Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Animl-AW on February 01, 2023, 11:29:35 AM
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I started sim flying in AW in 96, on a PC still running Windows 3.1, AW was hosted on AOL servers. Graphics back then were a major challenge. It took a boat load of tweaking on the common PC, always a struggle keeping the frame rates and internet connection playable.
The typical simmer/gamer held special tweaks close to the chest, to be able to be the "star player". Some of us had a different concept that the game is more fun, and true skills exposed, when everyone can play at the same PC performance level.
Eventually, I became a game staff (tech and arena moderator) for AW/Kesmai. I also did some work on the flight damage model, some graphics (like plane explosions, trailing fire etc.), and sound files. Ran a game tech site called Animal's Toolbox. If I remember right the AH logo was originally one of my designs, and I contributed sound files Dale had asked to use. All of which have been very well updated.
AW was dying, a long story, but due to the owner not wanting to over-haul AW graphics engine and core game coding. It was sold to EA.com, some of us techs went along trying to breath new life back into AW, it was a lost cause. We assumed EA bought it to kill the competition.
When Hitech and Pyro were running the first beta testing of AH, some of us wondered over to see if this could be our replacement sim. It was the very framed core of AH. Easy to spin out, a lot of bouncing, it had a steep learning curve, even compared to AW. But it was no where close to finished. We all saw it as a great idea, but needing so much programming. We all knew how much work had to go into it to make this egg hatch, some of us skeptical if it would go any further at all, programming exhaustion.
AW died and most of us simmers came over to AH, a vast improvement since the last time we flew it. Still some bugs, but very nice looking and playable.
Life will have it's way with you as it pleases. I quit flying in 2009. Recently pulled out the old x52, and got back in the game. It's been 14 yrs since a full attempt. I finally got another great gaming PC, this sim/game runs like melted butter with full detail. I'm still getting things tweaked. Getting a powered USB hub for my X52 made a major improvement. Still programming the stick and and video card for the ultimate eye candy, still getting reacquainted with the sim and flight skills. I die, a lot. :)
When I'm cruising along to the next fight, sight seeing, thinking back the first time I flew the first beta version,....what is here now is impressive, even with the Pizza Map :). It's probably everything those from AW (and probably War Birds) wished AW would have become.
There will always be the battling concepts, wants and needs, between the simmers and the gamers, we're a needy bunch. There will always be a "Wish List", whines and critiquing, but it seems to have settled into a somewhat civil place.
Main point: Kudos to HiTech, Pyro, Skuzzy and crew, well done.
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Welcome back... saw an Animal in the MA the other day and wondered if it were you. :old: :joystick: :airplane:
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The best thing about flying now days? Not playing tech support or moderator 70% of the time in the air. Not my circus, not my monkey. :)
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Welcome back... saw an Animal in the MA the other day and wondered if it were you. :old: :joystick: :airplane:
It's good seeing old names/faces again. I was wondering if I'd be the only old hat in the arena, I'm not, and that is super cool.
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Finally! Someone who can appreciate the graphics LOL. It's nothing like IL-2 Shturmovik but to me the graphics are quite good for the load it puts on my PC. Very enjoyable to fly.
I wish I could say welcome back but I only joined up last year or so. I'm one of the newest to the war, if you see a Tig flying around, that's me, usually in a Spit, Moss, or more recently, a P-40N. :banana:
Thanks for all your contributions in the past in bringing AH into the world! :salute
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Welcome back, Animl. Glad to have you in the skies again. :salute
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Welcome back, Animl. Glad to have you in the skies again.
Agreed!
- oldman
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Finally! Someone who can appreciate the graphics LOL. It's nothing like IL-2 Shturmovik but to me the graphics are quite good for the load it puts on my PC. Very enjoyable to fly.
I wish I could say welcome back but I only joined up last year or so. I'm one of the newest to the war, if you see a Tig flying around, that's me, usually in a Spit, Moss, or more recently, a P-40N. :banana:
Thanks for all your contributions in the past in bringing AH into the world! :salute
Thanks, but they were very small contributions. Hitech and crew deserve all the credit.
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Well well well..... welcome back Animl :cheers:
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Welcome back Animl
<S>
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Animal...humm, always think of that hairy red muppet. Welcome aboard!
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Now there's a name I've not seen in a loooong time, welcome back Sir!
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Heya Animl! Good to see you're still kicking. Don't get up flyin as much as I used to. FSO and then some is about it.
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
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Welcome back Animl! Wait until you try VR!!! LOL!!!! good to see you back again!
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Welcome back Animl!
Heh, graphics are a good thing to have I guess.... but who has time to marvel at what the graphics might look like when in a palm sweating dogfight or furball....
🍻
TC
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who has time to marvel at what the graphics might look like when in a palm sweating dogfight or furball...
Agreed. Those still exist.
- oldman
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Welcome back. There is a scenario starting this weekend Saturday at 6pm CST I believe. I find them to be a nice change of pace from the grind of the Melee arena.
If you show up early you can be assigned to your preferred ride usually, depending on side balance.
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IIRC, and I most certainly do, the Pizza map was CptTrip's (aka AKWabbit) idea. The map loved to be hated by many.
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Hey Animl! I recently got back up myself. Been online a couple times, getting the feel of the stick again.
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Hey Animl! I recently got back up myself. Been online a couple times, getting the feel of the stick again.
Hahahahahahaha forgot how to use your Stick maybe those tye dyed sheep could help ya lol
Who knows maybe I will make a return but will be a mouse flyer not investing money into flight stick or throttle like I used to use here
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Welcome back Animl!
Heh, graphics are a good thing to have I guess.... but who has time to marvel at what the graphics might look like when in a palm sweating dogfight or furball....
🍻
TC
This!
If you have the $$$ please experience AH in VR
It's the best implementation of it in any a2a ww2 sim going today imo
Eagler
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If you have the $$$ please experience AH in VR
It's the best implementation of it in any a2a ww2 sim going today imo
Eagler
Agree wholeheartedly, although with 3rd party tool called VRNeckSafer you can "fix" the problem with the implementation in other sims.
Mainly, if you've loved flight sims over the years, then please beg, borrow, or buy a VR headset to see for yourself what it's like. Odds are, you will be amazed.
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Hey Animl! I recently got back up myself. Been online a couple times, getting the feel of the stick again.
ROC, glad to see you dusting your stuff off !!
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Let's hope you've calmed down a bit in those 14 years.
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Welcome back :salute
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Let's hope you've calmed down a bit in those 14 years.
You must be referring to BW?. If so, Big Week tended to have that decay effect on almost anyone who got near the place. It was in the design,..well not at first anyway. People trolled, got bit back, which they asked for, and then played victim..we all know the pitty game. No one was innocent. :)
Other then BW, and SOME normal sparing in the arenas, not sure what else you're referring to. <shrug> If it's not important enough to remember, it should prolly be left that way.
But hey,....saddle up,.. come shoot me down, I explode much better then everyone else. I have the "Just Sightseeing" sign on the back window.
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Hahahahahahaha forgot how to use your Stick maybe those tye dyed sheep could help ya lol
Who knows maybe I will make a return but will be a mouse flyer not investing money into flight stick or throttle like I used to use here
Oh comeon man!, you know it ain't never gonna leave your blood. But then you may have been at it longer then me, I'm somewhat fresh meat again.
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Heya Animl! Good to see you're still kicking. Don't get up flyin as much as I used to. FSO and then some is about it.
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
I don't think I've flown any sim without seeing your name the last 25+ yrs. Make me feel home again. <S>
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Welcome back Animl!
Heh, graphics are a good thing to have I guess.... but who has time to marvel at what the graphics might look like when in a palm sweating dogfight or furball....
🍻
TC
Because I spend more time getting to a fight then actually living through it? Great to see your name again.
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Welcome back Animl! Wait until you try VR!!! LOL!!!! good to see you back again!
Back at ya,....ya few people mentioned VR, I think it was somewhat newish when my pet custom gaming PC got struck by lightning. Just got too damn busy to replace it, better yet time to fly. Very tempting for sure.
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IIRC, and I most certainly do, the Pizza map was CptTrip's (aka AKWabbit) idea. The map loved to be hated by many.
I think it was around when I left. Honestly, I don't care if it's shaped like a pretzel.
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I liked that map. And not just because I had a small part in inflicting it on everyone.
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If you have the $$$ please experience AH in VR
It's the best implementation of it in any a2a ww2 sim going today imo
I haven't played AH in more than a decade but I do now have a VR setup. I've been playing IL2. What makes AH better?
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With AH you can still use the joystick views with VR
This way you can check your views without breaking your neck..best of both worlds imo
Plus spotting out of icon range is best for me in AH
Can't spot hardly anything in IL2 or DCS in VR
If you haven't tried VR in AH you are missing the best AH experience imo
Eagler
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Wow. As I live and breath. Animal makes a return. We are truly blessed this week. Welcome back Animal.
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With AH you can still use the joystick views with VR
This way you can check your views without breaking your neck..best of both worlds imo
Plus spotting out of icon range is best for me in AH
Can't spot hardly anything in IL2 or DCS in VR
If you haven't tried VR in AH you are missing the best AH experience imo
Eagler
That's long been a complaint of VR vs Head Tracking. There is an app that will let you do something similar for other games. Had a Rift and a Quest 2. Gave 'em up. The Quest 2 has a small sweet spot exacerbated by greater distance between the eye and lens due to wearing corrective lenses. I've never worn contacts but they would likely help with that.
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With AH you can still use the joystick views with VR
This way you can check your views without breaking your neck..best of both worlds imo
[...]
If you haven't tried VR in AH you are missing the best AH experience imo
There's a 3rd party app that lets you check 6 in IL2 without moving your head.
I've no doubt that AH in VR is better than AH through the letterbox, the question is whether it's better than IL2 or DCS.
I suppose it won't cost me anything to find out ;)
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VR NeckSafer is the program if you're on steam. XR NeckSafer if you're running OpenXR/Opencomposite. I've recently got VRNS working with AH with steam. AH it's apparently too ancient to run on OpenXR. I use XRNS for IL2 and MSFS. Works kinda like TIR did in VR so you don't have to twist all the way around to check your 6.
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
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Glad to see you back Animal, Let me know if you need any data. I called your old number from the 90s when I saw you on but you had gotten a new number..
Cheers buddy, One-eye
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Welcome back Animal, and thank you for sharing that bit of history. :salute Also started in AOL AW early-mid 90's.... :old:
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I'm not sure I should post this here, chances are someone already has. This will jog some AW-BW memories for some. I can't even remember who to credit for it, maybe someone will.
_____________________________
So you've decided to wander into bigweek.
First things first. You aren't anything new or exciting. We don't care how long you've been flying, we don't care about your kill totals. Your seemingly fresh, inventive, and righteous viewpoints will likely be picked apart in a manner so vicious and rampant that vultures will find
it repulsive. We don't care what you do for a living. We don't care about your accomplishments within a game. This is an electronic roadkill session that never ends. It is a neighborhood bar recreated for a bad Sci-fi channel, late night, made for TV special. It never really
changes, it just gets an occasional new face. That being said, it's ground rules time.
1. Topics. Guns, God, and politics. I dare you to start a conversation on any of these three topics. You can argue all you want, your arguments have not only been heard before, they have been fought over like a WW1 battlefield. Healthy discussion of any and all topics is encouraged, but
don't be surprised when the flames start flying. (note: if you don't know what a flame is, RUN, don't walk, to the nearest exit. This isn't the place you want to be.) If you can't take a little drubbing now and then, this isn't the place for you. Your points will be countered, both
by closed minded folk who know they're right and you're wrong, As well as by open minded people who enjoy discussion. Idiots are encouraged to shoot their mouths off, and they usually do. Be prepared to defend every aspect of any topic you bring up. No one will say "You've got a point,
you're right, I'm wrong, I'll drop my arguments."
2. Posts. If you're here, you likely have some rudimentary knowledge of how to use a newsreader. Congratulations. However, you're not Jean-luc Picard just yet. HTML is a wonderful markup language, but it was not made for posting to newsgroups. HTML is consider a symptom of the
disease known as cluelessness. If your concepts don't stand up as plain text, Making them into red, 96 point wingdings won't help. As a matter of courtesy, outlook users who add everyone into their address book will be shot. It goes without saying virii and other bits of malicious code
will be reported to abuse and local authorities. Links to web sites are nice, try not to wrap them. If the link isn't very intuitive, provide a short description. We're a lazy lot. Make your subjects concise. Try not to re-use subject titles, as some news readers like to lose them in the
shuffle of posts. There are roughly 200-400 posts per 24 hour period. Don't be a seagull. (Fly in, crap all over everything, then leave. It's rude.) DON'T SPAM. Everyone has a kill file and knows how to use it. We've seen the nieman marcus cookie recipe, we've heard the duckjob.wav.
Got a cool picture? Don't post it as a bitmap (.BMP)
3. Trolls. Go right ahead and try. Even the biggest fish in these waters have hook scars. But it's not a socially acceptable way of introducing yourself.
4. Courtesy and Ethics. Discussions get heated around here. If you don't like it, walk away. It's a big scary world out there, but if you can't take a bloody nose, you should go back to AOL chat. The insults here are generally good natured, but mostly because the people insulting each
other have been doing so for the past few years. Don't expect to waltz in and be able to call somebody a rim-jobbing, poodle pumping, cockmaster after a day or two. Don't expect to call someone a wetback-kyke-spic-jig-hun-gook-dago-wop-camel jockey. Ever. And if
things get really bad with you and another person here. diddlying take it to e-mail. And keep it there. If it gets that bad, the rest of us don't want to hear. There's nothing worse than seeing "well he called me this in an e-mail he sent me." It's time for the first use of the double
standard phrase you'll constantly hear around here. "Grow Up." Subscribe to the news group, read the discussions for a few days, (this is known as lurking.) then decide if you want to toss your hat in the ring. We are a generally accepting lot. We are user friendly, but we can be
rather selective about who our friends are. Do yourself a favor. Get in the ford explorer, take the dollar tour of jurassic park, then decide if you want to get out and walk around. And don't go pissing in the T-rex enclosure.
5. Grammar and Spelling. We make English teachers cry. You have a newsreader. It has a spell checker. I strongly suggest you use it. Don't get pissy about being corrected on the usage of "You're" and "They're." You've probably graduated middle school by now, you should know things
like this by now.
6. Enjoy yourself. This isn't a bad place, it just has a very steep learning curve. There is a nice relaxed atmosphere that is punctuated with alternating levels of maturity and immaturity. Learn which one is which, and which one is appropriate. This is a private board, with no
form of censorship, no corporate affiliations, and no terms of service. Every rule here is unwritten, except for what you're reading now. Even these aren't written rules. They're suggestions on conduct. I suggest you follow them.
7. If you don't know, ask. Stupid questions are forgotten far faster than stupid actions.
8. This list will be updated in two weeks.
(this was a joke because we were always told our work would come in software updates in 2 weeks, which rarely came in 2 weeks)
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If you didn't pay 6 bucks an hour on GEnie or more on Compuserve to fly the unfriendly skies of Air Warrior you will always be a noob.
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Bigweek.... now that bring back some memories, is that thing still alive? Lost the address to that place many many years ago in a hard drive crash.
CAV
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(Looks at AKron's location)
Crap... I've been found!
CAV
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Bigweek.... now that bring back some memories, is that thing still alive? Lost the address to that place many many years ago in a hard drive crash.
I think it was Trip who hosted Bigweek after AW died. A few years ago he lost the ability to continue doing so. The Bigweek crowd moved to Facebook, but I've lost track of them because I don't do Facebook.
- oldman
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I think it was Trip who hosted Bigweek after AW died. A few years ago he lost the ability to continue doing so. The Bigweek crowd moved to Facebook, but I've lost track of them because I don't do Facebook.
I think you may be right.
- oldman
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If you didn't pay 6 bucks an hour on GEnie or more on Compuserve to fly the unfriendly skies of Air Warrior you will always be a noob.
[/quot.
I was prolly considered new, I waited until AOL hosted it. The PC I had before that def would not haul AW in any playable enjoyment.
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Hey, welcome back. :aok
Please do come join us in the Battle for Paris scenario, Saturdays in February. Special events 2 arena, show up time is 7 pm Eastern.
Working to keep the ol' DoK scenarios going. :aok
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Glad to see you back Animal, Let me know if you need any data. I called your old number from the 90s when I saw you on but you had gotten a new number..
Cheers buddy, One-eye
My # has prolly changed 5 times since then.
Ya let me know what ya got. Ya know me, I like to tinker. I don't know if they have PM here, if not, catch me on FB under Jon Cearing, you can IM me there, OR I'll give you my email.
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Hey, welcome back. :aok
Please do come join us in the Battle for Paris scenario, Saturdays in February. Special events 2 arena, show up time is 7 pm Eastern.
Working to keep the ol' DoK scenarios going. :aok
Remember you well Brooke, glad you're still with us. I'm not sure I'm ready for prime time yet, but I will be joining you asap. :) <S>
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Remember you well Brooke, glad you're still with us. I'm not sure I'm ready for prime time yet, but I will be joining you asap. :) <S>
I remember you well, my friend!
Come join us in bombers! I guarantee you will fit right in with us, no matter how rusty. :aok I'd love to have you fly with us.
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Remember you well Brooke, glad you're still with us. I'm not sure I'm ready for prime time yet, but I will be joining you asap. :) <S>
Brother...You are just fine! I never knew you "In the good ole days"! I do however know you since your return, and you are in FINE SHAPE and it came back QUICKLY! Went from, "Muppets need a new drummer...." to "Who TF is that Pony Driver?" in a matter of like 2 weeks or so? :rofl Sorry Brooke...this feller is more a P38 guy! Would love to have you in the Scenario, Animl. :aok
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Brother...You are just fine! I never knew you "In the good ole days"! I do however know you since your return, and you are in FINE SHAPE and it came back QUICKLY! Went from, "Muppets need a new drummer...." to "Who TF is that Pony Driver?" in a matter of like 2 weeks or so? :rofl Sorry Brooke...this feller is more a P38 guy! Would love to have you in the Scenario, Animl. :aok
I appreciate the compliments and invites, but right now, with my crazy not normal work schedule, it can be difficult to make some commitments. It would prolly be more of a Walk-On thing. I am certainly interested and I'm sure I'll make a few of them. Retirement is not far away, at which point I'd prolly become a pest. :)
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I appreciate the compliments and invites, but right now, with my crazy not normal work schedule, it can be difficult to make some commitments. It would prolly be more of a Walk-On thing. I am certainly interested and I'm sure I'll make a few of them. Retirement is not far away, at which point I'd prolly become a pest. :)
It IS WALK-ON FRIENDLY for Allies Rides :rofl Brooke got my back...resist the Dark Sd IYKWM :rofl :devil ANIML=Electric/Internet/AH Mayhem.....its a given Sir!!!!! Manamana :banana: I'll fly with you anytime,Sir!
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Been nice running into you the past few days <S>
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Great to see you back Animl and also great to see many other old names... :salute to some of my ex squaddies. I'm coming back soon after two long layoffs...maybe tomorrow if I can get off my butt and get hooked up. Lookinf forward to seeing you all! :salute :cheers:
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Great to see you back Animl and also great to see many other old names... :salute to some of my ex squaddies. I'm coming back soon after two long layoffs...maybe tomorrow if I can get off my butt and get hooked up. Lookinf forward to seeing you all! :salute :cheers:
Right On :rock :old:
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Hey animal, welcome back. Monday night madness monday nights at 8pm EST in the SEA2. good for training, no stress, all fun. fights are quick and low. fly between skyscrapers, in the fog and through HEAVY ack. give it a try on monday nights. you'll have a blast. you might die a lot, but then again we all do! check it out!