Always nice to see such Quake content. I think Thorin could have dug a bit more about some questions about the old players and scene, but good interview.

I agree with Sombra's point about lack of QC tournaments below the level of QPL, but from what I can see the game isn't liked enough for the motivation behind community initiatives.

We all have seen this weirdo Sanchez (or God Of War, or Godservant, or Zundrev) spamming about Q4 for quite a while now. I still try to stay somewhat in touch with Quake, so I figured I'll check what this lunacy is about. Joined up the associated discord channel a few months ago, played on the servers, spent a decent amount of time whenever I could to see what it's all about.

Now there is no denying this guy is...I wouldn't say a troll, we need another word, but he's kind of a lunatic. But I never had to interact with him directly, and I didn't have any issues for pretty much my entire time there.

I do have to acknowledge what he's managed to do for the game, something the elitists of the scene never bothered to do. Through his spamming and arguing across websites, discords and youtube, he somehow has managed to gather enough people to essentially give Q4 a new, albeit weak, lifeline.

The discord server is (or was) healthy. Whenever I logged on I could probably get a game within minutes. Plenty of resources were provided to get the game running, and troubleshooting server problems. There were many others who were answering questions, helping new players in different ways, and suggesting practice partners for them. They even had players categorized based on their own ranking system and a ladder, and it all worked well to be honest.

Somehow, with relentless spamming about how great Q4 is and how it's the place to be for the elite of the elite, he was gathering new players in a way that I haven't seen in a long time. The people I met there were people who truly were new to Quake as a whole, and quite enthusiastic; examples of 15-17 year olds, with their main experiences being games like Fortnite, sitting there during evenings grinding their aim and rankings, and with friends to improve with. All seeking their moments of false fame.

Sure, we could argue that these people might not stay around for long, or that outside of the discord the game was still pretty dead. But the point is that this is the kind of the thing Quake titles needed (minus the lunacy). I couldn't help but have a little admiration. I dare say I even had a good time in the few duels I managed to play.

The discord did have weird rules. This guy would barge into conversations and start being the cursing elitist neckbeard as he is around here. He even had a few cronies in his cult now, who helped him out in his stalker-y endeavors.

I was recently kicked and banned from the server for inactivity. I saw it coming from the day I joined, as my personal and professional life are pretty demanding. Not something I expect this group to understand, and is that really something you want to do for a game dead and forgotten?

Anyway, some understandable reasoning, but his cause for doing so was a purge of the server after some members got fed up and made their own community server. He went rabid, got his cronies to find out the names of the people on the other server, kicked and banned them. Then he went on a cleanup spree and kicked and banned a bunch of others, including inactive ones. So that's the end of my peek into Q4 and the antics around it.

Me and a friend had the itch to play a few Q3 duels after work but it looks like almost all the servers online are CPMA-CPM servers, whereas we wanted to play CPMA-VQ3.

We played on one of the CPM servers by voting and changing the gameplay, but then these servers are missing all the right maps.

Tried hosting on our own computers but being on shared wifi at each of our homes meant a bad experience.

Does anyone know of a nice VQ3 server still online in EU? I'm guessing QL is where it's at now, but he's not keen on buying it.

Is there any easy setup package for running a Q2 server? I've used the nQuakesv package in the past to run a server for people I know, and now I want to try the same for Q2.

Also, I remember there used to be both Q2Starter (http://q2s.tastyspleen.net/) as well as nQuake2, but now nQuake2 seems to be offline? Was there any difference between them?

I remember using the old Icemat v2 but it always felt a bit small, not to mention my skin type/hand sweat never fully suited. The surface was nice but I always wanted to see if it would be more ideal if it was a bit more 'grainy'. It was also too thick for me (probably because of the rubber feet) and wasn't comfortable for long hours.

I moved away from hard mousepads years ago, but I saw this on OCN and I am curious. It's thinner and bigger than all other alternatives I've seen.

https://i.imgur.com/Lhck1H4.png

Looks like they have made glass pads before this model too, I was wondering if anyone's got any experience with them.

I have always been kind of a student of the game, and I really want to understand why QW TDM is highly regarded. My understanding and playtime is with Duel mainly, I understand basics of general TDM but not beyond that.

The dynamics of having a weaker starting weapon, you and your teammate(s) having to choose between an RL or RA for example, and coordinating your item pickups; it's definitely some extra strategy, but I can't see this being so much more sophisticated. It's almost like a money system in CS, or choosing characters that complement each other in some team games. What am I missing here?

How does the backpack mechanic influence the game (if it does)?

What is the deep strategy at higher levels? I have trouble understanding anything beyond controlling map areas and the items, because at the end of the day all I see is a high score mode with a structured way to go about fragging. Why do some consider it better than objective based modes?

What else makes QW TDM considered better than in later games? Or is it just something perpetrated as games became simplified and more accessible? I feel like although there is a difference, it isn't as much of a gap as implied.

I have tried searching quite a bit but could not find any articles or posts, let alone videos, that go in-depth. I was hoping DDK would have made something but it's more match commentary when it comes to QW.

I see ESR barely has active members these days, so I would really appreciate anyone who takes the time out to participate. I would love to see different opinions discussed back and forth. I want to learn about the nuances that I do not know of. Although my curiousity lies with QW, I guess my questions can cover TDM as a mode in general, so I welcome knowledge from other games.

I recently played through Doom and Doom 2 again. While many other releases of the time are but remnants of the past, these 2 games still hold up surprisingly well. Their levels still engaging, their fights still engrossing, and the music still energizing. The original 3 episodes of Doom, and the original Hell On Earth campaign of Doom 2, are masterfully crafted experiences that the later episodes, expansions and Final Doom could not replicate in my opinion.

If you are interested in experiencing them as close to the release era as possible, I highly recommend getting Ultimate Doom and Doom 2 from GOG instead of Steam. The GOG package is nicely set up with Dosbox and includes the original configuration utility, allowing a classic, native experience. The Steam release is just the exe set to run in Dosbox, and is acceptable if you plan to use a modern source port instead.

https://i.imgur.com/7alqL3V.jpg

I've always really liked the cover artwork for Doom and Doom 2. It always stood out during their time, and even more so as time passed. They do a great job of illustrating the atmosphere and environment in-game, and they are memorable enough to spike the aesthetic into imagination.

To me, they had some more meaning. The games' art, aesthetic and mood transcended beyond the doomguy's nameless, silent, anonymous representation of the player himself. To me, it had parallels of how my life and times developed, and how I lived through them.

Starting a level, seeing a puzzle to be solved through corridors and locked doors, the ominous (and excellent) music building up both angst and dread; these were like a new day starting off with challenges and minimal resources. Another day you secretly hope will be better than the last. Another day that you must get through.

You take what you can find, defeating demon after demon and trying to keep your body and mind healthy enough to not falter. Everytime you think you can breathe, everything goes dark and more of them chase you, often stronger and more dangerous than before.

One after the other, you tackle traps and environments, each different from the last, and often as unexpected as life's occurrences can be. Keeping you on your toes, while you try to manage the fighting, the resources and your sanity. Though expecting the unexpected, you still come across situations that combine all these challenges to levels where even the voices inside you shout "This is bullshit!"

Exhausted and panting, you reach some spacious ground. A few resources littered here, it seems to be a brief reprieve. "Wrong!" goes that voice inside, as you hear the shrieks and roars of beasts that bring your requiem. As you turn around, an opera begins, one made of the sound of guns blazing and screams of death.

When it's all done and dusted, the realization that you've just gone beyond what you thought were your boundaries brings up a smirk. Even if the only reason you're still alive is spite, it is enough. Reach inside, pull up those final strands of strength, and keep going. If this journey can teach anything, it is this twisted lesson: The only way out is through.

If anyone reading this is facing a world of difficulty and going through it all alone, remember this: you are enough. You, your being, your soul, are all you really need. Find the fire within, use it, shelter it. When your day begins with troubles, it is the troubles that should go Well, shit, here we go again.

Rip and tear, until it is done.

Hello ESR, I've been wanting to try some games after some years of being away from gaming, but I work a lot full-time and wanted to try some co-op games instead of usual multiplayer. I have been trying discord channels and subreddits, but I have not been able to find many chilled people with similar game interests.

I am in my late 20s and in EU and all I want is some chilled guys/girls to try games like Alien Swarm, Payday, Borderlands, etc. I don't care about your age or country, just trying to meet new people and play games that I missed out on.

My discord is azxx#8976, if you don't use discord feel free to PM your Steam account or something. Thanks!

Even after a lot of discussions and speculations in the community, I believe there is no clarity on whether the most established Arena FPS formula, Quake 3, could have some kind of standing in this era*. It never got a true chance to be tested because the so called attempts since then missed the mark and lacked what was necessary for multiplayer FPS games to have for them to be remotely accepted outside the veteran community.

*It would be difficult to be accurate to define the beginning of this era, but I'd say it was roughly post-COD4 and Facebook. Some elements that define this era of games, particularly in terms of multiplayer FPS games, came up gradually and last till today:
- In-game progression (XP points etc.)
- Matchmaking with a few clicks
- Micro-transactions
- Reddit
- Separation of massive franchises from other releases
- Social gaming
- Early access
- Reduced modding
- Incredible focus on marketing/hype generation
- Games as a service
- Streaming and followings of such personalities

For the sake of focus, I will primarily be speaking in regards to Quake and ID Software. I will not consider offshoot indie minnows (eg. Warsow, Reflex) not only because they couldn't have had a chance for a wider audience, but they simply focused on niche gameplay attributes making them a niche within a niche even for veterans.

If we track the outline of Quake releases after CPL dropped Q3 and Arena FPS dropping out of favor of the mass market, it is easy to see why this community is bitter. In most cases this is rightfully so.

Quake 4 was the first game in the series to be developed by a studio that wasn't ID, Raven Software. On release it did invigorate the scene for a short while, but the issues it came with cannot be left in the background. The game had a single-player story and was technically first-rate (graphics etc.) and this adds to the appeal for the general gamer public. It also changed/added some multiplayer mechanics, discourse on those is subjective.

The game was just too broken on release, and that means everything as the reception from online communities who are not devoted to the brand will establish the overall reputation of the game for a long time after release. The majority will probably not bother revising their opinions after updates, and the word of mouth from that point on cements how a game is remembered. Even the devoted fanbases are often perpetrators.
The patches and changes came but it was already a case of too little too late. By the time the game was fixed enough for a second deep look, it wasn't relevant anymore.

Quake Live came next, and it was barely anything more than Quake 3 in a browser, with a business model around advertisements; just another experiment for John Carmack and co. before he left the company.

It reinvigorated the scene, but it had faults regarding bad execution, bad updates, and a bad ending. This is not to say that the game did not have positive updates over time, but yet again things were too slow and it felt like every time the game would take a step forward, it would also take a step back. Quake Live, being free-to-play, needed a more creative post-launch period with a push towards retaining the new players it was attracting, but the necessary features never came. Instead, very late in the game's life came a bunch of subpar ideas in an update catered towards new players' accessibility. The game was also rehashed for a final Steam release which looked like it had potential to help settle the mess a bit, but ID Software's plans were to release the game to the community and drop support - and now behind a price tag, for a free-to-play re-release of a game.

In the era I spoke of above, which carries on till today, we have never had a true quality release which was made diligently enough to be seen as a successor to the legacy set by the first 3 Quake games. The combination of the core formula, technically updated for fidelity for modern audiences, and sensible integrations of the features of the era could have led to an honest chance of a Quake game making its place in the current market, even if it didn't match up to the game's heyday.

Quake Champions cannot be used to argue against this. It is the first major release in the series since Quake 4, also developed outside of ID's studio by Saber Interactive. Although it's touted as the new big Quake game, it might as well have been a spin-off like ETQW. The game is enough of a departure from the core formula and feel, and also came with all the issues the releases before it had; broken on launch, long standing gameplay and technical problems, underwhelming first impressions, questionable attempts at attracting/retaining new players. Not to mention it came too early to Early Access, and was also immaturely pushed into the marketing engine that esports is today. it doesn't even use the idTech engine, an element that played a role in their success with the latest Doom game. Saber Interactive's troubles with game engines and glitches can be traced to their involvements in Halo CE Anniversary and Halo MCC, both of which had similar issues that lingered for a long time after launch.

Standing behind the guise of Early Access is not enough of an excuse for this mess of a game that should have been the AAA release that was needed but is instead an outsourced side project for the team that still calls themselves ID Software. After the success of the new Doom, ID Software must have decided to devote resources to its follow up, and work with Avalanche on Rage 2, and probably find other ways to reboot the franchises they still hang on to. All the while the franchise with the most potential, looking at the track records so far, is being squandered. Thank Gaben for Steam refunds.

There is always potential that ID will get their act together with QC and the game will be worthwhile close to or after its full release, as Rainbow Six Siege has shown. But for anyone following the game so far, it is difficult to not be bitter and cynical. The Quake community, the reason why the Quake games even are what they are, the community that sustained itself with minimal involvement from ID by building maps, mods, tools, an ecosystem that the devs never bothered with, has been let down time and again. The constant disappointments seem to have wiped any jaded hope there might have been. At the same time I can't help but feel that the community is generally labeled as negative and whiny, as being too hardcore and resistant to change, which is somewhat ignorant if the notions mentioned in this column are not looked into.

It doesn't help that the industry in general focuses on exhaustively churning out only what's already been selling for almost a decade, and no other organization with the resources has attempted to fill the gap that Quake could by building something worthwhile for everyone and just healthy enough to be sustainable; doesn't matter if it doesn't become a premier title in the genre.

There is a possibility that Diabotical could do this, but that name is hard to keep any expectations with anymore. By the time Diabotical releases, I might be a completely different person than who I was when I pitched in the Kickstarter campaign. And this probably holds for many others as well.

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# Disregard clawz and his lightning gun rushes for a moment, because I want to ask: conceptually, could Quake Champions duel evolve into the most defensive form of it yet? In Quake Live, we saw the increased importance of the first spawn and first frag due to the drop in time limit from 15 to 10 minutes. In Quake Champions, we have what is essentially a 3 death limit within a 5 minute time limit, along with sudden death overtime.

I think we will be seeing players go to overtime pretty often, with many intentionally pushing for it. In my opinion this will result in not as many clutch moments, and it also greatly reduces the hype of an overtime game.

The limited deaths could be masked as higher stakes and thus higher thrills, but these higher stakes could cause players to take lesser risks. One could say that there's more rounds now which means more chances, but in my eyes it's just a repeat of the same elements and the round system has broken momentum.

# Increasing the base health and/or armor of some characters could be a way of allowing players a bit more freedom in taking risks and fights, but I think we should wait for the meta to develop further (and maybe even saturate) before making such changes.

# Dodging seems almost non-existent unless you're playing with a smaller, faster character. I miss the unexpected moments when a player could come out on top of a fight by using their dodging to assist their stack disadvantage.

# A few kills were quite anticlimactic. Here's one example. Maybe this is subjective, but at the very least that moment should have been a slightly longer engagement.

I'd like to preface this by saying that since QuakeCon 2017 was the first event for Quake Champions, it is important to keep in mind that things can only improve from here. As the game finds a footing and the production teams become more well-versed with its nuances, we should be in for better times as spectators. Not to mention other events hosted by other companies (Dreamhack, for example) should come out a better product.

At the same time, this is a different era. Companies and events that become involved in QC should not use the guise of 'learning experience' to take their sweet time in bringing things up to the level we should all expect from an esport production these days. Things have been lagging behind for a while now, especially at QuakeCon events, so if ID Software has plans on QuakeCon becoming The International of our scene, they better speed up their efforts.

The same goes for the on-air teams. Just as how Quake Champions has a been a sort of reset button for the scene and the competitors, it should be a reset for the on-air staff too. Let's not pander to personalities and critique them all equally, whether they are old names from Quake's heyday or new names wanting to ride the wave.

The Quake/ESReality communities have not been forgiving, and for good reason (a discussion for another time). So let's keep that going and channel it into reasonable criticism that helps improve the scene you care about. Stop giving blind support and pats on the back just because "it's Quake".

Duel
When watching duel, it is not instantly clear what player you're watching, and it is also not obvious when the POV changes. Having the name in the bottom left isn't doing enough. This needs to be worked on and made more obvious. Also, if we're going with assigning players as blue and red, having more unobtrusive accents on the spectator HUD may help in making things clearer when the POV switches.

ESReality member wata made a post that is a very good start for what needs to be done.

Sacrifice
Speaking of FPS games only, I have always believed that spectating team modes in games that had more degrees of action was a subpar experience (unless you understand how to play them, which is a moot point for discussion). Before anyone says it, past modes like TDM or CTF are also a mess when watching, so I don't think dropping Sacrifice for one of them is a solution. Counter-Strike, Rainbow 6 Siege, and maybe certain modes in modern Call Of Duty, are about as far as it goes for a balanced viewing experience. But when we start pushing it with games like Overwatch, Team Fortress 2, Unreal Tournament and Quake, it becomes a visual mess where at times even the casting is convoluted.

I'd like to be proven wrong though, so here's some feedback:

- Improve observing. Apart from game-related elements such as spectating tools and HUD, there needs to be actual effort put into observing, or even hiring someone proficient, to help improve what the viewers see. This will obviously be very challenging because of the pace of the game, but eliminating dead player screens on stream, as well as using good angles and focusing on the soul when it is being tossed around, would be good first steps.

- Improve commentating. I understand that with time the casters will get better at casting Sacrifice, but they must focus on pace and delivery since I'm sure Sacrifice in QC has slightly different demands from a CSGO or MOBA match. Also, having at least one of the casters have a playing background, or be a current player himself, will help a great deal in making sense out of the situations for the viewers.

Technical issues
While there is no denying that it was too early for the game to make this big esports jump, seeing the game stutter or freeze in a live match is disappointing. Regardless of the root of such problems, the game is in very urgent need of fixing a multitude of technical problems to at least make it pleasant for players, especially since there are more events very soon.

Miscellaneous
- I'd like to add that the death message that says "Fragged by <weapon icon>" with the name underneath should be reworked. In my opinion, the name of the opponent should be part of the "Fragged by" line, and the weapon icon could either be underneath the line or alongside the opponent's name.

- At a future event, it would interesting to hear the comms of the Sacrifice teams in small bits at certain moments. I think it would be an interesting insight to how some top teams play.

- 2GD was on the analyst desk for a short while, but his input was pretty good. I believe he might still be a great fit as an analyst or co-caster. Top level playing background and experiences from a more recent era, along with the ability to put the point across, means that he is already a level above almost all the other analysts/casters at the event. DDK and ZSX were not bad at all, but in my opinion they still have a little work to do.

- This is wishful thinking, but it would be very interesting to see players like CZM, Jibo and Fox to see how they would play QC. Hell, a part of me would be interested even if Fatal1ty gave it a shot.

Could the VQ3/QL gameplay style work without the rail? Or is the rocket/rail/lightning trinity too holy?

Would removing the rail, but keeping everything else as it is (movement, other weapons, map design, etc), affect the game negatively? Would doing so 'break' something about how the game plays?

I am very keen on trying out how it would be. The maps don't have to be like Lost World or House of Decay, and the game doesn't have to play like QW or CPM. How would Blood Run and Furious Heights play out under VQ3/QL without the rail?

Would the combat be more interesting? Would it motivate players to make aggressive moves within their map strategies more often?

I can't see a change in the rail damage value to be interesting; anything besides heavy damage defeats the point of the rail's mechanics.
Making the recharge slower is better than changing damage, I think, but it still keeps the rail in the game and would probably only reduce the assistance from the rail, not eliminate it.

For a weapon that can be quite influential, it is very intuitive to use. It might be why it's use (and abuse) seems to be quite common on the low/medium levels of skill.

With such ease of use, I believe its ability to ruin tactical attempts is too high a cost. I am sure many of you have been in matches where you'd be out of control, spend minutes building up to a decent stack, then try to get to a favorable situation to fight the opponent....only to have the entire effort and build up be destroyed by the opponent hitting 2 rails or so and shutting down your possibility for a comeback. The opponent sat at a comfortable distance, barely dipping their toes into any combat, and ruined momentum you worked a lot for.

The momentum of the match going back and forth between players, contested at a satisfying pace, would add great value to the vibe of both playing and spectating. A player in the lead, in complete control, pacman-ing all items and having enough weapons, should still constantly feel the slow clawing of their losing opponent, in both the fights as well as the mental game.

Can someone with a deeper understanding and/or more experience shed some light here? Are there any obvious flaws that I am missing out? Personally, I'd like to see this happen in Diabotical, but I don't know what the end vision for that game is.
I would love to hear what 2GD and DDK think about this (and maybe even some pro players) but I doubt I can get their attention.

Does anyone here pick characters in QC based purely on liking the character? I am guessing most players would play the meta, which in theory would be the wiser choice.

After seeing changes to Clutch over time, and ID saying Clutch is not OP based on "their data", I am guessing we will see more such occurrences with regards to balancing in the future.

I think it is agreeable to not give in to early responses and giving the player base some time after a patch to see how they use/develop counters. Though at the same time going purely by data is not wise because there's a good chance it's not giving the full picture, and especially if the data does not make the distinction between trends/results amongst different skill classes.

I was wondering how viable not playing the meta would be, especially at the higher skill levels. I know it doesn't have to be either one of the two, and that players could mix preferences with meta choices.

This video kind of explains:



As we get closer to release, it will be interesting to see which style QC leans towards:

1) There are no hard counters, and character selection works somewhat as described in the video. Certain play elements/strategies may saturate and become 'rule of thumb' for a while, until a player does something new and finds success. This may happen less often but come across as more striking when it happens.

2) Everything revolves around the meta that changes based on patches, done intentionally or unintentionally, bringing some 'artificial' meta with short-lived strategies. This often remains under the guise of keeping the game fresh but can ultimately affect player success by a sort of trend of 'which characters do the devs like this season'.

I think QC will lean towards (1) just by the nature of the game. Although ID is capable of some absurdities, if Ubisoft got things right with Rainbow 6 Siege then maybe ID can too. Then again, R6 Siege started off with a good foundation in this regard, and isn't affected as much by fundamentals like health/armor levels.

Would be interesting to hear others' thoughts.

From Quake 3 onwards, there might have been some notable names from Denmark in team modes, but never a top name in duel. Why is that so? Is it something about the scene? Genuinely curious.

After seeing the discussion between megaman3 and Neeeple in this thread, it got me thinking about showing timer visuals around items in Quake, which I will call "pie timers".

I never quite grasped the issue with pie timers in either QL or Reflex and now QC, and why it often became a topic of fierce discussion. Please, hear me out.

Keep in mind that for this discussion I am thinking of the traditional style of matches, and not how they are in QC now with rounds etc.

Some prerequisites for this discussion:
- Pie timers should only be visible to a player if they picked the item, or if the item was in clear view when it was picked by another player.
- Pie timers should remain 'pies' or a little 'abstract'; there should never be a number shown.
- HUD timers should never exist for players, only for spectators.

When I think of skill in a game, I like to think of the concepts of skill ceiling and skill floor. Ideally, a game should try to lower the skill floor, while still making sure that the current skill ceiling is maintained if not raised.

I think pie timers will lower the skill floor but not lower the skill ceiling.

New players will actually learn that there is such a mechanic as timing items that they need to do, and will then be able to get their feet wet with strategies for items. They can also eventually ease into the habit of timing more items and/or timing more exactly with the game clock. This way they are being taught something without having had to be around the game/scene.

The worser players will be assisted in returning to grab or fight for an item since it is more intuitive to them. It will also allow them to time one item in a more exact manner while being able to challenge others with the aid of possible pie timers.

The better players will always be timing more and timing better, because doing so is still an advantage despite the presence of pie timers, so to them a pie timer doesn't make as much of a difference.

Having a pie timer might allow in-control players to time with less focus being diverted there, which might allow them to do other amazing things. On the other hand, it could allow them to get items with more ease so they might end up dominating an opponent even more. Could become a kind of snowball effect.

Is most of the arguing around pie timers for the sake of purity?
I understand the awe we are left with when we see the feats of top players while they were timing multiple items, but I don't believe pie timers will dilute that.

I would really like to hear what others think, as there might be points that I haven't thought of or don't understand well enough.

If someone here is looking for a new Logitech G400 for cheap, send me a PM.

Please read on this link:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1240739/bsts-gamin...t_25696336

I know some of you have to get their money back, so as mentioned in the link above you have to contact him on aurora [at] ninox [dot] org

Here's hoping to positive results. I hope he can renew some trust.

I don't know if anyone would be interested, but I am giving away a KTEC KTM-9500+, used but in great shape, with hyperglides. Those who are interested in SCBW and the Korean scene will know about this mouse. Feel free to PM me.

There used to be a guy who used the name Onslaught and he used to write articles/columns here. I wanted to look at some again and I tried finding them but I could not do it from the site itself, nor could I find Wayback Machine to be of assistance.
Can someone help me find those posts?

This is old news now and to me it isn't much of a big deal either. Still disappointed to not see this appear as news on ESR at all.

http://esportshall.com/

Pardon the brevity.

I am looking around to see where I can pick up SC2:LOTV for the lowest price, and so far Amazon.de is my choice. Can anyone here tell me if the German release version will be any different than others? And will it have true English support?

I am concerned as I have heard of games released in Germany varying from their original versions, though in theory Blizzard should be issuing just 1 version for all of EU.

Thanks!

Three minutes of wisdom that we all can relate to in some way.

Please have your sound on before you click the link.

Click here

Hej ESR.

I have moved to Sweden for studies+work. I don't know if it's a permanent move yet; I've only been here two weeks and things have been positive, the long term seems clearer so long as I save some money. I wonder if the winter months will change my opinion.
I've actually found the language interesting to learn, and just dealing with signboards and groceries has given me a start. Maybe I'll enroll in a course next month to get pronunciation right.

I'd like to get involved whenever and wherever I can with gaming here. I've done loads in the Middle East and it kept me active when life felt like a drag. Maybe I can contribute to something here. Do FaceIt or Dreamhack have opportunities for volunteering? I wouldn't mind work and travel combined if my schedule allows it.

Are there any of you who game together or something? Steam groups, community FFAs (if any of you still play Quake), newbie tournaments? Would be nice to 'meet' some, maybe I'll get to experience Teen Queen's negativity first-hand :P

This is me:
http://steamcommunity.com/id/memph1s

Vi ses!

It will be basic to most of us, but I liked how he touched on the aura and spirit of competition itself, something I have given thought to at times. His speech is also much more well-versed than all these documentaries they make for the average joe.

I don't know if Thorin will ever see this, but I've always wanted to see him do a piece on the philosophical side of competitive nature. Some of DDK's earlier videos had explored this side but were on the level of an individual rather than the nature itself. Maybe someone could send this hint across? :)

Does anyone have a definitive answer why a MOBA is watched a lot more than, say, a 1v1 duel? The latter is tons easier to follow and does not need the viewer to know much about the game itself; is it simply the popularity of each? Or is there more to it?

Hi all, does anyone here have any info regarding 3D printing services? I have a metallic shell that I want a plastic version of, and I'd like to know of a service where I can send them the item and they can make a copy of it in smooth plastic.

I've checked a few services so far, some only accept a 3D design file while others haven't responded yet. I'd like it if someone shared any experience they might have.

I have an unused key for 1 month of Xbox Live Gold. I am uncertain if this still works as I've had it lying here for ages but it's worth a try I guess. PM me.

I have a discount code for Amazon.de, i'll give it away to whoever wants it. PM me i guess.

I am using a legit WMO on a old but moderately clean QcK+ SK edition. Although it's fine in other games, i am a low sensitivity player in CS:GO and the issue i'm facing is that i tend to hit the negative accel or even make the mouse malfunction.

I have tried using a higher sensitivity the past few weeks but it hasn't worked out for me, though I am still trying. I have the mouse on 125Hz because I go to LANs and changing the polling rate is usually not possible, so I've left it at 125Hz at home too.

I want to know if a different mousepad will help, so please help me find the best possible mousepad for the WMO sensor. Anything even a bit better than the QcK will do since the issue only happens at very few (but important) points.

Thanks

*ESR STAFF* Please read note near the end of this post

I have a big batch of Battlefield 4 keys to give away, courtesy of AMD. Quite a batch. I'd give them out to anyone who wants them, but for the sake of accounting/validation I need to have a record to prove to them later, so I'll need whoever wants them to go through a short process. Just check this thread:

http://www.gaming420.com/thread-7323.html

There's multiple ways of getting the keys but you're only required to use any one method and you'll get a key sent to you. Yes, you can actually use more than one to get more keys lol
The easiest method for both you and me would be to just post a reply to that thread and wait for a PM, though that will require an account. Please be patient if you haven't received your key since I have to manually fetch, type and send to each person, and as you can imagine it's a mess.

Don't forget to follow the instructions. Yes, you will have to go through a dull little form but it'll get you a free Origin code! :>
The keys expire on the 30th of this month, and I don't want them to go to waste, so spread the word if you like.

I'd appreciate some plusses :D

*NOTE* I have no intentions of advertising and that is not what I am using this post for. I have a big bunch of keys and apart from using our own social channels, I figured posting here would be nice for the guys here. I like ESR :3
If this post is considered advertising/spam then please PM me and feel free to remove it.

Today I woke up to a random decision; I want to part with these mice that I otherwise never would. I don't know, it feels like a waste for me to just keep them around and feel all nostalgic. Rather have someone else put them to use I guess. Since there's barely any gamers here who understand the worth of these mice I have decided to post about this here on ESR.

After giving it some thought and visiting an EMS service office, the issue is that I am from Dubai, and shipping anything out of here will easily cost 20 euros or more, and for some of these mice I will have to pay for a container as well.

I am not trying to make money on these, but there's a certain cost because of where I live that anyone who wants them will have to cover. I also cannot be paid via PayPal or something because they're a bitch to use in this region. Sending via Western Union will probably be the best method for both sides.

Here's the list. I take really good care of my stuff so rest assured everything here is clean and works perfectly, apart from light wear and tear with time. I have made an Imgur gallery with pics of all these mice in there. The photos could've been better I guess.
http://imgur.com/a/wEOUh

Logitech G400S - 26.50 euros
Like new, opened and used for probably a total of 5-6 hours. Clean. With box and manuals.

SteelSeries Rival - 26.50 euros
Brand new, sealed.

Logitech MX510 (blue) - 27 euros
Brand new, sealed. Yes, I actually have kept one piece sealed for quite a while. I did slightly lift a sealing sticker to plug the mouse and check if it works, but other than that it's never been used at all.

Logitech G1 (blue) - 25 euros
Used but buttons etc are in good shape. Added new skates.

Logitech MX300 - 30 euros
Used but the buttons and scroll etc are in good shape. Added new skates. A few extra euros cuz I love this mouse :>

Zowie EC2 Limited Edition Blue - 27 euros
Like new, opened and used for probably a total of 8-10 hours across 2 days. Clean. With box. Has new skates.

I have a WMO and original release MS3.0 that I'm going to keep. The prices I have mentioned are pretty much the shipping costs for each, so I'm sort of giving the mice away for free. Shipping takes 4-8 days to Europe.

I have the first version of the Zowie EC2 (the blue edition) and about a week ago it started going on and off when playing. I have noted that it generally happens when I swipe the mouse at speed, and I don't think there's that device plug/unplug sound that Windows makes. This is probably a cable issue, or maybe a cable joint rather than the cable itself?

Anyway, since RMA is not worth the expenses for me, I wanted to open the mouse and see what I can do. I removed the lower mouse skate and apart from 2 regular screws there also seems to be another in the middle with a triangular head and I don't know what to do about it. I have a screwdriver with a similar bit but it's a little bigger and won't help.

Has anyone else here disassembled an EC2? If yes, how did you do it?

Sitting into the wee hours of the night, unable to sleep properly, posting this struck my mind out of nowhere, so here I am. Life isn't smooth, nothing to back up on in case things go bad, and with no certain future direction in my view, I feel....tired. Tired of it all. It can be unnerving to see how some others get things going easily, while here I am, more qualified than they will ever be and with informal field experiences, straining to help my father for the family's expenses.
Though earlier this year I decided to focus on myself more and do some things my way. It has some heated points, but the utter calmness that I am able to maintain at all times probably helped him see that I know what I am doing (even if I don't), and that there's always something positive at the end of trials as long as we are constantly determined.
During what was a grueling yet interesting period of time for me, I also met the one person who's actually added something to living; something I cannot describe. No one has ever meant as much as she does to me; nothing could ever be greater than what we have. Being with her has added more factors, but also more motivation to tackle them. The grace that her presence brings is drowning me, and I love every bit of it.

Random ramblings of an idle mind...
If anyone is reading this, pardon me for the above. Felt I needed to express some things in writing. Now, on to the material.

Ever since I got into multiplayer gaming, I have been very interested in the competitive side. Been following e-sport for quite a while now, and I always tried to do whatever I could to help it grow in my region. Also tried educating whoever I could, whenever I could, even included them in some form in my college presentations. It was always pleasing when I would manage to ignite that interest in someone.

Soon after I started university, I started a club and started gathering all sorts of gamers and introduced them to each other, and after some hassles managed to set-up tiny scale LANs within the campus that always had tournaments with prizes and pizza. Long story short, we grew a lot, managed to get a separate room that we could customise, including 10 about average computers that could run games like Q3/CS/WC3.

Not long after that it was decided that we should do something with the walls and make the room darker. We got some amateur art students to come over and we let them go free to add something trippy to the walls. The work was done with mixed fluorescent paints and the mounted UV tubes enhance the effect. Recently the room was in need of some maintenance, so I went back to it and took some quick snaps during work. They don't do any justice, although the room isn't back in awesome shape either.

http://i.imgur.com/bmHpd8C.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wf5p8rj.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/pFaYOxh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/LntqbHs.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1eIw4ik.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VSGdWn3.jpg

There was one part of the wall left out and no one was sure of what should go on it. I decided to use it for something special to myself: Quake 3 Arena. When I think about the depth and magic in this game, it still puts me in awe.
I showed the logo to a girl who was going to draw it out on the wall first, and I constantly bothered her till I got each angle and line as close to correct as possible. It's come out well in my opinion.

http://i.imgur.com/PiD5maj.jpg

There was a lot I could put in here, it can be inspiring and humbling. It made a difference here, it could somewhere else as well. But this text wall is already too long and I've rambled enough.

I do want to say this to anyone who actually read and came this far: nothing is ever too hard. Things can be difficult and exhausting, very difficult and exhausting, extremely difficult and exhausting; you get the idea. But no matter what, never ever give up. Whether you win or lose at the end does not have as much weight as we think it does. Focus, determination, patience...I could throw these words around (even though they are the core elements), but instead I will just say that if there is something you gotta do, major or minor, put your mind to it and fucking get up and do it. Always move forward like a flying wall, allow no rest till you reach where you want to reach.
Don't get involved with petty things, have a balance between (1) going with the flow, & (2) grabbing life by the horns. Build yourself and everything else will fall into place.

I don't even know why I'm posting this, and why anyone would bother reading it either. Weird impulse decision.

That's it for me.
-a
<3 S.

This Japanese company called Dharma Point announced a new mouse which looks a lot like the MS IE3.0 in terms of shape.

Optical version:

http://www.dharmapoint.com/products/DRTCM37

Laser version:

http://www.dharmapoint.com/products/DRTCM38

Very interesting, I just saw it so I don't know much.

hi end0rphine, maybe you might have some input?

I've been looking for a significantly quiet keyboard that is capable of handling gaming for a while now. I'd personally prefer to use something with brown Cherry switches, but I never bought myself one because the noise annoyed everyone at home when I borrowed a Zowie Celeritas for a month. And I don't really mind regular rubber dome keys tbh.

I am on my PC quite late at night and often into the morning, and everyone in my family are light sleepers so the keyboard annoys them very often especially coupled with the fact that I may type quite fast making even more noise.

I am currently using a friend's old Microsoft Reclusa and I actually like it for typing etc and it's quieter than most similar keyboards I've used in the past, but I have other gripes with it.

I have no special requirements, just certain things I require to be comfortable:

# no laptop style thin/flat keys, so no scissor switches either
# preferably USB, though PS/2 wont hurt
# with/without wrist-rest doesn't matter, but if present it should be removable
# backlight, onboard ports etc aren't required, although backlight in such conditions is nice to use
# don't need any weird ergonomics/curves etc. i like the good old straight squared layout.
# nothing unnecessarily big. i don't like the so called compact ones where the keys layout is different from the regular one, but i'm fine with tenkeyless type keyboards since they're basically regular keyboards with the numpad chopped off.
# which leads me to another point: i don't want extra keys or controls if they make the keyboard bigger. if you look at some of my keyboards like the MS Digital Media and Reclusa, the extra stuff on the left/right side add more to the size of the keyboard and i really don't have much space to deal with that. this also affects my mouse movement since i sometimes hit the keyboard :[

I've been told that laptop style keyboards will be more like what I'm looking for but I'm not very keen on getting used to those, although if they're the solution I guess I will go ahead with one. I just want something that won't have key rollover issues and will last me a while.

http://www.razerzone.com/deathstalker

comes with a timer app for timing items/attacks etc. lol
costs a bomb too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1HowpVX-hU

Has anyone here who uses a IO1.1 ever replaced the cable? I am having issues (the usual mouse switching on/off) and I wanted to switch the cable with another mouse as a fix, but I simply couldn't get the cable off the PCB. It's got a white rectangular plastic connector that goes straight onto the PCB and it seems like it is soldered.

Hi, I have a number of questions regarding Q3.

# Is there something like a remake of Furious Heights, House Of Decay, Hektik and Phrantic that I can use in Q3? As far as I know these are new maps made just for QL.
House of Decay was mptourney1 in Q3TA but that was a different map with different items and only 1 teleporter. I recall someone posting a true remake of that map for use in Q3 here on ESR, but I couldn't find it.

# Wasn't Thunderstruck a Q3 map? What was it called?

# I need the right values for the following commands. If they're wrong please post the right ones. The values should be the most suitable for use for CPMA on LAN (VQ3 mode).

cl_maxpackets 125
rate 25000
snaps 30
cg_optimiseBW 1
cg_nudge 0
cg_smoothclients 0
cg_xerpClients 0
cg_lagHax 0
cl_maxpackets 125
cl_packetdup 0
cl_timenudge 0
cg_predict 0
cg_predictItems 0
cl_allowDownload 0

I understand what xerp, laghax etc are used for, but I don't exactly know what each command does. I just want perfect commands for LAN conditions (1-5ms ping).

Thanks.

Hey guys, spammah from the UAE has made an informative post regarding gaming in this region. You can read it here:

http://www.gaming420.com/thread-2033.html

Here's an excerpt:

Starcraft 2 might finally have the spotlight that it has always wanted in the Middle East scene with the rise of tournaments, the heavily anticipated SC2 expansion AND the buildup from Winters/kal with the TwitchTV local live video stream and the SC2MENA page - facebook http://www.facebook.com/sc2mena - STARCRAFT FIGHTING!

Fighting games is another community that is very young but is expected to dominate the next few years to come. I've been in touch with some of the community leaders/promoters to combine and give birth to a one-community-all-players from all fighting games. This will come to pass and we will see exciting fighting games and tournaments in 2012. FIGHTING HYPE!

Hey guys, I'm looking for the Razer Tarantula keyboard. It's pretty hard to find, does anyone know where I could still buy one? Thanks in advance.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/12/thq-partner...n-in-2012/

interesting...

Stumbled upon this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logitech-MX300-Optica...2c60ac3986

dunno if it's the real deal, hope it helps some of you :D

Anyone here tried using rubber coating sprays? What's the end result like? What I actually want to do is improve grip on an IMO1.1 by using the rubber spray on the body shell, and I'm hoping It will probably come out to be something like the top of a Razer Abyssus/Deathadder, SS Kinzu/Xai etc. The spray I'm considering is this one.

I do have some questions in mind though:

# Will I have to use sandpaper on the surface of the IMO1.1 to make it smoother? As some of you may know the surface is grainy, so I don't know how well the rubber spray coat will hold on.

# Do I need to spray on multiple coats, or just 1 nicely done coat does the job?

# I also read that apart from the black (or other colors) rubber spray, there's also a clear version available. I don't know what it'll look/feel like. It sounds pretty interesting. Can anyone link me to something so that I understand it better?

Thanks :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jJrUY27O0Y

somewhat lengthy video but do watch all of it fully understand what the game is like.

anyone here playing it? thoughts about it? IMHO it can be an interesting game competitively.

quick question: is there some way to list every single map i have in Q3?

i have a WMO that keep's going on and off while it's connected. it's like after a random amount of time the sensor and LED switch off, as if the cable was disconnected (but it's not), and then after a random amount of time it comes back on (like reconnected). sometimes it never comes back on and i have to actually disconnect and reconnect it to get it to work.

it does this on all systems/ports i tried it on. i thought of trying it on a PS/2 port with an adapter but not sure if that would make any sense. i searched a bit on ESR and couldn't find anything. i am sure someone else must have had a similar issue, cuz it's an el cheapo mouse after all. anyone know what's up? is it the cable?

when measuring sens in terms of cm/360, where do you start measuring from? what i mean is: i am a right-handed user. i keep the mouse near the left edge of the mousepad, get a ruler and start measuring. but does the measurement start from the location of the sensor at that point? or is it from left/right side of the mouse? i think measuring from the sensor position makes sense, but i figured i'll ask this silly question anyway.

also, can someone elaborate why it is measured as cm/360 and not cm/180? what i understand is this: some may say that 180 degrees is probably the amount you usually need to turn at most, so sens should be measured with this in mind. but it is measured by 360 degrees because that's the complete amount of crosshair movement on the horizontal plane. also, for some players/situations, after turning 180 degrees, if someone has to turn 180 degrees again, the mouse may not be picked up and reset it's position but rather continue moving it further from it's position until the required movement is complete. lastly, measuring in 360 degrees is the correct method to find the required amount of mousepad space, compared to 180 degrees.

"ZOWIE GEAR and BenQ has spent the last 8 months co-developing a monitor which is optimized for competitive gaming..."
hmmmmm.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlHIbabnvpo

can anyone tell me what the song is in the background? i recommend listening till the later part where the vocals start, might help.

anyone know anything about them? they're Japanese.

here's a page with all their products:
http://www.dharmapoint.com/products

what do you think of these 2 companies OVERALL, and which do you think is doing a better job? a few pointers to help you think:

-- products, their quality & performance
-- prices
-- the image you have of the company
-- what they're doing for the scene in general (for events, support etc.)

it's just something i need for some personal research, if you have anything to mention then please post that too.

Does anyone here have, or know of, an LCD monitor that is:

# 20-inch or more in screen size
# Supports VGA, DVI and HDMI connections
# supports Full HD 1080p (1920x1080)
# has good response and very little ghosting
# ....and i can't think of much else, apart from that the display's output is actually good

TIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44IFYB1icx0

http://www.sk-gaming.com/video/254910-8bit_Starcraft

i am looking for the full version of this interview:

http://www.mymym.com/en/news/4591.html

i want it just because of personal interest, would like to give it a read.

Streetrunner, you can probably help.

I don't know if anyone cares, but I'm posting here anyways.

Blizzard Entertainment and Amazon.com bring us: Starcraft 2 - Ask the Developers. If you have any questions regarding or related to Starcraft, upload an image or video (30secs max) of yourself asking the question and upload them here. After May 22, Amazon will send the uploads to Blizzard for review, and Blizzard will then pick the clips they like and create a video exclusive to Amazon.com with all the questions and answers.

Simple, but you do need an Amazon.com account (it's free though).

anyone tried it, any opinions?
keep the CS hate away please.

actually, can anyone translate this (probably just the important stuff):
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9xd95_qpad-...videogames

seems Razer likes southpaws. is this the answer?

i am working on organising a UT99 duel tournament at my university, so i wanted to know the usual tournament map pool used. i am pretty sure about Deck16, but don't know of any other.

also, how do i move my settings around? which file do i need to work with? IIRC just like Quake has CFGs, UT has some INI files, but i don't know which ones.

i've tried googling this stuff but there's been little success. maybe i'm doing it wrong.

might post more questions here if something comes up.
TIA.

Okay I am sick of this. Every time my current router gives me some issues and I decide on getting a new good solid one, it starts working properly again. It is the reason why I have stuck with it all the time, apart from procrastination/being lazy. But it recently died on me again and this time I won't bother at all, I'm just gonna get myself a new one.

I've only done a rather short search, but I found the legendary Linksys WRT54GL and the D-Link DIR-600 which is also under consideration. Which one would you guys suggest and WHY?

Something else I would like to be able to do is to be able to host mini game servers. Sometimes I create a game online on my PC and me and a bunch of other guys kill time, usually in Q3 and CS. I've seen routers that cannot do this even if you get all the settings right, so consider this to be another requirement.

Also, if you guys have some other suggestions, post them here, especially if you're using them and they've proven to be damn good. i don't intend to spend much, probably US$80 at most. My primary needs are decent built-in features, good easy to use software and superb performance (ofcourse). I don't need stuff like wireless-N etc but it's a plus if I can get them in this price range.

Thanks in advance.

I recently made a thread in the hardware section where I posted a SteelSeries shop discount code etc. and when I visited ESR the next day I had 2 responses, but they vanished because I went to a news page first, and then I found out that the thread's gone. can someone tell me why it was deleted?

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/2832/zowie_i...ndex2.html

the reviewer has no clue! lol

on another note, anyone here tried any of their mousepads? i got one for review and it's pretty cool, you can check the review on gaming420.com

all here.

so, my midterm exams have come to an end, and i'm probably failing all of them, so before my brain melts i wanna watch some great Cooller matches.
but then my head will explode.

anyways, please point out some coverage videos (stuff like GotFrag TV or something), VODs maybe with some commentary, and demos of the best matches he has played.
ofcourse i could look for them, but it would be cool if you could point out specific matches.

After Global Challenges in Cologne and Chengdu, the next Global Challenge of IEM4 is to be held in Dubai, once again. Yay!

They also mentioned:

Furthermore there will be a Local Pro/Am competition in an unnamed discipline which remains secret for now.

Let's hope this is Quake Live, maybe then id will consider servers for the region.

Official news release can be found here.

http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-de...deathadder

i don't get the point of it.

coming real soon.

they finally did what i had been complaining about since v1 came out: no more separate clip-on mics.

jeez, i've made 3 HW threads in a few days...

it seems ESR is now my only means of staying awake lol

anyways, i just tried this mouse and pad a few days ago.

even though it looks weird, the mouse actually feels fine in your hand. it's actually smaller than it looks in the pictures. yes it is like a deformed Deathadder/Mamba but i actually think it's about 0.5-1cm smaller on all sides. couldn't do a real performance test though.

as for the pad, i'll just say it's....different.

so, has anyone used it? i was kinda curious about it, since my experience with Everglide has been good so far, rather understated products.
but i'd like to know what this mouse is like. is it great, just another good one or a simple waste? any pros using/used it, please post. i think dkt has used this, must have had to or something when Everglide sponsored him.
thanks in advance.

i have an old Intellimouse Explorer...no it's not the Intellimouse Explorer 3.0, it's the old original Intellimouse Explorer, the body is somewhat the same but the difference is still quite significant. it's not even used much, feels like new, buttons etc. work fine but i take it out to use it one day and the sensor just won't track. the mouse connects/installs/powers fine and the buttons respond but the sensor just won't move well unless used very slowly. i move the mouse at a bit higher speed than standard desktop usage speed at the tracking goes bonkers (cursor jumps all over, or doesn't move at all). if someone knows how to fix this then please help. i've tried everything but i just don't get what's wrong. i am using Win XP btw.

i also have an old beaten-up WMO, the buttons scroll and body shell are pretty fucked up now, it's now in a state where playing with it will mess your game. the sensor itself is pretty ok though.

so i was planning on a mouse mod and i want to take the sensor internals of the WMO and put them into the IME-O. i opened both to take a look and i don't think it is possible, but i would still like to give it a shot.

can anyone here help?
TIA

i've read in many places that Sujoy was featured on the advertisement/packaging of some hardware product(s). any one know what exactly? any pics?