Absolute Dog

It has been quite so time since I have logged in and even longer since I have posted anything. That said, here is the 'old Dog' because...well, I never change. So, here we go, lol. The game we all once played has not carried the interest we all once had. The game was what we all had in common when we first joined. We used to, and some still do, talk are collective asses off about what meant so much to us. Through all that talking, debating and arguing-Twinreaper-we realized it was more than the game that kept us together. We became friends with each other. It didn't matter who you were, how old you were or what you looked like, it mattered what kind of a person you were. I once said something to the order of, "this site is a tranquil place in the storm of the internet". Not a direct quote, I am sure, but close enough for my point. I am watching the 'shout box' as I type and figure things are still the same. If you know the story, this site was kind of a fluke. Created by someone who was not sure what it would turn into, if anything. He just captured a good url. He did play, he did mod....as did his friends. This site, like any place people find to share their experiences, became something very cool. It still is in it's own right. Enjoy what has been given to you. Twam. I was not happy about what happened when I stepped down, but you do have my respect for keeping this site alive and allowing the it to be a haven in the gaming community. Thank you to all who remember. Have a good night. AD

I have had to delete all but my most current messages as my current membership status was over burdened by nearly 2500 messages. Rather than spend days or weeks trudging though them one by one, I performed a mass deletion of all but a tiny few. Any legitimate message or thread you want me to take part in will need to be resent. Thank you for your understanding.

I truly appreciate all of the kind words and remembered moments. In reading the various posts made here I have reflected back on some of the highlighted moments and events that shaped this forum. My close friends here know who they are and we have talked. This is for all of you. Thank You............. Some of you already know this, but it bears another mention. This forum, what we were in the beginning and have become, is not based on any one person. Where I genuinely take to heart all of thoughts you have shared, the site is a culmination of all of us. Many posts have spoken to what I have done or made possible and I see that as a reflection of what the past and current members have given in either inspiration, support, active participation and/or friendship. We did this together. Please remember what the leaders of this forum have to do in order to manage our corner of the Halo universe. Spades summed it up the best, though it feels self serving to say so. Providing solid and consistent leadership can often be separate from your personal feelings. Only a handful know how far I went to support some members and ideals of this forum and the price paid for it. It may surprise you to know who and what they were, but it will remain private. In the end, give the leaders and moderators polite respect and work to continue to build what we have and not tear it apart. Have conversations not arguments. We can not control the direction Halo takes, but we can control how we act and interact around the game. This is a forum at it's core and by definition offers the format for pro and con discussions to take place...........that has to be understood and accepted. Thanks to each and every one of you for all of the kind words and support over the years. This site and all of you are ......................

The winning map for the Meet Your Maker - Dominion forge contest is by yet another very talented forger who has produced a number of Competitive and Flood maps for the Halo community. His offering for the Dominion contest was a showcase of his talent and ability to forge high quality playing environments across various game types. He was also recently chosen to provide video commentary for THFE, which occurred long after map submissions, due to his understanding of quality forge techniques and his ability to speak to them so others can gain insight and advance their forge capabilities. The Winner of Meet Your Maker - Dominion is....... by PA1NTS The map reflects an urban setting that allows players to traverse the areas between the bases by either sprinting down the open corridors between the buildings and around the exterior edge of the map,through the multiple levels of the structures - which allow for vehicle use in some cases - or across the 'roof tops'. The maps unique "L" shaped design offers avenues of access and varying levels that provide for a much more 'larger than it looks' feeling. Looking at the map from overhead for the first time the foot print seemed somewhat small with it's six structures and tight interior routes between Bravo, and the Green, Blue and Red structures, but once on the ground you find the true art in Monsoon's design. Alpha and Charlie are reverse mirror images of each other as are the two connecting structures that lead to Bravo, yet it is the creative use of multiple heights for the ground level that transitions into the first and second floors of buildings that give Monsoon it's unique ebb and flow. The varying tiers of the buildings and their open areas provide a series of sight lines for both attack and defense especially when holding the pivotal Green building that is located on the interior elbow of the map. The Avalanche-esque man cannons offer a quick departure form the ground level adjacent to Alpha and Charlie launching you onto the respective corridors between Blue and Red that are the roof over the tunnel that funnels around the interior corner of Green. PA1NTS has given the community such a high caliber Dominion map and it is why we are proud to note him as the winning forger for this contest. Download Monsoon here Second Runner Up Announcement First Runner Up Announcement Winners and Maps of Note from Meet Your Maker - Infinity Slayer Stay tuned to THFE and this site as we continue to showcase some 'maps of note' that were, along with the top three selections, examples of the type of quality and creativity our forge community has to offer. We would also like the forge community at large to know that all of these and many other (what I like to refer to as) premier forgers all use a series of testing lobbies and custom games with fellow forgers and players to test their creations. This process allows them to gain feedback of all types which then allows them to refine the map from it's original incarnation and shape it into the finished product represented here. Not one forger of any merit would be able to tell you they built a map without the help of testing. Whether they have an inherit forge ability or have learned it from others, all talented forgers makes use of and truly listen to the advice of others. We not only thank the forgers, but all of you who were part of the testing and critiquing process. Here is a list of former and current judges for the Meet Your Maker forge series. SaltyKoalaBear Spades N AZ AbleSirThomas The Fated Fire Warholic Psychoduck Absolute Dog I would also like to offer a special thanks to Spades N AZ who no longer is part of our Halo community. Due to his overwhelming dislike for current title he felt he could no longer do what he had done for so many years for the forge community. Spades was integral in helping to form the ties between the various judges and his testing lobbies over the years had helped to find and bring forward some of the talented forgers we have showcased with Meet Your Maker as well as in other contests in the forge community. His dedication, friendly nature, knowledge and friendship is missed by many of us in the forge community. Thank you Spades for all that you gave and continue to give with your lineage of sharing and leadership. ♠ Spades N AZ ♠

I am stepping down from the position of Site Moderator of 343industries.org. I have worked over the past many months training and watching RedStarRocket as he has taken on the reigns of the site moderator position. I know I have made a good choice for a successor and am confident he will continue on with the traditions of this forum. RSR I wish you the best! I have made an unending list of friends over the years on this site and in the Halo community and am grateful for the opportunity to have met and become friends with so many. My work with the forge community will continue by promoting and highlighting the incredible maps and game types they create. Forge has always been close to my heart and I have met and become friends and associates with some of the best forgers in our community. I will continue the Meet Your Maker series along with THFE and the incredible group that has helped judge these contests. My work with Forge Cafe and Halo Customs with the 2v2 Forge Tournament will be seen through to the end as well. I have hopes that it will be the first in a string of similar events between our communities. As for the members of 343industries.org, it has been a privilege and honor to serve all of you. Thanks to all members, past and present, who have helped to build and maintain this site with your ideas, participation and love for the game. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Here are a few facts about me as a moderator, a member and a Halo player. I have performed 2,272 administrative actions as a moderator. This tops all other admin actions, which is 13 more than Twam and nearly 2 1/2 times that of my friend and former co-site moderator Jester. I have performed 6,068 moderator actions which is 2,200+ over Jester and Twam and no other moderator even begins to comes close to us. Though these are all lofty numbers, know that all moderators, save a couple, have done some serious work for this site and should be thanked. I never had any intention of being a moderator and came close to turning down the position. I had no plans on returning after I stepped down to care for loved ones. Life is funny that way. I met, then moved across the country and now live with the woman I met on XBOX Live playing Halo 3. I am an old school Halo fan, playing Halo CE since 2001, and have logged over 30,000 match made games and an unknown number of custom and Lan line games with all of my accounts over the years. My name, GT, was given to me by friends years ago because I hated being sniped from across the map and would hunt down snipers with a passion. I would literally 'dog' or hound them to death. Ergo my friends comments were, "He will absolutely dog you if you have the sniper rifle.". Halo 3 is my favorite of the Halo series because I truly enjoy the arena style of competition it offers and play it regularly. I have a deep rooted love of forge and genuinely admire the competitive play of professional Halo players. I love the Halo community and this site and all the good memories they have given me. I want to thank a few close friends and noted members of this site. Spectral Jester - Friend for life Choot 'em - Friend for life imakequilts - Love of my life and unsung supporter of this site Twinreaper - Tech Guru, mean as a badger, miss you Vitamin PWN - Forgive and forget Total Mayhem - Fellow Christian and friend RSR - She is all yours now, take care of her Drizzy Dan - The shinning star The Director - Never a dull moment Spades N AZ - Thanks for everything, miss you Twam - Thanks for the opportunity Thanks to all of you. I will miss serving you. - Absolute Dog

The Lil Dog has returned. RSR may I suggest you create a folder for his conversation as Jester and I called him the 'Idea Dog' for a reason, lol!

It was announced today by Bungie that they had set the release date for Destiny for September 9th 2014. Below is an excerpt from the Bungie Weekly Update for 12/6/2013 and a news article from the site. Relevance of the Date The date falls almost 9 months to the day from this day.It is the 9th day of the 9th month of the year.This is a Tuesday in the second week of the month. There will be a full moon on that date. There appears to be no relevance with the date other than that unless there is some 'in house' reasoning for selecting it. It falls well before the shopping period for the Holidays and after the summer break for schools. Update excerpt This week, we set that date in stone: September 9th, 2014. In an interview with the community back in 2001, Jason Jones once lamented the inexorable tick of the clock. More recently, he reminded our studio just how valuable the coming months will be, and challenged the team to make every second of Destiny development count. It’s an exciting time to be at Bungie. The stage is set, and we’re going to make these moments matter. We believe Destiny will be worth the wait, and we’re anxious for the chance to prove it to you. News Article Since then, Destiny has continued to reveal its promise. Every new build brings us closer to our original vision. With those goals in sight, we intend to use every moment from now until the release of the game to ensure that Destiny lives up to your expectations, and our own. Today, in partnership with Activision, we are proud to announce that the worldwide launch of Destiny will happen on September 9th. Accordingly, the Destiny Beta will kick off in the summer of 2014, available first on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. The early support and enthusiasm for Destiny has been inspiring and humbling. We believe this is the right decision for our game, our studio, and our passionate community. Thank you for coming along with us on this adventure. See you starside. This post has been promoted to an article

All of the Halo 2 DLC. Though most of my online gaming since 2004, when I purchased Halo 2 on it's release, has been on an XBOX console and in the Halo series.....I have a large collection of games that have offered DLC. Until recently I have either purchased, been given as a gift from friends or received free codes to review content for most all my games providing it. Most of the content in and of itself was enjoyed for what it was, but the problem lay with how it was implemented into the game play online. Halo 2's DLC is the best memory I have of DLC being best integrated into slayer and skirmish and therefore enjoyed properly. Sadly it is the only DLC I would list in a top 10. All Othe DLC content has been so poorly handled, in my opinion, when the solution seems so simple. Rather then a separate playlist for DLC content, as in the case of my two heaviest played series of Halo and the Tom Clancy games, the main playlist should be for those who have all the current content and a separate non DLC play list for those who don't. It seems to me to be a common sense approach to offer this type of integration to those who support the games beyond the initial purchase. Had I not been given all the codes for Halo 4 I would not have seen any of the DLC content for that game. I will be hard pressed to buy any more DLC content for a game until I know in advance it will be properly integrated into the game.

Thanks for all the examples you set with your life style and faith, the joy you shared and work you did to entertain us. ******************* Thanks for sharing this video Jester. Many of us have made connection with actors and/or the roles they play in movies. When they possess the qualities that we admire or aspire to have, we feel a bond with the character they portray and usually feel they are like that character in real life. With Paul it was true. Maybe not working for the FBI and stealing cars and loot, but the type friendships and love of cars that he was known for. It may not be widely known these days, but when he was much younger he was in the TV series Highway to Heaven with Michael Landon and another TV series called Throb. He also played roles in Pleasantville, Varsity Blues, She All That, Into the Blue and Flags of our Fathers - Directed by my role model Clint Eastwood. It would be a great be way to remember him and his work to watch some of his earlier roles along with his most iconic work in The Fast and the Furious series. When I was young, soon after my own father died, I found a similar bond with both Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds. I admired Clint for his noted determination to fight injustice, always leveling the playing field for those who could not do it for themselves and doing it in a no nonsense way. From his westerns, Dirty Harry series, the military films, the Eiger Sanction, A Perfect World and Gran Torino are but a few examples of a long history of this style. He also starred in great romance, comedy and spoof films as well. Burt Reynolds was mostly known for his 'Bandit' roles where his iconic laugh and fun nature always won the day, but he too has made such films as Gator, Deliverance, Semi-Tough, The Cannonball Run, Driven, both Longest Yard movies (1974 & 2005) and Waterproof to name a small fraction of the classic movies he has starred in. He even played a voice role in Grand Theft Auto-Vice City. Where many actors and actresses are seen publicly spinning out of control due to fame, money, drugs or socially unaccepted behavior Paul was a good example to have for a role model. Remember for him more than just the role he played on TV and in movies...........remember him for the kind of man he was in real life. Clint Eastwood Burt Reynolds

A transfer cable or USB as stated above. The transfer cable, if not already owned, is close to $20.00 or USB is basically a dollar a gig and sold in varying sizes.