Deathloop Disaster

A worrying new trend has recently emerged in MGO, a little easy piece of glitching called "Deathlooping" (shortened to "DL"). It is a glitch which is used almost exclusively in Survival and Tournament modes, and goes as such:

• 
  
  NubSox2 kills CoolDood93
• 
  
  NubSox2 shoots at CoolDood93's corpse's head
• 
  
  CoolDood93 dies immediately upon respawn (And loses DP from the lost weapon if DP is on) and the kill comes up on the killfeed.
• 
  
  The second kill does count towards any stats.
• 
  
  Lather, Rinse, Repeat

However if you know you're about to be deathlooped, you can prevent it by pressing select at the weapon selection screen before you spawn, then press start and spawn as normal.

I'm unsure as to where and when the glitch originated, but it is likely to have started on the NA server where there is a far higher incidence of glitching than in EU. However it's usage has become very high only in the last two weeks or so and is now widespread among the the EU MGO community, with several prominent players getting banned by Konami for it and more openly admitting to using it. There have been lots of complaints about entire teams using it against them, although it's ease of use means many players retaliate in kind.
However unlike several other forms of glitching, Deathlooping is relatively easy to prove with video evidence since it's usage is obvious. Reporting players to Konami for using the glitch has seen considerable success, for example flyboy95 and Zzzonked bans likely being due to video evidence. This spate of bannings might put off a lot of players from attempting the glitch, but hopefully Konami will soon do an emergency update to remove it.*

In Other News:
The longtime EU clan Peace of Mind has disbanded, after a large roster change in the last few months, such as some players moving to other clans (Yasmin, *Yuki*, NeoN-KnighT, Manna, Sephiroth, Front Line with most of the roster getting absorbed by 2TM and FS) and others leaving MGO.

Another legendary EU clan to disband recently was White Element, who went from strength to strength only a few weeks ago to rapidly losing most of it's members to the new 2TM and FS. However there are still four players left including it's leader Raging_Snake91, and WE's clan notice reads "White Element Will Rise Again". I hope this prophesy comes true, WE have been a strong stable clan for as long as I can remember.

A new clan know as Dark Matter was briefly created by DARKLIQUID and XRAYKARMA with Tauro and Red Eight 8 also on the roster, but as of the 27th this clan has been disbanded an replaced by the more familiar DeathRainsDown, a clan which has been around sporadically since April. While Red has admitted that running a clan is difficult, the strength of the first four players (all ex-2TM) combined with the amount of clanless players available due to recent disbandings leads me to believe that this will be the most successful incarnation of DrD.

The Kings of 2vs2 Showdown was played last week, with MGOForums Doubles Tournament Champions Mlopes and Red Leopard challenging MGOForums Kings of BB CAP Tournament winners METE0RAX and Solid007. The scores were:

AA CAP - 2-0 to METE007
SS RES - 2-0 To METE007
TT RES - 2-0 To Redlopes
GG TDM - 2-0 To METE007
Congrats to all involved, matches were good so check them out here, courtesy of MGOFs favourite new recorder Gayle San

Finally last weeks poll results to the question "Final Story or To The Max" were

I only did that poll because it was the topic of the last post, not because I particularly cared about the results ^^

PS. Sorry about the long wait, this stuff is time consuming you know!
PSS. Also apparently I have to give mention to some darkie who's name escapes me =|:3

*Nevermind this is Konami we're talking about

To the Meltdown

What happened?
It appears that one of EUs top clans, To the Max (aka 2TM) has very nearly dissolved. The clan, which has dominated the EU clan scene for nearly the entire lifetime of MGO2 in one form or another, has as of this morning been reduced to three members (Zzzonked, -_[M]îGrÂì[N]_- and *Agenda*).
The various ex-members of 2TM have largely been absorbed by 2TM's co-leader TheWhite Mantis' new clan "Final Story", whose roster is essentially 2TMs best players+ Neon-Knight and Yasmin of "Peace of Mind".
The eventual rebellion of 2TM against it's leader Zzzonked has been predicted by some for a while, but whether Final Story will continue to dominate in the way that 2TM did (untill recently when PBO was acknowledged to have regained top spot) is yet to be seen.

How did it happen?
Why? I tell you why...
Okay wait I'll tell you why later...

Update (18.08.09)
It turns out my prediction about future of 2TM was quite wrong indeed. Intitially, after making amends with most members, Zzzonked joined Final Story. However this was only for a short stint as, fed up with the sporadic glitching and lagging that several members are purported to have used as well as arguments within the clan, he left to make the "new" To The Max, with bUnnY and flyboy95 in tow.
The clan, with a new (not so great) emblem of a black dragon on a white background, is currently in the process of recruiting, having already recruited several members of White Element (Arben2, HeavenSoldier X, The_Fear91 and Dell Girl ) among others to bring the total roster to 9. Meanwhile, minus the two previously mentioned members, Final Story has seen some strong new recruits and has 14 players in it's roster including the "whothehell?" Claire_hawk.
It seems that the surprising strength of the new 2TM, and the stability, at least so far, of Final Story lends itself to a good healthy rivalry between the two newest big clans on the scene. However what is certain is that the reign of 2TM in MGO EU is over, it's roster split in half, and so evening out the competition to currently reigning PBO.
Or is it certain? The multitude of old allegiances, friendships and enemies between the members of both clans makes the future quite unpredictable. Will they be seperate for ever? Will one destroy and dissolve the other? Will they merge? Who knows, lets give it a month or so.

Btw who are Inbred and Tila?

Other News
The identity of "sudden pro on the scene" HaO was confirmed by his longtime friend and ex clanmate XRAYKARMA to be, not "Pendulum" (as he LIED to me about >:C) but the fresh out of retirement headshot connoisseur -Flash0ver-, having retained his affinity for zeros instead of o's. After a short stint in White Element, Ha0 is now in Final Story, with many of his old clanmates (-Flash0ver- was a 2TM first team regular for as long as I can remember before he got randomly* kicked).
The similiarly named Pa0, said to be his apprentice by some, and a "Ha0 bumlick" by METE0RAX, is Me-Ox.
Another "reveal", or at least to me and a few other people, is that Comeback Kid is NerD. Or maybe it isn't a new reveal, maybe I'm just slow and retarded <[o.O]>
Finally I have found out who Inbred is, it's Fisher aka ____ from Valhalla, a player that Zzzonked has always rated highly.
Also White Element finally got a new, good emblem: a Cartoonish letters WE, to replace their "Pink bunny in a KJPro style" emblem, although I still think the "Element Logo" emblem was the best!

*as in I don't know the reason, not C4RNIF3X picking a random member to say byebyes.

PS I will eventually update this with the story of 2TM's downfall!

League Reboot

Only several weeks since it started, the MGOForums.com Premiere League has had to be restarted due to the breaking up of some clans (such as Skyper Rifle, PHILOSOPHER) and large roster changes in others (such as DDL, 2TM, RevolutioN).
The signup process is currently underway for the second attempt at the League, which can now include Vanity, the newly reformed RevolutioN, the updated roster for 2TM and the renamed Shinsen Mibu (now VessanOvenKahva).
I hope the Premiere League can find a way to work around the fluid nature of the clan scene and show how strong the community can be when it pulls together

Update (19.08.09)
Team entry for the tournament is complete, and the clans being entered for this 8-team Tournament are:

Final Story
The WhiteMantis, Ferrari, Mandator, Meteorax, Solid007, Neon-Knight, Yasmin, REDWINGS, IIITheEndIII, MIE-Fin

GGS
Articulate goat, Nyuu!, 0ld-boy, Experiment, Genesis VII, Koolkid, Major kitsune, Faith, Nubpwner, Swagga Like Us

RevolutioN
RM-11, Freeze, Toy Doll, Fawzi, xVengeance, xXx_Shawy_xXx, !! RAGE !!, Prodigy, $towen, Samsterw, Comeback Kid

Vanity
Skynet, Javialco, RaNgEr BaRaMoR, DasE twin_snake91, X¢MnäS, oO)RubenXuz(Oo, Cid_Campeador, Pr0d1g3X, -O l g a-, ...SEPHIROT...

PBO
MERKENT, SnaKeEater, Mlopes, CelalSnake, Xx-DáRK_aLeX-xX, GILLIAN, SlasH, TeddyKgB, Xx_AssAssin_xX, RION

Stealth Pro M4
SpmXxshadowxX, SpmXxD@rknessxX, (SGT)R-A-M-B-O, Dark weller, -Kurosaky-, Sok, Bruiser, GilGAMESH893, Daking, M.$nake

Hewhodares.com
Mumra.eu, White Lightning, samurhero, --ICEMAN--, ghost_01, Iroquois_Akiva, John Rhoads, chosen1, Sousuke Sama

Esouls
Desert Viper, Agent Rob, Kinners, -MUFC-, Shalease, JEDi_, BMG - Ben, TheGame17, Andy-898, Alex, Frodo666, Rocksman, M4CKUN70$/-/ U, Kenshiro, Freydonara

Army Dreamers (Artless lb, x-ALTAIR-x, thebird, NoSoulZeal, !RAZAVI!, Ville91, M@ST3R, Incognito, Fury, One Shot, Kill3r_X) and VessanOvenKahva (p0pp3rm4st3r, Òbèlísk, BOUNTYHUNTER., HEADSTRONG, -TornadoSnake-, IMP0SSIBLE, Blue Cobra, $*Nok*$, xMen, M4 CU$TOMER) are substitute teams.

The league also has some new rules. Firstly is the decision to include all maps, all modes (except SNE, DM and SCAP obviously) and for them to be randomised.
New to the rules is the inclusion of "stats on" by request, where both teams can request on or off, but on overrides off. This was likely included on the request of Mumra, leader of both HWD and ESouls.

I really hope this tournament plays out to the end, I was really excited the first time and I hope our community can pull it off.
Alliteration is difficult okay?