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April 2000 Archive

30 April 2000 - The Big 1000 !!!

Woohoo, 1000 hits, n1 :). Should be revising now but I'm sat at my computer, I could do to take the monitor and lock it in a cellar or something, it's just too difficult to stay away. I suppose that means I'm addicted. I've known that for some time anyway ;). I downloaded a really cool Quake 3 map today. It's a bedroom which you run around, but you're the size of a little mouse :). Fantastic attention to detail, you jump on mousetraps as springpads, and run around inside cupboards and drawers. Jumping on the stapler sends you into a secret area - absolutely amazing. This map is perhaps the best custom map I've ever seen, so imaginative and yet such a simple idea. It's a shame I can't think of any server that might be running the map....

Click the images above to go to the map site where I found it. Be warned though, it's a 10Mb download :).

Site Additions: Polosatiy-vs-Pele Quake 3 Demo, Reorganised eXtra Section, Extra resources, New Guestbook, Updated Profile and Quakebiography, Moved the HooD Homage to the eXtra Section.

29 April 2000 - Sodding Sabbatical

Lo folks. OK, I'm reluctantly going to have to take a break from updating this site for a whole month. For the first time in a few years I have exams again, and the slightest distraction is enough to drag me from those boring books, so I've got to force myself. The site probably won't be updated again untll the end of May. Shame too, because I seem to have almost hit 1000 hits - hehe. Sorry, but when they're over I'll make up for it :).

I found a strange link this week (can't remember where). It's an applet that creates animated wireframe creatures that you can move around and pick up while they continue to walk along. Definitely a few minutes fun to be had taking their legs from under them and trying out the different models, upping the gravity and turning them into splats on the ground, hehe. Have a look.

Btw, there's a great new duel up in the Quake 3 Demos section.... Polosatiy-vs-Pele :)

21 April 2000 - Homage to the Quake 2 Clan <HooD> (The Hoods)

I'm sure no one would question the belief that HooD was one of the best Quake 2 clans in the country. It's such a shame that the clan had to die out in the sudden and dramatic way that it did. Well, I don't think all that work and achievement by a great bunch of lads should be forgotten, so I've resurrected the old site in my domain. Lucky that I'd kept a copy before it was all erased :). It includes all the old news and match reports and all the demos from our unbeaten Division 2 run and many more... Requiem and Zero designed the shell for the site and the graphics, before I joined the clan in July, but as far as the content goes it was entirely my work and I rewrote every page so I have every right to claim it and put it on display here (so there!).

Some of the graphics are missing and some links may not work, but that's because I can't hold it all in my domain. However, most of the content is there including the news, members list, history, results, match reports, demos (they are there), links, and the gallery. Hope you enjoy it :)

By the way, the number of hits I'm getting isn't too hot, pimp my site if you like it. Please :)

Site Additions: UK-vs-France Team Demos, HooD Homage.

21 April 2000 - Gold, Silver, Bronze, erm...

Played my second week in the Barrysworld Q3 FFA league and loved it. The map was Q3DM17, which I usually do OK on, mainly because it's very open. There was a full house of players which was great to see. My aim before the match was to secure third position. I'm not foolish enough to think I can beat Phaedra unless he were to have a bad night, but the other two, when I'm playing well, are within reach - no disrespect but they are ;).

I've beaten Drooper before, and came close to EatMe last week. I'm reasonably confident of my HPB skills in Q3 and kind of expect to at least be the top HPB, but I've seen Apsk before and he is a class HPB player so at the beginning I thought I might have a rival. I'm certain he must have had connection trouble, because he was in Division 2 last season and does well in FFA.

Anyway, that's another fourth position, so promotion isn't looking likely at the moment. It looks more like I'll hold my position in the division I'm in, 3C. Still, a good night for me. Not far off the LPBs again, but more importantly an enjoyable game. If you play Q3 but aren't playing in this league, head over to the site now, it's well organised, played on superb servers and is a top laugh.

I also played my first ever league Unreal Tournament game on Wednesday with MKC. I don't intend to play the game seriously mainly because there are only so many baskets you can put your eggs in. Or something :). I enjoyed it even though the opposition, VOID, had the better of us. Ah well...

And finally, I've come up with an idea for a nice new feature for the site. If you've been reading my site for long you'll know that I used to be in HooD, when it was a Q2 clan. Now, leaving HooD was tough as I'd put a lot into the clan and one of the main areas that I contributed to was the website. I say contributed but in fact I did all of it once Ads stopped. Zero and Requiem designed the original site but I more or less rewrote every page. I also created, what I think was one of the best match results pages ever done, by any clan. No BS! There were reports and demos for all our games. Now that HooD is a Q3 clan, CK has redesigned the whole site and all my work disappeared. Well, I'm going to resurrect it :). It'll be a kind of homage to the HooD that was.

Over the weekend the majority of the old site will go up on this domain. The reason is that I'm sure a lot of people are interested in the HooD of old. We won Division 2 Season 7 without losing once and I'm sure many people might want to read up on the reports and, more importantly, check out the POV demos of our top players (oh, and me ;) ). It can't all go up, I don't have enough space on this domain, but most of it will. It'll be here this weekend....

17 April 2000 - Class Acts

Lo, I've just whacked up some new Q2 demos for the first time in a while. I've been looking through my old demos and came across demos of the UK Q2 Trials from a while ago. I don't think these were widely available, and it's not often you get to see so many class players on a server at the same time, so, if you haven't seen them, head over to the Q2 section of my Demos pages...

Well, the Razor CPL tournament has been and gone and it was a true spectacle. Blokey did brilliantly to reach the last sixteen (there were like 500 competitors), but Fatal1ty reigned supreme, as an awful lot of people had predicted. First XSi, now the CPL, this guy is unstoppable, and $40000 richer for his trouble. Imagine that :) Expect to see some great demos going up over the next few days as well. I need to sift through them all first to find the ones genuinely worth watching :).

Saw a link to a funny site (may have been on bw). Anyway, it's a site that "Jesusifies" any url you enter. Sounds weird? Check it out here (you can try all the sites you like).

Also, while I'm here I might as well mention that MKC won tonight in the UKCCL Q2 league. Beat SLH on Warehouse, then proceeded to play QRS in a friendly afterwards - good games all round. Enjoyable evening.... :)

Site Additions: UK Trials Q2 Demos (Stormkeep, Blokey, Nimrod, Luke)

15 April 2000 - For Every Season, Turn, Turn, Turn....

Good news, the Barrysworld Quake 3 FFA league has begun again and I played my first match on Thursday. Despite having a bad season last time, being forced to miss two out of four games, I was not demoted, and I'm still in the respectable third Division. It's tough going though, no question about that. Because it's a mixed league, getting the top spot is very tough indeed, and, tonight I could only manage fourth :(.

It doesn't bother me too much though, it's only for a laugh and I enjoy the competition. Looking at the scoreboard, I was only four frags shy of third place, and six short of second so I'm happy enough. Also, I've been playing Quake 2 90% of the time, so I've lost my edge in Quake 3. Last season on the same map I came third and beat Drooper. Anyway, my aim will be to get third position in the next three matches, maybe second even :).

Hope you liked my last column, it's a while since I did one with a point :). Bit acidic in tone perhaps, but I was really aiming the vitriol at the professional campers, those who never grow out of it despite playing for months and months.

On the clan front, I'd say that I'm definitely no longer in XC for Quake 3. Fact is, the attitude of the clan as a whole put me off, so, after joining MKC I stopped going back to the channel, and since I haven't played much Q3 I haven't seen anyone about. Not bothered :) On the MKC front, that's going great. They're a great bunch with a lot of enthusiasm and talent to back it up, so it's fun. I'm playing a lot of praccies with them and even tried out Unreal Tournament Teamplay this week. Loved it actually. It was my first try at teamplay and it impressed me. I was a bit of a sniper, kind of pretending that the sniper rifle was a railgun and I couldn't for the life of me actually hit anyone with the redeemer, but it's definitely a great game, and I might well get involved with the UT team (not giving up Quake 2/3 though, of course).

Hope you're following the CPL championship in Dallas. I've watched a couple of demos so far and it really is amazing what talent is on show. Good luck to the Brits - Bl0key, Timber, Sujoy and Hakeem, but for me it's the spectacle of all that class on show that makes the tournament so interesting. Here's a list of sites with decent coverage:

Truegamers ***** - Nice to see this site back. Has detailed match results and demos.
UK Gamer *** - Has some in-depth information and opinions from the UK greats.
Quakenation **- Has some demos up but not much more at this stage.
Challenge-US ** - Coverage with a US focus. Hey, it is in America :).

Just found out that Rocket Arena UT has been released. RA2 was just about the best mod ever released in my opinion and I still haven't seen all its maps :). Anyway, I'll probably download it soon to check out how it makes the transition to the UT engine... Find out more and download it at the RA:UT site. The Quake 3 version is in production but could be a few months away yet. Find out more about that one here. Here's a gratuitous shot of old-vs-new:

There was a pretty good gaming program on TV this week, it was on really late though at like half twelve on Thursday or something. Anyway, it gave a glimpse of Black & White. What's that got to do with Quake I hear you cry? (Nurse, where are my pills?). I've mentioned this strategy-god game before because it looks so amazing. Standard Molyneux fayre you might say, being a God, ruling over tiny people. OK that's true but no game has ever been created in such a realistic world. The graphics engine is nothing short of astounding, and actually achieves decent vegetation which is something you'll never see the UT/Q3 engines do. You can spin the world round and zoom right in to the apples on the trees. It also showed in game shots of the excellent interface. You control your kingdom with movements of the mouse. Doing a hexa sign for a lightning bolt or whatever. It also showed the user smacking the population around a bit and taking care of the huge monster that represents how you rule. Looks fantastic anyway. Look here for more.

Soz about the lack of updating recently, I'm having trouble finding the time to play and maintain this site to the standard I'd like. On my tick off list at the moment are: More demos, Vastly expanded Links section, More Resources and Tips and more regular Updates. Easy :P. I hope the transfer of Quake 2 content went down OK, I think I got everything of value, but I know some people did still read the old site (well you can't any longer so <rasp>). I have yet another new title graphic as well. Looks pretty professional I think. Very easy with PSP, I just use all the different effects (used kaleidoscope on the old graphic for the background) until something nice appears, can't draw though :).

Hehe one last thing, I don't usually pimp other people's work, but a column on the Wireplay DM League pages by DavidMC is hilarious. He's amended the lyrics to that weird song from last year where the guy tells you a load of advice for life. Anyway, Dave's is a Quake version :) If you haven't seen it, check it out here.

Site Additions: Full review and update of my Quake Autobiography.

9 April 2000 - The Best Laid Plans

Quake eh? What a tough game. All those players running around with their mean old weapons. Fragging you wherever you go. Stewards they are. However much you shoot at them they escape and finish you off. It's just not fair. They're probably cheating. They'll be using aimbots or spiked models or some crap like that I've heard of. And the speed they move - that's just bull. I needed to get my own back. The problem was, how do you beat these cheating scum. How could I cope with their jumping about, and perfect aiming.

Ah, now then. There's a trick you see. I don't want to cheat, but I don't have the time to get that good, so I've found a way to get to the top of the scoreboard, and you know, it's so easy I can't understand why everyone else isn't at it.

OK, I'll let you in on the secret. There are quite a few ways to do it, depending on the map, you have to be adaptable see. OK, starting with The Edge... You spawn and dive in the water. Quite often there'll already be some cheats in there but just keep diving until you reach the railgun. Now then, don't jump back in like the other losers. Just stand in the back corner and wait. Players getting out of the water are vulnerable. Temporarily they can't strafe left or right so that's when you pounce. Just rail them dead. Repeat this until the end of the game. Occasionally one might get you by some lucky chance so you just dive in and start again. Bring it on!

Next up is Tokays Towers. Now it gets interesting. You have options. Either way you need a rocket launcher so jump into the melee and grab one (weapon stay servers are helpful for this). Now, either ride up the rocket launcher lift or head back to the one that goes up to the railgun. Once at the top simply look down and fire on people coming up. If you get confident you can try stepping back so that suspicious lift users will still ride up, as long as you keep checking it. If you use the rocket launcher lift there's also a useful tactic where you repeatedly fire down onto the rocket launcher mopping up the lemmings :) Very tasty - this level's sorted.

Frag Pipe next. Again you have options. One simple tactic is to grab the machinegun and stand firing at the respawn point. A lot of less skilled players of our ilk do that, but for a real Millertime fragging session grab a railgun and fire at the machinegun respawn from within the recess. There's a cool feature of Quake 2 that makes players respawn at the same point up to three times in a row so you can get the same guy three times! Brilliant. The recess is quite well protected from rocket fire. However, occasionally players get wise to your tactic and come at you with the railgun from round the corner. Crouching helps but quite often you just have to start again. Persevere with it. Other options include firing grenades from near the megahealth or if you've learnt how to rocket jump, firing down from the invulnerability is cool too. This is only for masters though.

The Lost Hallways is a treat. Just grab the railgun and stand at the top of the steps firing at people. Easy. Some cheats might come through the window at times and frag you. OK let 'em. Fact is you'll frag them more times than they'll frag you. It's all about averages see. Other tricks on this map include firing grenades from the grenade launcher to the respawn point. Some skill is needed here, though, to get the trajectory right.

The Pits is tough. There aren't any easy places to practice the beautiful art - crap design by id software to be honest. Usually the best tactic is to grab the grenade launcher and just spam away buddy.

Now we reach the creme-de-la-creme. The Big Daddy. Mr Slimy Place. This offers two of the best places in the entire game. Option 1. Grab the Super Shotgun and fire at the respawn point. Or option 2, grab the top Rocket Launcher and fire at the respawn behind you. Option 2 is most effective I've found - you have to concentrate though. I've found that it's easy to lose concentration when staring at the wall for long periods.

And, finally, there's Warehouse. This is a big map and it's not easy to find a good spot without being molested. I've found a good place near the two slugs packs though. In that room you can crouch in one of the recesses and fire at the spawn point for a frag fest.

And that's it for my guide. Any problems? Well, you have to be tough. You see people get annoyed. They see all their cheating and lame practice being defeated and decide to slag you off. It's not like they couldn't do the same but they choose to try to win by running around and wasting good fragging time. The name of this skill is Camping. Join me Brothers! Skillful players in this art can even beat LPBs on occasion, but you need to have your wits about you to fire before they get away from the respawn. So, as I say, just ignore them calling you a "Camper". They're frustrated losers the lot of 'em. When you win, take screenshots to show how you've beaten the top players. Try it, you know you want to.

Site Additions: Rude Bwoy Style Demo

1 April 2000 - Merger

OK, it's more or less complete. The Quake 2 Binds section, all the demos, the connection tips, most of the useful resources, it's all been ported and merged into this site, check it out. If you read the old site you'll find this is simply ported (with a slight redesign to fit in) so you may already have had what you want from it. For anyone else - enjoy!

Contact Information - E-Mail: REViLLA, ICQ: 21345065

Site Created on 1 January 2000. All Content, Design and Graphics by REViLLA.