BardicKnowledge

I found that FaN for Scout does still have a useful purpose -- allows for defensive harassment and spy-assisting. Just finished playing, and knocked a few pyros into the waiting knife of our spy...clears the point nicely in a pinch also (though admittedly not nearly as good as pyro's airblast).

Have a source for this, GT?

Newt and I are from STL, but I'd rather not have a bunch of people drop in on my dad. PosiBolt / other STL folks, any suggestions?

Bahamut, if for some reason you need someone to restart the server, I'll be around and am willing. lemme know.

That weekend works for me, Bahamut. The weekend of june 21 will not, as that's my wedding anniversary and reserved for my wife. Looking forward to it!

I love the music before and after the round -- especially during friendly-fire time. Keep it up!

The Meet the Spy video is amazing. "...and now he's here to fuck us!" <---hahahahaha

The OnLive idea sounds great for those people with lower-end PCs, assuming it works as advertised. I'll look forward to hearing more about it... I have high expectations for Nintendo this year, as they really sucked it up last time around. Hopefully there's a shocker awaiting us -- I'd love a new DKC game as well.

The only thing you'll have to give up is the basic cloak -- the sapper is not currently eligible to be swapped out. (Only the knife, gun, and watch are listed in the loadout)

Some rumors that the Spy update is secretly also coming out Tuesday were given some credibility by Valve, as they altered the Day 3 pic for a few minutes today, adding a cloaked spy behind the Sniper holding up the shield. In any case, one good suggestion for the Spy update is to trade out the Sapper for something. It's the most situational tool in the game, really -- and the only thing with a weapon-slot that can hurt only one class. I'd consider trading for something more combat worthy, especially since offensive Engineers don't require sapping as much...

If you want to get it out of your head, start listening to as many different covers of them as possible. There's an a cappella version of "Everything She Does is Magic" floating around somewhere, for starters...

Anyone here planning on getting Punchout day one? It's on my list, but I'm waiting until it's used, as I'll be getting Bionic Commando this month for the 360, which will take up plenty of my time.

*If you haven't seen any of the series, skip the rest of this.* I'm calling it now; we've already seen who the 6th "ranger" will be (assuming he gets Sentai powers to replace his own, which isn't neccessary). That's what's gotta happen to our half-human friend, eventually...too much time has been invested in him to just have him turn into a villain killed at the end of an episode.

What do people feel about the new maps? Arena maps are meh (though they both look good), but I'm loving the idea of an official dual-cart map. It'll make for interesting strategies, as we'll have to play offense and defense at the same time...

Brush, if you don't have specific people to get them, I'd love to have one. Lemme know!

Happy birthday, MechaFone! Do something exciting!

Agreed with the out-of-suit battles -- more of them now and then would be nice.

Haha, I'm glad I decided to check the thread. Looking forward to hearing the whole album!

Any word on progress towards this? I've heard from you (zircon) that you were looking into it.

I think that this will only prove that Pokemon hasn't evolved in any way since Gold/Silver. Having just played through the vast majority of Platinum (and I'm close enough that I will finish it soon), I've gotta say that I'm unimpressed with the series as it currently stands -- hopefully they find a way to do something new with the main RPG franchise.

Anyone still playing hardcore prior to the test realm going up? I'm going to spend the last 1.12 weeks playing HC.

I'd like to think that the "best" setup of classes is dynamic. For instance, someone who starts as engie and eventually loses his turret / dispenser combo might actually be better off switching to a different class, as he'll never have the time to rebuild a sentry on some maps. Also, no spies? I think that they'd be quite valuable in getting rid of snipers, at the very least.

Having won the GSO shirt from MAGFest (it's awesome -- thanks!), I figured I owe you guys at least a listen and review. First of all, congratulations to whoever is involved in managing the group. I can't begin to think of all of the logistical problems involved with getting this many people to show up, organize and coordinate performance sites, promote yourselves, etc. without (presumably) receiving the support that is given to official university ensembles. As to the actual piece and performance, I love the arrangement. The mix of slow and fast styles is excellent -- my only complaint is that I wish the final slow section would have been just a few clicks faster. There are some strings out of tune, especially noticeable at the beginning, but that's hard to be picky about because of the live performance. Kudos especially to the vocalist -- an excellent performance from her that's studio quality. One note: the performance recording I'm listening to sounds like it fails to capture the entire orchestra somehow. Are there sections that aren't recorded as well? Occasionally I lose track of a string section when the entire ensemble is playing. Thanks for getting this on OCR -- if I'm ever in Maryland (I have inlaws in DC, so it's certainly possible) when you have a show, I'll be in your audience.

Rats -- I liked arena_greek. Nice, small, and symmetrical -- are there other arena maps that are set out in a similar fashion?

At this point, I think either STL or Champaign-Urbana are ideal, as there are people to host in both places. I'd prefer Champaign because I like visiting UIUC, but don't really care either way.