Halo Night Carnage Report: Holograms FTW!

Another solid outing this weekend, even though Dize couldn't join us. Hey Dize, next time you have a choice between solidifying your career and playing Halo with a bunch of rotten assholes, maybe next time try not to be so responsible, eh?

Our stalwarts of Vehicle King and Shotty Snipers made multiple showings, as well as Slayer and Rockets on the classics of yesteryear, Beaver Creek and Lockout. Infection led to some hilarious moments, and we found a new favorite armor ability for Hammers on Sword Base. Jet Packs are so last season; Hologram is the new black.

RPG Special: ExpectingCorky gets so amped up with the Rocket Launcher, he blows a hole straight through my chest.

Halo Night Carnage Report: The Original Kings of Pwnage

A big Halo Night deserves a big update. We had a pretty solid outing, with plenty of old favorites mixed with a few new experiments. We started off with a return to Beaver Creek, followed by a couple rounds of hammery goodness, and a quick foray into Banshee Race. Our old Blood Gulch standards, Shotty Snipers and Vehicle King, both made solid showings, with an amazing Tank vs. Gravity Hammer duel in the latter. Powerhouse was home to a couple trial runs-- Dan's favorite gametype, Headhunter, and a team game of Stockpile, which turned out to be pretty fun despite only having 5 players. We rounded things out with a game of Haloball Xtreme, and what turned out to be the highlight of the night: Infection on Countdown. All of Graham's fancy Latin phrases were no match for the undead hordes.

But before we get to the screenshots, a few of us (by which I mean Dan) seem to be having problems with proper headset operation. Here's a quick, easy-to-understand guide:

I hope that clears a few things up. I know it can be confusing. Just remember guys, if no one is eviscerating your awful jokes, they probably can't hear you. That, or they're playing an elaborate (and hilarious) prank.

And now, on to the pics....

Halo Night Carnage Report: Raaaaaaaaaaiiiiiin

Big thanks to Graham for getting photos from last week's Halo Night.

Amateur Surgeon: I root around for an extra kidney in Rainman 082's thorax.

Halo Night Carnage Report: The Corky Kills Noah Edition

Another good night of Halo this week, even if Graham decided he had more important things to do. However, he was kind enough to log onto his Xbox without actually joining the game, leaving us to spam him with  invites and wonder why he doesn't love us anymore. Is it because we've gained weight? Or have you been seeing Call of Duty behind our backs?! You cheating bastard!

Anyways, last time there were complaints that I didn't include enough shots of ExpectingCorky killing me in the Carnage Report. Well, customer service is my middle name. (Actually it's Hiatt, but "Customer Service" really does sound better.)

Sniped!

Halo Night Carnage Report: The Returnening

Halo Night made a glorious ignominious return to Blood Gulch this weekend. A few "highlights"....

First, joe buzzkill forgets which side the driver's seat is on.

Some Stuff I've Been Reading

Liar's Poker and The Big Short by Michael Lewis
To the extent that one can have physical affection for written words, I have a total crush on Michael Lewis' writing. Liar's Poker is about the Gordon Gecko culture of 80s Wall Street. Lewis was a fresh out of grad school, and had the good fortune to land a job at Salomon Brothers-- a major Wall Street bond trading firm, and the originators of the mortgage-backed security.* The Big Short is about the economic meltdown of 2008, as seen through the eyes of a handful of analysts who saw the disaster coming. Though they were written 20 years apart, when read together these books are an awesome chronicle of the rise and fall of the mortgage security market. Lewis has a real flair for personal details that keep the stories and real-life characters engaging and interesting, such that the books read like novels, even during detailed discussions on how bonds work.

*If Salomon sounds familiar, that's because they were the inspiration for The Bonfire of the Vanities, and Liar's Poker reads like a real-life version of that book. Except that Liar's Poker is well written, and enjoyable to read. (Oh yeah, I went there. Tom Wolfe is a hack.)

Mass Effectin'

I finished up up Mass Effect 2 over the weekend, finally. I am an OCD completionist on these games, so I scoured every uninhabited rock in the galaxy in search of sidequests and loot.

I don't think I've ever seen such a frank, uncompromising self-assessment between sequels. The first game did very well, both critically and commercially, but Bioware looked deep and hard at the game they created, and they were not sparing of themselves. Mass Effect has emerged from its chrysalis leaner, smoother, and more streamlined than before.  The wretched, borderline torturous inventory system was completely scrapped, and replaced by a highly streamlined collection of hardware. And when I say streamlined, I mean there are only three or four entries each type of gun. That's a far cry from the 150+ (per gun category!!) that you had to juggle the first time around. Armor upgrades are now just permanent stat boosts, and ammo types have been relegated to powers rather than items. You even have a personal assistant to tell you when you have e-mail.