unforum

[Thumper]

[Checksum]

OK, picture this:

Shaumburg, IL. Huge movie theater, packed with people. Halo 2 playing on the big screen, explosions booming from the sound system.

And in the back a clump of beekeepers not paying attention to any of the above because we're all huddled around a tiny piece of paper from a grade school composition book, staring at a bunch of words and a mathematical equation, shouting out suggestions to Angelo (appropriately) who relayed them to Buzzkill (also appropriately) who checked them out on the web.

And it worked!

I hope NY, SF and Austin had as much fun as Chicago did. I know I personally had a blast!

-checksum

P.S. This picture was taken from the galley of the Apocalypso aka Denny's.

P.P.S. Sorry this isn't a complete Chicago Combat Training crew picture, but sadly some of our loyal crewmembers left early. However, we did manage to get a new recruit into the picture - third row, center, in the black shirt, saluting is our friendly neighborhood Microsoft/Halo 2 rep who ran the Combat Training Exercise and was cool enough to come grab a bite with us and humor all our questions about ILB and Halo 2. Not only did he hang out, but he handled our onslaught with grace and tact. Kudos! (anyone catch his name?)

P.P.P.S. Yes, this is cross-posted with the puzzle thread, but it seemed appropriate here as well.

P.P.P.P.S. This space intentionally left blank

[skilletaudio]

I fear that I may have come across as too judgemental, and not appreciative of the Chicago event.
I had a blast. 90% of the entire event was unbelievable and I'll talk about it forever. If I owned an XBox, my ass would be signed up for Halo 2 duty on the ninth after tonight.

Thank you, to any and all people-in-charge for deigning to reward us with something this cool. Thank you to the Bungie reps who tried to make it sail, and thanks to the theater people who tried to wrangle us.
Overwhelmingly, me and all the friends i brought to the even went home happy. We just felt that the process could have used...better cohesion, I could say.

[Checksum]

Oh yeah, one more thing. To my knowledge, nobody at Denny's ordered the buttered chicken...

-checksum

[krystyn]

The organization and ticket/list blah blah was terrible icky bad, but I had a freaking blast.

Siege88 was just telling me in IRC that he actually heard me over the headsets - KenM, too! I was trying to say my name, and give shoutouts to the beekeepers, and also tried to mention the Goddess Squad!

I couldn't hear myself, and there was an awful delay, so I am glad SOME people heard me!

Also, I was informed later that I was able to stick it. Rawk.

I was sucking so bad running through this really hard room (lots of ramps, we were all falling everywhere), that as soon as I re-spawned, I kept throwing grenades into the middle. I guess a plasma one stuck, and I got a kill from it.

Suh-weet!

It was really nice to chat with Chuck, the XBox marketing guy.

Can I tell you how much Chicago peeps rocked tonight? Because we did. Several beekeepers saved spots near the front of the line for a few of us who needed to get our e-mail printed (anonymous guy from the La Quinta Inn who let us into the MANAGER'S OFFICE to use the computer and printer? WE ADORE YOU), and then we all sat in the back few rows and cheered everyone and the Goddesses yelled, "Bet ya can't stick it!" whenever we could, and then we completely ignored Halo 2 so we could work on the puzzle.

My heart is broken, though, by the wav that was played tonight which had us singing in the background. Apparently, I was right near the beginning, and I didn't hear it! Suddenly all the beekeepers were cheering and smacking my shoulders and stuff, and I was so confused! And now I realize that the .wav on the site (and the DVD? I am still searching) doesn't have that! Gah!! I wonder if there's a way to get that version ... somehow. It was so truly touching and haunting. An incredibly nice way to wrap up the game - a curious symmetry.

[Zudini]

Okay, chatting with the PMs was too, too awesome. And they will be doing an IRC Q&A sometime soon, don't worry. There were too many wonderful stories shared to relate tonight. But I will mention that Weephun's actions DID take the story to an unanticipated place. They were not planning to have the SP captured, but, as Sean Stewart put it, "Dude sold her the f*** out right there on the phone!"

So, no, the ride was not exactly on rails.

[krystyn]

Awesome.

[Anderian]

That makes me heart ILB so much more. I had always suspected there was a bit of improv going on beyond the live calls themselves.

[Blicero]

I'm curious what it was like to chat with the voice actors...

This is kinda corny, but I think I would get shivers from hearing those voices live and in person.

Which location(s) were they at?

[SuperJerms]

Here's a couple of things I didn't see mentioned about Chicago.

DreamoftheRood is the man. He was like a commando, clearing out places for some of the faithful crew to stand in the sweltering heat of the waiting line. Props.

It was about a hojillion degrees in the waiting line. When we finally were admitted into the theatre, it was an almost transcendent moment.

Also in the line, between the Johnston brothers and Ermac quoting Red vs. Blue, there was periodically instruction from a lowes employee down the hall. Everyone would be talking, then you'd hear a deafening, "Shhhhhh!!!" (seriously, you couldn't hear a thing over the sound of a hundred people shushing eachother), followed by a surley Lowe's grunt yelling at everyone. After about ten minutes, someone got the idea to cry wolf. One guy would make the shush sound, and the Shhhh would spread like a wave through the three-hundred-foot-long crowd. Then nothing. *deep sigh*

After the fourth "false alarm shushing," we all decided to shush the crowd and point to the same spot on the ceiling. About thirty of us shushed the crowd and pointed skyward. Sure enough, everyone in line strained to see who wrote GULLIBLE on the ceiling. pwned.

Despite technical difficulties limiting the first Live! game to our players only, the whole theater went nuts when the first player saw a SPNKR rocket launcher. And again when the first rocket frag occured. Then he got the energy sword. Player two learned quickly to just run away. Player one chased two through the Ivory Tower and the place just erupted. "Throw the f'sking grenade!" "When it goes red, hit the trigger!" Good times.

Later, in the Zanzibar CTF match, we had one guy that was...a little slow. So we're playing along, and this fella has a propensity run in corners, drive the warthog until its either turtled or naded to death, and get lost. Ok, the score is 2-2. We've got the flag, and tweedle-dee is running after our guy, while everyone shouts, "Turn around and cover him!!!" Almost at the capture point, and this fella gets right behind whoever had the flag on our team, and just unloads on him with the SMG. Kills him dead. Everyone goes crazy. Unsubstantiated reports that unnamed persons yelled, "Moron!" Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked.

At raffle time, we saw just how outnumbered we beekeepers were. The MC asked if we should raffle by ticket or by crew listing. He decided to measure it by applause. We mustered all the voice we could and yelled, "Use the list!!!" The fanboy response was a deafening roar. We got owned

Also during the raffle, the fourth winner was an eight year old kid. He was there with his parents, and he timidly stepped forward after his ticket was called. Every fanboy jumped out of his seat and yelled, "BOOOOO!!!!" Then they start shouting, "He's not 17! Take it away from him! Kick him out!" Mind you, only 15% of these scrubs were actually on the list of people who should have been admitted in the first place. The MC said, "It's ok, he's here with his guardian." "BOOOOOOO!"
*shudder*
Can you imagine that? Eight years old, scared to step forward, and you've got two hundred morons booing you? Jerks.

Ok, last one. I ran out to my car to get my laptop, so we could see if the puzzle involved the DVD. I get called down to play as soon as I returned, so I gave the laptop to Angelo. He fiddles around with it, they figure out that it's not DVD related. I come back, and about an hour later we get the other cities' codes. Team Chicago is on the job. We whipped through that puzzle in, what...eight minutes? So there are 40 beekeepers around poor angelo, who is trying to relay messages back to buzzkill, who is at his computer. We're working the football/rugby/hockey angle. We're working the Wandering Stranger/comet angle. We're working the Apocalypso/mispelled? angle. Now I'm trying to figure out a way to get internet access, to save buzzkill some trouble and expedite things on our end.
Spye looks up at the booth and asks the theater employee,

Spye: "Hey! Do you have an open port on your router?"
Guy: <deer-in-headlights impression>
Spye: "Throw us down an ethernet cable!"
Guy: "They need the connection for the online play!"
Spye: "They don't need all that bandwidth for the game! Throw it down!" Guy: "I can't!"
Spye: "C'mon! Don't be a pu**y!"
Guy: <walks away to the back of the booth, where we can still see him>

edit: I just remembered the CTF moment, added it

[midas777]

Austin

[rhymeswithsausage]

NYC

[Twilight]

Another Voice from Chicago

[Alderaad]

In Boston

[DeceptaconS]

Just one last post, even though it is a little off subject. The multiplayer experience has a large learning curve. It is not something that you are going to learn in an hour. Dual welding is one to point out. Holding down both triggers and letting loose a barrage of bullets or plasma is not the way to go. It works some times, but controlled short bursts is better. Each Map alone has at least 1 hour to 2-hour learning curves. And out of the Game types we played, all of them were equally awesome and balanced.

Austin (Yellow or Orangeteam) represented on King of the Hill, and one of the Slayer Matches.

Red team was getting OWNED! (Who was the Red team?)
And Who the Hell Kept saying "Chicago" over the mic

Point of this Post is... Definitely get the game at midnight release, because you are definitely going to need some serious practice. Otherwise you are going to get owned and probably not enjoy your LIVE experience. If you don't get it at midnight, my advice is play with some friends before getting on LIVE. Again, I stress that this game has been totally revamped from the first. Three hit pistol sniping kills are non-existent. Although, I know it has been said before. First Hand experience with the game is a totally different story.