From the vast "I probably should know this stuff already" department: Some interesting comments in the messageboards about the weapon respawn times in Q3A teamplay games I mentioned yesterday, enlightening me on the reasoning behind the respawns in team games being longer than in free-for-alls. The main concept is map control where teams end up taking certain portions of the map, only allowing teammates access to the weapons that spawn in their area, and fighting to take control of areas held by the other team (of course the last time I clamped down a weapon in a teamplay game, I was called a camper). It has been pointed out with shorter respawns, teamplay would tend to be more a team free-for-all, rewarding FFA skills, which tend to emphasize aim over team tactics. This makes sense, though some server operators did express some frustration with the inability to change the spawn times to create their own balance, as apparently the 30 second respawn time is indeed hard-coded (though one comment seemed to recall that changing the "weaponrespawn setting AFTER you set the g_gametype setting" will change the spawn time). Being able to shorten the respawns certainly would help in the situations like MrCoffee and I were encountering, since I realize an extra factor in our situation was that we were looking for servers where the player limit was tweaked a bit high, to maximize the chance we couple play on the same team (difficult to do when you join a two-on-two). Anyway, though the point is well taken that that having trouble finding a weapon can be a sign the other team is doing a good job of map control, as I mentioned, the skimpy default ammo loads had lots of players on both teams fighting like Muhammad Ali with the fists, but not with the guns.

Link of the Day: YETI@Home. Help in the search for BigFoot from your home PC. Thanks DarkNinja.
Bonus Link: NetSlaves Combat Manual 10 Surviving Silicon Alley. Thanks Redwood. A good insight into surviving in the Big Apple even if you aren't some Internet startup billionaire.
Story of the Day: Russian Stripper Newscasts on ABCNEWS. Thanks Judo Chop. From a few days back: Its embedded RealMedia stuff may be rough on your browser's digestion (as it was on mine), but this is a classic, and another case of life imitating art for any that recall Jane Curtain's open-shirted complaint about Chevy Chase nostalgia on an old SNL newscast.
Quote of the Day: "I will be happy to NOT see Daikatana at this years' E³." John Romero (Stomped @ E3).