In any case: Partly due to the riots (which are rumored to have been started by Sven Co-op supporters?), and with some help from Haribo (there were conditions... from v3.5 onwards, health kits will take the form of delicious Haribo snacks), we regained control of our domain and web server, and everything turned out all right after all. I am temporarily stuck here in Britain, but as I managed to pick up a truly excellent tent from a Sven's Discount Store going-out-of-business sale, and have located directives for the manufacture of sustenance, that's not a serious problem.

As for the various Sven's Discount Co-operative employees:

• Robert Nobel got divorced from his wife because of his "other" relationship, became depressed and quit his job.
• Charles and Larry Carling went into hiding because of death threats.
• Brian suffered a nervous breakdown after finding that his bathtub had been filled entirely with frogs.
• Jason Decksix became involved in drug dealing and was shot to death by rival gang members.
• Sven Mübêtam was run over by a mysterious guy in a car. He died and his company collapsed. A well-known construction company was among the many businesses adversely affected by the bankruptcy.
• Nobody really noticed that Harry Wolfe existed... not sure of what happened to him.

And so everything went back to normal... with Sven's Discount Co-operative bankrupt, there's nothing to stop us from using the title "Sven Co-op" once more (it now appears that SDC never actually registered the trademark, in any case), so the Viking Assault site is now obsolete. Please revert your bookmarks to http://www.svencoop.com/

Hopefully beta testing for Sven Co-op v3.5 will be able to begin shortly. Happy April Fools Day, everyone -- and our sincere gratitude to everyone who helped or offered help to us during the tribulations!

Edit: In other news, we are currently being sued for trademark infringement by the Silent Heroes: Viking Assault mod team. Details to follow... (joking)

Sorry that we've been unable to be honest about what has been happening with the mod recently -- we had been forbidden to discuss the matter until after our hearing date.

Over the past few weeks, Sven Co-op (the Half-Life modification) has been fighting an epic legal battle over the control of our web domain against Sven Mübêtam, the founder of Sven's Discount Co-operative stores, who accused us of web-squatting on the site address.

Unfortunately, due to a few legal blunders (such as Sven Viking, inspired by Gyakuten Saiban, choosing to defend the mod himself -- then getting himself arrested for contempt of court), the jury ruled in SDC's favour. In fact, they awarded Sven's Discount Co-operative not only the domain name, but also the entire SvenCoop.com web server :(.

The result of this is that we have now lost control over the domain and server... Sven Mübêtam has already had his web development team put in place a new website, and take control of the old forums... doesn't seem that they've bothered with clearing all the old data, though.

Also as a result of the ruling, we're having to change the name of the mod -- which is now to be known as Viking Assault.

We're using this 50webs.com account as a temporary location while in the process of looking for a new server. Sven Viking is still currently being held in Britain while awaiting deportation, which is delaying things somewhat.