Greetings my fellow Twisters,

I'd just like to apologise for the extremely long delay in updates about the development of TMA 2.0. I won't be making excuses, but I will explain myself, and I hope you hear me out and understand I meant nothing but the best for TMA, always.

First off, there is nothing wrong with wanting to know or being curious about the whereabouts of TMA 2.0, in fact I appreciate the interest. Everyone here was more than welcome to hit me up on AIM or in email and ask, but no one here is entitled or privy to this info, nor entitled to TMA 2.0. I don’t owe anybody TMA 2.0, in the formal sense, because TMA is 'purely' a hobby for me. I just thought I should make that clear. I wrongly assumed people realised this and wouldn't trash me behind my back because it isn't finished yet, and would be grateful for TMA as it is now even if I never finished 2.0 (but still keeping faith I would finish it). But don't get me wrong, I'm still extremely passionate about Twisted Metal (more so playing it), always have loved working on TMA and playing TM together (the latter which takes away time from the former)... so it caught me off-guard to find out there was this expectation that I owed everyone 2.0, and that it was late, and that people were acting 'entitled' to it, because I said it was coming a long time ago and it never came (some say I even 'promised' it). Even more perplexing is that 2.0's absense has become some kind of running joke; especially odd since most of TMA's veterans that care most about 2.0 don't even like the new Twisted Metal. For me the point of TMA 2.0 was to be a cool place to talk about the new Twisted Metal, setup games, clans, etc, that was my goal; which is now redundant, so I was no longer rushing to finish 2.0 anymore. See my predicament? But that's just me, you guys live here not me.

Even more shocking was the way TMA turned on ESP/David Jaffe, just because most people here didn't like the new Twisted Metal. It might be surprising, but finishing 2.0 was not supposed to facilitate being disrespectful jackasses to ESP on Totally Twisted, or myself on Brawl on the Wall. This is a Twisted Metal fansite, first and foremost. We're supposed to be fans, and respect for the creators of REAL Twisted Metal, and TMA, should be paramount. They are not 989 Studios; comparing TMX to TM3/4 is just unacceptable and these people clearly are taking that statement too lightly, and never understood that era. For this behaviour we may never be in any special thanks ever again; which is gutting. A lot of people should have been suspended or even banned, but due to their friendships with certain admins and cliques, and the general lawlessness around here, nothing happened. I feel TMA (even in this temporary state) has strayed too far away from our roots. A lot of what has been said around here over the last year might be considered 'free speech', but at TMA, I think it's pure blasphemy. This community needs to return to having the upmost respect for the developers/designers of TM's we love (Dave/ESP/Incog), for TMA, and ourselves. It's one thing to be disappointed in the new TM and express your issues, but it's quite another to treat Dave/ESP with such disdain and fallen grace, that he no longer thinks of us in the same positive light he once did anymore. The minority of people around here that liked the new TM were made to feel like outcasts, because we didn't agree with the veterans (a lot of new fans even driven away because this place was unwelcoming to them). TMA's long held reputation went down the drain in the process, and for what? Apologies all around wouldn't hurt.

If anything, I'm extremely sorry on a personal level for letting down David Jaffe, for not finishing 2.0 in time for TMPS3's launch... it just wasn't ready (same as TMPS3 wasn't ready but Sony has shareholders to please; game had to be released; TMA 2.0 I can hold off until it's ready). To have the MAN we once worshipped as a God, suddenly lose that love he had for TMA, and the respect and worship we gave him, really hurt, and I felt partly responsible (even though everyone here not liking his new game was not something I could control). He had even offered to pay a years hosting when I finish 2.0; now I know that is definitely not coming. How things turned out was the furthest from my expectations. I envisioned all of us playing the new Twisted Metal together for years to come, just like we did with TM2pc, and some of you have with TMBO (and still do to this day), and posting about it on 2.0. The reality is there is no 2.0 yet, and it's just me & Mosh playing on TMPS3 (and sometimes AfroDizziac aka Junior). I would never have believed that before the game came out that a year later it's just us few guys representing TMA. Thankfully I'm still having a lot of fun with the game and posting games on the Youtube channel; I've played lots of competitive adrenaline pumping games just this year, but that may not last forever if I start to feel even more lonely on TMX (in the sense no one else from TMA is playing with me; it's depressing). I may not have finished 2.0 yet, but for now I still fully support Twisted Metal by playing the game and running the Youtube channel in tandem. I hoped people would at least commend that.

I understand the disappointment in the 2.0 delays, but what I wasn't expecting was all that talk behind my back and disrespect, even from people on staff, and even people I thought were friends and had played TM with over the years; a lot of people did not have my back. It was disheartening and discouraging; the fact I was still working on TMA 2.0, and having all this dissent in the place I created, from people who I thought respected all I had done for TM the last 13+ years, and who obviously have no idea how much time I have put into 2.0. Even though I could have stemmed that by giving updates, I don't believe I deserved the treatment I got for not doing so; and if anything it was interesting to see people show their true colors. Forgive me for not posting updates, but I’m just not the type of person who needs to get feedback along the way; I just wanted to WOW everybody when it was finished. So my priority was to just finish 2.0 and then post on it; that's why I never posted here for the longest time (I didn't allow myself to post until I finished 2.0... obviously I broke that rule; sue me!). Besides, what exactly is wrong with Temp TMA anyway? If Temp TMA was bad I'd understand, but it gives you all the ability to talk TM, just like old TMA, or 2.0 would.

With that all said and done, you're probably still wondering, "So where is TMA 2.0? Cut to the chase already!". Simple answer; because it's part of a much bigger project that is not finished yet. It was never solely about TMA 2.0, TMA would just have benefitted from said project I am working on (and that's why TMA is still just a 'hobby'). Essentially it's a 'concept' (similar to myspace at the time, and now more so facebook); lets just call it Project X to keep it easy from here on out. As -ScolD- kindly gloated it was 'revolutionary' at the time when he last saw it back in 2005 (or whenever that was), but that was before facebook arrived and took on a lot of those features. But I didn't give up, I just kept improving Project X to this day. So that is what caused the delay. TMA 2.0 would never come out until I finish Project X; until I was happy with it. I didn't intend for it to take this long, but as I kept improving it and adding more features, it just become a behemoth and thus TMA 2.0 got delayed further and further in the process. I hope to have it finished this year (but I'm not giving any ETA's), which would mean TMA 2.0 would come out not long after. I really hoped for TMA 2.0 to showcase the power and features of Project X. It might even take longer, so be prepared for that (it's not actually called Project X btw).

So why did I give those ETA's for when TMA would be back years ago? Apparently to some people I was lying, because 'estimating' the arrival of something and being wrong is lying. I won't be giving ETA's anymore, but I will explain why I did that. Those ETA's were not for 2.0 at all; initially I planned on just putting the old TMA back up, but I just couldn't stomach putting up that shit again. The code is bloated, the performance is poor, it's just a mess. I made the old TMA back in 2000/2001, and here I was in 2008 (or later I forget) and I'd been working on Project X for many years already, it was superior; I was ashamed to put that old crap back up based on what I was working on. So I decided to spend a month and clean up old TMA, fix some lingering bugs I never got around to fixing, and optimize some specific things that took the most server time; to improve performance of the old site. The old site now ran 10x faster, but it's still visually the same ugly site. I knew there were areas I could still optimize further, to make the site better for everyone. I converted most of the forum display code to javascript, cutting down the server's job even more. Before I knew it I had spent 3 months making the old site run lightning fast and clean, but I still had the same problem; it still looked like the same old ugly TMA. Compared to 2.0 it was just ugly. It just suddenly seemed like a waste of time, and Temp TMA seemed that it would do the job for now until I finish 2.0. So I canned the old TMA reboot, and kept working on 2.0 with the plan to just get it done before TMPS3 was launched. This is why the ETA's kept changing, then just went away.

I regret not giving small updates, but I didn't want to disappoint people and instead just chose to focus on finishing 2.0 (which should more than make up for my 'silence'). Sadly I got carried away with Project X and I was not able to finish it in time for TMPS3's launch. I also had a TMA 1.5 in the works in hopes of getting that done in time for TMPS3's launch (it was a hybrid of 2.0 and 1.0); because I knew I couldn't finish Project X in time, so I was balancing multiple projects, but that didn't happen either. So those features I added to 1.5 will crossover to 2.0 (consider 1.5 a lite version of Project X). I tried hard to get it finished in time, but it just didn't happen. I felt shit for letting down Dave, and I felt shit for letting down my true TMA friends and supporters; but it just didn't seem so bad with the way things turned out in the end (most of TMA not even liking the new TM; Dave leaving ESP; poor support from Sony; etc). Regardless, a lot of people are still taking this 'temporary' site for granted, and that does rub me the wrong way. I don't believe I deserved any of the backlash I received for a 'hobby'; Project X is the most important thing to me and it's still my highest priority, but I still love TMA and want it to be the best it can be. For those that still don't take this place for granted and respect all I've done, thank you... you just haven't been very vocal to notice.

So, what will TMA 2.0 be like when it does finally arrive? It'll bring back that old TMA feeling, I hope...

TMA 2.0 Features:
- There are site skins for every Twisted Metal (made by SolTakr)
- Edit Config 2.0 will debut, allowing you to keep unlimited configs and signatures for posting with; it's crazy
- Boards for every TM (including fully-featured search & sort engine); full bbcode support including custom tags just for TMA e.g. captioning images
- Quizzes for every TM (including global rankings)
- Everything will be real-time including chat rooms
- All the old TMA posts will return along with the temp TMA posts, all sorted into categories (multi-levels e.g. General Discussion -> Consoles -> PS3 -> Games)
- You can add users (and topics) to your watchlist and follow everything they do
- You can ignore users (and topics) so you never see anything from them on the site
- Slick sections dedicated to each TM with info and pictures/videos of all the cars/drivers/levels
- Weekly Awards will be back including a database that keeps a history of all the awards since the beginning of TMA (part of the reason TMA was special)
- Zero Spam

I also plan on a clan ladder system (and I plan on databasing all the youtube games I have posted so you can search for games with you in it); and so many other things I can't even think of right now. I'm using a fully-featured backend database, and javascript to render all displays, and AJAX to keep everything real-time where possible; all inside an 'optional' interface that is like another browser (I guess that was the 'revolutionary' part).

Now for the bad news; there will be some major changes with how people will be allowed to act & behave around here. We'll be enforcing a strict "no tolerance" policy for brawling/fighting on every board, resulting in immediate suspension for at least 7 days (if you ignore the PM warnings). These new rules will be enforced in 7 days, giving everyone time to read this post and not claim ignorance. Disrespect for ESP and any TM's besides TM3/4 will be against the rules and up for suspension. Brawl on the Wall will cease to exist; on 2.0 it will be moving to an archive. All the non-brawling topics will be moved to a general discussion board called Downtime; brawling will be retired (definition: slander/personal attacks/mob mentality). I can't do any of this on Temp TMA, so instead we'll just be renaming the board to General Discussion for now. On 2.0 there will once again be boards for every TM, so you can talk about each one separately and without insulting or fighting with other TM fans from other boards. TT will be and is for clean and respectful discussion of all TM's only, and future TM's. I want TMA to be a more user friendly and welcoming place to new users; even if they only ask stupid questions (we were all stupid once). Some of you may consider a lot of these changes as 'mainstreaming', and I agree (but not so far we'd ever support TM3/4). Everyone can keep to their respective boards on 2.0 and all will be happy; no need to beat endless dead horses, no more friction. Love the TM's you love!

In other news a Ghost Mod was instated to help deal with all the spam that the other mods have been slacking on (or taking a well-deserved break from). I'd just like to say I very much appreciate all the hard work our active admins Archminion/Magnum/Mosh have done with keeping spam at bay and welcoming new users. When I think of perfect admins, it's you guys. And a big thank you goes out to Wolfenhex for this server; without that there would be nothing. Donations have always been pertinent, but I understand the fact they dried up due to my lack of updating the community about the development of 2.0; that totally falls on me. That said, I can't guarantee Temp TMA will even remain online up until I finish 2.0.

So there you have it. I predict lots of boos, hisses, and maybe some cheers. Hopefully no backlash. I hope to post screenshots between now and launch (maybe even a youtube video; dunno yet). Just remember, 2.0 doesn't just make itself (it's not quite 'that' revolutionary). NightShade will be replying to this topic with another option to the situation.

Your webmaster,
Mort.