Astronomer

Good job, and good choices on the "to go" and oldies to make an encore.

Note: That's him with the white beard in my .sig picture. Deerhunter's the one with the glasses.

Welcome to the clan Belted! It's amazing how paths can diverge...about a decade ago when we started playing FPS's online together, I used to be pretty good, in comparison, but as we got older, Belted just kept getting better and better...and I just slowly got worse (or everyone else got better and I stayed at the same level). Belted's a kick-ass player, humble, helpful as hell, and is just an all-around nice guy. And he joins >XI<. What a fucking Idiot!!!

What Merlin said! It's the whole customization and ability to create your own servers that makes the games fresh. This whole push to monetize every last add-on and scrap comes directly from the closed console model. That shit just does not translate well to the PC world where user customization has always been a part of the whole FPS genre.

Found this at http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/modern-warfare-3-details-leak/ Details on the next Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 3, have not just leaked onto the internet, they have flooded. Among other details, a November 8 release date was released. According to the a report coming from Kotaku, what was just a month ago among the best kept secrets of the gaming industry—details on the next Call of Duty game—has just become anything but. Activision has been playing its card close to its vest with the next entry in the annual franchise. Last March, it would have been a no-brainer to declare the 2011 Call of Duty to be Modern Warfare 3. Since 2006, the series has alternated between the original developer Infinity Ward, who are also responsible for the Modern Warfare games, and Treyarch, who finally left the WWII setting behind with last year’s Black Ops. It just made sense that Modern Warfare 3 would be the next installment, but then Activision gutted Infinity Ward, and the lawsuits began. Activision then brought in other developers, including Sledgehammer and Raven, to help create more Call of Duty titles, and it vowed to keep Infinity Ward open. That ensured the future of the franchise in general, but it didn’t address the immediate plans for the coming installment. But still, even with Infinity Ward losing its founders and roughly one-third of its staff, the work they had already begun on the next Call of Duty put their project further ahead of any other studio working on Call of Duty. Treyarch will likely return next year with a new entry, while Sledgehammer and Raven’s plans haven’t been announced yet. Yet, no official announcement on Modern Warfare 3 has been given. It made sense that it was coming, and in keeping with tradition it would be released in November, but that is all we knew, and that all came from educated guesses. But now, if the article from Kotaku is correct, not only has Modern Warfare 3 been unofficially confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt, the entire story line of the single player game, and details on the multiplayer have been leaked as well. First, the multiplayer will feature several maps from around the world, as well as the return of the Spec Ops missions. A new Spec Ops “survival” mode is also listed. The maps and the mission names are listed below: Multiplayer Maps Alpha Alps Bootleg Bravo Brooklyn Carbon Coast Dome Exchange Hardhat Interchange Lambeth Meteora Mogadishu Paris Plaza 2 Radar Seatown Underground Village Spec Ops Modes Survival Carbon Dome Radar Seatown Village Mission Civilian Rescue Flood the Market Invisible Threat Little Bro’s Out of Africa No Fly Zone Wing Man The inclusion of 20 multiplayer maps is incredible—so much so that many of them will almost certainly be cut. They may have simply been test maps that never worked, or they may be packaged and sold later. They may even be pre-order bonuses, but regardless, it seems unlikely that Activision would release that many maps when they have seen so much success with the sales of additional map packs. As for the story, Kotaku has all the details. Literally, all the details, including who will live and die. The link will take you to the full story, which is spoiler intensive. So much so that you may actually want to avoid it, unless you just don’t like to be surprised by a game’s storyline. You have been warned. The basics are that the game will pick up immediately after the cliffhanger-ish ending of Modern Warfare 2. As Price and Soap are busy hunting Makarov around the world, a Russian force invades Manhattan. Two new characters, “Frost” and “Sandman” are introduced, and the fight rages around the globe over 15 missions (that could change though), eventually concluding in Dubai. The game will feature a storyline where the world is on the brink of a total crisis. As such, you will fight through rural, wilderness and urban landscapes, including New York, Paris and London. Destructible environments will be a new addition to the series, and there will be several vehicles that are usable as you try to stop the coming of the next full blown world war. The game is also set for a November 8 release, which is right in line with the last few games. Again though, this is all still unconfirmed. That doesn’t mean that Kotaku is wrong—in fact they have so many details it is almost certain that they are dead on—but it means that the game is still not complete. Levels could be removed, and sections could be totally reworked before the actual release. For now though, it appears that the speculation can end, and in November we will have the next Modern Warfare title in our hands.

Played WAW-Nam freezetag tonight, and all was smooth as butter. Temperatures were very cool. Next up: Overclock to 3.6Ghz on air cooling (no problem on my last mobo) and let it run for a couple of weeks, then ease it up to the 4.0-4.2 range. It's very doable - I ran 4.0Ghz for almost two months on the old board before an instability cascade made me run back to stock settings. For the next couple of nights it'll be installing all my apps then taking a snapshot of the disk image and storing it on Server #2. This time I'll verify the image so that I know for sure that I can restore it If I need to...(looks like there is a known bug in my version of Acronis Backup that leads to errors when restoring from the emergency backup disk. Time to upgrade.)

I was wondering that too Venery, but before the current harddrive there were intermittant isues with the USB, and cascading instability issues (both before overclocking during the overclock period, and after returning it to normal settings). Bumping up to a beefier power supply helped a bit, but the system was a bit cranky from day one. We'll see with the new mobo. It's a tried-and-true (meaning older design) ASUS P5N-D. I got this one because most socket 775 boards avaialble locally are the smaller form-factor with only 2 memory slots, and I need 4. It's all set up now and I'm installing critical apps (CODWAW, TeamSpeak...) now. I did have a couple of minor glitches, but then I remembered to install the motherboard drivers. That fixed them. The dreaded BSOD scared the crap outta me! Bullwink: I've arranged an audition for you at YukYuks. Let's see if you can pass the heckle test! Cheers, - Astronomer

New MOBO acquired and successfully installed. Software installation of everything has begun. The restore disk for my backup failed, so there's a bit of manual installing to get going with. Let the CD/DVD shuffle begin....

Hi guys, My motherboard looks like it's pooched. I've had some issues recently booting past the BIOS level; issues since day one with USB etc; recently it's been really slow loading apps (5 minutes for FireFox). I tried running my Acronis backup disk, but it failed at a Kernel Panic error (Linux based. Kernel Panic usually means a hardware-level failure); running the backup from Windows 7 ended in failure as well. System is no longer bootable, and even trying to recover the boot sector from Win7 disk ends in failure. No $$ for a whole new system, so it looks like I'll have to get a new MOBO and hope for the best. No games for me for a couple of weeks, unless my wife lets me use her dual-core gaming-quality laptop... Hopefully see you in the games ina week or two or three... - A Cranky Astronomer

Geez Bullwink, what makes you think that I'd dis yer brat...errr...your misbegotten hell-child....ummmm...I mean, your spawn of Satan...uhhhh....oh well, you know that I like...nope...scratch that...I respect him....nahhhh...that's not it. It'll come to me. Ah shit, if he wants praise, all he has to do is listen to himself as he plays the game! Welcome to the Idiots board Andrew. You'll fit right in! (To his credit, he figured out how to shut off that annoying crackle in WAW Freeze-tag, so he's not a complete idiot.)

Good designs. #3 works best for me. It kind of has a challenge, has the logo, and a place to go to check us out. Definitely the best of the bunch. Well done sir!

I've had the honour of playing FPS's with the smelly moose for several years now - him and his brat kid and idiot brothers. :-) Welcome to the Idiots, Danny-boy. I hope the embarrassing rash clears up soon and that the blue pills work on that other issue. Sincerely, - Astronomer.

Oh Shamu, words fail me right now. I'm so sincerely sorry for your loss. My thoughts are with you and your family at this most difficult time. Know that many of your online friends are grieving with you.

I...I...I..That is...ummm...errr...I...What I mean is...uhhhhh....hmmmm...of course...ohhh...ahhhhh...Hey! anyone see the last Bruins-Canadiens game...!!!

Astronomer Labob Would that work on admin sounds ?? Not sure what you mean...? D'oh! Not only am I an idiot, I'm a sloooowwww idiot! LOL

Labob Would that work on admin sounds ?? Not sure what you mean...?

A non->XI< member, a buddy of mine, Cplah, figured out how to get rid of the annoying crackling sound. When in the game, go to Options/Sound/Voice Volume. Turn Voice Volume all the way down and the crackling is gone. You also lose the automatic "Grenade Going In!" and other game-generated voices. PLAYER CHAT IS UNAFFECTED. Cheers, - Astronomer

I got choked up watching that. What a story.

Monty Python hands down. John Cleese is one of the best physical comedians of all time, and Michael Palin is just insanely funny. As a troupe, they were (and are) unmatched in their collective brilliance.

Thanks for the info Dirk.

COD World At War.

Looks like it's not just me. Another XI'er is having connection issues as well. Maybe the AVG issue was coincidental.

Hi all. When I launch the game I get a "Cannot Connect to Online Service" error. The only thing that I can think of as a cause is that my AVG flagged a PB file as Malware. I assumed (and still do) that it was a false-positive and I told AVG to allow it to continue. My guess is that AVG did something to the file. I then deleted the file and updated my PC. The updater said all files were updated and no changes were necessary. I rebooted, but I'm still getting the same connection problem. Any suggestions?

Great win, ya bastards! the games were a freaking blast. I laughed my head off! Thanks to Chile for organizing it!

It's about time you showed up here Mr. Ted! You've been kicking my butt in FPS's for about a decade now. Here's to another decade of thrashing me on the XI servers. Time for you to come out of the closet and declare yourself a proud Idiot! LOL!