Oh Hai There

[Toasty-Sloth]

Hey all, I'm Niall, i know DP, DE and unfortunately Vox in the real world :P

Im pretty new to PC gaming at the moment but i'm hoping to pick it up more after exams have finished. Most probably the Orange box (which DarkPidgeon has been taunting/pestering me to get for about half a year now >_>)

So far i think ive played with some of you on your Hidden server under the name of Rivers.

[Darkpidgeon]

OH HAI!

Guys go easy on him :P

Get orange box now

[Toasty-Sloth]

Not Again....

[Marshy]

Who the hell is Darkpidgeon?

ok serious hello welcome to this forum! get counter strike imo

[Calneon]

Im pretty new to PC gaming at the moment
You've chosen the right path friend.

[VoX]

and unfortunately Vox in the real world :P


:(.



In all srs, hey Nial haha.

[Toasty-Sloth]

Yeah I'm probably going to end up getting Counter Strike as well :)

I don't even know why I bothered with anything else. The only reason I'm still going to be playing my PS3 is for Super Street Fighter IV and Little Big Planet 2 =D

Well it wasn't my idea to write that bit Callum...I'm not allowed to say who's idea it was but it wasn't me :P

[Chalex4]

Hey there! Welcome to ATK :).

Come along to i40 with all of us! If nothing else, that will get you straight into the PC gaming scene :D.

[Vicious Horizon]

Hey mate, welcome to ATK. Stick around for a bit and you'll get the ropes =)

[Toasty-Sloth]

Yeah i was told about that :)

If you give me the details I'll check it out and see what I can do :P

Thanks VH :)

[ez64]

Hello toasty sloath :D, feeling a bit like that myself today at lol degrees centigrade outside.

[Toasty-Sloth]

It is so so hot, and my computer churns out boiling hot air out of the fan which turns my room into an oven.

I don't even have proper ventilation :(

[Chalex4]

It's a 2000 gamer LAN at Newbury Racecourse: http://iseries.multiplay.co.uk/ . Those gamers all bring their PCs and sit in various sections, playing whatever game they please.

There's also an exhibition with quite a few big names like Intel and Microsoft. There you can try out the latest tech, talk to experts and get lots of freebies! With a BYOC ticket you get access to this, but some people will just go to this part with a cheaper exhibition ticket.

The LAN starts on Friday and runs until Monday, although many of us will turn up late Thursday so there is less setting up on Friday. The total cost for the weekend is £90 which includes a wristband that basically lets you everywhere 24/7.

There are 18 members of ATK going, and we have space for 20 on two rows. Closer to the time we'll be organising t-shirts and more sponsors ;). We are sat in the "Other Games" area.

If you want to go, make the decision ASAP as they will sell out soon. I've now been to 5 of these events, and I can tell you now that you'll have an amazing time with us all! Check out the i33/i34 video on the cinema to see what it's like:

http://www.atkcommunity.com/cinema.php

We'll be at the venue which i33 was at.

[Toasty-Sloth]

ohhhhhh i won't be able to go this year then. £90 is far too much for someone who doesn't have a part time job :P I'm becoming a lifeguard by next year so I should have the money to pay for it :)

Thanks for the info, I will 100% consider it for next year :D

[VoX]

Well it wasn't my idea to write that bit Callum...I'm not allowed to say who's idea it was but it wasn't me :P

Haha, obvs JJ :p.



And what's this? Someone getting a warm (scuse the pun) welcome on ATK? BLASPHEMY!!!

[Toasty-Sloth]

WITCH!

But yeah please don't flame/troll/kill me

[Bloo]

[Generic Welcome to ATK here]

:p

[D_K_Head]

Well considering that the newbie in question...
A) Didn't create a spam-like thread that's practicly advertising something
B) Was dragged into ATK by friends
C) Dosen't have a number in their name

...I think a warm welcome is appropriate.

Welcome to ATK, toasty. In honour of an awesome name, I will now link to an appropriate video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avU5onrWfYo&feature=related

[Toasty-Sloth]

Hehe thanks DK :)

loved the video btw, i can't wait to get TF2!

It's a disgrace. I was walking around bexleyheath and bluewater and they didnt sell orange box on PC. This is why people aren't aware of how amazing PC really is...

[Colonel Mitch]

Lol wtf? something constructive from DK!!!!

Anyway hi there =]

If youve been playin on hidden im glad you enjoyed my server - if u ever wanna know how busy it is jsut check my sig as the banners there. also if you click my sig youll find detailes stats of the top players if you happen to play that much xD

Will be flashing the server back to deafults (apart from the maps and the working sonic alarms - i.e. turning off the physics damage, turning on pigsticker and enabling full pipe bombs) soon.

I dont like the above settings that someone i gave admin on the server has put on - they've certainly drawn in alot more of the pr0 players and its probably the most regularly populated of the 30 or so hidden servers out there, so its a shame to do but im the one paying for it so meh :P

Games you need to purchase:

(game titles are links to their store page on steam)
Counter Strike Source (http://store.steampowered.com/app/240/)
Orange Box (http://store.steampowered.com/sub/469/)
Might want Modern Warfare 2 (http://store.steampowered.com/app/10180/) or Bad Company 2 (http://store.steampowered.com/app/24960/). (most people here have both, just about everyone has Bad Company 2, and there are differing opinions on which is most worth purchasing. They're both completely different games and cant really be directly compared like a lot of people do.)

Games you need to "Acquire":

Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour (and Shockwave mod) :P
Can't think of anything else that any of us regularly play (apart from WoW lol but i assume your not into that:P)

Anyway, see you around, and speak to you on mumble sometime if you have a headset :D

[Toasty-Sloth]

Yeah that modification to the pigstick really annoyed me lol only because i died so many times trying to stick them, only to end up shoving them and then they killed me xD

But yeah i look forward to it changing back :) i really like decay....it actually scared me haha

[Colonel Mitch]

Yeah that modification to the pigstick really annoyed me lol only because i died so many times trying to stick them, only to end up shoving them and then they killed me xD

But yeah i look forward to it changing back :) i really like decay....it actually scared me haha

Yeah Decays my favoutrie map too :P

Have to play with speakers up loud, curtains closed and lights off for atmosphere tho :P

[Toasty-Sloth]

haha might have to try that ;)

Hey when you said....acquire.....C&C zero hour.....what exactly did you mean.. :P

[Calneon]

haha might have to try that ;)

Hey when you said....acquire.....C&C zero hour.....what exactly did you mean.. :P
*cought*pirate*cough*bay*cough*

[Toasty-Sloth]

Yeah i tried and failed amazingly so i think i'll just buy it :P i have a lot of stuff i need to buy....

[Calneon]

Yeah i tried and failed amazingly so i think i'll just buy it :P i have a lot of stuff i need to buy....
uTorrent.

[Target]

Hi dar, yeh get source games and bc2...dont get MW2 its useless :D
@ Marshy get on mumble you failcake

[Toasty-Sloth]

jus checkin if my sig is showing up :)

[Toasty-Sloth]

yeah thats awesome xD

[Vicious Horizon]

yeah thats awesome xD

That's what she said

[Toasty-Sloth]

touche

[CILLIT BANG]

ohhhhhh i won't be able to go this year then. £90 is far too much for someone who doesn't have a part time job :P I'm becoming a lifeguard by next year so I should have the money to pay for it :)

Thanks for the info, I will 100% consider it for next year :D


could always give challex special favors he tips well for thoes under 16

hi btw

[Vicious Horizon]

could always give challex special favors he tips well for thoes under 16

hi btw

Not after last time..... NOT AGAIN!

(Shit, I have the feeling that won't go well xD)

[Calneon]

Orange box is on offer, gogogo (http://store.steampowered.com/sub/469/).

[Toasty-Sloth]

oh i got the orange box :P

have to go change that actually

[D_K_Head]

jesus christ... 11 quid for five award-winning games... Sometimes, I wonder how valve turns a profit...

That said, i'm certainly not complaining. Viva la steam!

[Toasty-Sloth]

And then you get CS fan boys moaning about how they don't support CS:S anymore then saying that valve is a bad company because of it.

I mean CS:S is an old game and it's alright as it is. Tf2 needs more support as it's for introducing gamers into PC gaming and shooters.

With deals like this there is no way Valve can be considered a "bad company"

[VoX]

And then you get CS fan boys moaning about how they don't support CS:S anymore then saying that valve is a bad company because of it.


CSS is about to get a pretty big update.



144 achievements added
New lifetime player stats and summary screens
New match player stats and summary screens
New end of round display with MVP and interesting fact about a player
Updated scoreboard with new icons, visual style, MVP stars, and avatar pictures
New cinematic death camera
New domination and revenge system
Added avatar icons to voice chat, scoreboard, and end of round display
Incorporated many source engine updates


Which the CSS kidies will moan about as it will become the "cool thing to do"

[Toasty-Sloth]

So then why are they moaning? i saw a thread yesterday mnoaning about lack of support....

goddamnit im so confused with them....

[Calneon]

So then why are they moaning? i saw a thread yesterday mnoaning about lack of support....

goddamnit im so confused with them....
It's getting an updated engine, so parts of the game like recoil and apparently movement speed will change slightly, and with a game as balanced as CSS, it can change a lot.

[Colonel Mitch]

People dont like change, tho hopefully itll fix CSS lol hitboxes where you hit people, they bleed and they take no damage, or like when u nail someone int he face 3 times on your screen and it registers as 24 in 3.

[Vicious Horizon]

I'll stop playing CSS at the new update. I'm one of these tossers who does not like change when it comes to balance, changing movement speed will put me off too much that I won't be able to play properly xD

[Chalex4]

I think the update will make CSS playable again to be honest :p. People are too awesome on most servers these days!

[Isphera]

jesus christ... 11 quid for five award-winning games... Sometimes, I wonder how valve turns a profit...

That said, i'm certainly not complaining. Viva la steam!

Deffo long live Steam, but they may simply be trying to boost the sales figures. Once they recoup the producton cost of the game, then they are only really paying for the bandwidth to send you the game, which is not that much. It's the same for iTunes - they make about 30p per song, after fees to the record company, artist and bandwidth, it's all profit.

Say for example Valve made a casual game for £500k. If they then sold it for £10.99, assuming the 99p is the bandwidth (this is all guesstimates, so not accurate at all, just showing the point), then they would need to sell 50000 units to recoup the costs of the production. But after they have done that, they could sell it for £2.99 and then make £2 profit as the costs of production have been paid off, and the 99p pays the bandwidth. This then brings in all the players holding out of purchasing the game in order for the price to drop, because they feel that the game is worth the lower price. So say they sold the 50k at £5.99, then sold another 30000 units at the £2.99 price, then over the course of the timeperiod, the venture in total has made a profit of £60,000, which can then be reinvested into development, upgrading services, or line the pockets of Gabe Newell.

It's an economics concept, the name of which escapes me, but it essentially (yes, it's back) stems down to something along the lines of this diagram;
http://tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-profits_clip_image003.gif

This isn't exact, and the cost lines should be a lot lower, but those who understand it will get my gist.

[Vicious Horizon]

Mitch, the blood + no damage is due to poor latency between client/server/client, where the game paints the blood but then realises that it wasn't a hit, but you can't erase blood from a character, and the 3 for 24 is just poor shooting :p

[Toasty-Sloth]

I get it oricalcos...

see now that makes sense. they make their profit back and unlike ps3 and xbox dont need to keep churning discs out so they are able to keep it nice and low. so they send out updates for free to keep consumers happy and more people coming to play (like me :P )

[Isphera]

Exactly. With the consoles, they have to pay more for their distribution (alongside production, they have the disc purchase, disc printing, transfer cost of pressing the discs, writing and publishing the inside materials, the case, artwork design (although that one applies to Steam too), and case purchasing.......and transportation costs, possible tax duties if sent overseas, dealing with faulty discs being sent back and the absorbed cost of defective product being a waste of resources etc., not to mention the lost revenue from people 'Mr. Big'ing games), so they have to make more in order to turn a profit, hence why games purchased online are cheaper (even on consoles, yet many seem reluctant to do this for big names), but also why many companies are now turning to online distribution networks, such as Steam. Plus, Steam makes advertising a lot easier and cheaper as you target the key market of gamers right there and then, because it encompasses a massive diversity of gaming fans in terms of genres, and it costs next to nothing to send them all that news pop up that appears every now and again - hell, even I in my infinite wisdom and hatred for most adverts click on games I've never heard of once in a while. Who before the news on Steam had heard of Alpha Protocol?

But the updates are not free for the company, they still have to pay labor for creating the patch/update/new content, and then the bandwidth fee for sending it out, so that counts against the profit. But normally, aside from bug fixing, extra content only arrives for games that sell well and make a massive profit to begin with - the free market truly at work. They are free for us to keep us playing their game and increase the chance of passing out the word to other people that their game is awesome....and it stops us from buying other peoples games, depriving them of money. Why do you thing CoD released its map pack on the same day as BC2?

BTW, the long version of why Activision charged for the CoD DLC on PC will keep me here until midday, so the short version is - They are money grabbing humps and they knew that those who wanted to play BC2 would do so even if it was free DLC, but those staying would stay for the long haul, and thusly would pay anything to stay with the main in-crowd, so they charged for it to exploit it's biggest fans. And that is why I never get attached to anything that isn't Summer Glau. And yes, you can quote and bend that sentence all you want.

[D_K_Head]

...tldr...

Sorry oric, I promise i'll read it later!

[Colonel Mitch]

Mitch, the blood + no damage is due to poor latency between client/server/client, where the game paints the blood but then realises that it wasn't a hit, but you can't erase blood from a character, and the 3 for 24 is just poor shooting :p

Well it doesnt happen on other games :P