Scratch

Battlefield was never my thing. But if other thumbs were to seriously get into it, I might consider getting it at some point. I should mention Bioshock 2 comes out next week and I am definately getting that. I haven't paid much attention to the multiplayer, so mind you I have no idea if it would be any good. On another note, I finally managed to play the AvP demo and I didn't like one bit of it. So glad I wasn't goaded into preordering it. The rule is they cannot and will not offer refunds on released software. From my second hand experience they will only offer a full refund if the product hasn't been released yet (even though it doesn't specifically say that). You should get a prompt reply to your refund request. The process of refunding itself though takes a couple of days.

As some of you might have noticed from my mysterious exit off of today's impromptu game, my internet connection really sucks right now. My presence for tomorrrow's game lies in the hands of my shite connection.

Sorry but I am going to derail this ongoing conversation and post about my recent experience with tech support. So here's the story... I just moved into a new place last weekend. After following the usual procedures, I went about and setup my internet. It worked fine for the first few days with occasional connection drops. Then suddenly I simply couldn't connect to it at all. I ended up buying a new router thinking that maybe the router crapped out on me. But it still wouldn't work. After three days of not having any net access at all, I gave up and called tech support. Here's how the conversation went: Tech: "Did you try to take it out and plug it in again?" Me: "Yes I have done that a thousand times already. That doesn't help." Tech: "No, take it out and wait a couple minutes. Then plug it in." Me: "Ok fine." Brief interval of me doing as asked. Me: "Yep, it's not working." Tech: "Have you set a password to your connection?" Me: "Yes, and I have entered it correctly. It still says 'Could not connect to specified network.'" Tech: "It must be your router then, we can replace it for you..." Me: "Um, I already bought a new router and that didn't change a thing." Tech: "Did you change any of the security setting in the router setup? Maybe you accidentally banned your MAC address." Me: "Look, I know what I am doing. I haven't bothered to fuss around with the security settings. All I have done is set a WEP password. It was fiine the first couple of days, but now it's completely not working." Tech: "Ok, all I can suggest then is that you start over and set up the network from scratch." Me: "Thanks that was helpful." I finally did manage to get it working, by accessing this wonderful site through my iphone. It seems that Windows 7 has issues with WEP network connections. I have to manually add the network setting into the control panel to connect. Shame on me for not having realized this before and trying it out on XP. Now I have an extra router, that I didn't save the receipt of and thus cannot return it to the store. Sadly that's life for me, I have tons of unwanted junk lying about that I probably shouldn't have bought in the first place. Alright, I am done venting you may now continue with your conversation.

Sure, you have to send a message to steam support. Don't qoute me on that though, it's just info I picked up browsing the steam forums.

Same for me, though my internet is currently unstable. So I probably won't be playing it today.

Educate me on what AvP actually is. I have only barely watched the movie and have never played the original game. Convince me that the game is worth my money, and I might get it as well.

The problem with some of the games you listed is that they don't integrate steam completely. Meaning, we wouldn't be able to invite folks from our friends list to a particular game. MW2 is an exception. Bioshock 2 is going to use GFWL so that makes things a bit easier but still no friends off your steam list. I personally don't own CS or Arma II, and I have no thoughts on AvP since I've never played it before. I do plan on getting Bioshock 2, though not through steam. Anyway, that is just my opinion.

I own a copy. It's sitting on my desk and I am staring at it right now. I wish I had the time to play it. Meanwhile the stack on my desk literally keeps getting higher.

I most likely won't make it to next Sunday's game, because I'm moving into a new place over the weekend. In case you guys can't find a decent public server I'm posting my server's address here. 212.187.246.225:27015 In order to make sure that you select this server through lobby, enter this in the console first: mm_force_dedicated_server 212.187.246.225:27015 The leader needs to be a member of the thumbs steam group otherwise it would just dump you in a local server. Also the console doesn't work when you are already in lobby, so make sure you enter the command before creating the lobby. I'll try and keep the server online all week long, but if an update is released I would have to update the server as well, before anyone can play on it.

Pretty good first versus game today. But a really abysmal end to the second game as you would all agree.

I am up for some expert campaign runs. I should warn others who are interested though, playing to completion takes hours. So far I have managed to only complete Dead Center with the help of the public.

I have somehow managed to install a mod that removes auto spawns in finales. Unfortunately, I can't test it out myself and we would have to look into it when the next versus game is played. Whether it works or ruins the game remains to be seen.

Mods are doable as long as they are simple. I found a "plugin" that removes the auto spawns in finales, but it's still in beta and has issues. I'd rather not install something that might cause game breaking issues. Other than that I am open to suggestions. I know most of us like playing "vanilla" and would instantly vote to RTL if mods were on a server. So as long as eveybody agrees on a specific mod (and it is not beyond my ablities), we can have it installed.

I am glad to say that the server is back up. And that is the last time I try my hand at custom modding the server again.

Wait does that mean, you have your new PC now? Sorry I haven't been on steam for a while now and haven't bothered to keep up. And hey General, finally made it over I see.

Only points I wholly agree in there is about Stalker. I gave up on Stalker a long time after running across a whole bunch of issues that just didn't make the game fun to play. Other than that, even though PC gaming might be heavily flawed in it's own way, I still prefer to play my games on the PC.

FEAR 2, DIRT 2, Far Cry 2, Empire Total War, Warhammer 40K, Witcher, Dragon Age, Fallout 3 and of course Crysis.

Yeah I didn't quite understand what you were saying when you tried to explain that conversation while ingame. But now it makes perfect sense. I blame Grippage for all the confusion though. He started the name changing confusion, with me dutifully following and others joining in soon after. Nevertheless, great games as usual. Kinda sad playing those scavenge games though, with the "unfairly" balanced teams. Not that I'm complaining, I got two achievements out of those games.

Loved the intense games tonight. I truly apologize for the early "lobby tennis" shenanigans. If I had remembered to configure the server ahead of time, I could have saved us the trouble.

Off topic: I recently installed Windows 7 and for some odd reason the steam notification sounds don't play when they are supposed to. For instance, when I get msged or invited to a game the little "plink" sound won't play at all. This is problem because I won't pay much attention to steam when I am preoccupied with something else, unless I hear that distinct sound. I have already checked the settings wherein they are enabled. Even found the location of the sound file in the steam folder (where it plays just fine). Any bright ideas?

Yeah just saw the DLC news as well. Sounds cool. But I doubt they'll make it completely free. They do have this "DLC" system in place in Steam, and I'm sure they will make complete use of it.

Nope I can't connect either. Says servers are down for maintenance. Checked out the steam forums and there is scheduled maintenance.

Oh man that would have been so awesome. I am surprised the game lets you do that.

I assume you've got it for the PC? Then just join the idle thumbs community group and you should see the event notification on Sunday. Then assuming spots aren't already full, launch the game and join the idle thumbs server. Other than that, if you have got any of us on your friend's list, I am sure you could join in some unofficial games as well.

Yesterday was quite hectic. We had a whole lot of people who missed out. This is why we usually have two games so when some of us leave others can join in for some late action. And don't worry about sucking in versus. We play for fun and don't care if you play badly. So don't hesitate to join next time!