Hey all! It's been too long. Way too long. As a result of my extended absence from the site, I wanted to take a few minutes to let you know what's been happening with me and BeyondUnreal over this past year or so, and give you a glimpse of what we have planned for 2006. As you read this article, please keep in mind that the editorial comments contained within are my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the rest of the BU staff.At some point in 2004 (yeah, last year...), I got completely disenchanted with all things Unreal-related. The grind of UT2004, specifically, left me completely bored. Now, I know a lot of you (over 10,000 unique visitors per day) still enjoy the game, and related Unreal-engine games, very much. For me, though, there was no joy in UT-land, and really hasn't been since UT99.Around the end of 2004, I pretty much bagged playing UT at all, and pretty much disappeared from BeyondUnreal. My mind basically just 'shut down' when confronted with anything Unreal-related. I needed something else to play, something that provided me with a new challenge, new fun. I also needed to spend some time with my wife and kids, whom I had severely neglected since starting Nali City way back in 1998.I picked up a copy of Dawn of War, which served as a "bridge" game for me between UT and what I'm currently playing, Guild Wars. My sons were into it as well, and we had many memorable battles. Playing the games with my kids was something that provided me with both an escape from the realities of life, and quality time with my kids.During this time, my RealLife(tm) job continued to become more and more stressful. I actually missed work for over a week due to continual nausea. It was a pretty serious thing. I even went in for a brain MRI, as they had to rule out any problems there. Fortunately (and as many of you might have expected), they found nothing inside my skull (grin). Fact was, I was completely stressed and depressed, and I had to come to terms with some pretty serious work issues.