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News
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Recent Site StabilityThe last week has been a roller coaster of availability for our website. Now that things have settled down, I felt I should remind you guys that we do have an Official Web Development Group where we discuss the causes of outages and solutions being implemented to address problems. That is the area of the site where I will inform people about work being performed on the site first and (usually) in more technical detail than people care to hear.
If you don't follow that group, I'll give you a summary of the past week. The morning of August 8th we implemented a significant overhaul to our database structure that necessitated a multi hour outage (turned out to be 12 hours). We also set ... Recent Site StabilityThe last week has been a roller coaster of availability for our website. Now that things have settled down, I felt I should remind you guys that we do have an Official Web Development Group where we discuss the causes of outages and solutions being implemented to address problems. That is the area of the site where I will inform people about work being performed on the site first and (usually) in more technical detail than people care to hear.
If you don't follow that group, I'll give you a summary of the past week. The morning of August 8th we implemented a significant overhaul to our database structure that necessitated a multi hour outage (turned out to be 12 hours). We also set up a secondary "slave" database server that holds a copy of website data as it is being written. This allows us to perform backups without taking the site offline every day and also allows us to have a spare database server in case the first one dies (more on this in a bit). The slave server is the old database server that used to run the site about 2 1/2 years ago.
After the upgrades we encountered numerous stability problems with the site and began having problems with database tables becoming corrupt for seemingly no reason. After fighting it for a few days and investigating like mad, on Thursday morning we realized that one of the drives in the database's array was failing and was causing all of our trouble. We formulated a plan to take the site offline Thursday evening in a controlled manner to swap out the drives as painlessly as possible.
The drives had other plans.
Thursday afternoon around 5PM the drives experienced catastrophic failure so we had to swap them out and rebuild the database at that time. Luckily I keep a spare set of hard drives in our cabinet just in case of this type of failure. We propped up the slave server to handle the website in the meantime...and it wasn't nearly powerful enough to perform the task. The site was unusable because the database server couldn't keep up with the traffic. Eventually once most people were asleep and traffic was much lower it could serve the site fine, but that wasn't a good solution. Once we rebuilt the drives in the master database we reimported all the data (again, about a 12 hour process) and finally Friday around noon everything came back online and has been ok for the most part since then.
Now that the system is stable again, we are working on bug fixes and optimizations related to last weekend's work and hope to have the site running better than ever. We are also working on a distributed content delivery method to serve some of the more static data on the site in an effort to speed up load times.
I apologize for the outages this week and take full responsibility for them. The problems we encountered were unexpected however I think they are behind us for the most part. Moving forward we will be implementing better systems to deal with these types of problems to improve our uptime percentage and provide a better home for you on the internet. Thanks for sticking around, we wouldn't be here without you guys and your continued support.
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Weekend Hunt
A quiet one this weekend, we've got three community members hosting various events. You know what to do, read the details below:
First up we have LiveWire87 fighting waves and waves of enemies in Onslaught mode of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Nazi Zombies in Call of Duty: World at War.
August 13th-15th throughout the day, all 3 days, Central Time (Illinois)
Contact him here on AH, or via his Gamertag: NickX87 to arrange a time
Next up we have Gizzamo going for some of the trickier online achievements in social games on Gears of War 2.
August 15th 12pm GMT
Contact him here on AH, or via his Gamertag: Gizzamo
Last, but by no means least, bdub46 needs 2 more people ... Weekend Hunt
A quiet one this weekend, we've got three community members hosting various events. You know what to do, read the details below:
First up we have LiveWire87 fighting waves and waves of enemies in Onslaught mode of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Nazi Zombies in Call of Duty: World at War.
August 13th-15th throughout the day, all 3 days, Central Time (Illinois)
Contact him here on AH, or via his Gamertag: NickX87 to arrange a time
Next up we have Gizzamo going for some of the trickier online achievements in social games on Gears of War 2.
August 15th 12pm GMT
Contact him here on AH, or via his Gamertag: Gizzamo
Last, but by no means least, bdub46 needs 2 more people to join in with all the Crackdown 2 4-player co-op achievements.
Saturday August 14 @ 4pm Central time
Contact him here on AH, or via his Gamertag: ZeroCoolest
If you want to host a future Weekend Hunt, post the details in this group thread to get some frontpage attention.
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Mafia 2 Demo: Five hidden playboy playmates
Mafia 2 comes out in two weeks or so, and my prediction is that thanks to these hidden playmates, it will be the best video game ever made. The only thing that's gonna be better is when Mafia 3 features hidden dongs. Mafia 2 Demo: Five hidden playboy playmates
Mafia 2 comes out in two weeks or so, and my prediction is that thanks to these hidden playmates, it will be the best video game ever made. The only thing that's gonna be better is when Mafia 3 features hidden dongs.
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Still Gaming for a Good Cause: Extra Life 2010
So, two years ago Sarcastic Gamer launched a charity called Extra Life. Obviously we jumped at the opportunity to participate, raised over $3000 in donations and had some epic AHTV moments during the live stream. That pretty damn good for our first year out if you ask me, especially since we only started a month prior to the event.
A lot has changed since then with Extra Life. A lot has also stayed the same. It's still a 24 hour game-a-thon wherein you try to gain sponsorships for your time spent doing what we do best, play videogames. A lot. It's still (thankfully) on a Saturday, which is October 16th, 2010. It's still going to be broadcast on Achievement Hunter TV. And we still... Still Gaming for a Good Cause: Extra Life 2010
So, two years ago Sarcastic Gamer launched a charity called Extra Life. Obviously we jumped at the opportunity to participate, raised over $3000 in donations and had some epic AHTV moments during the live stream. That pretty damn good for our first year out if you ask me, especially since we only started a month prior to the event.
A lot has changed since then with Extra Life. A lot has also stayed the same. It's still a 24 hour game-a-thon wherein you try to gain sponsorships for your time spent doing what we do best, play videogames. A lot. It's still (thankfully) on a Saturday, which is October 16th, 2010. It's still going to be broadcast on Achievement Hunter TV. And we still have a good ole Donation page and Achievement Hunter Team Page if you're going to join in on the action and awesome cause.
So what's different this time 'round? First off, it's opened up to the whole Children's Miracle Network, so people can raise money for their local hospitals. For example, ChurchsWife stayed at the Buffalo Women's & Children's hospital when she was five and had spinal meningitus, and going they saved her life, as they brought her back after her heart stopped beating for over a minute. So, being able to support local hospitals should be a big plus in your motivation, and by proxy campaigning. Also, SG is throwing a Extra Life party at PAX Prime, so if you want in, tickets (by way of "PAXtra Life Party" shirts), are almost sold out. I'll be there, and hopefully some of you will too.
Things have changed on our end, too. Last time we had a Forum Thread for Extra Life, this time we have a full on Extra Life Group, which we can use to organize playing together, discuss what games should be played on AHTV, and a (currently locked) Sign In thread for when we kick things off. (Credit goes to Catindor who actually created the group yesterday, independently of my setting up the AH Team and other framework. Wild.) Also, Jack and Geoff are behind the cause this year as well, so expect them to drop by the stream themselves. We've all upped our goals this year, and hopefully, with your help, we'll be raising money in 5 figures.
And on the note of AHTV, I've decided to up the ante on the stream. Not only will I be broadcasting the entire 24 hours of the main date, October 16, 2010, but ALSO on the "rain date" which presumably is the following Saturday, so that means you'll be getting 48 Hours of gaming goodness from yours truly. Will that garner more donations? I don't know, but I'm happy to do it regardless.
tl;dr version
Sarcastic Gamer's Extra Life is badass. We're participating in it again, Donate here or join the Achievement Hunter Team Page and the Group on-site, also, the Achievement Hunter TV broadcast will be for both days for a total of 48 hours. I'm batshit insane.
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Top 5 Anticipated in Halo: Reach
Warning: The following Top 5 list is compiled of details revealed by Bungie in either Vidoc’s, weekly updates or trailers as well as some personal speculations made from this data. There are no spoilers outside of the data revealed by Bungie.
The game’s gone gold, we’re just about 30 days away from it’s release, and we all know what we experienced in the Beta has changed. So what are we most looking forward to in Halo: Reach? Making a triumphant return, here’s my top 5 answers to that question:
”Legendary. All skulls, on. Pistols only, on. All Hunters, on. Have fun.”
5. Firefight 2.0
The manic wave defence mode from ODST, Firefight’s had some drastic change... Top 5 Anticipated in Halo: Reach
Warning: The following Top 5 list is compiled of details revealed by Bungie in either Vidoc’s, weekly updates or trailers as well as some personal speculations made from this data. There are no spoilers outside of the data revealed by Bungie.
The game’s gone gold, we’re just about 30 days away from it’s release, and we all know what we experienced in the Beta has changed. So what are we most looking forward to in Halo: Reach? Making a triumphant return, here’s my top 5 answers to that question:
”Legendary. All skulls, on. Pistols only, on. All Hunters, on. Have fun.”
5. Firefight 2.0
The manic wave defence mode from ODST, Firefight’s had some drastic changes. Now you’ve got full control over how you play, want to spend the entire game just blasting Grunts? You got it! The full customization list hasn’t been revealed, but here’s hoping to some surprises. We’ll also get new weapons like the targeting laser that sets up an Orbital strike! And not only that, you can now take part on the other team, playing as the Elites to stop the Spartans from killing your Covenant friends. The ODST’s were tough enough to take on a challenge, but Spartans are knocking it up a notch!
”You got Spartans on the ground, and, in space!”
4. Space Battles
This year’s big E3 reveal has Spartans boldly going where no Spartan has gone before, the cockpit of a low orbit fighter. Take the helm and beat the Covenant’s ass in a whole new way. Later revealed in the campaign trailer was your fighter attacking a Covenant cruiser, so it looks like this won’t just be a dogfight, you’ll be taking on the big dogs too!
”This place is a little…. bigger.”
3. Forge World / Forge 2.0
Wait, you guys did what?! Bungie have seen what the community has done with Forge, they were impressed and they listened. This is their response to all the Forge art and custom maps people have made with their clunky editing tool. We, are pleased. Not only do we get the biggest map they’ve ever made to play around in, but we get a whole bunch of cool pieces and the tools to make great maps almost effortlessly. If you have the talent and the time, you can make it.
”I could eat it every God damned day, forever!”
2. Multiplayer
What would this list be if I didn’t mention multiplayer, eh? We all got a taste of it back in May and loved every plasma charged moment of it… well except for the server issues on day one. From assassinating people with a proper knife, to that, “We were so close” moment in Invasion. With the Arena, matchmaking options and added gametypes, Halo’s multiplayer system has evolved far beyond Halo 3. Not to mention they brought back the Y menu, that was awesome!
”WOOOOSSSHH!!”
1. Jetpacks!
Okay, that’s a bit specific. What I mean to say is, all the changes to Reach that makes your Spartan truly your Spartan. Changing multiple aspects of the armour, including visor colour, choosing loadouts with Armour Abilities, and taking that Spartan into campaign so all those shiny trinkets can be admired by the AI.
Oh, and I know I haven’t mentioned campaign, but that’s kind of a given, we’ll make that number 2.5.
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Brownman's in a league of his own We always like to see people reach the huge Gamerscore milestone of 100,000 and we've got plenty of people now part of that exclusive club.
Brownman, however, has gone one further and recently made the jump to 200,000! That's impressive for any gamer!
Congratulations sir!
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Monday Night Combat (on Thursday)!
You know, we had such a blast playing Burnout Paradise a few weeks ago that we thought we should do it again...and soon. Therefore, this Thursday, at 8pm CST (-6 GMT) the Achievement Hunter boys will be jumping on to the new XBLA title "Monday Night Combat."
Geoff and I got a chance to check it out back at PAX East and had a blast, and now that we've gotten even more time in, we want to share it all with you. So, pick up a copy of the game and send us a game invite on Thursday and let's go nuts.
If you are interested in playing along, post your name in the comments here. We'll collect them and post them on Thursday so everyone can have a ball.
Oh, and below is a quick overvi... Monday Night Combat (on Thursday)!
You know, we had such a blast playing Burnout Paradise a few weeks ago that we thought we should do it again...and soon. Therefore, this Thursday, at 8pm CST (-6 GMT) the Achievement Hunter boys will be jumping on to the new XBLA title "Monday Night Combat."
Geoff and I got a chance to check it out back at PAX East and had a blast, and now that we've gotten even more time in, we want to share it all with you. So, pick up a copy of the game and send us a game invite on Thursday and let's go nuts.
If you are interested in playing along, post your name in the comments here. We'll collect them and post them on Thursday so everyone can have a ball.
Oh, and below is a quick overview of the two Avatar Awards you pick up in MNC. I'm a big fan of the Orange Head. Woo! See you Thursday!
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