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This year has gone by pretty fast, and a lot has happened in the Fog Family since the beginning of the greatest chatforum in the world, so I thought I’d just let the memories come flooding back from the early days of FOG. Feel free to add to the rose tinted memories of chats gone by.
Part 1 – FOG 2000
In the early days of last year, back last May, people were just as concerned about the upcoming consoles abilities. Fogmaster thought it might be nice if the new Nintendo had the power for “letting the gamers create his/her own level for their favorite game” and Bob wanted the ability to “be allowed to take your N64 or psx memory cards in to the arcades put them into a slot in the game in the arcade and start from where you left off on your game console” Sega tried this, of course, and we still never got to see the results here in the UK.
In June, there were crys of joy and of pain as the new Dreamcast Online system was launched. Dan waxed Lyrically (albiet without paragraphs, spaces or much punctuation) “Dreamcast is the ONLY console to boast online play, and at last CHUCHU rocket enables users to play online against the Spanish, German and French aswell as the British. Oh, and by the way ChuCHu ROCKET is is available for FREE..” James007 wasn’t so impressed and mentioned the problem with playing an enemy you couldn’t see “surely the best thing about multiplayer games is that you can always throw something and/or hurl abuse at the person whoís just beaten you” The Dreamcast still cost £149.99 though and many people were holding out for the PS2, which stood on the horizon like a big black monolith and great things were expected, but at a price, “If Sony releases itís new hardware for a price of £250 or £300 then it doesnít matter how many people want a PS2, they simply wonít have evough money to buy one” said a worried James007. How wrong he was.
It was around this time that The Game shocked the world with his love of capital letters (a habit he thankfully broke with quickly!) and a certain quirky entertainment value, he helped bring the Fog’s infamous humour to the forums. Ant proclaimed his love for the PS2, even before he got one, echoing Game’s style with “MGS2, WHICH WILL BE THE BEST GAME EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER ETC” We still wait for it to arrive, even now!
A typo from a Nintendo press release gave rise to the cry “Starcube?” with many saying that a console with that name would never sell. Thank goodness that it was only a type then, eh folks? Grix mused on this at the time and was not convinced of it’s authenticity, believing the Dolphin monikor to be superior. BigBadWolf was one of the first to tell of the news, “Not N2000, not Dolphin, not StarCube. The name of Nintendo next gen machine is going to be "Nintendo Game Cube". Nick mentioned the price of console games, and hoped they would fall (some chance!) while Gronti simply asked ‘Where are all the Cows?’ (in Diablo 2) The forums were starting to get surreal!
At the end of august last year we had a precursor to the Fog Stories, with Snoochy-boos-fatty and his ‘ahem’ poetry, to which bjlangly’s reply was “Please stop. No more bad poerty please! SR aren't helping by giving you fools games for it!” hm, he obviously hadn’t counted on Meka Dragon then. BJ soon replied with his own lyrical ramblings in the Nintendo Prayer!
By the middle of September, everyone seemed to be promoting a new money making site. This soon became a bit much for the hard working SR staff, who mentioned that perhaps people might like to spend more time on UKGAMES and less time advertising other sites. Console wars came in all forms, from Ant, Bluebeetle and Swiss Tony. FantasyMeister just missed VR cabinets. The worst game of the year was thought to be either Superman on N64 or Army Men 3D. A discussion ensued by the end of the month on the fate of the DC, already on it’s way out “but with so much choice in the next year, DC owners are the worst culprits because the console will probably be dead and buried when the other three get released” thought Damo.
October was a cold month, but didn’t deter people from going out, “Where the hell is everyone?” asked a certain elitesnipe_beta…some things just don’t change, do they? The first female of the forums arrived, in the form of GG, and asked why there was such a stigma attached to gamesplayers and we were entertained by Mr Sven’s story of a coffee machine that had a mind of its own, which soon spiralled into a strange sort of topic about a love story with calculators (don’t ask, it was Grix’s idea) the Sonynet system was introduced to a puzzled audience (remember that?) and by the end of the month Ali had decided that Gameaday would be chosen the day afterwards, rather than on the same day at 6pm (meaning half the posts didn’t get included) Sheepy reared his head and extolled the virtues of Sudden Strike.
The highlights of November were mostly the struggle between PS2 lovers and haters, with the DVD player being of most interest to both parties in the argument. The recently promoted Notables were in court over the Lepracorn (sic) pot of gold while DarkAnt showed just how far some made up reporters could go for a story on Sega’s poor health…
December, 2001 and much more to come!
Part 1 – FOG 2000
In the early days of last year, back last May, people were just as concerned about the upcoming consoles abilities. Fogmaster thought it might be nice if the new Nintendo had the power for “letting the gamers create his/her own level for their favorite game” and Bob wanted the ability to “be allowed to take your N64 or psx memory cards in to the arcades put them into a slot in the game in the arcade and start from where you left off on your game console” Sega tried this, of course, and we still never got to see the results here in the UK.
In June, there were crys of joy and of pain as the new Dreamcast Online system was launched. Dan waxed Lyrically (albiet without paragraphs, spaces or much punctuation) “Dreamcast is the ONLY console to boast online play, and at last CHUCHU rocket enables users to play online against the Spanish, German and French aswell as the British. Oh, and by the way ChuCHu ROCKET is is available for FREE..” James007 wasn’t so impressed and mentioned the problem with playing an enemy you couldn’t see “surely the best thing about multiplayer games is that you can always throw something and/or hurl abuse at the person whoís just beaten you” The Dreamcast still cost £149.99 though and many people were holding out for the PS2, which stood on the horizon like a big black monolith and great things were expected, but at a price, “If Sony releases itís new hardware for a price of £250 or £300 then it doesnít matter how many people want a PS2, they simply wonít have evough money to buy one” said a worried James007. How wrong he was.
It was around this time that The Game shocked the world with his love of capital letters (a habit he thankfully broke with quickly!) and a certain quirky entertainment value, he helped bring the Fog’s infamous humour to the forums. Ant proclaimed his love for the PS2, even before he got one, echoing Game’s style with “MGS2, WHICH WILL BE THE BEST GAME EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER ETC” We still wait for it to arrive, even now!
A typo from a Nintendo press release gave rise to the cry “Starcube?” with many saying that a console with that name would never sell. Thank goodness that it was only a type then, eh folks? Grix mused on this at the time and was not convinced of it’s authenticity, believing the Dolphin monikor to be superior. BigBadWolf was one of the first to tell of the news, “Not N2000, not Dolphin, not StarCube. The name of Nintendo next gen machine is going to be "Nintendo Game Cube". Nick mentioned the price of console games, and hoped they would fall (some chance!) while Gronti simply asked ‘Where are all the Cows?’ (in Diablo 2) The forums were starting to get surreal!
At the end of august last year we had a precursor to the Fog Stories, with Snoochy-boos-fatty and his ‘ahem’ poetry, to which bjlangly’s reply was “Please stop. No more bad poerty please! SR aren't helping by giving you fools games for it!” hm, he obviously hadn’t counted on Meka Dragon then. BJ soon replied with his own lyrical ramblings in the Nintendo Prayer!
By the middle of September, everyone seemed to be promoting a new money making site. This soon became a bit much for the hard working SR staff, who mentioned that perhaps people might like to spend more time on UKGAMES and less time advertising other sites. Console wars came in all forms, from Ant, Bluebeetle and Swiss Tony. FantasyMeister just missed VR cabinets. The worst game of the year was thought to be either Superman on N64 or Army Men 3D. A discussion ensued by the end of the month on the fate of the DC, already on it’s way out “but with so much choice in the next year, DC owners are the worst culprits because the console will probably be dead and buried when the other three get released” thought Damo.
October was a cold month, but didn’t deter people from going out, “Where the hell is everyone?” asked a certain elitesnipe_beta…some things just don’t change, do they? The first female of the forums arrived, in the form of GG, and asked why there was such a stigma attached to gamesplayers and we were entertained by Mr Sven’s story of a coffee machine that had a mind of its own, which soon spiralled into a strange sort of topic about a love story with calculators (don’t ask, it was Grix’s idea) the Sonynet system was introduced to a puzzled audience (remember that?) and by the end of the month Ali had decided that Gameaday would be chosen the day afterwards, rather than on the same day at 6pm (meaning half the posts didn’t get included) Sheepy reared his head and extolled the virtues of Sudden Strike.
The highlights of November were mostly the struggle between PS2 lovers and haters, with the DVD player being of most interest to both parties in the argument. The recently promoted Notables were in court over the Lepracorn (sic) pot of gold while DarkAnt showed just how far some made up reporters could go for a story on Sega’s poor health…
December, 2001 and much more to come!
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Nice one pb.. love reading all this :-)
Where am I? :-D
You going to feature er-no's ups and downs of the FOG :-D
Where am I? :-D
You going to feature er-no's ups and downs of the FOG :-D
Grix Thraves wrote:
> I would offer, but I'm as busy as ever at the moment. I'm trying to remember
> when the stories started though... can't find the original topics.
They all got popped at around the same time just before July.... if thats any help.
> I would offer, but I'm as busy as ever at the moment. I'm trying to remember
> when the stories started though... can't find the original topics.
They all got popped at around the same time just before July.... if thats any help.
FOG Remembered – Part 2 – ‘Christmas’
Note: Some people named here have changed name since the time they were introduced (some of them several times) so don’t expect to recognise everyone!
November saw the historical first FOG story (and one that many would say is still the best) The Star Wars Fog story was a major draw to some of the regular members of FOG, Grix, Fantasymeister, Ant and many more were both writing the story and featuring in it. The FOG stories have now become legend and an important aspect of the forums (which is why they should really all be in the stories archive by now….)
Christmas was coming, and along with it came…competitions. It was a fad for a while (and I don’t mean a film winning competition either) There were quizes about games, quizzes about members and even I joined in with the “Completely Useless 'Join The Bandwagon' Competition” which was a short quiz about the forums at the time. I’ve included it again, just to see if you ol’ timers can remember any of it.
*****************************************************
And here comes your starter for 10,
1. Who Chooses the Gameaday prizes on the excellent Special Reserve website?
a) Ali
b) Tony
c) Grix
d) An alien
e) all of the above
Right, that's the first question. Got it? Good. But we're not going to give you that...here's the next.
2. What is the animal associated with tasty chocolate biscuits?
a) Ant
b) Sheepy
c) Penguin
d) Pokemon
and on we go.....
3. What is the name of the forum's character who is madly addicted to sugar?
a) Sheepy
b) Fantasy Meister
c) Darkness
d) Ant
4. What three letters, when used together to form an item found in a lot of Playstation and PC games, does Grix Thraves hate the most?
5. Name three 'people' on this site with the name of an animal (or are indeed animals, allegedly)
6. What is the name of the new competition set up to run side by side with Gameaday?
7. What is the old name for the Gamecube that Nintendo gave up on and some people on these forums still insist on using?
8. Name the famous Sega character who is the same as question 7 above.
9. Name the games:
a) Fly around that tarmac and hang on to cars in Tokyo-to, and watch out for that mad police man!
b) He smokes and he sneaks, he's certainly not a liquid serpent!
c) You may have crash landed, but with the help of sheep, elephants and other animals you can chip your way back.
d) What a party! Pity that your wife wants you to clean up the house. Good job you've got a fast appendage (joke)!
10. Name Ant's character in Grix's Star Wars 'skit' (ahem!)
11. Name Bluebeetle's favourite vegetable.
12. Name the Game character:
I'm a strange colour for my race, but I make up for that by being really good at one thing. I do love curling up, but not with a good book. I have lots of friends and one main enemy that goes by two different names depending on what country you are in.
**************************************************************
By this time many people were getting a bit fed up of all the songs parading around the forum, including Meka’s infamous PS2 and Wonderwall songs and FM’s GAD winning Stan song. Meka later used this as a threat against certain posters (and then carried it out to great effect) but for now the time had come to think about Christmas and all the games it was bringing. Golden Rhino asked whether Quake III on the Dreamcast was worth getting when you had to buy a keyboard to get the most from it. Dan3 remembered Christmas past and mused that “I think that the most 'magical' Christmas that I have had was when I received Nights and the 3D analogue pad from my Mum and Dad as a Christmas present BECAUSE SR didn't have any Fifa '98s in stock for the Saturn!” while SonicRav and Vai (later to become one of the most annoying posters on FOG) wished everyone a happy Christmas slightly early.
It was around this time that the forums turned slightly weird for a day, causing Grix to find a ‘limbo forum’ to himself. Unfortunately, as things reverted to their usual selves, his post was found back in the FOG forum. Still, with FOG nothing stays normal for long and Ant was soon disputing the fact that he was also Merry Christmas, still, he had his shiny new PS2 to take comfort in (and the forums wouldn’t be safe from his many PS2 topics from that day on…)
It was at this time that the staff organised a charity event. Anyone who won GAD within the Christmas months could give their game to the fund for Great Ormand St Hospital, to provide them with games, films and a PS2 in a cabinet. Everyone who won gave generously and felt that they’d made a difference to people less fortunate than themselves (bar the few who thought about trying to get into hospital in order to play the PS2)
Ant counted down the minutes to Christmas day, and the new year was just around the corner….
Coming next: Part 3: 2001, a FOG Odyssey….
Note: Some people named here have changed name since the time they were introduced (some of them several times) so don’t expect to recognise everyone!
November saw the historical first FOG story (and one that many would say is still the best) The Star Wars Fog story was a major draw to some of the regular members of FOG, Grix, Fantasymeister, Ant and many more were both writing the story and featuring in it. The FOG stories have now become legend and an important aspect of the forums (which is why they should really all be in the stories archive by now….)
Christmas was coming, and along with it came…competitions. It was a fad for a while (and I don’t mean a film winning competition either) There were quizes about games, quizzes about members and even I joined in with the “Completely Useless 'Join The Bandwagon' Competition” which was a short quiz about the forums at the time. I’ve included it again, just to see if you ol’ timers can remember any of it.
*****************************************************
And here comes your starter for 10,
1. Who Chooses the Gameaday prizes on the excellent Special Reserve website?
a) Ali
b) Tony
c) Grix
d) An alien
e) all of the above
Right, that's the first question. Got it? Good. But we're not going to give you that...here's the next.
2. What is the animal associated with tasty chocolate biscuits?
a) Ant
b) Sheepy
c) Penguin
d) Pokemon
and on we go.....
3. What is the name of the forum's character who is madly addicted to sugar?
a) Sheepy
b) Fantasy Meister
c) Darkness
d) Ant
4. What three letters, when used together to form an item found in a lot of Playstation and PC games, does Grix Thraves hate the most?
5. Name three 'people' on this site with the name of an animal (or are indeed animals, allegedly)
6. What is the name of the new competition set up to run side by side with Gameaday?
7. What is the old name for the Gamecube that Nintendo gave up on and some people on these forums still insist on using?
8. Name the famous Sega character who is the same as question 7 above.
9. Name the games:
a) Fly around that tarmac and hang on to cars in Tokyo-to, and watch out for that mad police man!
b) He smokes and he sneaks, he's certainly not a liquid serpent!
c) You may have crash landed, but with the help of sheep, elephants and other animals you can chip your way back.
d) What a party! Pity that your wife wants you to clean up the house. Good job you've got a fast appendage (joke)!
10. Name Ant's character in Grix's Star Wars 'skit' (ahem!)
11. Name Bluebeetle's favourite vegetable.
12. Name the Game character:
I'm a strange colour for my race, but I make up for that by being really good at one thing. I do love curling up, but not with a good book. I have lots of friends and one main enemy that goes by two different names depending on what country you are in.
**************************************************************
By this time many people were getting a bit fed up of all the songs parading around the forum, including Meka’s infamous PS2 and Wonderwall songs and FM’s GAD winning Stan song. Meka later used this as a threat against certain posters (and then carried it out to great effect) but for now the time had come to think about Christmas and all the games it was bringing. Golden Rhino asked whether Quake III on the Dreamcast was worth getting when you had to buy a keyboard to get the most from it. Dan3 remembered Christmas past and mused that “I think that the most 'magical' Christmas that I have had was when I received Nights and the 3D analogue pad from my Mum and Dad as a Christmas present BECAUSE SR didn't have any Fifa '98s in stock for the Saturn!” while SonicRav and Vai (later to become one of the most annoying posters on FOG) wished everyone a happy Christmas slightly early.
It was around this time that the forums turned slightly weird for a day, causing Grix to find a ‘limbo forum’ to himself. Unfortunately, as things reverted to their usual selves, his post was found back in the FOG forum. Still, with FOG nothing stays normal for long and Ant was soon disputing the fact that he was also Merry Christmas, still, he had his shiny new PS2 to take comfort in (and the forums wouldn’t be safe from his many PS2 topics from that day on…)
It was at this time that the staff organised a charity event. Anyone who won GAD within the Christmas months could give their game to the fund for Great Ormand St Hospital, to provide them with games, films and a PS2 in a cabinet. Everyone who won gave generously and felt that they’d made a difference to people less fortunate than themselves (bar the few who thought about trying to get into hospital in order to play the PS2)
Ant counted down the minutes to Christmas day, and the new year was just around the corner….
Coming next: Part 3: 2001, a FOG Odyssey….
Grix Thraves wrote:
> I would offer, but I'm as busy as ever at the moment. I'm trying to remember
> when the stories started though... can't find the original topics.
That was what I was trying to find too while researching this topic (it took a lot longer than you may think to check all my dates) Still, I may get time for part 2 this weekend.
> I would offer, but I'm as busy as ever at the moment. I'm trying to remember
> when the stories started though... can't find the original topics.
That was what I was trying to find too while researching this topic (it took a lot longer than you may think to check all my dates) Still, I may get time for part 2 this weekend.
I would offer, but I'm as busy as ever at the moment. I'm trying to remember when the stories started though... can't find the original topics.
Now I've got to get a chance to write part 2, or does someone else want to have a go?
I joined in early October.
I remember Sniper's topics asking where everyone was, the GAD system change (I didn't need to do my blatant GAD attempts at school anymore), and Snoochy-boos-fatty caused a giant topic by moaning about Grix winning GAD.
This topic you could say was the fore father to todays WILT. It had the same sort of "spammish" posts and was huge (200 posts WAS huge in those days, and the threads always showed oldest posts first meaning you had to go through a several pages just to see the latest message.)
Long, long ago...
I remember Sniper's topics asking where everyone was, the GAD system change (I didn't need to do my blatant GAD attempts at school anymore), and Snoochy-boos-fatty caused a giant topic by moaning about Grix winning GAD.
This topic you could say was the fore father to todays WILT. It had the same sort of "spammish" posts and was huge (200 posts WAS huge in those days, and the threads always showed oldest posts first meaning you had to go through a several pages just to see the latest message.)
Long, long ago...
Ah, nostalgia (at least for the bits i was about for : ) )
If this doesn't deserve a gad, nothing does.
If this doesn't deserve a gad, nothing does.
er-no wrote:
Decemeber last
> year was great.
Indeed it was, December last yer was fantastic. Really good fun... I couldn't go into a thread without laughing myself stupid at what was inside...
Ahhhh... Memories sweet....
Decemeber last
> year was great.
Indeed it was, December last yer was fantastic. Really good fun... I couldn't go into a thread without laughing myself stupid at what was inside...
Ahhhh... Memories sweet....
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