Who's going to the CPL?

[Omeganitros]

RE: Who

Man, I had to bullet-dodge some of the interviewer's questions like crazy. Kept asking about Battlefield 1942 and Vietnam, both of which I have seen, but never played.

Int: "It looks to me like Battlefield 2 and Vietnam are pretty much the same game, could'nt I just buy Vietnam or 1942 and get the same game?"
Me: "Well, uh, not nessesarily. Looking at it from a gameplay perspective, the teamwork involved in this game along with the ranking and award system make it a pretty different experience."
Int: "Ranking and award system?"
Me: "Uh, yeah. You see, as you play the game you might get points for capturing a flag or killing a bunch of guys or reviving someone. When you get enough you're awarded these medals and you go up in ranks. A guy with a few medals might be a private, whereas a guy with a bajillion might be a general."
Int: "Ah, so it's like an RPG."
Me: "Uh, um, not nessarily. The awards and ranking are basically there to keep you hooked on the game, because it's a pretty satisfying feeling when you win something. There's no skill points or anything like in RPGs, you just go up in rank and everybody recognizes you as a better or worse player."
Int: "So it's kind of a 'unlocking bonuses' thing?"
Me: "Actually, yeah. You gain access to more customizations and weapons. The bonus weapons aren't nessesarily better than the normal ones, but the better you are the more freedom you have."
Int: "So which do you preffer, 1942 or this?"
Me: "..."
Me: "..." [Here comes the bullet dodge!]
Me: "...Um, I think I would like 1942 better, simply because it has alot more fun mods out there than this, since BF2 has only been out--"
Int: "One of the things I've noticed when I played is I move pretty slowly on foot, like I'm in a mech or something. Doesn't that get annoying, compared to faster games like Onslaught mode in UT2005?"
Me: "...(*thinking hard*)"
Me: "...Well, I suppose that really depends on the player's taste in games. Battlefield 2 and Onslaught mode are generally alike, but then we put theme and sound and graphics and other things into perspective, and we get different games altogether. Some people like quicker games with crazier action, some people like slower games with more required strategy."
Int: "'Fo realz."
Me: "..."
Me: "'Fo realz...(?)"
Int: "That's how I'm going to end my article. It was a pleasure meeting you."
Me: "Heh. Okay, it was a pleasure meeting you too."

[Omeganitros]

RE: Who

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4272/thereyougo8ev.jpg

Everything here is from the CPL, except the gold necklace and the glasses and the camera. I love my new shirt.



Oh, and Reach just won a whopping 40 Omega points for fixing the picture. <3 <3 <3

[Omeganitros]

Omega, reporting from the front! Yeah, they laptops here for people who want to go online. I played F.E.A.R.

Wow. WOW, F.E.A.R. owns. The AI is simply incredible, dude. They peek around corners, jump, duck, roll, flank the enemy's cover, give covering fire so squadmates can advance, even use props for cover. Not just walls, as one time this guy had no walls near him so he grabbed a large cabinet and threw it infront of him. Pretty clever because it blocked my shots, until I gave the thing a flying kick and watched it crush him. I'll never forget the one time I killed about 6 guys in a room from a hallway, stood still for 30 seconds, saw no movement, advanced foward, and I'm almost to the door of the room when BAM, the last guy peeks from behind the corner, tosses a frag grenade, and screams "TAKE COVER!" I got him before the grenade gibbed me.
Clever clever clever clever bastards.

Oh, and the graphics are mouth-dropping. When you zoom in with a plasma cannon, slow down time, and watch as the blue flame not only sears right through the soldier but also hits the explosive barrel so he goes flying, a tear comes to your eye. Oh, and for the first time ever, the fire and explosion graphics actually look realistic. Oh, and the scary parts are SCARY. Like, PARANORMAL SCARY. I jumped twice.

Basically, Half-Life 2 just got owned incredibly hard in the Presentation department. This game won't outdo HL2, but...Somebody had to have sold their soul to the devil to get this greatness, and it would take miracle for this game to end up sucking.

Oh, and as far as lanning goes, the developers did one heck of a job with the netcoding. It's like they completely succeeded where The Specialists failed. Even during the slow motion moments with 12 people, there was NO LAG. AT ALL.

Omega, signing out. Expect pics when I get home.

[Omeganitros]

IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!

This is where I bought my tshirt. My awesome awesome overpriced tshirt.


THE F.E.A.R. BOOTH. SWEEEEET.


The F.E.A.R. booth, part two.


A sweet 24-person LAN of Battlefield 2.


A small 9-person LAN of Battlefield 2.


Ooh, nice booth. I wonder who it belongs to?


Why, it belongs to Hitachi!


Three arcade games, and air hockey!


Now, this was sweet. It's call Amateur vs Pro, where you play against professional gamers one on one in Painkiller. If you win, you get great prizes.


This is the widdle baby Doom3 booth, for widdle baby matches on widdle baby laptops.


See those blue boxes? Bawls, on wholesale price.


I call this the Halo 2 Triad. I was impressed with how good Halo 2 looks on an HD screen.


See those guys upstairs? Those are the guys that do commentary and control all the media for the tournaments.


I call this the lounge center. This is where I'm posting from right now, with a laptop, and in my comfy beanbag.


Tournament center, part one. Staff members work furiously while everyone tries to find their seat.


Part two. If you take the time, you can see the elevated "command center" where the staff moderates all the matches.


Part three. Everyone is busy practicing.


Just a shot of some booths.


<3


nVidia! Hoo-Haa!


This is the command center for the guys that run the 5000-person LAN. Let's give them a hand!


The 5000-person LAN. I tried to get as many people as possible, but I got better pictures than this.


The dining section! PIZZA FOR EVERYONE!


Abunchabooths.


Yay, more F.E.A.R.!


See this guy? He's awesome, because he gave me a F.E.A.R. tshirt out of everyone else.


Oh yeah, the DDR booth.


My favorite 5000-person LAN pic. I excluded alot of crappy ones from this post.


Similar to the FFR admins and mods, the CPL Staff are at EVERY PLACE at EVERY TIME.


And last but not least, GET PERPENDICULAR!


Maybe I'll have a few more when I get home. Please take the time to reply, it took forever to upload all those. And I don't like going 3 or 4 posts without any comments.

[QreepyBORIS]

OH MY GOD, THEY HAD ACTUATOR-MAN!

I wish my actuator could talk.

The 5000-man LAN looks beautiful. You said it was really fast, too. I wish I were down there for that. =/

And you got free stuff. Awesome.



But I think Hitachi's booth must have been the coolest. Because seriously.

[dAnceguy117]

Re: RE: Who

Me: "...(*thinking hard*)"
Me: "...Well, I suppose that really depends on the player's taste in games. Battlefield 2 and Onslaught mode are generally alike, but then we put theme and sound and graphics and other things into perspective, and we get different games altogether. Some people like quicker games with crazier action, some people like slower games with more required strategy."

Did that guy buy that? Because, I mean.. while that's pretty good for pulling something out of your ass, that's so.. wrong. It would definitely look true enough to anyone who hasn't played them for themselves, that's well stated and all. It's so, so untrue though, like holy crap untrue.

While the Onslaught mode from the UT games definitely has more strategy involved than some of the more standard modes in the multiplayer, there REALLY isn't much strategy going on there. Taking over a node and covering people taking them over has you DOING something else, but the way you go about doing it won't change much. The running and shooting is all there, and a little bit of "after we kill everyone we have to stand here and shoot something for a sec k" is practically all that separates it from the norm. The Battlefield games are so, so different, it's pretty much unreasonable to compare the two on a tactical level.

[/rant]

Holy crap, holy CRAP all of that stuff looks awesome. GOD I wish I could have been there. 5000 person LAN, holy bajeezus.. That picture made my jaw drop, and I'm being absolutely serious. That's just awesome.

The free stuff ain't bad neither, I guess :P Tight pictures, thanks for making me all jealous and stuff. Jeez.

Oh, and by the way, I really don't know much about F.E.A.R. PC only, I'm assuming, but when does it come out? I guess I should look it up or something. Whatever.

[Omeganitros]

RE: Re: RE: Who

If you preorder F.E.A.R., you can get in on the multiplayer beta being released on July 14th, so I imagine it will released in a month or two.


BTW, In the 3 day's I've been here, I've seen 5 different people beat Onyxia in WoW, and heard "LEEEROOOYYYY JENKIIINNNNSSSS" 12 times. The CS 1.6 tournament is going on as I type, they're sooooo godly good.

[plasmix]

RE: Re: RE: Who

Dude I know where Gaylord is.

WHY DIDNT ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS

[Omeganitros]

RE: Re: RE: Who

COME. NOW. BRING $30 FOR ADMISSION FEE, AND GET YOUR ASS HERE PLASMIX. IT ENDS ON THE 10TH.

[plasmix]

RE: Re: RE: Who

Bah, I can't come. And it's only like 30 miles away.

[evilbutterfly]

RE: Re: RE: Who

the DDR booth

lol they suck

[/rant]

Not really. They're pretty much the same concept. You get points all over the map that you must capture, once they're captured vehicles spawn there for your team and you can spawn back there when you die. UT is generally faster paced, with less strategy and more explosions, so to take point you fittingly blow them up and everything is run-and-gun, whereas Battlefield games are a bit more realistic, where you die a lot faster and you can go double jumping and dodging around the place. Battlefield games just go a lil farther by implementing the class system, and BF2 goes even farther with the whole command thing. But stripped down, they're both the same idea. Comparing the two is like compaing Warcraft with Command and Conquer. They're the same basic type of game, but have drastically different styles.

And I wish I lived near where they had big conferences and stuff. It's not like I have anything better to do, I would haul my ass down there and have loads of fun. Darn you for living where things actually happen!! =(

[Omeganitros]

But I think Hitachi's booth must have been the coolest. Because seriously.

Yup. You know why?

They were handing out these:


Now I feel bad because you don't have one. Maybe I'll mail it to you.

[Omeganitros]

DUDE. THEY HAVE BIG GUYS FROM INTEL HERE RIGHT NOW ON STAGE AND THEY'RE LETTING US ASK THEM QUESTIONS. ANYBODY HAVE QUESTIONS?

[Omeganitros]

FIRST QUESTION: "What do you look for when teams are asking for your sponsorship? It's very hard for us to get any."

Answer: "We look for teams that stick together. Like, live together and stuff, because we don't like it when we put work into a product and then it falls apart. We also look for personality, we don't just want a bunch of babes. An interesting strategy to try out is this: Say you're into CS right now. But you also like BF2. So you go to EA and say 'Hey, let us wear BF2 stuff and promote it as we play at this CS tournament, because if people see us liking BF2, they'll like it too."

[evilbutterfly]

AND HOW COULD THEY NOT LIKE BF2!?