Halo Amplified

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 25 - Halo Reach Review

2010-11-01T18:00:00.000-04:00

Better late than never!
We are inconsistent, we are all going to have to live with it...

Finally some actual Halo Reach content from HAP.
Today's episode has a very special guest host, Arc Blu aka Matt!

By the way,
Amp - AJ
LordAbove - Sam
Arc Blu - Matt

iTunes Link

Download @ Link (Right Click to Save As)

We're Back?

2010-10-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

That's right, we're at it again.

This time we'll realistically lay out our schedule... at some point.
How does annually sound? :)

We'll let you know sometime done the road.
Look for our newest episode on Monday!

~Amp and Crew

Twitter

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 24 - More Reach

2010-04-06T22:00:00.001-04:00

Hey, we got a lot of news!
Covers the gigantic April 2nd Bungie Update as well as the results of MLG's first Pro-Gaming Combine in Nashville!

Download @ Link (Right click and Save As)

iTunes link

Shownotes
Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 24 - More Reach

Bungie
April 2nd Update
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=25376

April Fools
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4XFBLPVHDo

Game Informer
http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/03/31/exclusive-interview-on-the-halo-reach-sandbox.aspx

Player Investment
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BWU_032610

MLG
Nashville Results
http://combine.mlgpro.com/news/article?post_id=332

Orlando Passes
http://www.mlgpro.com/content/alerts/302358/Orlando-Halo-3-SSBB-and-Tekken-6-Registration-Open-Now

Hot Pockets Freedom Pass
http://www.mlgpro.com/sponsors/hotpockets

Other
Montages
http://www.youtube.com/AmplifiedSilence00

Status Quo Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_LuaCN9rTI

RedvsBlue Revelation
http://redvsblue.com/archive/?id=1191

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Enjoy, see you for our MLG Orlando episode!
~Amp and Crew

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 23 - Reach Matchmaking

2010-03-22T12:00:00.001-04:00

Yo yo yo! We back!
We pretty much talk about the new Halo Reach Multiplayer info from ShackNews, with a lot of MLG announcements!

Download @ Link (Right click and Save As)

iTunes link

Shownotes
Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 23 - Reach Matchmaking

Reach Multiplayer Article
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62865

Bungie Update 3/19/10
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BWU_031910

MLG Combine Website
http://combine.mlgpro.com

MLG Pro Circuit Page (including the 3rd and 4th events! MLG Raleigh and Dallas 2010!!!)
http://www.mlgpro.com/pro-circuit/2010/

MLG Orlando 2010 Pro Rosters
http://www.mlgpro.com/content/news/303080/Orlando-Halo-3-Championship-Bracket-Rosters-Locked-Check-em-Out

Timeout with Cloud
http://www.mlgpro.com/content/page/302980/Timeout-with-Cloud

Cloud FFA
Video- http://gameroom.mlgpro.com/view/vfhsalszXhEp22AE.html
Bungie Stats- http://www.bungie.net/Stats/GameStatsHalo3.aspx?gameid=1580937269&player=Cloudy%20cLoUd

MLG Top 10 User Videos of the Week
http://www.mlgpro.com/content/page/303070/MLG-Top-10-User-Videos-of-the-Week-123/

Montages
Just Hold Your Breath: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxnpda3eyII
Splitscreen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHcf6NPyIw8
Arctic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVXswnBH8nQ
Earth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsFxrzC5ytE
Sickwon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5jLfhzNWJo
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oysvXHw4b8

Random Ending
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/youtube.png

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Enjoy, see you in a week or so, hopefully. :)
~Amp and Crew

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 22 - Reach

2010-03-07T23:00:00.001-05:00

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 21 - ODST and More

2009-09-27T12:00:00.001-04:00

The new podcast is finally released! We update you with Halo world news and review Bungie's newest game Halo 3: ODST!

Download @ Link (Right click and Save As)

iTunes link

Enjoy our first episode back!
~Amp and Crew

Sorry about that...

2009-09-23T18:00:00.000-04:00

L0rd4bove decided to not show up this past weekend so we don't have any podcasts coming out this week.

We will hopefully still have a ODST review episode as well as a MLG Dallas episode coming out soon, again, hopefully next week...

~Amp

P.S. ODST Rocks!

We're Coming!

2009-09-16T18:00:00.000-04:00

That's right, we're back!

In the coming weeks Halo Amplified will be coming out with new episodes pertaining to MLG Dallas, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 3 Mythic Maps "Part 2", and more good old Halo news.

We will be trying to keep up with our bi-weekly schedule we planned out oh so long ago.

I'm really excited to get back into the flow of things with the podcast. We may be a bit shaky to start but we will get back into it!

See you guys in a week!
~Amp and Crew

Halo Amplified at MLG Dallas 2009

2009-08-25T16:00:00.000-04:00

Halo Amplified Podcast will have a two man presence at MLG Dallas 2009.

If you guys haven't seen it already I have started tweeting via my personal twitter account about my trip to Dallas.
TheAmplified

At the moment I am waiting in the Dallas airport for my teammate HBK to pick me up and bring me over to his house.

We will be playing as Team Reflex all week and LANing a team at the hotel on Thursday night, all in time for the competition on Friday evening.

I will also be recording little audio bits throughout the weekend and compiling them into a podcast episode as well as either a Dallas Report from myself and L0rd4b0ve or a Dallas Roundtable including many of the people we meet up with in Dallas.

Look for all of this coming in the next few days and weeks!
~Amp

MLG Columbus by Amp

2009-08-01T12:00:00.003-04:00

First off check out this post over at TASPN.
Then read on...

Halo Amplified Podcast at MLG Columbus.

I thought that since I just gave you the Meadowlands recap I'd also give you my Columbus experience since there haven't been any podcasts about it.
I do realize that there are some holes in the write-up but I thought I should get it to you anyway.

Here you go:
MLG Columbus 2009

Cast
Amplified - Me
Hurricane - Sean
Bos - Jon
Rekling - Russell
Rukus - Billy
Digital - Mike
Basket Babe - Amanda
KBC - Kevin
Jaba - John
Snowman - Mike
Churned Rock - Will
Kooshy - Cody
Plasma - Mark
Duke - Sam

Intro
I want to the event on Team Reflex once again, but this time with a new roster. Besides Reflex's core, myself and Hurricane, we had two other good players, Bos and Rekling. We played a lot better in the open bracket in Columbus, making it to the rounds on Saturday.
At a fan point of view, it was a great event. But at the same time, as an Instinct fan, it was a disappointment.

I also want to apologize for the choppiness of the article, I couldn't quite remember/write out some of event. I will add more as I see fit and update you guys via the blog.

Thursday
As a senior in high school I don't have to take final exams as long as I have a C avg and less than X amount of absenses in the class, and in the end I only had to take one exam, a required state course. I was lucky enough to change the date an time I took it, since I originally had to take it Friday morning. So I took it Thursday afternoon and flew out as soon as the exam ended at 4 pm.
My flight was at 6 pm and once we got to the gate the agents there told us that the plane we were taking had mechanical problems so the flight was cancelled. My luck right? Second time I compete at an event, my travel to the event screws up. We did manage (my mom and I) get our flight changes. The flight we got arrives at 11:30 pm instead of 9:45 pm. Once we arrived in Charlotte (our connection) we found out that our original connection to Cbus was delayed even later so in the end we got lucky.
Roughly 20 minute travel time to the hotel. When we finally arrived and were checking in to the Crowne Plaza, across from the Convention Center, I found Rekling in the Lobby as he was trying to call the team on the hotel's phone. As I recognized the numbers he read them out to the desk attendant, I asked him if he happened to be Russell and then introduced myself to him, surprising both of us (just as a note, this is probably the only good experience I had with him). After we got settled in and dropped of our stuff, we went to join Bos and Billy, who were LANing over at the Drudy hotel. A very nice lady, who was reporting on the event directed us over to the Drudy.
Once we got there we met some cool guys from KY, etc. And LANed for a while. I played decently on and off. Then finally Billy called me up and made Bos and Rekling come back to the Crowne to sleep. Once I finished that up I went back to my room and slept it up. Sean status - No show at his 1 am arrival.

Friday - Re-re-re-flex
Friday played out really well for Team Reflex. It started for me at about 8:30 am.
-----Breakfast, etc...-----
We got down to the venue at around 12 pm. Once there I immediately noticed some sweet Old Spice/Instinct badges/programs being handed out. So I immediately snagged 4 of them from a guy handing them out, that was walking into the venue. Once I got through the line, and signed in a media I had to wait until the venue opened at 1:30 pm. While waiting in line, I met up with Amanda when I saw here talking to some people in line ahead of me. Once the security guards started to tease us with the opening, the whole line and everyone around swarmed the door creating a mob of people in front of the door. After I squeezed my way up closer to the front of the mob and got in on my media pass, I immediately shot over to the MLG store and solidified my spot in line there with my 5th place spot.
The whole process of purchasing took forever for everyone in front of me for some reason. Once I got to the register I bought my Instinct hat, Russell's Instinct hat and my OHI-OWN shirt with my gamertag on the back. Then I signed up for the Dr Pepper texting sweepstakes and headed back out to the team waiting outside the venue. We then waited for about 45 minutes for Sean to show up so we could check in. But before that we got to say hi to Sundance and Puckett as they came out of the venue. Russell had some funny, short conversations with them. They both end up saying "nice hat" to him as they go by, and he told Sundance his was nice too (Yankees), and Sundance's response was "maybe we can make a trade later." Overall it was funny, but it also showed me that Russell was going to be a handful to "drag" around at the event. Then the Foxy Richochet team came back out looking for a warmup LAN after losing to a team in the venue. So I sent them over to Mike's room ahead of us. And finally once Sean got there we check-in and I got him checked-in as media too.
Once we walked inside and checked out the venue, we headed back up to Mike's room and watched the end of the Clean by Nature and Foxy Ricochet LAN games. Afterwards we LANed CbN and played the three Winners Bracket series, WBR1, R2, and R3. Overall Reflex came out 7-2 over CbN, just shattering the false confidence they had from absolutely destroying us in the online scrims before the event and drove our confidence through the roof. We finally headed down to the venue to wait for our names being called to play in WBR1. We met up with the former members of Shattered from Meadowlands, Kevin, John and Sam, and with new additions to the posse, Mike, Will, Koosh and Plasma. We gathered together to listen to the welcome to the event.
After that we got called for the first Heat of WBR1, paired up against Blacklisted. We lost the first game Guardian TS be a slim margin, but moved on to Game 2, Narrows CTF. Reflex owns this gametype. After they got the first cap they were talking trash, but we immediately took advantage of it can countered. Which sparked some of my trash talk, after I got bombarded with trash talk throughout both games. My first comment was "what, is that a cap?!?" After a heated string of events we cap another flag bringing the score to 2-1, Reflex. In the last few seconds of regulation I was counting down the time when they grab our flag stalling the game's end, my quoted line was "5, 4, 3, tw-FUCK". We finally close that game out easily and move on the Game 3, Pit TS. Our start of this game was sloppy to say the least. After a horrible start we just couldn't make a comeback and got dominated the rest of the game. Morale was down, especially because Jaba, Snowman and my Mom watched that match, so we headed back up to Digital's room to LAN CbN again. Again we completely dominate them, 4-0.
When we got back to the venue and Shibby started calling out stations, the whole first heat of LBR1 got a bye, including us. Even the team that beat us in Meadowlands and was a no show to Foxy Ricochet's WBR1 match, which was BS.
Later in the night we got paired up against Birthright in LBR2 and easily 2-0 them in Narrows TS and Pit CTF. It was a great feeling to progress to Saturday rounds in the Open Bracket. Once we finished dropping of some of our gear we got horrible directions from Sam but we eventually made it over to the Hampton Inn to LAN with all the Shattered and other Podtacular guys. I got to meet some new guys, including the ones from the welcome, Kooshy, Plasmaqrenades, SnowmanHunter, and Then instead of having a team room, since Hyatt screwed up our rooms, Bos and Russell stayed in Sean and his dad's room for the night.

Saturday - Severance and Aric aka "Mr Mainstage"
We woke up and met up at about 9 am on Saturday and ate breakfast at the convention center's food court. We then headed over to the venue to play a few warm up games on the stations before we played at 10 am. The warmups didn't play in our favor. So in the end we were 0-3 for warmup games, including the gametypes we had to play at 10. Those games kinda snuffed us out.
For LBR3 we got paired up against Rapid Pulse, the 62nd ranked team, which means they earned that spot, it wasn't randomized. The first gametype was Pit TS. We came out strong at the beginning but ended up losing control relatively quickly, but we kept up the pressure until the end where we choked and lost by at least 5 kills. The next gametype was Narrows CTF, which we all knew we were good at. About 30 seconds into the game they had almost complete control and we never concentrated enough on getting it back and maintaining it. We unexpectedly got 3-0'd in our best gametype. I was pretty upset about that game, but overall I wasn't too frustrated that we got 2-0'd by the 62nd ranked team.

After our competition schedule ended and Russell and I went over to mainstage. He was yelling a cheering with a small group of people, making a fool out of himself. Once we finally got seats, which we on the right set of bleachers from the center, second row, on the aisle, we met some people around us, including Vehemency and his friend, sorry I never got names. We talked a while about the teams and games, but once Russell started yelling out again he got on everyone's nerves really fast. He was pretty much being a dick, plain and simple, which didn't help my view of him, which he had already tarnished.
*Carbon vs Classic?

I heard a callout from Puckett from the mic. That Instinct was going to scrim FB in the Dr Pepper booth. I immediately headed over there to try to get them to sign my hat. All they ended up doing was playing FFA because Instinct had a match on mainstage soon. I ended up sneaking up behind them and asking Walshy when he wasn't playing to sign my hat. He did, and as he tried to hand it back I asked to get the whole team and he said sure. When everyone was done Roy ended up handing to me and we had an exchange of "hello"s. Always cool to see/talk to Roy.

In fact, later on while I was waiting for mainstage again, this time farther up in the line, I heard the someone, possibly Shibby, on the microphone saying that Instinct was doing autographs at the Feature Station, which had been turned into a Instinct/Old Spice station. I, again, immediately headed over there to get in the excruciatingly long line. I luckily found one of the Foxy Ricochet guys waiting about 15 people back. I decided to strike up a conversation with him and plant myself in line with him. As I had hoped, the Old Spice girls started handing out red Old Spice string bags, which I saw at Meadows and really wanted to get my hands on. I ended up getting it signed by the team including coach xXx in nice silver sharpie. As soon as I got out of that line I ran back over to the mainstage line and shimmied my way back up front. I also found Jon in the mess of people and since I made it up farther ahead, I offered to get him in when I got picked to go in.
So here is where mainstage on Saturday started getting pretty awesome. It all had started when I started waiting in line to get on mainstage. The rest of the line and I watched the AMP North of 49 vs _______. A large group of them started cheering, jokingly, for DarkScorpian, which turned out to be a sort of fan cheer. I'm pretty sure at one point they also were hatin' on Gregor. But ultimately DarkScorpian was the most memorable. Later on they even started cheering for Sundance who came over to tell them to keep it up. They even asked him to let them all in, which was obviously ignored. Being a fan and trying to get on mainstage is a highly competitive task in itself.

Saturday night after the venue closed we headed over to the Hampton again to LAN with the Podtac guys. It was a lot shorter this time but again it was pretty fun. It was also the last time we saw them since they left midday on Sunday.

Sunday - Str8 breaks the curse and Instinct chokes
To start the day, I skipped a real breakfast because I wanted to head over to get in line for mainstage. I woke up at 10 a little later than I planned (two hours later). When I got in line I weaseled my way up to the front of the line. Eventually it got to some pro matches and the security guard that handles mainstage at all the events, told everyone to sit down because it was going to be a while.

What really sucked about Sunday is, while I was sitting on mainstage, I heard the call out for Instinct vs Classic on the feature station. Then during a lull in matches on mainstage the crowd around me and I heard loud cheers after three of the games over at the feature station and finally we got the news via someone's friend, about Instinct's 1-3 loss to Classic. It sucked to see them lose, getting 5th place, and it also sucked to get beat out by SnowmanHunter, who'll I'll talk about more later.

I also got a lot of texts during the day from Sean wanting me to go up to his room and LAN with him Jon and Russ

I was sitting on mainstage at about 5 pm during the TD/FB series in the LB Finals, and I get this text from the Dr Pepper number 737737 (PEPPER) saying "Congrats! U r the grand prize winner." I was like, WTF? I read it over like three times, and again was like WTF. I quickly checked the text I got when I entered the sweepstakes on Friday and saw I got a bunch of prizes including a seat on mainstage for the Championship match, which was next. Since it only gave me ten minutes to claim it, I just got up and left through the staff area under the mainstage tower. I went over to the Dr Pepper booth and asked the first DP girl I found, for Scott, like it said in the message. She asked if I the number she had written down was my cell phone number, and it was. She then congratulated me and brought me to the front of the booth and we waited for Scott there. He came out to the booth and congratulated me again and told me I was actually the second person to win, the first didn't show up for his thirty minute deadline.

After we finished eating we went back to Sean's room (stopped at desk) and played some 1v1 LAN for a bit, which I'll spotlight in a little extra section after this article. While waiting I went back to the Crowne to drop off some of my gear so I wasn't carrying it for the movie. When I got back we played some 2v2's (Jon and I vs Sean and Russ), until 10:10 pm and left fearing we would be late for the movie. We got there in time for the 10:20 pm movie but had to wait in line for a large group of people buying tickets for a different movie. Russ and I skipped out on concessions while Jon and Sean got some popcorn, drinks and candy. They came into the movie about 5 minutes in and sat with me, while Russ sat in the bad-for-the-neck seats in front. Overall the movie "The Hangover" was hilarious, we all enjoyed it. After heading back to Sean's room, we continued to play some 2v2's and watching films until 3:30 am. I finally said my goodbyes, to Jon and Sean at least, and went back over to the Crowne to get some good sleep.

Monday
Mostly a travel day. I slept til around 11:30, a nice 8 hour sleep. After we got ready to go by noon, an old neighbor who had moved to C'bus picked us up and we went out to breakfast at Bob Evans. After that we went to see their house and visited, it wasn't really for me, more of an adult thing, but I got to check my email and the like while I was there so, whatever. Then around 4pm we left for the airport and then got home around 9pm. Overall Columbus was an awesome event and personally I thought it was better than Meadowlands.
---------------------
Post Columbus
Reflex is still alive. Sean and I will stick together along with two other guys we will pick up. We already have one guy who already lives in Texas over in Houston, Rampage. We also decided to pick up a guys we met in Columbus via the Podtacular guys, Kooshy. We have only been playing as a team for a very limited time but I feel we will do well with some solid practice. Sean and I also want to go with a guy who wanted to coach us ever since we met in Columbus and really had some fun, Snowman Hunter aka Lyckety Splytt aka Mike. Mike is a crazy dude, I really think his coaching would have brought both a fun and skilled aspect to our team game. See you all in Dallas!

Pre Dallas
...Insert updates here...
We changed our line up once again, for the sake of Sean. We now have two guys who live in the greater Dallas area, who we met last year at MLG Dallas 2008, Jared and Reptar. Hopefully it will turn out great!
After a little turmoil caused by Sean leaving the team, and coming back after seeing how much the other team needed work on chemistry, we no longer have Jared and Reptar on the roster. First we had a little stint with Icy Wolf, who is no angry with us because we dropped him for a set of two that we instantly hit it off with and beat Salvation with only an hour of play together, going over no strats whatsoever [http://podtacular.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=25827&start=15 (Post 19, second to last on page 2)]. Bos and Lazy will hopefully be on the team for Dallas. Yes this is the same Bos from C'bus, so we have most of the most successful Reflex roster back. There are some financial troubles going on at the moment so if anything falls through we have Fractured as a potential teammate.

To Hold You Over

2009-07-19T21:00:00.000-04:00

This has been a long time coming, sorry we haven't kept up with the events!

Here is my MLG Meadowlands 2009 experience:

MLG Meadowlands Recap

Team Reflex - Amplified
Cast:
L0rd4b0ve- Sam (1)
Hurricane- Sean
Hunter- Ian
Vertual- Nick
KBC- Kevin
Jaba- John
KmHax- Keegan
Duke- Sam (2)
Dialpex - Diego
Amateur Hour- AnnoyedCustomer, Legion, and their other two.

Intro
Wow, the first event of 2009. It was a blast, even though we lost in LBR1. We had a lot of fun playing all weekend and just hanging out as a team. After the event is another story. But overall Meadowlands was great, the only thing I didn't like was Instinct placing 2nd. They deserve 1st place.

I also want to say that I'm sorry that this took so long to put together, but ultimately it felt good to write about it and I hope you enjoy!

Thursday - Delay, Delay, Cancel
Thursday pretty much sucked. My flight was scheduled for 6:05pm arriving in LGA @ 7:30pm. Before I even got out of school it got delayed to a 7:25pm departure. So when I finally made my way to the airport, I still had a decent wait at the gate for boarding to start. Then we were delayed again, this time until 8:30pm. Finally boarding started at 8. Once the plane was boarded we taxied to our runway after another little wait, then got stopped out there for 45 minutes because of thunderstorms at Laguardia. Then we were told LGA had a ground-stop so we were not going to get out that night. Once we finally got back to the gate, I had to scramble to get to an open, not crowded ticket counter so I could get on the 6 a.m. flight on Friday morning and wouldn't miss anything. I was able to get the flight at 6 for an arrival time at LGA at 7 a.m., thank god.
We had originally planned to LAN against our friends from Podtac, Team Shattered, and the team Amateur Hour, who we'd met up with online and planned to LAN with that night, replacing the bucket kids on Shattered. But since I was delayed along with Vertual and some of the Amateur Hour crew we couldn't get a LAN going on Thursday after all. The only good thing about the day was that I got to go to sleep in my own bed and gather some last minute things that I would have forgot.

Friday - LAN LAN LAN
I arrived around 7am on Friday. With L0rd4b0ve (Sam (1)) as my chauffeur from the airport, props to him and his mother. When we arrived at the hotel and met everyone we just sat around talking and playing for a while before we headed outside on the chilly, rainy Friday morning. We left to go wait in the line at around 9:45. Since it was raining out and windy as hell, we waited underneath the Embassy Suites drop-off overhang. At around 10:15 people migrated over to the parking garage of the Expo Center and then the line started to form toward the ramp. Once on the ramp we waited another 20 minutes to get inside (they were only letting sets of 10 at a time).
Once Reflex got inside we immediately went to the table and signed in, got our wristbands, and then L0rd4b0ve and I went over to get our media passes. We had a little trouble because their database was having trouble updating that morning so I had to call over Amy J. aka Ms. Media to bail me out at yet another event, thank you Amy. Once we got that squared away and got our passes we headed back to our hotel to LAN it up.
First we had a team over, Amateur Hour, who we were talking to for a while before the event and they actually were not to far in front of us in line, so that was cool. Once they arrived with their have of the equipment we played a series and got beat 2-1 in some very close games, oh well. They had also invited another team so we cycled out to let them play and during that game I recorded my only video of the weekend :(.
After they finished everyone headed over to the venue which opened at 1 p.m., so we got to wait in a line again out in the rain some more. Once inside Hunter and myself immediately went to the newly added MLG Store in the venue. When we made it through the crowded line and made our custom Meadowlands shirts ordered we left to go find the rest of our team.
After we were done checking out the venue, for the first time for most of the guys, we headed back to our hotel once again to LAN Shattered this time.

Saturday - Instinct, Instinct, Walshy! and Believe. The. Hype.
Even though we lost on Friday and weren't scheduled to play on Saturday it was still fun. Spectating in itself is an amazing experience if you know what to do at the venue. Saturday was a really relaxed day for all of us, mainly because of our loss. Other than our awesome mainstage experience I have to talk about the Podtacular LAN up in Dialpex's room in the Embassy Suites. All I can say is that it was a pretty awesome time. It kinda fixed my relations with KmHax. Since he'd always been cocky online I never thought anything good of him, but after meeting him on Friday and playing on his team in the LAN, along with Tarheels and _____, I really got to liking him. I even end up offering him a spot, which I'll talk about later. So in the 4 pick-up team LAN up in Podtac central, we placed 3rd I think, oh well, I had some fun with those games.
Now on to mainstage. The only games I really remember are those on ESPN Saturday night, but before that I want to shout-out to, first off, all the awesome Status Quo fans chanting etc.. even though they weren't playing! Second which I will highlight later all of the insane Instinct and BtH fans! I have to say though Saturday were probably my favorite games of the tournament. First off, Str8 Rippin vs Believe the Hype. Believe the Hype had a phenomenal, see what I did there?, performance on Saturday night, beating Str8 Rippin after Str8 was up 2-0 in the series
The next match was Instinct vs Final Boss and Walshy had some serious trash talk prepared for this match. First off in the interview by Julie A. with Walshy he mentions he hadn't lost to FB in over 4 years, which is true, and I liked it. But what comes next is even better. Part one of the major hits he made was saing his relationship with Mackeo and Victory X was that he raised them as his "practice noobs" up in Michigan, which I thought was great. Next up he started comparing MLG with Full House, saying he was Uncle Jesse and of course, the Ogre twins were the Olsen twins. Harsh words from the oldest pro on the circuit. To defend his team Victory X had some good words, but nothing to drastic besides, "we'll see who does better in this match," pretty much criticizing Walshy's skill.
All care about is that Instinct easily 3-1'd Final Boss moving on in the tournament. The only notable thing to mention about FB this tournament is they beat out Str8 Rippin in the Losers Bracket semi-finals knocking them out, which I will also mention in the Sunday section.
That night we had a rag-tag LAN in our hotel room with like 15 people. We didn't have enough TVs we had to 4-player split-screen the hotel's 37" TV, bad idea. Other than that it went okay. I slept there for the night and then it was Sunday.

Sunday - TD TD TD :(
Sunday was a long day, but still a lot of fun. Sunday was also definitely Triggers Down's day. After a big loss to Believe the Hype on Saturday they rebounded amazingly against all of the competition.
I want to start with...
The match of Final Boss against Triggers Down in the Losers Bracket Finals. Final Boss had gotten knocked to the Losers Bracket by Instinct, and TD by BtH. TD had just finished beating BtH in their second match up. FB beat TD pretty badly in the first and second games. The third game was going well for TD, Construct KOTH. TD was up 50-0 when the power in the whole venue went out. Everyone was a little freaked out at first but in the end it was funny. IT turns out that there was a brush fire outside across the street away that was burning in the "meadowlands" and hit a transformer. My family on Ellis Island, seeing the Statue of Liberty that day, saw the smoke. Sundance came on the microphone after everything settled reassuring that we weren't in danger and we'd be back online in a bit. What I found funny though is while the power was coming back, Gandhi yells down to Mackeo asking "anything else for ya Mackeo!?" Only to be answered by laughs. Even with this stroke of good luck for FB, they go on and lose the series to TD, 2-3. Putting TD in the Championship Finals with Instinct.
The Instinct match started out awesome again thanks to Walshy. He didn't trash talk as much, but he did take over the interview, holding the microphone his way and explaining to the crowd what chants to use. Neighbor was the only one not to get one, because "he'll be raping anyway." But the other three got "Uncle Walshy," "Roy's our boy," and "Lunchbox rocks." A lot of those chants were used during the match. The other thing he said was that: Roy would just be out bring people, Neighbor sniping, and Lunchbox would just be beating down the ground because they were winning. They did win Game 2, in awesome fashion, but that was it. I blame the curse.
I seem to have a curse on me, if you will. Every event I attend Triggers Down wins the event. MLG Orlando 2008, MLG Dallas 2008 and MLG Meadowlands 2009. The only one I hoped they'd lose was Meadowlands this year because Instinct deserves a solid win.
After everything was all over, Sean and I were the only ones left, that we knew, in the Meadowlands. So we decided to go see a movie, Fast and Furious. My Dad took us over to the theater and we saw the movie. It was okay, I guess. And then that night we parted ways until C'bus.

Monday
This is where the family vacation kicked in for me we went into the city and walked around visiting sites such as the Empire State Building, which didn't have any visibility. So we bough the tickets and headed back to New Jersey. Once we got back we stayed in the room for a while before heading down to the Sports Bar restaurant attached to the Courtyard called Bazookas. We went for a reason. The NCAA Mens Basketball Championship game was on, North Carolina (UNC-Chapel Hill) vs Michigan State. Seeing that I'm, not originally but, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I felt it was good I watched the game and saw them win. Just adding to a great weekend.

Tuesday
The visibility was better today so I got to go up top of the Empire State Building. It was pretty sweet besides being a little chilly and a lot breezy. After that we headed straight to the airport and flew home.
-----------
Post ML
Nick drop/quit (I know youre not supposed to... I kinda blame nick for attitude online and at the event and how he almost DQ'd us)
Ian drop
Keegan offer
Sureshot
Pinky
Rukus
Marker

Pre Columbus
Bos
Rekling

I know its got some holes but at least its something!

Enjoy!
~Amp

The Halo Amplified Podcast Voicemail

2009-07-12T16:00:00.002-04:00

NEW NEW NEW -------------------------------------------->>>>>>>>>

Submit anything you want! Shout-outs, news (cite source), or rumors!

Let us know what you think of the podcast!

Call 1-(559)-HaloPod or 1-(559)-425-6763

Call Us or Text Us!
~Amp

Special Update Episode: June 26th - Foot Back in the Door

2009-06-26T22:00:00.004-04:00

This episode follows a more casual format as we try and get our foot back in the door after a 4 month Hiatus. Consists of a general overview of Bungie's E3 Experience, the 2009 MLG season, and more.

Episode Download Link: http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-18591/TS-239322.mp3

Here's a looooong list of links mentioned in our return-to-podcasting episode:

Halo 3 ODST at GametrailersTV
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/halo-3-odst/10364

Halo: Reach trailer
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-halo-reach/49988

Halo 3: ODST Page
http://www.bungie.net/projects/odst/default.aspx

Halo: Reach Page
http://www.bungie.net/projects/reach/default.aspx

MLG
http://www.mlgpro.com/

Red vs Blue: Recreation
http://rvb.roosterteeth.com/home.php

Str8 Rippin Team Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ck-xBfAkE

Defuze's Down Under
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLsMz0AaVxM

Orima

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSJpul04LVc

Apex: Kampy's Final Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlW12S2GfBM

Amplified's YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/amplifiedsilence00

Thanks guys,
~L0rd4b0ve and Amp

Note: The major MLG team I forgot to mention is Believe the Hype, who miraculously placed 3rd in Meadowlands, with the roster of Cloud, Demon D, Clutch, and Sypher. In Columbus they replaced Sypher with Carbon's Soviet. And now they have Sypher back instead of Clutch.

Enjoy guys!

2009-03-29T22:34:00.002-04:00

I just finished editing an extensive halo wars video review/overview that we recorded. Because of the way we set up our feed, we won't be able to send it to you guys through iTunes. We do have an enhanced feed that we map throw it on, but most likely you'll find it on youtube. It's fairly long (47 minutes), but if you don't have the game its a great way to get the feel of it. Focusing mostly on the multiplayer aspect, we go over all of the UNSC units and structures, as well as almost all the of the Covenant ones. Expect to see it tomorrow or the day after.

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 20 - Catch Up

2009-03-08T20:00:00.001-04:00

After a long break we are finally back in it!

Episode: http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-18591/TS-200843.mp3 (Right Click to Save As or Left Click to Listen)

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=279588355

Additional Shownotes:
MLG Pro Username= Amplified-Reflex
Puckett's new show= Friday Night Kickoff (http://www.mlgpro.com/pro-circuit/2009/streaminfo.php)

Updates
Recorded before the Top 16 rosters were locked
Incredibles: Ogre1's new team

Check out the Bracket Show: http://www.mlgpro.com/bracketshow
Stauts Quo vs Str8 Rippin LAN: http://www.mlgpro.com/forum/showthread.php?t=231354

Enjoy,
~Amp and Crew

P.S. Don't forget to check out the previous two posts for the original shownotes and the new Str8 Rippin montage!

Str8 Rippin Montage

2009-03-07T19:58:00.009-05:00

Below is the HD version I uploaded to my account, but was recently marked as copyright infringement...

HD Str8 Montage on a website I created (to substitute for YouTube copyright issues)

MLG Gameroom Version (completely unaffected by copyright)

Episode 20 Notes

2009-03-02T22:34:00.002-05:00

Here are all the links and notes we mentioned in the Show:

Pro Choice Awards:

Best BR- Roy, Legit, Hysteria

Best Sniper- Snipedown, Neighbor, Hysteria

Best Close Range Combat- Legit, Snipedown, Neighbor

Best Power Weapon Controller- Neighbor, Snipedown, T2

Best Strategist- Elamite, Walshy, T2

Most Unpredictable Player- Pistola, Neighbor, Legit

Most Clutch Player- Snipedown, Legit, Roy

Breakout Player- Snipedown, Hysteria, Heinz

Best Coach- xXx, JT Bravo, Ace

Best Leader- T2, Walshy, Elamite

Most Underrated Player- Legit, Heinz, Ant

Best Duo- Elam & Legit, Lunch & Roy, T2 & Elam

Best Pure Slayer- Snipedown, Hysteria, Neighbor

Best Objective Player- Legit, Elamite, Walshy

Best Support Player- Elamite, Lunchbox, SK

Best Overall Player- Neighbor, Legit, Roy

Bungie Links:

Sandbox Forge Pallet

Assembly and Orbital Forge Pallets

Photo Mosaic

Montages:

Vehemence

Tunnel Vision Trailer

Youtube Channels:

Halo Amplified Podcast - Special Update Episode - 2/27/09

2009-02-27T20:00:00.000-05:00

Listen in for some important information!

Episode Description:
Refer me "Amplified-Reflex" when you purchase your MLG Meadowlands Spectator Passes! Look for Episode 20 and our reviews of Halo Wars and the Mythic Map Pack!

Thanks,
~Amp and Crew

Special Edition Episode 9 - MLG Pro Interviews - Roy v2

2009-02-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

It took a while but we finally have it ready for everyone!
This MLG Pro Interview is with Roy from Team Instinct. With their new roster and the 2009 Pro Circuit looming, the interview is an inside look at the Top Teams and what's to come in 2009!

Only a few dated statements that don't really matter now, like the version 6 gametypes and the superbowl. Oh well.

Link to iTunes
Link to Talkshoe
Download (Right click to save)

Thanks to everyone on the MLG Forums for supplying us with their questions!
Here is a list of accreditation:
fatkidv2
BassistBowen
LiL-Zap
RumbleForeSkin
PenatrationPat
o_SteveButabi_o
-Stormy-
frodan
jayhawk15balla

Thanks to our contributors, listeners, Defuze for guest hosting, and Roy for joining us!
Enjoy!
~Amp and Crew

Roy Interview Rescheduled, Leaked Sandbox Pic

2009-01-29T18:01:00.004-05:00

Due to unavoidable circumstances, the Roy interview has been rescheduled to January 31st. We will try to get that out to you guys as soon as possible.

Here is a supposed leaked picture of sandbox. It looks legit so far.

http://i44.tinypic.com/a430j8.jpg

-L0rd4b0ve

Halo Amplified Podcast - Special Edition Episode 8 - MLG Vegas and More

2008-12-27T16:15:00.001-05:00

After a loooooooooong long delay, we have it for you!

Without further adieu...

Right Click and Save to Download (http://recording.talkshoe.com/TC-18591/TS-176812.mp3)

Talkshoe Page

iTunes Page (Link that opens iTunes store)

Enjoy,

~Amp and Crew

The GoGcast Episode 1 + Update

2008-12-13T15:00:00.001-05:00

I know this doesn't really have anything to do with Halo Amplified per say... but I thought you guys might want to check out the Gathering of Gamers or at least the podcast episode I was in... So here you go...

GoG Homepage- http://www.gatheringofgamers.com/

Podcast Links- GoGcast Episode 1 - LIVE STREAM

Update

Special Edition Episode 8 is still being edited so bare with us.

Episode 20 will be out ASAP next week as well!

Thanks,

~Amp

Special Edition Episode 8 - MLG Vegas and More

2008-12-02T10:00:00.004-05:00

This episode is mostly a make-up and hopefully you guys haven't missed us. I won't ruin the episode announcements for you yet since it hasn't become available yet, so you get to wait again!
There are a few announcements for the podcast we will be mentioning including a, now to be expected, coverage we will have in 2009. We also reveal a little side project that hopefully everyone will enjoy!

Thanks for your patience,
~Amp

Vegas Summary

2008-11-28T16:36:00.002-05:00

FRIDAY NIGHT

All-Star Classic Stats:
East Coast: 12 (4 in H3)
West Coast: 9 (3 in H3)
Halo MVP: Pistola
Gears of War MVP: KILLA & PREDATOR (tie)
RSV2 MVP: JWHOJCA5H

Friday Night Hilights:
Hysteria voted stride player of the year
Snipedown voted old spice rising star
East wins All Star Classic

SATURDAY NIGHT

WBR1 Results:
Str8 Rippin' 3-0 Legendz
Instinct 3-0 Classic
Carbon 3-2 Triggers Down
Final Boss 3-0 Ambush

LBR1 Results:
Triggers Down 3-0 Ambush
Classic 3-2 Legendz

WBR2 Results:
Str8 Rippin' 3-2 Instinct
Carbon 3-1 Final Boss

LBR2 Results:
Final Boss 3-1 Classic
Instinct 3-2 Triggers Down.

CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY

LBR3 Results:
Instinct 3-1 Final Boss

WBF Results:
Str8 Rippin' 3-2 Carbon

LBF Results
Carbon v Instinct

Announcements:
The first event of the 2009 season is going to be in the Meadowlands, April 3rd-5th.

Other Games
Gears of War: TH3 NSAN3Z
Call of Duty 4: CA FeaR
Rainbow 6 Vegas 2: MoB RAGE

OTHER NEWS

Meadowlands has been confirmed as the season opener for April 3rd-5th.

Hysteria is the stride player of the year. He gets a trophy (full of stride gum) and a check for 25 grand

The "Old Spice Rising Star," or basically the most improved player, was unanimously Snipedown. He gets a little glass trophy thing and 5 grand, which he says in going towards a Pontiac G-8

GAME BY GAME

WBR1 Results:
Str8 3-0 Legendz: Str8 comes back from a 2-1 deficit game 1, T2 gRAPES games 2 & 3

Instinct 3-0 Classic: First two games close, Roy owns game one. Game 3 won by >100 points.

CARBON 3-2 TRIGGERS DOWN: OMG WHAT!? Who the F@#k looses to carbon?! Not TD! I have no more to say about this series.

Final Boss 3-0 Ambush: FB Comes back from a 3-1 deficit game 1, Ogre 2 gets an Overkill extermination for the final cap.

LBR1 Results:
Triggers Down 3-0 Ambush: First game close, every player between +2 and -2 k/ds. TD goes off game 2, all of TD +3 or better. Karma goes 40-21 game 3 and TD wins 202-81 on oddball.
Karma said to the rest of TD something along the lines of "you have never seen me play seriously. I'm about to play seriously right now." And then he went 40-21. Yeah.

Classic 3-2 Legendz: Legendz puts up a good fight but gets rocked in the final TS game.

That wreaks havoc on my prediction bracket...

WBR2

Str8 v Instinct

Str8 wins game 1 of WBR2 against instinct on pit CTF 2-1. game takes over 20 minutes, no one does especially poorly.

Instinct wins game 2, TS pit, to thunderous applause. They come back in the final moments to win 50-47. Roy goes +12.

Str8 takes game 3, oddball. Instinct had a good early lead but Str8 got their act together as Instinct fell apart. Elamite goes +11, and legit goes beastmode [on] off. I'm not sure, but I think they won by about 40 points.

Instinct takes Construct King to tie the series. They have an early lead, str8 is able to tie it up at around 80 and again at around 200, but Instinct clinches the game with under a minute left.

Game five is TS Amplified, Str8 takes it. They start off with a 12-5 lead, and maintain at least a 5 kill lead the whole game, finishing 50-42. Legit gets 17 kills, Roy gets a killing spree to tighten it up near the end but it's not enough.

Old Spice Play of the Match: Elamite Warrior goes one on four to stop the flag and a double kill on CTF Pit game 1.

Carbon v Final Boss

FB and Carbon start their series with Pit CTF, Carbon wins 2-1. It is tied up for most of the game at 1-1 until carbon caps one with 2 minutes left in regulation. Naded goes off with the sniper, shockwayv3 gets 31 kills, ogre 2 gets a triple.

Carbon wins game 2 on Pit TS, 50-40. Shockwayv3 goes +9, double kills abound.

Final Boss takes Game 3 on Oddball on Guardian. FB gets the early lead but carbon pulls ahead at around 50. Final boss takes the lead at 160 but carbon takes it back, then looses it at 180.

Game 4 goes to Carbon. The game is neck and neck the whole game, it looks like Final boss was gonna win but Carbon turns it around and even though Final boss retakes the hill they run out of time.

Moment of the match is naded's snipe from closed street to bottom purple on construct king. It was epic.

LBR3

Instinct v Final Boss

Game 1 of instinct v Final Boss is Narrows CTF. Instinct gets the first cap and is able to keep FB off balance for a while. Instinct gets close a couple times but neighbor is a able to get the returns. Final boss finally ties it up with 2 minutes in regulation and nearly caps a second one but it's stopped, Roy almost gets the countercap but Neighbor clutches it. Regulation ends just as soviet gets a nice stick across under bridge, Soviet gets a flag to rocket, out BR's one of the ogres and strongside before going down, and then Walshy cap's it. Soviet and Lunchbox both put up 28+ kills.

Game 2 is Amplified TS, Final boss gets the early lead but instinct pulls ahead at 20. The lead is exchanged a few times but instinct starts to pull ahead with only a few kills left, it gets tied up at 44 then Roy rips out a triple, its tied up 49-49, Ogre 2 gets the last kill to win the game 50-49. Lunchbox went +7 but walshy went -8. All members of Final Boss were between +/-3.

The third game is Pit KotH, which is statistically instinct's best gametype. Instinct gets the early lead which grows rapidly. At the third hill begins the score is 107-51, this kind of lead is more or less maintained until instinct starts to break away during the last hill or so, it gets to the point where lunchbox starts taking no scopes (he gets 2 nice ones.

The next game is Oddball, a strong gametype for both teams. Instinct stats with a strong 50 point lead, until they get 4 down and Final Boss has time to set up and gets 10 points away. Instinct takes it back and the lead starts to reappear. The ball changes hands a few times, then Final boss gets the lead at 80. Instinct retakes the lead at 95, The game continues in this fashion, instinct starts breaking away at 125 and eventually establishes a 40 point lead, Final boss gets the ball with only 50 seconds left but Roy takes it away from them with a clutch double, the game ends and Instinct takes the series 3-1. Neighbor throws his controller to the crowd.

Supposedly Walshey hasn't lost a match to the ogres in four years.

Oldspice Moment of the Match is Lunchbox's quickscope followed by a noscope at the Snipe lift on Pit KotS "I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger" he says.

WBF

Str8 v Carbon

The next game is Winners Bracket Finals, Str8 Rippin vs Carbon, Narrows CTF. Carbon locks down the top and pulls the flag but can't capitalize, A few minutes later Naded brings the flag to their base and Shockwav3 puts it in. Ghostayame gets a second flag to top mid but he accidentally throws it off, Str8 seizes the opportunity and Elamite gets the countercap. A coupe flags get pulled a little bit but they cant capitalize. T2 gets a flag just to their return but it gets stopped and returns right as Snipedown gets to it. Shockwav3 goes for the countercap bottom mid but accidentally drops it off, even so he pulls another flag right up to their return but it gets returned by T2. after some time Shockwav3 gets a flag under cover of Cpt. Anarchy's near-triple with 1:30 left. Cpt Anarchy pulls a flag to bottom mid and is downed, Ghostayame gets a clutch double and puts in the flag for a 3-1 win with 10 seconds left in regulation.

Game 2 is TS Amplified, carbon starts off with an early lead, and maintains a four kill lead throughout the first half of the game where they start to pull ahead, 29-20. Soon after Snipedown goes off tying it up at 38, it remains tied up until the last few moments, Str8 wins the game 50-47. 46 of Str8's kills are assisted and snipedown goes +6.

The next game is Pit KotS, Str8 is 13-2 in this gametype. The match is tied up for a while until carbon starts taking a lead, eventually establishing a 70 point lead. Str8 starts regaining time and closes the lead to a 10 point lead. Snipedown takes a sick double with the sniper, another snipe through the slat on training but its not enough as Cpt Anarchy gets a double to retake the final hill and win the game, Carbon is up 2-1 in the series.

The 4th game is oddball guardian. Carbon gets an early lead, but Str8 ties it up and it remains that way until around 150, where str8 starts to break away. The final score is 250-148. I was sorta preoccupied during this match, sorry if the description is a little lite.

The final game is TS Construct. St8 gets the early lead, up 20-13. Carbon starts coming back to 22-22, but str8 starts pulling away again to 32-21. They accelerate even further to 41-24, Carbon pulls forward to make it a ten point game to 43-33, then Str8 cleans up the final kills to make it 50-37.

The Old Spice moment of the match is a Snipedown Double kill on Pit King right on his respawn.

The series goes to Str8, 3-2.

LBF

Instinct v Carbon

Losers Bracket Finals: Instinct v Carbon. Both teams beat Final Boss 3-1 and Triggers Down 3-2 and lost to Str8 Rippin 2-3. Both have similar strategies and are clearly of similar ability. This will be good.

The first game is CTF on Onslaught. Instinct gets the first cap a little over a minute in, then Roy takes in another flag another minute later. Cpt Anarchy gets the flag to their B Corner, but Roy is able to stop it. A few minutes later Shockwave gets the first score for Carbon and Ghostayame gets another little bit later, followed by a third from Cpt. Anarchy. Instinct pulls a flag but Anarchy and Shockwave are able to halt it. Roy later caps another flag for instinct to tie it up, immediately followed by a fourth by Walshy. A couple minutes later Anarchy and Ghost are able to pull another flag to tie up the game at 4-4. Inspired by an instinct cheer, Roy covers his brother lunchbox as he puts in the last flag for the win. Roy went +9.

Carbon went into Construct TS with a 0-1 deficit, a gametype that they have only one once out of six times. Instinct also has had some trouble, and is 0 for 2 on Construct TS. Carbon won the opening battle and took the early lead which started to widen to 28-18. All members of Carbon start going off with their power weapons, and they maintain their lead throughout the whole game. Naded nearly gets a triple but fails to kill Walsh. Carbon coasts to the finish line for a 50-38 win.

The next game is a good one for instinct, Pit KotH. Cpt. Anarchy gets a triple right of the break, and with that Carbon is able to get an early lead, 40 points at as the first hill moves. Carbon gets in the next hill, and the lead grows. Instinct is able to gain control and close the gap by a good amount. Ghost gets a clutch double to enable his squad to get back in the hill and start rebuilding their lead, but a slight misplay enables instinct to take the lead at 113. The score remains tied for some time, but instinct is able to surge ahead at around 170 and establish a 30 point lead. Carbon gets in the hill for a little bit but is unable to capitalize. Instinct builds it up to 224-148, but Carbon gets in with only 40 seconds left, and loose by mathematical impossibility. At this point carbon is down 2-1.

Narrows CTF is a good game for both teams, but Carbon comes out with an early lead with a cap less than a minute in, then Cpt. Anarchy pulls another one to bottom mid but cannot get it any further. Roy pulls instincts first flag and gives it to Walshy who is stopped right on the flag, but Lunchbox puts it in. Soviet gets another flag soon later under the cover of Roy's dirty sniping. Lunchbox and soviet pull another flag but Naded is able to return it. Lunchbox pushes back up, gets a triple, and brings the final flag home for a 3-1 victory over Carbon to meet Str8 Rippin' in the finals. All of instinct went at least +2 in this game.

Old Spice Moment of the Match- lunchbox's final cap on Narrows following a triple kill.

Championship Match

Str8 v Instinct

The first game is Narrows CTF. Roy gets the first pull, and Walshy scores it. Instinct pulls another flag to top mid, but Str8 gets the return. Legit and Elamite go for a countercap, but soviet kills both and gets the return. Legit tosses a flag over mancannon, and Snipedown gets the flag and uses it to kill soviet, then fumbles it and is killed. Legit tries to score it but Lunchbox clutches a last second return and starts working on a countercap. Roy eventually gets a flag to their base and scores it. After some time legit pills a flag to rocks, and T2 takes it and gets the first Str8 Rippin' Flag. He stops The countercap with a double kill followed by a stick. Elamite tries to countercap but fails, and Soviet takes a flag to their snipe but is shut out. Legit brings a flag to bottom mid and defends with it rockets long enough for Elamite to take it in and tie up the game. A few flags get pulled to no effect, then Lunchbox takes a flag bottom mid to score the final cap.

The next game is TS, also on narrows, and after the initial charge Str8 gradually comes out on top. They grow their lead to 35-25, and continue to go nowhere but up. Soviet gets a sniper but is killed immediately, and Str8 gets to 45-28. T2 scores the final kill to make the score 50-36. Legit and Str8 both go at least +7.

The score going into game 3 is 4-3 in favor of Str8. Team King is Str8's favorite gametype, but instinct isn't too bad at it either. Str8 gets the early lead, which widen's quickly. Instinct gets back in the hill at 92-22 and it remains tied through 140, where str8 starts to pull ahead by about 20 points. Instinct closes the lead again, but Str8 pulls away even more to close the game with a respectable lead. At this point Str8 needs only one more win to be the national champs.

Str8 starts out Onslaught CTF strong, as Legit gets the first flag to their A Corner and puts it in himself. Their next attempt fails, and Walshy is able to counter cap to tie up the game. Elamite and Legit work together to get the second Cap, and soviet after some time is able to get the flag back for Lunch to put it in. Lunch picks another flag ad nearly gets it in but T2 returns it. T2 goes for the counter cap, and Elamite nearly puts it in. Soviet returns it and takes it A side but fails to capitalize. Legit eventually gets the flag and puts it in for a 3-2 lead. Walsh gets the next flag and puts it in to tie up the game, and Soviet gets the next flag but can’t score it. It goes back and forth for a while with a few pulls but no scores, until soviet takes a flag up the middle and gets instinct’s 4th cap with 2 minutes left in regulation. Roy almost gets the final cap but T2 stops it, and Str8 stops it and Elamite puts it in, as Legit follows it up to their B corner, Elamite almost puts it in, but Legit puts it in to clinch the 2009 vegas championship.

Old Spice Moment of the Match is Elamite's cap to tie up onslaught at 4-4 with 26 seconds left in regulation.

Episode 19 and More

2008-10-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

Episode 19 is finally up and running on the iTunes feed.
A few tidbits for you guys...
First off, Vidmaster Annual achievement on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3glgkmgECS0
Next up, follow ups to the new trailer including the newER one entitled Halo 3: Recon discussed in Episode 20... *Bungie Link*
Other than that look for the MLG Dallas Podcast coming VERY soon!

Thanks for the patience everyone!
~Amp and Crew

MLG Dallas from Halo Amplified

2008-10-09T11:00:00.004-04:00

To start off I want to say that MLG Dallas was not the event to miss. This tournament showed the best in some teams and the worst in others.
Let's break it down day by day shall we?

BTW, I attended the event with two of my team mates, Hurricane and Zepp.

First let me give a little background for you. I am Amplified-Silence, founder of the Halo Amplified Podcast, and I have known about and loved MLG since the 2006 season shown on USA. Ever since I have followed MLG's every move and loved playing their gametypes (and in Halo 3, their maps). Overall MLG and Halo 3 are my focus right now other than school and everything else I do. I went to MLG Orlando this summer as well, and going there with one of my parents is what allowed me to go to MLG Dallas alone to meet the guys on my team. I hope everyone enjoys my account of the event and don't forget about my podcast and the MLG Dallas Recap episode coming out on Friday!

Okay, enough about me and my podcast, on to the weekend:
Friday - One word summary: Tiring
So I leave school at lunch and head to the airport, good stuff I know, and after about 8 hours (+/- 1 hour, stupid time zones) I was standing in front of the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas. Bags and all I ventured to the venue, being held in the Trinity Expo Center, passing by FearItself and Legend on the way. Anyways, I got to see my team mate, Hurricane, place third in a FFA match against one of the people who made top 8 so, not bad. By that time my host had gotten there, Zepp, and I dropped my stuff off and talked to Hurricane some more before he left for the night (lives closeby). Zepp and I just hanged out at the venue watching Str8 play uTi for a while before heading back to the room for some 1v1 before we turned in.

Saturday - Summary: Awesome
To start off the morning, at 9 AM, Zepp and I headed over to Denny's across the street for a big breakfast. After that we wandered back to and around the venue for a while and played some 2v2 vs randoms at the Astro booth. Dr. Pepper, of course, had their booth hosting some free play as well as some Str8 vs pros games going on. The big thing for us today though was the Press Conference. Gotta love podcasting :). The press conference was great, even though it was just Q&A pretty much. I did get to meet some other press there though, which was cool. The guys from GamerNook.com we great, and they even gave their info to the journalist working on a Walshy story. The press conference seemed a little too short to but the main downside is my final question got stolen... oh well. The great thing though was actually after the press conference. Walking back into the Trinity Center's lobby, we saw none other than Roy waiting in line for food. I walk up and introduce myself as Amp from Halo Amplified, and seeing that the interview was only a few weeks ago, we immediately started up a long conversation spanning our walk to the Pro Lounge in the venue. Let me just say, Roy's our boy! He is probably the coolest pro I have talked to ever, one of the nicest too, Walshy's got everyone beat though :). It was just really cool to get a chance to introduce myself and thank him face to face for the interview and talk to him afterward. Alright, enough of Roy, he's still great though, but on to Main Stage. Oh yeah, we met MrPresident while we were talking to Roy, great to see a member from Podtac! Anyway, since Saturday was all of the Open Bracket gameplay it wasn't really as important to us to see every game on main stage. We saw plenty anyway. The good part about watching while standing on the outskirts is you get to talking to all of the people around you. Turns out we make friends with Ben from GoG, Gathering of Gamers (.com), and since we had been looking for a LAN for Saturday night, it was a perfect pick! Other than GoG I got a chance to talk to SK, thanking him for the interview a few weeks back and wishing him luck, glad it helped! As I made my way to chase him down (I was kinda late on the uptake) I ran into (literally, jk) ManofPopsicle from Podtac which was cool even though I was otherwise occupied. WE finished off watching Saturday night from behind main stage with the oh so lovely Puckett commentary :P. It was good to get another chance to talk to Roy during the games, and this time I ask him for Instinct signatures, which we got except Soviet, thanks again Roy. After it was all over and Legendz won we went on up to GoG's party. When we arrived Soviet was there in the room milling about, perfect for a signature! It was really cool to get a chance to play 2v2 against Soviet too... we (Hurricane and I) lost by like 8 kills... no biggy (it was 4-way split screen). I just hope we didn't screw him up with those small screens! Well at about midnight Zepp and I bounced and went to sleep hoping to get up early on Sunday!

Sunday - Summary: FTW (I know that's three)
All day - Main Stage...
We woke up about 7 AM and composed ourselves before heading down to the venue. The doors to the Trinity didn't open until 8:15 AM but we waited, Hurricane came down a little later and we talked to some cool guys while we waited. I only know them as MLG EVENT 171 and MLG EVENT 054, so yeah... That helps the next part, where when we got in the venue we saw main stage was closed and headed over to the Halo 3 stations to plays some awesome 4v4s (Quick shoutout to BaBaBadHabits and his friend for playing with us, good games guys, and, oh yeah, Icon sucks). We played for quite some time, until 10:30 to be exact, while we were pros were filtering in warming up, including Triggers Down. Break, special thanks to Zepp for holding a spot in the main stage line for us while we played and checked out the pros, end break. After we finished playing I met up with Ben who was stanidng behind tD watching them play an FFA with FB. The thing I found cool and funny at the same time was when SK somehow lost a BR battle with Karma after getiing easily 10 headshots (it was on Narrows though) and turns around, astonished, asking if anyone saw that, especially me, and I was like "yeah dude that sucked," or something like that... Anyways, we stayed on main stage all day on Sunday, I personally never left my seat. So here are some big matches that went down on main stage...
1) Triggers Down vs Ambush - Result: tD 3-1 - tD took it easily after dropping the first game CTF Narrows 3-0. SK was trash talking Nexus like a pro!
2) Instinct vs Classic - Result: Classic 3-2 - Classic suprisingly came back and took the series 3 games to 2. Instinct has some ground to make up now.
3) Str8 Rippin vs Final Boss - Result: Str8 3-0 - Snipedown calls out Neighbor saying he'll shut him down, Neighbor sarcasticaly says he's scared and pretends to cry... good stuff. Str8 ends up rolling over FB.
4) Triggers Down vs Str8 Rippin - Result: Series 1 (tD 3-2) - Series 2 (tD 3-2) - tD finishing strong in the Pit TS game winning the second and final series 3 to 2. Some of the most insane Halo 3 gameplay ever seen! (Final Game Video (Game 10) @ mlgpro.com)

Special thanks to Zepp's parent for supplying us with some Mickey D's on main stage.
After the main stage everyone had to filter out of the venue. I ended up seeing a lot of pros during and after the event on Sunday either watching with us, talking to tD or Str8, or walking out of the venue.
We ended up eating in the Sports Bar underneath (literally) the Hilton's tower. Good food and plenty of pros. I saw Soviet (shook his hand again), Lunchbox, Mudvayne, and Twylight.

Overall, MLG Dallas > MLG Orlando, at least for me. Orlando was epic but Dallas topped it. Great teams and deserving winners. Anyways Triggers Down won both times so it's all good!

Shoutouts:
1. Mr. Pres- Cool meeting you for however brief a time, hoped you enjoyed meeting Roy! :)
2. Man'oPopsicle- Cool meeting you for again however brief a time, I was running after SK, sorry.
3. Roy- You are MY boy. Great talking to you on Saturday, thanks for the picture, signatures and the Dr Pepper. Looking forward to the scrim and good luck to you guys in Vegas. P.S. Thanks for the interview, again.
4. SK- It was great meeting you (and seeing you get soooo unlucky in that Narrows FFA) and thanks again for the interview, hope to have you on again to talk Dallas!
5. Ben - Awesome Saturday night thanks to you. Hope to see you at other events and on XBL!
6. Soviet - Thanks for joining us at the GoG party and hope we didn't screw you up! :(

BTW: Sorry, Plasma Qrenades, that we couldn't meet up and LAN in Dallas. Woulda been cool to meet more Podtac members!
And sorry Zepp for making a spelling mistake on your business card!
:(

Hope you guys enjoy!
~Amp

P.S. I will be adding and removing parts of the article periodically as I get new info, etc... AND check out our MLG Dallas Podcast (Episode) that should be out by Saturday, October 11th!

Updates

2008-10-07T09:00:00.001-04:00

Episode 19 is waaaaaay behind schedule... working on it!
MLG Dallas was somewhat unproductive... working on it!
MLG Dallas podcast recording Wednesday! Will be out Friday night!
New friends like GoG (http://www.gatheringofgamers.com/)
Met pros... good stuff

*UPDATE* Extra

MLG DALLAS PODCAST RECORDED - Editing in progress

MLG DALLAS ARTICLE TO BE POSTED SOON

MORE STUFF TO COME

Listen in for more!

~Amp and Crew

KEEP IT CLEAN

2008-09-25T16:00:00.000-04:00

An awesome new trailer from Bungie on the latest project in the works!

Check it out on our YouTube Channel!

Don't forget to listen to the podcast every week, releasing on Mondays!
Episode 19 will be a good one with all of the new stuff Bungie has given us lately!

Enjoy everyone,

~Amp and Crew

Assembly Videos

2008-09-24T23:11:00.005-04:00

First off, here is a video of Brian Jarrard aka Sketch, talking to G4 about Assembly at PAX 08.

http://www.gruntsrus.com/news.php?readmore-81

In case you havn't seen it, here is a really good quality video of Assembly. The same cant be said for the player, unfortunately...

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/21250

Episode 18

2008-09-22T19:00:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the delay guys!

The episode covers the Sept. 13 and 20th news!

Linky

Thanks everyone,
~Amp and Crew

Pro Interviews

2008-09-17T16:00:00.001-04:00

The interviews with SK from Triggers Down and Roy from Instinct are up and running as separate podcasts. The interviews went really well and were pretty fun.

Here are the Direct Download links:

Roy

Enjoy,

-L0rd and Crew

Update

2008-09-16T19:00:00.002-04:00

A few things all:
1)We interviewed SK from Triggers Down and Roy from Instinct over the weekend and uploaded both as separate podcasts. The interviews went really well and are pretty informative.

2)We also uploaded episode 17, where we talk about new Halo 3 achievements and the return of the Podtacular audio podcast, as well as the usual news

3) The Enhanced Podcast feed has been put on hold for the moment because of a combination of things, including some technical difficulties.
4) Episode 18 is being delayed because we invested time in the interviews instead of news this past week. We will try to cover everything next week including everything we missed.

Thanks,
~Amp and Crew

EDITED BY: L0rd

Delays

2008-09-02T18:00:00.002-04:00

We, or I rather, have been wrapped up in a couple things so I have not had a chance to completely edit the past two episodes, Episode 16 and Special Edition MLG Toronto Pro Coverage.

These episodes should be out my the end of the week, hopefully earlier.

Don't forget our Pro Interview are coming up! We hope to have these three top teams!
Instinct, Str8 Rippin and Triggers Down!

Come join us on Talkshoe, Skype or AIM for those interview or submit your questions to us! More info coming soon!

Thanks all,
~Amp and Crew

News and Update

2008-08-24T18:00:00.002-04:00

So we are here with four more episodes on the web...
The blog will be updated constantly now that we have a good listener base and a good podcasting team.
Episodes 13 through 15 were just plain news episodes with some other random updates.
Episode 16 was a fluke, using the new Mac software didn't go as planned so the episode was dropped.

Special Edition episode 3 is up and running giving you our coverage of the MLG Toronto Pregame Show.

Special Edition episode 4 and Episode 16 will come out in combination as a MLG Toronto Podcast (with a unique name of course) new editing and all.

Also watch out for our upcoming MLG Pro interviews coming early and mid-September.

As a special note: we have currently been playing with two "pros," as stated by the players, Hysteria and Mackeo, with secondary gamertags. We are still looking into the legitimacy of the situation.

Thanks for baring with us all!
~Amp and Crew

Episodes 12 and 13

2008-07-27T18:18:00.002-04:00

Both episode 12 and 13 are completed.
Check them out for some major talk and news from Major League Gaming along with our usual news sources!
Episodes

Some more news:
Team Time Shift is now 3-0 on MLG Gamebattles.
TTS and the Halo Amplified Podcast crew are planning to attend MLG Dallas.
Halo Amplified is now on AIM, screen name is: haloamplified

Thanks a lot everyone!
~Amp

MLG Orlando Specials!

2008-07-15T18:00:00.001-04:00

There are now two MLG Orlando special episodes up on Talkshoe!
The videos to accompany these audio podcasts are still in development.
Hope you enjoy the podcasts in the meantime.

~Amp

MLG Orlando Friday

2008-07-11T23:40:00.009-04:00

My experience so far was AWESOME!!!!!
Check out the podcast for a full walkthrough of my day!

And I have even bigger news!
I have been invited to the MLG Orlando Press Conference tomorrow at noon!
I will also have a chance to do a one-on-one talk with the PR rep and other officials afterwards!

This place just gets better and better!

EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!
~AMP- CAPITALS!

CHECK OUT THE MLG LIVE BROADCAST AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE!!!

MLG Orlando 2008

2008-07-08T20:00:00.004-04:00

I will be in Orlando for the MLG Pro Circuit from July 11th until July 13th. This means there will have to be a special edition of the podcast on Saturday July 12th! As well as a special video blog/podcast at the same time on UStream! UStream account I'll use: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/halo-amplified-video-podcast
On that Saturday I will be telling you all about my experience at the event's opening day! Live Recording time: 11:30pm EST (EDT) thru 12:30am (Sun). I WILL be tired...

Sunday will also have its very own audio and video podcast with the Halo 3 MLG Orlando results and the rest of my MLG Orlando 2008 experience! Live Recording time: 7:45pm EST (EDT) thru 9:00pm.

I will also be including a Question and Answer section on both nights for you guys to ask me about my experience and other MLG info.

Exclamation points!!!!1!

~Amp

Extra- NEW B.Net GROUP: Halo Amplified Community

Embeded Live Video via UStream:

Free video streaming by Ustream

Halo 3 DLC aka Episode 10

2008-07-05T21:00:00.000-04:00

This week we had a special co-host, Die Lawn. We talked all about the Halo Downloadable Content so far and the upcoming available DLC.

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 10 - Halo 3 DLC

Hope it is informative!
~Amp and Crew

MP3 Download

Episode 9 - Just Plain News

2008-06-28T20:00:00.000-04:00

This week there is no major topic but LordAbove and Amp go over some community and personal news and events!

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 8 - Halo 3 Ranks

Enjoy!
~Amp and Crew

MP3 Download

The Halo 3 Ranking System (Ep. 8)

2008-06-21T21:00:00.000-04:00

After a week of waiting here it is!
L0rd4b0ve attempts to explain to you the intricacies of the Halo 3 ranking system.

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 8 - Halo 3 Ranks

Enjoy!
~Amp and Crew

MP3 Download

Multiplayer Maps aka Ep. 7

2008-06-08T19:00:00.000-04:00

This week Amp talks about the default multiplayer maps. The feedback section is also very large this week because we had two great listeners to talk to about all things Halo.

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 7 - Multiplayer Maps

Enjoy!
~Amp

MP3 Download

The ASPN Podcast Episode 1

2008-06-06T20:00:00.001-04:00

I thought it was important I include this podcast in all of my feeds so that everyone can listen to it on their appropriate feeds.

ASPN Episode 1 - Halo Amplified Podcast Special Editon

Hope you all enjoy!
~Amp

MP3 Download

Episode 6 the Clan Show!

2008-06-01T17:00:00.001-04:00

This week we have a special clan interview show for everyone where Amp talks to DoG Ny Stone DL about the Disciples of Gaming community.

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 6 - Special Clan Show

Everyone enjoy!
~Amp

MP3 Download

Video Amplified

2008-05-26T08:00:00.002-04:00

Episode 2 is out on YouTube! (Filmed second)
Video Amplified - Episode 2 - Multi-Team

MPEG 1 Direct Download">MPEG1 Direct Download

Sierra 117 Campaign Show aka Episode 5

2008-05-25T10:15:00.002-04:00

The Fifth installment of the podcast is complete!
Watch for the Video Amplified episodes to appear soon!

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 5 - Sierra 117 Campaign Show

Hope you enjoy!
~Amp and Crew

MP3 Download

The Full Review

2008-05-18T09:00:00.002-04:00

Hope you enjoy the review!

Halo Amplified - Episode 4 - Special Full Review

Reminders: One- The Gamertag "Halo Amplified" will be used to network our listeners over XBL... Join up by sending a friend request!

Two: Episode 5 will be the Sierra 117 Campaign Show will be on May 24th at 7pm EST... all submissions are due on May 23th.

Thanks everyone!
~Amp

MP3 Download

The Episode 4 + 5 Show and "Clan" Info

2008-05-11T11:19:00.003-04:00

THREE things...
One: NEW!!! As a measure to united our members I have created a Silver account (with gold account status until June 14th) for all XBL networking... Hope we don't get over 100 members soon! The Gamertag is simply "Halo Amplified"... Join us! [Updated May 14th, 2008 7:22pm EST]

Two: Episode 4 will pretty much be a full review of the game from the Halo Amplified Crew. Feedback will all be live with listeners contributing their thoughts as well as ratings.

Three: Since we have had a lack of submissions for the show I think we should start scheduling so that our listeners are aware of the content of the next episode (a week ahead).

Episode 5 - Saturday, May 24th - Campaign Trips: Sierra 117

Send in all of your trips (tips and tricks) for this episode to haloamplified@gmail.com. Submissions are due Friday, May 23th for review and use.
Also join us for the live recording at 7pm EST on Saturday, May 24th!

Thanks,
~Amp

And Episode 3 is live!

2008-05-11T11:16:00.002-04:00

The Halo Amplified Podcast Episode 3 is now online... It is about a half an hour long with a new co-host.

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 3

Please consider coming to our next live podcast next Saturday at 7pm EST.

In addition give us your feedback, trips, and halo experiences at haloamplified@gmail.com.

Amplified-Silence- GT= Amplified Jumps
Anorexic Leader- GT= Anorexic Leader
LordAbove- GT= L0rd4b0ve (the "o"s are zeros)

Note: The commentary we said we would have has been postponed until next weekend... due to network connection problems.

Hope to see you all soon!
~Amp

MP3 Download

Episode 2!

2008-05-04T12:18:00.002-04:00

The Halo Amplified Podcast Episode 2 is now up and running... It is about an hour long with two new co-hosts.

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 2

Please consider coming to our next live podcast next Saturday, we had a great turn out for Episode 2!
In addition give us your feedback, tips, tricks, and halo experiences at haloamplified@gmail.com.

Amplified-Silence- GT= Amplified Jumps
Suicide Sui- GT= DoG Suicide
LordAbove- GT= L0rd4b0ve (the "o"s are zeros)

See you next time!
~Amp

MP3 Download

Halo Amplified Podcast Number 1!

2008-04-26T21:11:00.002-04:00

First episode online now!
Via Talkshoe

Halo Amplified Podcast - Episode 1

Hope everyone considers coming to our next live podcast next Saturday!
In addition give us your feedback, tips, tricks, and halo experiences at haloamplified@gmail.com.

Amplified-Silence- GT= Amplified Jumps
JW Spiff- GT= JW Spiff

Thanks a lot guys!
~Amp

MP3 Download