James

Excuse the silly music: itUMo4Bj47Y SaVcSqENtWo

We tried it once, but it didn't go too well. Perhaps if we'd set up voice chat it would have been more fun.

Great game as usual tonight, guys. I'm even pleased with the majority of my helicopter experiences. We must be getting good at this.

WHO THE FUCK IS WOKKELS? I hope you weren't too offended.

From my experience thus far, no-one should be allowed to pilot helicopters. Not a single one I've occupied has managed to stay out of the sea for more than a couple of minutes.

That sounds dangerously commie to me. STICK YER SOCIALISM UP YER ARSE, NHSMAN!

We play console games, too. Check out the multiplayer networking forum to see whether there's anything you're interested in. It's mainly GTA and Forza at the moment, but WHO KNOWS WHAT THE FUTURE MAY HOLD dramatic music thunderclap etc.

Fuck, does that mean I have to keep doing them? I like them when they're done, but they're kind of a pain to prepare.

Ah, but what you have bear in mind is that this is the 'clan' tag we're deciding on; the 'clan' name could be completely different (someone said they thought Idle Company was a good clan name for example). Together we can be Thumbs, and each individually a Thumb. God, the fact that this conversation is even taking place is fairly awful. But necessary, of course.

One problem I have is that the game doesn't unlock any of the class-specific abilities until you've levelled that class up, encouraging people to play it as straightforward deathmatch, which is the wrong introduction to the game, I think. Then again, it's satisfying to unlock the good stuff.

"Want to join? FIND THREE FRIENDS, LOSER."

I prefer Thumb. Everyone else prefers Thumbs. I like to see it as a descriptor for us as individuals. We are each a Thumb. I guess Thumbs describes the clan as a whole. I prefer the former. OPPOSITION, MAKE YOUR CASE. I liked driving you around, Toblix. I felt like you'd be more appreciative of my driving style than those PRUDES who get all upset when I crash and kill my passengers. But yes, it was awesome. We were careening around and we whizzed past an enemy tank I think and we got to the enemy base and I didn't have time to steer to the gate so I drove straight at the gate and it just so happened that there was enough of an incline that we jumped just high enough to clear the concrete bit at the bottom and then I drove around the back of a building and there was a load of guys so I jumped off and SHOT THEM ALL. It was fucking sweet. INSERTION DEEP INTO ENEMY TERRITORY. SPECIAL OPS. Fuck yeah. We need to do a lot of this with a lot of Thumbs. Two full squads is very good. It's a bit awkward when we don't have a multiple of four, though.

Today was impromptu. I saw Andy playing, I asked to join, we fought with Skype for a while, then Jamsl turned up and Andy was still fighting Skype, then he won and we joined a game and Patters turned up and then Pirate as well. Hey people, probably get Skype. The sound quality seems better and we can talk inter-squad if there's more than four of us and so on. And yes, Toblix, JOIN US.

Sorry I kept making impossible demands of you. I kept forgetting that you hadn't unlocked the repair skill yet.

You should definitely try to play with people you know. As Andy intimated, we just finished an excellent game, and were awarded the top squad pin on at least two occasions. At one point three of us were medics, which resulted in much defib leapfrogging deep in enemy territory, and one hilarious incident when we all descended on Patters (playing assault) and, without any prior arrangement, simultaneously threw a bunch of health at him. It was almost intimidating, especially since he was cowering in a corner (from tank fire, of course - Patters is no coward; quite the opposite, in fact). Anyway, it's a good game. Excellent environments and sound design, too. Sitting on the back of a jeep as it sped through the desert towards the front was surprisingly cinematic. Not since being impressed by the clouds of dust and billowing rags on that one map in Killzone2it'llblowyouawayIGN.com had I been struck by a multiplayer game having the atmosphere of a single player experience. Actually, Left 4 Dead has some really nice touches, but they tend to be less grand. The fantastic shadows the torch casts, for example. It'd be great if your team-mates' torches were actual light sources too, though. Ramble? Go off-topic? Me? Are you quite mad?

f) s7IAR8bjiRk

I'm busy with my weekly attempt at having a life tonight, but I anticipate playing this and DoW2 for much of a muchness. And the weekend.

I don't know, all three modes are pretty radically different. I guess Last Stand and the campaign are probably the most similar, but it's still not really the same thing. In Last Stand you start off with very few skills, and you're only ever controlling one guy, so the only sense in which you'll get overwhelmed is being slaughtered by the swarms of those bloody Eldar banshee things in wave 9. I haven't played the other races for a while, but the Space Marine force commander guy starts with two skills: you press Q to do a charge that knocks guys out of the way, and W to do a powerful mêlée attack that also knocks guys out of the way. It's good fun to knock guys out of the way. Eventually you unlock more options, but it's all introduced very gradually, so it seems like you have a chance to get familiar with things before more stuff gets thrown in. I don't think it would actually be that bad a place to start. You might not get especially far in, but I feel like there aren't really any principles from the main campaign that need to be learnt. There isn't much cause to be taking cover, for example. At least, not if you focusing on close quarters. Not that I want to discourage you from playing the main campaign. I just don't think it's a prerequisite. You should try it co-op for a bit. It's a pretty great way to play it, I think.

a) Double post. I feel a bit bad for posting this. I don't mean to gloat; it was just funny. Perhaps funnier at the time. c) yzjjrB8fcj8 d) I missed the first round, which was a lot less one-sided, because I always forget to record the beginning of Scavenge. e) Pirate's joke would be very slightly less dumb if you heard what I said immediately before. Unfortunately, it doesn't record outbound voice chat.

Other things have been suggested, but I have my heart set on Thumb.

Battlethumbs: Thumb Thumbpany Remo approved. I win.

oLSMbUd7GFk Catchy.

Tonight would be good, as would tomorrow, probably. Danny Boy (friend of Thumb) and I have both found Orks to be quite fragile, and without the ability to amass swarms of cannon fodder Last Stand proved tricky. I'm certain there is a way to play effectively, and if you manage to work I out it would be nice to have a full complement of races. The galactic Warhammer rainbow or something. Anyway, do I have you on Steam? I should probably just check the ID thread. Also, I'm pretty god-awful at RTSes, Miffy, so I'd probably make a suitable opponent. Or non-critical ally, or whatever.

I'm listening to a load of Mario music on my phone at work today. Nice work, Thumbs.

Christ, it was only Saturday when I played and I'm already feeling left behind by you guys. I'd definitely like to play some more, if anyone is up for a mid-week game (bar Tuesday).