Login Register

The Hangout

The Hangout is a shared room where you watch Metal TV with other people. The channel plays for everyone in the room, alongside a live chat, voice and video, and multiplayer games. Open it from the Hangout link in the header. It is for signed-in members, so if you are logged out that link opens the sign-up panel first (an account is free). The number beside the link shows how many people are in the room right now.

Watching together

  • The player sits at the top of the room and keeps playing while you chat, talk or play a game.
  • The bottom bar has a music volume slider and mute for the stream, separate from voice.
  • Everything else (chat, voice, cameras, games) is layered around the player without stopping it.

Chat and who is here

The live chat runs down the middle, with the list of people currently in the room beside it. Right-click (or long-press) a name in that list to see what you can do with them, including challenging them to a game.

Voice chat

  • Join: press Join in the bottom bar. Your browser asks for microphone permission the first time; allow it. Press again to leave.
  • Mute / deafen: the mic button mutes just your microphone; deafen silences everyone else too (and mutes you). A speaking ring shows around each person's avatar while they talk.
  • Volume: the voice volume slider sets how loud other people are, with a small meter showing your own mic level.
  • Fine-tuning: open Settings (the gear) and go to the Voice tab to pick your microphone, toggle noise suppression, echo cancellation and auto gain, set a talk threshold (so quiet background sound is not sent), and run a mic test that plays your voice back to you.

Cameras

Press the camera button in the bar to share your webcam; press it again to turn it off. Camera tiles appear in a column beside the chat and are hidden until someone turns a camera on. Pick which camera to use, and see a live preview, in Settings → Video. Sharing voice or video is always your choice and off until you turn it on.

Games

You can challenge another person in the room to a game. Right-click their name in the user list, choose Games, then Scorched Earth. They get an invite; once they accept, a game tab opens next to the Watch tab. The stream stays mounted and the music keeps playing, so you can flip between watching and playing.

  • Scorched Earth is a turn-based artillery duel: set your angle and power, pick a weapon, and fire across the terrain. Wind pushes your shot, so adjust for it. Every battle rolls a random battlefield: green hills under a blue sky, a volcanic hellscape, or the ocean floor, with rock piles scattered around that explosions send flying.
  • Weapons: the Rocket (red) is your unlimited default; the Cluster Bomb (pink) bursts and rains smaller bombs; Napalm (orange) bursts in the air and drops a curtain of fire that the wind steers, watch it does not blow back on you, and the flames run downhill where they land; the Railgun (green) fires an instant full-power beam that punches a little way into terrain and hits very hard; the Shotgun (brown) blasts a fan of pellets, devastating at point blank, and can dig you out if you are buried; the Grenade (grass green) bounces twice and explodes on its third landing, or instantly if it touches a tank. Everything except the rocket has limited ammo per game. Switch from the icons under the board; the aim marker changes with the weapon.
  • Fuel: the dark green fuel can is not a weapon. Select it and the aim keys drive your tank instead; every step burns fuel, and you get a fresh tank of 200 at the start of every turn. The tanks have spider treads: they crawl straight up and down cliff faces, and stopping mid-face sticks them to the wall. Moving does not end your turn, so you can reposition and then fire. Explosions shove tanks around (splash nudges, a direct hit can send one on a short tumbling hop) - except napalm, which leaves its victim sitting in the flames.
  • Controls: aim and power work from the keyboard (arrow keys by default, Space fires), or grab the power gauge coming off the barrel with your mouse and drag it: the direction you drag sets the angle, and how far up the gauge you drag sets the power, all in one motion. A key legend sits in the corner of the board; you can close it, and it comes back next game. Rebind the keys in Settings → Games.
  • Sound: a game-sound volume slider appears in the bottom bar while a game is running.
  • Rematch: when a game ends, use Play again. If you both click it a fresh match starts. If the other person already left, it sends them a new challenge instead; and if they challenge you while you are waiting, it starts straight away without asking again.

Settings

The Settings gear in the bottom bar opens a dialog with Profile, Voice, Video and Games tabs. Your device choices (microphone, camera, noise settings) are remembered on that device.

The Hangout is covered by our Community Guidelines: keep voice, video and chat friendly, and keep it about the music. On a phone the room stacks into a single column so it all still fits.