Get to Know 'Em: Round 2 (Squatting Bear)

I emailed Squatting Bear a few questions that were on my mind. Here are the responses.


What is your favorite map out of the Heroic DLC Map Pack?
I like Rat's Nest the most, though to be honest I'm unimpressed by them all, especially Foundry. Creating a 'forgeable map' seems like a lazy cop-out to me.

What map from Halo 1 or Halo 2 do you hope will be remade in the future Map Pack?
Damnation. Daymonster has mentioned it before I believe, and I agree, Damnation has a solid mix of close range and long range battles that I feel would be well suited for Halo 3.

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being horrible) how would you rate the Santana/Mets trade?
I think the trade was a 6 or 7. I'm really disappointed we didn't take earlier offers from the Yankees or Red Sox, though I am glad we traded Santana before we lost him to free agency after this season. The trade isn't as bad as I originally thought, Baseball America ranks the prospects we got from the Mets as the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th rated prospects in their organization. Hopefully 1 or 2 of them will pan out.

Predict the 2008 AL Central standings:
Tigers, Indians, Twins, White Sox, Royals. I don't think the Twins have much hope for 2008, though 2009 and 2010 look good.

Lost Question: Jack or Sawyer?
Probably Jack, though he can get annoying at times. Really looking forward to the season premiere tonight.

Please explain why you think Call of Duty 4 is better than Halo 3:
It's hard to say exactly why, I just find it to be more fun. Upgrading and customizing your soldier is really fun, and killing opponents is more satisfying than in Halo. Also, its nice to start with good weapons, its not such a whore-fest, and reminds me of Halo 1 where you are ready to battle as soon as you spawn.

Should the other Knights of Cydonia start playing COD4?
I'd like to see us try it out. I think it could be really fun, as each person would need to specialize in certain aspects and customizations. It would be a different change of pace to each have our own roles and responsibilities.

What's your favorite weapon in COD4?
Right now I prefer the m16, as I unlock more I could possibly see that changing.

What about a favorite map?
Don't have one, I've only played each a few times and don't really know my way around them yet. [Editor's note: can we agree the ship map sucks?]

What is your current favorite perk?
Stopping power. It kills dudes faster, which is always a plus.

The greatest invention since video games.

- Domino's now has a tracking feature for their pizzas. It's accurate to every 30/40 seconds.

- First Call of Duty 4 beat Halo on Xbox Live, now COD4 is beating Halo where it really hurts, the cash register. COD4 is now the best selling game of 2007, beating out Halo 3 (which had the hype) and Bioshock and Super Mario Galaxy (which got all the accolades). Read the BBC blog, which does a great job explaining it.

- Check out this Call of Duty 4 video about the perks. It's pretty sweet.

- Want to know how terrible I am at Halo 3? Check out my stats page. Melee, AR, Shotty, Rockets and Grenades all beat the BR for kills. I am the definition of a Noob.

- Lost is on tonight. If you didn't get a chance last night check out last season's "enhanced" finale so you know what's going on tonight.

- Not sure what this is.

- Check out this picture tribute to #57 who is no longer with us.

Anyway that's all I got for today.

Wednesday's Untitled Post

So as many of you know, there is a new round of interviews that just started. This is very exciting for me because it usually means its a long post that I don't have to write. I am working on some questions for Squatting Bear right now, so email me any questions you want to ask him.

As for the mix up with the Dammer pic below, let me explain. I said to SB, "what should I do for Dammers pic on the new interview?"

SB: "Put him with an ice pick."

TD: "Why?"

SB: "Because LocoPollo and I put fruit in his room to try to make it stink and he came after me with an ice pick."

TD: "Jesus, why the fuck did you have an ice pick?"

SB: "To scrape up the fruit."

I though this response was somewhat weird, I mean you could use an ice pick to get the stuff out of the cracks I guess, but it didn't answer the question of why did you had an ice pick in your dorm to begin with. But I decided not to continue this conversation anymore and just make the picture.

And when Dammer was confused, I was really confused and decided to let them just sort it out. But now it makes perfect sense, and I no longer think Dammer is messed up and ACTUALLY wanted to kill SB. But he might have.

Last Night:
Last night might have been some of the best video gaming I have had since college. First SB and I played some good COD4 and have since pretty much fallen in love with it. Then SB had to go to a movie with Rose Bear, so I changed discs to Halo 3 with Tilla, Adeclipse, and two of Adeclipses friends (Dajuicee and MyBigDumbFace). We played 12 games and in those 12 games we had a record of 11 wins and 1 loss.

It was a fun time and here are a couple of memorable games.

Team BRs on Valhalla.
This game was memorable because I decided to not shoot at anyone the entire game. I had zero kills and 16 assists, 15 of them were wheelman. The other assist I think I bumped into an enemy while trying to splatter him. We won pretty easily and I only got lasered 4 or 5 times.

Team BRs on The Pit.
During this game I was on the phone and trying to have a conversation without getting owned too badly. My best tool of destruction was my grenades on this mad as I tried to hang back and huck them at people while my head was titled 90 degrees holding on to the phone. But the real story here is Adeclipse. He had 14 kills 7 assists and 0 deaths. We won pretty handily 50-22.

Team BRs on Last Resort.
This is just another ass kicking that Adeclipse had. This time he had only 1 death. I also did alright. But I think if we had the formula done, he would have a better rating.

Get to Know 'Em: Round 2 (DammerWillEatU)

After a few month hiatus we have grown apart. What better way to get to know the other members of our storied clan but to interview them with dumb and often pointless questions. Our first interviewee of the second round of interviews is DammerWillEatU. Let's see what he has to say.


Dammer it's good to have you here. How have you been?
I'm good Daymonster. It's great to be here and thanks for having me.

What is your favorite new map from the Heroic DLC?
Rats Nest, even though I haven't played it a whole lot compared to the other two, never seems to completely come together for me. I always feel like stuff is happening elsewhere, and by the time I get to the battle-site it's already over. Foundry is the exact opposite. While I don't do poorly on the map, I can't have fun. It always seems like I'm taking grenade shrapnel and I never feel safe. This leaves Standoff, which I like the most of the three. The biggest reason is that every time I play on the map it's a good time. There is enough BR to go around, and if you can team up in a warthog as I often try to do you can really decimate the other team....assuming you aren't playing people that actually know how to get you out of a warthog using grenades, guns, melees etc. and your gunner doesn't blow goats for quarters.

If you had to live in a Halo map (any not just Halo 3) which map would it be and why?
First off I'm an outdoorsy type of guy, and while I would love to say a Halo 1 map is where I want to live, the one with the most textured terrain and realistic sound was Sidewinder and I refuse to live in those conditions...(so why do I live in Minnesota then?). Battle Creek was a close second for detail, and would be a great place to host capture the flag paintball matches, it still feels like you're inside a box since it's so small with high cliff walls. Some of the city-scapes from Halo 2 (Headlong, Turf, Terminal) are slightly appealing, mainly Terminal and Headlong, but the urban environment just isn't my style. The blend of building and nature is what I'm going for, and also a sense of openness.
So I would have to say I would want to live at High Ground. There are trees and rocks, but also buildings with rooms. It has a huge missile launcher in the back to keep my enemies at bay, and a computer terminal so I can keep up with the blog. More importantly though it is directly accessible to a vast ocean, giving the openness I'm desiring. It also has great ambient sound, which I can't do without. For those of you wondering, Sanctuary from Halo 2 is my second choice. Third place goes to Halo 3's Guardian. If you make that place bigger with more to look at in the distance than fog then it jumps up one, maybe two places.

If you could change one thing about Halo 3 what would it be?
I actually have two things of equal annoyance. I don't like how long it takes between your shots with the Human sniper. So often I can't get my second shot off before they duck in cover. It isn't like the mechanics of the gun can't fire that fast, and my finger is definitely pulling the trigger. I also don't like the Carbine's lack of accuracy over distance. This is supposed to be on par with the BR, but when I shoot at some one's head from a medium distance with the damn thing I can see the shots encircling the head with only one hitting per like 4 or 5. That's not cool, especially when you can see their shield sparking.

What is your favorite thing to do to pass the time during work hours (KofC blog excluded, of course)?
I like to go to the Dilbert archive and read comics from the past week. I find that they are much more hilarious now that I work in a cube as a software programmer just like the title character. I also spend a lot of time browsing ESPN's Page 2. I know I'm not the first to say this, but for the love of god could they PLEASE fire Jemele Hill. Page 2 is for funny stories, not horrible ones.

If you could have any job in the world what would it be?I think it'd be cool to be a video game creative designer/producer. I don't wanna be the person that codes the graphics, textures, or animation because I don't have art background, game design background, and I wasn't a physics major. I wanna be the guy that has cool ideas, tests the game and says "know what makes me mad, that I can't climb to the top of this because of an invisible wall". This may sound crazy, but sometimes I dream in video game, where I'm a character accomplishing certain tasks, or fighting an onslaught of foes, or using sweet equipment that's never been thought of before (perhaps a 360 degree rotational gyroscope defense turret that fires blasts of molten lava?). I wake up and think "now that'd be a sweet game".

In 3 months who will be fatter you or The Daymonster? (Current Daymonster specs: 5'9" 215lbs)
Daymonster for sure. I'm currently 6' 0'' 198lbs and I joined the Fitness Center at work last week and I've already gone twice. I will be hitting up the elliptical many times throughout the winter and then as soon as spring hits and the weather gets warmer I'll be hitting the roads. I may volunteer with the local track team as well so that I have people to run with, but I'm pretty lazy so we'll see if that happens or not. [Editor's Note: Challenge?]

What would you do with a million dollars? Pay off my student loans, buy a new computer, buy a new car, buy a nice house, buy fishing supplies including a fishing boat, buy Charter Communications and immediately burn the company down (they can't be worth more than 200 grand can they?), let my parents renovate their house, give a lot to my brothers to pay for most of their college.

Why won't you let us meet your new girl friend. Is she ugly? She is very cute and not the least bit ugly. She actually just met my parents this last weekend. She also works at least one day of each weekend at the chocolate factory and makes it really hard for me to show her to friends. I'll keep trying though.

Find something on the interwebs you want SB to buy:
This.

Since you have a pirate as your emblem here is a question for you: You have five pirates, ranked from 5 to 1 in descending order. The top pirate has the right to propose how 100 gold coins should be divided among them. But the others get to vote on his plan, and if fewer than half agree with him, he gets killed. How should he allocate the gold in order to maximize his share but live to enjoy it?
35, 20, 17, 15, 13. Of course what this isn't taking into account is pirate nature. If rank 5 knew he'd be killed if they voted against him he'd kill them first. Since the gold is probably in his possession anyway he could take the money and run. Of course, 100 gold coins is hardly a pirates booty worth fighting over. You can keep that amount is a small leather pouch. What's to say the other's even know of its existence? The last thing to think about is that he's probably safe the way it is regardless of what he does. The small man on the totem poll has the most say in the long run. If #4 doesn't like what he's getting he can vote no. Since it makes sense for the #1 to always vote no, that leaves #2 or #3 to join in at which point #5 is killed and it defaults to #4 deciding the breakdown. Repeat the process and you'll see that the others are almost hamstrung into voting yes lest they risk becoming the leader and immediately getting voted down and killed.

Since you know Tilla and he is getting married her is ANOTHER question for you: Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife.Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?
The women kill the Queen for stating the obvious. If she knows, then they all know, and since she announced it she was probably the woman who the man slept with. If it was only one husband that was unfaithful then the wife wouldn't know it, the announcement would be new news, and she'd kill her husband. If it was more than one husband they could all just sit down and chart out the time of day at which they received their ESP message about a cheating husband. If you didn't get the memo at the time you should have then you can kill your husband. The women then have a huge lesbian orgy, videotape it, put it on pornTube for Josey to download and recommend to other porn aficionados, not excluding Rose Bear. Unky Warthog alas cannot view it because of its far too explicit content.

That's it. Please comment on how wrong he got the last couple answers and anything else you want to know about the elusive "super hot girl that works at a chocolate factory."

Interview, Podcast, Contest, Documentary

EGM Interview
Brian Jarrard and Tyson Green of Bungie speak to the EGM in a very long Q & A session about Halo 3. They reveal some interesting things about the game and it's definitely a good one to print out for the trips to the bathroom at work.

Podcast
I finally got a chance to listen to the Bungie podcast this morning and it was pretty entertaining. But the most entertaining part was when they were talking about the final days/weeks of the making of Halo 1. And how they almost cut the LAN capabilities because it was giving them problems. They thought that the amount of people that would have hubs, network cables and/or crossover cables would be so small that no one would ever really play it. Oh, how our lives would be different.

Another interesting thing was how they talked about whether the power of the pistol was a late change or if it was an accident that slipped past the final testers. No one would fess up to it but Harold Ryan says in a prophetic voice "The pistol will make a comeback" not sure what that means and no one seems to explain it in the podcast. But maybe, just maybe something will change in the next update. At this point though, no matter what they change people with complain.

Play and Win Contest
Xbox Live is offering a contest called "Play and Win" for Halo 3. You could win a limited print, from the cover art of the Halo 3 Limited Edition manual, or one of 1,250 daily prizes of 800 MS points.

Just register and play Halo 3 online from 2/9/08 to 2/15/08. No matter what your skill level is, you'll be entered to win. Official Rules here.
New Interviews?

We need to get a new member of the KofC so we can have another interview. That or we need to go with a second round of interviews for our current members. I can think of probably 4 or 5 questions that are decent. We could either try and come up with more or have one post where everyone answers 2 or 3 questions. What are your thoughts?

Second Skin Movie
There is a documentary coming out about people that play MMORPGs. Below is the trailer, I was half expecting Jesse Carlson to be in this movie.

Monday Morning Randomness

So on Friday night I went to this bar called "The Store" after we had about 12 pitchers of Sangria at this restaurant down the street. When we got to the bar I immediately noticed one of my favorite things... Arcade Basketball. It was your standard Super Shot machine with moving back board (although the one pictured is a three-across model and the one at the bar was just your standard single shot) and I just so happened to have 18 one dollar bills in my pocket, due to the good people at McDonald's not having any fives or tens.

I first challenged this one girl to a game and I obviously crushed her. As we were planning our rematch a guy and a girl came up and asked us if they could play after us. I told them that we could make a friendly wager and which ever team scored the least amount of combined points had to buy the winning team drinks. The two agreed but not before the guy switched his girlfriend for another guy and we played alternating turns. This continued on for about 6 more teams of two as a large crowd gathered around the Super Shot.

We finally lost to this small guy decked out in New England Pats gear that threw up a impressive 65 pts. Besting my nights best by 6. We were heart broken as I came back from the bar with two bottles of Coors Light (I made it look like a bought them, but I had a few left from the bounty I had already won) I got back in line to take on the team that had now won two in a row. After a good 10 minutes I was back up to challenge the same reigning champs that beat us. Just as I am putting in my dollar in the machine. I hear someone say "AJ is next."

Fuck that, who is AJ? I turn around and it's AJ Pierzynski offering $20 bucks to play the next game of Super Shot. No way am I letting this happen. So I told him that he can wait in line like all of us and that the integrity of the game can't be bought. I used the term duesch-bag somewhere in there but I can't remember exactly when or in what context. He walked away and started talking to some older blond chick at the bar. But not before I got a couple pics of him.

Here is the one from my cell phone. I am not sure why he wouldn't pose for me. It's obviously not very good but you get the idea. I have another from a friends camera but I am waiting for her to email it to me. Update to follow.

Anyways, in other news, I know that the talk on the Formula have stalled a bit as of late and hopefully I will have the finalized formula by the end of the day today to give Dammer. But I also came across a couple things that might help. First off there is a new site called Halo API, supposedly it makes it really easy to get all the statistics from Bungie. Dammer, you might have already got that figured out but if this was easier I thought you should know about it. Using Halo API, this guy made this pretty easy app to get your simple career stats.

As some of you are no doubt aware, LOST starts up again in a few days and I am getting pretty excited. I specifically avoided Thursday night classes because of this show. For those of you who are planning on watching it I recommend reading up on some of the characters for a refresher. Here are some of the pages. Kate Austen, Jin-Soo Kwon, Juliet Burke, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, Claire Littleton, Desmond Hume, Benjamin Linus, Michael Dawson and Sun Kwon.

Nintendo DS should have it's own Guitar Hero game by June. The much rumored video game is expected to be released sometime this summer. Guitar Hero: On Tour (clever) is also rumored to have some sort of peripheral. We'll see if it's sweet and hopefully won't go the way of Halo DS.

Good Luck Unky Warthog!

As many of you know we will be missing the services of our best driver. That's because Unky Warthog has left for Malta, the small island nation in the Mediterranean Sea. The geography of Malta is what the maps Valhalla and Standoff were modeled after and Unky is spending the next semester mastering the terrain in a real world setting.


I think I speak for everyone at the Knights of Cydonia, when I say "Good Luck Unky" and I am sure you will be an even better hog driver when you get back in the summer.

To read more about Malta check out the following links.
Wikipedia Malta
CIA Factbook on Malta
Official Tourism site for Malta
University of Malta

This is also my prediction for the new vehicle on one of the new maps. Unky get ready to own in this guy.

Xbox Takes All My Monies and SeXbox Controversy

- I totally forgot to mention something. One of the two clans we talked about before, the Saved By Grace Clan, played Bungie the other day. Apparently they killed them in regular team slayer and then lost the next two matches in weird game variations. Check out the Bungie story here. We should play Bungie someday.

- After about 6 years, Microsoft has finally turned a profit in it's video game sector. "Primarily due to increased Xbox 360 platform sales" and everyone knows that companies make all their money with the accessories and software. Due to an "increase in Xbox 360 console sales, video game sales led by Halo 3, Xbox Live revenues, and Xbox 360 accessory sales." Normally I wouldn't be thrilled with a giant like Microsoft making money off of me, but I also don't want to see the Xbox series go the way of the Sega Corp.

- What is Bill Gates doing with all my money? Just stopping world hunger.

- I would buy this if I didn't hate the sword.

- Rock Band Guitars and Drums are available for purchase separately in a couple weeks.

- As I alluded to in the comments of yesterdays post, there has been some really interesting stuff going on with Fox News and Electronic Arts. Basically, Fox News did a story about "full digital nudity" in the Mass Effect game. They brought on two "experts" to talk about the game. One was Geoff Keighley from Spike TV, MTV and Video Game Trailers and Cooper Lawrence a radio host and psychiatrist.

Cooper Lawrence goes on to say that the video game is terrible for kids, that studies say that most video games are played by adolescent males. The game is misogynistic because the male decides what to do. And that is features obscene digital sex.

When Geoff gets a chance to talk he shoots down every single on of her claims by explaining the average age of a gamer is in his 30s. Mass Effect can be played as a woman or a man, and the 30 plus hour game has at most 2 seconds of an "alien side boob". But the best part is when he asks her if she had ever played the game and she giggles and says "no."

Also she calls him darling, which I think is ironic. Watch the video clip here.

But after this aired people started going on to Cooper's book page on Amazon and giving it shitty reviews. As of right now there are 9 reviews that give the book 5 out of 5 stars and 412 reviews that give the book 1 out of 5.

Anyways, EA sent a letter to Fox News asking (not demanding) for an apology. As they made several claims that were "absolutely false". I think EA was most upset that they were marketing this game to youths and teenagers. Which to be fair, 17, 18, and 19 year olds are teenagers and can legally buy the game, but I don't think that's what they meant.

Here is a bunch of articles in chronological order but it's getting pretty out of hand. EA wants an apology, and Fox wants someone from EA to come on the show. But if it's anything like the first clip there will be 6 people against the game and one reasonable person for it, who gets 30 seconds to talk. And you wonder why people won't go on Fox.

Links:
http://kotaku.com/347350/keighley-sets-mass-effect-record-straight-or-tries-to
http://kotaku.com/348791/fox-responds-to-ea-invites-onto-news-show
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/01/24/mass-effect-sexbox-controversy
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Random Thoughts on a Thursday

Thoughts of the Day...

- I really want to work at Bungie. They have a day when they get to do all the things I love. Play Wii Bowling, Play Rock Band (in costume), and Play Halo. And it's all a competition. Lucky Bastards.

- Red Sox announced that they will be wearing advertisements on their uniforms for the first time ever when they play the Oakland A's in Japan. Why don't more leagues go the way of the Soccer and Arena leagues and allow ads on their uniforms. Tradition Schmadition. The increase in revenue would be huge as people would buy up new jerseys every time the sponsor changed. Also, this way you can get exposure not only during the game but also during highlights in the evening news cast. Seattle could be sponsored by Starbucks, Oakland A's could be sponsored by AAA, Tampa Bay could be sponsored by The Crocodile Hunter... oooh, too soon?

- I think I will finally lose weight once this comes out. Although this is a little too far.

- I really hate when people drive in the left lane when they are not passing. It really pisses me off. There is nothing worse than when you get stuck behind two people driving side-by-side going 5 mph under the speed limit. Or, sometimes worse when you see someone in the left lane going 5 mph over the speed limit and they think that means they have the right to be in the left lane. Move over Jeff Gordon!

- Speaking of people being on the wrong side of things I hate when people on the bus or train don't move all the way in on the seat. I'm standing on the fucking train and you are pretending to sleep on the outside of the seat. No way. I am waking your ass up and you are either letting me in or you are sliding next to the window like a normal person.

- I guess it was just a matter of time.

- Youtube used to be awesome, but now it sucks. Remember when every video used to be something cool on the most watched page? It would be clips from the daily show or people doing really stupid things? Now it's random Eastern European soap operas, Chinese game shows, and 3 second clips of Britney Spears leaving Starbucks. Most of you probably know this but if you want to see cool/funny clips break.com is better. But even that is getting crappier every day.

- Speaking of funny videos I recommend you check out first Tom Cruise's interview about Scientology. And then watch Jerry O'Connell's parody of Tom's video. Both are funny in their own way. Jerry O'Connell is in the show called Carpoolers, I am ashamed to admit it but I think it's a pretty good show. Check it out.

- Funniest license plate I have ever seen.

- Unky Warthog, where is this promised post about making General? We need some other contributions if you don't want to read my random thoughts day after day.

KofC Waterslide Fun Time Plans

I was thinking, we should really plan a sweet trip. Where should we go? Australia? Brazil? Nauru? But those places are all very expensive to get to. So I figured it out and there is one place that is better than all of these exotic locations and is in the geographical center of where the majority of us live (Sorry Adeclipes).

Where is this magical place you ask? Well it is Wisconsin Dells of course.

Here is what I am thinking. We go to Noah's Ark on Saturday June 14th and then stay at the Raintree Resort across the street from Noah's Ark that night. The next day we take in some high speed Go-Karts and maybe an haunted house. And then after we are all tuckered out we go back to our lives with memories that will last a life time.

For those of you who aren't familiar I will give you some information on the best rides Noah has to offer.

Time Warp – Billed as the world's largest bowl ride. It's a pitch black descent in 4 person tube and then goes into a strobe light filled bowl where you swoosh around until you drop through the middle, just as the next group of 4 comes flying down. The initial drop is the best but the whole thing is entertaining.

Black Anaconda – Billed as the longest water coaster in the United States at over 1/4 of a mile long. It's pretty fun, my sisters and brother-in-laws liked it a lot. You go over 30 mph at one point and you go up and down the slide powered by water jets. I am not a huge fan of water coasters though, I like gravity to do the work. Josey and SB, it's kind of like the beginning of the tube rides that shoot you up and down on the way to the lazy river.

Sting Ray – This ride is the most under rated in my opinion. It consists of two large halfpipes about 5 stories tall and who go down in tubes of 1 or 2. The initial drop is the best part as you go almost vertical back and forth until you slow down at the bottom of the halfpipe. Since there are 2 of them and it's fairly quick the lines goes fast.

Point Of No Return – Two 10-story-tall speedslides that take riders three to five seconds to descend. This is your classic speed slide, but the tallest I have ever ridden. You go over 40 mph. JW and SB, it's like the abyss but taller, but also not dark. It has timers at the end so I can continue my domination over you.

Congo Bongo – Large 4 person raft ride, that wouldn't be fun except that you often try to flip the raft on the turns.

Big Kahuna – Large wave pool, one of the largest wave pools in Wisconsin Dells. Always a good time to knock each other of rafts in 10 ft waves.

Adventure River – Not to be confused with the "Endless River" this one features waterfalls and rapids but not as cool as the one at Atlantis unfortunately.

The Plunge – One of my favorites for sure, two side-by-side speed slides with a couple bumps. But on these you go down head first on like a rubber tobaggon thing.

Paradise Lagoon – An activity pool featuring slides and zip-lines. It doesn't sound that cool, but there are several raft crossing areas where you can dominate little kids and water slides that drop you a few feet above the water. It's also fun to watch people fall off the zip-lines on their faces.

Miniature Golf – Miniature golf course that is included in the price of admission.

There are of course dozens of other slides, bumper boats, a ride similar to the Wave at Valley Fair and of course a bunch of Arcades.

I think we should leave MN/Chicago early in the morning to get to the Waterpark around 9-10am. That means SB/Josey/Pablito/Tilla/Dammer would need to be up by about 6am as it is exactly a 3 hr drive to the Waterpark Capital of the World.

I would also need to leave at 6am as it is exactly 3 hr from Chicago to the Dells. The best part is you can come and go from the park as you wish, and since we would be there early we can park right next to the best water slides. This means we can bring our own food and drinks (emphasis on drinks), which will save us money and increase our level of fun.

Another real good thing about the dells, is checking out the mullets and all around dirties. It is awesome.

The hotel is about 100 bucks a night, so that split up would be like 25/person if we had 4 to a room. The price of admission to Noah's isn't super cheap (about 30 bucks) but it's definitely worth it. Anyone else can come, if Rose Bear wants to be scared of water slides, or if Tilla's mysterious fiancee. The Knights of Cydonia don't exclude.

I already ordered the tickets and got 2 hotel rooms so we are set to go. I also got a round trip ticket from Dallas to Chicago for Adeclipse. Just send me the money.

No, but for real, anyone else down? I know it's an awfully long time in advance but I am already getting excited just thinking about it (and Josey's tan).

COD4 > Halo 3? and the New Maps

Well, we didn't play Call of Duty 4 last night, but we did play Halo. Which is pretty ironic if you read the latest news about the games. Last week more people played COD4 than Halo 3 over Xbox Live. Something I thought would never happen seeing that Halo 2 dominated Xbox Live for a long time even when 360s had become prevalent.

I have yet to find the numbers associated with this story, although I haven't really tried. But here is one of the stories about it.

Bungie has some new info about the latest batch of DLC (That stands for Downloadable Content, Dammer). I don't think there is any chance of a Damnation remake in these next three maps. We do know that one of the maps is a remake and we have some basic info and code names for the three maps. Any speculation as to what map will be like what would be cool.

Cottonball
"It’s HUGE. For the purposes of this, we’ll codename it Cottonball. I guess a game of Big Team Snipers would be possible, but anything else would be comical without vehicles. This is very much a large scale objective game map – designed first and foremost with CTF and Assault in mind. The map is almost, but not-quite-perfectly symmetrical. Some natural geology prevents each base from being a simple mirror image of the other. I say natural, but the map is set on a Halo, so, natural’s not exactly correct.

It's inclusion of a surprising vehicle or two may make it even more interesting than it already sounds.

The map is large enough so that even when a team makes off with your flag, there’s still a lot of ground you can use to catch up. The other is that each side has some wonderful shortcuts – natural and mechanical – that may not make great flag escape routes, but might let a mobile pursuer cut off escapees."

Cottonball... Snow? Long and almost symmetrical? Shortcuts? Sounds like a remake of Sidewinder to me. Another interesting thing would be a Blood Gulch/Coagulation remake but with snow... kind of like what it would be like in the winter. Your thoughts?

Also, what is this surprising vehicle that he is talking about? My money is on either a passenger hog/gauss hog or what I am really hoping for is the elusive snow hog featuring some sweet tracks and possibly skis. Either way we know Unky would be happy.

Purple Reign
"The map, as we’ve mentioned before, is perfectly symmetrical, slightly too big to be small and slightly too small to be medium. It has some excellent line of sight and well thought-out vertically problems and opportunities. Bridges make short work of long open sections and a central hub is sure to be fought over. Perhaps one of the most interesting features is the use of one-way glass. Iridescent material can disguise your location while you spy on approaching bad guys.

The map is too confined for genuine cat and mouse activity at those choke points and a warren of claustrophobic lower areas makes high ground and control essential. Luckily there are several ways to get up top, from careful jumps to spiraling ramps."

Purple... a small/medium sized map? symmetrical? vertical? bridges? central location? Sounds like a remake of Midship.

OK Corral
"The third and final map, that we’ve nicknamed OK Corral, is a medium-to-large, asymmetrical map that I LOVE playing Slayer on. It’s just big enough to support vehicles, but in a Mongoose, it’s effectively a confined deathtrap. Vehicles are only to be used in emergencies. This map scales pretty well though – in a one-on-one match, there are obvious places to fight close to the center of the map – but the more players there are, the more they tend to sprawl into the outer reaches of the maps, complete with collapsed buildings, wreckage-strewn structures and lots of rebar.

Sniping spots are numerous, but that’s not really what the level is about. What it is about is mastering routes from one end to the other, and knowing high from low. There is nothing scarier than seeing a red dot appear on your radar and not knowing whether that person is above you, or around the next corner. Some interesting use of floor geometry means you might be able to spot someone on high, but not quite have the angle for a shot."

I really don't think this one will be a remake because I am confident that one of the first two will be. Also this map doesn't scream previous map like the others do. This one could be Headlong because of it's emphasis on buildings and rebar but I find it hard to imagine they would remake such a crappy map. But who knows, stranger things have happened.

If you get some free time check out the Bungie forums on what people are guessing the new maps will be. Some people definitely take the code names a little too literally. Like on person was dead sure OK Corral will be an old west town and Cottonball will be a large sphere like that in Super Mario Galaxy. Maybe they are right but it seems a bit far fetched to me.

Happy MLK Jr. Day!

Thanks to the good people at the company I work for, I have the day off. But no thanks goes to the bad people that run the school I attend as I have class tonight. But after tonight's class I plan on playing some COD4.

If anyone wants to try a new FPS besides Halo. Please feel free to join what looks to be SB and me for some COD4 fun.

Who's in?

Daymonster to Leave Clan and other Bizarre Things

I haven't had the opportunity to play too much Halo lately, but when I have had a chance no one from my beloved KofC has been on. In fact some haven't been online for over two weeks! Last night I did play a couple games with Dammer, and that was good, but not as good as it used to be, back when we all played.

But then something happened, I saw Dajuicee was on. Now, many of you might not know Dajuicee but I played a couple games with him and Adeclipse back when Adeclipse was new. I don't know Dajuicee very well, and as far as I can tell he is some sort of secret gay lover with Adeclipse, but that's not important. What is important is when I checked out his Halo party, I saw he was playing with 4 other people. Wow, 4 other people! That know each other?! That are communicating?!

I joined in their party and saw that Adeclipse was playing under a different name and we proceeded to play some social slayers. It reminded me of the good old days when we were all playing, talking, laughing, livin', L-I-V-I-N'. I miss those days and that is why I am leaving the Knights of Cydonia. It is too hard for to be a part of this great group and still be missing the everyday discussion and frequent Halo play dates of yester. It's been great knowing you guys and maybe one day we can be clan-mates again.

P.S. I am joking about quitting the clan. And the gay lover comment (kind of).

Speaking of other things that are about as strange as The Daymonster quitting the KofC, a USA Today article talks about how major music labels and individual bands are now approaching game makers trying to get their songs onto games like Rock Band and GHIII.

2.5 million songs have been downloaded since Rock Band has come out. And since only about 1 million copies of RB have been sold, that's like 2.5 downloaded songs per copy. That's a lot.

Here is the list of the 10 most popular songs for Rock Band DLC:
1. Metallica (Ride the Lightning, Blackened, And Justice for All)
2. The Police (Can’t Stand Losing You, Roxanne, Synchronicity II)
3. Black Sabbath (covers of N.I.B., Sweet Leaf, War Pigs)
4. Queens of the Stone Age (3s and 7s, Sick Sick Sick, Little Sister)
5. David Bowie (Heroes, Moonage Daydream, Queen Bitch)
6. Weezer, Buddy Holly
7. Foreigner, Juke Box Hero
8. Creedence Clearwater Revival, cover of Fortunate Son
9. The Knack, cover of My Sharona
10. All-American Rejects (Dirty Little Secret, Move Along)

Other strange occurrences? Well, somebody combined Super Mario and Halo into a strange side-scrolling adventure, called Super Mario Fusion. The video can be found here, and if you want you can download the game here.

Since this is a post about things that aren't normally done. I want to take this opportunity to extend the proverbial olive branch to LocoPollo/Puyo. Why let little things like what computer or what OS is better get in the way of a long and illustrious friendship? Let's stop this right here and show the Jews and the Muslims how saying you're sorry can go a long way. I'm sorry Loco, I hope you forgive me. Also, can you get me a free copy of Dr. Daisy Pet Vet.

I also noticed Josey typing in the shout box at the right --->. This is also something that rarely happens. But it something that makes me very happy. I have been downloading about 8 new maps everyday (that's the limit you can do each time). What you need to do is sign into bungie.net. Make sure it says "Welcome, Josey Wales!" or what ever your Gamer Tag is.

Now go to the Game Map Variant Forum on the website. When you click on the forums you will go to a new page where the Map is posted. Here is an example of a map called "Titanic" at the top you will see something like this.

Now click on "Download to Halo 3". Once you click on that you should see this.

Now click "OK" and you can continue doing this 7 more times. Game variants are the same way and often they are posted right with the Map so you can use them together.

Hope that helps Josey.

Also, go to google and type in "what you didn't know about the knights of Cydonia". We have gotten over 20 visitors in the last month from this search. People are going to know a lot about you, Eternal.

Top Ten Video Game Weapons of All-Time

A while back Gametrailers.com came up with a list of the ten best video game weapons of all time. For those of you who can't watch the video here is the list in reverse order.

10. Cerebral Bore - Turok Series
9. Chain Saw - Doom Series
8. Spread Gun - Contra Series
7. Rail Gun - Quake 2
6. Lap Top Gun - Perfect Dark Zero
5. Energy Sword - Halo Series
4. Ice Beam - Metroid
3. BFG - Doom Series
2. Red Turtle Shell - Mario Kart Series
1. Gravity Gun - Half Life 2

I like this list but it seems this is more of a list of interesting weapons from video games, not necessarily the "best" weapons. For me I would but the Halo 1 pistol as the best weapon from any video game, but hey, that's just me.

Wednesday's List of Random Stuff

Here are a few links/articles to get you through hump day.

- Has anyone been reading/watching about the 16 year old Australian kid who threw the huge party? If not check out the interview with him here. He became very popular after this and appeared on several radio shows. However, during the cleanup they found a video from the party and he is now facing Child Pornography charges. (The Link does not go to Child Porn, it goes to the Reuters article about his arrest.

- Article about Rock Band on CNN.com It's not a great one but it's funny that it's on CNN.

- Master Chief was not going to be the main character in the now postponed Halo Movie.

- Does any other KofC members watch Lost? Have you checked out Find815.com yet? It's good.

- What is your opinion on Halo Wars? Here is some cool concept art/wallpapers.

- I found this "Ten Golden Rules of Online Gaming" at Destructoid.com and instead of just linking to it I decided to post it here for two reasons. A) I don't have much to say today and B) no one seems to click on the links. (Besides Puyo, but then he says it's old news and calls me a noob.) The actual post at Destructoid can be found here.

People have been hunched over their PCs, firing rockets into the faces of their friends since Doom. The ability to play a game against real human opponents via a network changed the face of the industry and helped shape the scene we are now a part of. Over the years, we have seen the world's largest network, the Internet, expand to phenomenal heights and with it, gaming too has grown in ways that were once never thought possible.

Gaming over the Internet is now a major part of the hobby we all hold dear, and as titles like Halo rose to bring more and more mainstream attention to multinational fragests, we have seen online gaming become one of the most integral facets of the industry. With mainstream attention, it has also brought with an influx of new, fresh-faced gamers who have logged on with wanton abandon, unwitting of the rules that we have held dear as digital war veterans for millenias untold. At least outside of the PC universe, online gaming is full of people who perhaps do not understand the etiquette and courtesy that comes with the territory.

For these people, Destructoid has the answer. If your copy of Halo just hit your mailbox, or even more urgently, if you started playing online years ago and have never even been through basic training, this is the guide for you. Check out the list to finally learn how to be an online gamer with these crucial rules. A doorway into a world of elite playing pleasure is yours for the opening.

1: Online gaming is serious business:
So, you finally got your game hooked up and are ready to play. Now, you may be forgiven for thinking that online gaming is about having fun. You are very wrong and you will learn this in due time. Because we gamers are too physically weak to pick random fights in bars, we must assert our alpha male dominance another way -- by twiddling our fingers around on buttons until virtual representations of people we don't know simulate death.

This is your life now, and you are connected, physically and emotionally, to your in-game avatar. When they frag you, do you not bleed? Well, no you don't but that's not the point. You will mourn him for every second of that respawn countdown. His digital death just killed a little piece of you, and you will avenge with the fury of a thousand angry Gods.

In team games, if you are losing, remember to berate your teammates and tell them how much they suck. You won't be making a fool out of yourself for ordering them around and reminding them that your side is losing and nobody's helping you win. Also, you must use words like "alpha," all the time, just like you're a real army man!

2: Noobs are scum:
People who are new to a particular game are terrible vermin who you should not fraternise with. These subhumans are known as noobs and they are the pariahs of online gaming. You, however, were never a noob. You were playing games online before the Internet was even invented. In fact, you're so awesome that you were playing Dizzy the Egg team deathmatches on your Commodore 64.

Make sure to check out the stats of anybody in a game with you. If they have not been playing for long, then you must hurl insults at them because they are lesser human beings. Laugh cruelly if noobs are your opponents, and grimace loudly if they are on your team.

Also, the term noob has such power that if you dislike someone's actions in a game, you can say it to them as well. Obviously, displeasing you is deadly enough to make them forget all their prior gaming experience and they actually revert back into children.

3: If a feature in a game is popular/effective, it is cheap:
Be it the chainsaw in Gears of War, or snipers in any FPS ever made, there are a number of cool features and tactics in games that people not only find enjoyable to use, but are often highly effective methods of securing victory -- never use them. If you do so, you are cheap and will become a noob. You are a hardcore gamer now, which means you only use shotguns or anything else that's really boring. You hate all that is popular, and if you see anybody utilising the best/more useful features of a game, you are to get rid of them immediately.

If these pukes were good at the game like you, they wouldn't need to rely on such cheap tactics, would they? They'd be like you, running around with the shotgun, not having fun and despising everything everyone else is doing. The fact that they have killed you so many times is proof of how bad they are at playing.

4: If anything kills you at all, it is cheap:
Like the above rule, but applied to every potential threat in a game. If someone shoots you to death using nothing but a pistol and with his eyes closed, he is being cheap. Cheap is one of the most brutal insults after noob, and anybody who hears it will feel worse about the fact they are winning ten to zero. It's a hollow victory, because they are so cheap.

5: If you are losing, it is because of lag:
Following on from the cheapness laws, you will soon get to learn that nothing is ever your fault when it comes to gaming. Lag is a process whereby everyone in the game becomes better than you thanks to the Internet helping them become cheap. The Internet does this a lot, but never affects the enemies you kill yourself, because you have skills.

Nearly every death you ever suffer in a game will be due to lag of some kind. The Internet hates you that much, even though you are so good.

6: If you are losing badly, it is because they are hacking:
Losing a little is one thing, that's just lag conspiring to keep your ownage levels down, but lag can only help the noobs cheaply beat you so much. If you are losing to such a point where not even your lag-pwning skill seems to be making a difference, well there's only one solution, and it's not that they are better than you -- it's that they are hacking.

People who appear to be doing a lot of killing and not much of being killed are hackers, plain and simple. There is no way they're that good without cheating. Re-assure your team (after calling them worthless) that the enemy is clearly powered by nefarious undertakings and you are being penalized for your wholesome and pure ways. Then remember to say alpha.

7: Everyone is gay:
Before the Internet was invented, gay people were those in society who were attracted physically and emotionally to members of the same gender. Since the Internet, everyone and everything is gay. From the gun they use to kill you, to the voice they use to communicate with you, it is all gay, gay, gay. Lag is gay, snipers are gay, noobs are gay, people from other countries are gay, the countries they come from are gay, the ocean the country is surrounded by is gay, the fish in the ocean are gay, all sealife is gay, life is gay, gays are gay, gay gay gay. Gay.

Using the same one-syllable word to describe everything you don't like might not be an indicator of a varied vocabulary, but who cares? Words are gay.

8: Singing is awesome:
Communicating via a headset is great because it lets gamers sing, and that is one of the only reasons we buy headsets. In fact, some people are known to log into servers just to hear poor quality, nasal renditions of the latest "phat tracks." One of the most original and beloved songs to sing is anything done by Rick Astley.

Try to sing as loudly and obnoxiously as you can into your headset before, during and after a game, only stopping when you need to step away from the mic to breathe. Everybody will be impressed and will want to play with you again. In fact, you're so great at singing that the only reason you're not on Broadway right now is that show business is full of lag.

If you lack the raw sexual magnetism and confidence that is required to sing during a game, you can always hold the microphone up to some speakers and play your favorite tunes for everybody. Your fellow gamers really care what your musical interests are and will applaud your tasteful selection of tracks.

9: Calling people naggers is both original and hilarious:
Racism online is bad, which is a shame because deep down everybody knows it's actually awesome. There is, however, a really witty workaround that allows you to say racist words while not actually saying them. Remember that episode of South Park where Randy believed that the missing letter in "n - ggers" was an I? Then he said the full word and everyone was shocked because it was actually naggers and not that word? Well, here's a pro tip -- nobody has EVER thought of calling people naggers online. You are going to be so edgy if you capitalize on this opportunity.

Do it all the time and your popularity will skyrocket.

10: Team members who score are kill stealers:
Kill stealing is one of the most abhorrent and despicable crimes ever committed, and is even listed in some modern Bibles as the eighth deadly sin. Every opponent is a victim waiting to die by your hand alone, and if anybody dares shoot them before you, they are a kill stealer. Only you may have the glory of the kill, and woe betide anybody caught shooting at the same target as you. If they get the win, they clearly stole your kill.

Even if you and a team member are on opposite sides of the game map, they kill stole. Obviously they did. Probably thanks to a hack.

Just remember, of course, that you are not a kill stealer. You are merely an opportunist. Besides which, since all the enemies are your personal fodder anyway, you're taking nothing away from the meat puppets who are only there to be noobs and bring down your score by sucking.

These are the ten golden rules of online gaming. There are of course plenty of other important laws, but this should be everything you need to get started off on the right footing. First impressions are crucial, and with these ten rules in mind, you will always impress.

Good luck pwning, my fellow online warriors. May noobs fall at your feet and your sword cut through the mists of lag forevermore.

Rock Band Updates Galore

My enthusiasm for Rock Band has died a little bit in the last few weeks, probably due to the holidays and class starting up again. But in the last week or so, some very exciting news has come out. Let me share it with you.

It's good to see that the people at Harmonix have lived up to their promise of new songs being released every week. This honestly will keep this game going for a long time. But I was thinking: the average downloadable song goes somewhere between $0.99 and $2.99. Which isn't a terrible deal, until you start thinking about how the original disc had almost 60 songs on it (45 of the songs were ones you had heard of) that would put the original disc at about $120 of song prices alone. Obviously this is not the case, the game goes for the standard $59.99 without the peripherals. So would it be a better deal for us to wait until the next version of Rock Band with 60 more songs for 60 bucks or should we keep buying a few songs every week at a higher price. (Obviously, RB has said they won't be coming out with a new disc for a while, so it's a moot point, but I was wondering is this new way of getting songs better or worse?)

Anyways back to the fun stuff.

Like I said each week RB releases some new tracks. Sometimes you know exactly what song they are selling just by the title, other times it's not so obvious. Next time before you buy check out the Official Xbox Magazine online where they review each song right when it goes up on Live. Here is the review from the latest batch. [Update: Here are the three songs that come out tomorrow... Yay! Monkees!]

OXM doesn't just review the tracks, they also give you three free ones not available anywhere else in their latest issue. It's supposed to hit newsstands tomorrow, but I got mine on Friday night, not sure how. The three songs are Sprøde by Freezepop Rock Rebellion by Bang Shake by Count Zero. You may not know these songs but I instantly recognized Freezepop from my days of playing the grandfather of all rhythm games, Frequency. In fact Sprøde is a song from Amplitude, Frequency's sequel.

As we discussed in a previous post, the favorite instrument for some KofCer's is the drums. And while the drum set that accompanies RB is leaps and bounds above what previous peripherals were like, it's not quite as sweet as this.

This is a prototype of Ion Audio's new Rock Band drum set complete with beefier drums and some cymbals that was displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. There is no release date for this set nor is there an approximate price. And while this set is pretty awesome, I am not sure if it will fit in my studio apartment. Source: Engaget Spanish.

In the meantime if you want a more realistic drum set and have an old real drum set lying around do what this guy did and turn it into a Rock Band set.

If playing the drums isn't your thing and you would like to make your guitar playing a little more realistic pick up this device from SoundTech to attach to your guitar. Here's how it works: The Windows XP and Mac compatible peripheral measures the notes being played on the guitar. After Ediface detects the real notes, it turns the sound into MIDI. With the above device, it then switches in any other alternative instrumentation much like a synthesizer. For RB/GH support, program in corresponding colors for notes — the first five frets of the top string, for example. [Source: Kotaku]

If playing the real guitar and real drums wasn't enough to make you feel like a real rocker, pick up this sweet add-on in June. GameStop's website accidentally put up the image of the Official Rock Band Stage Kit. The kit will include an interactive light and smoke stage show. I can't see how it could get much better than that... well, maybe this.

That's about it for this Monday morning.

One last non-Rock Band related video:
OMG, this is so sweet. Even though you don't go through a shark tank, this seems way better than any of the water slides at Atlantis. (Note: This could also be considered old news but I found it to be worthy of sharing, in case someone hasn't seen it yet.)

Dammer's Saturday Night YouTube Post

It's Saturday night here in Owatonna. I've had such a rough day, what with all my sitting around the apartment. I even contacted Charter about my broken cable box. The result of this online chat conversation? The person told me they had no technicians available for the rest of the month, but I could call back in two days. Hmm....rest of the month is booked now but perhaps not two days from now? I call bullshit. I also call boredom. Tilla is out doing Tilla things, my girlfriend is working at the chocolate factory, and the Packers game was exciting yet boring at the same time since there was no suspense in the second half. On the bright side the Jags just scored and my hatred for the Patriots can continue to be fueled. Oh joy, Brady was just sacked on his first offensive play. Let the hatred flow I say! So how have I been using my time may you ask? Well I put in about 6 hours on the rating calculator, see the message boards on Daymonster's previous post for an update. I've also done something that always brings me a certain level of joy.

Have you ever heard the word aretè (arr-ay-tay if I were to spell it out like it sounds)? A political science course in college taught me that, according to the Greeks, aretè is the essence of greatness. Everyone has a certain level of it, but only few actually possess it. So then what does it mean to possess aretè? I'll put it in words that we all can understand. Halo words.

When you possess aretè you are in command of all that around you. In Halo, when you go into battle with no fear against nubblets you have aretè. It's when you are in control of the battle, or when you force multiple foes to cower in fear. When you get a triple kill with no shields left afterwards, have used only one AR clip, had no teammate help, and threw a perfect grenade or two...you have aretè. The reason I'm giving you this lesson is that it helps to explain why I enjoy highlight reels. Yeah the entertainment value is good, but there are highlight reels that make the average look amazing and that's not fair. I'm talking about the highlight reels that make the average and the amazing look downright silly. That's why I mine youTube for the best highlight reels I can find. Without further ado I give you the best of the videos I watched this afternoon, and also a description of pure aretè that doesn't involve words. I did give a Halo metaphor for each video though to keep in mind while watching. [Disclaimer: I am not at fault for musical montage choices. I have linked these videos instead of embedding six videos in one post 'cause that would be ridiculous.]

For all those times where your grenade bounced around a corner oh so perfectly. For each sticky throw that involves leading and anticipating your opponent's next move. I present to you The Pistol.

For those times when you're blinded by one single goal, be it kill, flag, or otherwise. For when you melee your opponent and actually melee with your controller in hand. For every corpse hump, post-death beatdown, and full frontal skull crush I give you the man with the worst golf swing ever.

As Puyo's interview says, there is a definite skill in being able to stay alive during a hopeless battle. More importantly though, it is the ability to kill after staying alive that gives you aretè. I present IMHO the best back the NFL has seen (Bo didn't play long enough for me to grade), Barry Sanders.

This is perhaps the most obvious entry in my list, but some individuals reach the pinnacle of their sport and when they do there is no question to it. This particular video is for every time you have finished a game and thought to yourself "I don't think there was a single time during that game that I made the wrong decision.". For when every conceivable piece of your game fell into place at the highest level, I give you His Airness.

Lastly I have a more recent video that, believe it or not, contains highlights better than some 12 year veterans could ever dream of. This is for every time you go on an unstoppable streak. These are the times when your sniper ammo is emptied and mostly resulting in headshots. It's when you get not one, but two sword triple kills back to back. It's when you average one kill per death for 90% of the game and then get your team's last ten kills without dying. Mostly though, it's hope for the future.

Obviously there are a lot more videos like this out there. I would recommend Shawn Kemp, John Stockton (don't laugh), Herschel Walker, The Great One, Ronaldinho.

Hopefully this will give you something to do tomorrow when the football games get boring or you wake up too early and there is nothing on tv. I always love to see new videos like this, so if you find one put it out there! This can include Halo montages. Speaking of, if you're super bored you can see Puyo and I's timing record videos for Halo 2 campaign levels. We have Halo 2's Regret level two-player at all difficulties. They actually are pretty interesting.

Daymonster to never sleep again.

Scientists are working a snortable drug that can replace sleep. I know what you are thinking, no, scientists are not testing crushed up Adderal pills. Supposedly the issued a nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A to a bunch of moneys. It reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in the monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests.

Although the doctors say that the drug, if issued to Squatting Bear would merely help him sleep the recommended 7-8 hours. As SB's desire for slumber overpowers even the strongest drugs and hormones.

Check out the article here about orexin A.

Some other links:
If I collected action figures/dolls I would totally buy these.

Since I am the self-proclaimed best Rock Band drummer in the KofC, I will provide you with an article about how to become as almost as good as me.

This is gross.

Watch this video of Tyler "Psycho T" Hansbrough dunk on Kenny George. George is 7' 8" btw,

Pokerstars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier won the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure that SB played in and Josey and I attended. It would have been way cooler if SB would have won the 2 million, but what-ya-gonna do?

On a related note, Squatting Bear, I have one of the PCA shirts in my bag. I'll give it back to you next time I see you.

Also, I saw this lil' guy at the tournament. I wonder if he plays Halo?

Anyways, that's about all I got for today. Hopefully with Josey and SB back, the blog will get going again and we could maybe even play some vids.

It's good to be back... for a while.

Good Afternoon KofC,

It's been quite a while since I have been back checking the blog and/or playing halo on a semi daily basis. I was glad to see that Tilla and Loco had posted some information. Granted I am not exactly sure what Loco's was about.

KofC Picture of the day: I saw a Michael Jackson impersonator in Mexico... He was good. But not as good as the Mexican dude that drank an entire bottle of tequila right in front of me (not pictured).

There is someone out there that claims they are the greatest Warthog Driver of all time. That man is LouieBlack. Here are his stats, and he has over 11,500 wheelman assists. Warthog Challenge match in the making? Unky, befriend him.

Bungie just posted some information about the new DLC, which won't be around for a while so the teasers are very generic. Apparently one of the maps is arena style and the other is a remake of someone favorite Halo map (for the love of God be Damnation). He said it was a big map so that could rule Damnation out, except taht it was probably the third largest, wasn't it?

The Bungie post also addresses all the changes Team Hardcore made with the maps. Some of them are interesting, others are not but it seems the biggest change is on Snowbound.

Here is what they did on Snowbound

• Maulers
• Removed central one near underground area
• Two Side Maulers: Respawn rate 90 seconds
• Moved Beam Rifle into Shotgun spawn area
• Shotgun: Removed
• Replaced Active Camo with Overshield
• Respawn time: 180 sec
• Replaced battle rifles with carbines (2 on the low base, one above the high base)
• Respawn rate: 30 seconds
• Removed Spartan Laser

No shotgun or cloak eh? Looks like I'm never getting a kill again. But good news is no more Laser, so SB will be going on Ghost sprees all day.

Anyways, it's good to be back in the USofA. That is until the first annual KofC New Year Bahamas Celebration get together trip in a couple days.