A Message from our Commander-in-Chief Being asked to submit something for a newsletter really made me stop and think about how far we have come since I joined TAW in 2007. I will never stop believing after this past year that if we want something here in TAW we will have it, period. Our strength and means is our membership and time and time again the talent is displayed as we rise to meet whatever challenges lies before us. TAW as a community is about success. TAW has had many successes since its founding and there will be many more to come. We have a lot on the plate currently for 2011 including the roll out of a new website. I'm lucky to be serving as CIC during this time not just because of the accomplishments during this time but because of the people I'm so fortunate to serve with. This is the best leadership team that has ever been assembled in TAW history and I'm confident that the test of time will prove me right. On behalf of the TAW community I wish to express gratitude to everyone that is serving in a leadership role. Thanks for all you do! Your dedication and commitment does not go unnoticed!
So You Can't Shoot Straight? LTC Rinko
You love playing video games, you enjoy the thrill of being part of a team acting like you have a purpose. Yet, when it comes to a firefight you seem to always come off worse. Other players seem to breeze through the maps, effortlessly picking off their enemies with one hand while drinking a cup of tea with the other. Continued on Page 6...
GEN5 Hook Commander in Chief of TAW
TAW on the Social Media Scene The community of TAW now reaches out to the Facebook and Xfire communities as well. Currently we have over 600 members in our Facebook community and over 700 members in our Xfire community. If you haven‘t found us there yet, take a look at the TAW front page. There are links there that will take you to the respective sites. We are also working on the development of an official TAW STEAM group. It is still in development but should be launched soon. Join us—and be a part of the TAW Revolution.
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I Corps Spotlight—Team Fortress Team Fortress division stronger than ever!
Call of Duty Series review written by 2LT spectralheaven Call of Duty System Minimum Requirements * OS: Windows® Vista/ XP / 7 * Processor:Intel® Core2 Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom X3 8750 or better * Memory: 2GB * HDD:12GB * Video: Shader 3.0 or better 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600GT / ATI Radeon® X1950Pro or better * Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible -DirectX: 9.0c
What makes a game successful? Graphics? Story? Gameplay? Those 3 values are definitely ones that people look up to when talking about successful game but if we are to take sales numbers under consideration there isn‘t a second franchise in gaming industry that can stand next to Call of Duty series. November 9, 2010 marked the day for release of Call of Duty: Black Ops, the 7th installment in the series, developed by Treyarch and so far the best selling title of whole series. With over 7 mln copies sold in first 24 hours and over 19 mln copies sold so far Black Ops has broken new records as 2010‘s best selling game of the year. Continued on Page 3...
After a mass exodus back in September, leaving us with 11 members left, I am happy to report that Team Fortress Division is back on track with 50 members and newly appointed DC and DO. The new DC is Armony from the US, who has been the CO of 4th (NA), taking it from a 3 person membership to 27. He was awarded a silver star by Army Commander Sooner for this which was well deserved. He with his officers, Eriopo-
lis and Shadowmage, has also just initiated the new from scratch developed internal campaign called Domination Fortress. The new DO is Triumni from Finland, who has been the CO of 1st battalion (EU). They have expanded as well, filling now two squads preparing for the ETF2L european league. We wish them good luck and glory to TAW. He was also awarded the silver star for his efforts. BGN Dogstar
It is the responsibility of leadership to provide opportunity, and the responsibility of individuals to contribute. - William Pollard
The mission statement for "TAW University" is to ensure the continued life of our organization, through teaching future leaders and continued education for our current leaders. This education will ensure the future of TAW through instilling a "Servant Leadership Mind Set". Every member of TAW is welcome, from the newest Recruit to the Commander in Chief. All attending will hear what it takes to be a successful leader in our organization. I will cover the positive aspects of Leadership such a being a "Servant Leadership", "Mentoring" and "Conflict Resolution". I'll also cover avoiding the pit falls of "Self promotion", "Bunker Mentality" and "Position Hogging". I will be interviewing COL_Feanor of the Vanguard Division at the next TAW U. We will dig into what is Vanguard and what is their mission statement. Also how do you form and mold a team out of rag tag group of members? I know that Feanor will have the answer! Vanguard is such an important part of TAW's future and it's important that everyone understand how it works. Come join us April 3, 2011 at 3:00 pm/est GEN SoonerOKC - TAW University Commander
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Snapshot of what the new website might look like....
Operation Support Off the successful deployment of Teamspeak 3, Operations Support has refocused its efforts on the upcoming release of TAW.net 2.0. Only a couple months away, the new website will be a dramatic departure from ―business as usual‖ and will provide a whole new exciting platform for development. The new site resurrects some features we have lost from the old website like event calendars and incorporates many new ones like blogs, wikis, and commendation system. Core code development is mostly completed, and we have begun updating the layouts and graphics on the site. Also, the team expects to begin some initial testing with Central Command in the next two weeks. I want to give a special thank you to the team members that continue to devote hours upon hours of work towards completing the project. If you see these guys in TS, please make sure you tell them how much you appreciate their efforts!
Bones Calbrenar Cutthroat Dawnthorn HeyManNiceShot Marudor TheGame
I hope for the next newsletter to have additional exciting news about the site! Gen Icarus Central Command – Support Commander
...Continued from Page 2 In single player campaign we assume the role of Alex Mason, a special operations soldier that works deep down behind enemy lines risking his life during dangerous missions. The story of single player will take us into many different parts of our globe spanning from secret facilities set on deserts, through wild jungles of Vietnam and even into frozen land of Antarctica in order to uncover the threat that can destroy the world that we know. Of course no Call of Duty game is complete without a multiplayer aspect and even though the single player campaign is excellent to play you will soon want to test your skills against other players - this is where the real fun begins. Black Ops offers you 14 different maps to play on with several different game types. Players that want to see how good are their shooting skills will most likely want to play Deathmatch or Team Deathmatch however running around the map alone and shooting other players can get boring after a while and let‘s face it - it‘s best to play with friends than against them. That‘s where the game modes like Search and Destroy, Demolition or Sabotage (to name the few) come to the picture as in every one of them your victory is dependant on how well you can act in a team. Communications and good tactics are the kind of tools you will need in order to come on top and outsmart the opponent‘s team. It all sounds great but it‘s a FPS game, what do I get to shoot other players? The answer is simple - guns and a lot of them. Black Ops features many different guns from the Cold War era spanning from SMG‘s and light machineguns, through assault rifles and shotguns ending on powerful and accurate sniper rifles - each of them can be customized by the player the way the see it Continued on Page 4... 4
State of online gaming by Matthew Reichardt on Aug 15, 2010 12:49 pm ...Continued from Page 3 fit. You want a gun with silencer and winter camo? There u go. You need better optics along with extended mags? No problem, you can make it. Game provides you with many customization tools allowing you to create the type of gun that not only is deadly but looks great as well. Last but not least, the perks - one of the series innovation introduced first by Call of Duty 4 are here for the taken. 3 different groups of perks will let you create your dream class that later on you can use in multiplayer and help your team achieve victory. So what you are waiting for? The Call of Duty division in TAW is already playing this amazing game on one of our very own servers. If you want good multiplayer action wait no longer, our hardened Call of Duty veterans will help you customize your class and pick the best set up that will suit your play style - then you can continue to get in the game and play in a team - ‗cos here in TAW nobody fights alone and neither should you.
“State of online gaming” is a tech article by Matthew Reichardt of TGN. Reprinted with permission. Online Gaming as we know it has molded into a very lucrative business over the years, with big title like World of Warcraft, EverQuest II, Guild Wars, Ultima Online and countless more. But what is it that makes these games special? It is the sense of having fun with your friends in a virtual world free of all the problems in real-life. For many it is a escape. But what has the Gaming Industry brought in the past few years? A concoction of games that seem erily like other games that we have already played. There is a sense of bewilderment when I log into a new game with the expectation: ―Wow this game looks unbelievable I can‘t wait to see what new features is has!‖; but instead I find that the game is very similar to another game I have already played and with no new features. A great example would be the World of Warcraft and Runes of Magic battle. Runes of Magic is pretty much an exact clone of World of Warcraft, though it does introduce nice features like player housing and awesome guild management. Seems like they took a lot of PvP and Guild Management aspect from Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Which brings me to my final point, When will a major game company push the envelope and create something stunning, beautiful and different? That time might finally be on its way. At the time when Guild Wars was released, the Gaming Industry was especially stagnant. A lot of good games that had either a Pay to Play (P2P) scheme with great content, but unwieldy similar instances; or a free game with not too much depth. That‘s when Arena Net launched it‘s first title, Guild Wars. The tables changed. There was finally a game with a great ratio of content, beauty and most awesomely no fee to play after purchase. Since the time of the Guild Wars launch, not much has been done to the massive degree that Guild Wars did. Again, that is about to change. In development for years and recently a lot of videos and information has been pouring out from Arena Net, Guild Wars 2 is on its way and SOON. I can honestly I have never been more excited for any game launch since the time of the original Guild Wars release. The team that pushed the envelope the first time is at it again and has learned from their mistakes. Guild Wars 2 will be a massive game with a lot of features that a player in any game ever released has never seen before. A few being player engaged stories, you literally shape the game world; and player engrossed world combat, your ingame player versus environment (PvE) gameplay will effect the actions of the world in massive ways. For more information on Guild Wars 2 features and updates visit GuildWars 2 Video Wiki. Guild Wars 2 has the availability of changing the way we think of gaming all together with unbelievable feature that other developers only wished they could have implemented. The biggest question remaining is: When will it be released! The good news is that for anyone going to Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) this year will be able to visit the Guild Wars 2 booth for a chance to play a demo of the game. Below is a video of what Guild Wars 2 has in-store for everyone. Until my next article, happy gaming! Matthew Reichardt is a community manager for TGN. See www.thegamenet.com. He can be reached via email: matthew@tgn.tv.
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III Corps Spotlight 2.0 —BC Division Greetings from the BC Division, here's a brief glimpse into recent BC happenings. BC was announced as a winner of PIO's Division Challenge: Picture Perfect, the rosette proudly adorns our unit pages, virtually all credit lies with the EU battalion. The NA battalion's internal competition, approximately at the midway point, format and design is rather unique in conception – contesting European territories rather than the usual 2|3 points. This format, created by GSG Jayy [BC1 FS], now looks to become the division's competition blueprint. The command structure of both battalion's now boasts a full compliment of officers, far more stable and active partnerships now exist in the battalions, Division Command holds high hopes for both battalions. Divisional membership levels are as healthy as ever, although traditionally the EU player pool is a fraction of the size of it's transatlantic cousin. BC2's recruitment team is doing an outstanding job, keeping new applications trickling in and forwarding U.S applications to BC1. We have recently acquired game server admin support and have been given an XLRstats site (http://taw.playerstats.net) as a freebie, which is not only a great feature for the division's current membership but should also prove to be a good recruitment tool.
Fox’s Maxims: 1. Any virtual gaming team that wishes to be successful must have a passion for their game, a dependable game-server environment, a website, and voice communications.
In the Scope P.I.O. Interview with GEN Bravehardt You‘ve been recommended to be put in the TAW Member‘s Spotlight. The purpose of the Member‘s Spotlight is to honor and showcase TAW Members who have risen above the norm, be it through acts of Meritorious Service or through acts done on the Battlefield. Thinking back, what drew you to TAW? For me it was 2 fold. The code of ethics and the promise of organized game play. I love the fact that everyone in TAW is treated with respect and the no cheating/glitching policy was high on my list. As for the organized gaming, here in TAW that is 2nd to none. I used to jump around the pub servers for the best part of an hour looking for matches that had good communication and teamwork. Do you have any special hobbies or activities outside of online gaming/TAW? I build gaming computers on the side as a business and I've been playing guitar for over 30 years, so I love to collect, play and show off my gear. Did you admire a famous person? What made them admirable? I'll go with a sports figure here, Cal Ripken...the ironman, he's a class act, stayed with one team his entire career even though he could have made more money elsewhere. Tell me how you first got involved in with TAW . . . I just wanted to help out in anyway I could, I let my DC know that and I was promoted to SO. That satisfied my desire to feel like I was contributing and to be honest, if I was still SO, I would be happy.
What was your first impression of TAW? Lots of rules...lol, seriously I was impressed with all the hard work everyone in a leadership position put into the rest of us having fun, to me that's what this is all about...fun! What's your first memory of something related to TAW? How friendly TAW members were on the pubs. What has surprised you most about working with TAW? That I get more satisfaction seeing other people having fun playing then playing myself. What do you find most challenging about TAW? When I was DC/CO, keeping things fresh, coming up with new styles of game play that would keep everyone coming back. Now that I am in Army Command it would be identifying/grooming leadership potential in other members. What's the best/worst thing to happen since you started working with TAW? The best would be all the great friends I've made since joining, the worst would be when you have to discharge someone...never fun. When you last volunteered, made a donation, etc., how did that make you feel? Like part of the team, feels good...right up there with recruiting new members, which unfortunately I am not that good at.
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So you can‘t Shoot Straight Continued from page 1 So, what's there to do? Give up and go back to playing solitaire? No, and no I say. In any first person team based game there are a variety of battlefield roles. You may be able to act as a medic and keep a squad alive, you may be able to call in artillery and pound the enemy from afar. You may be able to run along behind a tank with a wrench and keep it running. You may be able to hide on a hill and call out enemy positions. The point is, in game, there are usually more things to do than just toss hot lead....and that's before we get to the main point.
II Corps Spotlight BREAKING NEWS: A new CLC has been named for the II Corps. Congratulations to BGN BeerStud [CC 2CLC]. In other II Corps news...Americas Army3 Division has started Friday Night Retro Night. On Fridays at 9pm EDT, we play the original Americas Army. We welcome all TAW members to join us in our Fun!!! The Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead division changed its name to simply The Arma Division to reflect our commitment to the series as it evolves. The division hit 100 members on Feb. 24...and growing. We added a 4th squad to the 1 Bn on Feb. 26, and are organizing the battalion into two platoons. For the first time since we began last summer, AM has a full complement of officers and NCOs in both its divisions! CD: First of all congrats with your promotions, medals or new position. As CO i never give things away, so if you find your name here then it was well deserved.
Have been awarded the Conduct Medal: * Holt, Click, Adrian Have been awarded the Achievement Medal : * Reaper, Kenobi, Korn Has been awarded the medal of Resilliance: * Reaper Have been awarded the medal of Excellence: * Kenobi, Hawk Has been awarded the Silver Star: * Solymyr Has been awarded with the very prestige GUMP: * Kenobi Promoted in rank: Holt to LCP. Promoted to new staff position: Click becomes our TS and moves on to the rank of SSG. Hawk becomes our new SA.
You're in TAW now soldier. Even if you're not the ninja of the battlefield we can find important jobs for you. You could work as a DI, helping new recruits to join in our fun and games. You might find work as a TI, coming up with new methods for improving the skill level of your division. You might take a staff role, and contribute to the smooth running of your battalion. Eventually you may make it be a member of the TFO and take part in discussions that set the future of TAW as a whole. TAW is a land of opportunity. You don't have to be the best shot in the world to make a contribution. Whatever you're good at, whatever your special skill is, we can find a use for it here in TAW.
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TAW Treasury is working for you!!! This year Treasury will be about change. The first change came late last year as a Treasury Support Lt. Commander (TBone) was found to help out Jedi and to support all the Treasury tasks. Another change coming is a possible new TAW PayPal account that will help lower the fees of donations under 12 USD/EUR/GBP. This means more of the money members donate will go towards the divisions and not to PayPal! Lastly TREASURY is working with a software developer to create a Gaming Community Treasury application from the ground-up that will replace the current treasury report and excel sheet we use at the moment. The application will make it easier for us to work with, less prone to errors, create a variety of reports that are better suited for the divisions and help your command staff know how many donations are coming in and what is needed to keep YOUR server running. Lastly it will provide TAW with a formal financial record system that can easily be audited. Cheers, GEN Jedi & MGN TBone - Treasury Team