There must be thousands of blog posts out there today commenting on the new maps.  So, in order to not be a complete unoriginal clone, I'm going to ensure that this post is unique:

aLpAcaS

There.  Now, if someone else out there commenting on the new Halo 2 maps also has the word 'alpacas' in bright colors and varying typeface in their post, let me know.

I came home after work yesterday and had a few minutes to download the maps and walk around them a little bit.  This experience was a little dull as I had already seen the RvB map walkthroughs a few days earlier.  I went to Medalist rehearsal and then came home and played some custom games with a few friends.  Here's my take:

• Warlock - It's “Wizard” from Halo: CE, but it's better because its appearance is different.  I really like the more organic “ruins” type of feel.  The powerups in the map are also different from the original, and I think that also improves the gameplay (there's only one in the map rather than 4).  An excellent map for Ball and King.
• Containment - I only got to walk around in this map on my own as I wasn't a part of a large enough party to play a decent game on this one.  What I really like is the complexities of the bases: the moveable gates and the multiple entrances on foot (the side tunnels or over the wall).  This is a gift to well-organized offences, and a headache for defences or poorly organized offences.  Maybe the best feature about Containment is the tank mines: 1) you can slide them around when on foot, 2) make them blow up, 3) and change the pitch of their humming with each single round that you shoot them with.  Sweet.
• Sanctuary - I really want to like this map.  I love the setting and again the “ruins” look and feel.  The map is a nice medium size with plenty of paths, passages, corners, bridges, and hiding places.  Lots of variety for slayer and plenty of options for strategies in objective-based games.  There's a large variety of weapons too.  I only got to play this one once, and my team (outnumbered 4 to 3) got schooled.  Because of the number of high-up places on this map, you can control the whole board if you put enough people with long/medium range weapons up high. 
• Turf - Lots of nooks and crannies to hide in, and lots of high ground with a big field of vision for sniping.  To me it seems that the vertical playing field is utilized on this entire map.  Rather than just having a few towers or bridges, there is a second level on this map that is almost always directly above the first.  Lots of obstacles, hallways, and corners.  Not a lot to say on this one yet, but it definately has a very unique feel compared to the rest of the H2 maps.

Now, only a few months until the rest of them...

Kinda late to post this, and Bungie already posted it, but it's cool enough that I'm going to too.  If you haven't already, check out the walkthroughs of the new H2 maps on redvsblue.com (scroll to the bottom on that page to see them). 

I'm not going to form an opinion on them until I play them, but Containment (the big one) looks pretty awesome.  Kinda like a cross between Coagulation and Zanzibar.  It's big and kinda laid out like Coagulation, but has the interesting features of Zanzibar (remote controlled base gates, multiple routes of entry, etc).  Plus it has tank mines.  Tank mines?  Yes, tank mines. 

On a different note, it looks like Bungie is lowering their tolerance for cheating, cursing, screaming, boosting, being an idiot, etc.  Their last weekly update talks about it, and honestly I didn't think they would take it this far.  Who knows if they'll actually enforce it.  It'd be nice if they do.  The best part of the update are the last two sentences of the last paragraph:

“Look, most of you know what cheating is, so quit asking stupid questions about it, or acting indignant because there is a bug in the game that you felt obliged to exploit. YOU ARE CHEATING. We don't even owe you this explanation. The only reason we bother is so that we can go back and say look, we told you this was cheating and you're BANNED so shut up. And I hope you get boils. And I hope the boils are full of acid-spewing spiders that burst out and hump your face.”

If violent video games have a negative influence on the people that play them, then I should be a serial killer by now. 

I'm very relieved to hear this:

NHL Board of Governors End Meeting [^]

“'If we don't have a new [Collective Bargaining Agreement] so that our players can start the season with us in October, we will not open on time,' Bettman said following a four-hour meeting with owners and GMs.“

I was very fearful that we'd be seeing scab players next year.  If that were to have been the case, I don't know that I would have gone to any NHL games next year unless the ticket prices were significantly lowered.  Lower quality product, lower prices. 

If the NHL and NHLPA get their act together with a new labor agreement, they'll keep the high quality product on the ice and I'll pay the regular price for my season tickets.  Otherwise it'd be a rip off. 

Whether or not the next season will actually start on time is a different story.  I'm not optimistic at the moment.  I've lost a lot of my faith in the two parties and I don't see much evidence that they'll make progress.

• The Melvins, Lustmord - Pigs of the Roman Empire. I'm a huge Melvins fan, and this album does not disappoint. I picked this one up last Friday. Some classic Melvins sounds plus a lot of ambient compositions as well.
• Meshuggah - Nothing. Math metal, progressive metal, whatever. They're from Sweden, and they rock. A brain-spilling experience. I dare anyone to fit more polyrhythms, hemiolas, and time signature changes into 60 minutes.
• Radiohead - Kid A.
• Radiohead - Amnesiac. I got into a Radiohead mode after Neil exposed me to a group called Hard 'n Phirm and their "Rodeohead" track.
• 311 - Evolver.
• Porno for Pyros - Porno for Pyros. I listened to this a lot in high school, and just picked it up on CD on Friday. Very original drumming by Stephen Perkins.
• Mudvayne - L.D. 50. More math, progressive hardcore. I haven't picked up Mudvayne's newest yet, but this debut release is their best so far.

The last couple of nights I've been on XBox Live playing lots of matchmade Halo 2 Team Slayer games with 3 other friends.  Like most gamers who play a lot of H2, I've been trying to pay close attention to the differences that the Auto Update has made to gameplay.  The biggest differences that have become known in the H2 community are:

• Grenades are more powerful
• Melee attacks are more powerful
• Certain weapons have been downgraded (e.g. Magnum)

Perhaps the most noticeable effect that these changes have is that there is a larger trade-off when choosing to dual-wield.  This is because the dual-wield combination is affected by a downgraded weapon and you cannot use the more powerful grenades.

Most people I play with and have talked to agree that these game changes are significant.  I disagree.  While each change on its own is noticeable in the game, they don't affect gameplay strategies and tactics - which I think are much more important to win.  I don't care if you're trying to use melee attacks and grenades more - if your team isn't communicating or organized then you will lose.  The survivors of a battle are usually determined by how the battle was approached in the first place.  Weapon selection is still important, but mostly on a macro-level (e.g. the team with the rockets and sword will be tougher to beat) and not so much on the micro-level (e.g. the details that the Auto Update changed). 

I have a gig after work so I doubt I'll be able to download the update and try it tonight, but I'm very eager to get it and experience the gameplay changes and new maps.

But what's been fun so far is observing some of the forum dialog over at www.bungie.net.  Lots of people are pissed about the update - because they're being banned for using hacked profiles or for some other unallowed modification to their console or XBL account.  Lots of unhappy campers :)  The best thing is that they're pleading with Bungie to be un-banned while the majority of them knew that what they were doing wasn't allowed.  Not a lot of talk about the actual gameplay mods yet.  We shall see very soon...

For some of you, this is going to be a shock: Nikki and I did not go to Antarctica.  We went to the Caribbean.  Yes, more than one of you out there bought it and believed me when I said we were going to see penguins, weather stations, and ice shelves.  It was more like clear blue water, warm air, and good food. 

We were on a cruise, and it was excellent.  Honestly, I don't know if we'll ever do a Caribbean cruise again (they're a bit too slow-paced for us), but it was still a blast.  Last year's European cruise was a lot faster paced and more fun.  We had stops in San Juan, St. Thomas, and Tortola.  We were supposed to stop one day in the Bahamas, but the seas were pretty rough that day and they wouldn't let us tender off of the ship to go ashore. 

So, how did I get the shape of a spoon on my head?  I turns out that you can get sunburned in the shade.  Nikki and I were already a bit sunburned, so one day we decided to go out and read on the boat's deck in the shade.  After 4.5 hours, both of us were bright red on one half of our bodies.  I was wearing sunglasses the whole time, and it resulted in a big white patch over my left eye with a straight stripe going back to my ear (e.g. a “spoon” shape).  The other side of me didn't get burned so it was only one half of my face.  It looked rather odd.  We figured we got burned because the sun reflected enough off of the plexiglass half-wall that was part of the rail on the deck. 

Pictures from the trip are here.  Sorry, but the images aren't really labeled at all.  I'll try and take care of that in the near future.

The LAN Party went well.  Not as many people as we were hoping for, but medium-sized groups work very well and it was a blast.  Extra thanks to John for hosting at his mansion house.  The 50 ft. CAT-V cables definately came in handy.

During a game of Dawn of the Dead, Jason dazzled us with his Warthog daredevil skills and managed to position one vertically on its nose on the suspended platform in Headlong:

Uploaded some new images to the ductwork, electrical, and framing sub-galleries. 

I got quite a bit done this weekend:

• Put in the ceiling in the bathroom.  The existing joists can't be used as the ceiling because of the pipes in the way.
• Added the bathroom ceiling exhaust fan.
• Finished wiring the bathroom (still have to strip a few wires though).
• Reworked the return air flashing duct in the living room by replacing the hex-head sheet-metal screws that fastened it down with flat-head roofing nails.
• Ran some coax cable for the TV line

Next up is “the big soffit”.  Hopefully I'll start that this coming weekend.

I ended up listening to a 2-disc Lee Perry compilation while working this weekend: Son of Thunder.  Highly recommended.

One of the benefits of where I work is our *Brain Lounge: a place to sit on a couch, fire up an XBox, unwind and let your developer troubles go away for a few minutes. 

Jake and I fired up some good ol' Halo: Combat Evolved for a couple of duels.  That was the first time I've played Halo CE since, oh, maybe September or so.  I was expecting to be a bit suprised at the difference in the game's feel compared to Halo 2, and it definately took a bit of getting used to.  For a few moments it felt really foreign, but it was very interesting to observe some of the game subtleties (or lack thereof) in comparison to Halo 2.  Less crisp graphics, sloppier movoement, different physics...  and no dual wielding! :)

I lost 15-6 in Slayer on Prisoner (damn those health-reducing falls), and lost 25-21 in Rockets on Prisoner. 

Vintage.

* The “Brain Lounge” isn't officially named yet.  We supposedly had a naming contest for our conference rooms, but it's been weeks and there are no results.  Something's fishy...

UPDATE Visit the all new Halo3Basics.com for Halo 3 multiplayer tips and strategies.

I stumbled across a quick and useful video of some advanced Halo 2 multiplayer techniques (download link below).  I'm starting to get into a Halo 2 mode again and this video spurred a little more interest.  I thought it was going to be a snoozer when it started out with some melee tips, but got interesting with some melee combos (just something I never really thought of).  Some good demos of sword dodging and sweep sniping.  Produced with a great Nine Inch Nails remix behind it.

Download the video  Save the link to your local computer.  I received some permission errors when attempting to view it directly with a single-click.

<< Page 1 - General Strategies and Tips

General Team-Based Game Tips

• Stick together. This is one of the two most emphasized tips you'll hear about in team games. If you stray from your teammates you will be devoured by the opposing team when they find you - assuming they are sticking together. Two or more lesser-skilled players attacking a higher-skilled player will almost always win.  There are exceptions at times depending on the skill level of your teammates.  For example, a lone sniper can help support the rest of the team down low on the battlefield.
• Communicate. The other of the two most emphasized tips.  A team that maintains communication between each other increases their chances of winning. Let your teammates know where you are and what you see. Tell them what you are doing. Common things to let your team know about include:
  • When you've picked up an interesting weapon.
  • When and where you see enemies moving or hiding.
  • When you've commandeered a vehicle.
  • When you see an interesting weapon re-spawn.
  • When you see an opponent pick up an interesting weapon.
  • When you've done something with respect to the game's objective (e.g. picked up a flag, bomb, or entered a territory).
• Form strategies. Strategies can be small and seconds to organize or large and take a minute to talk about. The type of game and the size of the map will determine how extensive your strategy will be (e.g. team slayer games are much simpler to play than Capture the Flag on a very large map). There are too many strategies that exist to get into here, but some ideas you'd want to incorporate into your strategies include:
  • Calling out who will go for certain weapons on the map.
  • Designating certain teammates as defence or offence.
  • Having someone be responsible as the "lookout" person.
  • Designating other specific roles (e.g. sniper, etc).
• Use the player indicators in your HUD. Your screen tells you where your teammates are at all times. It also tells you whether they are giving fire, taking fire, or dead. This is perhaps one of the most under-utilized tools in the game for beginner and intermediate players. Your teammates' icons will turn yellow when they are firing, red when they are being fired at, and will be a red "X" when they are dead. Use this information to know when to run in and help them or run away. Here's a hint - run away if your teammates ahead of you have just died.
• Cooporative weapon techniques. Even deadlier than sticking together is the ability to stick together while utilizing weapon selection. For example, one player specializing in wearing down opponents' shields using the plasma rifle and/or plasma pistol and another player focusing on head-shots with a magnum, battle rifle, carbine, or sniper rifle is a very effective technique. Be mindful, however, that the player/weapon combinations you use will all likely have weaknesses that can be exploited.
• Surround thy enemy. Whether you're planning it or have to improvise in a firefight, try and get your enemy between you and a teammate. It is impossible for your enemy to fight in more than one direction.
• Utilize the terrain. Use walls, barriers, slopes and structures to your team's advantage. A simple example is having one team member attempt to draw an opponent into an area where other team members are hiding or waiting. When the enemy arrives your team can welcome them with multiple lines of fire. Position yourselves in areas (both large and small) such that your lines of fire cross - making it difficult for enemies to pass by.
• Use vehicles wisely. Vehicles can be used like weapons or for transportation. If you are driving a vehicle be mindful of the game's circumstances so that you use the vehicle wisely (e.g. stop using a vehicle for attacking if someone needs a ride). For example, in Assault and Capture the Flag games, the objective often requires your team to travel a distance in order to score. Vehicles are crucial in this case. Make sure you understand or become aware of the game's settings, however, as sometimes there are restrictions on whether players with bombs or flags can drive vehicles.
• Use vehicles as weapons. Vehicles could be considered just like the other weapons in a game (e.g. SMG, Rocket Launcher, Plasma Rifle, etc). They have their own unique characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. For the most part, vehicles can dish out much more firepower than a hand-held weapon. Use this to your advantage to provide cover from a distance for your teammates. The tanks (Scorpion and Wraith) are obvious good choices for this (when in a large map). With an appropriate vehicle you can often keep opponents in hiding while allowing your teammates to move more freely.
• Don't stay too close together. Clumping together makes your team a bigger risk for grenades and rockets. You become a larger target to hit and the splash damage from those weapons is such that your opponents can rack up multiple kills in one shot.

Nikki had her first ultrasound on Monday, and I just got done scanning the pictures.  Click here to view all of them. 

I'll post an update yet.  Work has gotten pretty busy since I got back and my nights have been keeping me occupied with Medalist rehearsals and concerts, some yard work, and another website redesign (inspired by an image taken on vacation). 

Friday is the next Halo 2 LAN Party, so if I don't get it done tonight it won't be until Saturday.  Ok then.

Ok, I promise I'll post an update from the vacation sometime soon... not likely it'll be today though. Today is my first day back at work, engaging in post-vacation damage and shock control along with typical back-to-work activities like reading dozens of unread emails, RSS posts, and responding to various questions directed towards me while I was gone.

Coming back to work is a mental exercise for me. My mind is elsewhere... wishing it were relaxing and having fun like the last 10 days.

Jason and I have officially launched the site for our collaborative musical project: The Sidetracked Project. Go check it out. Learn all about it.

I'm really stoked about it. It's the first time I've really ever done any musical/songwriting collaboration with anyone, and it's been a blast so far in its short existence. My own music is fun, but I think this is going to be pretty damn good.

It's the last day of work before the big trip to Antarctica.  This will be the last big vacation that Nikki and I take before the baby comes, and probably for a while after the baby arrives too.  Up until now, the excitement of the trip hadn't really set in, but now I can definately feel it.  I'm so stoked.

We're pretty excited to see icebergs and penguins and stuff.  We're also hoping to see some remote weater stations and some desolate science labs.  Maybe some AT-AT walkers too.  And a Tauntaun.