ubercharged.net

So I’ve flogged the TF2 horse about as much as I can, and it’s time to move onto other things.

Don’t worry though, this site will stick around still - I’m just changing direction a little.

So there will be no Team Fortress 2 talk any longer. From now on, this site will be devoted to Halo 3. I mean TF2 is cool and all, but there are way more Halo 3 players. So I gotta go where the crowds are.

Welcome to the new brand for the site. It’s now called uberchiefed.net.

Enjoy.

Crink has put together a nice Team Fortress 2 frag fest. There’s a good mix of classes in there, and some funny kills.

The music rocks as well. More TF2 vids should use Irish-punk style songs

Oh yeah, some rude words used in the title, so if you’re sensitive (or 5 years old), don’t watch it.

(He was hacking, he was on a n00b server, it was staged, it wasn’t really that good. There, I’ve said it all for you, so you don’t all need to add your little quips complaining about the vid in the comments)

The lovable rednecks from Deadworkers Party have popped out another gem of a podcast.

They’re even nice enough to address the reports that they’re selling out (spoiler : CONFIRMED).

Episode 23 - Mach4

March 26th, 2008
And you Thought we were out of content to talk about! In this episode we discuss one of the more popular CTF custom maps, Mach 4.

Here just a few more tidbits you can expect:

• Map: Mach4
  
• Game News: TF2 Update
  
• Images: TF2 Motivational Posters
• Re-Newed (FUN) Server sponsored by TimeSquared, creator of Jack of all Blades & Industrial Revolutionary
• New addition to the DWPN: Trailer Trash Talk
• TF2 Wiki: Control Point Podcast page.
• Listener Contributions
• and much much more!

Download - Episode 23 (96:04)

Update 2nd April 2008
Yup. This was all part of the setup for the CP guys elaborate April Fools gag. Nice work by the Dead Workers guys :D.

Gotta be one of the best Wordpress plugins ever. This is the reason why anonymous, unverified comments are enabled on this blog, and why you aren’t overrun with ads for viagra, anti-depressants, and links to porn sites.

The talented Russians from Tetris-Inside have put together a kick ass spy tribute Team Fortress 2 machinima vid. Some real nice editing and camera work in this one.

I’m sure they’ve got some very intelligent TF2 commentary on their site, but not being able to read Russian, it kinda makes as much sense as most of the Pyro’s ramblings to me.

Team Fortress 2 - don’t meet the SPY from Muxa Mayc on Vimeo.

There’s a low-budget youtubery version out there as well if your bandwidth sucks.

Spotted over at the Control Point forums.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Katana has put together an authentic Monty Python style vid done Team Fortress 2 style. If John Cleese and the gang played TF2, this is how it would be.

A number of humorous sketches filmed in Team Fortress 2. I didn’t really have any ideas as to how I could correlate them, but I hope you can enjoy it anyway.

TF2 - Something Completely Different from David Keyworth on Vimeo.

All it really needed was a giant foot coming down and squashing everyone, and it would have been perfect.

Cheers to John for the link

Update I tracked down a nicer res version at Vimeo and embedded that one instead. If you’re on a slow connection, and want the crappola Youtube version, you can check it out here.

It’s getting to prime time. Around about 9pm. You’ve been playing for a few hours now, and having a good time with the regular crew. But you know they aren’t far off. They’re getting ready. Waiting. One by one, they arrive. They blend in at first, but before long they’ve overwhelmed the server population. The quality of gameplay goes down - yet they scream and demand more of you. As if you are there to personally entertain them. Who the hell do they think they are?

They’re the middle aged player with precious few minutes on their hands. They’re on an urgent mission to sneak in a few minutes idle gaming in between getting kids off to bed, or watching TV, or after getting home from a long day before crashing and doing it all again.

I’ve been half way through writing this post for a while. I get a certain way through, then lose momentum and hit the delete button. I think people have come to expect exaggerated tales of outlandish stereotypes on this site. The middle age whiner just seemed too… familiar. I’d be trying to come up with funny anecdotes, but they all seemed fairly ho-hum. Is it because middle aged players just aren’t that interesting?

It’s… me?

A couple of weeks back I hit the bit three-O. And it hit me. The reason it is so hard to find anything extreme because - it’s me I’m talking about. I have slowly become one of the middle aged work/life balance whiners I was so trying to mock.

I just get cranky. I get an hour max to play most days. Crammed somewhere in between getting home from work, making dinner, doing dishes, chilling out, and going to bed. This explains a few of my outbursts of recent note. MY TF2 SESSION IS PRECIOUS DAMN IT. You kids are screwing with my tightly planned out leisure time. IT’S ON THE SCHEDULE STUCK TO THE FRIDGE. IT’S SACRED!

Yes. I have finally admitted that I don’t like teenagers’ music. I like watching the same lame TV shows my parents liked. My hair is getting grayer by the week. And my fitness levels get harder to maintain. Yup. I’m a cranky old man with cranky old man views on how things should be. And I will tell you about it - as is my need and want as a white, middle aged male.

So what’s your problem anyway? Just play more if you really want.

So why exactly am I like this? Lets look at a photo essay of my life commitments which contribute to my lack of quality TF2 time:

• Acting in an ecologically sustainable and socially responsible manner
  Getting face-crammed next to some fat guy with body odor on the train.
  
• A challenging and rewarding career
  Updating this blog from work, and trying to look busy (Just kidding if you’re reading this Adam and Mark - You know I’m good )
  
• A rich and rewarding social life
  This mainly just involves drinking really
  
• Spending quality time with my significant other
  No seriously, this bit is actually pretty good. We enjoy ourselves and are happy .
  

So what can you do about it?

Well, not much really. But I’m pretty harmless. I’m not into it enough to really cause any harm. I’ll mostly just whine at people who I think are more incompetent than me on my team. I have a tight little window to play every night. It’s gotta be casual games, cause I don’t have time for clans. I am expecting quality. If you don’t give it to me I WILL bitch about it on voice comms.

So… just mute me if you want.

One heavy’s tale of flabs to riches.

The story of Armchair Warrior, someone who decides he must get in shape after a rough experience on a Team Fortress 2 server and later returns to see if his training has paid off.

Made by Xanatos and the Janus Syndicate

I reckon they needed some meat carcass punching during the training scenes.

I’ve spotted this floating around a few sites, but I think original credit goes to Peter C O Johansson over at monkeyblah.com.

Godamn spies…

Gah, another non TF2 ramble.

It’s almost April FFS. Autumn in this part of the world. What temperature is it?

(Thats about 100F for all you non-metric kids.)

TOO DAMN HOT. We should be having pleasant low to mid 20s about now. Enjoyable temperatures to go outside. Light shirt weather. Instead it’s been high-30s/low-40s all week. 27C degrees. And thats at 9:30am. In March! I suffered through the stupid hot temperatures all the way through summer. The only thing that got me through was the thought that when we hit Feb/March things get comfortable again.

So, could everyone please just you know. Stop driving. You don’t need that damn SUV to go pick up the milk from the store.

Although thinking about it, probably the worst car based pollution source in the world on this particular day, is happening just down the road.

I swear that each one of those whiny F1 cars looping round Albert Park for a day puts out the same carbon emissions as your average shuttle launch. I live about 7km from the track, and I can still hear them - and the buildings of the city directly block line of sight. 747s flying overhead taking off from the airport are quieter.

*sigh*

For the record, I don’t own a car. Never have. This is what my commute looks like every day:
(Those people aren’t just standing at the door - they’re the front edge of a crowd of about 30-40 people jammed into that door well, because its the only place left to squeeze onto the train)