We've been blown away by the response to the donations thread - and as some of you know, we have our new server!

Thank you very much to everyone who has donated - this ensured that the planned upgrade to our dedicated server has, as of today, been actioned and this should put pay to the lag we currently sometimes experience! Without the donations, this was going to be very hard for us to support, if not impossible.

A huge thanks go to Vogon and Tunes who actually did the server swap which is a large and time consuming job. For the most part, the swap was so smooth you will probably not even notice that anything occurred, although there may be a couple of teething issues over the next few days so please bear with us. With the upgrade we've been able to increase some slots on some servers and expect some more servers appearing soon! We've also worked on making sure Zombie doesn't crash so often - time will tell but fingers crossed.

Just for your information, obviously the donations will be spread across several months in some cases. This ensures we can stay afloat in the future by spreading the costs. So we will work on £4 per month from the donations. If you have put in £12 that will count towards three months of server payment which is fantastic. Of course, this will be hard to reflect in the thermometer so some months, like this month, it will have reached the top (and we've never seen that before!!). Other months it will probably appear less! As always, regular donations will help us to continue our servers and build upon them, as well as providing some other things down the line, so please help where you can.

If you play mainly on one server or another, perhaps you aren't aware of some of the other mods/servers we run or how they work! So below is a very short and crude breakdown of each server and mod to give you a flavour of its gameplay. Don't forget, if you are an admin, watcher, donator or community member, your rights extend to all our servers. And, at the end of the day, if you are unable to donate, the next best thing is to be playing on our servers and helping to big them up and get TWKgaming known as THE gaming place to hangout. Sometimes, it only takes a few people ten minutes on an empty server to help to start it fill.

If you are a regular on one of our servers, why not check out some of the other gameplay mods? A competition is around the corner that will take place on a number of our servers and mods ....

So, with out further ado, here is our current line up ...

81.19.209.200:27030 @ TWKgaming.com CSS#1 | Warcraft:Source-Exp Saved [HLSTATSCE]

I would imagine a fair few of the website users are from the WCS server. A crazy, strange and interesting mod of levelling and WarCraft style game play where you can choose a race, earn XP, spend skill points for abilities/powerups or buy items to have some effects. Be prepared to see some "weird" things happening when you join this server; people flying around, disappearing into thin air, etc!

Good for: Manic battles of good versus noob.
Map highlights: anticamper, helms_deep_s
Tips: Level up

81.19.209.200:27050 @ TWKgaming.com CSS#2 | GunGame Mayhem [HLSTATSCE|100Tick]

GunGame is a fast-paced gun-levelling mod. You start with the mighty glock, and each frag gets you the next gun up. Keep going through all the CS:S weapons before the final two levels - knife and nade. It's not an easy mod, but it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Good for: Getting to know all the in-game weapons.
Map highlights: aim_ag_texture_city, gg_shotty_snow, gg_simpsons_glock_tok
Tips: Keep moving..

81.19.209.200:27060 @ TWKgaming.com CSS#3 | Deathmatch:Source [HLSTATSCE]

Classic, shoot the other team with your weapon of choice. A menu-system allows you to choose your weapons and have them auto-selected each round or, for the Chuck Norris in you, choose random. When you die you instantly respawn. The first to reach the fraglimit wins. Pretty simple mod really. The server is set up to limit certains maps to certain weapons.

Good for: Improving aim on specific weapons.
Map highlights: glass_war (pistols only), awp_crazyjump2007 (awps only), scoutzknivez3 (scouts and knives)
Tips: Watch out for awp campers..

81.19.209.200:27070 @ TWKgaming.com CSS#4 | 24/7 DUST 2 ONLY [HLSTATSCE|100Tick]

The classic Source gameplay setup on THE classic CS:S map. Configuration is based on the current official EnemyDown configs. It you want vanilla source, this is where it's at - the server that sorts the men from the boys...

Good for: Practicing for skrims or playing source as it was intended.
Map highlights: de_dust2 (ofc)
Tips: Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork...

81.19.209.200:27080 @ TWKgaming.com CSS#5 | Surf_Deathmatch [HLSTATSCE]

Surfing is fun, and if you can do it while firing guns even better. Slide along the map surfaces and then fling yourself into the air and onto a new section, pull out your awp, and pick them off. Just watch your back...

Good for: Learning to surf.
Map highlights: surf_skyworld
Tips: If you want to learn to surf, ask one of our admins

81.19.209.200:27110 @ TWKgaming.com CSS#6 | Zombie Escape! [HLSTATSCE]

The latest addition to our server list and a massive amount of fun. Start the map as humans and then RUN. Thirty seconds in zombies will be chosen at random to chase the humans and knife them. The objective as humans is to escape, the objective as zombies ... well I'm sure you can guess.

Good for: Pure lols.
Map highlights: ze_stargate_escape_v7
Tips: Don't stop running....

81.19.209.200:27090 @ TWKgaming.com TF2#1 | Payload 24/7 - Fast-respawn [HLSTATSCE]

TF2, what else to say? One of the most funny FPS ever. This one only has Payload type maps where the aim is to push a bomb into the enemy base or defend the base from the enemy.

Good for: Great all-round gameplay and lots of stuff to achieve
Tips: First its called TEAM Fortress for a reason. Second, watch your back for: Spies, Snipers, Pyro's, Demomans, Heavies+Medics, Engineer turrets... Well, basically watch your back!
Some map highlights: Has to be pl_badwater

81.19.209.200:27130 @ TWKgaming.com HL2#1 | Hidden:Source [HLSTATSCE]

Hidden is an excellent HL2 conversion where your aim is either to catch the Hidden (an almost invisible mutant that can only use a knife played by one player) or be him. The server switches players so everyone will get to be either one.

Good for: That horrifying feeling of impotence against something you dont understand
Tips: Keep together and grow eyes on your backs...

See you on the servers

Come join us on our new Zombie server.

The humans are on the run - the premise is merely to escape - but beware of the traps! Oh, and the brain-eating zombies of course.

Play on some famous film-based maps such as Stargate, Jurrasic Park and Lord of the Rings.

Just don't get left behind - it's always the last to be picked off first ...

81.19.209.200:27110 @ TWKgaming.com CSS#6 | ZOMBIE ESCAPE! [HLSTATSCE]

It’s been a very busy year for TWK! So here are some updates...

Something on the horizon...

A lot of work goes into the community and servers almost daily – refining, tweaking, trying to improve things. Whilst things may sometimes seem slow, behind the scenes the TWK admins are always working their nuts off! And as we head towards Christmas (and do expect some Chrimbo maps on the servers from Dec 1st!!), we have some great news.

With things starting to move quickly and more servers starting to fill up daily, our current dedi-server is beginning to feel .. well, a little strained … bless :D

During busy periods with a number of servers on the go, the load has been too much. As this is being written, we have 60 players on our servers and rising. Unfortunately, the server is not coping (you will notice the 'out' dropping from the server the busier things get). We also had plans to expand the slots on a few servers (zombie for a start), set aside a TF2 clan server, and possibly expand into some new games (Call of Duty) and this just will not be possible with the current setup. We are also having to pick and choose servers – we’d really like a L4D server again, now that we hope they have fixed the server issues (...hope... we are talking about Valve ..).

Luckily for us, Vogon has managed to get us a deal on a new server from the excellent KillerCreation guys. But this isn’t just a minor server upgrade, oh no .. The new server is a significant upgrade in both processor power (from Dual to Quad) and memory. It also moves us into the ‘proper’ server market with everything keyed toward speed. This will enable us to run a whole array of different setups without too much sweat. It will enable us to make the changes we wanted to, and play and test without having to think about impacting on other servers. And expect uber-reg, particularly on the clan server.

The upgrade should happen soonish - we will keep all informed of any changes - in theory, there should be no disruption.

Of course, as always, things cost money. The main bulk of the community payments are taken up by DS, Vogon and Tunes. This is paid monthly, and as a community we do not demand or expect people pay to play or be members. However, we do ask that if you are able to, please help us out and donate just £4 per month – this can make a massive difference. We are introducing some new options for payment and in the future we maybe offering some freebies as a thank you. We are also going to make it easier to donate with a new system that will, for the first time, show who has donated to give some recognition of your support.. So, if you use our servers regularly and you were thinking about donating or you would like to help out, then now is the ideal time to help support our server move. It will be worth it.

To help us out, check out the new donation system by clicking here - as it's new it is currently empty atm but we have not forgotten everyone who has contributed in the past.

Anyway, enough about the money, that’s not what we are all here for. We are here because we love gaming (and kicking nuub ass and stabbing pink Kirby's...) and what we really need now is some feedback. Where are we going with the community? What would you like to see happening? What can we improve, expand or change? What can we add to the site? This isn't just cheap-talk - we need to know. Please drop us a message here or PM any of the main admins with ideas.

THE meet-up

It's been threatened, apocalyptically predicted and labelled as 'ill-advised' and potentially 'dangerous and life-threatening'!!

Yes, it's time for a TWK LAN!

Detail are sketchy at the moment - nothing has been majorly decided, but it's on the cards for first half of next year so we need to get thinking about numbers, venues, and dates.

And be assured that paintballing will most likely feature somehow!

Keep an eye on the forums for more information coming soon.

Thanks for being part of TWKgaming.com

TWKgaming released another server. This time dedicated to Hidden:Source, a great HL2 modification.

Storyline

In the early 1950s human genetics experimentation was taking its first, tentative steps. Amongst many other black projects, a team of British scientists working at an Infinitum Research experimental station stumbled across some remarkable phenomena involving DNA manipulation. This led to deeper research with dangerously unpredictable results, often leading to human patients losing their lives in irresponsible and immoral experiments.

Time passed on, and by the mid 1990s the failure rate of the experiments had been reduced from 75% to a mere 15%, enough for Infinitum to move onto the next stage: Biological Light Refraction. The British team were hoping to unravel the possibilities of light manipulation to create the perfect covert military agent. Early into the new millennium, due to a gross miscalculation, a series of tests on Subject 617 led to a massive synaptic trauma leaving the patient with multiple genetic anomalies.

The subject was left in constant pain and with unstable DNA. The subject escaped captivity, killing anyone that got in its way. The I.R.I.S. (Infinitum Research Interception Squad) team have been deployed to return the subject to a maximum security Infinitum Research facility for further study and dissection. The entire project was considered a failure: all funding ceased and development was discontinued while all records and traces of the experiments were destroyed. Infinitum Research denies all knowledge of any form of human DNA manipulation but are more than happy to comment on the possibilities of cloning human organs inside suitable animal donors. It is believed that these organ cloning experiments form the main cover for their human genetic manipulation experimentations.

Subject 617, known as 'The Hidden', must turn the tables and become the hunter instead of the hunted as the I.R.I.S. team close their net around him.

Gameplay

Nine I.R.I.S. agents search for Subject 617 on abandoned dark remote locations. "The Hidden" is armed only with a knife, but due to his DNA modifications he's very fast and almost invisible.

Can you be the one to kill him or will you be just another victim?

This is an HL2 mod, meaning you need to own Half Life 2 to be able to run it.  But if you dont what are you waiting for? One of the best games of all time!

You can download the free mod HERE