SK Gaming

The order was obvious to me: first id's games and fun, then esports and champions. I didn't expect to see the best esports event in history. I expected a LAN party aimed to entertain the casual gamer rather than the most hardcore of hardcore with a pinch of esports.

What I did not expect was that QuakeLive, the game I thought should be promoted - of all events - at QuakeCon, would be treated like it was by id Software.

When John "ZeRo4" Hill and Alexei "Cypher" Yanushevsky showed up in the ballroom for the final, they were told that there was not enough time to play a full final. They were given the option to either play the final in a one-map system (where ZeRo4 needed two maps to win) or play best of threes with a time limit of 10. The players agreed to neither so a possibility of finishing the grand final back at the BYOC area was considered should it take too long.

But while watching the closing ceremony of QuakeCon ran by id CEO Todd Hollenshead and QuakeLive producer Marty Stratton you would never have guessed that time was an issue.

Feast your eyes:

Go to Video

The ET: QuakeWars and the QuakeLive CTF finals opened the closing show of QuakeCon 2008. CTF was done at 21:20.

Then we sat through over an hour of Guitar Hero 3, a Quake tattoo show, a quick draw match, a Bawls drinking contest, about an hour or more of t-shirt throwing and contests for the first people to bring a bra / a pokemon item / whatever else to Marty Stratton for a Corvette lottery ticket. The list is longer but I would rather forget than remember the items on it.

The finalists sat tired and hungry, and jetlagged in the case of Cypher, as this dragged on for three hours while Hollenshead and Stratton took their sweet time entertaining the public.

The time for the final came after the Corvette was given away and the largest door of the ballroom was opened so people could leave. When they tried to announce the match, Hollenshead and Stratton had a difficult time figuring out the names of the players. It was 12:20 am.

"Why are the "two dudes back there" not treated with as much respect as the people that leave after all the free shit is gone?"

That is how unimportant the final was.

Why are the "two dudes back there" not treated with as much respect as the people that leave after all the free shit is gone? Why is Guitar Hero more important than QUAKE at QUAKECon?

It was interesting to see this. Especially after Marty Stratton said in an interview that one of the goals with QuakeLive is to teach the public to appreciate the skill in Quake. All that in order to make it as mainstream as possible.

If the best QuakeLive match you could ever see is not mainstream enough in the eyes of id Software, then who will see it that way? Where, if not at QuakeCon, should QuakeLive be considered mainstream?

-----
* Big thanks to the volunteers that make QuakeCon possible - overall a really nice event.
* Big thanks to the people in id Software that actually do care about this unimportant esports thing.
* Quote of the year in esports:

"When I played LeXeR in the WCG 2001 final, you were 10 years old." - ZeRo4 to Cypher before the QuakeCon 2008 final.

Carmac

I am tired of everyone asking for the title of the song from the interviews. It was made by Christian Linke. Search in the damned file section.

I sometimes forget to respond to a PM or a guestbook message. I do apologise if I have ignored you at some point!

I am a bad person. Malicious, cynical, annoying, petty, rash and impatient. Good luck making friends with me.

* DO NOT BUDDY ME IF YOU DO NOT KNOW ME IN PERSON *

Work:
XS/ESReality 2000-2004
GGL Dec 2005-> Dec 2007
SK Gaming Jan 2008 -> Dec 2008
ESL Feb 2009 -> ...

Events visited:
2011
BlizzCon 2011
Intel Extreme Masters VI Global Challenge New York
Intel Extreme Masters VI Global Challenge Guangzhou
Intel Extreme Masters VI Global Challenge Cologne
European Battle.net Invitational 2011
Intel Extreme Masters V World Championship, Hanover
Intel Extreme Masters V European Championship, Kiev

2010
Intel Extreme Masters V American Championship, New York City
Intel Extreme Masters V Global Challenge Cologne
Intel Extreme Masters V Global Challenge Shanghai
2010 Blizzard Warcraft Invitational, Cologne
ESWC 2010 finals Paris
Intel Extreme Masters IV World Championship, Hanover
Intel Extreme Masters IV Asian Championship, Taipei
Intel Extreme Masters IV European Championship, Cologne

2009
Intel Extreme Masters IV American Championship, Edmonton
Intel Extreme Masters IV Global Challenge Dubai
Intel Extreme Masters IV Global Challenge, Cologne
Intel Extreme Masters Europe, World finals, Hanover
EPS XIV IFNG Cologne

2008
World Cyber Games finals, Cologne
Intel Extreme Masters III Global Challenge Dubai
ESWC Masters of Athens 2008
ESWC finals, San Jose
QuakeCon 2008, Dallas
Global FIFA 09 Community Event, Vancouver
ESWC Masters of Paris 2008
Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008, Paris
EPS Season XII Finals, Cologne
ESCONF 08, Cologne
Kode5 Global Final 2007, Moscow
2008 AFI Film Festival, Dallas
CyberAces Gala, Warsaw
WCG Samsung Euro Championship / Intel Extreme Masters II / CeBIT, Hanover

2007
Championship Gaming Series World Championship, Los Angeles
DreamHack Winter, Jonkoping
i32 LAN, Newbury
Heyah Logitech Cybersport finals, Warsaw
Extreme Masters / E4All, Los Angeles
World Cyber Games finals, Seattle
Games Convention, Leipzig
ESWC finals, Paris
ESWC Qualifier Poland, Poznan
Crossfire Prizefight Challenge 2, Enschede
i30 LAN, Newbury
WCG Samsung Euro Championship / Extreme Masters / CeBIT, Hanover

2006
World Series of Video Games finals, New York City
Poznan Game Arena / Creative Polish Invitational, Poznan
World Cyber Games finals, Monza
GGL DigitalLife Pro/Am Tournament, New York City
WCG USA, Las Vegas
Kode5 Quake 4 finals / Games Convention, Leipzig
ESWC 2006, Paris
ESWC Qualifier Poland, Poznan
Hip Hop Gaming League finals, Hollywood
GGL VSports AllStars / E3, Los Angeles
GGL TransAtlantic Showdown, New York City
WCG Samsung Euro Championship, Hanover

2005
DreamHack Winter, Jonkoping
CPL World Tour Finals, New York City
EuroCup XI LAN, Almere
ESWC 2005, Paris
CPL World Tour Stop Spain, Barcelona
WCG Samsung Euro Championship, Hanover

2002-2004
SMAU ILP 2004, Milan
WCG 2004 Italy, Milan
ESWC 2004, Poitiers
ESWC 2003, Poitiers
WCG 2002 UK, London
WCG 2002 Italy / NGI LAN 2, Milan

Movieing:
XSUnreality (see below)
XSU:Gold (see below)
Mad Mint Julep (see below)
Firebreath (see below)

Conceived the Golden Llama movie awards.

Gaming:
UT for clan DFP: quite a few domestic titles. Currently semi-active and not planning a comeback.

Other interests:
Competitive judo, sports, movies, music. MY OWNAGE NIECE.