Posted on

Cometh the hour, cometh the argument!

Jebus, I’m sick of arguing with people. Argument after argument after argument with no apparent end in sight is starting to become a fucking waking nightmare.

I almost prefer going onto IRC and just chatting shit with the others for no reason at all because at least if an argument breaks out there is a working /ignore function. Whoever designed people really should have given us the ability to totally ignore those that piss us off or piss us about!

Visited my grandmother (who’s in hospital at the moment) today. Couldn’t believe how fragile she looked. It’s a shitty Star Trek quote but the phrase “Time is the fire in which we burn” really sprung to mind today. I’m going to have to look out for my gran more.

The whole TheBoards.eu thing hasn’t really gone anywhere yet. Shame really because I was quietly looking forward to trying to get that up and running. I guess I will at some point!

Peace out peeps.

Posted on

It's a brand new world…..

Actually, that’s a lie. It’s a new subdomain on my existing domain with the new version of my site on it. I haven’t posted in ages and I’m not sure that state of affairs will be changing any time soon.

In reality the only reason for the change is to basically remove the shitty dependency on InvisionBoard because it basically keeps fucking up on me cos its out of date. I can’t really complain, I could have paid for a full blown copy, but on the basis that I don’t update this site very often and also that InvisionBoard isn’t a fucking blog, it seemed a bit stupid.

I’ve been through and manually imported most of my old BarrysWorld columns into WordPress. If anyone has a way of automating the process (i.e. knows of a script) then I’d love to hear from them because I’m not looking forward to doing every single post by hand!

In other oh-so-boring news, I decided to register another domain name. This time called TheBoards.eu I didn’t really have much of a reason for doing this, I just figured it would be nice to try and start a Europe wide board where people can come and chat about anything and everything.

Might cya in 2007 if I can be bothered to post!

Posted on

Backtrack?!? Moi?!? Never….. (ok Well Maybe)

http://www.barrysworld.com/news/columns.asp?Category=6&Author=82

Backtrack?!? Moi?!? Never….. (ok well maybe) | Comments (2)
Sunday, February 2, 2003, 01:36

Engine room, full reverse!
Anybody that knows me, knows for damn sure that getting me to admit that I was wrong is about as easy as getting blood from a stone…… using a cotton wool bud….. in a dark room….. while hanging upside down from the ceiling….. having small children beat you with sticks like you’re a piñata….. while naked. Basically it’s more effort than its worth.

So if it’s so damn hard, what am I about to confess to being wrong about?

Microsoft’s X-Box

Yes, that’s right. You didn’t read it wrong. The above line does indeed contain the words “Microsoft’s” and “X-Box”. They are not typos, this is the real deal. Yes I’m serious.

Now to understand my backtracking, you have to understand the history. When I first laid my eyes on the X-Box I literally started laughing. You know, like we all did when we first heard somebody had given the Cheeky Girls a recoding contract. Why? The usual reasons of course, I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about;

“You can’t be serious, that thing’s bigger than my house”….. “Will I need to reinforce the floor in my living room before buying that?”….. “Can I order mine now and pick it up in 2005, because by then I should have been working out long enough to `actually` pick it up”….. “No really, where is the actual controller?”

Anyway to skip forward, we’ve been through all the days in 2002 now. Those calendars have all been torn down, 2k2 is dead and buried, 6ft under, alongside all those john doe’s and right beside the Christmas console title releases. Frankly in my mind “stank worse than a rotting corpse” is the only accurate comparison for the Crimbo releases of 2002. Not a single gem, no diamond in this rough. Bad, bad, bad, bad, BAD!

So there I was, it’s January 2003 and, despite the `upcoming` (read as: taking too fucking long to arrive) release of the Sonic Mega Collection, the amount of dust gathering on my GameCube is making such a mockery of its beautiful design that I’m contemplating stamping on it to put it out of its misery. If only I could use it to play the spinky Red Dwarf – Season 1 DVD (if you’ve not got this, GO ORDER NOW & pre-order Season 2 while you’re at it) maybe I’d feel better. Then again, DVD playback was about all my PlayStation 2 had been doing. While I confess that Capcom vs. SNK 2 & Marvel vs. Capcom 2 had forced me to shower my PS2 with a minute amount of my attention, it simply wasn’t enough.

So in summary, Console Freakoid (moi) + Crimbo 2k2 (shite releases) = Loss of faith in Nintendo & Sony (shit, that is bad)

Then it happened, a mate of mine who had owned an X-Box for a while got a copy of MechAssault. I didn’t need to have somebody explain to me why the concept of “big killing robot style machines making pretty explosions” was such a winning one, I was hooked. Did it have something to do with me beating the crap out of my mate, was I under the influence of certain substances that shall remain nameless, I can’t be sure. The only thing that I do know is there and then I decided I was to become an X-Box owner.

So, now on my left as I type, sits my latest acquisition, it’s big, it’s black, it makes a whiney noise….. no it’s not a bloody Doberman for god’s sake! It is of course an X-Box, comprising the Console, DVD Playback Kit (so very gay), Controller S, Live! Kit and MechAssault, with an empty wallet thrown in for good measure.

So, what’s my backtrack? The X-Box is a good console. Yes, it’s fucking huge. Yes if you’re not American the original controller is gay. Yes uncle bill is still a wanker for making extra cash on a piece of shit remote control for DVD playback (what’s new). But the games are good, Live works & is good, Controller S is good. There you go, my piss poor backtrack. I hope you all enjoyed it more than I did, really I do.

Forums….. Consoles….. nah, that’s a shit idea
Started work on a new small project I’ve wanted to do for a damn long time. ConsoleForums.org is now up and running, admittedly in a half-arsed capacity but did you expect anything else. So if you like, Consoles and Forums, well erm click the link!….. woo!…. ok, I’ll shut up now.

Ch3tan`s Gone!
Good buddy of mine in real life, one of the more charismatic (?!?) Counter-Strike admins & all round “in the community” bloke, Chetan has departed from the shores of good ole blighty and headed off for an adventure (with his lass there to hold his hand should the big ole world prove too scary, obviously).

Read about his adventures on his website (which I have to keep fixing because he breaks!!!).

That’s all folks
And with that, I’m outta here.

Remember, watch the skies….. another space shuttle could explode :{
Rob / MYstIC G

Posted on

Barrybeer 2002

http://www.barrysworld.com/news/columns.asp?Author=82&Category=6&Item=27537

BarryBeer 2002 | Post a comment..
Saturday, December 7, 2002, 01:57

Well with the amount of Red Bull that overflowed my glass this evening, I`m going to be up for a good while yet. So I thought to myself what better way to put myself to sleep than to proofread my own ranting about this evening’s merriment.

Where the heck was it?
The Devereux
20, Devereux Ct
London
WC2R 3JJ

Who turned up?
(from memory so sorry for any glaring omissions, please feel free to kill me, steal my identity & put yourself in here if I miss you out 🙂 )
TedTheDog (\o/), Luap (\o/), Steiny, Athan, TdC, Summo, WPKenny, Damini, Will, Ch3tan (\o/), gremlin (\o/), Scooba Da Bass….. stupid bloody word, stop underlining these in red….. DJpringle, Excession, Horus (\o/), Lecter, MrBenn, pixie, pills, Zarjazz, SK, Whisk (\o/), uberfrag, Daishi….. erm struggling now….. CJRavey, Duke Mook, granny (\o/), whipped, camacotz (or xane *spit*), Zappeh….. *end of memory*….. and of course myself (\o/).

*(\o/) denotes secret #HAI undercover assassins.

What happened?
Its one of those things that’s entirely too hard to actually describe. Suffice to say there will no doubt be a vast array of pictures appearing about the place in the next few days/weeks that (if I can be bothered) I’ll link to from here. However the highlights included: Drinking, Smoking, passing on IRC hate messages from people to TedTheDog, the avalanche of a good couple of hundred BarrysWorld beer mats being chucked all over the bar, much more drinking, redecoration of the bar with the obligatory BarrysWorld logos, a promise from the honcho at GAME that acquired BarrysWorld that we could keep the green (VICTORY! \o/), flying peppered chicken, Prizes!!!, Lecter not being the worst dressed, reasonably attractive barmaids, finding out that TdC was “lubed and ready for action”, more smoking (thanks to the generosity of Summo, bloody cigarette machines)….. too many of these, nuts to using list tags to sort them out…..

You mentioned Prizes, who won?
Can’t remember, will ask about & add that in.

Piccies?
I’ll be mirroring as many of these as I can at http://www.ircllama.com/mysticg/gallery/bb2002 as & when I get the chance. For now the only gems are from Lecter and can be found at http://lecter.teczone.net/barrybeer2002/1.jpg – 10.jpg

Anything else?
No, not really. That’s a lie, I’m losing interest in typing what with it being around 2am.

Until next time, take care crossing the streets
Rob / MYstIC G

Posted on

Good Luck Peeps

http://www.barrysworld.com/news/columns.asp?Author=82&Category=6&Item=26868

Good Luck Peeps | Comments (1)
Friday, August 16, 2002, 12:43

My commitments to my work and an agreement with TedTheDog have kept me from updating this column for a very long time, however I feel this one needs to be done.

I`d like to wish all the guys at BarrysWorld the best of luck now the service is going P2P, I hope it all goes well both now and long into the future.

All the best
Rob / MYstIC G

P.S. – Links are cool….. 🙂

Posted on

The Powers That Be?

http://www.barrysworld.com/news/columns.asp?Author=82&Category=6&Item=25603

The Powers That Be? | Comments (2)
Tuesday, January 15, 2002, 02:55

Sorry, too tired & too hastled to even try for something that will push the limits of thinking about gaming (yeah right, like I do that anyway). So instead I thought (seeing as the opportunity arose) that I`d post something akin to QuakeNations IRC lamer of the day, except this time its the IRCops taking center stage.

QuakeNet: the british rail of IRC networks 😉
(Because on QuakeNet even the netsplits don`t happen on time 🙂

*** MYstIC_G sets mode: +ws
[00:53] !lou! yes
[00:53] !jewel! froo =(((((
[00:53] !splidge! aww 🙁
[00:53] !Softis! froo.. :/ w00t?
[00:53] !lou! froo … ieeks
[00:53] !lou! hairy old man
[00:54] !lou! gnihihihihi
[00:54] !jewel! bwhahaha.. and u are a virgin =/
[00:54] !lou! 😮
[00:54] !splidge! /me huggles jewel
[00:54] !lou! tell no one!
[00:54] !slug! abuse!
[00:54] !jewel! ehr… 50% of Qnet probly knows by now =)
[00:54] !splidge! must have more abuse!
[00:55] !froo! abuse me, Softis!
[00:55] !lou! ok 50% is ok
[00:55] !lou! but tell no one else
[00:55] !jewel! goodie =))) /me hugs lou
[00:55] !splidge! /me tells everyone
[00:55] !lou! 😮
[00:55] !slug! do i keep having to remind you to m00 m00re?
[00:55] !jewel! oi splidgey, lets do some broadcasts =))
[00:55] !splidge! m000000000000000000()()()()()o()()o()()o()()0000
[00:56] !slug! m 0 0 () o () oo ()oo()
[00:56] !splidge! /msg q broadcast set +w NOW
[00:56] !slug! laff
[00:56] !splidge! the fun is about to begin!
[00:56] !jewel! /msg q broadcast i have a secret about lou!
[00:56] !splidge! it`s data`s attempt on the world record for Number of Netsplits in a 5 Minute Period!
[00:56] !lou! ~ *_* ~
[00:56] !slug! \o/
[00:56] !Softis! /me abuses froo in all ways possible..
[00:56] !jewel! data is 1337
[00:56] !splidge! the record is currently (fumbles a bit)
[00:57] !froo! OMG! Ze Britz Are C0ming!
[00:57] !splidge! erm
[00:57] !lou! he is not
[00:57] !lou! != 1337
[00:57] !splidge! we don`t actually know!
[00:57] !jewel! he`s not? =(
[00:57] !splidge! but he`s going to try anyway!
[00:57] !lou! date != 1337 even
[00:57] !jewel! e+a
[00:57] !splidge! and if softis and froo would stop abusing each other there we might be able to watch!
[00:57] !lou! s+f
[00:58] !lou! foftis
[00:58] !lou! *gnihihihih*
[00:58] !splidge! only a few minutes to go now!
[00:58] !splidge! I hope you all have your popcorn ready!
[00:58] !slug! /me hands out coke
[00:58] !splidge! soft drinks, crisps and other light refreshments are available in the foyer!
[00:59] !Softis! switch($netsplit>reason) { case `splidge`: blame “splidge”; break; default: blame “lou”; break; }
[00:59] !splidge! i didn`t think anyone could be more annoying than lou but splidge is getting close 🙂
[00:59] !splidge! go me!
[00:59] !froo! makes a mental note about abusing
[00:59] !jewel! gg splidgey!
[01:00] !jewel! and philosophychica, lou is not annoying.. he is cute
[01:00] !splidge! jewel is biased!
[01:00] !froo! /me starts chanting: “lou, lou, lou, LOU!”
[01:00] !slug! while ($lou ne `sane`) wallops `cat /dev/urandom`;
[01:00] !splidge! I can optimise that slug
[01:01] !lou! heh!
[01:01] !lou! stop
[01:01] !jewel! splidgey, i am not
[01:01] !splidge! wallops pointless comparison!
[01:01] !lou! picking on mw
[01:01] !lou! sgkjdfskljsdf
[01:01] !lou! ME!
[01:01] !splidge! I`m so exited I`m double wallopsing!
[01:01] !slug! exited? lol
[01:01] !froo! i`m the cutest (next to lensiepoh)
[01:02] !splidge! and news just in from our observation team
[01:02] !splidge! we believe the man to make the attempt, Mr. ]data[ (applause please)
[01:02] !splidge! is lost on the DLR!
[01:02] !splidge! DLR, for those who don`t know, meaning Docklands Light Railway
[01:03] !slug! overview here: [URL=http://www.dlr.co.uk/netmaps/graphics/dlr_network.gif]http://www.dlr.co.uk/netmaps/graphics/dlr_network.gif[/URL]
[01:04] !slug! splidge: where is he on the map?
[01:05] !splidge! No idea
[01:05] !splidge! /me looks at map
[01:05] !froo! /me points for splidge
[01:05] !HellMagic! /me looks at /map
[01:06] !froo! ATTENTION QUAKENET USERS. THIS IS A WALLOP. IT`
[01:06] !froo! S CURRENTLY BEING ABUSED
[01:07] !lou! omg, attention pls
[01:07] !splidge! I hope he remembered to change trains!
[01:09] !slug! and hope he isn`t on the circle line =)
[01:10] !splidge! or even doing the circle line pub crawl!
[01:10] !splidge! not the ideal prelude to router reconfiguration
[01:11] !splidge! although thanks to the UK`s marvellous licensing laws I doubt the pubs are open!
[01:15] !splidge! * rolls drums more
[01:15] !HellMagic! 😀
[01:15] [S] Netsplit: stockholm.se.quakenet.org Remote SQUIT by HellMagic
[01:15] [S] Netsplit: hub.uk.quakenet.org <> eXscape.us.quakenet.org (rerouting to hub.se)
[01:15] !hub.se.quakenet.org! Remote CONNECT eXscape* 4400 from HellMagic
[01:16] [S] Netmerge: hub.se.quakenet.org >< eXscape.us.quakenet.org [01:16] !splidge! * crashes cymbals [01:16] [S] Netmerge: eXscape.us.quakenet.org. Net burst completed [01:16] !splidge! yes! [01:16] !HellMagic! 🙂 [01:16] !splidge! and now that the prelude is over [01:16] !splidge! it`s datataatatataatatata himself for the main event! [01:18] !splidge! someone has stolen data`s b0rking stick! [01:19] !Nomad! splidge...are you drunk ? [01:19] !splidge! somewhat worryingly.. no [01:20] !Nomad! splidge...forgot to take your medication ? [01:20] !splidge! ah, this might explain a few things [01:20] !Nomad! splidge...remember...3 m00`s a day [01:20] !splidge! oooh dear [01:21] !splidge! I think I`m up to about 10 [01:21] !splidge! this might explain things [01:21] [S] Netmerge: eXscape.us.quakenet.org Net burst acknowledged [01:32] !splidge! he`s back! [01:32] !splidge! with a shiny new b0rking stick [01:33] !HellMagic! yay! [01:33] !splidge! TIME TO BREAK STUFF (tm) [01:34] !HellMagic! â„¢ Much Later (Warning: Boring bit alert) [02:28] [S] Netsplit: blueyonder1.uk.quakenet.org <> hub.uk.quakenet.org (Ping timeout)
[02:30] [S] Netmerge: blueyonder1.uk.quakenet.org >< hub.de.quakenet.org [02:31] [S] Netmerge: hub.de.quakenet.org. - Net burst completed [02:31] [S] Netmerge: hub.de.quakenet.org - Net burst acknowledged [02:31] [S] Netmerge: hub.dk.quakenet.org - Net burst acknowledged [02:31] [S] Netmerge: irc.be.quakenet.org - Net burst acknowledged [02:31] !hub.de.quakenet.org! Remote CONNECT chat.uk* 4400 from pils [02:31] [S] Netmerge: hub.de.quakenet.org >< chat.uk.quakenet.org [02:31] [S] Netmerge: chat.uk.quakenet.org. - Net burst completed [02:32] [S] Netmerge: chat.uk.quakenet.org - Net burst acknowledged [02:33] [S] Netmerge: hub.dk.quakenet.org >< hub.uk.quakenet.org [02:34] [S] Netmerge: hub.uk.quakenet.org. - Net burst completed [02:35] [S] Netmerge: hub.uk.quakenet.org - Net burst acknowledged Much Much Later 02:50] * +meg¦afk slaps data[teleh0se] around a bit with a large haddock [02:51] <+data[teleh0se]> nothing has gone wrong
[02:51] < +data[teleh0se]> 😛
[02:51] < +Acronym> ….. YET

Posted on

Long Commentary

http://www.barrysworld.com/news/columns.asp?Author=82&Category=6&Item=24488

Long Commentary | Comments (1)
Sunday, August 12, 2001, 23:01

Having just read Leviathon`s column over on QuakeNation I’ve got to admit that it got me thinking a bit more about admining in general and cheating on the whole. Now I am fully aware that cheating has been covered before and that nowadays, in terms of subject matter, it seems older and dryer than the Sahara Desert.

I`m also fully aware that everybody out there has an opinion on cheating and what does/doesn`t fit into that category so I`m not setting out to take chunks out of Leviathon or his perspective on cheating (so please don`t take this as such m8). Basically what I`m doing is making a comment that I thought was far too long to tack onto the bottom of his column, this way I can just leave a URL 😀

Here goes nothing…..

Everyone who plays a game adheres to the rules, and these rules are either part of the restrictions in the medium the game is set, or are enforced by knowledgeable officials. In CS the medium is the CS client, server and the bits that cause lag, with the officials being public or league admins. Anything that forcibly changes the game medium such that by doing so your interaction with the world is different to other peoples is cheating.

To start off with I must say that using Counter-Strike as an example wasn`t such a great idea for a couple of reasons. Firstly because these days I think everybody is to wound up about cheating in Counter-Strike. These days if you randomly picked 20 players, sat them down in front of 20 brand new identical PC`s with clean fresh installs of the game on them, all of which are made read only as to prevent tampering, all using the same config, each in its own sealed cubical and asked them to play for 30 minutes, my guess would be that within 15 minutes that at least one of them would start making cheat accusations.

Secondly anybody that knows Counter-Strike knows that the half-life engine upon which it runs is shit. We all know that the developers of Counter-Strike have said on
numerous occasions that it allows people to do things that they wish they could prevent, but haven’t been able too. We also know that the engine is never going to get any better and accept this because Counter-Strike is such a good a game just on paper that we won`t allow the backdated technology upon which it runs to keep us from playing it. No matter how good an engine is for a game it can never make up for gameplay *cough* Quake 3 *cough* 😉

So using this way of looking at cheating, what do I think of Bunny Hopping and Strafe Jumping. Well, I don`t consider them cheating, in fact I consider them a skill and good luck to anyone who can use them to their advantage
Why are they not cheating? It`s because they are allowed within the constraints of the medium, the CS client and server. Until such a time as the medium is changed, or the admins condemn it and police the servers, it is allowable.

I can`t ever agree with this argument I`m afraid as in my eyes it will always be flawed. Now what I`m about to say here I`ve probably already said before and will no doubt end up saying again at some point in time, that’s just the way life is I`m afraid.

How I follow the logic in the column is that it seems to state that `Anything you can do which the engine lets you is fine`. Now for Counter-Strike specifically this is just a no go area. Following this argument would make Hostage Jumping in the game allowable. Now this may seem like an extreme example and some of you might be saying `Bunny Hopping and Hostage Jumping aren`t the same thing` and to those of you I respond How?

Both give you an advantage, for Bunny Hopping its speed, for Hostage Jumping it’s a better position (generally). Both are skills, you can`t just spontaneously do either of these things, to be good takes practise. Both are things that the developers of Counter-Strike didn`t want anybody to do and finally but by no means least both are unrealistic.

Now I can both bunny (badly) and hostage jump, however I refrain from doing it in publics as it gives me an unfair advantage and in leagues I will always conform to the rules given out. My argument to counter doing either though is the core fact that they’re both bullshit. Counter-Strike is built on the premise that it`s supposed to be a Realistic Counter-Terrorism Mod. Now you know its not (and never will be) 100% realistic, I also know its not and those of us that play it accept this fact. However I won`t accept people that try and justify making the game any more unrealistic than it already is as that goes against the games essence.

Anybody wishing to counter this argument feel free to please e-mail me a photograph of either a member of a Counter-Terrorism organisation jumping from left to right whilst on a mission or a Terrorist standing atop a 20ft high stack of hostages.

Let`s move onto scripts. Are they cheating? Was Sujoy`s (I think) exploit of fast weapon switching in Quake cheating when he wrote a set of binds and aliases to make sure you never died with a decent weapon in your hand? Now we`re into the good stuff, this is what you should be debating about. Scripts to help bunnyhoping, cheating? Buy Scripts? Scripts for this, scripts for that, are they ALL cheating? Where do you draw the line?

With regards to scripting I`m divided. In leagues, if it were possible to enforce, I think scripts shouldn`t be used at all so the competition remains as level as possible. However since there is no method to put in place such a system other than asking people to enforce it themselves, which is hardly reliable, I concede that scripts will be used in competitive environments. In publics I`m not so fussed, although when people use announcing buy scripts I want to lop off their sexual organs because I just don`t see the point. (rant) Who cares that you bought a fucking MP5? You`re only going to live for all of 20 seconds before you die and lose it FFS (/rant)

As to where you draw the line its also hard to be specific. My personal guess is that scripts that do something you couldn’t do personally are a definite no no, for example Bunny Hopping scripts. Scripts that do things faster than you could I think are also a no no, for example Grenade spamming scripts. Scripts that do monotonous things that don`t truly affect the game are I believe ok, for example a round start buy script. I say this because I too get tired of having to ask for my AK47 to be delivered into my hands at the start of rounds. Also because I can always buy all the things I need quickly enough at the start of a round I`m not gaining any advantages over another player.

Makes sense?

MYstIC G

Posted on

Time…..

http://www.barrysworld.com/news/columns.asp?Author=82&Category=6&Item=24431

Time….. | Post a comment..
Thursday, August 9, 2001, 01:02

Ok once again it’s probably been a little too long since I last updated this little ole column but I’ve got 5 minutes to spare so here goes.

TribesNation
I’m going to be working with Irn-Bru and Fergus to see if we can’t bring back some of TribesNation`s spark. In case you haven’t seen it already the post is here over on TribesNation

BWTL FunCup
Well HAI didn’t quite achieve their goals of world domination this time. Ah well always the Tribes 2 League 🙂

Comments
Well all I can say is “Ohhhhhh Shiny and New” nice one Trebz 🙂

Admins
#BWAdmins is now open for business on QuakeNET, expect to find me idling there as well now 🙂

Well unfortunately the 5 minutes are up so I’m going to have to mosey on along.
Today’s column was brought to you by the smiley 🙂 and the number 5

MYstIC G

Posted on

Is Conflict The Key?

http://www.barrysworld.com/news/columns.asp?Author=82&Category=6&Item=23907

Is Conflict the Key? | Post a comment..
Saturday, June 30, 2001, 18:07

I`ve never really sat down and thought about this at any great length before but today this question has been running around my head over and over

Why do we all play computer games???

So for the past couple of days I`ve been sitting here trying to figure out why it is we all play computer games or at the very least trying to figure out why the hell I`m so addicted to playing them.
Me, Myself and I

Personally I`ve been playing computer games as far back as I can remember, —Warning Entering Flashback— ahhh my trusty old Sinclair Spectrum and Rolling Thunder —Flashback Ends—. Console gaming was where it truly kicked up a gear for me though. The first time I saw the “To be this good takes SEGA -> AGES” adverts I knew that was for me. My love affair with Sega began shortly afterward. Watching as I made Alex Kidd run around the screen of my TV all thanks to a little ole 8-bit Sega Master System filled me with glee. Then in what seemed a remarkably short time it happened, looking back on it now I didn`t even notice, I was hooked on games.

Then, as it always was in the good old days, Sega kept up there reputation for being able to do no wrong and the MegaDrive was born along with their most famous character ever Sonic the Hedgehog. In November 1990 I, along with no doubt many of you, drooled as that little blue hedgehog started running around.  Sega churned out top quality game after top quality game with it looking as though there was no end in sight.  The Sonic games went from strength to strength with Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and the worlds first plug through game ever, Sonic and Knuckles.

Of course Sonic wasn`t the only things I played.  I picked up rakes of great games including Streets of Rage 1 – 3, Atomic Bomberman, Mortal Kombat 1 & 2 but my favourite game was, like most peoples at the time, Street Fighter 2.  SF2 is a totally classic title that I still occasionally play to this day, smelly Vega doing that screechy Dooooooooooooooooo followed by a body slam rubbish on me again

After the Immense success of the MegaDrive Sega decided that it was calling off the love affair with its fans.  The company lost the plot completely releasing a number of bad machines which all served as nails in the coffins of Sega`s console business.  First came the MegaCD then the 32x and lastly and most fatally the Saturn.  Sega`s inability to provide a decent follow-up to the MegaDrive is what turned me onto PC gaming.

PC games started for me with the classic Wolfestein 3D by the boys at  ID Software. Then of course onward through Doom, Doom II & Quake until we finally arrive at Quake II (I know that`s a bit of a fat leap but I don`t want to bore you all to tears if I can avoid it).  Quake II, for a bloody long time, was my all time favourite game.  Nothing was more impressive than grabbing the flag in a CTF (my personal favourite being Lokis Minions) game and using that grappling hook to drag your ass back across the level as fast as you could.

Today I`m a Counter-Strike junkie.  Today the fun comes from driving that AM bullet right through the head of my opponent from half way across the map.  Along with Counter-Strike I also regularly play Tribes 2 and sometimes Quake 3 gets my attention (but compared to Q2 its a piss poor substitute).  My Nintendo 64 also receives its share of attention at times, with WWF: No Mercy being the current title I cant put down.

So ok by now I`m sure your thinking “So what? Who cares? What`s this got to do with why we play computer games” and a few days ago I was also uncertain.  The common link between Sonic 2`s ring grabbing antics and firing off a Rocket at somebody in Quake 2 evaded me for quite some time but now I believe they all have a common theme.
Conflict

Yes I know, it seemed silly to me at first as well.  The thing is though the more you think about it the easier it becomes to understand why such a simple thing as Conflict can be the driving force behind me picking up my AM and you maybe picking up a Spinfusor.  In games like Sonic you fought to grab those, which now seem so ridiculously named the more I think about it, Chaos Emeralds.

In games like Wolfestein 3D and Doom you were at conflict with the Nazi`s and the Demons from Hell. I`m still not sure that those two groups aren`t one and the same.  Either way you ran around with your gun playing the hero in a “your the last hope” style.

In Quake the level`s were cranked up a notch.  Now you got to kick the shit out of your mates properly.  Ahhh the joy of using that good ole shotgun to decapitate your best mate.  Is there any sweeter feeling?  Well probably, but doing that still feels damn good.  Online gaming takes the conflict to another level, now its not just you versus some computer AI.  It`s you against everybody else you can find.  Online gaming allows people to get there adrenalin pumping by not only kicking one persons ass but maybe 2, 5, 10 or more all at once.  And that, for me, is the kick. Getting one up on as many people as you can lay your hands on.

It gets better now though as with sites like Csports.net you can actually know just how good you are. Below is my personal ranking bar provided for free by the guys at Csports.net knowing my luck by the time I finish this column my rating will have dropped from 59,063 all the way down to like 15,000,000 or something, I guess if I don`t play for a bit it cant get any worse though

To get one of those for yourself click here and read what is says.  You will obviously have to register with the chaps there but in my personal opinion this site is far better than any of the alternatives out there.  Anyways if you like you can stick your score for all to see in the forum thread that I`ve started by clicking here and following the instructions that I`ve given there

So peeps go out there and let conflict bring you together in harmony and please post your thoughts / opinions / flames in the forums over here

And now for something completely different…..
Music

On Monday I finally decided to grab myself some new CD`s and so picked up a copy of Dido`s album No Angel which I totally recommend to anybody who hasn`t already got a copy, apart from being stunningly beautiful this lady is also stunningly talented so go pick this one up now.  Whilst your there I must also recommend that you get the new Muse album Origin of Symmetry.  As with pretty much every other artist on Mushroom Records these guys rock
Admin

As some of you may or may not have guessed I have now joined the ranks as a new Counter-Strike admin. I`m around loads so you guys have no excuse not to pop into IRC and find me if you spot something going on.  I`m also quite a night owl so don`t forget to check before you say there are no admins at 2am in the morning
Apologies

Finally I`d like to apologise for my past few updates not really being all that good. I shouldn`t have let them slip as this column is something that I enjoy doing. Hopefully now they will pick up in terms of quality again as I get back into the routine of once again trying to write them regularly.

Right I think that`s covered everything as always feel free to drop me a line.

Until the next time…..

MYstIC G