So yesterday I downloaded the Killing Floor update from Ireland. Of the 4 I tried, downloading from Ireland was the fastest since Valve decided to spend $25 million on an ad campaign for L4D2 instead of better servers. I don't live in Ireland (though I am Irish). Anyway...

The update included 3 new maps:

1. Bedlam - an asylum that was decked out for a Halloween rave complete with trippy lights and women who want to kill me
2. Wyre Forest - a forest that I didn't get to play a whole lot on since I got killed and of the two patched servers, the lowest had a ping of 250. Then I was kicked.
3. Waterworks - I have yet to play this one

7 new weapons

1. SCAR - The mac-daddy of the AR world. This gun is rediculously broken. Just rediculously broken. Like, going to patch it soon broken
2. Auto-shotgun - has some fancy name that I can't remember since I usually play the Commando class which specializes in AR weapons
3. M79 grenade launcher (or something) - a single-shot grenade launcher. Pretty good.
4. M82 grenade launcher (I'm just making up numbers) - 6 shot grenade launcher. This thing is sweet. Kills the boss in 12 hits. Took me about 90 seconds to kill the Patriarch with this, complete with wave of zeds in between
5. Pipe bomb - proximity mines. These rock
6. M-something-or-other Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle - Haven't used it since I can't snipe to save my life
7. MP7 Medic gun - looks like the MG from HL2 but it's alternate fire shoots HEALING DARTS. That's just awesome.

and a NEW can't say the "c" word...uhh..."Perk Set"

The DEMOMAN! Demolitions expert specializes in the explosive weapons, specifically the grenades that are standard to every class, the grenade launchers, and the pipe bombs. Class is nasty. At rank 2 Demolitions, I had 348 kills in the 20 minute game and the next closest was 169 (Next was in the 90's). I'm gonna play more demo :)

So, if you have absolutely no idea what I just said, download Steam and try the Killing Floor FREE WEEKEND where you can play the FULL GAME FREE. Completely FREE. Plus, this weekend, it's only $15. Go for it. I'll do a real proper blog sometime soonish.

Some more letters that failed to give me enough inspiration last time around...enjoy!

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Dear American Eagle,

I wanted to let you know how I felt about your clothes. I recently came into acquisition of some of your belts from someone who, as my mother put it, "had a weight change". I'm just as confused as you are at this point but that's beside the point. Upon first glance, I noticed that the belts are very snazzy looking and the donut-shaped rivets look pretty cool.

The problem lies in this: you belts don't work. I know that's hard to believe as it's a piece of cloth that keeps your shorts above the crack line but every time I wear one of your belts my pants fall down. You may want to hire new designers who have a high-school education so that they are able to design a piece of clothing that will stay on until you want to take it off, instead of my clothes deciding for me that it's time to moon the world. Thank you for taking the time to hear me,

_Dan

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Dear Freshman who felt it necessary to not use the toilet in my bathroom,

You are an idiot who has cost me money now that the dorm is charging me for your mistake. I hope your mother is proud of you.

_Dan

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Dear Akon,

Who the hell are you and why are you coming to my school? Why do people feel necessary to obscure at least one of the chalk or white boards in my courses with messages about seeing you? Are you some sort of spiritual healer? Do you crack jokes that I would want to hear? Or are you some sort of inspirational speaker? I'm not paying $15 to find out what you do, especially since it will turn out to be rap.

_Dan

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Dear man who called me twice on Monday,

I appreciate your dedication to you family. You calling your brother check up on him is very nice and I like the fact that you would take time out of your day to call him. Unlike you, I don't have a good relationship with my sister and we hardly speak. I don't really want to discuss the events leading up to that point where I decided it best to avoid contact with her but I want to clarify that it was my call. Anyways, I digress; back to your two calls.

I understand that you are an older gentleman and you probably don't get to hear from your brother often and that's great that you want to talk to him. The problem is, I have homework. And I'm not your brother, Ray. I assure you that the number that you called isn't, in fact, your brother's. I understand that your brother has had the same number for years but the number you called has been mine for the last 4 years. Yes, I said 4 years. I said it both times you asked. Both times you called.

Thank you for your cooperation and please do me a favor and check the phone number you've been calling for the last 4 years as there might be someone who's been being called Ray for the last 4 years and decided to roll with it.

Sincerely, Dan

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Dear my organic chemistry TA,

I think it's great that you came to the United States to get a better education. You seem to read and write in English pretty well and as a grad student, you must be doing well academically. The problem lies with the fact that you ignore me. When I have a question, you tend to go to the other 29 students before you come to me. And none of them had questions. Or said "My organic chemistry TA's name, I have a question. Can you help me, please?"

Thank you for doing a great job for the other 29 people in our lab.

Sincerely, Dan

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Dear FOX,

This letter is a little overdue. I think it's time that you and I arranged a heart to heart. You've had some interesting programming over the last few years. Your decision to cancel both Futurama and Firefly come as a bit of a surprise to me. We won't even go into Futurama as Firefly is all I need. Firefly is the number 1 selling television show OF ALL TIME. You cancelled what could have been, nay, was going to be, your most successful show EVER. You are incompetent in one fo the highest orders and since I am sending you this letter via Gamespot blogging, I cannot use the proper terminology without sufficient censoring so I will suffice to say that you need to make better decisions. House = good, American Idol = fail.

Sincerely, Dan

P.S. Your news sucks.

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Dear first year camp staff,

This is a wake-up call to you. This summer, I saved two cub scouts from dying a horrible and painful death in a drowning-related death. I dove into the water, fished them out, and checked to see if they were going to be ok. One of those I pulled aside during their week at camp and taught him to swim. My staff was the first to respond to the medical emergency almost a half a mile away. Yes, you were closer but you did nothing. A man could have died because of you. I need to remind you that the lifeguards were HALF A MILE AWAY and you were RIGHT NEXT DOOR. Your incompetence ASTOUNDS me.

Another incident I feel I need to bring up, first reminding you that I have saved 4 cub scouts from drowning related deaths in my life, is when you come to me in the dining hall.

"Dan, the toilet is flooding. I think a cub scout clogged it."

I pause, waiting for the punchline.

"And?"

"Can you do something about it?"

Enough said.

Sincerely, Dan

P.S. I'm not coming back to camp. Don't ask.

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So today's my birthday. I'm 20. And I feel old.

I'm back at school and it's gotten a whole lot tougher. Fluid Mechanics and a chemical engineer's applied mathematics course are killing me. I placed really well in the Jazz band, though. I made third chair behind two seniors and I'm pretty pumped. That's pretty much it. Until next time.

I don't have a whole lot to say. About a week ago, I went to the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom up in Hampton, NH for quite possibly the best show I've ever been to in my life. It was a Mighty Mighty Bosstones concert. And it was awesome. I'll attach some pictures from my crappy phone camera.

Their opener was Catch-22, the band that three of the members left to form Streetlight Manifesto; which, as you know, is one of my favorite bands. This concert was so good that I actually danced the entire time. Granted, I was skanking and looked like an idiot with the 600 or so other concertgoers. They played every song I wanted them to, "The Impression That I Get", "Someday I Suppose", "He's Back", "So Sad To Say", etc. It was awesome.

Camp ended finally. Yeah. Thank God. I don't even want to talk about it.

Last night I played Mass Effect until 2.30 AM. I love that game. It's one of the most solid third-person shooters I've played in a very long time and the story is fantastic. I'm closing in on the end of the game and I'll probably review it pretty soon after finishing it.

Today I purchased 2 Bosstones albums, "Devil's Night Out" and "More Noise And Other Disturbances". Great band, great albums.

School starts soon. I move back in on the 29th or so and my courses start on the 31st. Gonna be a tough semester with all the Chemical Engineering courses I'm supposed to take.

Now you're mostly caught up on my life so far. A few things are still being processed and examined and such. Hope you all had a good summer; good luck in the next school year (or 9 months if you're out).

District 9 = WIN

Thank you, that is all.

Hey all! My summer's going great with the exception of the surprise 6-day work week at camp. They told me after I started working that I'd be getting the same pay but more hours. Whatever. I wouldn't be working at a summer camp if I wanted money. I also found out that my cabin has wireless internet. There's no room to game but there's enough time to surf at night and peruse the web for a few.

Camp's pretty grueling schedule-wise. I work from 7am (I'm usually about 15 minutes late :D ) until about 9pm Sunday through Friday. Yeah. This year we've added three new camping programs in addition to the standard Cub Scout Resident (that's sleep-over) camp: Akeala (some Jungle Book name) camp is a 2 day camp, Day Camp (for the Cub Scouts who are afraid of the dark), and the Salvation Army brings in kids on Fridays. They're funny.

Two weeks ago (on the 8th) I went to a concert and participated in my first mosh pit. It was some mediocre opener band that I couldn't really tell what they were doing but their drummer was both their front man and lead singer and they covered the "You Oughta Know By Now" (or something) song by Billy Joel and it was really good; The English Beat, a really famous ska band from England in the 70's and 80's (ska was called Two-Tone or 2-Tone back then) and their front man was a lefty mandolin player. A LEFTY MANDOLIN PLAYER. THAT'S AWESOME. Finally, the main performer was Reel Big Fish. And as usual, they were fantastic. No real explanation needed, there were shenanigans and antics and witty banter. If you want more on my opinion of RBF, read the previous blog.

I saved two drowning kids last week. Yeah. That makes 4 total.

Finally, today I picked up Mass Effect from GameStop. It was 15 bucks and I haven't had a chance to play it yet but "Batman Girl" (if you will :D ) highly recommended it as did many of my friends.

Hey, this in number 100. Cool. Have a great summer everyone, more from me later. dubel_07 out.

I'm working at a summer camp again this summer as a lifeguard. There are no internets where I'm going. As you might imagine, the lack of the internet will make it difficult to access GameSpot. Therefore, I'm giving you notice in advanced that I'm not gonna be around. Please don't kick me for inactivity if you don't have to. I guess I could always just re-join them but the ones I'm in now are the ones that are important to me. Been a crappy week and hopefully it'll get better soon.

Also, the next blog is number (official) 100. Fancy. Have a good summer everyone, message me, track me, whatever.

As many of you have found out, our friend CombatSoldier was banned from GameSpot. All week, bad crap has been happening to me; I got crappy news every day of the week so far. Combat was a true friend, well, as true a friend as someone could have without actually meeting them. He was the kind of guy who'd put in time to thank each and every person who commented on his blog, post, comment, etc. and would usually do it personally. He'd never have anything bad to say about anyone (who didn't really deserve it) and he brought all those people who left GS when Jeff left back with the two most popular (I didn't actually check this fact) unions on GS and connected GS to console gaming with gaming nights.

In short and to the point: I will miss CombatSoldier. He was a truely cool dude. GS made a huge error and in a slightly humorous way he got back at them by spamming GS staff and GS users he didn't particularly like. Combat, if you get to read this, you will never be forgotten and I will continue to stay as active as I can manage. I salute what you did for GS and for me. Thanks, brother.

^ I can't really talk about it just yet but I'm having some trouble around here. Nothing that won't be forgotten in ten years and nothing illegal. More later.