Anyone else gone along to this/ still going along to this (I think it runs all weekend). I went along on Friday to see the UK leg of the WCG Counter-Strike tournament and I must say it was impressive stuff.
As per usual for organised tourneys, the organisation wasn't entirely perfect. spectating was possible, but not perfect (I guess they couldn't do too much for fear of screen-lookers if they used the big screens without their 3 minute delays) and they took so long changing the setups between rounds that they overran and us spectators couldn't watch the final. Crowd wasn't up to much either. Not a whole to of atmosphere, but then again it wasn't like they had a lot for the crowd to look at. Was surprised that I was the only one booing the decision to play the final behind closed doors. Everyone else just waited to bitch about it once they'd left the building. Atmosphere improved towards the end, though. Harsh as it was to watch, there was genuine emotion running high in the semi finals when the clan I decided to back (ONE) lost out to OMG. I genuinely felt for them there. 4Kings were, as expected, majestic, coming out on top although I sensed an opportunity for an upset when de_nvidia were 5-0 up on them in the semis. They're a quality act though. As a relative rookie at cs I enjoyed picking up a few tips off their play patterns and strategies.
Also on the day was the tournament to find the UK's Halo representative at the WCG. Despite my nagging friends telling me to enter, I didn't think it would be my bag. And it wasn't. I didn't know what to expect, but I wasn't overly impressed with the one-on-one matches played on a single screen. Many of the fights were dictated by the players' ability to screenlook effectively although the sheer talent of technique and tactics employed by eventual winner Fenriz was obvious and made the final a joy to watch. I guess there isn't a lot else you can do when you have to keep the rules standardised throughout but I thought using two screens would be mandatory. It made the final look a little absurd in a room filled with plasma screens and xboxes, to only have one operating for the final, but you can't really change the rules in the later stages, can you?
On the non-competitive side, there were plenty of other things to do. I did cry genuine tears when I discovered that the promised playable demo pods with Project Gotham 2 were nowhere to be found, but PC Halo was certainly an entertaining experience. Not quite complete, but from what I could tell they had tweaked quite a few areas of the game already. I'm sure it'll make for a solid release. Joint Operations (the alpha code on show for the first time in the UK) was also a lot of fun - Delat Force but with a little more action and more vehicles to make things interesting. A definate improvement in multiplayer over Black Hawk Down, imo with a lot more action but retaining the global nature of the game. Tron 2.0 didn't make an impact upon the pulic, although I quite liked it.
Fun day out in Sheperd's Bush. Qwalitee.
As per usual for organised tourneys, the organisation wasn't entirely perfect. spectating was possible, but not perfect (I guess they couldn't do too much for fear of screen-lookers if they used the big screens without their 3 minute delays) and they took so long changing the setups between rounds that they overran and us spectators couldn't watch the final. Crowd wasn't up to much either. Not a whole to of atmosphere, but then again it wasn't like they had a lot for the crowd to look at. Was surprised that I was the only one booing the decision to play the final behind closed doors. Everyone else just waited to bitch about it once they'd left the building. Atmosphere improved towards the end, though. Harsh as it was to watch, there was genuine emotion running high in the semi finals when the clan I decided to back (ONE) lost out to OMG. I genuinely felt for them there. 4Kings were, as expected, majestic, coming out on top although I sensed an opportunity for an upset when de_nvidia were 5-0 up on them in the semis. They're a quality act though. As a relative rookie at cs I enjoyed picking up a few tips off their play patterns and strategies.
Also on the day was the tournament to find the UK's Halo representative at the WCG. Despite my nagging friends telling me to enter, I didn't think it would be my bag. And it wasn't. I didn't know what to expect, but I wasn't overly impressed with the one-on-one matches played on a single screen. Many of the fights were dictated by the players' ability to screenlook effectively although the sheer talent of technique and tactics employed by eventual winner Fenriz was obvious and made the final a joy to watch. I guess there isn't a lot else you can do when you have to keep the rules standardised throughout but I thought using two screens would be mandatory. It made the final look a little absurd in a room filled with plasma screens and xboxes, to only have one operating for the final, but you can't really change the rules in the later stages, can you?
On the non-competitive side, there were plenty of other things to do. I did cry genuine tears when I discovered that the promised playable demo pods with Project Gotham 2 were nowhere to be found, but PC Halo was certainly an entertaining experience. Not quite complete, but from what I could tell they had tweaked quite a few areas of the game already. I'm sure it'll make for a solid release. Joint Operations (the alpha code on show for the first time in the UK) was also a lot of fun - Delat Force but with a little more action and more vehicles to make things interesting. A definate improvement in multiplayer over Black Hawk Down, imo with a lot more action but retaining the global nature of the game. Tron 2.0 didn't make an impact upon the pulic, although I quite liked it.
Fun day out in Sheperd's Bush. Qwalitee.