After a vicious rumor storm this afternoon on the internet, it’s pretty much official. Dynamix will be closed next week by Sierra, its parent company. A Dynamix employee added this information:

1) At noon today (Thursday) everyone at Dynamix was asked to leave the building. (98 employees) The doors are locked and no one is allowed entrance again to gather belongings until Wednesday of next week while they catalog equipment.

2) On Monday, there’s an off-site meeting with Sierra upper management to determine whether any of us have any employment opportunities with Sierra in the near future. Most of us will be out of work at that time.

3) The patch and demo are still likely to be completed, but that will probably be it. It’s not clear when they will be completed and who will do the work.

4) Sierra probably has plans for the Tribes franchise, but it’s doubtful that anyone who worked at Dynamix will be involved with it.

5) There’s been no information about why the layoffs are occurring. Total info vacuum.

The employee asked to remain anonymous.

Dynamix was one of the pioneer’s in PC gaming. It’s sad to see that Sierra is going to do this. Dave Meddish (aka Diamondback), former Dynamix employee and dev team member on Tribes 1 and Tribes 2 said:

This is incredibly sad. There’s a lot of talent there and a lot of friends there who are now getting the axe.

One of the pioneers of the game industry are gone thanks to the mismanagement of Sierra. One of the potentially great games of all time is gone thanks to the gross incompetence of the idiot they put in charge.

God damn Dave Georgeson. God damn Sierra. Damn them all.

Tribes 1 was the sleeper hit of 99 and won many awards. The follow-up, Tribes 2, was mostly disappointing, as I pointed out in my early review of the game.

Taranis and I met because of Dynamix. We were both avid fans of Tribes 1 and ended up playing on the same tribe for over two years. At some point we realized we got along really well, started emailing and hanging out in IRC all day. We became very good friends all because of Dynamix. And there were several others. Fyre Knight, Nectar, w/o, Kingky, paradoxiq, and many others. It’ll be sad to see Dynamix go.

Dustin Diamond, aka Screech, of Saved By The Bell fame, rocks the casbah in his band Salty the Pocketknife. Their bio reads something like this:

Defying easy categorization, Salty The Pocketknife combines cutting lyrics, razor-keen instrumentals and sharp rhythms into something that’s been variously dubbed progressive alternative and new-thing rock. That Salty The Pocketknife is this and more is apparent within moments of hearing its music.

I say rock on you crazy Diamond. Perhaps, the rumors of his being brothers with Mike D of Beastie Boys fame are true. The musical talent seems to run in the family.

Some of you may remember the sinking of the Russian submarine, The Kursk. Now there is an official website for the Kursk Lifting Operation where you can get all the latest news on the debris and bodies being recovered form the accident site. The site also includes a 3D model of how the lifting will happen.

I think it’s interesting that the Russian government is throwing its full support behind this English-language website. It seems that only now do they actually want to help the spread of information and get some help with this project. Too bad they weren’t so open and forthright when the accident occurred.

There is the theory that leaking hydrogen peroxide caused a torpedo to explode inside the Kursk triggering other blasts that crippled and finally sunk the vessel. The Russian submarines are just about the only ones in the world that still use hydrogen peroxide to power their torpedoes. That means that there are other men in their Navy who at risk from this same accident, yet the Russian government is only now sharing information with the rest of the world.

And to think, when I was a kid, I though Boris and Natasha were the good guys.

Last year, Texas committed a record 40 executions. As of Wednesday morning, they’d carried out only 10 this year. However, it appears they’re trying to catch up. Former body shop worker Mack Oran Hill was executed yesterday at 6:22 p.m. He was the first of three set to die over the next eight days.

President Bush addressed the execution triple-play saying, “It’s about time those damn slackers got on the ball. If I was still governor, we’d be matching Barry Bonds’ home run total.”

A 15-year-old boy will be tried as an adult in the murder of a 16-year-old acquaintance. The teenager apparently teamed with another child to lure the 16-year-old to the home of a 14-year-old, who then beat the victim to death with a baseball bat. Clearly, violent cartoons are the culprit. Damn you, Bugs and your barbarous shenanigans.

Bush will address the nation tonight to announce his decision on whether or not to fund stem cell research. He’s taking a break from his month long vacation to do this, so you better watch. Plus, not matter what he says we’re going to try to make fun of it tomorrow.

My bet: he’ll say no. Saying yes would make moderates and liberals happy and alienate his base, the conservatives. The basic tennant of politics is, boink the intern. The next one is, never leave your base. Ironically, that’s my strategy when playing Tribes 2.