Got 1942, the sound bug is still there. (Argh!) If you are an old school c64 guy, you may get the joke that's in todays header. :)

Rune will be posting a big news update today. (Won't we Rune?) I myself have a little gft for you, just something for everyone trying to download the UT2003 demo. Get used to seeing something like this: (hah!) Thanks to iLL for the sweet download linkage that's getting me 150k/second right now.

Good comment on the state of the Tribes 1/Tribes 2 community from [Xeno]Demo_Boy.

Marauder is outta here!

Terrorists are generally bad people. There's some news for yah today.

Just a few quickies today. (Sorry, I've put in insane hours at work this week, I'm not really in the mood to wax eloquent, or even speel right.) First off, I'm REALLY, REALLY excited that I may have Battlefield 1942 tomorrow. *crosses fingers*

Dman sent me this. Damn. That's some sweet flashage.

!FT!Reverend hooked me up with the news that the government in Greece needs a good kick in their collective balls. Also, they need to get more politicians in that are NOT labotomized. Idiots. All of them. Nice to know they're running around arresting people playing pong rather than.. Oh, I dunno, arresting serial killers and such. Shesh.

LOL. Poor bastard admin over at Tribal War. It's always nice to know you can count on your friends to be complete idiots. :) Thanks Nol.

Got a severe case of safe driving skillz? Dopper shows you the way to get rid of them, and start driving properly, like a maniac. The best part of course is the music. LOL. Kills me.

I've posted this one before, but Vaytan gave it to me again. Check out the Happy Tree Friends. Please note, these shows should not be watched by the elderly, faint of heart, or anyone at all.

Out!

Allrighty kids, Uncle Marauder is back. But that's just our little secret. I'm not at work, I'm hiding out at home for a few days. Remember, our little secret. If you tell ANYONE that I'm back early so they can call me and pester me, I'll subject you to a horror that the world has yet to comprehend...... 24 hours straight of Rosanne Barr porn. Yeah, you heard me. I'm just that evil.

Anyhows, just thought I'd let everyone know that I have found the ultimate... nay.. the uber expression of old school geekdom. Feast your eyes on this. Yes...... Must have old school arcade game thingy. /me gurgles. Ed (maker of these fine boxes) has agreed to do an interview with us, and has even given me a link to someone new to hate. The IDSA! They removed the links to Altered Beast everywhere I could find them, and I am most displeased with them. From their site:

ROM Sites: Characteristics: These sites specialize in providing console games that are no longer available or are scarce in the commercial marketplace. These games are played on a PC through the use of an emulator. (An emulator acts as a quasi-operating system that enables the ROM code to be played on the PC). Most of the sites provide the files for free download, but there has been an increase in the number of sites that are selling the ROMs on CDs. Since most of the game files are small, a pirate can provide a large number of files with a relatively small amount of server space. They are often sponsored by pornographic web sites to help defray their bandwidth costs. A disclaimer stating that the copyrights of these games have expired is common, but is completely false.

As an ISP, some of the clues to tip you off to a site include a marked increase in site traffic and the amount of bandwidth used.

Legal Issues: The current availability of a game in stores is irrelevant to its copyright status. Copyrights do not lose their validity just because they are no longer commercially exploited or widely availavle. Therefore, the copyrights of games are valid even if the games are not found on store shelves, and copying or distributing those games is a copyright infringement.

Civil copyright violations carry a maximum penalty of $100,000 per work, while trademark violations carry a maximum penalty of $1,000,000 per work, plus attorney's fees, profits from the pirated software, costs and damages.

Read my opinion of this sort of thing here. (Screw 'em, sounds like their lawyers are just keeping themselves busy. Idiots.)

Speaking of old sk00l, does anyone else remember the old Turbografix 16? Definately one of the coolest consoles ever, with the best portable system of the time. Hell, it still lays the beat down on the Nintendo Lameboy Colour. (Oh god, don't get me going on the injustice and stupidity of the gaming market when Nintendo can announce "It's got colour!" and everyone falls over.... Forgetting that everyone else had a colour console in.... Oh.. What? 1989? Jebus that pisses me off like you woudn't believe. /me pants.)

Hanging out in the #planetquake chat for like the first time ever (Jube is old!) and someone posted this. His little Lego man model. I love it. If I ever play Quake again I'll replace my tent/camper model with this one. Not that it really matters, everyone seems to force model. (*cough*lame*cough*)

No games to review makes Marauder go something something. Post NON gaming news?! DON'T MIND IF I DO!

Like Trance? Got a few sweet links for you today. (Screw you RIAA. MP3.com forever!) Check out Airbase for some wicked tracks. (Rise With Me (vocal) is amazing) Also, there's some really nice stuff to be found at the Dreamwave Project. I'm especially enjoying Crystal Dreams by Space Walk. It's got a really nice old sk00l demo/scene sound to it. Sort of reminds me of some of the old Captain of Image tunes. (Speaking of which, did you know that Captain is now the web design guy over at Mad Onion.com? It's always interesting to find out what the old scene guys are up to these days. Most of them seem to be doing very well for themselves. :)

One more old link before I go. Interested in where computer/electronic music came from? Go download these files and enjoy. Some amazing, amazing stuff in here, well worth a listen to even today. Classic Chiptunes are here. I feel sorry for many of the computer users today, they don't know where they came from.

I wish my headphones were louder, so i couldn't hear my phone ringing.

still alive and still fragging, prae here to give you a little what's up and what's going down.

marauder wanted me to mention this, apparently it's some kind of new mouse company. on first glance, it seemed kind of cool... but that's all the website seems to offer. a first glance. no close-up pics, no real specifications of any kind, no anything. after prodding around the site, i learned that this mouse costs just under fifty euros, which is about $75 CDN... at least the payment is across SSL.. but i digress. i can't find any other information on the web about this product. it is most definately of french origin, and following the trail of WHOIS commands from csmouse.com back through all the contacts doesn't go anywhere except various web traffic sites... so, i dunno. cool idea. i sure as hell wouldn't buy one.

i'm back on a "want to buy an xbox" kick, especially with the nearing of the xbox live online system... but i'd like to take the oppurtunity to say i recently bought a dreamcast, and i'm loving it. for a very reasonable investment (less than $150 for the system (used, came with 2 games and 1 controller), 3 controllers (1 used, 2 new), a jump pack and two VMUs) i've got an excellent gaming platform with a moderate amount of really good titles. jet grind radio, shenmue, soul calibur, and sega tennis 2k2 are some of the best games i've played in a long time. if you're looking for a low-cost alternative for a high-end system, a little scrounging ought to find you a DC with a nice whack of games.

i still want an xbox though.

if you're not playing battlefield 1942- why the hell arent' you playing battlefield 1942?

frag fairly and lag rarely, i've got some punk n00b biznatches to pwn.

This is a little off topic from the regular gaming & computer related information posted here. This is regarding a conversation one of my co-workers and I had. He mentioned something about having a heart attack once and so we started talking about triple by pass surgery. My grandfather who passed away a few years ago started up an organization for an alternative to triple by pass as well as preventative maintenance to having triple by pass surgery. This is called Chelation Therapy. Basically it's a method to clear out your veins by giving you an IV. I put the site I did for my grandpa in 1998 up on fragtopia since the old http://members.home.net/<yoursite>/ pages are down so I hope Marauder doesn't mind. If any readers are interested in chelation therapy or know someone who has heart problems they can read a little bit about it here or do a search on google. Oh and if you do a search on google don't go for those pills that claim to do the same thing as the IV, people will do anything to make money...those pills are a crock of ####. Don't cheat yourself and listen to people who are just trying to make easy money.

Back on gaming and computer related information, I've been using a software firewall for just over a month now that is similar to zonealarm. However, I don't have the same problems that I had with zonealarm not working properly if a gateway/proxy machine was setup. This alternative to zonealarm is called Kerio firewall, and it's free for home use. It has some really nice features like checking the MD5 signature of each file when it connects to the internet so if you get a trojan virus you're going to be notified about it.

Checkout this hilarious DAOC clip I got to share with y'all. Nothing like a good movie clip made completely from an online game.

I'm proclaiming today as Windows XP information day and I'm going to share some windows XP tips with y'all. There are a lot of cool new features available for windows XP users. If you're like me and like to use command line parameters to access advanced features faster sometimes, checkout this list of Windows XP Command Line Utilities.

I'm sure many windows XP users (like marauder for example) have come across a problem viewing Java content. I've dug up some information on it: As a temporary solution until microsoft releases the MS virtual machine again when they settle their legal battles with Sun Microsystems, to view java content again you can use the sun virtual machine. You may find it slower loading java content than the MS virtual machine but the reason for that is the microsoft virtual machine starts everytime your internet explorer opens and the Sun version only opens when theres a website with java content.

Having trouble running older games and applications in windows XP? Learn how to run older programs in windows XP! You can even fine tune it for older games.

Also you can give windows XP the classic look like windows 95/98/ME/2000.

Yes I'm still alive! Marauder has asked me to take care of the news updates while he's away on vacation...it's about time he's taking a break! For anyone wondering where I've disappeared too, well I've been working like a madman and when I do have any free time I've been spending it with my girlfriend & been playing dark age of camelot on the new PVP server. Damn I can't believe I'm still ranked #3 minstrel on lancelot server...I haven't played there in over 2 months.

For those of you who are considering running your own webserver/e-mail server for your guild with your own domain name, Gezerman showed me this new linux distro, e-smith server & gateway all his online buddies have been recommending. It looks pretty nice so I figured I'd pass on the information. Tim Coburn aka Belial and I are going to be testing it out on a customers server we're going to put up. It's based on redhat and includes many of the features people turn to linux for...including but not limited to:

• Gateway/Proxy Server
• DHCP Server
• Domain Name Server
• Web Server (Apache)
• FTP Server (Proftpd)
• E-mail Server
• Webbased E-mail
• Windows & Mac File & Print Sharing (Samba & Appleshare)
• Download it free to see & test the other features yourself
  

Got Grub? Lunch time for me so I'm done for now...

I'm going away for a while now. (Vacation, first time in something like 18 years, and I'm not that old. :) Prae, Rune (pffft) and Dopper will hopefully be covering for me for a few days.

I have but one piece of news today. Yet again, I damned near wet myself, but this time it's Dopper's fault. Do not watch this while drinking or eating.

Incidentally, the review for Metal of Honor just passed 10,000 hits. I'm impressed. :)

Marauder out for da week. Back in a bit peeps.

And you think you have strange coversations? This is is typical of an ICQ chat between Rune and myself:

rune: holy crap..... The minimum requirements for UT 2003 require 3 Gigs of disk space!!
rune: uh... someone needs to figure out better compression schemes or something Marauder: Who cares?
Marauder: LOL
rune: well.... that is a lot of space...
Marauder: We need more efficient coding too, but we just buy faster computers to make up for it :):)
rune: that could be used for p0rn
Marauder: My god.
rune: ;-)
rune: hah
rune: just kidding
rune: that woke you up
Marauder: Or poems worshipping Pappy and extoling his virtues
rune: uh yes
rune: well that goes without saying
Marauder: I could easilly fill 3 gigs of space with a single poem devoted to his greatness.
Marauder: and that's in notepad
Marauder: singlespaced
rune: good then.... let me read it when you're done ok?
Marauder: You can proof read for me, being my underling
rune: yes
Marauder: And no mistakes!@
Marauder: For ever mistake I detect, I shall kill you
rune: hey.... I'm his underling now
Marauder: Or rend you limb from limb
Marauder: But I'm above you for the moment. There's Pappy, then God, then me Marauder: And the pope is down here somewhere too
rune: well at least God's above you
Marauder: Gah
Marauder: I think I got some pope between my toes
Marauder: Speaking of which, what do you think of BF1942, since every is playing it? rune: gah
rune: no time
Marauder: Saw a bunch of 5150's on with their tags a few nights ago
rune: sweet
Marauder: Shining Force is switching over to it I believe
rune: I haven't played any games other than Nukezone for like two weeks.... :-( Marauder: We're starting a division. 5 of us were on last night playing
Marauder: Make some time man
Marauder: Stop your forum whoreing and join us
rune: and now because I'm going up to the cottege the weekend's gone....doh :-( Marauder: ts tsk tsk
Marauder: :)
rune: I wouldn't be going up if I didn't feel obligated
Marauder: fight the man!
rune: They asked and I know that my dad needs my help...
rune: he's done a lot for me soo...
* Marauder shakes the magic h8ball
Marauder: the answer to your problem is "Fight da man!"
* Marauder asks "Oh Magic H8Ball, should Rune come play games with us like a naughty little monkey, or go like a good devoted son and help his Dad who loves him?"
* Marauder shakes the magic h8ball
rune: uh oh
Marauder: the answer to your problem is "Hide under your bed"
Marauder: wtf?
Marauder: YOU STUPID BALL!
Marauder: I'LL F*&(^^*&G KILL YOU!
rune: hmm...probably a good strategy
* Marauder smashes the ball with a hammer
rune: Ask the ball about that..
Marauder: the answer to your problem is "Oh sweet god, make the pain go away!"
rune: oh man.... you're cursed now!
Marauder: Oh god
Marauder: what have I done!
rune: That's like walking under and ladder and smashing a mirror while having your path crossed by a Black Cat!
Marauder: All at once!
Marauder: :(
Marauder: well s(*t.
rune: yep
rune: Deja Vous
rune: something has changed in the matrix!
rune: anyhow.... I have a 7 pm Dental Appointment and I still have to brush my teeth so....
rune: and you know how touchy those dentists get when you're late.... they saw warming up the big drill
rune: err saw = start
rune: the saw comes later..
* rune cringes
Marauder: I'm posting this convesation in the news. :)
Marauder: Too good.

So there you have it. I need more sleep.

*sniff* Rune just sent me sad tidings.... Alas poor SatireWire! I knew ye well! If one were to measure this news using the Suck'o'meter (A FRAGtopia scientifically invented device recently developed by our labs, which measures the level of suckage that an item and or thing reaches, from 0 (cotton candy, lollipops and other good things) to Rosanne Barr naked at 10) this would decidedly NOT be a 10. I guess it's like everything in life though... Your favorite cartoons eventually go into syndication, and so do your favorite web sites. At least Satirewire will be staying online as an archive, and not just vanishing from the world like so many sites do.

Figured was nice enough to link me up with the photos from the Lanmash party on the weekend. As many of you know, I was planning on attending the event and covering it, but a wedding came up, and I was informed by my wife and others that my sister's wedding was more important than a LAN party. I'm still pretty sure that weddings come along more often than good LANs, but I let myself be convinced. (Also, I like my testicles, they're handy at times.) and so the LAN was missed. Next year. :) Apparently a good party, I'd like someone who was there to write up a little coverage for me.

Figured also took time from his busy schedule to send me more proof that people on the 'net have way too much time on their hands, and should not under any circumstances have access to lego and or edged weapons of any sort. Welcome to Legodeath: A museum of horrors.

Our English corespondent Generator256 has been trying to download the Internet for weeks and it's just not working out for him. Anyone with any extra floppy disks is encouraged to mail them over to him.

In other news, people don't like the Americans. Big shock there. (Link ripped from Killer Instincts.)

I've always wanted to turn Rune into a series of tiny jewels that could be strewn across the face of the earth, hopefully to guarantee that he' d never be able to reform and come back to get me as some sort of a zombie. Also, I think he'd look cute as a diamond. Find out more here. Thanks d0zer.

I've been listening to tracks from a guy who calls himself "Ghost in the Machine" for a few years now. Other than the fact that I really like his handle, I REALLY like his music. If you're into Ambient trance and Dream, check him out here, he really kicks some major ass. Nice to see someone developing like he has.

Some nasty news on the Internet radio front from the musicilicious D-Man. (Who bitched that I didn't post news on Monday.. This long news post is to make it all up to him.) Internet radio is in trouble, mostly from the RIAA. Now, I dunno.. I mean, they have the right to protect their properties.. But I REALLY think these guys missed the boat a long, long time ago and they've just been busy trying to kill anything they don't exert control over. Also they're making themselves look like Ogres. And not in a Shrek kinda way. I'm meaning more in a Lord Of The Rings sorta way. And the royalty payments are retroactive back to 1998. I guess that means that, since I ran an Internet radio station for a month or so back in 2000, I should figure out what I played and pay up. Not going to happen of course... But some of the guys like Digitally Imported are, well... There's no more polite way to put it. They're fu*^%d. I used his little calculator and he's going to be paying something like $75,000 per month in royalties. Ouch. Don't know that his advertising would pay for that, especially considering how the market has been lately.

I've been ranting and raving about Battlefield 1942, and I still can't say enough about it.... Other than the bugs. If they are not removed when the game goes retail in about two weeks, I will personally write a spiteful (and ignored) e-mail to EA for every crash I get. Anyhows, go download it and try it if you haven't already, and check out the IGN preview of the game here. Check out their gameplay movies here. Gotta get me one of those B17s. :) Thanks for the headsup Nolman. :)

I don't remember who sent this in (Rune?) but it's funny as hell.

Out!

Hey all, I'm wishing I was down @ Lanmash at the moment. Sadly my sister is getting married tomorrow, so I'm occupied. If anyone has some photos from the event, send 'em over and we'll get them posted. Figured has ICQ'd me a few times from the event and seems to be having fun. If anyone went and wants to do up a review of the event for posting, just let me know and we'll get it up.

Not really much real news today, other than the fact that BF1942 still kicks ass. Go download it and join us on the FRAGtopia Just 4 Fun server. Password will be "fragin!" and the server will be passworded for tomorrow.

Rune is off for the weekend, and needless to say so am I. I'll get some news posted Monday as usual. Note the new banner up top. Come hell or high water, we will post SOMETHING every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from now on, interspaced with our regular reviews (Nothing right now, summer is dead!) and articles and such.

Have a great weekend everyone, see you in a few!

Heh. Everyone of course loves Monty Python right? Well! Prepare to dance your way along the round table with the Lego knights. Thanks Kingpin. As a sidenote, I find it amusing that iFilm has a section for Lego movies :) Could Lego be the new Claymation of the '2000's? Forget Chicken Run, here comes Legorun!

Is your PC sick? Is it possible that Cruft is the problem? Read all about it here. Prae gets the credit for this one. :)

Congrats to Protocal-X, our good buddy from the hosted site Classic Counter Strike. The pack is now hosted on File Planet! Woot. The ultimate mirror. Good job bud. :)

Was poking around the other day looking up some Lovecraft stuff for no reason other than I felt like it, and I came across this. I love their tagline "Why vote for a lesser evil?" I was going to vote for the Evil Overlord Blue, but sadly I don't think he can compete with Cthulhu, I mean he's a freakin' elder god for christsakes! How do you follow that act? I don't think that even Hitler's staff car would stand a chance.

Now here's one that pisses me off... A pop-up site advertising a program to kill pop-ups. If anyone is thinking about buying something like this, screw them. Go here and download this one. It's great, and it's free. I love Analog-X.

Thanks to the wisdom of Blue (whom I stole this link from) I also love the British Conservative Catholics. Now these guys I can relate to. Remember to read their "About us" page. :) Also in from Blue, perhaps you should try a Ninja Massage. Guarenteed to relax those aching neck muscles or your money back!

10 gosub rant

rant: Rune recently balked at posting a piece of news I sent him, 'cause it "wasn't gaming related." Heh. I guess that just shows you how often he actually READS my news posts, eh? I think about one of ten pieces of news I post are actually gamgin related, the rest are just fun and goofy stuff. Speaking of which, is anyone else sick of summer, just for the fact that they don't release any damned games that are worthy of Marauder doing a review and making sweet love to for hours on end? (Repeat after me.) Yes, yes I am Marauder. Ok then! All of you go forth and become uber l33t game developers so I'll have something new to play over the summer. I'm getting tred of playing all the games I was playing 3 years ago. CS, UT and Q3. What the hell is the matter with that picture?

More another day. :)

New DJ Eskimo remix has been released on MP3.com! Go here and download "Take me up". Hell of a good Euro/dance track. They've also redone their site and.. Heh.. I've just always really liked these guys. They do commercial, but they still release the free stuff as well. Really nice to see in this age of "Go commercial, forget your internet fan base. *Cough*Nord Beat*Cough* I certainly have nothing against people making money on their talent, but there's just something nice about the occasional free tune that warms my cold dark little heart.

Found an interesting site a few weeks back. Basically it's got a pile of details, specs and pictures of really big buildings, bridges and tunnels. Very, very cool. I ended up spending and entire evening going over the site checking it out.

Just looking something up in the local paper and saw this article. I'm not surprised, there really isn't much to do around here but drink and download porn from the 'net anyhows.

Ever wonder if YOU might be the problem on the road, not those other maniacs you spend your time dodging around and cursing? Check it out. Please note: If you are from Toronto, yes, you are an idiot driver.

UFO's in India have been causing quite a panic, but not to worry says the police! It's actually 3" long bugs that have been mistaken for large flying objects with blinking lights, and are cutting killing and burning people. Either that or swamp gas. I swear, they don't even try to come up with explainations that make sense anymore. They may as well be hiring Stephen King for their PR department of UFO foofooing.

I can't remember if I posted this before, but it's so damned cool I have to post it again. One of the greatest games of the Comodore 64 era was Wizball. Amazing graphics. Amazing music. Amazing gameplay. Right up there with "The Last Ninja" and "Bounder" These guys have done a 3D Rendered video with a remixed and remastered soundtrack to commemorate the old game and.. Wow. Go grab it, it's worth the download.

More later

Just got back from Skoto's wedding. Was a beautiful ceremony, and seeing Pete in a suit I realised something..... His new wife Tara is MUCH more attractive than him, and in better ways. Altho he does clean up pretty well.

Congrats buddy, and many happy years together. :)

Just a few little pieces of news today, I'm pretty busy so I'll do a larger post on Wednesday. First off, I've been playing SOF2, and you know what? It's a damned good game online! It's like someone took Counter-Strike and made it fun. It's a cross of Rainbow 6, CS and Quake. Single player I'm not really impressed with, there's some levels that really, really suck. MP rocks.

Just in from Prae, it seems that newer notebooks are actually upgradable in many ways, including the video card! Halla-freakin'-looyah. It's about bloody time. Voiding your warranty has never been so rewarding or fun.

Heh. I've seen these fake Windows adverts before, but they never cease to amuse me. Thanks Vaytan!

And they said you couldn't jam laser speed detectors. I KNEW someone would figure it out given the time. Hah.

The guys from Twisted Mods emailed me a few days ago to inform me that they've reviewed the Dremel Tool. Most people laughed when I told them about the review and a few commented that you might as well review a hammer or screwdriver, but hey, it is a critical and usefull tool for so many things, case moding not the least among them.

The Bastard Operator from Hell is a classic on the 'net. I Will Kill You sent it in a week or so ago, and I'm posting it again 'cause it's just so damned funny.

That's it for today folks, cyah in a few.

Happy long weekend everyone! I'm not sure what long weekend it is here, but I do know I'm sitting at home not work. This is a good thing. I'm listening to Tunnel Trance Force goes Ibiza 2001, CD1, at the Beach. Go download it or buy it if you can find it, it's one of the best Trance albums I've ever heard.

Why the hell the Bit Boy's ain't dead, I have no idea. I checked their web site again, and sure enough they haven't posted any news in forever and a day.

Heh. It just occured to me in an ICQ conversation with Mr. E, that the new capping on high speed services here in Canada they'll have to have names for the packages. Something like "Dragging your ass behind a kid's Big Wheels Low-High Speed" "What you're getting right now, but we're capping your ass and slowing you down while charging the same, hah hah, victory is ours Middle-High Speed" and of course "Watch us hang rape your wallet you stupid bastard High-High speed." I tell you, I should work in promotions and advertising.

In interesting news, if Sprint ever happens to start offering DSL in your area, GRAB IT. According to a little annoymous bird, who installed a good portion of their systems, due to stupid idiots in management, they've got all the gear installed to do it, but never used. (Was supposed to be rolled out earlier in the year.) They, at the moment don't have the capability to cap the service, or monitor bandwidth at all. Hah!

Come on, you guys have to admit that you sometimes find yourself humming those stupid Super Mario tunes in your head, even if you're like me and never owned a console. Thanks iLL. :)

From official FRAGtopia British corespondant Generator256 comes a most interesting link, apparently it's a magazine dedicated to mod'ing your machine, as well as indepth reviews and news. Looks like a good one, sign up for your free issue.

Anyhows, it's a day off. I have Rune here with me, so we're going to go move some gravel now. More in a day or so. :)

Just two pieces of news today. Apparently we're all screwed. Personally I just hope the damned thing hits France first, and I get to see it on TV. That'd make the whole "extinction of the human race" thing worth it. Thanks Rune. :)

In other news, Prozak has sent me a link to a game you have to see. You thought that Tribes 2 had good graphics? Pffft. What the hell ever. Check out Nuke Zone, and prepare to not believe your eyes.

Hey all. Well, seems we're in a bit of a gaming deadzone, as per usual for summer. I love this time of year, due to it's decided lack of "snow" and "cold" as I like to call them, but I hate it for it's decided lack of gaming. Got bored with Warcraft III pretty quickly, I'm going to have to try it some more Multiplayer and see if it recaptures my interest. One thing that I have been playing lately that's going to win my "most improved game" award is World War 2 Online. I played it a year ago, and while there was a substantial amount of potential there, the game was buggy, had horendous framerates and frankly wasn't much fun. Well, it was actually a great deal of fun when it was work... Needless to say, a crash every five minutes just isn't what I call working.

Anyhows! I'm enjoying it now, the dev team has obviously improved it a great deal and added some new stuff as well. Playing with some buddies and having a hell of a good time doing so.

It was quite moving last night, one of the players died in real life, and his squad held a memorial service and 21 gun salute for him. It was impressive that Colohawk was remembered in such a way. The game seems to have an inordinate community and number of mature players, a nice change from Counter Strike and Tribes 2.

Got a banner done for Rune's new column, now if he'll just get a column done to go with the banner! :) Look at those eyes. God he's a scary little person. I'm convinced that Rune should be an actor. He photographs poorly, I don't think I have any pictures of hims where he doesn't look like he's about to kill someone with a blunt instrument, such as a piano or large truck of some sort.

Heh. Rune doesn't like this banner, cause he looks so psycho, so we're not going to use it for the column. (He just informed me.)

I'm in the mood to start some rumors and urban myths today, so here's one for you. One of the guys who programmed Gnutella apparently committed "suicide" Or did he? We here at FRAGtopia have indisputable proof that it was actually the Recording Industry of America who arranged his untimely demise. Regretably, our offices were broken into just before press time, and all of our files were stolen....

If you're a hardcore Battletech fan such as myself, you'll be happy to hear that MW4:Mercs is coming out fairly soon. I can hardly wait. Mind you, I hated MW4 single player, and thought the multiplayer was a little too "Quakey"... But it was fun. Maybe have to hook up with my old Gold Knights buddies for some action yet again. Thanks for the tip Runez0r.

Hey, the Pope is in Toronto this weekend, and everyone's very excited. Yes, always glad to have the Godfather of the Religious mafia hanging around. The catholics pissed me off during the Dark Ages, and have continued to do so ever since.

Heh. Thanks to Figured we know all know why _I_ kept my gun on safety during my wedding, and only fired in the air once I was in the open and not near any other people. Shesh. At least he didn't shoot his new wife. Now _THAT_ would be embarassing.

Anyho, back to work :)