Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead 2.

Looks like there's still a few people around, so clan night at the usual time tonight. Braaaaiiiiiinnnsss.

Clan night tonight. 9pm PT. Left 4 Dead 2.

Starting a little later tonight since my family is in town.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead 2.

Sorry for the late post. Crazy couple of days. We'll start with Hard Rain on Versus tonight.

Halo: Reach World Premier

A teaser cutscene was released at the Spike Video Game Awards last night and shows some footage of Halo: Reach which is due out next year. Everyone who bought ODST will be invited to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta, so you should have some interest at least. Sadly, the trailer looks to be just a cutscene with no in-game footage. But based on Bungie past precedence, this is all ostensibly rendered using the game engine itself, which looks pretty solid. Check it out here.

Finally, #1

It's taken several years, but I have finally surpassed FishBone10 in achievement points to claim the #1 spot in the clan. FishBone10 has 21,786 points from 86 games (253 pts/game). I now have 21,835 points from 43 games (508 pts/game). w00t!

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead 2.

We'll be starting on Dark Carnival and will continue on Hard Rain if there is time.

Xbox 360 Hardware Failures

Despite it supposedly being based on the newer and much more reliable "Falcon" platform, my latest Xbox 360 Elite (purchased 9/08) has failed with the Red Ring of Death (RRoD). This just a few weeks after OmniscientDeath's Xbox 360 Elite failed with the E74 error (previously blogged about here and here). If this happens to you, there a couple of options.

Option 1: Microsoft. Microsoft has extended the warranty for these two specific issues to 3 years from the date of purchase. You can go to the website and process a return painlessly and relatively quickly. It's free of charge, costs nothing upfront, and a new Xbox is generally delivered to your doorstep in 2-4 weeks.

Option 2: Best Buy Product Replacement Plan. Some of you may still have the "old" PRP in effect. Typically costs 15-20% of the purchase price up front and lasts for 2 years. You can choose at any time to exchange your Xbox 360 for a new one for any reason (broken or not), or receive original purchase price back. This has proven to be lucrative as Xboxes have dropped in price, meaning that you have been able to get new hardware every two years with the price drop typically covering the cost of a new PRP and then some. Service can be requested over the phone or in store.

Option 3: Best Buy Geek Squad Black Tie Protection (Gadgets and Gizmos). This has replaced the old PRP and has significant differences from the PRP for E74 and RRoD failures. Specifically for these two failures, Best Buy will not do anything over the phone, instead referring you directly to Microsoft...i.e., the plan is worthless. If you bring your Xbox into the store, they will verify the error and then handle it via "Rapid Exchange." In short, this means they send your Xbox off-site for service, and then a refurbished one is sent back to the store in a few weeks. This is the exact same service as from Microsoft, except that it costs money, and your console is shipped to a Best Buy store instead of to your house. If you manage to get four Rapid Exchanges in the two year service period, then they will replace your Xbox with a new one or give you "fair market value" in a gift card. i.e., you will not get purchase price back like with the old PRP, you will get whatever the Xbox is worth at the time.

For those of you that got conned into buying the new Gadgets and Gizmos service plan, I recommend not telling the customer service agent what the problem is if you have an E74 or RRoD problem. If you are more vague and say "it freezes" or "won't boot" instead, they more often than not will not try to reproduce it and will just give you a new Xbox to take home instead of the stupid Rapid Exchange process. You can keep your old hard drive, but they will keep the new hard drive themselves in that case.

Dark Carnival Next Week

We'll be starting with Dark Carnival in Versus mode for clan night next week if you want to know which maps you should be learning. If there is time (as there has been the last two weeks), we'll play a second round on Hard Rain.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead 2.

We'll be starting on the Swamp Fever level for Versus fun.

Top Black Friday Deal for this Clan

For those of you haven't hit the retail centers yet, here's some incentive:

1. Left 4 Dead 2 at Best Buy for $34.99, in-store only remaining
   
2. Left 4 Dead 2 at Amazon.com for $39.99 with free shipping
   
3. Halo 3 ODST at Best Buy for $39.99 with free shipping

Gobble gobble.

Swamp Fever Next Week

For next week's clan night, we'll be playing Swamp Fever first. This gives you some time over the holiday to play and learn the maps.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. L4D2.

As posted yesterday, clan night tonight will start with Versus on the Dead Center campaign.

Dead Center This Week

For those of you wondering how to invest your time practicing, we'll be starting Versus on Dead Center in L4D2 for clan night this week. This is your 36 hour notification. Go learn the map.

ODST Road to Recon

If you've looked in your Xbox Live inbox lately, you may have noticed that I have finished the Road to Recon and unlocked the coveted Halo 3 Recon Armor. Far and away the hardest achievement in this quest is Vidmaster: Endure which requires completion of the Firefight 4th set on Heroic difficulty with four players. The recommended map for this achievement is Alpha Site due to its strategic geometry, but it's still really hard and takes over 2 hours to complete. The 4th set activates the Mythic and Famine skulls, in addition to almost every other skull available. That means enemies are extra hard to kill, they all have shields, and ammo is extremely scarce. Completing this requires precision team work and smart kills using ALL the tips outlined in previously in this blog. You must use the correct weaponry on each specific enemy, or you will waste ammo, run out, and be left defenseless. In my opinion, one of the leading indicators of how effective a player is in Firefight is their points per kill stat. This stat is higher for players who are streakier (Killing Spree), get harder kills (Brute Chieftain), get better kills (headshots), get kills on higher difficulties (Heroic) and with more skulls activated (Mythic). Here's some key stats for the active players in the clan. Useful for picking Firefight team mates and looking for ways to improve your own game. Leave a comment here if you're looking for folks to play with. OmniscientDeath and myself are up for gaming most nights of the week after 10pm.

Left 4 Dead 2 Weapon and Items Primer

Since most people will be jumping in cold for clan night tonight, here's a few tips from my midnight play testing to help you get started.

Pistols: L4D2 has the familiar single and dual pistols from the first game, but also introduces the single-wield only Magnum (pictured). Though the Magnum deals 120% more damage per round than the regular pistol and has longer range, my recommendation for pistol users is to still go with dual-wielded regular pistols. The overall damage per second of dual pistols is 54% higher than a single Magnum.

SMGs: There are tier-1 SMGs available in the game, the regular Uzi and the silenced MAC-10. They are very similar, but the silenced SMG is slightly superior. It can be spotted by the large silencer barrel on the front.

Assault Rifles: There are three ARs available in the game, the standard rifle (based on the M16), the "desert rifle" (based on the SCAR) and the AK-47. The M16 has the highest continuous rate of fire, the desert rifle fires in continuous 3-shot bursts, and the AK-47 deals out the most damage and damage per second. All three weapons are very effective, but the AK-47 is probably the best of the three in this game. It can be identified on the ground by its distinctive banana clip. Players should be careful when grabbing ARs, especially the M16, because the the HK41 sniper rifle looks very similar.

Shotguns: There are actually two tier 1 shotguns and two tier 2 shotguns in the game. The tier 1 shotguns come in standard pump action and "chrome" variants, both are nearly identical and just like the ones from L4D1. Tier 2 offers the familiar "auto shotgun" and a new "combat shotgun" based on the SPAS12. These can be identified by their pistol grip configurations, the combat shotgun found with no shoulder stock. Both tier 2 shotguns function nearly identically and both are good choices for shotgun users. They deal massive and fast damage but trade-off longish reload times. Easily the weapon of choice for Tanks.

Sniper guns: There are two sniper rifles available in L4D2, both function very similarly with the new "sniper rifle" holding more ammo. That's almost irrelevant though, because ammo is rarely a concern for snipers. Players should be careful when grabbing ARs, especially the M16, because the the HK41 sniper rifle looks very similar.

Melee weapons: There are several new melee weapons in L4D2, including the baseball bat, cricket bat, nightstick, crowbar, electric guitar, fireaxe, frying pan, katana, machete and tonfa. They function fairly similarly, with the guitar, fireaxe, frying pan and katana dealing the most damage per blow. Surprisingly, the frying pan deals the most damage over time since it has the fastest animation and re-fire speed. It can most often be found in kitchens. Note that a melee weapon replaces your pistol, so is not a great choice for pistol users, but is good for those who often run out of ammo because they prefer not to use the infinite ammo pistol.

Special weapons: There are at least two special weapons available in the chainsaw and the grenade launcher. Neither are reloadable, but both are *extremely* satisfying to use. I recommend enjoying the carnage that they can deal out. Achievements are available for both special weapons.

Items: L4D2 brings back pipe bombs, molotovs, health packs, and pain pills. It also adds Boomer Bile (which attracts the horde to the space or object hit), adrenaline (which makes you do run and perform actions faster) and defib units (which allow you to revive dead players). Team coordination and item choice becomes even more important now. Boomer Bile is a "thrown item" and goes in the same space as pipe bombs or molotovs. Adrenaline shares a space with pain pills, and defib units share a space with health packs. You can only care only item in each space.

Weapon upgrades: Finally, there are three weapon upgrades available to the survivors - Incendiary ammunition, explosive ammunition, and laser sight. They pretty much do what they say they do. I've only seen the laser sight in practice, which attaches to the gun you put it on - does not transfer between weapons if you pick up a new gun. They appear on the level in weapon crates like the image pictured on the left.

Clan night tonight. Left 4 Dead 2. 8pm PT.

Standard clan time. New clan game. Expect 4v4 Versus on The Parish. That's the campaign that has been available in the demo for a few weeks now, so those that did their homework will have an advantage on day 1. Braaaaaains.

As usual with L4D clan games, first 8 folks in get to play. If you join late, I will try to message or chat with you to give you some idea of when availability might open up. But if I ignore you, it is because we are totally full and unlikely to be adding anybody soon.

Left 4 Dead 2 Releases Tonight

The highly anticipated sequel the brain munching fun of last year's game drops at midnight tonight. My local Gamestop will be doing a midnight release, but according to Valve, some stores may be releasing it as early as 9pm PT. Check with your local dealer for details. I'll most likely be on for a bit playing around in the game to check it out if you'd like to join in.

Captured at BeerMonkeee's house

Explains why his headsets never seem to work. Click for huge. Reposted from Hawty McBloggy.

No clan night tonight

A bunch of people are out, and I have the flu. L4D2 drops in 7 days, leave a comment here if you have an opinion on what we should play next week.

Grifball Double EXP Weekend is Live

Grifball is back. Good time to get some achievements.

Left 4 Dead 2 Demo

If you had any doubts about whether or not to get L4D2, a demo was just released so you can try it out ahead of time. I've already pre-ordered my copy.

Click her to download to your Xbox directly.

Clan night tonight. 8:30pm PT. Halo 3/ODST

Sorry for the delayed start time the past couple of weeks. I have a new (slow) customer in China and we have calls from 7-8pm PT. As they get smarter, I should be able to bring clan night back to 8pm. If you're going to participate in clan night, please try to be on-time. These are the kind of game types we can play with the number of people on-line:

1. Pocket pool
2. ODST campaign
3. Firefight 200k Slow
   
4. Firefight 200k Fast, Endure, Deja Vu
5. Social Slayer, Social Skirmish, Team Mythic
6. Ranked Big Squad
7. Social Big Team
8. Social Big Team, Team Mythic for Achievements, 2x Firefight

They are all fun game types, but game types for 4 and 8 players are the most popular. That means when we have 5-7 players, we're always trying to get to 4 or 8. We don't want to kick people out of the party if we have 5 players, so it's better if the 3 players who sign on late get on-line on-time so we can have 8 at the same time.

Halo Waypoint

There will be an update coming out to the Xbox Live dashboard later this week. It includes support for Facebook, Twitter, Zune, as well as Halo Waypoint. I've been playing with these features for about a week now in the Beta test program and they're pretty cool. The Facebook app has a really slick photos interface that is actually cleaner than the native photo interface on the Facebook website. Halo Waypoint is a cool new destination for all things Halo and includes a bunch of "Waypoint Achievements." While these aren't new achievements for your gamerscore, they are based on the in-game achievements from Halo 3, Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST. Unlocking Waypoint Achievements leads to Avatar awards. You can check out my avatar on Xbox Live to see what's available. As you can see from the in-set graphic, I've already maxed out my Waypoint career, but presumably, most of you will have things you can still unlock when Waypoint goes live for the world.

Clan night tonight. 9pm PT. Halo 3: ODST

Note the slightly later start time. 9pm kids.

No official clan night tonight

Local event conflict, so no official clan night tonight. Would be a good night to sync up ad-hoc for some ODST Firefight. Here are gamertags to look for tonight:

• Beer4Porter
• darknorpo
• FishBone10
• MEAN MR MONKEY
• Mean Mrs Monkey
• Octurian Poon
• UnsavorySamurai

If any of these are not on your friends list, I recommend you add them. Feel free to use the comments section on this post to try and pre-coordinate a meet up time.

Fiesta Double EXP Weekend

For those of you who missed out on your achievements last weekend with Grifball, there's another opportunity to mop up some achievements this weekend with Fiesta Double EXP weekend. It's a FFA playlist that requires the Mythic disk with Slayer, King, Oddball and Juggernaut gametypes. Some of the achievements that should be relatively attainable this weekend:

• Vidmaster Challenge: Lightswitch - Got the rank of Lieutenant in any playlist in the new EXP progression system.
• Killtacular - On a Mythic map, got a Killtacular during a ranked or social match.
• ... Get the Horns - On a Mythic map, got a Bulltrue medal during a ranked or social match.
• Blades of Fury - On Heretic, got a Sword Spree during a ranked or social match.
• Ghost Patrol - On Longshore, got 3 kills with a Ghost during a ranked or social match.
• Awww, Too Bad - On a Mythic map, got a Killjoy medal during a ranked or social match.
• Pull - On Citadel, get a Shotgun Spree during any ranked or social match.
• Alas, Poor Yorick - On a Legendary map, get 3 Oddball melee kills during any ranked or social match.
• Hammer Time - On Assembly, get 5 Hammer kills during any ranked or social match.
• Save This Film - On a Mythic map, get a Perfection medal during any ranked or social match.

Vidmaster Challenge: Deja Vu

Some of us are working on this achievement. Here's a pretty good video walking through how to get it.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Halo 3: ODST.

Happy anniversary to Mean Mr. and Mrs. Monkey. If they choose to spend their anniversary gaming, it's their choice of game types.

Piff! Paff! Puff!

Re-posted from Hawty McBloggy:

Halo fanatic John, better known in the gaming world as gtdroptop, loves his video games, so much in fact that he often coordinates his schedule around many of the bigger releases. Needless to say neither John nor his wife were surprised when their doctor informed them their baby girl was conceived on September 24, 2007 (which, not so coincidentally, was the day before Halo 3 launched). His friends are more than aware of, and equally share, his dedication to gaming so close buddy OmniscientDeath got the brilliant idea of making him special birthday treats that reflect that passion. Crafted primarily from butter, marsh-mallows, and annoyingly vocal breakfast cereal, these delectable Xbox 360 controller-shaped Rice Krispies treats feature M&Ms for buttons and upside down Hershey’s Kisses for thumbsticks. Hopefully they didn’t eat these suckers while they were actually gaming though. Otherwise their controllers may be even stickier than normal.

Covenant Vehicles

You will encounter several different varieties of Covenant in each Firefight match. Each one has its strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness. Some levels have vehicles that appear, here's a detailed breakdown of the different ships:

The Phantom dropship is the Covenant equivalent of a Pelican and transports big groups of infantry. It can also deploy Hunters, Ghosts and Wraiths. The Phantom has a main plasma turret in front, and two smaller turrets manned by Grunts or Brutes on either side. The recommendation is to take cover when Phantoms are in bound. Their turrets are devastating, and can destroy vehicles as well as destructible cover. Though they can be killed in Campaign, they are indestructible in Firefight, so there's no point in wasting ammo on them. The Grunts or Brutes in the turrets can be killed, and the main turret can be taken out with a Spartan laser. The ship itself can not be destroyed, and no other troops inside the body of the Phantom can be hurt until they leave the ship. The only time it makes sense to try and take out the turret is during the Bonus Round on Lost Platoon where the Grunts are deployed underneath it and it doesn't leave. In this case, you have to take out the turret to be able to get at the Grunts. The only other time it makes sense to not immediately take cover is on Alpha Site if the Phantom is deploying troops on the landing pad. In that instance, you can attack the landing infantry from the cover of a fairly small doorway without taking fire from the turret. Phantoms are not worth any points even if you do manage to find a way to kill it.

The Wraith is the main Covenant battle tank. It has an anti-air variant, but that does not appear in Firefight. The regular Wraith lobs huge balls of plasma across long distances and can cover the entire battlefield. On a level like Security Zone, the Wraiths will zero in on anybody camping a stationary turret and kill them almost instantly. Though they do not have to be killed to pass a wave, it is recommended that you try and take them out because of the massive damage they inflict and the general chaos caused by plasma bombs. One Spartan laser shot will usually kill them, as well as a two human rockets. The Fuel Rod cannon is not incredibly effective. Without large weapons, Wraiths can also be boarded and killed with a single grenade. They do come with a Brute in the turret however, so it can be tricky for a single player to get close enough to a Wraith to board it. Two players can play diversion and attack more effectively. Using an overcharged plasma pistol is a very effective way of immobilizing the Wraith so that an ODST on foot can catch it. It can be boarded from either the front or the back. The Wraiths in Halo 3 ODST can not be commandeered for your own use.

The Covenant Ghost is a light attack vehicle with two plasma cannons in front and a turbo boost mode that is very effective at splattering enemies and escaping from trouble. In Halo 3 ODST, it is piloted by Grunts or Brutes. When Ghosts appear, you are not generally required to kill them to pass the wave. They can be commandeered for use and are good for splattering otherwise difficult to kill enemies. They can be killed with any heavy weapon quickly, can be flipped using a Brute Shot, can be stuck with grenades, but are pretty resilient against light arms like the pistol, SMG, plasma guns, etc. The driver is fairly exposed however, and can be taken out with light arms. Like all vehicles, an overcharged plasma pistol shot will immobilize it. In vehicle to vehicle combat, the Ghost will lose out in head-on collisions with any other vehicle that appears in Halo 3 ODST.

The Brute Chopper is a heavier armored attack vehicle that appears on Lost Platoon. It is virtually indestructible from the front due to its massive armor, but is pretty well exposed in the back. It has very poor maneuverability, but it's two front cannons can take out anything on thet map. Its massive front wheel will also mow down anything it splatters. It can not ram a Wraith successfully on its own, but it will drive right through a Warthog, Ghost, turret or any infantry. The best way to take out Brute Choppers is in a Warthog by getting behind it. The Warthog is much more maneuverable so you can zoom past a Chopper and do a handbrake turn to spin around well before the Chopper can react. Brute Choppers can be commandeered and can be very effective.

The last enemy vehicle that appears in Firefight is the Covenant Banshee. It appears on Alpha Site and is little more than a nuisance. It can not be commandeered, can not be boarded, and is not a required kill to finish each wave. It is piloted by a Brute, has two plasma cannons as well as a fuel rod cannon that it can use to launch plasma bombs. It is very difficult, though not impossible, to kill with light arms fire. It is too maneuverable to kill with most heavy weapons. It can be killed with the Spartan laser, but the laser does not appear on Alpha Site. The best way to take out Banshees is with a **mounted** missile pod. Though it only takes two missiles to kill a Banshee, they are very evasive in Firefight, so it may take 10-15 missiles to actually hit it. A detached missile pod only holds 8 and then doesn't respawn until the next round. When the Banshee is flying over the chasm, it can be killed by disabling it with an overcharged plasma pistol shot and letting it fall into the abyss.

Covenant Support Troops

You will encounter several different varieties of Covenant in each Firefight match. Each one has its strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness. Besides basic infantry and Brutes, there are some other characters to be aware of:

Drones (or buggies) are deployed in packs of 10 or more and are difficult to track down because they buzz around in the air erratically. They do not wear armor and can be killed with a single headshot, but it is difficult to do so because they are so mobile. Their bodies can take a decent amount of damage, so a pack of drones can chew up ammo quickly. Precision weapons (human pistol, Covenant carbine, sniper rifles) are generally ineffective because of the headshot difficulty. Heavy weapons (Fuel Rod, rocket launcher, laser) are ineffective because they are fast moving and there's too many. The silenced SMG and plasma rifle are your best handheld weapons, but given the choice, a mounted machine gun turret is easily the best option. Standard Drones carry plasma pistols. Drones can also come in the leader variety, which have a different armor color and carry the Covenant carbine. Drone Leaders are a good deal harder to kill, and effectively invulnerable when protected by an Engineer.

That brings us to Engineers. Engineers only appear in Firefight on Chasm Ten. You can always tell an Engineer is somewhere nearby because all the Covenant will suddenly appear shiny from their Overshields. The Engineers provide this shield to allies nearby, but it has a limited effective radius, so you can usually guess where the Engineer is. It floats in the air and will tend to drift away from fire. It can take massive amounts of damage from all weapons before it dies. The fastest way to kill an Engineer is with a single overcharged plasma pistol shot. One shot is all it takes, except when the harder skulls are on. At most, it should only take two overcharged plasma shots. When an engineer is present, you should make that your #1 priority because it makes all other enemies several orders of magnitude harder to kill. Some are effectively impossible. Engineers do not carry weapons, but they do eject exploding shrapnel when they die, so be aware.

Hunters appear on every Firefight level. They are deployed more as mobile tanks than as heavy infantry. They carry a plasma weapon similar to the Fuel Rod cannon that is permanently attached to their right arm. They also have a double lunge attack that can be devastating and is difficult to sidestep because of the secondary backswing attack after the first lunge. Their heavy armor and shield makes them impervious to most weapons. They do have a weaker area in back represented by the orange coloring on their mid-back. On lower levels, two plasma grenades or 2-4 human sniper rounds to this area will kill a Hunter. 1-1 on however, it is difficult to expose a Hunter's backside, so it's best to take them on teams of 2. On higher levels, it may take several grenades and signficant ammo to take one down. For Hunters, the best weapons are the human rocket launcher or Spartan laser, when available. Because their weapon is permanently attached, they do not drop anything when killed.

Covenant Brutes

You will encounter several different varieties of Covenant in each Firefight match. Each one has its strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness. Brutes are prevalent in the Halo 3: ODST story line, and are the most common "tough" enemies in Firefight. Here's a detailed breakdown of the different Brutes:

Regular Brutes generally travel with a pack of four Grunts. They may carry almost any weapon, but commonly the red Brute Plasma Rifle, and the Brute Shot which launches frag grenades. They wear light armor which must be taken down before they can be killed. The armor is instantly neutralized with an overcharged plasma pistol shot. It will be apparent that the Brute has lost its armor because it will go into rage mode where it yells for a moment, and then starts charging and jumping at anything nearby. It is best to try and get a headshot immediately after the armor has been removed, as that is the easiest time. Headshots are easiest with the human pistol and Covenant carbine. The human silenced SMG can also work, but is less effective. The armor of a regular brute is stickable, so plasma grenades and spiker grenades are also effective. The Brute Plasma Rifle is effective against drones, so is useful to pickup at times. Brutes generally carry (and drop) spiker grenades (especially when the Catch skull is on).

Jump Pack Brutes are obviously distinguished by the fact that they have jump packs and can fly. They are usually armed with the Covenant carbine as well as spiker grenades, like the regular Brutes. Their armor isn't special, so the same combination of an overcharged plasma pistol shot followed by a headshot still works. Both plasma and spiker grenades work as well. Their jump packs are effective until they are killed, so they can still jump around even after their armor has been disabled.


There are three types of special Brutes. They all wear the special Brute headdress pictured on the left, but they have fairly different properties. The first is a Brute Leader. Brute Leaders wear the headdress, have blue armor, and travel with other infantry. They don't carry special weapons, and will be armed with a normal Brute weapon like a Brute plasma rifle, Brute shot, or Covenant carbine. Though they wear the Brute Leader headdress, their armor is not special and they can be killed with the same combo or grenades as a regular Brute.

The second special type is a Brute Hero. Brute Heroes wear the headdress, but have special armor and carry a Fuel Rod cannon. A Brute Hero will not be accompanied by smaller infantry, and will typically hang out in the back of the battlefield and lob Fuel Rod bombs from far away. They have special armor which is NOT disabled with an overcharged plasma pistol shot, and all grenades will bounce off of them. Their armor can take MASSIVE damage, so it is totally pointless to try and shoot them. They are most efficiently killed with a single melee to the back. If there are two players, one player can distract them while the other gets behind for the melee. If you are by yourself, you can get into close quarters. When up close, the Brute Hero will not fire his Fuel Rod cannon due to splash damage and will instead try to lunge at you. The lunge is predictable and can be sidestepped. The Brute Hero will pause at the end of his lunge when he goes past, leaving you a window just long enough to melee him to the back. Sidestepping is better than jumping, because jumping takes too long. The Fuel Rod cannon that the Hero drops is an awesome weapon in Firefight and is great at taking out big groups of infantry.

The final special type is the Brute Chieftain. The Brute Chieftain has the headdress, gold armor, but is most obviously distinguished by the huge gravity hammer that it carries. Like the Brute Hero, it's armor is basically indestructible. Also like the Brute Hero, the best way to kill a Chieftain is a melee to the back. It's a little trickier with the Chieftain because the splash effect of the gravity hammer can knock you too far away to get in a melee. In this case, jumping to avoid his lunge is almost always ineffective because of the gravity hammer splash effect. Sidestepping still works, but it is easier to take out Chieftains in teams of two. The gravity hammer that the Chieftain drops is one of the best weapons in Firefight.

Covenant Characters

You will encounter several different varieties of Covenant in each Firefight match. Each one has its strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness. Here's a detailed breakdown of the common infantry:

The Grunt is the most common enemy in all of Halo. They wield plasma pistols and needlers, and also carry plasma grenades, especially when the Catch skull is on. Because they have no armor, they are most efficiently killed with a single headshot. Use the human pistol, or Covenant carbine. The human pistol is slightly easier to get headshots with, but has less range and less ammo than the carbine. On the earlier levels, Grunts can be killed with a single melee. The Grunt also comes in a "suicide" variety, where it will light a plasma grenade in each hand and charge at you. The grenades will not blow up until it gets close, you kill it, or you throw another grenade at it. Grunts usually travel in groups of four with a Brute or SpecOps Grunt in back. They will turn and run scared if the leader is killed however, which makes killing them harder because their head is no longer exposed. It is most efficient to kill the Grunts first and then work on the leader, Grunts are slow and will often lend themselves to a string of headshots by funneling single-file through a walkway. Grunts are very useful in Firefight because they drop lots of plasma pistols which are of critical importance.

In Firefight, there are also SpecOps Grunts which perform special tasks. They can be identified by a different armor color, but are more easily identified by the weapon they are carrying. They are most devastating when carrying a Fuel Rod cannon, the Covenant equivalent of the human rocket launcher. SpecOps Grunts can also man turrets or drive Ghosts. They are no different than regular Grunts however, in that they can be killed with a single headshot. When carrying a Fuel Rod cannon, SpecOps Grunts should be a targeting priority because they are easy to kill but can inflict massive damage. SpecOps Grunts will tend to linger in the background, lobbing damage from afar.

Jackals are easily distinguished by their very distinct round energy shield. They most often carry plasma pistols. They travel in packs of four and tend to run relatively quickly. Though they can be killed with a single headshot, they are hard to kill while running because their head moves a lot. They are most easily killed when they have taken a defensive position and hide behind their shield. The shield can take tons of bullets without damage, so don't bother. The shield can be destroyed with a single overcharged plasma pistol round, which will stun the Jackal and enable a clear headshot. The shield also has a notch which the Jackal uses to shoot through. A single shot through the notch will also stun the Jackal, causing it to stand up and also enable a clear headshot. In either case, it should only take two shots to kill a jackal.

Jackals also come in a Jackal Sniper variant. Snipers do not carry shields, and can be found at distance by looking for the blue dot of their night vision goggles. In Firefight, a foursome of regular Jackals will tend to be accompanied by a Jackal Sniper carrying a Covenant carbine or Beam Rifle. Because the Jackal Sniper does not carry a shield, it is easily killed with a single headshot. The Jackal Sniper should be prioritized over the regular Jackals in its group because it's the easiest to kill, but can do the most damage with its ranged weapon. On some Firefight levels, Jackal Snipers will spawn in high perches and continually pepper your team with sniper fire. Though they are not required to pass the wave, it is a good idea to take care of them so you don't have to worry about death from above. The Covenant carbine they carry is useful if you run out of pistol ammo. The Beam Rifle may be useful depending on situations.

Firefight Tips Round 2

Time for some more awesome Firefight tips. Read these and take them to heart, or get berated by me in-game. Remember that Firefight is designed to be resource scarce, so if you're a jackhole with the resources, you are directly affecting your teammates.

Understanding supply drops. When you hear the announcer say "Five enemies remaining," that means your team is about to finish a round. There are three rounds per set, and five waves per round. At the end of every round, every player's health and stamina is automatically restored, weapon lockers are filled up, detached turrets are restored, and health packs are replenished. Additionally, all the alien weapons dropped around the map are cleared out for the new round. THIS IS IMPORTANT. When you hear the announcement that there are only five enemies remaining, DO NOT KILL THEM RIGHT AWAY. Fill up on ammo and grab any weapons lying around that you're going to need. When in doubt, check your HUD for the Wave indicator. All five bars need to be filled up to finish a round.

Use health packs sparingly. Each level should start with four health packs. Those health packs have to last all five waves of a round. Remember that your stamina recharges if you stop taking fire, so when your screen turns red, just go hide for a while. It is absolutely inexcusable to use a health pack to restore stamina. Your health (represented by the long horizontal bar below your compass) does not recharge, and it will start to deteriorate if you use up all your stamina and keep taking damage. However, aside from a somewhat annoying beeping, you are in no danger of dying if your health is low, but you let your stamina recharge. In general, it's also a bad idea to use a health pack just to stop the beeping. When should you use a health pack?

1. To keep a streak alive. You get more points the longer kill streak you have. If you're on a long streak and your health is really low, it's not a bad idea to use a health pack.
2. When black eye is on. With the black eye skull on (usually in wave 3), you can only recharge your stamina by melee'ing opponents. This is often a difficult risk-reward proposition, especially when facing drones. If the black eye skull is on, it may be OK to use a health pack. Also, you're halfway through the round at this point, so more health is coming soon.
3. When you're the last man standing. If you're the last one alive, you have to make it to the next wave to bring your teammates back in. In this situation, you should do whatever it takes to stay alive.

Remember: The health packs only respawn after five full waves in each round.

Use ammo wisely. Refer to the previous post with tips about how to take out enemies efficiently. If you empty a rocket launcher on a Brute Chieftain and don't kill him because you could have just hit him on the back of the head without using any ammo, you are hurting your team when you need those rockets for a Wraith or Hunter later on. The tips in that previous post all still apply. Here are some new ones:

• Engineers: One overcharged plasma pistol shot will kill them. You won't see them die instantly, but they will float up and explode within a few moments. Watch out for exploding debris. When the Mythic skull is on, it may take two shots. Engineers should be your #1 priority when you see them because they make all other enemies much harder to kill. Drone leaders, Hunters, and even Brutes become effectively impossible to kill with bullet-based weapons.
• Brute Chieftains: To add on the previous post...Chieftains may carry hammers OR fuel rod cannons. Both variants of Chieftains are immune to the n00b combo (overcharged plasma + head shot) and can sustain MASSIVE damage before dying. Both variants will charge at you in close quarters, however, which allows you to sidestep and hit them on the back of the head for a one-punch, no-ammo kill. There is quite literally no reason to use any ammo AT ALL on Chieftains. Get in close, be quick with your stick, and bop them.
• Banshees: Banshees make an appearance on Windward. The best way to kill them is with a MOUNTED missile pod. There's really no good reason to detach these missile pods on Windward, leaving them attached gives you unlimited ammo so that you can just unload on the Banshees. The Banshees are not required kills to finish a wave, but are a nuisance that should be dealt with.

Learn the spawns. If you understand where the enemies are coming from, you can often wipe them out extremely efficiently. It's typically pretty obvious because enemies will generally come out of "monster doors" or drop down from Phantoms. In both cases, they're start in a tight cluster and can be quickly dispatched with grenade spamming, fuel rods, rockets, or hammers for huge points and medals. As an example, on Windward the Phantoms will often drop off big groups on the landing pads downstairs. Because there's nowhere for the enemies to go but up a very narrow walkway, it only takes one player at the doorway to take out the entire wave. Hello, Killionaire!

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. H3 ODST.

We got a bunch of votes to go into H3 Big Team matchmaking with the big party, so that's what we'll focus on this week. I'll save the achievement whoring for another time unless I get requests for it.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. ODST

We'll be playing ODST tonight. Leave a comment here if you have an opinion about what to play within that general category. Your options are:

1. Clan-only matchmaking (like last week): This is the Halo 3 engine but with the new maps. Party chat enabled for parties of 8 or less. Makes boosting for achievements much easier.
2. Open matchmaking: Uses the Halo 3 engine, means we can go into 8v8 Big Team Battle.
3. Small co-op teams: Break out into groups of 3 or 4 for Firefight or Campaign. Lots of achievements available here as well.

Votes here will greatly influence what we play tonight.

ODST Update

For those that haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, buy.com just dropped their price on Halo 3: ODST to $53.99 with free shipping.

A tip for all your working your way through the Campaign: The campaign missions do not have linear memory. What I mean by that is that if you go back and replay a mission somewhere in the beginning or middle of the game, you will LOSE ALL OF YOUR PROGRESS when you return to the mission you left off on. There are six sub-story lines to check off in your objectives. If you go back to replay a mission earlier than your current progress, it will clear your progress on all of those sub-story lines and you will have to do them over again. The final mission will not be available until all six are checked off at the same time.

Solo and co-op campaign progress is tracked separately, so you can replay solo missions without clearing your co-op progress.

ODST Firefight Tips

36 hours after launch, I now have a better feel for Firefight and can provide some tips and tricks. First and foremost is how the mode is structured. The game sends enemies in groups: 5 waves per round, 3 rounds per set, and as many sets as you can survive. The picture on the left shows how the HUD displays your progress. Note that the game will go on forever until you spend all your lives...which is a LONG time on Easy. For some reason, we had a game on Crater end after 3 sets, but that may been a network glitch.

• There are achievements on each level for reaching 200,000 points, so that may be motivation to keep playing that far
• The bonus round after each set lasts 60 seconds, consists only of grunts with all skulls on, deaths do not count against your score, and lives are awarded every 2000 points. One death by anybody ends the round early.
• Some enemies do not have to be killed to finish a round. So far, snipers and Wraiths fall into this category. It's a good idea to take care of them anyway because they're really annoying, but not required to make progress.
  
• Brute Chieftains (gold with hammer): Bait them into charging you in close quarters, sidestep the charge, and hit them on the back of the head.
• All other Brutes: Hit them with an overcharged plasma blast, followed by a headshot. If you don't have a plasma pistol, you need to get their armor off to expose their head to kill them efficiently.
• Hunters: Hit them with bullets in the orange fleshy area on their back. Punching is ineffective.
• Grunts: All can be killed with single headshots. Most can be killed with a single melee unless the harder skulls are on.
• Jackals: Shoot through the notch in their shield to stun them, and then finish with a single headshot.
• Drones: A mounted chaingun that is protected in the back by teammates is the most cost effective way to deal with drones. Otherwise they suck up all your ammo for poor return in points and health.
• Wraith: Beware the Brute in the turret. One way to kill a Wraith is with an overcharged plasma shot and then boarding to kill with a grenade. An alternative is to hit the weak spot on the very back of the tank.

I will be on most, if not all, nights this week after 10pm PT to play campaign and Firefight. Be on by 10pm if you'd like to join in, otherwise you'll probably have to wait for us to reach a stopping point to join in.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. H3: ODST

FishBone10 and Beer4Porter helped me to break in H3: ODST's new Firefight mode right after the midnight launch. And it is FUN! Even though I scored over half of our team's points, I do have to recommend their generous assistance in my "Invincible" medal (kill 100 enemies without dying). Some housekeeping items:

• Insert your Campaign disc for Campaign, Firefight, and to customize your character for ODST
  
• Under Settings/Appearance, change your EMBLEM to your H3 number.
• In the same area, change your SERVICE TAG to something related to your gamertag.

If 4 or less folks show up, I'll kick off the first games in Firefight on the Campaign disc. Once we have more than 4, I'll move us into custom games on the Multiplayer disc. In >4 player multiplayer, we'll run custom games on the brand new Mythic maps (Heretic, Citadel and Longshore).

Below are the assigned emblems (carried from H3) and some recommended service tags. Your service tag is what people see above your head as you run around the map. Since we have 4 characters to work with now, you should pick something that will quickly remind people of your gamertag and who you are.

• gtdroptop: " GT ", 0
• BeerMonkeee: "BMNK", 1
• TimMAY 1023: "TIMA", 2
• CoolerSopranos2: "CULR", 3
• OmniscientDeath: "OMNI", 4
• FragginURdoodz: "DOOD", 5
• FishBone10: "FISH", 5
• Beer4Porter: "PORT", 6
• Masher24: "MASH", 7
• Spix: "SPIX", 7
• BeefierBen: "BEEF", 8
• MEAN MR MONKEY: "MR M", 8
• Mean Mrs Monkey: "MRSM", 7
• darknorpo: "NORP", 9
• Dawill0: "WILO", 5
• Octurian Poon: "POON", 7

If you're not listed and need help, let me know.

H3: ODST Midnight Tonight

ODST drops at midnight tonight at selected retailers. I will be on tonight for some Firefight and to try out the new multiplayer maps. Clan night tomorrow night will be H3: ODST.

H3: ODST ViDoc Terra Incognita

A new ViDoc has been posted showing off more details of the environment, visor mode, and the health system. An interesting watch.

Clan night tonight. 9pm PT. Halo 3.

Starting a little later this week. H3 doesn't take as much time to play and be done with.

Halo 3: ODST More Details

As most folks are aware, Halo 3: ODST releases in less than two weeks on September 22, 2009. This will be our next clan game and will replace Left 4 Dead in mainstream play. I will be starting the game right after the game is released at midnight, leave a comment here if you'd like to join in on the late night gaming session. Here's some more reasons why you should go out and get ODST:

• Multiplayer maps: The ODST versus experience is just an extension to the current Halo 3 matchmaking. There isn't a new system, just three new maps that ship with the game. However, ODST does include all the H3 maps previously released for a total of 24 maps. Therefore, if you didn't purchase the Mythic or Legendary map packs and have been unable to play some of the playlists in matchmaking that require them, you will be able to try them all with the launch of ODST.
• Halo Reach Beta: All copies of ODST will provide access to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta when the beta goes live. As with the H3 multiplayer beta, I would expect this to be a highly coveted invitation.
• Firefight: Players (including myself) have been asking for a way to play a non-campaign co-op mode with their friends against the A.I. ODST delivers on this feature with Firefight, a cooperative multiplayer mode included on the campaign disc that lets up to four people jump into combat. As an ODST squad, you will face increasingly challenging waves of enemies together, striving to earn the highest scores possible, while various Skulls are progressively activated. The reviews suggest this is a more structured approach of increasing difficulty than L4D's Survival mode which just keeps increasing the number of zombies and lowering their spawn time until you die. It does seem possible to reach the end of a round in ODST where a "Bonus" round is unlocked.
  

Clan nigh tonight. 8:30pm PT. Halo 3.

Getting everybody ready for H3: ODST.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Halo 3.

The Mean Monkeys lost their 360 to the RRoD this week. Because they are the most consistent regulars on clan night, we're going to play H3 tonight instead. I want to play campaign in anticipation of H3: ODST, BeerMonkeee wants to wallow in the matchmaking pool. We're looking for a tiebreaker.

Top Ten Ways To Tell You’re an Older Gamer

Reposted from Hawty McBloggy. I didn't find this all that funny, but maybe that's just because the truth hurts.

• Not only do you insist on watching every single cutscene instead of fervently mashing all the buttons in a hurried attempt to skip them, you instantly yell at and silence anybody who has the audacity to speak during one.

• Fully completing a game requires several playing sessions since you can only log an hour or two at a time due to having to wake up early the next morning for work. Or kids. Or meetings. Or other stuff you don’t want to do.

• Your video game time is almost always scheduled days in advance with reminders penciled in on your calendar. But that’s only if you are lucky enough to acquire your significant other’s permission. And they don’t give you a guilt trip the day of.

• You purchase your favorite video game’s soundtrack and listen to it during your commute, playing through your favorite levels in your head, in order to make up for your lack of actual playing time.

• You no longer pick up video games at midnight launches because you know you will be too tired to actually play it that night. Instead you opt to get it the following morning so you can keep your eyes open long enough to get it in the disc tray.

• You belong to an adult-only gaming community because you’re sick and tired of getting repeatedly humiliated by teenagers less than half your age who only beat you because they still have their lightning fast reflexes intact.

• Half of your vacations involve going to major gaming conventions. The other half are whatever your significant other selected because that’s what you had to agree to in order to go on the other ones.

• You always read the instructions before starting a game, often times spending several minutes studying the control scheme while simultaneously muttering under your breath about how much easier it was back in the days of joysticks and solitary fire buttons. Then you carefully tuck them back in the case because you know you will need a refresher the next time you play.

• You stick to puzzle and sim games when playing in the evening because you find shooters to be too stimulating in the pm hours.

• After immediately turning off any and all music in the options menu, you create your own custom tracklist for titles like Madden that feature modern tunes. Thankfully you realize the music coming out these days is nothing short of a travesty. You hold onto hope that the video game industry will pick up on that eventually too.

No clan night this week

Outside conflict for many of us. Rest your thumbs this week.

H3: ODST in the Bay Area 8/25-26

Microsoft, Bungie and Gamestop have just announced that they will be doing a promotional tour to show off H3: ODST before the official launch date. They will be here in the Bay Area on August 25 and 26. I'm almost tempted to go, but am annoyed that the "San Jose" location is actually in Antioch, almost 80 miles from San Jose. The San Francisco location is actually close to San Jose than the "San Jose" location. wtf. Of course, the San Francisco location also isn't actually in SF. It's in Union City, which is probably the better of the two. Leave a comment here if you want to go check it out!

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

What a clan night last week with a full 4v4 versus game! Good times.

L4D DLC in September

Valve is releasing a DLC pack next month for L4D that includes new campaign content, as well as a new "Crash" multi-player mode. Though it will be free on the PC, it will be 560 points on Xbox Live (around $7 US). With H3: ODST dropping on September 22 and L4D2 coming out in November, I don't see any reason why somebody would go and buy this, but interesting tidbit nonetheless.

Thx OmniscientDeath for the tip.

Clan nighit tonight. 9pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

Note that I'm scheduling for an hour later than normal this week.

Xbox Live is pushing a system-wide update to all consoles today. Among the dozens of new features, it includes the ability to purchase full Xbox 360 games on-demand through XBL, access the entire Netflix on-line library on demand (not just the movies in your Instant Queue), watch Netflix movies together in a party, and an improved party system that automatically reconnects people that get dropped.

There is a download involved, so depending on your connection speed, it may take some time to update. Give yourself at least 15 minutes for the update, so take the extra hour before clan night this week to update your Xbox.

H3: ODST Gameplay Trailer

I was playing around with the new Xbox Dashboard and watching some of the H3: ODST videos. I highly recommend checking out the gameplay trailer below. ODST is beautiful. The covies aside, it looks almost nothing like previous Halo games. The HUD is obviously different, but everything is shiny! I'm actually excited to see the game now!

Video Games | Halo 3: ODST | E3 09: Gameplay Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Guitar Hero Expert + 2 Rubiks Cubes

Takes too much free time to an impossibly higher level.

Cal State Student Arrested for Modifying Console

Most people know that you can chip your Xbox for various reasons, but mainly for playing copied games. NBC reported today that a student was arrested for his modding operation.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/tech/Cal-State-Student-Faces-10-Year-Prison-Term-for-Playing-with-Video-Games-52386872.html

Best Strategy Game 2009

http://g4tv.com/gphoria2009/index.html?cat=76

Halo Wars wins G4TV's aware for Best Strategy game this year. w00t! I agree, because I got promoted to Major, lolz.

ODST for $50

buy.com is offering Halo 3: ODST for $49.99 with free shipping and the Sgt. Johnson pre-order bonus. That's $10 off the normal price!

http://www.buy.com/prod/halo-3-odst/q/loc/108/210790856.html

L4D on XBL

Left 4 Dead is just barely hanging in the top 10 list of XBL titles. Good thing we've got a new game to play coming out next month!

LIVE Activity for week of July 27th

Xbox 360 Top LIVE Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty 4
3 Call of Duty: WaW
4 Gears of War 2
5 GTA IV
6 Battlefield 1943
7 Marvel vs. Capcom 2
8 1 vs 100
9 FIFA 09
10 Left 4 Dead

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1 Marvel vs. Capcom 2
2 Battlefield 1943
3 Splosion Man
4 Castle Crashers
5 The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition
6 Worms 2: Armageddon
7 Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers
8 UNO
9 Teeage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade
10 Hasbro Family Game Night **

The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.
**Combined sales of all Hasbro Family Game Night titles

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
3 Counter-Strike
4 Fable
5 Splinter Cell Chaos
6 Conker: Live Reloaded
7 Doom 3
8 Star Wars: Battlefront
9 SW: Republic Commando
10 SW: KOTOR

Top Community Games (Full Versions purchased)

1 RC-AirSim
2 Fireworks HD
3 myFishtank
4 Kodu Game Lab
5 Gamerbots:Third-Robot Shooting
6 A Perfect Massage
7 Physics Sandbox
8 3D Magic Images
9 Cyborg Mice Arena
10 A Morons Challenge

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

Last week we had just about the entire clan on at one point or another. Get on early, and plan to stick around for a couple hours. It's way hella funz when we have two good versus teams going.

10 Years of Halo

Bungie posted a pretty neat retrospective of the last 10 years of Halo, including the very first time it was shown at MacWorld.

Halo, Ten Years – WMV 720P Version [341MB]
Halo, Ten Years – WMV 360P Version [56 MB]

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

On the menu for dinner tonight: delicious brains.

Halo Legends Anime Miniseries

A renowned set of storytellers from some of the world’s leading anime studios in Japan are about to take one of the most iconic franchises in science fiction and video games to a new level. Microsoft Corp., in collaboration with some of the most acclaimed anime creators, today unveiled a new project called “Halo Legends,” which will bring the “Halo” franchise and its sweeping sci-fi saga to an entirely new medium, in the form of several original anime short films.

More details at Hawty McBloggy.

Halo 3: ODST Pre-Order Details

Now that it is only 2 months away, I can confirm that Halo 3: ODST will be our next clan game. This doesn't preclude us from playing Left 4 Dead 2 as well, but it does come out first so we'll be playing it first. The launch date is slated for September 22, 2009. Here are some of the pre-order offers from various retailers:

GameStop

• Usually offers midnight pickup at local stores
• Can order on-line and pickup in-store
  
• Invitation for Halo: Reach multiplayer beta
• Code to unlock Sgt. Johnson in Firefight mode - available with pickup if purchased in-store
• Collector pack edition available with laser-etched controller (pictured)
  

Amazon

• Free standard shipping
  
• Release-date delivery available
• Code to unlock Sgt. Johnson in Firefight mode - e-mailed 10 business days after game release
  

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

I'm thinking maybe some Survival on Drains or Boathouse.

Xbox Live Update Preview Program

Just like for the NXE that came out last year, Microsoft is offering another opportunity to beta test their next Xbox Live update. Go to the Sign Up Survey if you want a chance to participate.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

You know the drill.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

My theater is the last thing I'm packing before we move this week, just so that I can still host clan night. Show up for delicious brains.

Bungie vs The World

Tomorrow is 7/7, also known as "Bungie Day." For those of you who are still playing Halo 3, you can download the custom maps and join in on the "Bungie vs The World Playlist" tomorrow. The playlist will be active for 24 hours and gives you an opportunity to earn Recon armor. All you have to do is find a game with 4 Bungie employees with flaming helmets and beat them.

More details here:

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BWU070309

There's like 40 custom maps to download. It is also clan night. If enough people reply here and can commit to having the custom maps downloaded before 8pm, I will make H3 our game for tomorrow instead of the regular L4D.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

Leave a comment here if you have a specific campaign you would like to play.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

After last week's let down with Xbox Live being broken, I'm expecting tons of folks logging on this week with fervid anticipation. As usual, first come, first served. Will try my best to accommodate everyone.

Clan night canceled

Xbox Live is still down, clan night is canceled for this week. Sorry for the inconvenience. Take this opportunity to play some campaign on your own and get intimate with the maps.

Clan night postponed to 9pm PT

Xbox Live is currently still down. Will try to start L4D again at 9pm PT. Thanks for your patience.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

Clan night as usual tonight, first come, first served. As a reminder, Xbox Live is supposed to be undergoing maintenance today and I don't know when it will be back up. If it's down at 8pm PT, I'll try again once more at 9pm PT.

Xbox Live Downtime

On Tuesday, June 16th from 7:01AM UTC (12:01 AM PST) for up to 24 hours, Xbox Live will be offline for maintenance. As a result, Xbox LIVE and the ‘My Xbox’ section of Xbox.com will be unavailable, and the Xbox forums will be in read only mode (you won’t be able to post.) This service maintenance is to prepare for some of the recently announced features that will be available later this year.

This could potentially interfere with clan night, but we won't know until then. For now, keep planning on clan night next Tuesday.

First Come, First Served

Just a gentle reminder that clan night operates on a first come, first served basis. Both the Xbox Live party and the L4D game have a party size limit of 8, so the first 8 players logged in get to play. This also means that if we are full, I can not add you into the party to discuss why you are late and what to do about it. And if we are in the middle of a campaign, I also will not stop the game to answer your messages or chat requests. Sending me a chat request every 5 minutes will not get me to respond to it either. As players drop, I will add players waiting in the order that they got in the queue. If there is more than 1 player waiting, I may pause the game to connect them in a Survivor lobby on their own, but don't count on it.

To date, there have never been 8 players all on right at 8pm. So if you want to play, it is in your best interest to show up on time.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

Wishing a very happy birthday to MEAN MR MONKEY tonight. Hopefully he gets some delicious brains to go with his Kindle and birthday cake. Word.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

Who will win tonight? The Zombies? Or the food?

Left 4 Dead 2 : November 17, 2009

L4D2 has been announced with a slated released date of November 17. It comes with new melee options like the chainsaw, frying pan, axe, baseball bat, and additional blunt-force objects. Valve has also detailed the new AI Director 2.0, which will not only affect how many of the undead you'll be tackling at any given time, but will also dictate weather effects, world objects, and pathways provided to the players.

Facebook and Twitter Coming to XBL

Submitted by OmniscientDeath:

Facebook and Twitter will be coming to the Xbox Live service. Microsoft's press event included short demonstrations of what are effectively Facebook and Twitter clients for the gaming console, aesthetically adapted to the Xbox Live interface. Facebook Connect standard--which was rolled out first to Web developers, and then to iPhone developers--is coming to the Xbox this fall. This means that players will be able to log in with their Facebook accounts and broadcast their gaming activities on their social-network profiles.