RISE OF THE UNICORN BRETHREN

[Rhinox]

Omg Kise! <3
Badger Badger Badger Badger...

Totally my next ava.

MUSHROOM, MUSHROOM!

SNAAAAAAAKE!

Anyways, I've got alone time tonight. Its porn or halo. I'll choose halo.

o O Rhinox O o <---- XBL gamertag hook me up with some friend invites!

P.S. Halo Wednesday Virgin

[Rhinox]

SUFFER WITH THE REST OF US


So, when does halo wednesday start, anyways? I should be online at 6, so in about an hour.
Oh and do you guys have a list of gamertags I can spam for a game invite?

[Rhinox]

facking xbl update...

[Rhinox]

RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGEE!!!!!!

God dammit so I installed the system update, accepted Jahudo's friend request, and fired up Halo reach. Got the daily message screen, and went to check out the DLC to see if I wanted to get any of the new content I've missed since I last played. Screen freezes. I jump up to restart. FUCKING RROD! Console is sitting unplugged right now I'll give it a little while and see if it comes back to life... FML!!!

[Rhinox]

LLLOOOOLLLLL

Don't worry, I've gotten it before too and then just waited a little while and started it up again and it's worked fine.

I'm so pissed right now. I've gotten it a couple times and it started right back up after shutting down. This time I got a Red Screen of Death first telling me to contact xbox customer support and now it just flashes the red rings a few seconds after attempting to start up and black screen. I'm going to go down stairs in a couple minutes, it better fucking start back up. This is my original box, had it for 2-3 years, been old faithful as far as xbox's go. Why oh fucking why must it brick now the first time I decide to get on in months....

[Rhinox]

Yeah I think its fucked. 20 minutes later, still got the red ring. This sucks.

[Rhinox]

Put a towel around it and turn it on. Red rings or no, let it run for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Eventually, it'll shut itself down. Turn it on again, sans towel. It should work! Thanks, internet.

This might be my last resort.

Some places online say this is a bad idea. I've found one that everyone seems to recommend. Its called the X clamp repair. I'm heading out to HD to buy some screws and nylon washers, a couple torx driveres t8 and t10, and the last thing I need is thermal paste. Anyone know where to buy in a brick and mortar store? Best Buy maybe? Target? Walmart? Office Max?

If all goes well, I might be up and running by 10. My Xbox is out of warrenty. $100 to get it fixed, + 3 weeks, plus inevitable cycle of repeat repairs. If this or the towel trick don't work, looks like I'm buying a new xbox. I've been wanting an Elite anyways. Mine has a manufactured date of August '06. Its had a good run. I think I have my original NES somewhere, sure its still kicking. They don't make 'em like they used to.

So yeah, someone quick, where I can I get thermal compound?

[Rhinox]

I'm gonna try dynex thermal compound from best buy. Not artic silver but hopefully good enough. I'll have my phone with me if anyone has a better suggestion

[Rhinox]

So yeah, just got back with all the parts I think I need. As long as I found the right screws anyways, I sorta had to guess. That might be the point where I failed. I'm OCD so I'm going to try to get it fixed tonight even if you guys are done playing before I get it fixed.

And yeah, then I'll try the towel trick if that doesn't work.

And if the towel trick doesn't work, I'm buying a new xbox tomorrow I guess. I hadn't bought myself a birthday present yet. I guess that might be it.

[Rhinox]

I failed. The precision screwdriver tool I bought from HD was faulty (go figure) - 1 of the teeth on the T8 Torx driver was chipped off - so I can't get all the screws out. I'll return it and try a new tool tomorrow. I did manage to destroy 3 screws by forcing them off with the next larger sized torx, but its ok because I think there are 8 more good ones I have to take off that don't get put back on after this mod.

Anyways, so how was halo wednesday? I'm sorry I missed out, I was kinda looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll be back up and running by next week.

[Rhinox]

P.S. Told you that you should have tried the towel trick first. =\

Yeah maybe I should have. In some weird way, I'm actually kinda hoping I can't fix it. Just the excuse I need to get a new nicer xbox, bigger HDD, wireless, HDMI, etc. Just not excited about the $300 I'd have to drop on it. And I've actually been considering getting a PS3 for a while, if mostly for the bluray, so if I need to get a new xbox, then I guess I won't be able to get a PS3 for a while longer now.

Oh by the way did I mention my Wii is bricked too? I've been meaning to call nintendo about that for a while now. But Xbox >> Wii so it didn't break my heart when it bricked.

Glad you guys had fun though. I'll be the FNG next week I guess.

[Rhinox]

Holy shit! you guys believe all this mucking about I've been doing for the past 2 days trying to fix the xbox actually fucking worked?!!!!!

I did something they call the "X clamp repair" basically there are 2 clamps shaped like X's that hold the heat sinks onto the processors and my best guess at what happens is that the clamps wear out or some shit and the heat sinks are no longer in contact with the processors and WHOOSH RROD. So this fix removes the X clamps and replaces them with bolts that securely hold the heat sinks tightly onto the processors. Only thing you need are a few long machine bolts and some nylon washers maybe a couple steel washers for spacers as well. I also had to buy a couple torx screw drivers and some thermal paste. All in all less than $30 in tools and materials and 2 long-ish weeknights of work vs. $100 to ship it to microsoft to get it fixed + weeks of waiting. I followed this video tutorial

Seriously the best part is after doing the mod and reattaching the 2 heat sinks with the bolts and the new thermal paste there is an overheating step which basically you turn the box on for 20 min with the case all still apart and the fan blowing on 1 processor only (the one with the overheating temp sensor to prevent the system shutting off due to overheating) and you sit there and watch those fucking red lights for 20 minutes and then you shut it down, let it cool, reassemble everything, and the next time you turn it on its just supposed to magically fucking work. And dammit it actually did! Like,

Steps 1-fucking 400: do a bunch of shit
step 946: .....?
step 1000: PROFIT!

And fuck if I didn't do this with half a dozen shots of captain in me. Oh and rubbing oil wasn't enough to get the old thermal goop off the processor and heat sink so what do I do? START CLEANING THE DAMN MOBO WITH MINERAL SPIRITS LOL! What did I care I didn't expect this shit to work anyways.

So yeah the good ole box turned on I looked at the xbox dashboard for a couple minutes then came up here to drunk post about it so I think I'm up for some saturday training get the box a good workout see how long its going to last now if you guys will have me still!

[Rhinox]

So I totally overslept this morning and made it into work an hour late, and my heads been pounding all day. But the Xbox is fixed, thats the most important thing

[Rhinox]

HA HA HA what the heck. Those are funny.

Had a good time playing with Jahudo and Rhinox today.

Rhinox lied about sucking.

Yes loads of fun! Can't wait to do it again. Maybe I won't suck so much next time.

Lol...

Someone: They have 3 generals, we're screwed.
Me: But we have 3 unicorns

[Rhinox]

Whats the best playlist for K/D? I only need +192 to get up to 1.00 K/D

[Rhinox]

I tried griffball the other day. I'm about 1 for 1 there.

I'll have to try the objective stuff, but I always want to do the objectives

I used to be good at swat, but I'm out of practice and my reaction time has slowed.

[Rhinox]

Thanks guys for the advice. I usually don't think too much about running for the PR's but then again I tend to prefer DMR's and Needle Rifles. It's all about the execution, which might take a couple weeks for me to get back from downright crappy back to mediocre.

Actually, wednesday and thursday are both bad for me this week. NHL playoffs are starting, and my wife is a huge hockey fan. She likes the pens, and they play wednesday. I might get an hour or 2 til 8 or 8:30 to let the DVR record some to fast forward through intermissions and commercials, but then my wife controls the television and she takes it personally if I don't watch too. Same deal on thursday. I'm a sabres fan, they play thursday. I think there's a game on saturday too, but not all day. I should be able to play then. I'll be online tonight for a while. I might be playing mass effect though.

[Rhinox]

I like the pug nose! using it now! (PS it looks a lot better in game)

I had a little 3 game hot streak going in team snipers today...

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/GameS ... ox%20O%20o
http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/GameS ... ox%20O%20o
http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/GameS ... ox%20O%20o

but oh god don't look at the rest of my games today

[Rhinox]

I've got yellow/gold right now.

LOL I'M THE GOLDEN UNICORN!

[Rhinox]

Haha yeah I was wondering about that cause it was getting tedious... Sweet well leave mine at 1.70 cause thats a nice round number... So if we go bi-monthly I'm going to

gun

for 2.00 (haha pun) and probably not

reach

it haha.

OMG STOP ROFL.

[Rhinox]

Anyone online right now? I might have an hour to play

[Rhinox]

Aaaaaand I'm done already...

[Rhinox]

Silly FPS videogames. :S

DDR is so much more fun <3

I do love me some DDR!

I've got the arcade style dance pads hooked up to the PS2 in the basement. Sole purpose is old school DDR.

[Rhinox]

Yes, the old halo games play just fine on the 360. Warning - If you're used to the original xbox controls, you will have to figure out the controls on the xbox 360 controller - specifically, there are no little black and white buttons, but I think they map to the R1 and L1 bumpers. Just a little confusing when theg ame tells you to push the black button the first time and you don't know where it is

In my case, the first xbox I owned was the 360, so I got used to Halo 1 and 2 on the 360 controller. I did play some occasionally on the original xbox, but not enough to form habit memory with the controlls. Back then, I was still having trouble moving and aiming at the same time in the directions I wanted to

P.S. I beat the original halo solo on legendary. I was unable to do so for halo 2, I got pwned by the buggers in the canyon. I still have a save game stuck there, someday I might restart at the beginning of that level and try again. I did beat halo 3 solo on legendary, and I haven't gotten around to try ODST or Reach on legendary yet. PS - I still remember how creeped out I felt the first time meeting the flood in the halo campaign - truly an epic campaign. I still go back and play it from time to time. Actually, recently I was trying to get my wife interested in halo by

asking

forcing her to play through the original halo campaign on easy with me. I got yelled at a lot that day...

[Rhinox]

Yeah... Halo 2 is the only one I haven't beat on Legendary. lol

Those @#%&#* Jackal snipers!

I think I actually got through the jackal snipers IIRC. Its the buggers in the canyon I can't get past. IDK if I screwed up and ran out of guns and ammo (thus, restarting the mission ) or maybe I can try to just run past them. I haven't tried that yet, but I feel its kind of... unsporting I guess.

[Rhinox]

UNICORNS!

WHERE ARE YOU?!?!!

ITS SATURDAY PRACTICE TIME!!!!

I was on between like 8 and 9:30 and no one was there So I started playing Mass effect instead. I think I saw Jahudo online at some point.

At the time of your post, I was at the bar watching the sabres lose

[Rhinox]

Nah. It's like having a huge OP scumgroup. And then realizing all of a sudden that there was a hidden cult all along, and that the mod is a shameless bastard.

Can't get any more perfect than that!

At that point I'd just replace out of the game.

And the Halo rings serve no purpose. The act of activating them would cause more harm than any alternative to not activating them.

No rings - the galaxy eventually gets wiped out by the flood, then the flood either starves or is sentient enough to become extragalactic and moves on. Life in the galaxy is forever extinguished.

Activating the rings - part of a system that destroys all sentient life in the galaxy (it would have happened by the flood anyways) so the flood can starve and die, and then reseeds the galaxy with all the species that were cataloged by the librarian (Halo 3 terminal story). Eventually, the galaxy has a chance to start over. Which is what happened after the forerunner activated the rings the first time.

So yeah, either way sucks for the ones pushing the button to light the rings, but lighting the rings allows the galaxy to start over, while not doing so inevitably permanently kills the galaxy.

[Rhinox]

I never played the original portal. Is it a required prerequisite before getting and playing portal 2?

[Rhinox]

Alright cool. I literally knew/know nothing about the game other than the portals, that it was part of the Orange Box bundle, and that it was supposedly awesome. I guess I thought it was a shooter but wikipedia tells me its a platformer? I didn't know if there was a story but I guess there is. I'll probably DL it on XBL arcade if I have enough hard drive space. Eh, I guess I can delete some content I don't use anymore with the expectation I can always redownload them again off XBL if I get the urge to play them again.

[Rhinox]

I remember seeing parts of that trailer before RC. My mind melted a little bit just watching the trailer lol

[Rhinox]

Wait should I get portal and portal 2 on PC or Console? I prefer console, but if I wanna play mp with any of you guys seems like you're all getting the PC version?

[Rhinox]

If you buy it for PS3 you also get a free PC copy

And you can play cross platform between PC and PS3 - 360 is the only NON-cross platform

damn... no ps3 and my (wife's) computer isn't set up for gaming, but would be ok if I stuck a video card in it. Well by the time I'm ready for portal 2 maybe I'll have bought a ps3 or video card (or new computer for me). If anyone's still playing by then

[Rhinox]

Use your IRS tax refund to buy a new computer! That's what I'm doing!

You know, when you're married, you get penalized on exemptions. When you don't own a house, you don't get to claim interest paid as an exemption. When you don't have kids, you don't get that exemtion. When your wife works extra jobs (PRN) that don't withold taxes, you have to PAY them at the end of the year.

Or what I'm really trying to say is... lol refund, what refund! my wife and paid out over $3,000. in Federal, state, and local taxes this year! Maybe as much as 5K, I didn't bother looking. My wifes the one that makes our taxes complicated, so its her responsibility to figure out the return

(It's really not as big of a deal as I'm making it out, we knew it was coming all year and my wife put 50% of her extra earnings into a saving account throughout the year to pay for this, so its not like we're losing all that money - it was lost when we put it in the savings account - we're just not getting the big refund, and never will until we own a house and have kids)

[Rhinox]

Did you apply for the Renter's Credit or the Making Work Pay credit or the Earned Income credit... or any of those other credits? 0_o

We file with H&R Block...

So yeah, all available credits added in.

[Rhinox]

We file with H&R Block...

So yeah, all available credits added in.

Hmmm ... I am greatly disheartened to see that Taxes were being discussed and no-one informed me.

If the above situation is true (and I'm assuming nothing given you used H&R Block) and you had to pay out lots of money with your taxes I can think of only two reasons why -

1. You are criminally underwithheld on your W-2 Pay.
2. You have your own business or other investments that generate income while not withholding and you didn't pay estimated taxes.

If you don't think either of these are true I'd suggest finding a small CPA firm and having them give your return a second look.

I'll also comment that the tax disadvantage from married couples has more or less been legislated away. The real penalties lie with Married Couples who choose to file seperately.

/CPA out ...

Its #2 mostly I think. We may be underwitheld but what do you mean criminally? as in we're breaking the law not witholding enough, or our jobs are breaking the law not witholding enough?

I know one exemption we get screwed out of is claiming interest on student loans. we both pay enough student loans where if we were filing single, we'd each get to claim an exemption of $2500 each, but married filing jointly, we only get the $2500 total. If we try married filing separately, we don't get to claim the interest at all, so that right there is enough to rule out filing separately as economically feasible - er, at least it was last year when I tried.

We do the H&R block online return for taxes. Should we not use that? Its never seemed right that it said we owed so much, but last year someone did look at our return (a friend of a friend who does taxes kinda thing, no fee) and said it looked right. I'd assume its still right since we're doing it the same way this year?

Taxes are frustrating. Paying them isn't the worst part, its figuring out the paperwork thats a bitch.

[Rhinox]

Hence, turbotax.com was invented! Use that and/or have MoI looking over your shoulder/Ventrilo'ing with you while you do them.

H&R Block online = turbotax.com essentially the same, as far as I'm aware. I'd still rather have someone else do them, even if it means I have to pay, as long as someone takes the time to explain the return to me and not just do it and me have to take someones word. Thats why I've shyed away from having someone do it.

[Rhinox]

What I meant was, if I have to pay someone to look over them, I want them to show me how to do it not just go in a back room and do some voodoo and leave with a bill.

[Rhinox]

I might be able to get online after 10 for a couple hours. Or now for a couple hours. Anyone online right now?

[Rhinox]

I was online around 8, only saw jahudo playing mass effect...

[Rhinox]

I was online around 8, only saw jahudo playing mass effect...

Some of us are on right now.

I'm a lazy old geezer laying in bed

[Rhinox]

This is really old, but has anyone posted this here yet?

Charlie the Unicorn

still funny!

[Rhinox]

Haha. We've seen it.

Also, did you miss the Charlie the Unicorn mafia in the mini theme queue?

I must have missed it. when was it?

[Rhinox]

I /ined! think I got the last slot.

[Rhinox]

YES! I was wondering if the new avvie I saw had any significance to this thread

[Rhinox]

HA! now you're giving me ideas. I bet I could work something out tonight, while I'm working on my EPYC pics.

[Rhinox]

BUT. I am going to a SCREAM MARATHON in which we're watching all 3 and then going to the theater to see 4.

I'm laughing at the irony

you won't get it 'til you see scream 4

[Rhinox]

Question for you guys:

Spoiler: question

Blackout spoiler inside of drop down spoiler, funny in the right context? or always annoying?

Didn't even realize that was possible until recently . I bet it'd be really annoying if I did spoilers like that all the time haha.

P.S. I think I'll be playing tonight but I don't plan on staying up past 1AM so I better see some unicorns on around 9-10. Otherwise I'll be playing mass effect all night again, seems to be becoming my nightly ritual.

Spoiler: attempting to be funny x2

More constructive than my

other

nightly ritual,

if you know what I mean.

[Rhinox]

So yeah I wimped out last night too. We should totally move Halo night to Friday or Saturday nights (or both or in addition to wednesday) to accomodate the old(er) boring guys like me with the M-F morning jobs.

P.S. you guys gotta tell me if we're planning on unicorn spamming games other than reach so I can go out and grab 'em. I actually don't own any shooters outside the halo franchise right now.

[Rhinox]

Sorry to hear about your ferret RC

How is starscream holding up? I know nothing about ferret personality, but it always seems people have them in pairs.

[Rhinox]

Also, this one is for Rhinox.
'
Instructions on how to make a Unicorn.

OMG THATS SO WRONG HOW COULD YOU!









Clearly, they would be the other way around

[Rhinox]

Hmm, sadly Rhinox, I could not find any pictures to back up your theory. Mine has pictorial evidence. =D
I also found this though...

Hahaha yeah I've seen this one before. Tried to use at as an avatar for a fitness forum I used to frequent but could never make it work as a whole.

Haha, that would make a great avatar for Rhinox

HAHA! So many lulz in this thread.

LOVE EM.

I move that Rhinox uses the first avatar. The second one is funny as a whole pic, but doesn't capture the Unicorn spirit in the avatar.

Plus, rainbows.

Haha man idk if I can go with a rhino taking it from behind .

I think I just need someone with some artistic talent to rainbow-ify my current avy, bonus points for making it obnoxiously animated. I tried but I failed due to sucking at art.

[Rhinox]

Rainbow Rhino:


And one without the second horn, so he can be a real unicorn.


I'll play tomorrow.

YES! I love it I'm so switching to this right now! Thanks!

I like the rhino/unicorn clash pic too.


I would say the odds of me making it tonight are low . Mostly because I stayed up until 2AM finishing my ME1 playthrough, and then got up at 6AM for work this morning. I'm probably going to be passed out in bed by 9-10.

[Rhinox]

I also fell asleep early.

Rhinox, AGar, Ace we should pick an east coast time for play.

agreed. Unfortunately my wife doesn't condone my video game hobby at all, so best time for me would be 10PM-midnight. I could probably stretch it to 1AM even since its only 1day per week. My wife controls the TV during prime time hours from ~7-10 usually. I'm sometimes on between 5-8 but it varies based on what time my wife gets home from work and what time we have dinner. But basically, I can do whatever I want after she heads to bed ~10PM.

[Rhinox]

So, I'm gonna be online tonight. I have stuff to do until 9, then might watch a DVRed TV show with my wife, so maybe be able to get online around 10:30. I've got plenty of sleep the last coule nights so I'm planning on playing til maybe 1AM or so. You guys have to compete with Mass Effect 2 though

[Rhinox]

So me, Jahudo, and Fritzler

walk into a bar

played Halo reach last night and it was fun

Fahudo sounds way deeper than I expected. Fritzler sounded way I expected him too

oh man I bet that was when Jahudo sent me the XBL party invite wasn't it?

Sorry bout that jahudo I was in the middle of the ME2 shadow broken DLC mission it was pretty intense and I saw the notification pop up but didn't check it right away and then I forgot about it until I was playing again yesterday and I saw I had a message when I first turned on the xbox.

Woulda been fun playing with you guys. Next time!

[Rhinox]

I was in the middle of the ME2 shadow broker DLC mission it was pretty intense

My name is ReaperCharlie and I approve of this product or service.
Seriously. Three thumbs up for the Shadow Broker DLC. That is all.

Back to Halo...

in other words, "I'm commander ReaperCharlie, and this is my favorite store on the citadel."

[Rhinox]

:droooooolzzz:

I hate anticipation

[Rhinox]

Yeah I just saw that Halo 4 announcement a bit ago.

I am more excited for THIS though!:

http://www.1up.com/news/remastered-halo ... ovember-15

It's hard to be truly excited for a Halo game not made by Bungie...

butbutbut... 343 studios is like all ex-bungie employees anyways

[Rhinox]

Ummm. Rhinox. Look at the 4 in Halo 4.

'Nuff said.

I don't get it...?

[Rhinox]

But I'm a little worried about the Halo 4, I don't like that it's not bungie and my little brother told me that the guy who did all the music and sound stuff for all the other Halos is out too...the music and sound is a huge part of the halo series in my opinion.

Did any of you guys play halo wars?

Ensemble studios had nothing to do with bungie, but the game was just fine. They did consult with bungie to stay mostly consistent with the canon, and Marty O'donnel didn't do the music for halo wars either - yet it still felt like "Halo mood music". Halo wars was just fine as far as story and music goes, and this from a studio that had nothing to do with bungie and then went extinct. 343 studios is basically a splitoff of bungie. Frank O'Conner basically IS the halo cannon, and he's with 343. 343 did the halo waypoint application, which is pretty well done. Not a game, but still a good indication that these guys know what they're doing with halo. 343 also did the Defiant map pack for reach. I think 343 will do just fine with halo 4.

[Rhinox]

It might have been bad by RTS standards, but in terms of story and music and halo themes, it was just fine - which is far as the relevant comparison can go because, you know, different genres. Its just that, the main concern everyone is voicing is that because halo 4 isn't being made by bungie proper, that its going to not be halo any more due to crappy music/story/etc. I just don't think thats going to be the case.

I'm more concerned with f-ing up the game due to FPS mechanics moreso than anything else - which could just as easily happen no matter who is making the game. It'll be interesting to see if H4 is going to have Reach-like mechanics, or head backwards towards like CE/H2 mechanics, or try something new/different.

[Rhinox]

I saw some of you guys getting online as I was about ready to head to bed. I was on at 10, but didn't see anyone on my friends list. So I decided to spend the night finishing off ME2 instead.

[Rhinox]

I should be getting online ~9:30-10:00 EST tonight.

[Rhinox]

I will try to be on that late, but I have work at 0330 Pacific

Also, last night, Jahudo and I were playing with two kids who thought we were Bungie employees. I told them that he worked on the engine and went to E3, and girl hooked up with him just because he worked on Halo. I said I wrote script, plot, and dialogue, and that after writing for Nathan Fillion's character in ODST we became BFFs. It was pretty hilarious.

Six PST is ten est

I thought 10:00est = 7:00 PST, but yeah close enough

[Rhinox]

I used to get confused with it because its 4 time zones, but only 3 hours.

For example, 10eastern, 9 central, 8 mountain, 7 pacific

[Rhinox]

P.S. a lot of unicorns still aren't on my xbox live friends list so I'll probably be sending out some invites tonight. If you see a friend request from o O Rhinox O o obviously that ones from me.

[Rhinox]

I'm on now.

[Rhinox]

OH MAN, I forgot, last night I got a Broseidon. What up?

you're welcome

[Rhinox]

no promises for me tonight. been on painkillers and antibiotics for a wisdom tooth problem so probably won't feel up to staying up late tonight.

[Rhinox]

I can definitely make it on the 6th. I'm on Vaca from work all week, but my wife has to work.

[Rhinox]

Thanks Jahudo happy almost scumday to you too!

[Rhinox]

I had a halo paintball variant that was pretty fun, but it was for H3. I bet there's a bunch of that floating around in the reach file shares somewhere.

I found a halo pacman map and variant that was kinda fun, but it was kinda broken (on forgeworld, some players would randomly spawn miles away from the actual map >.>)

I've always had fun with race track maps and variants, some people come up with some pretty amazing stuff.


Just a couple more ideas for unconvential halo gametypes if anyone is interested.

[Rhinox]

holy shit all that for $50?????????

[Rhinox]

So I'm gonna have to buy that as soon as I get home from work today (considering, I was eventually going to spend that much JUST getting portal 2 and portal >.>)

I don't have a gaming PC really though. My (wife's) computer is good enough to play MS flight sim 2004 on full quality and I was playing Spore on it. Just has onboard video, but if I put a real vid card in it then it'd probably be good enough for anything for a while.

[Rhinox]

wait so how long is the valve bundle going to be on sale?


because I'm going out of town tonight (in like an hour or 2) and won't be back until monday, and I don't have a steam account and don't know wtf to do, so if I can wait til I get back it'd be a lot more convenient.

Or, if I buy it today, can I download another time at my leisure?

[Rhinox]

I should be there tomorrow as well.

[Rhinox]

Even I got a skullamanjaro

I also got something awesome in a juggernaut game, I think I put it on my file share but I'm not sure.

I also have a couple funny glitches involving grunts: 1 is a grunt that figures out how to superbounce. The other is much more entertaining - a grunt firework! Somehow punch a grunt that was jumping up onto a crate in FF caused him to go careening through the air with a ruptured methane tank, which exploded in the air like a firework. It also happened to be the last kill of the match for me. Both grunt follies clips are on my fileshare I think, or at leased saved clips I can upload to my fileshare.

[Rhinox]

you guys need to find a different night to play - wednesdays are just too hard when I gotta be up for work the next morning.

[Rhinox]

as far as I know (and is posted in the ban thread), its an indefinite probation from joining or starting new games, not a site-wide ban.

[Rhinox]

It's snowing here!! We very excite, this never happens! (Literally, the first time in decades.) Was hoping work/uni would be cancelled so we could have a snow day, but alas it wont settle here. Will see you your Wednesday for Halo though! Will be a lovely start to the two week break!

Where do you live that its snowing in august?

[Rhinox]

I'll try to play this wednesday. I'm working 10+ hr days this week though so I can have friday off to get a wisdom tooth yanked, so I probably won't be able to play for long.

[Rhinox]

So I had every intention to play, until I fell asleep on the couch at 9:30 EST watching the tribe game... I feel like such a loser, falling asleep so early

[Rhinox]

Well my file share is still bugged. If someone finds something out let me know, otherwise i can't put my 13 skull run or any file of mine back up. I was about to get bungie pro too given the amount of stuff i have but no point in that now. May have to scrap the Unicorn screenshot thing unless someone else wants to take it.

I remember reading on the bungie forums back around when reach first came out that certain words in usernames or filenames (not even bad words, most were just common words) would trigger what you're describing. I think the theory was that maybe the words were potentially part of copyrighted phrases or something weird like that. Lots of people got pissed, many had purchased bungie pro and then weren't able to utilize it. I don't think it ever got fixed officially.

One way people were able to fix it was to change their username. Thats obviously annoying when M$ charges you $10 to do so. One way you should be able to do it for free is if you get a bunch of people to report your username as offensive, the system will automatically force you to change it, no charge. If you wanna try it, we should have enough unicorn power to get it done.


Oh, and planning on playing tonight. I promise. Look for me in the 10-midnight EST time period. No promises before or after.

[Rhinox]

Also THIS but I think I have to add you, so I need to know you on FB.

I requested

[Rhinox]

There were so many unicorns on last night

[Rhinox]

That is so win!

[Rhinox]

This looks great. PokerFace, you and I could be team ohio?

[Rhinox]

Sorry Rhinox! You are still team ohio I just thought work was keeping you extra busy.

Its ok I was just playin'...

I'm busy with work during the days M-F and Friday nights and saturdays during the day are mostly out for the next couple months so yeah...

[Rhinox]

Yeah I should be able to play as long as my schedule is flexible enough for you guys. Any late evening except for friday I could make time to play. Anytime on sunday could work. Mondays through saturdays during the day are definately out.

[Rhinox]

you lollzy non-americans... spent too long trying to figure out why the first rnd had to be completed by may 10th, and why there was a 5 month gap inbetween all the rounds (until I couldn't figure out what the 15th month was...)

[Rhinox]

Other news/questions: Jahudo/Rhinox/Team Cleveland when are you free? Can you do 10pm wednesday?

Yeah I can probably do that as long as you're referring to eastern time. 11PM might even be a little better this week.

[Rhinox]

ugh. I suck, can we reschedule our tourny match for tonight? I ended up not getting home until 11:30 last night and was so exhausted I crashed in bed and completely forgot I was supposed to be playin' some halo...

[Rhinox]

Also: Spoke to El Matador 702 last night and said it looks like this tournament is not going to work to deadlines so we will just play what games we can on wednesdays.

So REAPERCHARLIE as you can read this if you can make it on wednesdays that would be grande but if not we will use a substitute.

As I said earlier you do not need to play your Pool Matches in order, so if you can manage to play Match 3 before Match 1 then just do it.

As a note to that Ant, Rhinox and Jahudo I will not have a half day this Thursday by the looks of it. So I won't be on until at best 12am Eastern.

I might be able to get on then.

My better half is heading down to her parents on wednesday for the rest of the week so I don't need to hear her nagging about how late I should stay up gaming. We'll just see if I can keep my eyes open at that point.

[Rhinox]

I'm probably going to be online at some point tonight. I might be playing something else so if people are online playing halo feel free to msg me for some tourny matches or whatever.

[Rhinox]

And now I am also going on a wee trip til sunday my time.

[Rhinox]

except for Light Fare (kill 100 enemies in any game mode).

sounds like you'd get that through completing the FF dailies anyways though...

[Rhinox]

So the page is nice and all...

...but whats the cutoff between "regular", "non-regular" and "on hiatus"? I mean I guess I haven't played in a little while now, but I'm still a unicorn, right?


...right?

Somebody send me an invite tonight if you see me online playing FFXIII or something. I could be down for some Reach tonight. Cuz its wednesday, and wednesday night is the night that we

make love

kill things.

[Rhinox]

Thats pretty cool fritz I never knew you were so smart

[Rhinox]

Jahudo, if you're reading this, sorry I keep ignoring your requests to play reach. Seems like every time I see it I'm either too involved in another game or about ready to call it a night. I'm gonna be pretty much on ME3 exclusively for a while, but I'll try to find some time for Halo soon

[Rhinox]

Jahudo, if you're reading this, sorry I keep ignoring your requests to play reach. Seems like every time I see it I'm either too involved in another game or about ready to call it a night. I'm gonna be pretty much on ME3 exclusively for a while, but I'll try to find some time for Halo soon

No problem, I'm also going to focus on ME3 now too.

But if you are still on board for playing in the tournament games, there are a few other teams that are regularly on and it shouldn't be hard to schedule some time with them.

If I'm on wednesday evening when the unicorns get on, I'll try to make an effort to put ME3 down for the night and play some reach.

Oh by the way I forgot to tell you guys about my lucky score a while back. I bought a used copy of Halo anniversary a few weeks ago. When I opened up the case, it had all the XBL download codes for the maps and some other preorder exclusive stuff. I figured they'd be used, but I tried them anyways and they all worked! So I got the Anniversary map pack for reach and some other stuff for free basically, even though I bought the game used. Pretty neat

[Rhinox]

*waves*

I'm very excited about Halo 4. Everything I've read or watched about it seems like they're planning on doing all the right things (at least campaign-side, I haven't been following the MP development too much), I'll just be worried until its actually out that they will fail to execute like they should.

Any new on a legendary edition yet? I want to make sure I pre-order so I'm not left out like that crap with the ME3 collector edition

[Rhinox]

Waiting for legendary

[Rhinox]

Rhinox there isn't a legendary this time

:sadface:

There used to be 3 editions in the past. For H3 I got the middle one. I really wish I woulda got the previous legendary editions with the art books because now those are impossible to get without shelling out hundreds of dollars.

[Rhinox]

Sounds like fun i'll tr to be in for this.

[Rhinox]

oh wait bungie day is July 7th isn't it...

I'm going to be in PA for my little brother's HS grad party that day, so I guess I won't be able to make it afterall

[Rhinox]

I pre-ordered my copy of Halo 4 yesterday

November really isn't all that far away.


I was tempted by the Halo 4 Xbox bundle since I need a new xbox anyways, but can't get it with the Halo 4 limited edition, only the normal edition. Oh well.

[Rhinox]

I'm way way too excited for Halo 4. Like, no grown ass man should be this excited for a damn video game release

I gave in and preordered the halo 4 xbox bundle yesterday . Which means I'm going to end up with an extra copy of the game. If anyone here wants it for like $40 (especially PF / Jahudo since you guys are nearby) let me know. I have to check to see if any of my 3 younger brothers want it first though, but if not it'll be up for grabs.

Also, to pass the time for the next 7 weeks I've started a Halo Marathon of all the games. Actually found the idea elsewhere and someone else worked out a chronological schedule so rather than just playing game by game you play every mission is chronological order. If you start now, its basically just one mission a day, so that makes it kinda doable if you have a life. I'm already behind though because I'm including halo wars, and the schedule is already passed halo wars and a couple missions into reach. So I'm trying to catch up then I'll follow the schedule.

Anyways, here's the schedule I'm following if anyone else wants to give it a try:

Spoiler: Halo Campaign Marathon Schedule

Absolute Chronology Version:

ASAP: Halo Wars Full Campaign

ASAP: Begin Halo: Reach
Missions: Noble Actual, Winter Contingency

9/19: ONI Sword Base

9/20: Nightfall

9/21: Tip of the Spear

9/22: Long Night of Solace

9/23: Exodus

9/24: New Alexandria

9/25: The Package

9/26: Finish Halo: Reach
Missions: The Pillar of Autumn, Lone Wolf

9/27: Begin Halo: Combat Evolved/ Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
Missions: The Pillar of Autumn

9/28: Halo

9/29: The Truth and Reconciliation

9/30: The Silent Cartographer

10/1: Assault on the Control Room

10/2: 343 Guilty Spark

10/3: The Library

10/4: Two Betrayals

10/5: Keyes

10/6: Finish Halo: Combat Evolved
Missions: The Maw

10/7: Begin Halo 2: part 1(Happy birthday to me!! )
Missions: The Heretic, The Armory, Cairo Station

10/8: Outskirts

10/9: Finish Halo 2: part 1
Missions: Metropolis

10/10: Begin Halo 3: ODST
Missions: Prepare to Drop, Mombassa Streets: part 1, Tayari Plaza)

10/11: Mombassa Streets: part 2, Uplift Reserve

10/12: Mombassa Streets: part 3, Kizingo Boulevard

10/13: Mombassa Streets: part 4, ONI Alpha Site

10/14: Mombassa Streets: part 5, NMPD HQ

10/15: Mombassa Streets: part 6, Kikowani Station

10/16: Data Hive

10/17: Finish Halo 3: ODST
Missions: Coastal Highway

10/18: Begin Halo 2: part 2
Missions: The Arbiter

10/19: The Oracle

10/20: Delta Halo

10/21: Regret

10/22: Sacred Icon

10/23: Quarantine Zone

10/24: Gravemind

10/25: Uprising

10/26: High Charity

10/27: Finish Halo 2
Missions: The Great Journey

10/28: Begin Halo 3
Missions: Arrival, Sierra 117

10/29: Crow's Nest

10/30: Tsavo Highway

10/31: The Storm

11/1: Floodgate

11/2: The Ark

11/3: The Covenant

11/4: Cortana

11/5: Finish Halo 3
Missions: Halo

11/6: Halo 4 Release
Missions: Don't get fat, don't overdose on awesome.

[Rhinox]

I'm still doing the complete campaign, but... I beat Halo CE solo legendary some time ago and I really don't feel like punishing myself to do it again for anniversary.

Of the 3 original games, H2 is the one I was unable to beat solo legendary. Got stuck at some part with a bunch of buggers. I never made an attempt at ODST or Reach on Legendary.


I'm still behind on my campaign marathon, but not by much. Finished Wars and Reach, and Started CEA last night - finished the first level. According to the schedule, I'm only 3 days/missions behind.

[Rhinox]

I'm playing anniversary on Heroic right now. First time I just played normal. I'm getting some "help*" from the gunt funeral skull though...

*its not always actually "helpful" though... exploding grunts are fun and sometimes make short work of groups of enemies, but completely fucked up the sniping on T&R. Kill one grunt and everyone's alert. And later on during the sneaky-smash-all-the-sleeping-grunts mission, I won't be able to have that fun either as the first exploding grunt will alert everyone. And during the keyes part of T&R, keyes kept getting killed by the asploding grunts. So... it balances out.

[Rhinox]

FYI: Halo: The Thursday War was released yesterday for those of you who don't know. It is a direct sequel to Halo: Glasslands, and the 2 books bridge the gap for the UNSC and Covenant between the end of Halo 3 and the start of Halo 4, to explain why some of the things are the way they are at the start of halo 4 (apparently... I've tried not to spoil myself too much on any of the halo 4 campaign details so far).

[Rhinox]

Hehe... Maybe in halo 6, but not in the first act of the new trilogy.

[Rhinox]

Finished CEA last night. Now I'm 4 days behind on the campaign marathon.

[Rhinox]

Yeah its not a horrible deal. And they dropped the price from $400 to $350 recently, making it an even better deal. But yeah, Unicorn armor FTW! Also, the unicorn emblem is a console bundle exclusive I think... so the unicorns may have to adopt a new emblem.

Also, aparently Halo 4 is going to require 8-gigs of hard drive space to even just run off the disc (all multiplayer maps have to be installed to the xbox iirc). So, even though my original 20 gig xbox is still functional somewhat, I'd have had to delete a bunch of stuff just to play the game. So I feel even less guilty now for shelling out the money to replace my xbox, I can pretty much argue that I had no choice but to upgrade.

Also also, surround sound is finally getting hooked up this week. Found a great deal on a receiver and speakers. Halo 4 in 5.1

I'm so pumped, 2 more weeks!

[Rhinox]

also also also, Halo 4 soundtrack released today <3

[Rhinox]

So as awesome as all that unicorn FOTUS stuff is, I'm very much considering selling it on Ebay. You know there are people spending up to $200 just for the codes?? And if I were a betting man, I'd gather that sometime in the future, that stuff will attainable to everyone for a lot less than $200.

[Rhinox]

3 more halo 3 levels in 3 days and I will have successfully completed the entire halo campaign. Every game including halo wars in chronological order in preparation for halo 4

[Rhinox]

Halo 4!

[Rhinox]

Probably gonna pick up at midnight but probably won't play until tomorrow.

Gotta work out the Xbox license transfer protocol.

I did finish the campaign marathon though. I'm ready!

[Rhinox]

I don't understand how its possible to go through the campaign in 4 hours, even on coop... do you skip cut scenes? just run past everything? My first solo playthough on heroic took me over 12 hours of playtime (can't get the precise time because my xbox live disconnected during the last level so I don't have my time for that in my stats), and I didn't die too often. And I wasn't exactly dragging my feet either.

So far on legendary, I've beat the first 3 levels solo, and I'm already up to 5 hours and 46 minutes of playtime. The first level was cake, it only took me 6 minutes longer than my heroic playthrough (56minutes). Both of the next 2 levels took me 2:27 and 2:23 respectively. If my heroic times are any indication, the remaining 5 levels should all take about the same, so I'll end up completing solo legendary in about 17 hours total playtime.

[Rhinox]

Thanks for the games Rhinox and Jahudo, t'was a real good time

Agreed! Its been too long since I've played with the unicorns. I plan on playing more regularly now

Most of the issues people have been complaining about have been either over-sensationalized IMO, or I just haven't experienced them at all. Hamish I think you've been spending too much time reading the hate threads on the halowaypoint forums

[Rhinox]

M

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To celebrate, I'm giving away some extra Halo 4 XBL codes I've collected! Because even though I don't really know any of you guys that well at all online or irl, you're all still awesome and its a blast playin halo with you guys whenever I can.

---

Here are the available codes

(1) UNSC T-shirt FEMALE XBL avatar item - From the Halo 4 Limited Edition Soundtrack. Only works with female XBL avatars.

Spoiler: image

(2) Female Avatar Armor (Spartan 4) - Female avatars only. This is from the Halo 4 limited edition iirc.

Spoiler: image

(3) Female Avatar Armor (FOTUS) - UNICORN avatar armor for FEMALE avatars only. Looks like my current avatar, only the female version. This is from the Halo 4 console bundle iirc.

Spoiler: image

(4) XBL Ghost Avatar Prop - Is exactly what it says. This was a Gamestop Pre-order bonus.

Spoiler: image

(5) War Games Haven XBL Theme - Screen shot of part of the Haven map as a theme. Its what I'm currently using. If anyone got the longbow theme from the marketplace, its the same idea, only with Haven instead. This was a Gamestop Pre-order bonus.

Spoiler: image

(6) In-game Arctic Battle Rifle Skin - this was actually really useful on launch day because I could use the BR at SR-1. Now I guess its still useful if you want your BR to look differently, or need to collect everything. This was a Gamestop Pre-order Bonus.

Spoiler: image

(7) In-game Forest Armor Skin - Its basically a different color pattern for the HAZOP armor that you can already unlock in the game, so really only needed for collectors/completionists. It was a Gamestop Pre-order bonus.

Spoiler: image

(8) Assassin Emblem - Gamestop powerup rewards pre-order bonus. Not sure if it is unlockable in game or not.

Spoiler: image

(9) Bonebreaker Emblem - Gamestop powerup rewards pre-order bonus. Not sure if it is unlockable in game or not.

Spoiler: image

(10) Mjolnir Emblem - Gamestop powerup rewards pre-order bonus. Not sure if it is unlockable in game or not.

Spoiler: image

(11) War games "14 day, Buy and Play" reward token - this is the code that gives you access to the extra 6 specializations if you didn't get the limited edition of the game or for some reason didn't receive the code yourself. You want this if you're close to maxing out at level 70 with wetwork and operator, or even if you're close to level 50 and just want more options. I should point out that at some point in the probably not too distant future (probably in mid/end Januaury for the christmas crowd), all the specializations will be unlocked for everyone making this code useless at that point, so you probably only want this if you think you might end up level cap'd before they all unlock.

---

And thats all I have. I haven't really decided on a method for determining who gets the codes, other than it will not be a first come first serve thing. I would really like everyone who wants something to get something. I'm thinking it could be as easy as everyone posting or messaging me a list of their top 3/5/whatever in order of preference and then behind the scenes I will make sure everyone gets what they want as best as possible. If it turns out everyone wants the same 1 or 2 codes, then idk what to do. Random, or tournament, or... ideas? Halo 4 unicorn FFA matches, where each match is for a code?

Feel free to discuss here, or on the facebook group, or at http://www.theunicornbrethren.com. I want to send out the codes on 12/25 so that everyone will have what they want for unicorn night on 12/26. This is to give people time to send me lists or fight over codes in halo 4 gameplay (and coincidentally that also happens to be christmas day).

[Rhinox]

lol someones trying to play mafia on the halo waypoint forums: https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_pos ... ost2123786

I /inned for the lolz

[Rhinox]

Now I am rogue since I hate bloom.

Do you mean flinch?

I'm also planning on doing pioneer first. It only makes sense. I could hit 50 today if I have time to play and play a few games of Spartan Ops. Now that they bumped up the difficulty to Legendary, a single round of Spartan Ops gives like 7700 xp. Thats like 3 games of matchmaking. And thats without the pioneer perk.

[Rhinox]

Fast Track isn't really OP. It takes exactly the same time to get to level 100 without using pioneer as it takes to get to level 110 if you choose pioneer first. In that time, both scenarios yield you 5 specializations with gameplay affecting perks. Pioneer may help you get that last 2 gameplay perks slightly faster but I'd argue the 2 you saved for last are the 2 you don't plan on using anyways. In terms of gameplay, you get the perks you want to use faster if you skip pioneer and go straight for the perks you want, which means anyone using fast track is at a gameplay disadvantage both in terms of 1) taking longer to get the perk they actually want to use, and 2) using fastrack instead of a perk that actually benefits gameplay. So its quite the opposite of OP, unless you're arguing ranking up to 130 as quickly as possible is the primary goal at the expense of gameplay.

For me, I'm going to do pioneer first because I don't see any of the specialization perks actually providing much of an advantage over the loadouts I already use, and I play a good amount of spartan ops where it actually makes sense to use Fast Track. Fast Track won't touch my war games loadouts. In other words, pioneer will help me achieve a secondary goal of ranking up without negatively affecting war games performance (vs. not getting pioneer first).

After playing the game for a while, I don't think the system is broken at all for what it is. I believe the average gamer will probably take 6-12 months to max out without specifically trying to rank. People interested in ranking quickly certainly have ways to do it much quicker. Part of me wonders if this is a sign that 343/M$ doesn't intend for H4 to last 2-3 years like H2, H3, and reach, and signals a speedup of the halo development cycle, which would make me sad.


@UN: talking to me? Last I heard, Hambo was going to organize a little tournament and the participants would have a chance at the codes I was offering. No one else even expressed any interest in my codes except for fritz.

[Rhinox]

Spartan Ops keep getting better. New episode was pretty good. Surprised it was a download, I was under impression the entire first season was on disk. But I have plenty of HDD space.

Played a couple of the forge test maps. There's a lockout remake in there called Shutout and its pretty well done. So far, the 3 I played seemed pretty fun, but they've all been Halo 2 style arena-type maps so that probably explains it

[Rhinox]

Yeah the lag can really test my patience at times. But I'd say most of my games have been at least playable. Only a few have been impossible.

Not really lag related but still SO related, one of the games in Episode 4 or 5 I think, the 4 of us spent 10 minutes trying to get to and kill a watcher that had gotten itself somehow trapped inside the geometry. It was the last enemy in the chapter so no one wanted to give up and back out. Every so often it would move next to the side of the texture and part of it would stick out where we could shoot it, but you know watchers, they like to run as soon as they're hit, so it kept going back in where we couldn't get it. Eventually we got it though, and the chapter could end. Thats annoying, but at least in a funny kind of way. Lag is just annoying.

[Rhinox]

Just wanna say that despite the lag, so far the second half of season 1 spartan ops has been a lot more fun so far through 3 episodes. Only 2 episodes left so I still wonder how they'll end it and whether there'll be a season 2 cliffhanger. I hope they plan on making more spartan ops.

[Rhinox]

SpOps season 1 is over :sadface:

Episodes 6-10 were A+ awesome in story IMO. Lag sucked but most of the time was bearable. Season 1 was nicely wrapped up in a way that a second season is optional. By that, I mean there are a ton of questions still, but Spartan Ops doesn't necessarily need to be the medium to address them. Its not like crimson or majestic were left in limbo or anything. Could feasibly wait until Halo 5 or in the books. I'm hoping for more spartan ops though!

[Rhinox]

I might be able to get on around 11PM so in like 4hrs from this post.

[Rhinox]

So halo is getting a tv series. I liked Forward Unto Dawn so this should be good.

Whoa! where did you hear this?

[Rhinox]

Haven't touched multiplayer yet, but it is Halo night tonight so I will be on. I enjoyed the beta, and there seems to be a larger skill gap than in Halo Reach/4.

Can we officially start halo night next week? I'm not touching multiplayer until I finish the campaign. Don't want some jerks on Live spoiling the ending or anything like that.