News archive

Well it feels like a long time now that we have been staggering in the dark of 'downtime'. I realise not all our teams were inactive during this time, but the clan really has been in hibernation relative to our workload 'back in the day' when things were beyond busy and against which all workloads will forever be measured as long as I am here to measure.

Always darkest before the dawn as they say, and the the announcement last year of the Bad Company 2 beta was like the dull glow on the horizon, hope at last of a new game! Well here we are in January and that dull glow of hope is now a half rising sun pushing back the clouds and raising interest in gaming once again... This is because the beta was released this month and many of us have been busy with it :)

So far impressions are favorable with more than a handful of caveats and addendums added in to qualify any appraisal of the product. But it is just a beta, and we know for sure some of the bigger issues are already responded to by EA and assurances are that they will be fixed for the full version. Those of us that can remember the BF2 beta, and even the release version remember a very different product from that which kept us very busy the past 5 or so years and with that in mind we are more confident than others that even those issues not yet recognised by EA will probably be addressed before too long.

Most of us are playing for fun or for the relief of playing a super fresh battlefield title, while others still are madly rushing to get the unlocks and things so they can be more competitive in the upcoming beta comps at Gamearena and Cybergamer (a money comp!).

As this new interest takes the forefront of the clans activities a handful of us were took part in a game of BF2 that I will remember forever as the closing curtains of competitive BF2. It was a 64 player Community Challenge game on Dragon Valley organised by GameArena and NetGameRadio.

For some time now im sure we will still have a team or two still playing BF2 at GA or GameSpace but as far as this old vet is concerned, BF2 is about big format and it has been unconscious on the table for many months now, this community challenge game was the last spasm of life in the big format corpse before it flat lined in Australia forever.

*AUS* went in with 5 people but were given an attack chopper and a jet, so our squad of 5 really became a squad of 2 with air support. Despite being on the side that ultimately lost the game, the *AUS* boys are happy with their contributions. Our USMC attack chopper was the key ticket taker in the first round and our F35 kept the enemies superior J-10 jets from dominating the battlefield. Round two was a little messier, the enemy pushed too hard for the main which meant too many were kept there in defense, many of our undefended flags quickly fell to the yanks and then the main base eventually fell under the pressure of 3 attack choppers, 2 jets, tanks and APCs coming up the hill, arty falling from the heavens beside para shooting troops bailing from a blackhawk hovering almost out of sight in the sky.
And so with that huge push of combined forces on the Refinery flag the big format version of battlefield two died. A fitting end to big format gaming, may it rest in peace.

As for small format Battlefield 2, both our GS and GA teams have been active, our GA team has secured a finals spot for this season finishing fourth on the ladder prior to ladder lock. Our GS team has started the 10th Gamespace BF2 Season mid month and will be working to secure a finals spot again in a few months.

Please visit the battle results page for details of the games played in Jan.

That is it for now. Roughly one more month before BC2 launch and a new era of Battlefield gaming for *AUS*.
Wish us luck!