This past Saturday, featuring eight teams was a tournament to win cash prizes in the first ever TBH-Cup. Fnatic defeated Frankfurt 69ers in the first round. The Swedes went to destroy n!faculty 16-2 in the second round. While mousesports had canceled their participation, Swedes got an automatic spot in the Grand Final. n!faculty won two of the three maps they were suppose to play, and became the 1st champion of the TBH-Cup.

de_nuke: n!faculty(16) vs Fnatic(8)

de_train: n!faculty(16) vs Fnatic(9)

Source: HLTV.org

A special Quake Live broadcast and a Street Fighter legend come to Live On Three this weekend, with hosts Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham & Rod “Slasher” Breslau broadcasting finals day coverage of the Silent Gamers Cup. The online event is being held to help raise awareness of the league, which will help serve the needs of those in the deaf and hard of hearing community. North America’s top duelers Shane “rapha” Hendrixson, Tim “DaHanG” Fogarty, Tom “griffin” Wall, Chance Lacina are all participating, including the appearance of the legendary John “ZeRo4” Hill. All the action starts at 2 PM EST with the pre-game show starting at 1:30 PM EST with predictions and interviews. We will have player interviews over the course of the event as well as the winner at the end.

At the conclusion of the event, which we have put roughly at 6 PM EST, Street Fighter legend Alex Valle will be coming on to talk about a new fighting tournament series he is a part of that is launching called the SoCal Level|Up Tournament series. The debut event will is set to take place next weekend, February 27th, at Dave & Busters at The Block at Orange. There will be a 64-man tournament in Street Fighter 4 and Tekken 6, featuring the west coast’s top players and a bonus $1,000 for each winner. Level|Up CEO Jimmy “ShinJN” Nguyen and media specialist AJ “PotatoHead” Papa will be joining the call as well to talk about the release and concept of this project, the first event next weekend, and what we might see in the future, including the release of Super Street Fighter 4 in the near future.

Other news topics they will touch on:

Starcraft 2 Beta is out! Will discuss our thoughts so far and those of the hardcore Starcraft community

Major League Gaming has launched the site for their Combine event series, as well as announced the dates and locations for their first four events, which will be held in Nashville (Mar 26-28), Chicago (May 14-16), Denver (Jul 23-25) and Washington DC (Oct15-17).

The Electronic Sports League has announced a $170,000 prize purse for their Global Finals at CeBIT next month.

It has also been noted that the ESL has removed the Intel logo from the German portion of its website, and has said that changes will be coming with the combined power of two partners. Could Intel no longer be affiliated with ESL?

Tune in at 1:30 PM EST for all the action starting with the Silent Gamers Quake Live Cup, and 6 PM EST for the Level|Up fighting game tournament series.

According to both Zotob.org and HLTV.org, one of the most notable organizations in Chinese esports has folded. This comes just months after they announced their pickup of 4 experienced Chendu-based players. wNv.cn’s website is also down, leaving no ability for an official press-release via their organization. This leaves the following 4 teamless:

Yangbo “P1rate” Dai
Shuangbo “Kuber” Dai
YuanJun “7hreeCat” Fang
Wei “forever” Yu

For our next installment of the Syndicate Interview Series, we’re thrilled to sit down with one of the founding fathers of eSports journalism: Trevor “Midway” Schmidt.

Over the years Trevor has been a player, team manager, journalist, broadcaster, and most notably, one of the founders of Gotfrag.com.  His contributions to eSports have been significant and his current inactivity is pointed to by many as one of the reasons North American eSports journalism has been in decline.

Thanks very much for sitting down with us.  Let’s start with some foundational questions.  What first attracted you to eSports?  Why did you decide to stop playing professionally and move into the journalism side of gaming?  What were the early days at Domain of Games like?  How did Gotfrag originally develop in 2002 and who was involved?

Wow that’s a lot of questions in one.  Well I first grew a passion for eSports in College where I played baseball.  I’ve always enjoyed sports and been an avid fan of almost every sport you can name (I’ve gotten a kick out of learning and watching rare sports like Curling during the Winter Olympics).  One of my younger brother’s friends turned me onto Counter-Strike during its initial release.  I realized the game was different and saw its potential.  I got lucky early on to be exposed to some of the players of the best West Coast team at the time, Weekend Warriors (WEW).  I rose to leadership in that team and was asked to help out with RiTD, (Rumble in The Desert – the premier CS league at that time). 

A battle was brewing between RiTD and Domain of Games which was joining forces with CPL.  Eventually RiTD lost due to its focus on wanting to remain a 7v7 league.  How I ended up working for “the other side” was more of a fluke.  Frank Nuccio, commissioner of CPL/CAL/DoG and basically the man pushing CS at the time offered me the chance to take over the coverage of Domain of Games.   I had a history in Journalism in high school; I had been awarded for writing the Best Sports Article in the state of Oregon my senior year.  It sounded like a great merger of my two loves, CS/eSports and Journalism.

Later I ran into a lot of trouble with Frank because he wanted the entire focus of eSports on CPL/CAL, I felt like the entire space deserved to be covered, and that no one company should control everything.  Those feelings guided me throughout my time with GotFrag as well.  That difference of opinion forced me out onto my own.  I started working with some East Coast friends of mine, team RDW, and together we build GotFrag.

Over the years Gotfrag became a pillar of eSports journalism and coverage.  When you first founded the site, did you ever imagine how large it would become?  What was your favorite year with Gotfrag and why?

When I first started GotFrag I knew we were capable of building something special.  There was a lot of buzz and interest on IRC and around eSports.  Still it’s hard to believe and even understand how little eSports was when GotFrag first opened.  eSports was nothing more then a few online leagues and blog sites.  It felt to me that without someone to put the spotlight onto the players they wouldn’t receive the recognition they deserved. As much as players, teams and often fans hated some of the things I wrote, every feeling they had help to build this sport.  Every love or hate a fan had was a brick put in place to establish the building that is eSports.  The more GotFrag could create those emotions the more we helped eSports grow. 

My favorite year in GotFrag’s grow would probably be 2003.  We started to really see traction and could feel eSports pulling itself up to its potential future. 

If you had to point at one accomplishment at Gotfrag, which one are you most proud of and why?  (ie- Gamesense, GotfragTV, event coverage, etc)

Our Journalistic integrity.  People could be mad about what we wrote or just not agree with what we said.  But I don’t feel anyone ever called us a liar or said we made something up.  We exposed some pretty tough stories from Gary Sanchez stealing from his players, the tough MiBR vs 3D matches at WCG and the various rule change articles we exposed.  I felt no one can argue that GotFrag was a positive influence on this community and that makes me proud. 

In 2007 Gotfrag was sold to Major League Gaming (“MLG”) for millions of dollars.  In retrospect are you glad the property was sold or do you wish it had remained independent?  What are your thoughts about the status of the current Gotfrag?  Do you feel MLG has let down the Counter-Strike user base?

It’s pretty clear that GotFrag doesn’t have the resources it once did.  That’s a shame and it’s because of the leadership of its current staff that it still remains a part of this community.  But part of me wonders if GotFrag’s current shape is really MLG’s fault or just a reflection of our current community.  Two major games have come along since Counter-Strike first became the leading eSports game.  Halo and WoW have both taken huge pieces of what was a CS pie.  Just remember CS took that pie from Quake before it. 

What have you been doing to keep busy since your departure from eSports?   Rumor has it that there may be a Mrs. Midway in the picture?

I’ve been focused on my personal life.  Julie Armbruster accepted my proposal in October and we are planning a wedding in April.  It’s been a very happy time for me.  I think anyone who has had a serious relationship would understand that choices are made when it comes to eSports and gaming.  It’s hard to make another person the priority in your life when you are spending so much time in front of a computer playing games.  Leaving GotFrag has left me the time and energy to focus on her and balancing my life for the future.

Do you see yourself returning to eSports or do have you moved on?   Have you considered starting a new gaming site?

I haven’t moved on but I have also realized how valuable my time is when it comes to spending it with my future wife or working on a project for eSports.  I don’t want to be involved with ten different things and not see any of them succeed.  I’ve had chances to build a new team or be a part of different leagues.  Still nothing has felt exactly right or been what I wanted.  When the situation presents itself I’ll be back and fully focused on whatever I choose with my full attention. 

What is your opinion about the current state of professional gaming?  What things are working and what things aren’t? 

Well what isn’t working is a model based on sponsorship dollars.  Look how fast that dried up.  CGS, WSVG and CPL were all focused on one thing, selling Intel or another sponsor on giving them as much money as they could.   If we want eSports to grow we are going to have to do it.  That means the players are going to have to build an infrastructure were the fans will support it.  Look at the groups that have done well in this economy.  ESL and ESEA are both based in large part of their connection to the fans.  Both charge subscriptions and create a connection to their audience.  Without the fans paying, or at least financially supporting eSports, it won’t grow.

The free ride on the backs of Intel and other sponsors is over.  It’s time to earn your living from the fans by providing them something they want.    

What is your opinion about Counter-Strike ProMod (“CSP”)?  Do you think it will be able to revitalize the game?

The key is development.  CSP isn’t going to fix Counter-Strike tomorrow.  Anyone who expected CSP to come out and change/revitalize this game or eSports in a day is just not being realistic or fails to understand the history of gaming.  It took the original makers of Counter-Strike years to make the game we love.  CSP is an ambitious project but the hard part is ahead, not behind it.  Putting out a product isn’t hard, creating a product everyone loves is.  That process takes a step by step approach.  The real question is will the community allow that process to happen?  I’m concerned the weight of all these expectations could not allow this project to actually develop and succeed.   

In your opinion, who is the single best Counter-Strike player to ever play the game?  Who is/was the most overrated player?

Single best player would have to come down to four names; Heaton, Ksharp, Rambo and Potti.  They are the four cornerstones of Counter-Strike in North America and Europe.  Who is the best among those four? Well when they met in best match in CS history (X3 vs NiP) the one who had the biggest game was Ksharp.  His performance against NiP was one of legend; still he has to be happy he played a position next to Porter.  Heaton is an amazing player but he reminds me of a home run hitter in baseball who creams crappy pitchers and is just mediocre against the best pitchers.  Potti never really had much success without Heaton and while he was an amazing player he just never jumped off the page to me.  That leaves Rambo.  His contribution to CS is just staggering.  He’s been around since the beginning (I mean the VERY beginning) and he never got the recognition.  He had Lasik eye surgery to improve his eye sight.  Was a major force on three game changing teams; coL, 3D and X3.  He proved he was more then a skilled player with his strategy and leadership abilities later in his career.  If I had to pick one player and I know this might be a bit of a shock to a lot of people I’d have to say Rambo is the best player to play CS.  His entire body of work is staggering and his longevity is unmatched by the other three players I mentioned.

Over the years several organizations have been accused of “shady business” like not paying out prize money.  Now that you’re “independent” and outside the game, what thoughts, information and opinions can you share about that?

I would never have said this while working for GotFrag because it might have really hurt the sport but I would never want to be a player.  The amount of crap you had to deal with just to get your check when a tournament ended was insane.  I’d think most fans would be shocked to know how little of the “promised” payouts tournaments offered actually get sent out.  Almost every big name event at one point or another didn’t pay its prize money.  It’s sad how rampant it was.  I know groups like G7 (G8 now) were formed just because of this terrible behavior.  The reality like I talk about above though is that all of these events live on a very fine line.  They are a house of cards, if a sponsor refused to pay there was no money to pay the players.  Without a source of income that’s outside of sponsorship, there’s really no way to “guarantee” prize money.  That’s why most players seek out teams with salary; it’s the only way to know you’ll have a pay check.  Tournament money is great but honestly it’s often as phony as the big media check they give you when the event ends.     

Looking to the future, do you think PC gaming will remain a strong platform or are consoles taking over?

Because of the development costs associated with building a good first person shooter the reality is that PC gaming is not viable in its current format.  Why do you think MMORPG is so popular?  All the developers dump their money into that genre because they can not only charge for the game but also get monthly subscriptions.  It’s hard to justify spending all that money developing a PC game when all you get is the upfront purchase.  Why do you think Valve no longer really makes games?  It’s more profitable to build a platform like Steam and sell them.  Gamers aren’t paying them to improve CS:Source or CS 1.6.  So why should they?  Every one of the 12 million people subscribed to WoW is paying Blizzard a month fee though so there’s HUGE incentive for them to keep updating WoW. 

Consoles are winning the battle for good competitive games because it’s easier to build games for consoles.  You know what hardware is in the gamer’s computer.  Think about it; every console (either XBOX or PS3) has the same hardware.  The same PC, video card, RAM etc.  So you can optimize how you use that system as a software developer to get them most out of the product.   That’s nearly impossible on a PC.  In order to get wide scale appeal the game has to be playable on 5 year old system but also excel and push the newer systems.  Most new ground breaking PC titles are built more now to establish an engine to run the games of the next generation. 

If you could give any advice to an aspiring eSports journalist, what would it be?

Find your passion.  What do you love about eSports?  Why do you love it?  It’s hard to write quality content without a place for it to come from.  I always felt like if you loved something you could write about it better then anyone else. 

Thanks again for the interview.  Any final comments or shoutouts?

Thanks to Complexity for continuing to hang in there.  I know CGS took us all for a ride and it’s sad we, not them, were left to pick up the pieces.  Let’s hope we can find the right answers to make the future better. 

Shoutouts to all friends from GotFrag; Lee Chen, Jason Coene, Joe Hoffend, Scott Smith, Jason Baker, Mark Cheben, Marc Turner, Jason Roman and Nick Bee.  And of course coL’s only Jason Bass.

Psychology & WoW  

by Sascha “Yiska” Heinisch

While the execution of most moves in WoW aren’t exactly an art form, the timing of the moves most definitely is. Even though the game is limited by a global cooldown that prohibits you from using most abilities more than every 1.0-1.5 seconds, your enemy still performs theirs in the meantime, which you have to detect and act accordingly. Because of the current state of the game, the margin of error you can allow yourself got a lot smaller. One poor decision, be it because of missing key information, misjudging a situation, predicting an enemy move incorrectly or just drawing the wrong conclusion and your game might go downhill. Your mind has to be fresh at all times.

Most gamers would agree that they have good days, in which just about every clutch headshot/surround/ interrupt works, and bad days. Let’s not talk about those, I guess… If you have ever come home from a hard day at the office, trying to perform in a competitive environment and you felt like you’ve been robbed of the ability to comprehend just about anything that is happening on the battlefield, you know what I’m talking about.

While this is of course true for every e-sport, I’d say that WoW players suffer among the most. The information is presented in a half numeric, half visual form and requires immense capacity to be on top of your game. WoW arena, unless you are heavily outskilling your opponent, is not a the game you want to play to relax. Depending of what you did before an arena session, your performance will differ greatly.  Now of course each and every individual is different and the duration we can concentrate varies. Still, if I know my arena session is going to start soon I don’t want to read a book or watch a movie because this also requires me to absorb information that is thrown at me. What I want to do is let my mind wander. We aren’t designed to concentrate for that many hours.

So, I tried to find a way to get into a productive mood and oddly enough I learned from my (awful) computer. When he can’t handle the information I’m giving him, he starts lagging until he can once again deal with it. Sometimes the RAM is just full (because of poor coding) and you need to reboot. I am very poorly coded as well (you’ve got no idea) and I push my personal reset button by going out for a 30-50 minute jog. Others might find theirs in a power nap or working out in the gym. When I come out of the shower, I feel like I just woke up and had my first coffee. I’m ready to devour more of the simply insane amounts of information WoW floods me with and I unfortunately still make poor decisions, but that is really just because I’m not a good player. My mind just goes blue screen and so does this analogy. I leave the good decisions to Venruki, Sodah, Flexx and the others.

If we play our best, we can win every game – Twixz

The quote above is perfect for WoW because the structure of the day is so important for every team and the top is pretty close together. Jet-lag can really hurt your game and we have seen it before. For me, it is no coincidence, though, that the champions of the past couple of month were teams who all had one thing in common: They were confident.

Be it SK-Sansibar, Button Bashers or coL.Black, those guys never shy away from an interview. These teams are notorious for filling gaming halls around the world with their battlecries of “Kill Him,” “Töte ihn!”(German) or 쏴 죽임(Korean). The advantage is apparent; These guys bring their comfort-zones to the tournament in their suitcase as if they were playing at home.

I’m not just rambling here, because confidence really is that important in WoW and it materializes in the actual game play of every single game. If you have a plan in your head, you will obviously react faster, making your team better in the process. Momentum has been a key factor since WotLK came out and once it’s lost, it’s really hard to come back while being on the defense. Most of the time it will drain so many important cooldowns that you won’t be able to sustain the momentum and decide the match in your favor.  RMP is a classic example, as the opener for this comp is so important for the entire match that a bad start can already throw you back far too much. Because of the global cooldown, you often have to decide between an offensive move and a defensive one. If you need to apply Ice Barrier and Counterspell defensively on the opponent’s Mage, you are on the defense and it will be hard for you to score a kill any time soon in most cases.

Next, there is outsmarting and like in every other game, staying a step ahead of an opponent player is not an easy task and the better they are, the less you can predict them. Mind games occur which manifest themselves, for example, in fake casting. For the non WoW-readers: Skilled players fake cast to lure out an interrupt which often has a couple of seconds of cooldown and if those hit they not only interrupt the cast, but they also lock you out from casting another spell in the next 4-10 seconds. Because of the nature of WoW which is played on the internet, there is latency and even though you might see the casting bar on your screen, the enemy player might have just stopped casting and “faked your counter.” Now, a true battle of out smarting each other goes down in almost every match. Skilled interrupters will analyze the faking behavior of their opponent (for example they fake late at 1.1 sec) while amazing casters will switch their behavior when they fake so they stay as unpredictable as possible. It’s a mini-game, not much different from rock, paper, scissors, which is a skill game after all. The great mind will always guess right more often and win the series.

There are other mind games going on in WoW though. A great example are the strategies that coL.Red performed in Orlando. Because they had 4 players on their roster, they had a couple of comps they could effectively run against an opponent. For example they would let Venruki sit down and shortly before the game started Snutz would switch chairs with him. The advantage they gain from this is that the opponent team created their gear, spec and maybe even setup according to the comp they thought they would meet. These surprise effects do win games like we saw against EG.

The most impressive usage of psychological warfare was arguably the switch that coL.Black made at MLG Orlando, when the series against Button Bashers was tied at 2-2. They knew that Protection Warriors had been the bane of the Koreans in the past and took full advantage of this, winning the series 4-2, sending BB to the loser’s bracket. Check mate.

A player that had psychological warfare down to an art form was of course SK.Realz early last year. While many argued that he wasn’t individually the strongest Priest in the scene, he was still a great leader. He earned his nickname “Dr.Realz” when they played in Blizzard’s American Regionals, when his RMP beat the later to be World Champions while the other RMPs failed.

As you can see, WoW is a game with psychological depth, much like many other e-sports. I’m sure I missed important parts of a top players thoughts that he has during a tournament, but this is just what an avid observer has gathered over the years. I, for one, will push my reset button now and if you made it till here you should probably too. Stay tuned.

The prize pot for Intel Extreme Masters IV World Finals, held in Hannover, Germany on March 6th has been announced to be $170,000 covering Counter-Strike 1.6, Quake Live and World of Warcraft. ESL World has set the first place prize for Counter-Strike 1.6 to an astonishing $50,000 while WoW first place is set at $25,000 and Quake Live at $10,000. Regardless of performance, every participant will walk away with some cash at the end.

It was a really rough 2009 for AGAin. They were unable to stay in an organization that could stay alive. Now, they return to their home country and for the first time since 2007 they will represent a Polish organization.

Last year we saw the team play for MYM, WICKED eSports and Vitriolic. The team did not qualify for the Intel Extreme Masters World final in March. It is currently unknown which event the team will be attending next. Some of the players are competing in the Nations Cup for team Poland.

I’m overjoyed that after a tough year of 2009 we have finally found a home. The thing that makes me most happy is the fact that we will once again be able to represent a Polish organization which will hopefully improve communication and help us outline common goals for the future. Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas, Frag eXecutors captain.

Frag eXecutors 1.6:

Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas
Jakub “kuben” Gurczynski
Mariusz “loord” Cybulski
Filip “Neo” Kubski
Jaroslaw “pasha” Jarzabkowski

Source: Frag eXecutors via cadred

For our next edition of The Syndicate Interview Series we have none other than the world famous Counter-Strike star Emil “HeatoN” Christensen.  Emil was a star player for teams like NiP, a manager in the Championship Gaming Series and now has a popular series of CS videos for Qpad.

First off, thanks very much for taking the time to sit down with us.  Let’s get started with a look at the past.  What year was your favorite year of eSports and why?

Sure, any time! Well, for me invidually, my favorite esports year was 2003, but that was just because we managed to win everything that year. However, I really like how esports is growing and getting bigger and bigger and has more professional tournaments than when I played, so I would to say that 2009 is pretty close behind just because I love where esports is going.

Other than gaming, what keeps you busy?  What other hobbies or activities do you enjoy?  Do you hope to spend many years working in eSports or are you planning on switching to a different career?

To be honest, my girlfriend takes up most of my time outside of work, hehe! I really enjoy watching Football and working out, so those are 3 things I do outside Gaming & working.

I would really love to be able to work in esports for my entire life! This is what I love doing and I’m going to do it as long as I have the opportunity to.

What are your favorite video games outside Counter-Strike?

Well, right now I’m a bit hooked on Modern Warefare 2, but other than that I enjoy playing World of Warcraft & Starcraft a lot!

Why do you think the small country of Sweden has consistently produced such great Counter-Strike talent?  Is the game just more popular than other parts of the world?

I think the reason behind it is for two reasons; the first being as you mentioned that it’s very popular here. Every guy between 13 and 23 pretty much plays computer games, but mostly Counter-Strike.

The other reason I think is our internet connection. Everyone has had amazing broadband connections for several years now and it really assists in the development as a player. Unlike what the the United States players have to deal with, our players don’t get held back because of their latency.

Many games have come and gone but Counter-Strike 1.6 is still alive and kicking.  Why do you think that is?  Do you think the popularity can be maintained or will a new game replace it in the near future?

The reason for that is simple! There simply isn’t a better game out there! The developers of new games are putting too much effort in to making it beautiful and adding wierd stuff, but what the players really want in an esports game is simplicity and THE FEELING! I honestly believe that Counter-Strike will be around until something better comes out. I still can’t figure out why Valve hasn’t made CS2 yet. It’s a terrible move.

On that topic, what are your thoughts about CSPromod?  Do you think the game will be able to replace CS 1.6 or will it just be another version that is played (like CZ and Source)?

I actually liked the initial version of it. I guess I was one of the very few! I think it has the potential to remove 1.6, but I think it needs to be perfect to get the whole scene to move over to another game. Lets just hope that they make it as good as we all want it to be because that is what the Counter-strike scene needs right now.

What is the general opinion of CSPromod in Sweden?  Are people excited about it or do they want to stick with 1.6?

Honestly, I rarely hear anyone speak about CSPromod in Sweden. I guess they all got tired of getting their hopes up.

Recently you have been doing some pro videos for Qpad.  What is your relationship to the company?  What else do you do for them?  What are your 2010 plans with Qpad?

Yeah, we did some videos together aiming mostly towards amateurs to learn the basics. Our relationship right now is that we produce mousepads together and team up for a lot of PR activities.

The plan for 2010 that I can share with you right now is that we are releasing another mousepad in the very near future!

In 2009 the G7 Teams called for a boycott against several organizations for failure to pay out prize money.  What are your thoughts on this?  Do you have friends who are owed prize money?  How should gamers react when organizations that don’t pay prizes continue to advertise new events?

I think it’s great! You really need someones to take care of this problem that has effected so many players. The problem with this, however, is the status of G7. SK is pretty much running the whole show in their best interest and to be honest, I think [SK Gaming] should do right for themselves and pay out the money that they owe people before going after others.

During the Championship Gaming Series you had the opportunity to be a General Manager.  What did you learn from the experience?  Do you think you’ll ever be a coach or manager again?

It was great being apart of the CGS! I learned so many things outside of the games there and I think that will really help me in the future. I would love to be a coach again, BUT for Counter-Strike only this time. When coaching the other games that we played in the CGS I felt completely clueless! The only thing I could provide my gamers with was the motivation to succeed as well as tips to keep up with their practice.

If you could give some advice to a new, up and coming gamer, what would it be?  What do you wish you had done differently?

Don’t stop practicing as hard as you can and dont be afraid to try to learn from the more experienced players! If you should reach the top you have to practice even harder then you did to get there to stay on top. I’ve seen so many up and coming players who are doing great and play awesome for a tournament or two. But then they stop practicing because they think that they are on top of the world and you never see them again.

I would not have done anything differently. The pro-gaming period was the best in my life and I really hope everyone that has a passion for e-sports gets to experience it. It’s amazing!

In your opinion, who is currently the best Counter-Strike player in the world?  Who is the most overrated?

I haven’t really seen any player shine as much as I’ve seen players shine before when playing, but Gux impressed me during the last year so I would have to say him.

Most overrated? I would like to keep that to my self! 😉

Thanks again for your time.  Any final comments or shoutouts?

I would like to thank all my fans all around the world for being AWESOME! Also, if you have any idea of what you want to see in upcoming videos, please make a comment on what you would like to see on Youtube.

I would like to inform you to keep your eyes open for a whole range of HeatoN products coming this year, together with Zowie Gear. The first one will be released withing the next few months and believe me, you don’t want to miss it! Also, be sure to check out my new Mousepad coming the next month together with QPAD.

The Good and Bad of Gaming

By Liam “Loki” Belcher

It’s been a really long time since I’ve written an article and to be quite honest with you, gaming hasn’t held that much interest to me over the past year or so. This is for 3 main reasons. The first would be due to my new engagement to my college sweetheart. Commence your collective “awwww” festival, ladies. But, your Uncle Loki Doki has always been as soft as a banana. The second reason would be work. As I said in my last article in 1892, work has stripped me of any resemblance of the ginger wonder I once was, which is not a bad thing for the most part, but that part of me loved gaming which took me places I never thought possible. Moving on from my mini drama, I’ll get to the last reason – Gaming has seemingly gone as quiet as a man farting in a sound proof room. Although the farts are still being generated, I wouldn’t have known unless the fartee had told me. I’m not saying that compLexity itself has gone as quiet as said fartee, but my laziness only goes as far as looking at what we post and not much has been happening recently to post about.

I won’t blame the recession for being the reason that competitive gaming is fading, nor will I say that prize money is not bringing teams to LAN events, because I have as much of a clue about that as I do about “The Science Behind Farting In A Soundproof Room.” In this article I will go into the good and bad sides of gaming for us common folk!

The Good

The fun times – This is the reason we all got into it. Forget the money and the “nekkid wiminz” that come with playing games (because let’s face it, you’re mother f’in Snoop Dogg when you’re playing games online instead of partying) and most of us tend to forget that. Everything becomes mundane once you start with the practice schedules and training sessions, or at least most people I’ve talked to have felt that way. “I want to go pro but our best player has work tomorrow at 6am. GAAAAAAAWD!” – being one example of such a thing. However, nothing is more fun than when you don’t care about getting your face ripped off, losing a race, a FIFA game or getting ganked on WoW. To quote a great bald man – “You have to let it all go (Neo). Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.” Who cares if some random kid takes a massive dump on your score? I don’t know, maybe I’m at the age where I know gaming just doesn’t hold any chance of going pro anymore. A bedrock of confidence and “that time has come and gone” have probably combined to help me go full circle, helping me to remember that I love playing with the people that make me laugh and the games that help me feel like a little kid again.

The Great Escape – Gaming can be a great escape from the monotony of work or whatever stresses your life might have. Given, you might be married with kids and have no time for gaming, but the general gaming population is for the most part made up of 13-26 year olds who have more than enough time to play. Your boss giving you endless crap about something that doesn’t matter? Is the wife being like your boss? All you have to do is use your keyboard and mouse/controller/joystick (retro-trons, unite!). It’s an endless world of possibilities that don’t involve filling in paper work or taking out the trash.

Nostalgia – 14 year olds need not apply to this section! Ever played Dizzy the Egg? No? Then skip this part because you’ll just think us oldies are sad. I remember the days of playing my Amiga. There were games like The Addams Family; a platform game where you had to look for all members of The Family around the different sections of The Addams household.

Here’s a picture for ANY of you that remember!

It gets me excited thinking of the times when gaming made me giddy like a little school girl. Not “excited” but you get what I mean. I could go on about Sonic and games like that but why be so obvious when there’s such titles as CJ’s Elephant Antics, James Pond and Bubble Bobble?

The Bad

Social life, shmocial life – “Real life you say? Haha, you want me to go outside? But there’s radio-active, killer plants and things that make excessive noise out there! And I have to have confrontations face-to-face.” It’s just one of those things that you can’t deny; gaming can sap every part of time you were going to use in your real life allocation. However, until I finalize my invention that allows a clone to do your work, cleaning, cooking and all the other boring crap then I’ll just have to face up to to the reality that the things that need doing, NEED doing.

Violence – Seriously, I can’t walk down the street without someone holding me up from the car they’re driving, prostitute sitting next to them filling up their health bar but taking the money out from their wallet at the same time. Answer me this – How many of you have been trying to defuse a bomb like any good citizen would, and some FILTHY terrorist shoots you in the head so you can’t finish? If I had a nickle for every time that happened, I’d have a shit load of nickles. Oh, or the annoying as HELL deathmatches that take place every five seconds when you’re trying to walk your dogs? Jack Thompson for President!

Stress Relief Fail – As good as stress relief can be when it comes to gaming, it seems that when you play the same game for too long and start to lose that fun that we talked about earlier, the more the relief turns into rage. For me, CS has turned into one of those TV marriages. If the other side even talks, it is enough to turn you into an angry wife that has asked you to take out the trash nine times in a row. Fun times turn to flaming, relief turns to rage and comradery turns to contemplation of divorce.

Let me know what your good and bad things about gaming are!