Newsletter November Newsletter

[Quaffer]

With fall here it's time to start hunkering down beside a warm roaring computer, and let the photons coming off the screen warm your hands. While sitting in front of your computer what better to do than to read the latest news from EdgeGamers Organization? With November here, we are announcing many changes, additions, and just happy times within our community.

Take a look at all the articles that our members have put together and post your own comments.

We are also very proud to mention eGO's own "Radio Station", TuneGO.net. If you would like to know more about the latest addition to our community, read our article on it.

By Angreifen​

Back when eGO was in it's infancy, with a sole DoD server, we raised our ranking by idling when the server was empty. This tactic succeeded in building the popularity of our AVA server, which continues to be highly ranked today.

We need to get back to that. If you have the resources, join an empty eGO server before you go to work, school or bed. Every little bit helps and you can even get an achievement for it.

Thanks,
Artimus​

Are you in a hurry to get to your favorite feature? Clicking on any of the art in the front page will take you immediately to its article.




This month we would like you to get to know Beta, one of our Counter Strike Division Leaders. Please read Nosh's interview.

Continued here




In our inaugural edition of Tech Tip of the Month, reflex99 and Snipeye show you how to check out your machine to see if it has what it takes for Battlefield 3.

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So who won October's TOTeM? Was it you?

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You've played the games; now you can hear the tunes. Check out the latest from EdgeGamers.

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The Personal Service Center would like to announce that it will be holding an event. I got this from PSC Advisor Dead Tom: “We will be doing some kind of Minecraft event and a TF2 Takeover...

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Discover what it takes to play Battlefield3.

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The Call of Duty Division would like to congratulate the members who earned a spot on the competitive team. The following members were carefully selected from those who tried out...

Continued here




Valve recently announced that it expects to release Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as a new version of Counter-Strike in early 2012. Although, it is unknown if Edge Gamers will support the new game, there are already questions...

Continued here




The Day of Defeat leadership wishes to congratulate everyone on the Halloween promotion list. Fifteen es got their G and seven eGs got their O...

Continued here




The latest EVE update has provided a quantum leap in graphics. The experience is very pleasant on the eyes. The new font allows for the downsizing of overview windows without losing access to information...

Continued here




Operation: X is enjoying the success of Red Orchestra 2 and is branching out with two new games, Arma II and Star Wars: The Old Republic...

Continued here




By now most of you have heard that World of Warcraft is now under the Strategy Division. WoW is still alive and kicking and is hopeful that it will become a stronger group under this new division. As always, all of the raids and events...

Continued here




The Team Fortress 2 Division wishes to congratulate Wilson!! and the rest of the Competitive Team for winning their first match. Here's to continued success. And a recap by Wilson!!...

Continued here




World of Warcraft is being assisted by the Strategy Division in its continuous struggles for "World" domination. Check out the details...

Continued Here

Once again the Newsletter team is beating the pavement looking for talented reporters. (Whaddayamean there's too many Quaffer bylines? Shaddupaready!) The minimum requirements are: a high school diploma or equivalent, an EdgeGamers rank of eG, an endorsement from a DL. an appreciation of grammar and a flair with the written word. We would prefer that students not apply as we do not want to be responsible for burning them out. Reporters are expected to turn in at least one article a month and it is rare that they get to report on their own division. For this service they get a byline and the opportunity to have editors hack their articles into unrecognizable...(I heard that! Shaddup!) If you are interested you may pm Quaffer and put reporter in the title line.

The art in this months newsletter comes from SapphireBunny and fudpeX. SapphireBunny created the graphics for our various features while fudpeX created the division art. Please spam them with your praise.

The Newsletter staff would like to remind you to periodically review the contents of the General Forum Information Center found here: http://tinyurl.com/3djxs75

We here at EdgeGamers Organization would like to thank the kind people at MaxFrag.net for providing us with our #1 ranked, 400 slot Ventrilo server. For everyone interested in finding out more about them, visit their site at this link: http://tinyurl.com/4yqoyq8

If you wish not to receive future mailings from EdgeGamers.org please log into your account, select "My Account" , "Edit Options" and deselect "Receive Email from Administrators". Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/3cooosw

 

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Meet the Leadership

by Nosh

I got a chance to sit down with Beta and get to know him better this month. He is one of the most approachable people in the organization and graciously answered all of my questions.

Nosh: Welcome to the eGO Meet the Leadership section of the newsletter. We appreciate you being here.

Beta: Not a problem, glad to do it.

N: So, when you aren't keeping the creative juices flowing for the CS:S division, what do you do IRL to pay the rent?

B: Well i work for Goodwill, I process items in a huge warehouse for the stores across Maryland. It drains the energy out of me but it's a nice paycheck to bring home.

N: Who recruited you into eGO and how did they go about it?

B: I wasn't really recruited by a member. I was actually recruited by a server. My first Steam game was Team Fortress 2 and I had no clue about how to play it. So I loaded it up and stumbled across eGO's Warpath server. I spent an entire day in there and joined eGO that night.

N: Who influenced your admin style the most?

B: My admin style came a few people, mainly RESPAWN, Puddinpop, and Purplenurple back in the old days.

N: What is the first game that you remember loving?

B: The first game I ever loved was Tetris. Hands down, best time-waster ever. Now its all flashy and colorful... yuck

N: ahh yes... I used to love a game called Tetris Attack.

B: What system was that on? I think the DS had something like that.

N: Super NES. My old age shines through with a SNES reference.

B: I only had a handful of Super NES games. When I was younger I had my head buried in books

N: Really?

B: Yea.

N: What books would you recommend?

B: Dr Seuss, all day! Says my younger side... But as I grew older I found this thing called Cable TV.

N: Ahh...

B: And then later on a few suits created this thing called the Internet. What a bunch of jerks.

N: So what games are you most excited about right now?

B: Right now I'm really excited for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Street Fighter X Tekken, Counter Strike: GO, and Guild Wars 2.

N: Whats sports team are you following these days?

B: I'm not the biggest sports fan, but when the Ravens beat the Steelers I can be heard CAW-ing at Ill Legend in the vent channels to the point where he bans me.

N: Nice. Now for the lightning round. What is your favorite TV show of all time?

B: Arrested Development. I'm excited for the new season and the movie, but I hate Micheal TriCeratop's acting.

N: Favorite Band or Artist?

B: My favorite artist is Kanye West before he went totally crazy and made 808 and Heartbreak.

N: How would you solve the current Euro crisis? Dissolve the union or continue to bail out weak nations?

B: I would solve the Euro crisis by putting Mikkel and Ollie (CS:S eGOs) in charge. The problem would be fixed in 2 seconds FLAT.

N: Well that is a new spin.. ..and one that has definitely not been tried yet. Anything else that you want to add before I let you go?

B: Well I can mention this: Our 1v1 tourney was amazing. We had a ton of entries and quite a few of the matches were total nail-biters.

N: Very nice, I am glad that it was well attended. Well, thx for the time and I will see if I can get a batch of cookies sent your way.

B: Thanks man

Edited by wewo

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[Quaffer]

Tech Tip of the Month

By reflex99 and Snipeye

Introducing a new feature:

Tech Tip of the Month

This month the tech's are focusing on

As you are probably aware, Battlefield 3 is a game that requires quite a bit of computer horsepower to play. For this month’s newsletter techtip, we will be going over the basics of getting your PC ready for BF3. The minimum requirements that DICE has published are as follows:

OS: Windows Vista or Windows 7

Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz

RAM: 2GB

Graphic card: DirectX 10 or 11 compatible Nvidia or AMD ATI card, ATI Radeon 3870 or higher, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT or higher.

Graphics card memory: 512 MB

Sound card: DirectX compatible sound card

Hard drive: 15 GB for disc version or 10 GB for digital version

There are two methods to find what components you have on your computer.

To find out what the specifications of your current computer are, we suggest using Speccy. Speccy is a simple piece of freeware that tells you exactly what is in your PC. It can be downloaded here.

The second more complex method does not require any additional software.
1) Bring up your start menu, and select RUN (or type in the search box)
2) Type in dxdiag. If a dialog pops up, select Yes.
3) Your CPU, RAM, and Operating System, will be located on the first tab that pops up (System).
4) To locate your graphics card, select the Display tab (if there are multiple Display tabs, select Display 1). The chip type is your graphics card.


To Find out if your specs meet or exceed the minimum, you may have to do some Googling. For GPU comparisons, this list is a valuable resource.

If you exceed the minimum, you should be ready to play BF3 at least on minimum settings. However, if you either do not meet the minimum, or wish to play at greater detail settings this guide should help you. We don’t have time to cover every aspect, so we will focus on the big 3: RAM, CPU, and GPU.

Starting with the easiest, RAM or Random Access Memory. Most modern computers use either DDR2 or DDR3 ram. Older Core2Duo and Athlon64 X2 or Phenom based systems will likely be using DDR2. Newer Core iX series or Phenom II based systems will likely be using DDR3. Speccy should be able to tell you whether you have DDR2 or 3. Ram is very easy to upgrade. Most systems will support at least 2 DIMMS (sticks of RAM). All RAM DIMMS should be compatible with most systems (assuming DDR3 is matched with DDR3 system, and vice versa). Ram is also very cheap, most online retailers like Newegg, TigerDirect, NCIX, or even Bestbuy sell ram. What you will want to look for is at least 4GB if you want to run the game smoothly. As for how to install ram, there are many guides on youtube and on the internet. It is very simple to do. Even your mother can do it.

Next up is CPU, or Central Processing Unit, also known as a Processor. Battlefield 3 recommends at least a Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz. However, this game seems to favor systems with Quad Core CPUs, such as Phenom II X4, or Core i5s and i7s. If upgrading your rig for BF3, we recommend at least a Phenom II 955, or Intel i5 2500K (or i5 750 if you are using the older 1156 platform). For those of you with older systems, this may also require a motherboard upgrade. If you have a Core2Duo, you are currently using the Socket 775 platform, so It will not work with newer Core iX CPUs. However it will support Core2Quad CPUs, so that could be a viable upgrade option for you.

Finally GPU or Graphics Processing Unit. The GPU is what puts the image on your screen, and probably matters the most when playing a very graphically detailed game like BF3. The requirements call for an 8800GT or similar, which should be fine for resolutions up to 720p, but after that, you are probably going to want to look at something more powerful. The “recommended” card for BF3 is either an nVidia GTX 560 Ti, or AMD Radeon HD 6950. Either of these cards should be able to play BF3 smoothly at 1080p, with a mixture of medium and high details. All systems built within the last 7 years or so should support either of these cards, but It wouldn’t hurt to check and make sure you have a PCIe x16 slot in your system. If you are running a pre-built system like a Dell, or HP, you might want to also check your power supply. The power supply is usually a grey box located in the top of your computer case. A sticker on the power supply should indicate its output capability in Watts. Most power supplies in Dell or HP machines are between 250 and 350w. With 350w, you should be able to run either the 560, or the 6950. However, if you have less than 300w, i would recommend upgrading your power supply. Newegg sells a variety of power supplies, that could suit your needs.

To find out how many watts, and what power supply you should buy, I suggest PSUcalc. It is a handy utility developed by members of Overclock.net:
Download PSU calc here.

If you have any questions , feel free to post them in the subforum Tech Talk

Edited by wewo, LadyFace

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TOTeM

Every month we will accept proposals for the Thread of the Month from you. The only restriction is that the thread must be found on a public forum. Proposed threads will be rated by the Newsletter staff and appraised based on clan wide interest, entertainment value, and value provided to the EdgeGamers community. The winner will receive the TOTeM award.

For the month of October we are proud to present our Thread of the Month TOTeM to Mr. Gocho for Where did your name come from? nominated by The Judge and Lukeirish.


Send your own proposals for the November Thread of the Month as links in a PM to Quaffer, Attention TOTM.


Nominations will be accepted until December 4th.


Thanks to SapphireBunny for this beautiful TOTeM award.

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[Quaffer]

Goood Morning Eeeee Geeee Oooo

By Quaffer

Searching for something to listen to as you clean your keyboard barrel and adjust the sights on your mouse? EdgeGamers has your back. Tune into tunego.com, the station where you and your EdgeGamers buds control the playlist.

The TuneGO staff kicked off the inaugural broadcast on October 31st, All Hallow's Eve. They let us crank up the volume to today's hottest music, taking requests and keeping us in tune(s).

You can email the station at [email protected] TuneGO's long term goal is to have DJs 24/7 but it will take a while to bring that much talent on board so, for now, the selections are automated.

Do you have the gift to be a Digital Jockey? You can apply through the radio’s website located at tunego.net. To be considered you must be an a member of eGO and be at least 15 years old. You do not have to be on the media team to apply. Further info can be found at the website.

Edited by lins, wewo

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Personnel Service Center

By AngelsKing

The Personal Service Center would like to announce that it will be holding an event. I got this from PSC Advisor Dead Tom: “We will be doing some kind of Minecraft event and a TF2 Takeover. We will be announcing a date in the future with more specific details.”


Do you remember being confused or having a million questions when you joined? If you're an eG or eGO and are interested in helping out the PSC, they are always looking for new members. The PSC needs friendly members to make that process as easy as possible for the community's newest members.

Edited by lins, wewo

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Battlefield

This month Battlefield 3 is the focus of Tech Talk our newest feature. Please check it out here.

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Call of Duty

By AngelsKing

The Call of Duty Division would like to congratulate the members who earned a spot on the competitive team. The following members were carefully selected from those who tried out:

DevilDoll
Comet
Raz*r
Hayesy
Tappy
Lmoconley
Krome
​

Congratulations guys and make us proud out there!


COD Division members have been trying hard to keep the new team death match rotation server populated, which has been difficult with school starting back up. The good news is that we have seen more interest from pubs. Now is the time to be active and recruit new members.


Early November marked the release of Modern Warfare 3, and many of our members have been eagerly awaiting its launch. It has already been announced that the game will support dedicated servers. With this feature returning, and the anti-cheat improvements made in Black Ops, eGO admins will have an easier job of keeping the servers player friendly. The specifics on server support have not yet been announced, so the adoption is not official, but the COD division is optimistic that MW3 will be added to the Call of Duty line up.

Edited by lins, wewo

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[Quaffer]

Counter Strike

By vudu

Valve recently announced that it expects to release Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as a new version of Counter-Strike in early 2012. Although, it is unknown if Edge Gamers will support the new game, there are already questions. CS:S leadership was able to provide one definite answer to whether EGO will have a jail server for CS:GO. They answered emphatically, "No! No! No! No! No!" Jail lovers will, however, be happy to learn that they may see a new Jailbreak server soon, replacing the ZombiMod server, since VALVe's most recent update has left ZombieMod completely broken.


Want more CS:S servers? The best way to ensure that the division expands is to recruit. The 1v1 tournament did not yield many new recruits, but servers are still doing well. An easy way to recruit is to add a mature player to your friend's list and invite them back for a second round of combat.

Edited by wewo

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Day of Defeat

By Quaffer

The Day of Defeat leadership wishes to congratulate everyone on the Halloween promotion list. Fifteen es got their G and seven eGs got their O.

Anzio has made the transition to a friendly fire server. This is a significant departure from our traditional 24/7 servers and was the subject of much discussion on the forums. Its rank rose from 495 all the way to 198 after the changeover. Come one come all - resist the urge to spray and pray, and be careful when spamming the grenades so you don't hurt your team by accident.

The Day of Defeat Realism Campaign #6 ends on Saturday, November 12th. Please check the forums for details. Also, look for more information on the New Event Competition in the near future, since event trials are currently under way.

See you in the servers!

Edited by Jeod66

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[Quaffer]

Eve

By Quaffer

The latest EVE update has provided a quantum leap in graphics. The experience is very pleasant on the eyes. The new font allows for the downsizing of overview windows without losing access to information.

EVE players are looking forward to the upcoming winter expansion. Although the upcoming changes in refueling has provided a little controversy. Those who purchase all of their fuel see it as a convenience. Those who make fuel see it as more work.

Tier 3 ships are now available with 5 different subsystems: Propulsion, Offensive, Defensive, Electronics, and Engineering

The T3 Strategic Cruisers include the Loki (Minmatar), Tengu (Caldari), Legion (Amarr) and Proteus (Gallente). Construction requires interaction with a new race of NPCs, the Sleepers.


Prospective EVE players are encouraged to read over the stickies in the EVE-Online Division Discussion

Edited by Spartacus_Legolas

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[Quaffer]

Operation eXperimental

By Quaffer

Operation: X is enjoying the success of Red Orchestra 2 and is branching out with two new games, Arma II and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

ARMA II

ARMA II is set in 2009 Europe. It features team based combat, infantry, ground vehicles, rotary and fixed wing aircraft, and boats. Interact with the citizens of Chernarus as a member of a Marine Recon force. Keep in mind that some battles are best won with a handshake rather than overwhelming force.

There is a free version of ARMA II available in addition to expansion packs. Look for the upcoming ARMA III in the future!

Minimal system requirements:
Windows XP or Windows Vista
Dual Core CPU
nVidia GeForce 7800 / ATI Radeon 1800
10 GB free HDD space

Star Wars the Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic is a massively multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG) of Jedi vs Sith. It currently contains 8 character classes, 17 planets, 6 starships, blasters, lightsabers, and of course, the Force.

System requirements for the game:

Processor:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz or better
Operating System:
Windows XP or later

RAM:

Windows XP: 1.5GB RAM
Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB RAM

Note: PCs using a built-in graphical chipset are recommended to have 2GB of RAM.

Star Wars: The Old Republic requires a video card that has a minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM as well as support for Shader 3.0 or better. Examples include:

ATI X1800 or better
nVidia 7800 or better
Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better

DVD-ROM drive – 8x speed or better (required for installation from physical editions only) Internet connection required to play.

We look forward to seeing you ingame!

Edited by Jeod66

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[Quaffer]

Strategy

By Angreifen

By now most of you have heard that World of Warcraft is now under the Strategy Division. WoW is still alive and kicking and is hopeful that it will become a stronger group under this new division. As always, all of the raids and events are still being pursued with the same vigor and zeal. Do join in on them and have a nice talk with all of the dedicated members of that game.


On to other news from the Strat Division. Bl4sph3my has been offered, and has accepted, a promotion to the position of Division Leader for the World of Tanks section of the Division. His dedication and leadership in that game are evident in all the support he has given to it. He has many plans of things to come, and is always seeking more members to join him in Clan Wars. Clan Wars is an ongoing event sponsored by the Game Developers, where clans fight over provinces on a map. The holders of those provinces receive in-game currency which can be given out to members of the clan.


Minecraft has seen many additions to its events program. Daddy0 and Robochicken are actively improving events and creating new ones. One new event is the Death Race, where players race from the starting point to a destination. It may seem like a simple who is the fastest sprinter in Minecraft, but don't be fooled, the chances of you succumbing to the obstacles in your path are rather high. Ask Daddy0 or Robochicken if they are willing to let you try it out.

Edited by lins, wewo

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Team Fortress 2

By vudu

The Team Fortress 2 Division wishes to congratulate Wilson!! and the rest of the Competitive Team for winning their first match. Here's to continued success. And a recap by Wilson!!, the team captain:


"It was definitely not an easy win, being pushed back and forth taking almost all of the allotted time of the match to beat them on cp_freight, by a score of 5-0. Your fellow friends and eGO members AquaBlue, Brandon, Caelestis, ShinobiSli and I participated in this match-up to bring home the win for eGO."


Events are back. TF2 was forced to take a hiatus from events towards the end of September due to server issues, but they are now back in full swing. Check the calendar, Ventrilo and the TF2 Steam group for more information.


Last, but not least, is a surprise from TF2 leadership. Stay tuned to division discussion for a very fun and educational video from your favorite division leaders.

Edited by Spartacus_Legolas, wewo

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