MAG birthday celebrations net players extra experience points

by Griffin McElroy on Jan 25th 2011 11:00PM

Oh, MAG. You're such a sweetheart! It's your first birthday, and while customarily that means that we should be showering you with thoughtful presents and too-expensive, flowery-worded cards, you're the one who's giving gifts to us! For instance, you're increasing the game's "Happy Hour" experience bonus (a boosted XP rate the player has during his or her first hour of play each day) to 256 percent from January 26 through January 30? Oh, you shouldn't have!

Other promotions planned for the massive shooter's first anniversary include a temporary switch to "Faction Neutral" maps for the Domination and Acquisition game modes (available for the same time period listed above), as well as a chance to play against the Zipper QA team on the morning of January 26. Actually, they're probably very, very good at the game. We're not sure that being repeatedly decimated by MAG professionals is a very good present, now that we think about it.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Tags: MAG, playstation, ps3, Sony-Computer-Entertainment, Zipper-Interactive

Reader Comments (46)

I could not get into this game at all and traded it in 2 weeks after launch. No one communicated like they did in the beta but with some of the recent changes I would love to try it again....Too bad my PS3 bluray drive is broken

@KingOfGods Good thing for you that you can get it as a downloadable through PSN. No more need for the Bluray drive. :-)

@ilduce620
Isnt it $30 on PSN? i bought it at gamestop during a sale for $5 in November I believe.

@mywhitenoise

Yeah :/
And you can get it on Amazon new for $20.
I like the convenience of not having to mess around with discs, but it sucks they make you pay a premium for it.

Not trying to sound like a douche, but people still play this game? :/

Most people don't try to sound like douches ... They just do

Yeah people are still playing it you clowns.
It's such a completely better multiplayer experience than say Black Ops, which is plagued with screeching 12 years old who play 14 hours a day and can kill you where you spawn from 2 map away just by looking at you.

They've revamped the skill system, greatly improving it, if you ask me, although some of the level requirements are a little ridiculous.

@Dizazter

You forgot IN MY OPINION in your post there.
Some players deteste MAG. Me for one.

I even rebought it for the MOVE update, and the same problems occur. The game is/was a good idea, but it failed to engross most players.

'In My Opinion'.

@DigitalFortress

I thought it was pretty CLEAR and OBVIOUS that I was stating an opinion.
What else would I be stating?

@Dizazter

What else would you be doing? Trying to look big on a forum.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

[b]FAIL[/b]

@Dizazter

Thank you for saying that. I really hate when someone goes "IN MY OPINION" because like you said, why the hell else would you be saying it?

@Dizazter MAG is much better than Black Ops if you have the mindset to play something that requires tactics and not just run n' gun.

@The angry pro consumer gaming ga

Thanks guys, I appreciate you chiming in.
Seriously people check out MAG, at least give it a solid week.

@Dizazter

Ooh look, you have buddies.
Don't ya feel BIG now?

Clever you. Take a sweetie from the jar!
You boob :)

@DigitalFortress I think you need 2 things. A hug, and a new hobby.

@DigitalFortress

Yeah, but why umad tho?

@Haizeus
He seems to be dabbling in some dangerous trolldom.
Hopefully the process is reversible.
Don't feed the troll! (although I probably just did)

@Dizazter

In black op's defence the barebones playlists remove all the crap that's unbalanced such as killstreaks, attachments, perks etc and is much better than MW2, although you do have to question what advantage such a mode holds over its competitors.

@MrAlex

Hmm I'll check that out. Maybe I'm too harsh on Black Ops multi, I have had some really fun games, but I've gotten extremely frustrated with how fast you can die in that game. And 80% of the games I join are an absolute one sided slaughter.

And I've been bouncing between Blops and MAG, comparing the two and MAG seems to be better in all the ways that I don't like Blops. But honestly they're different styles of gameplay. One is team/squad/army based tactical objective shooter, and the other is a frantic twitch reaction run and gun, which rewards reaction time and camping over teamwork - basically Quake with contemporary weaponry.

One thing I didn't mention, cause we were only comparing multiplayer versus modes, is the zombie mode on Blops - that is a ton of fun. They honestly need to expand on that a lot more, have perks, larger teams, larger maps, etc. Honestly its the best part of Blops. Holing up in some bombed out building with buddies gunning down endless waves of zombies, with no hope of escape, just trying to survive as long as ya can. Great times.

@sicsided

well, sometimes jackasses believe that what they're saying is fact. for example, try going into the Reach forums and telling all the armor lock whiners that it's just a matter of opinion.

@Dizazter

It's fun. I just wish I was retired so I could have all the time in the world to play black ops, bfbc2, MAG, Uncharted 2, MGO, etc all on the same day. Oh such sweetness that would be.

@kentuckyfried

Yeah I'm with ya KFC. Problem is, at this rate, we probably won't be able to retire till we're 90.

2.0 made the game hell of a lot better.

@(Unverified)

Really? I haven't played the update yet, but I did play the beta, and I thought that the new ways to upgrade/customize your person and purchase weapons was neat, but it sucked...

I've not played in a bit, has this game been ruined by hackers like MW?

@The Aquacharger Not that I've seen. I don't play religiously, but I'm in at least once a week and I don't have those kinds of problems.

@ilduce620
then I'll go back to playing it now. I was fearful of hackers ruining MAG.

@The Aquacharger It's possible they're in there and I'm just too dumb to notice. I'll typically hop in for an hour to get the regular 100% XP Happy Hour bonus, and I can rack up plenty of XP with relatively few kills compared to my team mates (I typically just heal people up with med kits...).

If there is cheating going on, maybe it's harder to notice because the maps are so huge and there are so many more players on? As in, on a small CoD map, you're more likely to get spawn killed and killstreaked to death, but a large MAG map, it's harder to notice?

Either way, Raven forces keep knifing my poor SVER ass...bastards... :-P

Oh wow, the happy hour boost and mutliqueing everything for that added bonus is super sweet! My happy hour is coming up pretty soon, time to get some bonus on top of bonus xp!

Thinkin back I remember how much I enjoyed this game... not sure why I haven't played it in so long (besides lots of new games), but I think it's a good time to go back.

This game is pretty interesting and definitely worth trying for fans of online shooters. It does a lot of things right, such as high player count and interesting bonuses with the structures and use of leadership perks, but does a number of other things wrong, like lack of destroyable cover (bulletproof crates.... ugh), lack of weapon variety, and long queues for larger game modes.

Long Ques has been cut down due to Multi-que which has it's perks to use like added EXP.

MAG is one of the more amazing Online Shooters due to the fact you cant really run and gun without being cut down by the enemy. Take's actual thinking and some tactics. While yea not a lot of people communicate cause apparently we got some pretty stupid people who play MAG but don't have a mic.... If you can get together make some new friends WITH mic's and play with them it's loads of fun. See you'll all on the battlefield killing you as i roll with S.V.E.R :)

@SquallRinoa89

I wondered how well the multi-queuing was going to work. I traded out the game right before they revealed it.

Some people just hate using mics while they play. I don't have one on PS3 and I never use the one I own on 360. There are far too many gamers that just aren't worth talking to. Besides, if extra experience for going to a FRAGO isn't enough incentive to work as a team, me asking them nicely isn't going to make a difference either.

@Mr Esc is the namesarcasm is my
MAG with the move is pretty awesome! It takes awhile to get used to but it works great....and this is only for playing with the move for about a couple of hours.

Oh and i played it without the nav control so i bet the experience would be better with it.

@Mr Esc is the namesarcasm is my

I think MAG is fun w/ Move. It of course adds a new way to play the game. At first, it's hard but you get use to it. Move really adds a lot of precision. Every now and then when I play MAG, I use Move. I can't wait to more shooters and adventure games support it.

Killzone 3 in 1 more month!!!

Ah i love MAG! Its fantastic, ive been playing it when my cousin brings it over.

RAVEN baby!!!! though my kd is atrocious (freaking call of duty games making me care about my kd)

oh and anybody have any tips on beating SEVR on their acquisition map???

@psnkillstrike
You're going to need teamwork regardless of which faction you play with. As for taking down SVER in Acquisition, either ignore the bunkers and sneak past them or take out the side bunkers first. Having people with RPGs is a good thing so get them to pound the bunker turrets and then rush in with everyone. Then again, that's basically the standard strategy against most factions.

@psnkillstrike
Sweep from the right or left, take down one or two bunkers and then go for the AAA then mortar, then take your vehicle.
Not easy unless you have teamwork.
SVER has some of the easiest maps to defend. There has been a lot of bitching about that, hence the faction neutral trial period.

@psnkillstrike

Yeah I'm a Ravenite (Ravener? Ravenist? Ravenian?) too.
Me and many of the other Raven people I play with feel like the Raven weapons are underpowered. It seems in a 1 on 1 situation - a Raven and non-Raven soldier spray bullets in each other's faces at the exact same time, the Raven person dies first 9/10 times. It kinda forces you not to go it alone, but it makes all my supped up armor and advanced weapons seem pointless.

But still it usually comes down to teamwork. A disorganized team will always lose to an organized or even semi-organized team, regardless of faction.

256 players is the most intense you can get in a shooter. I don't care how popular COD is. COD Its nothing and overrated compared to the amount of action you get out of MAG.

@fusionspill

Agreed, COD multiplayer is a nightmare. No tactics, just twitch millisecond reaction kills. Just run and gun, and camp. 1 guy can run in and take out 7 enemies before they can respond, if they have their backs to him, because it takes sooo long to turn around, and you're dead after 1 or 2 bullets. They need to power down the weapons, create some sort of safe area spawn points.

I don't think anyone will be playing COD multiplayer 6 months from now.

@fusionspill

it's a matter of opinion. 256 players may be crazy and fun, but one person can't really make a difference for the team. that's part of why Halo, CoD, Crysis 2, and others stick with lower team sizes.

Valor FTW!!!

That is all.

That's a lot of extra XP. I'll definitely jump in on this.

I really need to pick this up.

I played for an hour this morning and went from level 25 to level 29. It was glorious!

MAG

MAG birthday celebrations net players extra experience points

Reader Comments (46)

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:14PM KingOfGods said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:29PM ilduce620 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:10AM mywhitenoise said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 1:19PM Dizazter said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:14PM trickybuz93 said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:53PM KinseySS said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:17PM Dizazter said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:23PM DigitalFortress said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:33PM Dizazter said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:35PM DigitalFortress said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:43PM sicsided said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:44PM The angry pro consumer gaming ga said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 12:13AM Dizazter said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 12:26AM DigitalFortress said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 12:39AM Cavall said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 5:10AM Haizeus said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:12AM Dizazter said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 1:13PM MrAlex said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 1:28PM Dizazter said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 6:22PM maveric101 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 8:52PM kentuckyfried said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:48PM Dizazter said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:23PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:31PM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:28PM The Aquacharger said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:30PM ilduce620 said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 11:48PM The Aquacharger said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 8:45AM ilduce620 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 12:38AM Youthinized said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 1:24AM SteveoftheGods said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 1:26AM SisypheanLife said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 2:02AM SquallRinoa89 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 7:27AM SisypheanLife said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 2:09AM psnkillstrike said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 2:10AM MLC said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 2:12AM psnkillstrike said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 3:29AM mahouneko said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 3:57AM glamajamma said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:18AM Dizazter said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:43AM fusionspill said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:22AM Dizazter said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 6:20PM maveric101 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:42AM TruckerSean said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 12:47PM Ospov said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 1:59PM xGeneral DEATHxDEETH82 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 5:02PM TruckerSean said

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