I was surprised; it’s obviously a good thing to see that many signups, but the teams that are prepared to travel to events should always take priority. We all know that there are hundreds of teams out there willing to participate in online on ladders such as Gamebattles. CSL gives a better quality of service to European teams, but these European teams that only competed online already existed, so the amount of signups on CSL should really have been expected. CSL is an alternative ladder and the vast majority of these teams are not going to suddenly change their attitude and attend LANs because of it. Nevertheless, CSL and the competitive community can work together to promote events such as ESGN, but it will be a gradual process.

Well so far we’re in the finals of the 3 biggest online tournaments for GoW 2: CSL, ShopTo and Decerto. We’ve progressed this far despite playing the game only on the days of each tournament match. To be honest, we don’t enjoy GoW 2 at all, yet we’ve beaten teams more organised than ourselves. This shows two things; firstly, so far our skill has been enough to make up for our lack of preparation. Second and more importantly, it shows the limitations of GoW 2 in comparison to GoW 1. Teamwork is an important factor in GoW 2, no one can deny that, but the dip in the skill level in comparison to is predecessor is ridiculous. If a top team didn’t practice on the original Gears, they would suffer hard for quite a long period of time and catching up to teams would require focus and dedication. Both teamwork and skill were huge factors; teams that didn’t possess both could never maintain any decent level of consistency.

EPIC’s support for GoW 2 has been appalling. Glitches that took place from launch still occur 4 updates later. Glitches that remained on GoW 1 never affected competitive play because players had to purposely activate them. On Gears 2, not spawning with a weapon at the start of a round has nothing to do with the action of a player. EPIC would rather release pay to download content than fix inconsistencies and glitches. Bungie listen to the competitive community, they share their attention between the casual and the hardcore gamer. At least in terms of console gaming, EPIC is years behind developers like Bungie in this respect. The fact is, fluke or not, GoW 1 is a more consistent game. Perhaps their support for the competitive scene was no different on the original either, but one way or another it’s a better quality game.

The entertainment that each game provides to spectators is also important. GoW 1 received positive feedback from the other big communities, for the majority of the time it was fast paced, a skilled player was easy to differentiate amongst the rest and viewers showed plenty of interest in the MLG VoDs for GoW alongside Halo 3. GoW 2 has lost this interest and whilst some matches are relatively fast, it doesn’t deliver the same experience as the original. Non GoW 2 players will basically see a slower game where competitors are limited to doing not even a quarter of what GoW 1 allowed.

Gears 2 is not all bad, good teams can still stand out to an extent but compared to its predecessor, it’s average. The series has moved backwards. I suggest that European teams consider one thing in particular: compared to MLG alone, there have only been half as many XL events. Most of the community started attending from XL3, so really, most teams have barely experienced GoW 1 in terms of LAN.

Personally, I’m looking towards the new wave of games being released this year, such as Wolfenstein 2 and Modern Warfare 2. A chunk of the Gears community are doing the same, so the community that want to remain on GoW 1/2 need to decide which game can attract enough LAN teams for the next year. GoW 1 has an impressive record at events, consistently increasing and then maintaining 28 teams. I’m certain that this number will remain a respectable amount in terms of European gaming events until at least next year and it’s not hard for the community to return to it. If teams believe that GoW 2 can attract the same or more, then fair enough, but judging from the signups of teams that have merely moved from one ladder to another isn’t an accurate method.

CSL are hosting a GoW 1 4v4, so if you want GoW 1 at ESGN, I suggest you sign up ASAP.

We really felt we could win one on GoW; it’s a shame that we left it until the second season. Anyway, hopefully MLG will pick up a new game for the 2010 season.

Befriend communities on their own turf, especially when as far out as somewhere such as the US. Particularly if you’re an underdog team, if you perform well throughout an event, then there’s a good chance that many of the players may start supporting you once you start playing against the favourite home teams. Although there’s pressure at any event, travelling abroad amongst everything else is one more thing that takes you out of your comfort zone. The last thing you’ll need is one admin behind you only to moderate, whilst your opposition enjoys an army of support from everyone else. No matter how many times you believe that you’ll stay focused, the little things all add up in the end. That’s not to say that you should stay quiet for the whole tournament, but always remember to keep a minimal level of respect.

I can’t really talk about this match because I was abroad and therefore I didn’t play. Artistic kindly stepped in and from what I heard it was a very even match. At the end of the fourth map, the round count was equal and due to the rules, The Imperial were awarded the last host on a pre-selected map. Nevertheless, The Imperial was a great team and they won which is all that mattered. However, consistency in tournaments is always the most important factor. The Imperial then lost to 2 teams to be knocked out of the tournament, whereas we have progressed to the end. Our lack of practice compared to every other team has always been a risk, so we probably deserved to have to work through the loser bracket.

The most enjoyable match so far has been the LB Finals, so probably The Legacy. They were aggressive and met us half way on each map and despite the game going to the fifth map, the whole thing lasted for no longer than 50 minutes, which is quite a change compared to previous matches.

This is difficult to answer since we’ve had little interest other than to play and win each round. I would say Gimbly is quite a complete player, plus he’s a calm and pleasant guy in general.

Yeah we’re confident, our lack of organisation has paid off so far and perhaps playing randomly is the best way to play on this game.

We’ll finish the remaining GoW 2 tournaments and then wait for Wolfenstein 2; if it shows any potential then I’ll definitely be there to support it and hopefully so will Abs, Crookz and Aridity. Modern Warfare 2, the next big sequel, is still a while away so it’s going to be a period where new games should be given a chance. We’ll also participate in the GoW 1 4v4 CSL online tournament.

Abs, Aridity, Crookz and Dom – America, Italy, Holland and across the UK, it’s been quite a journey.

And everyone else except Mellow

Images courtesy of Team-Dignitas.org