Where You Heard the News First (as the bullets whizzed by )
I'd like to extend a special congratulations to Cain and our most senior members of our community. We've been discussion the subject of longevity off and on in the forums and during side antics in games on the servers. Special credit to Vito for this tribute:
A legacy is more than a subject or a moniker of entitlement, it is a roadmap of where this place has been and where it intends to be in the years to come. If you have thoughts on this topic, please share them in the reply's to this newsletter - But dont forget to read the entire newsletter first!
Crysis - Signatures Anyone?
Here are just a few samples of artwork from ViTo that some of you might be interested in:
***If you have an interest in Crysis Signatures, please contact ViTo for the Library link via Private Message here at the forums.
Fiction of the Week: Call of Duty Hardcore: Snipered Down
By Hunter Killer [Chapter 1]
[Fade in- the smell of wet dirt and the muted gray of a day that never came greets our hero as we join him]
It wasn't a question of morals, no... of course it wasn't. Just finish the assignment and move on. No thoughts, no regrets, no questions.
Everything was moving smoothly, it always does. All around, through the shattered and crumbled wreckage of the city, echoed the crushing and pounding of dense rubber soles on the ruined streets. Not far off was the rumble of tanks and artillery, whose dark metallic sounds resounded through abandoned alley ways to greet them.
No resistance, as always. It seemed almost ghost-like to see this sleeping concrete beast. No life breathed into its confines. Minutes of marching dragged into hours of the monotonous drone of their feet on the cracked and ruined pavement.
It seemed almost misplaced, the sense of activity and life. Once busy streets and crowded sidewalks now barren except for their squad. Ghosts of children playing in the streets dance merrily in front of his vision. Long forgotten memories call out, pleading for remembrance. No one answers their calls.
The deep chill of isolation breaths down every soldier's neck.
Change. A disturbance. A single shard of glass, its crystal smooth surface playing light in a small shimmer in the air, fell from the 15th window on the building to the distant left. A sucking breath then a sharp whistle of a lone shell pounded into its walls of brick and concrete and steel. Rubble and dust clouds gathered around the site until everything settled into a deathly quiet.
No one breathed. No one moved. An all clear sign passed from one man to another until it hung in their ears. Slowly the drum of crunching on the fresh gravel under foot resumed.
Small tendrils of smoke wisped up from the new grave of a building. No images appeared and no memories echo in their minds. Only their harsh reality- graveyard meets suburban sprawl.
The Spotter and Recon signaled a pause, two silent towers of pallid flesh standing alone in the void. The Spotter breaks off to the right and enters an alley way and fades into its shadow. The recon soldier slides slowly to the left and enters a building, making no sound or shadow as he enters.
Each of the remaining members of the squad slowly approach the hollow shell of a bombed out building for cover. The schos and rumbles of advancing forces throughout the city give the only reassurance that there is life within the brick and steel jungle. The prattle of the occasionally machine gun adds more life to the dull air.
Within their own personal HUDs the silent blips of the spotter and recon slowly shift forwards at, what appears to be, inches an hour.
Looking onto the street it would seem to him that the ghosts have returned. Their echoing and silent voices giving conversations or hollow laughs and past events now lost. Long lost memories of days and weeks now faded into the abyss. There was a dull echo.
The sound of a door being bumped and a soft curse whispered into the soldier's COM as the spotter tripped over a large piece of rubble into the door. The images falter but wont dissappear, still clinging to some sense of being.
He checks his watch and the silent hands slide into another hour. It was time.
He places his worn hands on his knees and pushes himself up onto the balls of his feet. Slowly his picks himself up. He crosses the barren floor to the window and picks up his binoculars. Meticulously adjusting the counts and measuring devices to sight up to buildings facing each other across the street. Scaling the dark brown building to the place where a massive chunk of the building is missing. It is as wide as the building itself and covers about two and a half floors up.
He looks to the top of the most exposed floor, in the corner where a shadowed figure appears to be laying down. A faint glimmer of spotting goggles shimmered in the twilight. Dropping the binoculars and adjusting his silent behemoth of a weapon at his designated target, he takes the sights.
Counting the effects of the wind speed and direction he makes a few minute changes in his sightings. He slows down his whole body to take the shot. Inhale. Heart beats once... twice.... Exhale. Heart beats once... twice.... Inhale. His fingers slide to the metal curve of the trigger. Pull. An instant burst of flame and a cough from his rifle confirms a perfect fire.
It was over before it started, as if it never existed. No celebration, no high fives, nothing. On to the next thing- off we go.
--End
Interview of the Week
I havent actually had the pleasure of spending much time with her yet, but from what I do know, Lady is a kind giving person who has time for anyone and everyone. I wouldnt go so far as calling her our Den Mother, but my mom was our Den Mother and I like my Mom alot- so it wouldnt be a bad thing if I did (
)An admin here at Cains Lair, you'll find her adding very positive vibes to different areas of our forums, and yes, she is one of those people that somehow finds the time to say hello to everyone. (I still dont get how people do that - but I am trying by following her example! )
SO- on with the interview!
#1. How long have you been here?
It will be 2 years in March
#2. What kind of job do you have in real life?
Taxi, nurse, chef, maid.. Stay at home mom
#3. Describe the best experience you have ever had at Cains Lair.
The team work in BF2 and BF2142. I can't play worth crap and at least there I could run around and throw things to help others.
#4. What game are you looking forward to most?
Not sure. I'm ashamed to admit it but I don't know whats coming out
#5. What kind of player are you? run and gun, strategic, sniper, commander, n00bish?
As my husband would call me: I'm a trigger holder. I've ran out of bullets trying to kill one person
#6. What game do you play the most?
COD4. I've got a lot of time to make up since getting a new mother board and reformatting. I didn't get a chance to back up my player profiles.
#7. Have you ever had your line of fire blocked by a set of eyebrows?
No but I swear there's some kind of CLR tracking device hidden in them.
#8. What is the funniest thing you have seen in a game in the past 4 days?
I haven't been able to play this week.
#9. What games are you playing right now? (online and single player)
COD4 is all. I still haven't put anything else back on my computer.
Pick one:
If you were a hamster, what would you do?
If you were a game developer for the day, which game would you change and how would you change it?
COD4. Throw in some medics. The shock paddles were a trip!!
It will be 2 years in March
#2. What kind of job do you have in real life?
Taxi, nurse, chef, maid.. Stay at home mom
#3. Describe the best experience you have ever had at Cains Lair.
The team work in BF2 and BF2142. I can't play worth crap and at least there I could run around and throw things to help others.
#4. What game are you looking forward to most?
Not sure. I'm ashamed to admit it but I don't know whats coming out
#5. What kind of player are you? run and gun, strategic, sniper, commander, n00bish?
As my husband would call me: I'm a trigger holder. I've ran out of bullets trying to kill one person
#6. What game do you play the most?
COD4. I've got a lot of time to make up since getting a new mother board and reformatting. I didn't get a chance to back up my player profiles.
#7. Have you ever had your line of fire blocked by a set of eyebrows?
No but I swear there's some kind of CLR tracking device hidden in them.
#8. What is the funniest thing you have seen in a game in the past 4 days?
I haven't been able to play this week.#9. What games are you playing right now? (online and single player)
COD4 is all. I still haven't put anything else back on my computer.
Pick one:
If you were a hamster, what would you do?
If you were a game developer for the day, which game would you change and how would you change it?
COD4. Throw in some medics. The shock paddles were a trip!!
I'm not going to run through it all this week, but I am alive and kicking on ALL our servers now.
I am not kidding, I play every server every day at least one round.
And you know what? We have 3 servers that have been giving me the kind of trouble I like to see!
Call of Duty 4 TDM- Full more often than not when I have time to play
Crysis Wars: TIA (Not Cains Auntie but Team Instant Action) - Full all week, but oddly enough, not so much this weekend
Crysis Wars: Power Struggle - Wow. Can I say it again? WOW I mean I am hitting reconnect over and over and getting no where.
That just rocks.Remember to greet people, thank them for clean kills, thank then for driving, thank them for not Tking you at the spawn pump (thats my nickname for the spawn crates in TIA). But most of all, make this FUN.
Closing Remarks
Well people, it's been a great week once again, which always makes it difficult to write this newsletter. Regardless of everything, this news broadcast was brought to you by Cains Lair News Network, but sponsored by our Community. That means all of you.
Special thanks to those who contributed and we'll catch you all in the next round at a server near you.
~Hammy
CLNN Bureau Chief
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