September Shakeup

It's been a hell of a summer here in MGO land, and as we head into Autumn it looks like a very different game/community to when I left on holiday. A lot has happened, so I'm going to break it up into sections to make it easier, but let me give a quick recap:
Lot's of people "left" MGO
The Elite Clan Scene saw a big shakeup
MGOForums shut down
TGForums rose from it's ashes

Social News
Several high profile players left the MGO Scene in the last few months, most prominently MGO World Championship Deathmatch Runner up Red Leopard and fellow PBO Teammate Mlopes. The pair, known by practically nobody but me as Redlopes, quit for similiar but unrelated reasons, but the gist of it was that they had outgrown the game and the community and grown bored. A spate of quittings soon followed (although many were retracted), including: (now that MGOF has gone I can't remember who else, leave a comment of who quit).
The aura of negativity that lingered in the EU community as many people quit combined with holiday abscenses has led many to predict doom for MGO. While many prominent players and clans have dissapeared on kept rather quiet as of late, I think it is a bit of an overreaction to say that MGO EU is dying. Removal of players at the top only draws up more players to fill their place- and nobody is irreplaceable. The main threat to MGO, however, is the approaching release date of future blockbuster Modern Warfare 2, which could be devastating for player numbers. I personally believe that after the initial buzz the majority of dedicated players will return, but we can only wait an see.
Ex 2TM, PBO, PHILOSOPHER and MGO 1vs1 Champion BOSS. has deleted his character and is making a comeback as OLD BOSS, free from any clan arguments and looking to make a fresh start:

The reason I have called myself OLD is because when i play the game all those younger kids make me feel old while they run rings around me. Although I still have my old skill and can rip them apart at times

Clan News
Sometime in September, the recently formed Final Story was largely absorbed back into To The Max under the leadership of Zzzonked, putting things the way they were before the dramatic split of 2TM in August. While METE0RAX is missing from the clan, N00B has been rerecruited after disbanding Painkillers (PROTIP: Painkillers was named after N00Bs MGO1 name, Painkiller)
Elite clan Stealth Pro M4 have disbanded following the recruitment of  co-leader SpmxXD@rknessXx to PBO under the new name Half Light. The remnants of SPM have been largely absorbed by other elite clans, with some left clanless.

Peace of Mind have been reformed less than a month after their split, with a very strong roster after getting many of their players back from 2TM and Final Story along with some new recruits.
Top Finnish clan Suommen Paskimmat has appeared to have not returned after their lengthy absence this summer, leaving a hole to be filled behind the dominating 2TM/PBO.
Two major new clans have appeared on the scene in September; Tranquility and Fatality. With similiar sounding names, born at the same time and both with dragons for emblems, I'm not sure if the two clans are connected.

Tranquility, led by ex RevolutioN leader RM-11, seems to have dissapeared already but contained the remnants of Revo minus Samsterw, Fawzi and some others.
Fatality, led by ex PBO, 2TM and Skyper Rifle player METE0RAX, seems well placed (along with PoM) to fill the void left behind by the dissapearance of SPM, SP and White Element, with a strong roster (a first team consisting of METE0RAX ULTIMA HUNTER, M.$nake, Snake90 PlayeR 1. and  El Unicox)

Long running and Fan favourite clan Utopia  has been disbanded, after several players gradually left in the last month or so. However it seems to have quickly returned with many of it's old members as Quazi Zeal Tale, lead by TIME: 7:32 AM (protip: it's the time on his alarm clock), a name vastly inferior to the Space Pirates (or PwnStars) recomended by many TGFers! I'll update when I find out what Quazi Zeal Tale means.

Demise of MGOForums.com
On the 24th of September 2009 the home of the EU MGO community, MGOForums, was dramatically deleted. It started out at around midday, when the forums part of the site were innacesible and replaced with this message; to which many an MGOFer's pants were soiled.

It was put up by MGOF Admins Mike (Exodus) and Rohel  (RM-11), who had control of the forums part of the site. Many people sent in Poems and Psalms as requested, but nothing appeared to have any effect.

The site's front page, however, was edited by the Admin Sousouke and the following message was put up which directed users to Sousoukes site; Technime.

The site provided a forums and a haven for MGOFers who were simply thinking "wtf!". Rumours swirled as to what was happening, and speculation as to when, if ever, MGOF was coming back. Some said that Sousouke had been hacked, while others said that Mike had come back and gone crazy.

Our worst fears were comfirmed later that night, when logging onto the site simply showed garbled code and the remnants of MGOF's adverts. Later the site changed againto a blank white page with the poetic:

Which was soon changed to:

The deletion of the site and the reverence shown towards it was rather bittersweet, but it left hundreds of lost MGOFers looking for a new home. While Technime seemed like a good temporary shelter, we were finally saved by the final alteration to the site as of yet to the way it is now; a white page with:

The image directs user to the site TGForums.co.uk, which appears to be the permanent new home for the EU community. While it has far less registered and active users than MGOF did, it is growing quite steadily and the word is spreading.

So what the hell happened?

It seems Mike deleted, for whatever reasons, the entire site with the help of Insanor; the site's host. I personally believe that he had an ulterior motive past the front of a simple "meltdown"; to start fresh. By creating a new, more general site, the community will be stronger and more close knit as it becomes smaller again, especially with the wider appeal "The General Forums" has with the approaching release date of Modern Warfare 2; a game to which MGO may lose many players. It allows for a more cross-platform community, and could surpass MGOForums in terms of activity if carefully managed. On the other hand it's possible that I'm spouting pure kak, and that any positive effects are unintended: only one person knows.

Game News

Konami updated the TOURNAMENT mode entry system to prevent Tournament Riggings, only 3 months late as well. The update prevented more than one character per GAME ID from being registered for a TOURNAMENT, effectively making it harder to rig one (although you can still create multiple GAME IDs but this would require purchasing the expansion packs for each one).

A message has been issued recognising the Death Loop glitch, and warning that usage is cheating, and can result in a ban. While this is encouraging, and shows that the MGO execs aren't just snoozing on the job, the actual fix for the glitch is a far more complicated issue requiring changes to the game code.
Hope for a solution lies in the most recent Update to the Game Version, 1.34, a minor update which consists mainly animation adjustments, repricing and adjustments to certain weapons, scoring adjustments and changes to skills. While there is no word from Konami on any repair to the Death Loop glitch, it is hoped that a fix has been sneaked into the update Deathlooping is, as of yet, unfixed. Information on the update is available here.

Poll Results
Results of last weeks poll on Deathlooping were

Don't ask me why I put MERKENT in there, I'm obsessed o.O.  According to the poll you're just as likely to be recorded as deathlooped back, something which I seriously doubt. The next poll is up, get voting!

Thanks to MERKENT,*Agenda*/NevaeH and OLD BOSS.