me not only because it “pwn’s nOObs in teh face” but because of the many iterations, and time he took to come to the finished product. His time and effort to meet the needs (notice I didn’t say wants) of the group is indicative of leadership and the SSG.

In the end, it is apparent that a leader does not always have to be the guy in charge. You can be a guy within a group that takes it upon himself to get things done. You can be that individual that never fails to set the example for his peers. You can be the one that always works tirelessly to ensure that our group is the best it can be. All those things are qualities of leadership, all are qualities of Knighthood.

Sword & Shield Gaming had the great pleasure of being on the podcast/radio show: BulletProof Radio on Tuesday August 23rd, 2011.

The hosts were fantastic, Bob Lohblaw, Option Disabled, and SteelValor ran the show very smooth and organized.  SSG was represented by SSG Jayman, SSG Cazaril (Viktim Viktor), and SSG IrishGirl.

SSG Theo: Hello IrishGirl! Welcome to SSG Speaks!
SSG IrishGirl: Hey, Theo!
SSG Theo: How long have you been in SSG?
SSG IrishGirl: Well, I first applied to SSG back in October of 2010. After a few weeks of apprenticeship I was inducted as a Knight in December of 2010. My husband, Grant, actually applied a couple weeks before I had but the Overlords decided to delay his membership until I was ready to be inducted. Kind of funny, but I understand why they made that choice.
SSG Theo: Ah yes SSG IamGrant. We are coming on to September 2011 soon which means that is a 11 month mark for you being involved with SSG. How has SSG changed your gaming experience thus far?
SSG IrishGirl: It has changed my experiences as gamer tremendously. Before joining SSG I had lost hope for finding suitable people to play with online. Most of the gamers I came across were rather crude and had very unpleasant things to say, especially concerning the fact that I am a girl gamer. After a while I just learned to mute everyone on Xbox Live because the constant barade of comments started getting to me. Luckily, Grant found SSG and this community has changed my perspective of online gaming completely.
SSG Theo: That actually draws upon a question that Jayman brought up to me. As you said it still draws comments being a female gamer I mean you are the first female that has been on SSG Speaks. I just want to clarify to make sure the question is answered. Is it better or worse being in a gaming community? Keeping in mind even in SSG we are mostly male.
SSG IrishGirl: Definitely better. This may be in part due to the fact that I do not game with as many “randumbs” as I did before, but I have noticed that a lot less people are so quick to spew dirty comments when you are rolling with a full party. There was a time when we had a full party of 8 rolling into BTB on Halo: Reach one night and somebody made a comment to me. It was like having a bunch of big brothers right there by my side because every one of the SSG guys came running to my defense, quickly putting the guy in his place. It was really nice and it certainly made me glad to have met a group of gamers who treat you like family.
SSG Theo: now, we do know SSG IrishGirl well. Who we don’t know is Marleighna Claunch. Can you tell us more about the girl behind the Gamertag?

SSG IrishGirl: Haha, I always find these questions hard. It’s like someone is asking you to wrap up your entire biography into one paragraph, but here it goes! I am currently a college student, earning a degree in Graphic Design & Multimedia in online college. This was not my first degree choice though. When I was 17 I moved from Maine to Springfield, Missouri to go to Baptist Bible College, earning my degree in Intercultural Studies at the time. About 2 years into my college experience at BBC I realized that I was pursuing a degree that I just wasn’t interested in. I had always been interested in art, but I never really thought I could pursue any kind of career in art or design. After thinking about it for a while I decided to make the change and switch to Graphic Design, and I am completely glad that I did. That being said, I do not regret my time at BBC because I met my amazing husband Grant there.

Since then, I spend most of my time either doing homework online or designing things on my computer. Aside from that, my interests include reading, playing games (video and board), music, cooking, tennis, and outdoor activities like camping, four-wheeling, snowmobiling and more. I am pretty diverse in my interests. Lol. Oh, and paintball.
SSG Theo: You just got a internship somewhere amI right?

SSG IrishGirl: Yes, I see you have been doing your homework. I saw an ad for a graphic design internship for a graphic design firm and the internship was described as having potential to lead to a full time position on their design staff. The internship is actually in St. Charles, Missouri, which is about 3 hours from where we live right now, but I decided to take a risk and apply anyways. The lead designer/owner took a look at my portfolio and decided to have a phone interview with me and two days later asked me to work as a graphic design intern starting Monday, August 22. Because we are 3 hours away, we worked it out so that I can do all of my work online until Grant and I move to the St. Louis area at the end of October. This is probably the biggest break I have had as a designer and I am completely ecstatic about this opportunity right now.

SSG Theo: Can you release to us the place that hired you?

 SSG IrishGirl: I hope so, lol. It is a small design firm called “FreeMan Marketing.” They have a great deal of business in the St. Louis area so this should open up a few doors for me!

SSG Theo: Well rest assured that I am positive all of SSG is happy for you! We have reached a point in the interview that some people fear. It’s the random question time. I will use Toma’s question first. SSG TomaZero askes, “How do you pronounce your name?”

SSG IrishGirl: Lol, I was not expecting that as one of my random questions…It is pronounced Mar-lee-na. The part that trips people up is “leigh” but it actually comes from the British form of spelling the name Lee. My mom was very kind in giving me the name Marleighna. It is funny to watch people try to pronounce it when they read it off of something. Lol

SSG Theo: Dal would like to know, “what tastes better on toast glue or oil paint?”

SSG IrishGirl: Only Dal would ask such a question…In my experience, oil paint tastes much better. You really get the earthiness of the minerals used in the paint which compliments the toast quite well. Glue however, leaves you smacking your gums for hours on end, which is not appealing at all.

SSG Theo: We got two more here. This is from Dragoon, how long you can hold your breathe?

SSG IrishGirl: Hold up, let me count…1..2..3oihd[fougbadm f[iygfdsfdfgdusgiuahdbsougdiyagdiyfgdfgodsilagfpi8eptgfuihdguifg7e9p7aufeugyf97g

Well, I reached 3 minutes before Grant ran over and gave me mouth to mouth. Sorry, my head hit the keyboard when I passed out.
SSG Theo: haha nice. Ghost Rider would like to know, “If you had a genie and he gave you one wish. What would you wish for?”

SSG IrishGirl: Well, as shallow as this sounds, I would probably ask for a couple million dollars. Not so much that I am filthy rich and spoiled for the rest of my life, but enough to get settled somewhere so that I don’t have to worry about bills for the rest of my life. That would allolw me to pay off student loans, buy a wicked awesome house, and build a sweet “man” cave that rivals Jayman’s. Lol
SSG Theo: A very worthy cause defeating Jayman in the “Man Cave” making. Thank you for your time Irish.
SSG IrishGirl: It has been…interesting. See you around!

SSG Theo: This has been SSG Speaks with IrishGirl! See you next time.