The Bull Pen #16

Well, vacation week is here for the Bull and that can only mean one thing: riding roller coasters. My vacation is not completely revolving around roller coasters but a new roller coaster is the reason for my destination. I am visiting the city of Atlanta from the 7th through the 11th and the new coaster Goliath at Six Flags over Georgia is the star attraction. Of course, I will not be spending all my time at the amusement park; on the contrary, my wife and I also plan on visiting the other new big attraction in Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium has already played host to over 2 million visitors since opening late last November (that my friends is some serious business in roughly half a year). The big attraction at the aquarium is the whale sharks; the only other place to see these sharks is in Asia, so that is quite the lure. Throw in a visit to the World of Coca-Cola and Zoo Atlanta (since we are members of the local Cincinnati Zoo [an awesome zoo if you have not been there]) and it is quite an action packed trip considering we will only be there for 3 full days. My Old Men Mafia mates have a trip report to look forward to. The bad news for them is that I will not be around on Friday to run Battle Royale run #6. Then again, they might like the break in the action.

On the subject of Halo 2, I have only played online once in the last 9 days and that was on Friday night the 2nd. The lack of fellow clan mates being on in Halo 2 has forced my willingness to plug in the modem into the XBOX to dwindle. Combine that with some exciting Stanley Cup playoff games, a dearth of new movies worth watching on HBO, and a little RPG called Jade Empire, and it is easy to see why I have been scarce. This week will obviously be no different with vacation so I may need to binge come the week of the 11th. That is fair warning for all you reading this blog so that you can get on because I will probably be itching to play all my favorite custom games. My skills could use the workout as I was a little off while playing last Friday. There is something to be said about playing every day and getting your timing down just right.

Custom Game of the Week: No one specific game gets the special treatment this week but instead I will go over some of my favorite games again and how they have played out. Nucking Futs is a game that has not been featured here but probably will next week as it has quickly become one of my most popular. It truly lived up to its name when 16 players were battling it out on Sanctuary. I try to get the point out that team multiplier is not on but it never ceases to amaze me how many people try to get into the hill at once, especially since it moves every 30 seconds. The recently profiled SWAT Potato has managed to find a home in one of Bungie’s playlists although I doubt they have the ball indicator turned off while uncontrolled or controlled by the opposing team. I would have played this during the most recent clan night but really was not in the mood for it. Fiesta Grande is one that I have not played in quite some time so I might have to sneak that one in there on the next clan night. I probably could have run Ghostbusters with the group I had Friday night but unfortunately did not. I do hope that folks will give this one a chance when they actually do play it because it does make for a visually interesting game. As for my other custom games, there is always a place for them on my list but I try to understand the group I am playing with and what they might particularly like. My list does have some deficiencies, especially for the crowd that likes shotguns and/or Snipers as the default or only weapons but I could bring a variant of Snot Bombs to a map well suited for that game type. Anyways, I always appreciate feedback on a game type of mine that you have either liked or do not like. The best compliment I can get on a custom game is that you want to play it again and you are willing to set it up on your own XBOX. In fact, you can even offer me suggestions for custom games that I should put on my XBOX and feature here.