All-personnel broadcast: Rampancy HL is up! I've got a backlog of new accounts to add, so bear with me. Carry on.

Most of you who frequent RHL probably already know that it's down. I've just gotten the scoop from the SysAdmin - there was a power outage at the site. Unfortunately, Fractalus is out of town, exhibiting some of his artwork. The web server (on which R.net runs) returned to service very quickly, but the separate box which handles RHL and some other functions will be down until at least Tuesday evening. Sorry for the inconvenience everyone.

When it comes back up, RHL will be a primarily login-based server. The guest account will for the time being be able to still download but other priveleges will be somewhat curtailed. If you desire an account on RHL you simply have to send an E-mail to hotline@rampancy.net with your online handle, (your screen name) your desired login and your password.

Well, if you've been paying attention to the forum here or the RHL news area, you are aware that I have been thinking of taking the R.net Hotline server to login-based access.

Well, now it's official. To obtain your account, send an E-mail with your password to hotline@rampancy.net. Logins will be somewhat straightforward for consistency. (A persn named Dark Stranger will have a login of darkstranger )

The plain-Jane guest account will continue to exist, but its capabilities will be somewhat more limited. After the change, it will not have the capability to send PMs, for instance, but it will be able to go to private chats. Upload privs for the guest account have already been revoked at the request of my hosts.

The alternative is to obtain a regular account. This means that you must accept and abide by the user agreement on the server, but otherwise you'll be free to go about your business as you did previously. It is relatively easy to set up one-click or double-click access that uses a given account. However, we also reserve the right to refuse accounts. Those who caused for things to get to this point in the first place will not knowingly be allowed access.

Again, to request an account, or if you have further questions regarding RHL, please send all E-mail to hotline@rampancy.net. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Sorry about that little vacation... we saw it fit to celebrate Canada Day as well as Independance Day, and all days in between. It may take a few days, but I think the others will recover eventually.

Anyways, a few interesting things that popped up during the quiet time... HBO has some E3 movie soundtrack shoptalk with Bungie's Marty O'Donnell, Chia at VistaCartel pointed out a nifty XBox read, and a new issue of Computer Games magazine is appearing on racks all over the place, complete with a new Halo preview. Of course, if you've been more conscious than us, you prolly already know these things...

With typical Canadian reserve and modesty, the Great White North turns 133 today. We salute you, O Canada!

May you see another 133 (or at least a few more than your southern neighbor ;)! Regular news coverage will resume once this patriotic fervor has died down... a good day to you all!

Sorry about the forum problems over the last hour... the frankenscript finally broke, and it took a whirlwind course in sloppy code to get it working again. Feeling rather pumped right now, but at least the forum is working again.

The observant among you will notice the new design... I think it looks cooler, is more functional, and should load much faster than the old one (only two levels of nested tables instead of five). Hope you like it too (if not, tell me why, and report blatant bugs too). There's going to be some broken links around here over the weekend, but it should be in good shape by Sunday.

Our thanks for your patience!

For our nocturnal viewers out there we apologize for last night's down-time. Sprint began performing some maintenance on our pipe at around 0030 Bungie Daylight Time last night and royally botched things up until early this morning. Sprint gets R.net's Raspberry of the Week award!

Poor neglected poll, suffering our slow updating with its limitless patience. Wrapping up last week's poll, which asked how the cancellation of Oni's multiplayer affected buying decisions, we apparently have a two to one split among the 450 voters:

Still Buying: 66% Won't Buy: 33%

While it's good to see that so most people still stand behind Oni, a one third negative vote is certainly noteworthy. How, and why, did you vote this time around?

The new poll will be up shortly, and of particular interest to the Myth players among us (of which there are plenty): are you going to be participating in or watching the MWC 2000 tournament? Or is Myth just not your thing? Should have that one up in a few minutes here... thanks to everyone who votes, and those who voted last week!

• Forum: How Did You Vote?