EVGA ShootMania Storm Beta Giveaway

EVGA has teamed up with Ubisoft/Nadeo to give away 30-day Beta keys for ShootMania Storm if you own an EVGA GeForce GTX 650 or higher!

Eligible part numbers are listed on the EVGA ShootMania promotion page... if you're an owner and want to try ShootMania, get over there now and sign in to get your code.

Then come join Team FNG in our USA | Utah zone servers!  We always have a good time.

ShootMania Giveaway Promo - Come Pew Pew with Team FNG!

Tonight is Nadeo/Ubisoft's Thanksgiving promo night for ShootMania!

All USA servers are free game, so come join us in the Utah zone for some Royal mode.
Play for at least 15 minutes and you're qualified for a free copy of ShootMania (I believe this includes players with temporary keys) as well as an ShootMania: Storm T-shirt autographed by the Nadeo team.

Get your pew pew on tonight with Team FNG!  See you there.

Turkey Bowl 2012: Epic LAN Party

09 November 2012 marked one of the most epic LAN parties in FNG history.

In attendance were:

• Jeff Litster - ThatOneGuy
• Mandy Litster - RaInBOWDAsH
• Brennan Litster - d6Amefath3r
• Allen Michaelis - Michaelitos
• Shawn Holmstead - Ender
• Josh McDougall - Mad Man With A Box
• Ethan McDougall - Mad Boy With A Box
• Chance Allen - SpeedMonger
• Shawn Hartke - Shartke

Joining us online due to extenuating circumstances:

• Dan Wetzel - DirtyD
• Joe Hargadon - Boma
• Tyler Beuchert - beuchety

We missed those that couldn't make it!

We ate pizza, and pumpkin pie in honor of Boma's birthday; despite the fact that he wasn't physically present... (don't worry Joe, we ate extra for you!)

We then played our annual Turkey Bowl tournament in TrackMania 2: Canyon

Below are the tournament scores:

1st Place: ThatOneGuy (168 points)

2nd Place: SpeedMonger (142 points)

3rd Place: DirtyD (133 points)

(Full Results)

Check out the individual times per track.

The most awesome race of the night was the STING track by OLDA_X... ThatOneGuy was kicked down to 4th place by his two kids d6Amefath3r and RaInBOWDAsH, and Boma.  Check out how close the times are.  It was a very exciting race.

(It's so cool to see all the "Team FNG" logo avatars in the player list!)

Track times on
STING by OLDA_X

After the TrackMania tournament we played through all of our server's ShootMania maps.

Look at all the Friday Night Gamers!  It was a riot... and I lost my voice over the course of the ShootMania play.  :)

A ShootMania server full of FNG
on SpeedMonger's classic map:
JumpStart

After playing all the ShootMania maps, including a re-run of Jump Start, the 5 of us remaining at the party played a game of Dominion.  We used the base set cards along with the "Stash" promo card.  Those that played were:

• SpeedMonger
• Ender
• Michaelitos
• Mad Man With A Box (new to Dominion)
• ThatOneGuy

It was a close game and we had a lot of laughs; ThatOneGuy won with 28 points.

The party was a smashing success.  We all had a great time.  We laughed, we yelled, we screamed... I lost my voice and it's still gone the next day.  Good times.

Thanks to Nitroguy who joined us for some Pew Pew and participated via Mumble with the other FNGers that couldn't make the party.  We really enjoyed having you with us... Come to Utah next time so you can experience the real thing.  :)

Also, congrats to Jarin Blackham (Thundr), who couldn't make it to the party because he and his wife were welcoming into the world the newest in the next generation of Friday Night Gamers.  Both mom and baby are doing well, and we congratulate them on a healthy birth!

Here are some pictures of the party itself:

d6Amefath3r and Michaelitos
(ThatOneGuy and RaInBOWDAsH in the back)

Mad Man With A Box
and
Mad Boy With A Box

SpeedMonger and Shartke

Most of the crew...

Most of the crew again...

ThatOneGuy and RaInBOWDAsH

ThatOneGuy and Shartke
(I hope one day to have some cool
TrackMania and ShootMania posters
to hang up on the walls for these LAN parties!)
*HINT HINT/NUDGE NUDGE NADEO/Ubisoft!*

Team FNG thanks Ubisoft for supplying some sweet ShootMania: Storm T-Shirts for our crew!

TrackMania 2: Valley and Stadium Beta Sign-ups

TrackMania 2: Valley and TrackMania 2: Stadium 

beta-signups are now available!

Don't delay!  Gogogo immediately to the Valley and Stadium websites and click the big green "Sign-up" button in the top-right of the page to get registered to get a key when they start distributing them.

Can't wait!

ShootMania: Storm Release Date and Beta 2 Announced Today

... And lastly, Nadeo announced today a 23 January 2013 release date for ShootMania: Storm!

Looks like we're getting grappling hooks and wall-jumps in this next beta phase, coming soon!
Check out the video and see the grapple in-action.  Unfortunately it's REALLY close-up.  I can't wait to see it for real.

Looking forward to seeing how it enhances the existing maps we know and love, and to see what kinds of crazy new maps we'll see after it is released.

I'm looking forward to Royal Team mode too.

So if you haven't already experienced ShootMania, go get it at the discounted rate and jump into the beta with us!  Cause once 23 January hits, the price is going up to $20.00 ...

And make sure to check out our Team FNG servers in the USA | Utah zone.  We will see you there!

TrackMania 2: Stadium Announced Today

Nadeo also announced today that the classic environment from TrackMania Nations and TrackMania United Forever, known as Stadium, is coming to ManiaPlanet!

Check out its video!

As an added bonus, it will be a free title, like TrackMania Nations Forever and when ShootMania is released, Royal and Elite modes.

2013 is going to be a FANTASTIC year!

GG Nadeo!

POSSIBLE CORRECTION:
When I mentioned "free title" above, we read that at Eurogamer.net ... 
However, eyebo was good enough to contact me and let me know it is being discussed on the official ManiaPlanet forums, and Cerovan of Nadeo is quoted to say "Actually the economic model isn't determined yet."

So be aware that at-this-time, Stadium being free-to-play has yet to be determined.  My apologies for the confusion.

I will post again when I know for sure.

TrackMania 2: Valley Announced Today

Today at Paris Games Week/ESWC, Nadeo announced TrackMania 2: Valley, coming early 2013!

Check out the official announcement trailer below:

Slated for an early 2013 release (just in time for my birthday and our spring LAN party hopefully!), it's already looking super awesome.  I want it now!

Head over to the ManiaPlanet blog for more info.

Thanks for making my day, NADEO and Ubisoft!