Good deal - gonna be honest - I actually thought you died dude. No joke. And I'm sure they do, if even just for one last stand playing their original baby. It would be good to take back some memories man, it's been a long while - and no gaming communities remain like the ones we had years ago here. (And the "Planet" sites, but I digress)

It will probably be difficult to organize, and chances are we won't get everyone - but I've contacted the key guys on twitter about maybe setting up a lan party with bundt cake and shit. Alex seemed down, Joe, Marty, Jamie was vague - Frankie gave good advice for getting the whole thing going, told me about how there was one critical person to get organizing everything, like Major Nelson is to the whole xbox scene ( He WAS the community dude for the longest time - now he's all stuck on the inside looking out from his penthouse xD)

I talked to Lehto, Nate, but the original team had quite a few more members then I can remember - I just reached out to the ones who's names I remembered.

Long story short is, I miss the community - I miss the original storyline and whatnot, we seem to have gotten off track from when gaming was ART, and not a money making tool. I think that it would be seriously cool to unite the tribes, get some pizza - and reclaim what small legendary status we can (with a well thought out plan, naturally.)

I may be rambling here - but Just remember this. The commitment you showed to maintaining a community is like finding the original blueprints for the Mjolnir amidst a corrupt and decadent ancient empire - Rare, but worth it. Little things like Joe's grunt voice, the rush they made to make the H2 E3 Demo - the fact that most of them KNEW that the MS deal was wrong, the commitment to not making a movie - The details that were intricate, and subtle - making stages like AOTCR and Two Betrayals feel so different, despite being the same stage played two different ways.

These are signs of a commited and dedicated team - They reached out to their fanbase with art and integrity - they kept the community going, even HIRING people like Shish and Frank. That sort of love for the community has been eradicated by the betrayals of mindless husk companies like EA, who churn the same garbage out time and again - and could care less about integrity or corrupting kids with their twitch based, intellectually robbed trash.

Matchmaking, two joysticks, Shields, Vehicles, Boarding, Location based damage (Ghost turrets, H2 FTW), Community support - Proximity voice. And more. These guys MADE them. They. Made. them.

And they deserve respect, the utmost - and the last spartans of the community should rally around them to see if there's anything that can be done about bringing some good times back, which I'm sure there can be.

Dramatics aside - toss me an email if you want Lou, it'd be good to play a few games again bro. Keep the spirit of fire alive.