Hello all. This news post would have been up last night, but as I was finishing it up, IE froze up on me and I lost the entire post. Funny how that only happens when I have to do something important…
Anyways, on with the news! You may have noticed by now, the Hardfought Halo game server is up and running. Brought her up within minutes of the dedicated server files being released, and she’s pretty much stayed full that entire time. I can’t even get into my own server to play half the time ;-) We also have an active Halo port monitor thanks to the hard work and effort put forth by EmmEss who maintains the Halo servers over at Divo Networks – Thank you EmmEss!! :-P The display to the right works just like it did for CS, and will update itself once a minute. I’ll add things like next map and time remaining once that becomes possible. I’ll also be bringing up a second public port (game type – Assault) and a private reservable match port that you or your clan can use for matches/practices or just to have a private pickup game with you and your friends. Server configs will cater to online leagues/ladders, such as the CAL, OGL and CobaltNova. More details on that later when I’m able to do that, should be soon.
In light of the Halo server being up, I’d like to take a moment to officially announce Hardfoughts admin staff for the Halo ports we’ll be running. They are, in no particular order – SaGe^KS, PUPPY, Maverick, spudboy, pyro, Ibuprofen, EnSanity, Phrozin and koolzie. You’ll be seeing these guys at various times on the game ports ensuring fun gameplay is had by all. If you have any issues or problems while on the server (port crahses, someone intentionally team killing/wounding repeatedly, someone cheating, etc) let one of these guys or myself know, and we’ll resolve it. Best way to contact us is either in-game, on the Hardfought IRC channel, or via the admin form located under the ‘Server Admins’ link to the left. We all live in different time zones (PST, CST, EST, HST and GMT) so round the clock coverage should be possible. Tell this crew congrats on the position, a lot of people applied for the spot… and thanks to everyone else out there that did apply.
A few other Halo-related tidbits… shout out to Louis Wu, who posts most of the news for halo.bungie.org for giving Hardfought a quick blurb and a link to one of the Halo-howto posts on the msgboard here. I think I logged over 300 new registrants in under 48 hours… ROFL ;-P Maybe some of those people will stick around to see what Hardfought has to offer.
HaloHQ has officially opened it’s doors – one of the top spots for all things Halo. It’s owned and maintained by our own crazy British admin pyro… the work he’s put into that site is evident, it look’s top-notch. Pretty much anything you need to know or ask about Halo (PC or Xbox) can be found there. The forums are pretty active too, has a nice-sized community going and it’s growing. Be sure to swing across the pond there and check it out.
Both the CPL and CAL have announced their various tournaments and league openings for Halo (PC). To find out more about those, check out their perspective sites, or you can hop in on gamesnet.net IRC network and join #CPL-Halo and #caleague-halo.
To wrap up – be sure to check out the msgboards here, we have a lot of good posts concerning Halo and how to get the most performance out of it. Also have fielded a few fix ’em up posts with success. Of course, if you wanna start some mindless post about whatever, that’s acceptable too ;-) Also, should have a new .gif banner button for people to link to us with, should be up and ready soon. And last but not least – a new voting poll. Let everyone know how you feel about Halo:Combat Evolved.
Go play Halo ;-P I’ll post more news as it happens, should be soon. See ya folks.
K2