Gearheads of War

So... I'm sitting here in the office.  Took care of my big projects today (which included taking out a couple Chrysler guys for lunch)...

Ready for 5 o'clock to roll around, then a three day weekend (yay!)

Looking forward to gaming with the Gearheads tonight (my wife has been duly notified...)

As some of you who read my post a couple months ago (or noticed my absence on-line for the most part), I needed to take a break to take care of personal issues.  The most important one being the health of my wife.  Update:  Her treatments for her foot have been going pretty well actually.   The type of chemo that she is on makes her nauseous, but has not lost her hair or anything...    And She has appreciated my devotion in caring for her (and that's pretty good :=)     Words of Wisdom to you young guys -  In my best Tonto accent...   "happy wife make big happy husband".

Since I'm one of the older guys in the group, I also had been considering "am I too old?".  Do you know?...   I mean, I just turned 39 and have three kids...   Should I still be gaming?   Part of it was I needed to see if I could break the habit.   Step back and decide...   "Is this still for me?"

This is coming extremely late but I'm sure you all don't mind. =)

I won't be able to make it (and apologize for not being able to make this post longer) but what would ya'll like to play tonight?

Left 4 Dead has started a run, talk of Team Fortress 2 is in the air, Halo has been in the hopper for a while and there has been quite a bit of Gears and Gears 2 going on...

State your claim...and sign up to play!

Hello all,

I didn't see anyone write a recap, and thought it would be good to do one for this FFF.

This has been a difficult, emotional week.  Firstly, One lost a husband.  Then, Three lost a father.  And We lost a friend.

FFF actually started on Thursday for ESuns, me and a few of the Gearheads.  We already kind of posted that recap in the FFF sign up post by Tyler.

Last night, I wasn't going to play.  Had plans.  They changed.  But I didn't get on till around 11pm.  You all already were together with Christopher (Son of Polandstyle).   Room was full, so I waited.

From what I was told later, Christopher played with Gearheads for a while and then got off to join his uncle. (Please share something, cause we missed it).  

I wanted to have a special FFF this week in honor of Bob/Polandstyle.  So I was thinking we could play Gears 1.  I know that I said that I was done with the game, but I think it's only right that we have some fun in the game where most of us spent more time with Bob than any other.

And maybe, just maybe we could do a little salute to Bob by making it chainsaws only for one whole match.  Five rounds of nothing but the saw.  Go ahead and sign up below.  I'll probably be on starting around 8:45 or so.

This one is for you, Bob.

Update:  There will also be a "Ceremony" held on Thursday night for those who can't make Friday, or are able to make both.  

Hello to those of you planning to attend our Gears of War 2 community night.

Tonight!

A little bit about who we are...

Many of us have been playing together since (and even before) Gears 1 came out.

This site was created by Papi Blez.  He is the brother of Cliff.

I personally joined a couple months before Gears 1 launched because I thought Papi (Tyler) was a cool guy after reading some of the things that he posted.

And our community has grown based upon relationships / good times that we have together.

There are about 100 members (I think), with about 50 active on a regular basis (This includes posting on the website and gaming together).

We don't just play Gears (although it is our first love).  There is loved shared for all things Halo, COD, Left 4 Dead - mainly.  We also try other things from time to time.  We tried GTA4, but it fell off the map quickly with us....

Something to note.  We are competitive, but a fun time together is our focus.  If the purpose of (you) playing with us tonight is to meet some cool people (at least we think we are) and have some fun, then you've come to the right place.

So today at lunch, I went to the mall and picked up COD4.

Good news is that the price dropped to $35 (Used - plus I get -10% with the edge card).  Cha Ching!

Why did I get COD4 (you might ask)?   Yep, because I traded it in a while ago, but now it's looking like Gearheads are going to give it some "old flame" love (Maybe even this FFF?!).

Which brings me to the purpose of this diary....

What's on the menu for FFF?!

Can we as a community reach a consensus?  

Can we have variety?

Can we have a FFF rotation?

Here's what I suggest.  

The following games in a rotation:

Gears 2 (2 FFF's per month), COD4 (1), Halo 3 (1) and Left 4 Dead occasionally (like 5th Friday of the month or Sat night game).

What do you all think?  Especially the Admins?

We have all week to play what We individually enjoy the most.  FFF is our "Date" night..  

Or do we just have a poll on the FFF signup every week?

Or?....   (Post your thoughts And Vote on the Poll)

Gearheads, we need to create a list of Awards that we can use to help us re-cap and highlight the best/most memorable moments of the evening.  I think it would be fine to just re-use some of the official Achievement names and pics (e.g., Barf Bagger - for anyone who gets all four Survivors with one puke).  However, I think there are lots of things we could create new awards for (e.g.,

So, please propose Names and Descriptions of awards.  From there, we can compile a list, tweaking where necessary.  Feel free to offer just a Description or just a Name as well. We can help each other outBooby awards are legitimate, too.

Here are some Descriptions (again, the wording can be tweaked for greater entertainment value):

Barf Bagger - Covered 4 Survivors in a single Cookie Toss.

????  - best/most memorable Hunter

????  - best/most memorable Boomer

????  - best/most memorable Smoker

????  - best/most memorable Tank

????  - for making the hardest decision (and leaving all Friends behind)

(Sorry guys, I don't have time to flesh this out right now.  Just want to get it on the boards so we can all work on it together.)

UPDATE:  The page is up.  Check it out here.  For comparison's sake, check out the Gears Awards page here.  Thanks to all who contributed with ideas and full awards.  This is just a first draft, so more can be added, uninteresting/confusing ones can be deleted, and all the rest can be tweaked.  The Achievements are also a go, and hopefully,  people will remind us that such and such achievement would also have been awarded.

Cheers,
Michael

Ok, first things first.  I am asking for some community love in this diary.  These re-caps take at least an hour and sometimes as much as 3 or 4 hours to write.  Last week, there were so few posts/replies, I decided I wouldn't write the next one.  But that is just pouting and there are fun stories to tell, so why not?  Here it is.

Second, please feel free to nominate people, including yourself, for awards that are either missed, or even already given to someone else.

Alrighty Gearheads, next week is when the fat boy dressed in red squeezes his big butt through people's chimneys to drop some swag for the good little boys and girls, and lumps of coal for those that are naughty. Papi is away and most likely huddled in a fetal position crying in the shower since his 360 suffered the dreaded RRoD. ;) In addition, Suns and I will be issuing out the usual weekly No-Prizes (FFF Awards). Sign up here if you want to dish out the lumps of coal before Santa finalizes his list of all those that are good and bad. So, are you naughty or nice?

POLAND came back!  (cue Welcome Back, Kotter Theme song)  Sawing everyone, and by the end of the night, everything .  In all his fatigue, tried to saw a wall.  ha ha ha Cheers, Poland.  Great to see you are still up to your old tricks!  It was great to have you back playing with us!  (and Chris, you should've joined us.  We missed you!).  With the exception of a brief event towards the end of the evening, at which time I made a total ass and fool of myself, the FFF was a fantastic success!

OK, now for the Awards.  (Everyone, please put us in remembrance and we will add yours/your friend's Awards to the list).  

Poland gets the

•The "Golden Chainsaw" Award- Most chainsaw kills of FFF.

In one of the opening matches, with 16 kills, Jambi earned

•The "I'm Rick James, Bitch!" Award- Highest kill count of FFF (15+). As far as I know, this was not beaten all night.

For roasting me and my teammates repeatedly and with great skill on Ruins and Blood Drive, Infidel gets

•The "Stick a Fork In It, It's Done!" Award- Most Scorcher kills in FFF.

For an awesome Boomshot take-one-for-the-President maneuver that turned my certain death, and thus potential shorthand situation, into a two-per-team, 4 death blood fest on River, Blankman gets

•The "Cock Block" Award- Best defensive move of FFF.

RoBBins absolutely humiliated the other team with the Bow and Arrows on a round on Ruins. It was what most people these days call "sick".

•The "Arrow in da Ass" Award - Most/Best Torquebow stick of FFF.  

RoBBins for headshotting four consecutive people on the Canals map.

•The "Busting Melons" Award- Most/Best headshot(s) of FFF.

Though I am sure he was not trying for it, but rather just mixing it up, Zoso gets

•The "Welcome to the Grindhouse" Award- Most Mulcher kills of FFF.

Infidel & Jambi share nominations for the

•The "Hillary Clinton" Award- Most friendly-fire kills during FFF.

Finally, I want to propose the creation of two new Awards.

First, a new Award called The Weirding Way Award, earned for the first time by Zoso & moi ;).  It was on Canals, and I was watching high side, jabbering like a pack of monkeys.  Infidel, was going to take me out , but before he did (my death always appears in slow-mo), Zos shouted out, "Where are you 'Suns?", and with my last breath, I shouted out my location.  Within a second or so of my death, Infidel was with me.  Of course, there are only a few who could take that info and turn it into a lethal victory (thank you, Zoso!), but it was an AWESOME feeling.  Killing with a word!

•The "Weirding Way" Award aka The "I Love It When A Plan Comes Together" Award- Kill, or have someone killed by sheer awesome communication (a 2+ player award). For those who haven't read Dune Wikipedia provides a great explanation for The Weirding Way

Second, apparently there was hilarious grenade incident in which Zoso tagged a teammate, and the teammate ran towards an enemy, taking the enemy out!  I am a little apprehensive about coming up with an award for that, for fear that it might become something people actively pursue.  ;)  LMAO!  I got it! In honor of all those kamikaze and their trainers from WWII, this sort of military action shall earn

•The "General Hideki Tojo" Award aka The Ice Cream Truck Award aka The "Bearing Gifts" Award- Sending a "friendly" into a crowd of the enemy with a 'nade on their back.  
He was a war criminal, you know.

UPDATE:  I changed the Weirding Way award to be a 2+ person award and added an alias name for it.  

UPDATE 2:  DOH! Reading through the Awards list, I realized that there is already an award for inappropriate grenade use. Well, I am going to leave The "General Hideki Tojo" Award up there.  It is a specific sub-class of inappropriate grenade tagging. ;)

•The "Hong Kong Phooey" Award- Inappropriate use of grenade tags. (but we don't want to encourage this one).

That's right, Gearheads.  It’s time that we kicked this party off right by re-introducing the weekly Gearheads' awards that 3Suns and I have conducted in the past.  With Gears 2 out, it seems only right that we reinstitute something that brought a bit more hilarity to our weekly gaming.  

3Suns & I will be announcing winners for every FFF to receive these infamous "No-Prizes!"  We will base these awards from community input after every FFF.  So get those mad skills ready!  

Can it be?  Gears of War 2 has only been out for two weeks and yet, I get the feeling that a lot of the Gearheads community isn't just dipping its toes in L4D, but they're diving right in.  Unfortunately I won't be able to make FFF tomorrow night.   My wife and I are going out on a date and I get to see Quantum of Solace.  

But I wanted to open it up for folks to say below what they'd like to play.  Would you prefer L4D or Gears 2?  Sign up below, state what time you'll be on and what game you'd prefer to play.  Maybe folks can even play both tomorrow night?

Just so you know, I was going to run my personal review of Gears 2 this week and then I decided I was going to wait one more week.  Then I realized next week is Thanksgiving.  So I plan on running the review the first week of December.  I'm making sure I put it off long enough so I can talk about every element of the game without having to worry about it being a spoiler.  That's my update on that.

Sign up for FFF and have fun tomorrow night.  I'll miss playing with you this week.