Twas the night before GEEX and all through my house

I was packing my gear, not forgetting my mouse.

My games were installed and all fully patched up

Windows defragged also ran a disk cleanup.

Entered in StarCraft and Team Fortress tournies

I'll pwn some n00bs, make them beg on their knees.

To bed I now go for my rest I will need

Too excited to sleep, oh no, I just peed.

[-F69-]bl00k

Memorial Day is this weekend and I injured my hand just in time so I won't be able to water-ski in Southern Utah :( Jackdruid is actually the one that injured me, but it wasn't really his fault. We were doing one of those jousting things in an inflatable arena at a work lunch party. He hit my stick and jammed my thumb back pretty good. I don't mean to be a total baby, but it really hurt.

The StarCraft 2 Beta is going to end around June 21st or so. We are planning an SC2 Night this Thursday since many of us will be doing other things this weekend. The last patch has introduced 3v3 and 4v4 matches, along with bugs and instability. It seems to have gotten a little better, but still quite buggy. I guess the reason I'm so bothered is because the beta up to now has been so good. Hardly any bugs, a really solid experience, and now after a couple months of awesomeness it is feeling like a beta. It seems to be going backwards. Regardless, it is a blast to play and we all are eager for the full game. Unfortunately the game releases while I'll be in Oregon. You guys have a head start to pad your records before I come back and destroy you.

Update on GEEX: The "Pro Tip" they gave me about listening to the podcast paid off. I won tickets to the show. I'm planning to take that Friday off and I believe Remy is going to join me. Anyone is welcome to come along, in fact I'd say encouraged. Also, if you are into listening to podcasts they have one of those too. Personally, I am excited for GEEX and really want it to succeed. I think anything that builds the gaming community is a good thing and this is something local. I can really get behind that.

The backend changes for our hosting provider are not going to take place. I had made a mistake on when my hosting expired. The domain was expiring but the hosting still has another year. We are good for now.

[-F69-]bl00k

I’ve been out of town this weekend visiting my parents. I haven’t logged into WoW, SC2, or played any games for four days. I have however watched a few things.

I watched LOST and am amazed at how they are able to answer questions while at the same time giving me more to ask. There are not very many episodes left and I think many of the questions in this latest episode will go unanswered officially. I’m still excited for the end and still enjoying it. We’ll see how they wrap it up. I don't want to be disappointed but I'm sure that is asking too much.

I went and saw Robin Hood while in Cedar. I liked it. I don’t know what reviews are saying about it, but I thought it was pretty good. I was wondering how it would be the same and how it would be different from the Kevin Costner version. It was very different. It was a unique take on the story and it worked pretty well. My only complaint was I expected more awesome bows and arrows action for a Robin Hood movie.

I started watching Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Netflix. I was warned that it was a blatant rip off of 300 as far as style goes, and that it is just a big gore-fest interspersed with bits of sex and nudity. This is all true. I have watched three episodes so far and I admit that I am interested in the story. I've never seen the old school Spartacus movie with Kirk Douglas so I don't know if this is the same story or another reimagining that seems to be so popular these days. I liked 300, so this is like more of the same but I don’t really see that as a bad thing.

A bunch of us in the squad met up a couple weeks ago for Nerdtacular and watch Ironman 2. The movie was good, not super amazing, but still very enjoyable. We all went and had lunch together and then went back for the meet and greet with Scott Johnson of The Instance fame. Titahn won a WoW Addon Programing Guide and also scored a hug.

At Nerdtacular I met the guys that are putting on the GEEX Show. One of them looked a lot like Daniel Faraday from LOST. They run a podcast for GEEX and gave me a pro tip. They said, “Listen to the podcast if you want to win tickets to GEEX” They didn’t guarantee I’d win tickets, but they made it sound like the odds were very very good. I listened to the most current episode and have emailed in my submission to the question they asked.

I have also finished Mirror’s Edge. The ending was a bit anticlimactic. There were some other parts of the game that were a lot of fun and exciting and the end just didn’t add to that or even match up with it, so in that way it was disappointing and the story didn’t seem to peak where I thought it was ramping up to. Overall, I really did like the game and the overall experience. I have been recommending it to people and think it is a solid game.

Some behind the scenes work is going to take place this month to move hosting providers. I’m hoping to not have a long interruption to the site, but there is that possibility. However, the forums will not be affected during the transition. I don’t normally encourage people to bookmark the forums directly, but you might want to do that while we are changing.

Because I was out of town this weekend we didn’t run a 25 man PUG. Not a great start for something we wanted to run weekly. Next week we should be back in business. Check the forums for more details.

[-F69-]bl00k

I know I'm late to the party but I just started playing Mirror's Edge. I picked this up last year on Steam for $5 during one of the sales they had before Christmas. I know that it had decent reviews and I've been curious to see how a First Person Parkour game could really work, and to my surprise it works really well.

I'll start out with a small complaint though. The first thing I do with any game I install and launch for the first time is to into the settings and options to adjust the video and game controls. I have been playing FPS games differently than most people since the Quake 2 and Half-Life days. Rather than the standard WASD controls I use the other side of the keyboard where Del=A End=S PgDn=D and right click is my W. I know it isn't normal, but if you are interested I can explain while that region of the keyboard is superior for gaming... that is until you come across a game that won't let you map certain keys. Mirror's Edge is one such game for me so I've had to adapt.

The graphic style of the game is awesome. The not to distant future cityscape appears clean, almost sterile, but the grit is in the details. The contrast of the white and red is used to guide your path through the levels with great effect. The sense of movement is great, even when you are falling to your death, the use of motion blur and camera movement is spot on.

Another high point for me was the sound. Because so much of the game is just you in the environment alone without guns and explosions going off every five seconds the sound could have ruined the experience if it wasn't done right. All the breathing, footsteps on the ground, wind and hands slapping onto concrete reinforce the tactile feel you get as you are wall running and grab onto a handrail. Every subtle sound is just drawing you in that much more.

I don't want to go into a full blown review here since the game is over a year old, but I just wanted to give it some exposure to anyone in the squad that hasn't played it. So far I am really liking what it is doing. Also, my curiosity lead me to this awesome 2D version. It is totally rad, and not just for a web browser game. The animation and controls are smooth and it is a lot of fun to play.

[-F69-]bl00k

The weather is finally warming up. I rode my motorcycle to work for the first time this year. It was cold in the morning but perfect on the way home. I'm sure people will start rumblings of OMGWTFBBQ's and LAN parties. Titahn has already mentioned he would like to do a Zombie themed party. Sounds fun to me.

I've still been playing quite a bit of the StarCraft 2 Beta. It is really good. I mean really good. Did I mention my SC2 Rank? Yeah, I pwn like that. :P I can't wait for this game to come out so I can play with more friends. I know Mathazar is looking forward to it quite a bit.

WoW has taken a back seat this last week as I've been repairing the bathroom from the flooding my kids caused. Probably the worst thing they've done... so far. I know they will do worse. So I've pulled up carpet, linoleum, the toilet, etc. I've learned how to tile and now tonight I hope to get the carpet back down with my brothers help. This has now been over a week long process. The joy of parenthood.

On a side note I thought I would mention that Direct2Drive.com is doing a promotion. Every week they have a different list of games on wicked good sales. This week you can pick up GTA4 for $7.50. A pretty awesome deal if you ask me. Anyway, it might be worth checking back every week to see what else they have to offer.

Also, in my feeble attempts to make the website pay for itself, I have another new banner ad going up. This one is for BlueHost.com. They are a hosting company that Titahn uses. They have unlimited storage, bandwidth, domains, etc. all in one account for a really low price. www.fighting69.com expires next month and I think I'm going to switch to them. If you or someone you know is in need of web hosting have them click my link so we get credit for it and keep the site up and going.

[-F69-]bl00k

The StarCraft 2 Beta has been going for a few weeks. I was lucky enough to get an invite to it on Friday. I have played a bunch of games over the weekend. I still seem to gravitate towards the Terran and Protoss. I just never could get into the Zerg. I do like the Zerg though... I like how they POP! when I shoot them. I've played a little bit with Titahn too. We've had some defeats, but we've also had some really good wins. Either way, we are having fun with it. One nice thing about the beta is I get to see how well my PC can handle it. There are a few settings that I have turned down, but overall it is doing pretty good. I don't think I'll feel the unbearable need to upgrade when the game ships.

WoW has been a little stagnant lately. I'm not sure if it is due to people feeling like they are just waiting for the next expansion pack to hit or if it is something else. WoW does go in cycles, and it would seem we are in a down cycle at the moment. We are still trying to raid with the guild weekly, but the last few weeks we've had to bring in pugs to fill it out. Regardless, we've made progress in ICC and are now up to Festergut. Not too bad for our humble guild.

I've tried to go shooting a couple times and each time something comes up and I can't go. I tried again this Saturday, but after a 25 mile drive to the place I used to go to I was greeted with this happy sign. I turned around and went home. I guess I'm going to have to pay to shoot at a range after all. :(

The Penny Arcade TV series has resparked my interest in Ping Pong. I've been playing with c1as1c a bit. He is actually really good, which is nice. It isn't very fun to play with people that aren't close to your skill. I've also tried hitting up the tables at the Fitness Center in WVC. Most the the time the people there are terrible and the rest of the time there is no one there. I have had a couple times where I was able to find some people worth playing with my right hand and that is fun. If I can get back into the groove with it I'm thinking of entering the Utah Summer Games. Owneress just laughs at the thought, but I think it could be fun. I'm planning to go to a Ping Pong Club thingy on Friday to see how I would stack up in a competition.

[-F69-]bl00k

The weekend is upon us! And not just any weekend, but the long awaited cLAN Party at Jenny and Warrhorde's house. It's been quite a while since we've had a squad get together and we are all looking forward to hanging out and gaming. Owneress and I even lucked out with a sitter for the little orcs.

WoW has been a little bipolar recently. It seems like the WoW bug has been waning for some but we have also been making some decent end game progression. Just last night we got Saurfang (TAINT!) down to 232k hp. Just a tiny bit more and we will have the first wing of ICC down. Despite the success we've had with raiding some people have put WoW on the back burner. That's cool though. There is more to life than WoW, and they are always welcome to return when they want.

Titahn was lucky enough to get into the StarCraft 2 Beta. He's been playing against the AI a lot but has yet to dare jump into the heat of battle against gray matter. It will be fun to check it out at the cLAN tonight. SC2 was announced three years ago and it is nice to finally see the finish line on the horizon. Part of that finish line for Titahn is a new PC. He has been planning to get a new rig for SC2 and has been spec'ing out his system. I don't know if I'm more jealous of the SC2 Beta or the new PC he will be getting.

Update on my FarCry 2 progress: I'm at 69% complete. I thought about just stopping there, but I still plan to finish. Once I am done I'm not sure what game I'll tackle next. I started Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I picked it up for $5 on a Steam sale. It got such good reviews and high praise from so many people that I thought I should check it out. One game that has been getting an insane amount of praise is Mass Effect 2. I mean seriously, everyone and their dog is just raving about that game. I picked up Mass Effect on another Steam deal for cheap and want to play that to get the story and then check out ME2 to see what I'm missing out on. I've also thought about playing Mirror's Edge as I've heard it is pretty short and should be able to get through it and move on to one of these longer games. Of course this is all dependent on me staying logged out of WoW long enough to play these other games.

I'll draw your attention to the Ventrilo banner ad again. This is just some wishful thinking that I could try to get some money to help pay for hosting and domain reg, and maybe our vent server. I don't think I'll ever get anyone that actually orders from my link, but it doesn't hurt to try. So if you know anyone that could use a vent server have them click the link here.

[-F69-]bl00k

Welcome to a new year, the big TwentyTen! I don't recall the exact date I formed the Fighting 69th, but it was sometime in 2000. I was living in Cedar City and the squad slowly came into existence. That would make this year our 10th anniversary of the [-F69-]. Yay us! Kinda makes me feel old though. But at the same time I feel some sort of weird accomplishment. Anyway, maybe this summer we'll have to have a big One-Oh cLAN party to celebrate.

I finally got around to playing FarCry 2. I saw this game demo'd at PAX a couple years ago and thought it looked amazing. After having paid for it on Steam it took over a year to actually load it and play it, but I'm glad I did. The world is amazingly crafted and beautiful. The 100% real-time lighting is incredible with the full day/night cycle. When the sun is low on the horizon it really affects your visibility when you are facing it. Even the moon at night helps you see better when it is to your back. The story is weak, really weak. The missions vary from kill this guy to blow that up to kill this other guy. But the fun comes in the open ended way in which you can do what you want and approach things however you'd like. I am not quite a third the way done but still enjoying killing dudes and blowing things up. I think this will be a game I finish and then never come back to. I think that by the time I reach the end of the game I will have had my fill of it and be ready to move on to Fallout 3.

It is early, but some of us are already talking and planning for PAX'10. If you have a desire to go I would recommend you start making your plans too. I'm excited for PAX this year. I'm not sure how it will compare to previous years, but I think it will be fun with the people that are going to be there. So don't procrastinate, make it happen!

You may notice some banner ads on the site for www.InstantVentrilo.com. We've been using them for a couple years to host our vent server and haven't had any problems with them. They are always up and running for us. They have an affiliate program where if you click on the banner from my site and make an order I get $5. I don't imagine I'll ever actually get anyone to do that, but on the off chance that I do I will apply that to our vent server fees. If you know anyone looking to get a server of their own, maybe you could have them click our banner.

[-F69-]bl00k

Twas the night before PAX and all through the house, Blook was pwning some n00bs while clicking his mouse. His bag was packed and ready to wear, in hopes that great swag would soon be put there.
Looking forward to the Omegathon with a bit of dread, while visions of Mario Cart spun in his head. He had practiced in Halo to flag cap, he went online and learned to bitch slap.
When in Seattle there arose such a clatter, the citizens stood gawking to see what was the matter. PAX weekened approaches ever so fast, so come get your game on and have a blast!

[-F69-]bl00k

In case you didn't know, the Penny Arcade Expo (aka. PAX) is almost upon us. I have work scheduled off, I pre-registered for my ticket, I've been playing some Precipice, all to get me ready for the festivities. But, to paraphrase Illidan Stormrage, 'I am NOT prepared!' Let me explain...

Wednesday while at work I received a call on my cell phone from a "Blocked" number. I almost didn't answer, but I am glad I did. On the other end was Gabe from Penny Arcade. He was calling to ask me if I would like to be an Omeganaut and compete in this years Omegathon at PAX. I kinda flipped out a little bit, but I told him, "YES YES YES!" My wife and I were just talking about it a couple weeks ago. She said, "What if you get to be an Omeganaut?" I told her the odds of that were so slim that I didn't think it would ever happen. And now it has.

So now I'm totally stressed out about what games will be played so I can practice. *UPDATE* I just found out the list of games.

Thanks to Jake and Nikki for playing some Rock Band with me last night to train. If anyone else wants to come help me train I could use some Halo and Mario Cart experts. Just give me a call if you want to come over anytime.

[-F69-]bl00k

It's time to get your Zombie On! This Friday the Fighting 69th is having it's first ever LAN 4 Dead Party. We tried to have one a while back but it never worked out. Now we have 8 people signed up to dismember one another all night. If you can't tell I'm super excited.

[-F69-]bl00k

What happened to April? Geez, I've felt like one of those "Life Comes At You Fast" commercials more than once in the last couple of months. I haven't been motivated to do very much of anything. Maybe I need to see the doctor.

Protocol 42 has a new permanent home! They have rented out a warehouse over by the freeway to host monthly LAN parties again. Poop and I went this last Saturday for the first party. Things are still somewhat "under construction" but it turned out really good and we had a fun time. At least, I had fun after playing Computer Tech for 2.5 hours trying to get my PC working. The cpu got jostled in transit and was giving me fits. Poop left early and I had to PUG the L4D tournament but that didn't stop me from winning :D I'm not sure I will go every month but I'm kind of excited to see how things come together there. The table design really worked well and gave us plenty of room to stretch out. I would encourage anyone that wants to get some frag on to check it out. The P42 guys are pretty cool and they are doing a great thing for the PC scene in Utah.

The World of WarCraft rolls ever onward. About half of the Fighting SixtyNinth players have taken a break for various reasons. A few have returned, but things are not how they left them. PriestyJenny and Mormir have changed guild tags to SycK to raid more with them. Bolg has taken on a leadership role within SycK and is now coordinating the raids. I've decided to step back and not raid right now. It was getting to frustrating and wasn't any fun. I've also had a lot of work things going on and haven't had the drive to come home and raid.

Titahn and Atrestra have a cute new baby girl; Alexis Skye. Gratz on making a noob! Remember, two is the new two, despite what c1as1c says.

This weekend the Orc Family is making a brief trip to Cedar to see my family. The plan is to be back in time to Settle Catan or something like that at Mathazar's place. Don't be fooled by the casualness, this is one of those "Guy's Night Out" sort of occurrence that happens once in a blue moon. So take advantage and come get your (board)game on!

[-F69-]bl00k

March has flown by. St. Patrick's day came and went so fast and now we are on the home stretch. Ashton's birthday is just a week away. One year already!

Blooklyn has acquired full tier 7.5 gear from Naxx 25 man. I'm pretty stoked for that. I've never had the top tier set until it was no longer the top tier. We are making more progress in Naxx 10 man. We have now cleared Spider, Military and Construct wings. I think we will start working on Plague this week. Also, we will be continuing Naxx on Sunday's instead of running VoA and OS.

I've reinstalled Company of Heroes and have been enjoying playing an RTS again. It would be cool to get some multiplayer games in if anyone has it. We could just play some coop against some CPU's so we don't get our feel bads hurt by getting spanked by real people online. Anyway, CoH is a great game if you like RTS's.

Last I just wanted to mention our friend EPiC. It has almost been a year since he left us. I still miss him, a lot. Time has dulled the pain quite a bit for me and when I think about him I think about all the good times we had. I think about him when I'm doing something that he would have liked doing too. I hope he gets to see what I'm doing and smile knowing that I'm thinking of him.

[-F69-]bl00k

It's been a while, but we are still here and going strong.

Our WoW exploits have included running Naxxramas in both 10 and 25 man raids. Another failed guild alliance with Mental Vacation has left me wondering if I'm chasing rainbows. Then out of pure random chance we fell in with some people that were putting together a Naxx 25 man PUG. A handful of F69ers made it in and we have been running weekly with them. The group leaders are from SycK and they are now considering us as guild allies with them. We haven't really done anything formal to establish what that "alliance" is, but they look to us first when filling their raid and it has been working out for both parties involved even if it isn't exactly like we would like to do things.

Left 4 Dead has some DLC coming our way this Spring which will add a new game mode called Survivor and finish off the two campaigns that didn't have Versus Mode by adding it to them. I was hoping for 2 All New campaigns, but I'll take what I can get. I love this game.

I still haven't had a LAN 4 Dead yet, but I'm hoping to do that at some point. I'm currently trying to split my game time between WoW, L4D, DoD:S, Bioshock, and TF2. Speaking of TF2; they just got the new Scout Update. I played a bit today but haven't unlocked anything yet. I try to be on XFire as much as possible when I game so if you want to join me feel free.

[-F69-]bl00k