Who remembers PBMegaStore.com? The website is relaunching under new ownership and aims to bring back paintball to those who love to play with their online sales, knowledgeable staff, and exceptional customer service! This marks the first time that the name has been active since the 10-man days!

Be sure to check them out at their Facebook fan page and stay up-to-date on the latest news and announcements. A newly revamped store-front should be launching very soon!

www.pbmegastore.com
www.facebook.com/PBMegaStore

Paintball gun manufacture Vanguard suffers yet another setback to their business operations. According to a press release we received from Vanguard US, the company has severed relations with US distributor and service center Aggressive Sports and plans to reorganize its operations.

ProPaintball insiders, as of writing, have no idea as to what the future holds for Vanguard in the United States. According to the press release from Aggressive Sports, basic repair is being completed and returned. Customers seeking warranty repair will need to reach out to Vanguard UK for additional information.

Vanguard has had a short but tumultuous history in paintball. In 2006, Vanguard launched as Lucky Paintball with a mission to design high quality paintball guns and gear and sell them at affordable prices. Since then, the company has operated under a series of brand names including Lucky, Evolve, Gunlimited, and Vanguard. Many of you will recall that back in 2007, Lucky shocked the paintball community when they shuttered US operations, choosing instead to refocus and reorganize both their product lines and reassess the market. After the closing, rumors circulated that new paintball guns were in development and that a renewed push would be made into the USA. In 2008 we caught a sneak peak at a new paintball gun known as the Vanguard by Gunlimited would be coming to market. Shortly after we published the video, news began to leak that the company would once again be rebranding themselves, this time choosing to utilize the name Vanguard. In late 2009, Vanguard once again reorganized operations. In 2010 it was announced they would be replacing the Vanguard US and Canadian staff with Kathy & Eric Roydson from Aggressive Sports. Now, in 2012, it appears that is time for yet another reorganization – this time with Frank Connell behind the wheel.

Press Release from Aggressive Sports

VANGUARD US NO LONGER WORKING WITH VANGUARD PAINTBALL

Corona, ca, February 3, 2012:  It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Vanguard US will not be renewing our contract with Vanguard paintball for 2012 and will no longer be acting as the Customer Service or Warranty center for Vanguard in the United States/Canada.

What this means for our customers and Dealers:

Effective immediately the US customer service and warranty center is closed.  Any guns that are currently in for basic repair will processed as normal and you should expect to be getting a call or email from Kat in the next few days.  If your gun is in for Warranty repair you will need to contact the UK office of Vanguard directly for more information as to what is going to happen with your warranty claim and when to expect your gun back.  All markers currently in the US warranty center or on their way in are being shipped to the United Kingdom immediately If you have recently placed an order with vanguardus.com you will be receiving your products as normal and our online store will remain open for any parts you need.  The business line will remain open as we use it for other parts of our company and all vanguardus.com emails will be active for the time being but any/all questions about customer service or warranty issues need to be sent directly to Vanguard Paintball UK.

Both Eric and I have thoroughly enjoyed running the customer service and warranty center for the past 2 years and all of the interactions that we have had with our customers.  We will now be focusing more on our custom gun anodizing business as well as looking for lots of new products for our online store at aggressivesports.net.  We look forward to providing the same great customer service as we’ve always offered, just in a brand new way!

Kathlynn & Eric Roysdon
Owners
Aggressive Sports Distribution
Vanguard US

What are your thoughts?

The American Paintball Players Association (APPA) has unveiled a new paintball website for 2012. Available now via paintball-players.org, the new paintball website features a refined interface and ten new features to improve your paintball experience.

The APPA has a new paintball website

We caught up with Chris Raehl and Joe Rieger of the APPA for an inside look at the new features on Paintball-Players.org. Here is a first look at the new features;

1. We have shed our 1997 HTML2.0 look for a nice yet functional new layout.
2. New “quick links” section in the left sidebar to get you where you need to go.
3. Everyone can pick a username and use that to log in to their profile
4. No more team logins; your teams are paired with your player profile and you use your player login for both.
5. You can add additional players to be team owners, or if you want them to have restricted access, make them team managers only so they can sign your team up and manage rosters but you can take away their privs later if you want.
6. No more remembering ID numbers of your players – your team pages now include member lists, which include all the players who have ever played for your team.  You can remove and add players to your team member list.
7. Brand new team registration and roster pages – add players from any of the teams you manage to your roster with a single mouse click; roster pages are also much easier to read and include player photos and ages.
8. New Season Entry and Pick-Up team options for leagues; allowing you to pay for a full season at once, or pay for an event as a single player and be paired up with other pick-up players on a team.
9. RaceTo-2 scoreboards are a bit more intuitive with each set of three scores lined up in a column.
10. New player badges for PbN so you can show (and you can know other posters’) APPA class.

We are digging the refinements and usability improvements, especially the team history/player id’s and the ability to login with a username rather than a string of numbers. Thumbs up to Chris and Joe on the new paintball website!

Gabfest paintball video

BuyPBL’s Gabfest is back with another great episode. This time around, Gabfest had a chance to sit down with Richmond Italia, CEO of Procaps & GI Sportz. There is tons of great information packed in here and we highly recommend you check it out.

“In this the second episode of Gab-Fest, we sit down with the industry’s elite Richmond Italia, CEO of GI Sportz and ProCaps. Richmond has just re-claimed the helm of his creation; the ProCaps facility. In this massive episode we explore the many reasons for the sale of ProCaps as well as its recent re-purchase. We also explore some of the major headlines in the industry. So comment, share, like, and thank our sponsors for making this exciting second season of Gab-Fest Possible.

Click here to view the embedded video.

DYE Snow Gear

In Febuary 2011, rumors circulated that DYE was preparing to unveil Ski and Snowboard gear. A sneak peak of the new snow line was offered in a top secret booth at the 2011 PSP World Cup, while other elements were held for the Snow Show. Until  now, not much has been known about this new DYE Snow line.

A few minutes ago we were alerted that DYE was launching the 2012 DYE Snow line at the Snow Show in Denver, CO. The DYE Snow line will be available for the world to see tomorrow through Sunday. If you are in the area, be sure to stop by booth #515. For those of you who are unable to make it, DYESnow.com is now online.

Check out this video of the new DYE T1 Ski goggle.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The official press release from DYE SNOW:

San Diego, California (January 25, 2012) – DYE Precision Incorporated is proud to announce the launch of their new website dyesnow.com. The website showcases the flagship T1 Goggle, Protective Line & Casual Line.

Look for DYE at SIA Snow Show booth #515, in Denver, CO, January 26-29, 2012, where we will be debuting the full line of T1 goggles and more.

In addition, look for our sponsored athletes Markus Malin and Zack Black competing in the Superpipe during the 2012 Winter X Games.

Paintball makes an appearance on National TV! Read on for more details!

The CMT (Country Music Television) hit- “Sweet Home Alabama” recently featured paintball as a reality show challenge. The show highlighted EMPIRE BT Battle Tested paintball gear with players wearing V-Force goggles and using chest protectors in a woodsball setting. The episode’s paintball footage was filmed on location at Xtreme Paintball in Mobile, Alabama.

“Sweet Home Alabama” is a reality television show which pits “City Guys” and “Country Boys” against one another to win the affection of the lovely former NASCAR spokesmodel Paige Duke. As each episode passes, another male contestant is eliminated.

Paintball has been featured on reality television before as a safe and competitive challenge. What are your thoughts? How should the paintball industry reach out to television productions like CMT’s ”Sweet Home Alabama”?

Watch the bonus Paintball Footage Here!

Hydrotech recently released an update video on their soon to be released line of paintballs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Veterans will come to see that the production line of Hydrotech seems to differ greatly than that of traditional paintball manufacturing. Instead of pressing sheets of gelatin base to form a shell while simultaneously injecting the ball with paint, Hydrotech seems to be creating whole sheets of “half-paintballs” which are then joined. A very interesting take on the production of paintballs.

Hydrotech began advertising themselves in 2010, but have yet to see a launch of their main line product.  Using corn by-product, the shell Hydrotech uses is said to be immune to things like swelling and softening. We are waiting to see how this innovative product will change the paintball landscape.

Chris Cole and Zodiac Paintball have unveiled a new paintball website just in time for 2012.

New Paintball Website for Zodiac PB

The new Zodiac Paintball website features information on the companies flagship gun, the ZR1 Renegade. The ZR1 renegade paintball gun features a hoseless design, an integrated LPR, hater electronic board, and SHIV barrel kit.

Check out ZodiacPB.com for more information.

MacDev has upgraded their website and branding for 2012. Check out the new paintball website, and the line of high quality guns from one of the best family owned businesses in paintball.

Get everything you’re looking for this season when upgrading your MacDev equipment. Maintenance parts, bolt kits, markers, air management and more. MacDev is looking fresh for 2012. ProPaintball caught up with MacDev’s Bourke Grundy for a few words:

“We are proud to announce the opening of the new MacDev website. We welcome you to take a look, learn a bit about our company, our teams, and products. Stay tuned for exciting news in 2012. Happy Holidays! — The team at MacDev”

Keep your MacDev paintball gear in top notch working order- Check out the new MacDev website for more details!

Greg Pauley and Omaha VICIOUS recently parted ways. Prior to this, GP had worked at paintball store DSSP8NTBALL.com. Greg has a ton of experience running a paintball store. We figured it was only a matter of time before GP started working in another awesome paintball store. Here is the official press release;

Greg Pauley to join the Avid Extreme Sports team!

Avid Extreme Sports is pleased to announce the addition of Greg Pauley! With Greg’s past experience and knowledge of hosting amazing events, his main focus will be coordinating, promoting and hosting events of all types for Avid Extreme Sports in both our Oklahoma City and Plano, Texas locations. For those of you that are not familiar with Greg Pauley, he has been in the paintball industry for over 10 years, coordinated multiple paintball series and has coached a variety of successful teams at all levels.

Ryan Gray, President at Avid Extreme Sports, “We are very excited to have Greg join our team. He brings a variety of knowledge about paintball promotions to our company. We are looking to not only bolster our already successful tournament series, the AES Race To, but he will also be tasked with adding scenario, Avid play days at local fields and many others!” 2012 is looking bright for paintball in the South!

Greg will be located at our Plano, TX location. To reach him by email gp@avidextremesports.com.

DSSP8NTBALL.COM is sporting a brand new paintball web site.

New Paintball Gear Store - DSS P8NTBALL.com

Discount Specialty Sports (DSS) is well known for their direct Pro grade paintball equipment- the same kind Pro Paintball team VICIOUS use. The website is easy to surf with all your favorite gear on the board. With clean and clear web pages, it’s no sweat browsing through products like the 2011 VICIOUS series Pro Jerseys.

DSS and Vicious have been long time supporters of ProPaintball and the work that we do. Please, thank them for their support and check out all the hot deals and Pro VICIOUS gear at DSSP8NTBALL.com.