WildWeasel
Spaceman
We have returned! Actually, I'm the first one back, so it's my job to start getting everyone excited for next year's Dragon*Con. Therefore, here's a story from this year's Dragon*Con!
Well, the highlight of the trip for me was Sunday night. Everyone (Joe, Paula, Hades, Death, LOAF, Chris, Tye, Erin, and myself) had gathered in our hotel room to destroy a bunch of Wing Commander clones. We had Freespace, Independence War, Star Crusader, and Tachyon. Independence War was our first victim.
Hades filled up the room's bathtub with hot water while the rest of us planned the fate of the other games. Once it was ready, the box, manual, and all the CDs went for a swim. We had to give them a little encouragement, but everything eventually sunk. This wasn't enough for Hades, apparently. Before we knew what had happened, he was in the tub with the game, stomping it to bits. Chris should be able to provide some excellent pictures of this once he returns. For now, just envision one of those Italian women who stomp on grapes to make wine. Replace the woman with Hades (which shouldn't be too hard) and the grapes with Independence War and you should have a pretty good mental image of what went down.
Anyway, we left Independence War to soak for a bit while we got Tachyon ready for its sacrifice. Tye was kind enough to provide us with a nasty little pocketknife that was more than enough to reduce the box and everything inside to shreds. Tye, LOAF, and Chris all took turns viscously stabbing at the game. The Kodak moment here was of Chris, smiling like he always does, holding the knife up with a chunk of a Tachyon CD hanging from it.
After we had made sure that the game was dead, we moved on to Star Crusader. Erin and Hades had been preparing a pot of coffee while everyone else was mauling Tachyon. We emptied the box and stuffed all the contents into the sink. Then I gave it the coffee. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be quite hot enough, so instead of melting the game, we decided to desecrate it. Chris, Hades, and I added soap, conditioner, and just about every other liquid substance we could find to our brew. The end result was very, very messy and smelled quite bad. By now, the bathroom was getting a little cramped, so it was finally time for the grand finale!
The copy of Freespace that we had was still sealed in its original packaging. That didn't last long. We wanted to prolong its pain, however, so we worked slowly. Joe started things off by burning a bit of the box with a cigarette. After that, LOAF, Hades, Tye, Chris, and I all took turns stabbing the front of the box with a pen. Somewhere in the middle of this, Joe rushed in and tried to save the still-partially-sealed Freespace. We quickly beat him back and continued with the destruction. Hades smashed it in the door, I jumped off the bed onto it, and LOAF stomped on it for a while. (By the way, they make those hotel ceilings a little too low for comfort.) Amazingly, one of the CDs survived this brutal thrashing. It didn't last long, though, as LOAF quickly grabbed it and tossed it off of our seven-story balcony and into the hotel pool below.
After we had taken a breather, we started cleaning up. Most of the manuals or CDs that were still in one piece were given to Hades, who made short work of them. You wouldn't believe how bloodthirsty that little Englishman gets when you put a piece of crappy software in front of him. The final whole CD, however, was given to Tye to do with as he pleased. You can view its fate here.
Anyway, that's my story of Sunday night. As the others show up, they'll be adding their own stories along with lots and lots of pictures. It'll take a while for Chris and I to get our pictures scanned (if they even turned out), but Joe and LOAF should be able to upload theirs fairly quickly. However, for those of you who can't wait, here are a few bad pictures of some of my souvenirs from the trip. Enjoy.
Well, the highlight of the trip for me was Sunday night. Everyone (Joe, Paula, Hades, Death, LOAF, Chris, Tye, Erin, and myself) had gathered in our hotel room to destroy a bunch of Wing Commander clones. We had Freespace, Independence War, Star Crusader, and Tachyon. Independence War was our first victim.
Hades filled up the room's bathtub with hot water while the rest of us planned the fate of the other games. Once it was ready, the box, manual, and all the CDs went for a swim. We had to give them a little encouragement, but everything eventually sunk. This wasn't enough for Hades, apparently. Before we knew what had happened, he was in the tub with the game, stomping it to bits. Chris should be able to provide some excellent pictures of this once he returns. For now, just envision one of those Italian women who stomp on grapes to make wine. Replace the woman with Hades (which shouldn't be too hard) and the grapes with Independence War and you should have a pretty good mental image of what went down.
Anyway, we left Independence War to soak for a bit while we got Tachyon ready for its sacrifice. Tye was kind enough to provide us with a nasty little pocketknife that was more than enough to reduce the box and everything inside to shreds. Tye, LOAF, and Chris all took turns viscously stabbing at the game. The Kodak moment here was of Chris, smiling like he always does, holding the knife up with a chunk of a Tachyon CD hanging from it.
After we had made sure that the game was dead, we moved on to Star Crusader. Erin and Hades had been preparing a pot of coffee while everyone else was mauling Tachyon. We emptied the box and stuffed all the contents into the sink. Then I gave it the coffee. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be quite hot enough, so instead of melting the game, we decided to desecrate it. Chris, Hades, and I added soap, conditioner, and just about every other liquid substance we could find to our brew. The end result was very, very messy and smelled quite bad. By now, the bathroom was getting a little cramped, so it was finally time for the grand finale!
The copy of Freespace that we had was still sealed in its original packaging. That didn't last long. We wanted to prolong its pain, however, so we worked slowly. Joe started things off by burning a bit of the box with a cigarette. After that, LOAF, Hades, Tye, Chris, and I all took turns stabbing the front of the box with a pen. Somewhere in the middle of this, Joe rushed in and tried to save the still-partially-sealed Freespace. We quickly beat him back and continued with the destruction. Hades smashed it in the door, I jumped off the bed onto it, and LOAF stomped on it for a while. (By the way, they make those hotel ceilings a little too low for comfort.) Amazingly, one of the CDs survived this brutal thrashing. It didn't last long, though, as LOAF quickly grabbed it and tossed it off of our seven-story balcony and into the hotel pool below.
After we had taken a breather, we started cleaning up. Most of the manuals or CDs that were still in one piece were given to Hades, who made short work of them. You wouldn't believe how bloodthirsty that little Englishman gets when you put a piece of crappy software in front of him. The final whole CD, however, was given to Tye to do with as he pleased. You can view its fate here.
Anyway, that's my story of Sunday night. As the others show up, they'll be adding their own stories along with lots and lots of pictures. It'll take a while for Chris and I to get our pictures scanned (if they even turned out), but Joe and LOAF should be able to upload theirs fairly quickly. However, for those of you who can't wait, here are a few bad pictures of some of my souvenirs from the trip. Enjoy.
Not that I've played any of those WC 'clones', but I did like the 
