Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Join A Clan...TODAY!

Have you ever noticed that the word TEAM is in the name of Team Fortress 2? Undoubtably you have at one time or another. But have you ever thought about it?

Many modern day multiplayer first-person shooters, such as Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4 tote strong clan followings. When you get into the nitty-gritty of those games you realize that they are just as fun whether you go solo or with your friends.

But Team Fortress 2 is much different. As the name suggests, Valve created this game for teams. The more organized your team is, the more fun you have. Sure, griefing is cool for awhile, but eventually all players yearn for the white-knuckle action of two evenly matched teams duking it out.

And what better way to ensure you have these types of games than to join a clan?



For those of you who are already playing Team Fortress 2 a lot, this would barely entail a lifestyle change. For those of you that are new to the game or fear you suck too much to be on a clan, don't worry. Playing in the competitive scene is probably the best way to get good quick.

I have two websites for you to look at if you are considering this matter. The first of the two, TF2 Laddder, has been in my suggested links for a long time, and handles the 8v8 clans. The other is a more recent website, named TF2 360, which handles the 6v6 clans.

Now, you might be thinking, “Neal Kenneth, you aren’t even in a clan!” The truth is, there ARE reasons in the world not to be in a clan, though few and far-between. I cannot commit to a clan because of my erratic playing schedule. Sometimes I go for weeks without playing, than I am on LIVE for five days straight. Any clan willing to take in that kind of member probably isn’t worth joining.

Other than that, the only other legitimate excuse for not being in a clan would be that you aren’t willing to spend $10 on another crappy Microsoft headset.

Good gaming!

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By the way, the above photo is from Ubercharged.net's excellent competitive guide already in progress. Even if you are already in a clan, I suggest you take a look.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The 10/10 Project

I don't know what I was thinking when I made the last poll. I yawn everytime I read it, and it made me have writer's block for some time. The question was "Which of These Actions Do You Find Acceptable?"

Final Poll Results
82% (318 votes) Sapping Telepoter Entrances
30% (117 votes) Spawn Camping
27% (107 votes) Class Stacking
17% (68 votes) Using the Developer Console
10% (41 votes) None Are Acceptable Actions
3% (13 votes) Skywalking
2% (11 votes) Glitching Through Walls

It appears as though 82% of you disagree with me on the subject of Sapping Teleporter Entrances. I had even written a heated article about it for Ubercharged.net when I was a fledgling author. But you know what? Do you know why it doesn't matter? BECAUSE VALVE AGREES WITH ME.

In that article, with the assistance of Tim M and Wiser Guy, I came to the conclusion that Sappers should be removable from either end of a Teleporter. And if you look closely at the list of changes in the recent Classless Update, you'll see that VALVE AGREES WITH ME, B****ES!



Now onto other things.

When I wrote this poll, I thought that few (or none) of the readers would possibly decide that using the Developer Console was okay. To my suprise, 17% of you did. I wondered how this could possibly be until I found this thread, followed by this video.

Basically, a group of dedicated modders were working to bring the Payload Mode to Dustbowl. In my book, that makes them heroes. As far as I can tell, Microsoft is the thing that would stand in the way of this. I have a feeling Valve would tell us how to do this (and hold our hands on the way), such is their stance on free content.

But you guys who said Glitching Through Walls and Skywalking were acceptable are pulling my leg, right? I admit I put those two in as a joke.

Speaking of jokes, what the hell is this? Community gamer smellsam44 posted a thread about me ragequitting a Sniper-only match, which is entirely true. smellsam44 killed me with a crit Kukri and I rage quitted. Big deal, right?

Apparently not. smellsam44 proceeded to write a thread about it in the Steam User's Forums. No harm done, right? Just a little story, bro?

Apparently not. I have never seen a community get so defensive before about something so trivial. I couldn't care less if smellsam44 decided to post such a story. I find it funny, but the rest of you didn't. It went on for three pages, during which it was agreed upon that I was a terrible player and that smellsam44 was a terrible person.

I don't agree with either of these. smellsam44 had a tale to tell, and it was a fun one. On the other hand, smellsam44's insistance that I was a worse player than him leaves me no other option. smellsam44, if you are reading this, I challenge you to a 1v1 match on Well or Granary, in which it will be decided whom is the better player.

Anyway, what about updates for the Xbox 360 version of Team Fortress 2?



Furthermore, why doesn't Valve make a thread as cool as this one for Xbox users now?

That is where The 10/10 Project comes in. This is, by far, the most ambitious idea to come to Xbox 360 players since my very own petition.

As you know if you are reading this, the petition was somewhat successful. With the help of 625 signatures, I was able to coax Valve into releasing an update to us Xbox 360 gamers. But I am convinced that the 10/10 Project is even better. Instead of a long list of names and one e-mail, why not a long list of e-mails?

The plan is to have Valve give out information by October 10th, 2009, the second birthday of The Orange Box. Obviously, this requires a form letter, created by community leader Frymon, which I present to you now.

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Title of e-mail: You Choose one.

Dear Mr. Newell/Walker/Lombardi,

I am writing to you out of concern of Team Fortress 2's XBox360's port, I play this game [as much as I can/Often/Sometimes/Never because of the bugs] and I was wondering if you have any news about the update?

I am a member of the 10/10 Project. (http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...d.php?t=939754) This is a fast-growing XBox360 Only group that is dedicated to get information about the XBox360 Update.

Henceforth, here is my request to you and your company, to answer the pleas of the XBox360 community, I am asking you to release information about the XBox360 Update in a blog post on www.teamfortress.com by The Orange Box's 2nd birthday, October 10th, 2009 (10/10/09) or sooner.

The community does not want much, but, we are VALVe customers and as such, I think we deserve at least a bit of news about our Update, not small things plugged into an update every 6 months.

Thank you for your time,
[Your Name Here]

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The plan is to send them all in on August 20th, 2009, but if you don't read this until after that date, send it in anyway. If you have any other questions, ask them here. Good luck to us all!

In the meantime, you can vote in the new poll or watch The 10/10 Project's official video.