20 New Maps - FatBoySr @ 12:39 am EST
I just uploaded approximately 20 or so maps into our Submitted archive. boy are those maps rolling in. This time I only had time to upadate the Submitted Section, but I'll add some staff maps by this weekend too (we're lazy). You can check out the maps here or just click SCUMS on the left nav. I'll be going into the center of Canuk land tomorrow, so wish me luck that I will not get raped. Cyas.
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A funny story - Hitman @ 7:18 pm EST
Ok, as some/many of you know the IAAF World Championships (track and feild thing) are being held in Edmonton this year. People all around the world are in Edmonton. I happen to live near Edmonton. Yesterday when I was in "The City of Champions" I saw 2 Asain people (Korean I reckon). They where wearing StarCraft T-Shirts (Both with Zerglings on them). Remembering my "Korean" I called them "Babbo's (Thats worse then calling someone a chobo). Anyways these 2 guys finger me! It was classic.
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The Terran Confederacy - Raptor @ 1:36 am EST
Howdy ya'll,
As you may know already, I've been livin' down in the great Southern state of North Carolina. Although born in Boston, Massachusetts, I have become FASCINATED by the Confederacy... A nation that lasted for 5 years, unique to its day and age, with a culture rooted in its agricultural heritage.

What interests me even more is why Blizzard made the initial Terran Dominion controlled by the authority of the Confederacy... What is with the Confederates out there in space? Perhaps a Blizzard story-writer, like  myself, who wanted to glorify the "hick" life-style? Surely you do notice that the Terrans do have a redneck atittude (particularly the Vultures and Marines). It can also be seen in the cut-scenes of original Starcraft... Terrans speaking with a DEFINATE Southern accent.

The fact that Blizzard also made "black" or dark-skinned Terrans shows that they had no intention for racism (see the Amerigo cut scene, there is a black Marine). I myself do NOT like the Confederacy for its racism. I wish I could have a Confederate flag, but I would feel ashamed, since it is in a sense, a symbol of racism. Without its history of slavery, the Confederacy would actually be kind of cool. They vitalized the spirit found in the cowboy mentality... Wild and rebellious.

Perhaps the greatest sign that Blizzard was trying to "hint" at something was that the Confederacy was destroyed in the end of the Terran campaign by REBELS! That's right, the Confederacy, who were suppossed to be the "hot-dogging cowboys," were eventually destroyed by their mirror image. Perhaps this was Blizzard's way of saying that the Condfederacy may have been great in many aspects, but it was still fundamentally flawed...

Personally, I do not think that it was a mere coincidence that Blizzard used the name "Confederate" in Starcraft. Blizzard was trying to make a point about the real-life Confederacy. Sure, the image of the Confederate soldier made Terrans seem "cool," but at the same time, there is a subtle message that Blizzard used in its story-line. The Confederacy, which was corrupted from the bottom up, was bound to collapse. The symbolism may even go deeper... It's all how you percieve the fundamental meaning of "Confederate." A Confederacy, by definition, is a form of alliance or coalition, usually created for a particular purpose. In Starcraft, it was to subjugate the Terran worlds. In real life, it was to break off from the Union and continue the Southern way of life. So perhaps, Blizzard was trying to say that the Southern way of life, the "cowboy" mentality, was the reason for the Confederacy's collapse. Whatever the case, I think you'll still agree that the Confederacy was used in Starcraft for more than just to be "cool."

Thanks for your time. Rather interesting, ain't it? I've made a topic for discussion about this issue in the forums. Let your opinions be heard!

--Raptor--

Maps Section Up And Running - FatBoySr @ 8:21 pm EST
It's sweet. I'm finally done reformatting SC:M's SCMs/SCXs section. It is now easier to navigate and a lot more professional (whistles). I divided it into 4 categories, or sections (for now). They are:

Staff Maps Where the STAFF shows off their maps.
Submitted Maps Where the FANS shows off their maps.
Map Reviews You can view map reviews from Staind and Dhavok. I will work on this soon enough.
Archive Section If you have small bandwidth or just don't want any details on the map, you can view ALL the maps here. You can also easily find a zip file that contains all our maps.

I uploaded around 15 maps for now, however, there will be a lot more soon to come. Stay tuned. Also -- you can purchase "101 Ways to Own Agelmar" in a gaming or book store near you, for a easy 1 time payment of $199.95. (:<
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GameSpy Top 10 Games of all Time. - Hitman @ 1:12 pm EST
Ok, the top 40 came around and NO Blizzard Game. I think we all knew that Blizzard would be strong in the top 10. Sure enough. In Order:

9 - StarCraft
Brian Chapman, Microsoft Games: "Age of Empires may be a better balanced, more "real" game, Warcraft may be the original RTS, but I found StarCraft the most interesting and fun. It tells a story, There are characters, and the different races are really different. Also, there is nothing like marching across the map with 16 Siege Tanks, in staggered ranks!"

6 - Diablo
Michael Moore, Microsoft Games: "I can't stop playing this damn game. They took the best elements from nethack and bards tale and rolled into a package that few gamers can resist."

And the best Blizzard game made...
3 - WarCraft II
Warren Spector, Ion Storm: "I can't remember another game that had me laughing and sweating, terrified and amused at the same time (and always, always utterly engrossed). The gameplay was rock solid, the artwork terrific and there's more personality in the units at your disposal in Warcraft than in most roleplaying games. Name another RTS you can say THAT about! Zug zug!"

My Resignation - Wizzard @ 3:46 am EST
Ok, I have decided to resign from SCM, so I can work on my own Starcraft site, Extreme Starcraft. Bye!
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YEEHAW! - Raptor @ 8:27 pm EST
It has been approximately 6 months since I last submitted a strategy, back at sclegacy. However, the time has come for me to take my return! DON'T MOVE... CHECK OUT THE STRATEGY SECTION!!!

Featured there is one of my greatest writings, THE ART OF WAR. After it was first posted at sclegacy, I was swamped in "fan mail." For an entire week, I would spend 30 minutes each day replying to people begging for cool new strategies or even "previews" of my new strategies that would soon be published. Now of course, I encourage people to write with their questions/comments/suggestions, but then I got a really sick letter from a perverted SCL fan. So please, even if you want to flame my strategies, just keep it clean...

Also new in the strategy section are some popular writings including "ProToss MaGiK!!," "Scourge," "Air-Power," "Zerg Ambushes," and "A Newbie's Guide." I hope you enjoy them!

An additional note: Back at SCL, before the site was overhauled and then the chaos of the 1.08 patch was released, I approximately 50 pages of strategies. Today, while shifting through them, I was depressed at all the build orders I had written; They are basically useless now! I was forced to leave out an 38 pages worth of strategies. In other words, what you are seeing today is just a mere fraction of what I used to have... Build orders used to be a specialty of mine. I used to get my tape recorder (no replays back then) and actually speak to the cassette as I went through building units, etc. That was how I created the famous "Rush Analysis" and also the 47-step Hydra build (which for your information, was later posted up on Blizzardextreme without my permission, and under a different author's name. Of course, I heard about it from some friends, and wrote to Blizzardextreme to remove it... As I compared my strategy to the one posted on their site, I was surprised to find it was identical, down to each "lol" and period and exclamation mark. Needless to say, I never got a reply... Bastards!)

Anyways, I will revisit the "build order" writing. Pieces like my "Lurker Drop" build only need some minor modifications. Then again, by the time I get through fixing all of my strategies, 1.09 will probably be out and screw everything up for me...

Alright, that's it for now. This is the "Grand Opening" many of you have been waiting for. Raptor Strategies, Inc is now fully functional! More strategies will follow shortly (and perhaps even the weekly mini-quizzes I used to have hosted at SCL). Please, sit back, grab a soda, and enjoy my strategies. As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

--Raptor--

email: raptor@scmillennium.com

The people at starcraft.org are alive! - Agelmar @ 8:15 pm EST
I never thought I would see the day, but I actually got an email from someone at Starcraft.org! I didn't know that they had real live people there anymore! ^-^ Anyhow, the email was in response to my post two days ago re: them being down, in which I stated that they never post news about any sites other than their own. I got a response from dunchy, which went as follows:

Hey now, we did post about sclegacy getting hacked ^_^.