Name: David Ritson
Alias: icel0re
Clan: eMazing Gaming
So Dave it's been an interesting last year for Quake and I've had you on Ready Up Radio to talk about some of the things going on in the community. Other than playing Quake, what have you been doing lately?

Raising my beautiful (and crazy) 4 month old son Connor. Having a beer when I can, and enjoying the summer. Oh...and bugging stevo\Syncerror :P

You've been kind of a journeyman in Quake, and in the past couple years, you've changed teams a handful of times. What does eMg offer you that the others haven't?

Well, I have an entire division of players in eMg, and have had full control over this division and what goes on with this division for some time now. This wasn't possible with my previous teams. While they were all great teams, they weren't trying to support a full Quakelive division. I've always wanted the freedom to lead a full team of professional players in Quakelive, so in order for me to do that I had to leave my longtime home x3o, and come to eMg. While this was probably the most hard choice I've had to make in gaming, it's something I had to do in order to get where I wanted to be.

eMg and EG have gone back and forth for the past month or so in the CTF tourneys. Do you think this will be the biggest matchup of the tournament?

I think we're gonna have to wait and see about that one :P I'm almost certain we'll be in opposite bracket sides so the only chance of us playing would be in the finals. As far as big matchups go, I've done a few hypothetical bracket's with my projected seed's and...I think we could potentially see Stermy's team and EG bump heads. Besides who ever makes it to the final, I think that would be the match I'd really like to see as a spectator.

After the big win over EG this past weekend that bumped you up to a possible number 1 seed at QuakeCon do you think the rivalry has intensified and do you think this would possibly make it harder to EG?

Absolutely. Theres a lot of reason's we don't get along with them. A lot of us were in a team called "KING" together, which was led by knossos. That clan fizzled out due to personal differences between a lot of the members, and i was also apart of what was to become "EG" but was forced to quit due to disagreements between organizations on how the players would be represented at this Quakecon, so there's a lot of things that have gone on that many people may not be aware of, e-drama to say the least. Honestly, we've had to play catch-up to their skill level for some time now and in scrims in the last 6 weeks we've caught up to them. Some nights they will win more maps, other nights we'd come out ahead. As none of that matters we knew we had to win this NGL match because of the Quakecon seeding implications, and we had to win because we feel we're the better team; plus it would be a huge boost to our confidence level going into Quakecon. As far as this making it harder for them, it most certainly will. Last year, my team was a "2" seed, and had a VERY tough road to the finals. If they were to get a "2" seed they'd be playing the "3" seed, which I would also imagine would be stermy's team, not to mention several other good teams.

Other than eMg and EG, what teams look to be series contenders for placing in the CTF tournament at Quakecon?

Stermy's team. They are filled with proven 1v1 and teamplayers, most all of which have eurocup\clanbase ctf titles under their belts, so we will most definately be looking out for them. Loaded is deceptively good and I think could be overlooked by a few teams, they all have great aim. Dynamic could make some serious noise as well, but none of their players have lanned before so it will be interesting to see how nerves and the lan environment affect them. Plus there are rumors of other european pickup teams forming out of 1v1 players, which a lot of people may overlook but most of the euro 1v1 players have teamplay histories so we won't be overlooking them either.

We're now a couple months into the open beta of QuakeLive and competitions are starting to pick up online. How do you like the game so far? What changes would you make?

While trying to not be overly critical of the admins or the organizations running the tournies (which im very thankful for, you guys rock!) I think things are going great really. Casting has been sufficient, and theres a great bit of activity and involvement from the community, so I think over all, there are a lot of great things to come! I just hope we can have more successful cups here in the US. Most recently I agreed to work with BIBS.na to see that it's a success, so hopefully with the promise of post-quakecon activitiy things will continue moving in the right direction!


A couple months ago, the US team lost to Canada in the Exhibition Match you played in; any word on if there will be a rematch of those games? Looking for revenge?

Haha, well, people REALLY took the intentions of that match out of context i believe. Id (from EG) and myself did that as sort of an exhibition match, I think it was viewed more as a bitter rivalry and a grudge match; those weren't our intentions. I said a lot of things, one comment specifically "Wear black, its gonna be a funeral", which wasn't to be taken seriously, and if you know me you know I was doing that just to take a friendly jab at my friends on the CA team. In all reality, I said a lot of things like that not because it's what I felt, but because I knew it would get the public involved, and draw attention. I'm really not to torn up about the results, they played a hell of a game, so hats off to them for that. As far as a rematch, you never know what will happen :)

How are you liking the new maps in QuakeLive?

I really like them actually. Of all the new maps that ID rolled out during their campaign, I think I enjoy CA2 the most for clan arena, and siberia the most for CTF. Theres a lot of traditional elements to each, but each also warrants different play styles...cant beat that!

In past years, you've been a major CTF player and you've started playing TDM with Death Strikers; how do you like TDM in QuakeLive with the modified damages and what do you think of PRO-TDM?

Well, I've got mixed opinions really about TDM in Quakelive. Most of us grew up on TDM, and were fortunate enough to play through Q3's glory days of tdm from 99-01, and I think because of that we're still overly critical of TDM now. It's really no secret Qlive is a lot easier to aim in which I think affects play styles greatly here in the US..mainly...it's making teams and players overly aggressive. I think a lot of what made TDM great, the tactics and organized movement to re-take area's..and the other complexities of it's gametype have been foresaken and now we're seeing a lot more reckless play styles which I think has helped with making it semi-unpopular here in the US. Pro-tdm is great I think, it's less FFA'ish and requires a lot more thinking, plus the ability to drop weapons now is really cool and adds depth to the gametype.

What do you think about the state of professional gaming right now? Will it ever recover?

It's awful, and has been for some time. I'm really at a loss for words as to what to say about it anymore. If it's ever going to recover it will take a small miracle, and motivated people who aren't involving themselves in the interest of making money. A lot of lans and leagues aren't making a lot of money, if any, they are merely trying to sustain themselves. With that being said, it will have to be a "Labor of Love" for many instead of a "Get rich quick" scheme...when we can accomplish this, i think maybe we can start rebuilding.

Quake 3 or QuakeLive?

Women.

If you could give a new team of players just starting to get into Quake one piece of advice, what would it be?

Ignore the negativity, have fun, and remain positive. Quake's been a community that for a long time has eaten its young, so i'd have to tell them to just play and stay positive....you can go far with a great attitude and dedication. :)

Got any shoutouts for us Dave?

First to my son, Connor, he's the reason I do everything...eMg, the North American QuakeLive community, ceppy, syncerror, stevo, my teamates, and everyone I have a beer with at quakecon!

Article Page: 1, 2 || next page >>