http://www.fourzerotwo.com will always host the most current content.

Zombie Stormtrooper….. ZOMBIE STORMTROOPER!! That was the headline of an email I just got from Entertainment Earth (@) (.com) – one of my favorite toy / collectible sites. In reality, it’s a Death Trooper from the Star Wars: Death Trooper graphic novel, which btw you can get for FREE when you buy that beautiful undead piece of art right up there. It doesn’t ship until November, but when there are only 2,500 pieces being made, your best bet is to pre-order now. I know I did…. because honestly, what desk couldn’t use a Zombie Stromtrooper on top of it?! None. The answer is none. EVERY desk needs a Zombie Stormtrooper on top of it.

http://fzt.me/deathtrooper (Star Wars: Death Trooper Bust)

Vagrant Records is Awesome. If you’re not familiar with them, you should be, because they have been home to some of my all-time favorite bands and continue to pump out quality releases year after year since 1996. Today, they do something else awesome by teaming up to give YOU a chance to win some of that aforementioned quality tunes in addition to win the new Resurgence Package DLC for Modern Warfare 2. Interested? Full details on the prize pack and contest rules here: http://fzt.me/8XsaZl

Now for me, I have a long history with Vagrant. Like I said, they’re one of my favorite record labels. A love affair that started when I picked up the their Another Year on the Streets compliation featuring Alkaline Trio, The Get Up Kids, No Motive, Face2Face, and others. At the time, Compilations were the cheapest way to discover new music, especially the Vagrant and Fat Wreck comps where you could typically get 20 songs from 20 different bands for under $5! Buying a full-album was rare for me back then, considering $5 was already pushing my teenage budget. So I learned to love a band one song at a time. If I bought multiple compilations and loved multiple songs from the same band, then I’d look towards saving up for that specific bands album. It was a great time full of great music and for that I say – Thanks Vagrant!

Good bye Double XP weekend…..

HELLO! Double XP week!

We just flipped the switch to disable Double XP for PS3 and PC, but since the Resurgence Package - containing 5 new locations for Modern Warfare 2′s multiplayer – will be hitting Xbox Live on June 3rd (THIS THURSDAY!), we figured we’d keep the 2x rank up goodness happening all the way through next weekend! So if you’re on XboxLive, continue enjoying that double XP all the way up till Monday, June 7th in celebration of the new downloadable content hitting.

To follow up to the minute updates and details on the launch of the DLC – including playlist updates, be sure to follow @fourzerotwo on Twitter.

Check out the preview of the new maps here:

Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Package – Official HD [YouTube]

A while back, shortly after the launch of Modern Warfare 2, Activision started a foundation called C.O.D.E. – Call of Duty Endowment – that was dedicated to helping organizations that focus on veterans and their families. They’ve been doing a lot of awesome things since then, and this Memorial Day Weekend they’ll be harnessing the power of social media by encouraging people to ‘Like’ the Call of Duty Endowment Facebook Page. For every “like” they receive from now until the end of Memorial weekend will equal $1 added to a donation for Hire Heroes USA, an organization dedicated to helping unemployed veterans find work.

It’s a great cause, and better yet, a great initiative that allows ANYONE the ability to participate and show their support to veterans.

If you want to help all you have to do is click the link below, which leads to the Facebook page I mentioned, and click that glorious ole’ ‘LIKE’ button towards the top.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Call-Of-Duty-Endowment/199346440490?v=app_2347471856&ref=ts

See that guy up there? Yeah, that light denim wearin brazen lazer dodging…. painter? Alright, I don’t know why theres a painter’s ladder, but that’s irrelevant!

The point is, that’s me. Not me today, today I’m older (of course), a bit wiser (debatable), and less bowl-cutty (definitely) - albeit no less geeky than my 8 yr old self.

Being that today is Geek Pride Day (or so the Twitter’s tell me), I was interested to hear how many of you consider yourself a geek & what kind (comic, games, tech, gadgets), and to take a moment to appreciate the fact that you are one.

It’s a trait in myself that I’m most proud of, and something I hope to teach to my daughter to embrace in herself.

So to all of you that unabashedly geek out on your favorite game, movie, comic, WHATEVER and walk around with that undeniable geek confidence in knowing what you like, why you like it, and who gives a shit if others agree. I salute you good people!

Especially in a day and age like this where it seems so much more popular (and definitely easier) to be cynical and negative. Take pride in the fact that geeks can typically find the positive in anything, and champion it like no other.

Now excuse me while I continue to geek out over Red Dead Redemption…

The Resurgence Package is the second wave of downloadable content for Modern Warfare 2, including 5 additional locations for Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer, and scheduled to hit Xbox Live first on June 3rd. Check out the interview I did recently with Larry ‘ Major Nelson’ Hyrb regarding the new maps!

Interview with Robert Bowling about the Resurgence Package DLC for Modern Warfare 2 – Majornelson.com

We’ve some promotions planned for the launch of the new maps as well, including some good ole’ double XP. I’ll be sure to tweet / post details on those once we get closer. In the meantime, be sure to click the gallery link below for the first screenshots for the new Resurgence Package maps!

MW2 Resurgence Package Screenshots Gallery – Kotaku.com

I recently sat down with Dan “Shoe” Hsu (.com) (@) to answer 21 Random Q’s for BITMOB. Check it out in full via the link.

http://bitmob.com/articles/21-random-qs-getting-to-knowrobert-bowling-modern-warfare-2

If you’re an Xbox Live player on Modern Warfare 2, there are some big updates hitting tomorrow (March 30th) in the early morning. Included in those are:

The Stimulus Package (Downloadable Content)

The first dlc for Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer hits exclusively first on Xbox Live. It’ll be coming to other platforms at a later date as well, but tomorrow morning you’ll be able to download the 5 new maps including Bailout (seen above), Salvage, Storm, and my favorite classic maps Crash and Overgrown.

Double XP

Originally planned to do it this weekend, but we’ve decided to throw the Double XP switch early when the new maps hit. So jump online with the new DLC and rank up with double XP, NOW IN ALL PLAYLISTS!

Ranger maps added to HCHQ

We’re adding a few maps to the Hardcore Headquarters Pro playlist on Xbox Live, allowing you now play all the Ranger maps in this gametype, something I know a lot of users have been asking for! These maps include Highrise, Invasion, Skidrow, and Terminal.

Title Update

Along side the DLC, but something ALL of our users will get, is a title update for Modern Warfare 2. Included in this update is support for the DLC (if you choose to purchase it), as well as some tweaks to the One Man Army perk, some matchmaking updates that will help our international users find more locally hosted games thanks to how ping is now sorted, and various other code updates that will help improve the overall quality of multiplayer on Modern Warfare 2.

There is no exact time you can expect all this, I’d say early morning when traffic is at its lowest, but by the time you wake up and get online I’m sure it will be available to most of you on March 30th! See you online all this week!

This past week was spent underway with the USS John C Stennis CVN 74 – a Nimitz class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The experience was once in a lifetime. Some of the most profound memories were stepping out onto the flight deck for the first time, standing on the bridge with the CO & XO as we got underway from the San Diego Air Naval Station on North Island, watching PT boats armed with .50 cal weapons block the ship from civilian vessels that got within a close range, a .50 cal live fire exercise at night once we hit international waters, and of course the flight ops the next morning when we caught 6 fighter jets and 2 C-2 CODs. The entire experience was amazing and the generosity of the crew and especially the XO was fantastic. These guys do one hell of a job, and getting to learn it first hand, hear their experiences, and simply stand by and watch them in action was awe-inspiring. Below I’ve uploaded 300+ photos from the experience. Enjoy!

Full album: http://bit.ly/9SWpr3