Gearbox Software's Rob Heironimus updated his .plan with a brief announcement regarding the music that will be featured in the upcoming Half-Life add-on Opposing Force for those of you who can tell the difference between "hardcore beat box" and "ambient-techno-trance" (I plead total ignorance on this one, I'm sure it's quite obvious for many of you). There's also a startling revelation about Randy Pitchford's career before joining the software industry (insert tongue firmly in cheek before reading):

I'd just like to make a short announcement about the direction we'll be taking with the musical score on Opposing Force. We've dropped the ambient-techno-trance-style music of the original game, and have decided to go with 100% hardcore beat box, featuring the vocal talents of Randy "Grandmaster Phat" Pitchford.

It's widely known that Randy was a talented magician before entering the ranks of game development, but very few people are aware of the fact that he was actually the fourth member of the popular '80s group "Fat Boys." We realize this is a bold move for the type of game we're making, and that many people may disagree with such a drastic change in genre. However, I assure you that once you've heard Randy's dope beats in the context of the game, you'll want to bust out your Members Only(tm) jacket and your parachute pants every time you fire up Half-Life. As a testament to the viability of beat box in action games, the one and only Valve Software is rumored to be featuring the beat box grooves of their own Gary McTaggart on the upcoming release of Team Fortress 2.