Hello TAW,
We have concluded interviews for the CIC Candidates and voting is now open for the next 48 hours. All three of the CIC candidates did a great job today answering real-time questions in front of TAW at the TFO meeting. Please take the time to review the recording below: (Sorry for the background noise, we’ll get that fixed going forward).
http://taw.net/taw_mplayer.aspx?id=2
I also strongly recommend reviewing the responses to the written questions and individual interviews below:
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=3bda2f4695055a92e8e2ab09b&id=ae77eb17a9
And if you haven’t signed up for the TAW newsletter, I strongly encourage you to do so. The team does a phenomenal job keeping the whole community posted on the latest and greatest in TAW!
http://taw.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=3bda2f4695055a92e8e2ab09b&id=a1ca456f18
When you are ready, please log into the TAW.net website and click the link below to vote for CIC. Voting is open to all members of TAW including lifetime members and RECs that have completed their bootcamp. Your vote is stored privately in the database and removed after the election is complete.
http://taw.net/poll/12.aspx
Thank you all and good luck to all 3 candidates!
Icarus
Commander in Chief
Election Chairman
About a week ago, I had picked out a game for this column; a vague structure and topics of discussion slowly formed over the course of my week. I toyed with wording and different phrases during the long empty hours at work. And then the end of January came around and all my careful thought and planning fell apart. A new game came out that was so odd, it could be not be ignored. A game so unique it must be discussed. A story and world so silly, fun, and bizarre, it MUST be shared. I knew I had to address the elephant..erm...octopus in the room. I KNEW I had to talk about Octodad: Dadliest Catch.Those of you unfamiliar with the series probably just reread the title, and then either assumed it was a spelling mistake, thought I've gone off my rocker, or guessed it's a mildly amusing joke. I can assure you, Octodad: Dadliest Catch is the real title of a real game. Dadliest Catch is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Octodad, a student project from a group of students at DePaul university. The first game, while graphically unrefined and poorly optimized, was heavily praised for the silly storyline and the unique gameplay. The sequel picks up where the first game left off, and dramatically improves everything from the first.In both games, you play as the titled Octodad, an unnamed octopus in a three-piece suit (somehow) secretly living amongst humans, and having married a human woman and (somehow) fathering two children. The story is fairly simple, with Octodad attempting to provide for his family while simultaneously remaining hidden in society. For a normal human, such everyday tasks would, at worst, be trivial, but for the boneless and decidedly not-human Octodad, even the everyday task of making coffee becomes an amusing chore of flailing tentacles and flying physics objects.The controls are similar to the infamous QUOP in the sense that you control the limbs of your character. During gameplay, you switch between arm mode to manipulate objects and leg mode to move about the game area. In leg mode, holding the left button slowly raises Octodad's left "foot". While in the air, the mouse can be moved about to direct the direction the limb goes and then releasing the mouse button will plop the limb back to the floor. The process is then repeated for the opposite limb on the opposite button. While I quickly adapted to the unusual mode of locomotion, I found it very aggravating how quickly I seemed to run out of table space when moving in any direction. Picking up the mouse and moving the mouse seemed to be an ever-annoying problem.With a simple tap of the space bar or middle-mouse button, you'll change Octodad into arm mode. In this mode, moving the mouse moves octodad's tentacle along the horizontal plane, holding right-click will change it so the "arm" will raise and lower with mouse movement, and finally left-clicking lets you push buttons, pick up items, or drop/throw items. This method, while far less intuitive that "walking", doesn't seem to have nearly as much of a space requirement. Before long, I was pulling weeds from my wife's long, and chucking the weeds over the fence into our neighbor's yard.While I'm still in the process of playing the game (I can only take so many hours of tentacle-flailing a day), I've enjoyed the game thus far. The dialogue is pretty well written, and is usually amusing. I have heard the game begins to wear thin several hours in, and many feel the game could have benefited from being a bit shorter. The world is a bright and colorful place with numerous in-jokes and references scattered about. While there does not seem to be much in the way of replayability, I'd happily recommend Octodad: Dadliest Catch to anyone willing to try something new. And if you're unsure on the title, the first game is available for free on the Octodad website.
The Two CC members from Vanguard are KingCheese and Wordy. They have been awarded the TAW Medal of Honor - the Highest Award in TAW. The way they have developed the Vanguard program within TAW is substantial. A well earned award.
From the Vanguard Division, we have our monthly installment. This edition is on the Spin Up Team WarThunder.
MAJ MrHeadshot - War Thunder has grown exponentially in only one year since the last time it was tried to be spun-up. The community has grown bigger and stronger for each day, just as our War Thunder division has.With the restless and hard dedication of all of our staff we have finally made it.And it will be the first Vanguard game to be launched this year.For the moment War Thunder is your typical dog fighting game.Perfect for everyone who loves the air to air combat, but War Thunder will evolve to something more and not to be a game exclusively for the pilot game fanatics.It will evolve to an all-round war simulator for people who enjoy all kinds of war machines.I have no doubt in my mind that War Thunder will become one of the most popular war games out there for the next couple of years and even beyond that since it just keeps evolving.And since its F2P and not a pay to win game, I highly recommend that everyone should test is at least for an hour or two with our highly skilled players in War Thunder.Even if you don't like the "Try hard" games, don't worry you can succeed without even trying in this game.Just try It and have fun, you wont regret it.1LT djowatts - There is nothing more satisfying than flying a simulator battle, settling behing a bomber in my Beaufighter (Or any other plane that comes with rockets) and snapping their tail off with one monsterous BOOM! That is the best thing about our division is that there are so many different levels of immersion. If you just want to shoot things, Arcade mode is perfect, if you want full immersion, then Simulator battles is where it is at, and if you want something in the middle, then Realistic is the one for you. This game has something for everyone, so if you haven't given it a go, I would totally reccomend giving it a go!
1LT PWRR - WAR THUNDER is the best flying simulator battle game that you can play if you are interested in the World War II era. The Art of Warfare (TAW) is a growing community that accepts all nations around the world to come together to play a number of games. When you join TAW and become a member of that particular game you represent the clan in everything you do within that game. One particular game that is standing out from the rest is WAR THUNDER. WAR THUNDER is set in WWII era where you can play a number of nations aircraft unlocking technology to make your aircraft more efficient, enabling you to overcome your opponents. The best thing about playing within a clan is that you play within a community and grow together therefore you understand what your wingman next move might be. This game is all about teamwork. That's what's gets you the wins and will enable you to unlock the tiers.War thunder is a growing game and is expanding all the time. This is expanding now to land sea and air. This gives the player the decision to make what they want to play whether its aircraft, ships or tanks. Now you will have the ability to play all 3. You would be concentrating on your opponents aircraft now this will turn into a 360 battle. Where tanks ships and aircraft will all play within the same game (the players).Within a battle of WAR THUNDER you would only be able to control aircraft, now with the new patch which is due to released gamers will have to find themselves thinking about how to overcome their opponents using tanks aircraft and ships. This will change the battlefield dramatically as the gamer decides which nation and what logistics to use this may tip the battle in your favour.The Art of Warfare uses TeamSpeak 3 (TS3). This is the heart of our community and all gamers will be required to have TS3 to function in this community.All new recruits must be a minimum of 15 years old. We accept all new gamers at any ability to join our community. 1LT Jdnole - The War Thunder division is a unique division within TAW because not only does the game itself allow you to play with people from all over the world, but also because within TAW you have this same access but on another level. Within TAW on our teamspeak, while playing War Thunder you not only have access to play with people around the world, but speak with them as well. I absolutely recommend to as many people as I can that they play War Thunder if they are interested in World War II to the Cold War era
The next edition of 'From the Battlefield' is out!
If you don't have it in your inbox, subscribe today [see link below].
Enjoy,
Cherry [OSM STL]
Neseroth [OSM STA]
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Oath to IT
Time to release Virtual Boy’s far superior cousin!
We all remember Game Boys Virtual Boy, or maybe not. The ones of us that played it want to forget. Headaches, sore eyes and hurting back was standard.
But anyhow, we all know about Oculus Rift by now (if not shame on you!). But now there are news about it’s imminent release to the public!
The VR goggles have for a long time been the centre of Youtubers and geeks to show off and play with, but no game as of today has been design for the Rift.
Until now!
The Massive online game EVE Online is getting a “cousin” with the upcoming EVE:: Valkyrie, that will be in the same universe. This game will focus 100% on epic spaceship battles in shiny awesome graphics
Oculus Rift acknowledge EVE: Valkyrie as an exclusive launch title for the upcoming VR device.
The difference between EVE: Valkyrie and other games for the Rift is that EVE has been made from scratch to be played with a VR device, unlike other games ported to VR.
Oculus are working to produce a costumer version to the Rift that will be launch later this year together with EVE: Valkyrie. The finished product will be “Superior” to the Developer kit according to Oculus.
3 Fast Short news!
Google prepares Notebook Nexus 8 to be 8”
Hacker sends thousands of passwords to ASUS from their routers to prove a safety error ASUS claims “Do not exist”
Japan Industrial Partners buys VAIO PC from Sony
What's your callsign?
Wardy
Let's get to know you – can you describe yourself in five words?
Family, Loyal, humour, integrity and professional.
Tell us about your history in TAW.
I started with TAW back in 2005 with Delta Force , I first met a TAW member on the server they used to run when I kept running into claymores !, I stayed with DF for nearly 3 years moving from PFC to a DI quite quickly due to the fact I was a bit handy at making the maps for the game so I produced a 'Bootcamp' Map and was given the reins on a few victims on my first bootcamp as a DI, During that time I was then promoted to Sgt and I continued as a DI for some time. During 2008 and 2009 I was deployed so my gaming and TAW came to a stand still. in 2011 I moved to Battlefield 3 where in a short space of time I was moved to PL and promoted to Sgt Major, for a few months it was an amazing experience, I was then recruited to become the SO of BF3 and shortly after the CO. Battlefield 3 then launched from Vanguard and when it did i was promoted to Major and became the DO of BF3. About 6 months later ( I think) I was asked if I would like to take up the role of Vanguard Lt Commander and work along side Kingcheese. Since then till the present day (currently 596 days !) I have been the VLC for Vanguard.
What was your initial impression of TAW?
My first impression of TAW was like seeing a skyscraper as a kid for the first time, it was amazing all be it slightly overwhelming, One moment I was seeing TAW tags kill me and then in a flash I had iceDogg briefing me like I was about to go to war ( Just think Gunnery Sgt Hartman and you will understand the efficiency of one of iceDogg's boot camps) ! After a few days once the dust of my 'Recruit training' had wore off, I found TAW to be a place where I could be myself and somewhere after a hard days work could go and have good banter and great training / gaming. It was in my eyes one of the most professional on-line organisations I had ever seen
Tell us about your division, and what you do there.
Currently I reside in Vanguard, my job is to support Kingcheese in the running of the corp. Its a fast paced roller coaster with one hell of a leader at the steering wheel ! I have to say this ship is water tight. No stone is left unturned in the search of new games and no road is crossed without a guide to get across safely. On average my day consists of taking care of around 50 emails ( 49 are from Kingcheese only joking) to do with the daily admin of new units. Just last year at one point we had 15 games in VG at one time with 15 SUL/CO to deal with! Currently things are slightly slower due to a lower number of games but im sure it will get busier later this year But our main goal is to allow any game a chance to make it to the TAW Army and ensuring it has the right leaders, members and self administration to survive
What would you like someone considering joining TAW to know?
Expect high standards of gaming and honour (honor for some) and prepare to be astonished at the level of work behind the scenes to make sure that every member of TAW has the perfect gaming and community experience
Do you have any special hobbies or activities outside of TAW?
I go orienteering most Wednesdays and I really enjoy sailing ('hello sailor' I hear you cry!). Mostly though my die hard hobby is making model aircraft I have been doing it since a kid and it reminds me of my childhood so it always makes me smile and think of the 'good ole days'
If you could change one thing about TAW, what would it be?
Stop being so addictive ! I find myself thinking about TAW and what we can do and what Vanguard can do to enhance peoples stay within VG and TAW
Tell us about some of the people you've met during your time in TAW.
hmmm this one is hard as I don't want to miss anyone out ( Disclaimer if I do I'm sorry) I have to say that Kingcheese is one of my best friends in TAW and outside, we have just clicked and we have now spent many nights over a few beers talking TAW and RL stuff, He invited me into his home and family and has always made me feel welcome, I will be repaying the favour at the end of February and giving him an insight to the Ward Castle !! On another note just in case some of you didn't know I own KC's dogtags gratefully won during some archery at his 40th Birthday bash ....ahhh they look so good on my fireplace ! Ok enough about KC otherwise his head wont fit out of the door ! iceDogg was my first TAW experience and still to this day we chat about RL stuff and give each other our ears to listen with. He has been a long term friend and continues to make me laugh when we are chatting. I will always remember the good ole DF days and its great to have a friend to talk to about it ! Taz - another DF friend who has made me laugh alot for my entire time in TAW he has the ability to make anything funny but also put a very professional point across when needed. We still to this day argue over whose claymores where better in Delta Force .....clearly Taz it was mine. Stealth - man man you are one super guy ! meeting you and chatting over those days was awesome you really made me feel welcome and also mate I don't think I have laughed so hard in my life as those 3 hours to KC's house flew by ! Rustic and the boys from BF3 - two words EPIC DAYS !!! The current CC structure - They are some of the most supportive and down to earth guys I have met, they have lead me (sometimes by the hand) on my current journey a Corp Command member. All the Delta Force 'ole boys' and girls (Lioness) that welcomed me into TAW with open arms and continue to be a great memory in my gaming life ! And of course all the SUL that have had the pleasure of VG, Texas,Ekis,Eifer, and all the rest :) And everybody else I have met throughout my time has been awesome and its great to log onto team speak and talk to all of you not just as TAW colleagues but as friends, Sorry I didn't mention everyone but I would be here all day !
What's your favourite thing about TAW?
The people who have made this community the best I have seen.
How does TAW affect your offline life?
Hahaha maybe I should let my wife answer this question , lets just put it this way Mrs Wardy knows the entire TAW structure, policy and all the administration of Vanguard like the back of her hand. Disturbingly she may be getting better at it than me !
What might our readers be surprised to know about you?
I have lived in North Carolina for 3 years and in Turkey for 3. I have visited every continent except Australia !
What's your favourite retro videogame? Why?
Zelda because I was a Nintendo Freak back in the 80's 90's
If you could choose any TAW member to be stranded on a desert island with, who would it be and why?
You all thought I would say Kingcheese ......... but no its MrsWardy check the members she once was in battlefield 3 until she felt bad for dying all the time and worried about letting the side down ( I just chucked in the background when she was playing). I will not give a reason LOL !
For their time, effort and dedication, this member will be awarded our In-The-Scope member tab for completing the interview.
To say that Cutthroat and Bones have served TAW is an understatement. Cutt has been around TAW for over seven years and Bones, the oldest active member has been with us for over 12 years! If one was to look up Servant Leadership in the dictionary there would be a picture of Cutthroat and Bones. Their dossiers reflect the dedication, time and effort both have put in to TAW. The list of medals and awards go on forever...you actually have to scroll to see them all!
This medal is awarded to a member that has met all established requirements to retire from The Art of Warfare. This member has remained in good standing through participation and leadership. TAW salutes this member's lifetime of achievement and selfless dedication.
The Lifetime Achievement Medal existed prior to the 2010 TAW.net website rebuild project. The Lifetime Achievement Medal is the second highest possible accolade that can be earned by a member of TAW.
The Lifetime Achievement Medal is a truly unique creation, incorporating elements of a number of different medals. Central to the medal is the eight-pointed star, shared with many combat medals, and the wreath seen on other contribution and leadership medals. In the middle of the medal is "TAW" superimposed over an image of the globe, recognizing the global reach of the organization and the impact that the member has had over their TAW career. This medal shows the star-cluster, only seen on the highest level of medals, denoting the requirement of a TFO vote to award.
The Medal of Honor is the second highest possible accolade that can be earned by a member of TAW. This medal is awarded to a member that has met the requirements of the Lifetime Member Program and has elected to retire from TAW. Again, as one of TAW's top medals, the Lifetime Achievement Medal require a passing TFO vote to award to a member.
"Achievement results from work realizing ambition" - Adam Ant
Feel free to make some comments and share some memories here:
http://taw.net/forums/t/11939.aspx | http://taw.net/forums/t/11940.aspx
As TAW continues to move forward, don't think these guys are going to disappear. Keep an eye out for them. They will continue to lead the way for TAW 2015 [and beyond!].
You may or may not be familiar with Vanguard, but if there's one thing you should know about it is that it is the lifeblood of TAW. Without it, there would be no new games coming in and fewer opportunities for new leadership to rise up.
VG originated simply because TAW wanted a way to bring games in. Over the years, Vanguard has changed a lot. They've added new staff, changed policies and procedures, and even changed who they work under. VG used to be considered a division, not an entirely separate corps as it is now. It reported directly to the Commander in Chief, skipping over Army Command. They've somewhat recently added the DC and DO positions to VG to help out because it's a pretty big job for just two guys to handle.
The current system Vanguard uses, as opposed to its original system, doesn't just allow for new games to start up with excellent chances. It also allows new leadership to form and gain valuable experience while working with VG staff. The original system required a person who was at least Division Officer rank in another game to start the game in question or it wouldn't be attempted, period. The term "spin-up leader" didn't really exist back then either. Now, however, people who have no experience can be turned into spin-up leaders, which VG trains about how TAW operates and how to be the best possible leader they can be.
Vanguard has also been where TAW has found that some policies just had to be changed. For instance, there used to be an entirely separate Army Command for MMOs. There have also been many instances where a game would normally be turned down because it didn't match up perfectly with current policies, but with an open mind and willingness to try new things, VG was able to see that game prosper. There's no telling for sure where VG is going, but it can only be good places.
To everyone involved with Vanguard, specifically Kingcheese and Wardy, thank you for all your hard work in keeping TAW going!