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Monday, June 15, 1998
Bad Ass Players at Big Ass Lan:

The Big Ass LAN was held in Melbourne, State of Victoria, over the weekend and the final Duel results for Quake I were as follows:

VuduChild, VomitGod and Booker run the Duel Manifesto website, which is well worth a look. They have put together a strong plan to determine State duel rankings across Australia. The idea is that Duel Competitions in each State at major LAN events will use a common LAN Duel Ranking system. Points are awarded to each player based on their final position in each of the LAN competitions. Rankings are already up for Victoria, following the BAL, and are scheduled for the State of Queensland following the next Regeneration LAN there.

So far, NSW LAN organisers have been a little slow to join the party - if you're interested in getting involved contact .

Sons of Quad Kidnap Malby, Hack Quake-AU, AoF Hack it Back:
Totally bizarre, but true happenings over at Quake.AU. Malby assimilated by the Sons of Quad and then rescued by Happy |{illmore of AoF. Perhaps the most amazing thing of all - Catnap's logo replaced with this:

According to a source at AoF, the SOQ were "most appalled" by the recapture of Malby's site, and have threatened to hack the AoF page in the near future ;-).

More on the Weekend's Clan Match between AU and NZ:
Some demos from ARIAL's POV can be found at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~kbreen/ (apparently the third one is the best), while for Clan Phoenix you should keep an eye on their Matches page over at http://www.apex.net.au/~mtraun/phoenix/phx.htm.

One thing clarified, was that the different NZ damage ratios Bish noticed were due to the server admin (Wolverine) deciding that it was unfair to spawn without armour, so he implemented a respawn with armour. The usual standard for NZ deathmatch servers is apparently respawn with 100 health, no armour.

In order to clarify something, ARIAL requested I post the following statement: "There was some confusion before the second match regarding the fact I was playing in the game. While I am not an official member of IP I did help to get this game happening and didn't want to sit on the sideline watching. I wasn't a "Ring in" as my demos point out, in fact I probably did more harm than good. The player I filled in for is a better player than myself anyway. Big thanks to phx for not kicking up a stink about it". 

Sunday, June 14, 1998
Infinite Power (NZ) beats Clan Phoenix (AU) in Historic International Clan Battle:
In what must rank as one of the defining moments of trans-Tasman Quake, Clan Phoenix and Infinite Power organised a dust-up on the XTRA servers in Auckland. The Raven was a true sportsman in defeat, thanking Elron, ARIAL, and Skelator for organising this game:

"The lag, well it was acceptable, i think we were outclassed and outgunned by a better team on the day. Great game by IF (infinte power) they played exceptionally and full credit goes to them. Well i think both clans were proud to be the 1st clans to play a au vs nz clan match, it seems the score is 1 - zip nz's way. We hope to have a rematch on our home soil and even the score :)"

Once again some subtle differences in the way NZ and AU play the game emerged, something to be aware of. [Phx] Bish related:

"NZ damage ratios are different to those in oz. I found myself having to hit a NZ'er 2 or 3 times b4 i could respawn rape him/her :) This is not something easy to adjust to".

Having pioneered the way, Bish encouraged other Australian Clans to do the same - get a game organised and go over there via 33.6 Kbps.

"What id really like to see is some of Austalias top clans playing *cough* [ao], [aof] *cough* and seeing how they fair. I wouldnt like to think that the Kiwis think they are up on Australia, after playing [Phx], as we are by no means up their with the best, though ever so in vein trying :)".

Well, the good modesty of Bish aside, Clan Phoenix are a strong Clan, and so we have yet more evidence that those wiley New Zealanders pose a competitive challenge to Australia. A great thing too :-).

The New Zealand spokesperson ARIAL paid tribute to the Phoenix lads when he said:

"Full credit to you guys, you played hard and fair.You also seemed well organised, every time I went into the RL room there were a couple of guys waiting there to welcome me with a few rockets.:) Scores were close,75-52 on dm2(I think), haven't checked the other scores yet".

Looks like we may be able to bring you more details and hopefully some demos of these games a little later on =).

Rules for first "Test Match" with New Zealand:
After extensive consultations and much thought I have put together the rules for the first "Test Match" between Australia and New Zealand for Quake. This is the "serious" match I've been talking about (don't be confused by it's being called a "Test" match :P). The date is still unconfirmed, because one of the Players is busy with exams. But we will be having another test session, so you can look forward to the outcome of that next weekend.

To check out the rules, click on GAMES and then on RULES under the NZ section. is, of course, welcomed.

And the Winner Is:
Many thanks to all those kind Swedish Gamers who responded to my call for a translation :-). I read every one of your emails and have decided that the best one was posted by "Lt Mz":

"A international wanting all the way from Austrailia was dumped un my mail this afternoon. Quite fun that even Australiens send mail to FragZone :) Well...The 'Wanted' (how do i say it?) is now any way out - and i guess Sniket reads FragZone some time then and then..."

Saturday, June 13, 1998
Happy |[illmore and Thresh:
Happy has been busy lately having deep and meaningful discussions with Kenn (GX-Spear) over at the GX message board, and inspiring articles by the great Thresh himself, who writes at the beginning of his latest "Front Line" article:

"Thanks guys for the great topic suggestions for my Front line column. They were really helpful, although I have to admit most of those topics were ones that I had already covered in my PC Gamer column. In any case, I thought this was an interesting topic submitted by Happy Killmore, an Australian Quake player: "How is gaming different in other parts of the world?" "

Check it out, and good going Happy |{illmore :-).

Warhammer and DOOMer:
In what seems like more evidence that AoF are an international Clan these days, Warhammer sends word that he has had an encounter with the legendary DOOMer, one of Sweden's top Players:

"I stumbled onto a swedish server yesterday and suprisingly enough found DOOMer of clan 9, I had 2 games with him on dm6 - the first was on his server, i had 700-999 and he had around 100-130ms so you can imagine what happened :) but it ended up something 22 to 10 or something, then I played him on a GOL server, he played with about 100-200 more ping time than me sometimes we even had equal for a few seconds, and I have to say, he's one of the most incredible players I've seen, in the Red Armour room, he somehow manages to kill you from the ground, while you're on the ledge. But in the end, turned out to be a great match ... he's a great bloke and a top player.."

More on this later :-)

Hoony and Phat:
Not to be outdone, I have been trying to contact Sniket for an interview. I emailed the FragZone and they made a news item out of my inquiry, which has resulted in a couple of interesting leads. MaZer, for example, sent me this link to an interview with Sniket that was done by a German Player named BC-GianT very recently. Check it out :-).

Apparently, Sniket is a little controversial (who isn't?) judging by this item in the German Quake News:

"Hi Giant
I just read your interview with DD-sniket and got really pissed( not at you :) ). I don't want you germans to think that all swedes are like sniket. All those excuses are so lame. It's not the first time Sniket has has been known to bitch and whine so I hope you will oversee this incident and still have some respect for us swedes.
/m0rm0r of Brutal Deluxe on behalf of the non bragging generation swedes".

Also, can anyone translate Swedish for me? What are those darn Swedes saying here?? :-))

"En internationell efterlysning ända frn Australien trillade ner i brevldan i förmiddags. Lite kul att till och med Australier skickar brev till FragZone :) Tja, nu är efterlysningen utfärdad i alla fall - jag antar att Sniket läser FZ d och d... "

National Teams - one day eh :-):
During some of my travels I have come across some interesting Euro National Team sites, many of which are sadly dormant or untouched since their glory days. Still, they are worth a look, and while things may seem a bit quiet now there can be no doubt that these pages represent the historical beginnings of what will surely become one of the most exciting aspects of Multiplayer gaming - international's based around national teams :-). 

EUROPEAN NATIONAL TEAMS:
If anyone has updates, new links, corrections and so on, pls email them to me =). Note, some of the skins I've pulled together may not be the final ones produced or the "official" national team skins.

Danish national team - http://teamdenmark.clan.dk/ (low latency);
and (modem) - http://home2.inet.tele.dk/steenras/

Danish Skin

Dutch Quake laeague - http://dql.zwet.com/frame.asp

Finnish national team - FAQ site is given - http://www.finnish.allied.quakers.org/

French national team - There doesn't seem to be a French national team website, and the French are a bit elusive. They've also pulled out of the 5 Nations Tournament, sadly, because they prefer to use the FAQ proxy. As Von Swine told me:

"The French team are a bit of a mystery. I'm only aware of a few of their players. Though I found this clan. They look dead hard. You can tell cos they have beards and smoke".

A useful starting point to check out French Quake is: http://services.worldnet.net/~dunedain/santa.htm
Quake servers in France: http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/quake/servers/loc/France.html

German national team - http://www.quakeforum.de/national/

German Skin

Irish national team: http://www.quake.ie/hibs/

Irish Skin

Norwegian national team - http://home.sol.no/~guts/norway/

Norwegian Skin

Swedish national team - http://teamsweden.fragzone.se, and http://www10.torget.se/teamsweden/
Modem team - http://www.fragzone.se/dreamteam/

UK national team - http://www.poison.co.uk/uk1/
Defunct UK national team site (good for a laugh) - http://www.leevalley.co.uk/htp/clan_uk/

UK Skin

General European Quake links page: http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/quake/servers/links.html

Friday, June 12, 1998
Current status of the Games:
There won't be any games between NZ and AU this weekend, both to give everyone a break and to allow me to do some site maintenance, planning, and organisation work. I'm finalising details for a "serious" match which will take place, hopefully, in about 2 weeks time. The reason for the time delay is because there are still things to work out and I want to make sure that it goes well on the day. The Players also need a decent preparation time - one of them has exams right now, for example. This weekend I'll post the final rules for the "serious" match. A number of ppl in Australia and NZ have provided feedback on the rules and I think we have got a workable solution to the problem of NZ Players preferring DM1 rules and Oz Players DM3 rules.

Playing Quake II and other games:
YES! :-) We will do this. But just for now the focus is on getting it to work with Quake 1. It's not just about having a game or two, there are more things we "need to get right" that take planning and time ;-). We have to show that we can do a good job with Q1 in order to get the sort of sponsorship we'll need to be able to have more regular matches and to organise other matches like Q2. I must admit, I'm a Q1 nut personally, but this will not prevent me from organising a dust-up between some top Q2 Players in Wellington and in NSW.

AusQuakeII gets new home:
Speaking of that game with the RAILGUN, if you haven't already you should head over to AusQuakeII. The guys look set to launch a new domain name this weekend. GG :-)

Improving on QUAKE?:
For some interesting thoughts on fragging via different gameplay design, check out the latest Borg Article which looks at the lessons developers are learning as they try to "improve" on the gameplay of classic Quake.

A few things he said in particular got me thinking. WARNING - what follows are my opinions ;-). I expect lots of ppl will disagree with me - that's cool. Like Borg, I agree that colored lights and "wowee"-type weapons do not necessarily add up to great gameplay - take UNREAL:

"But when you link up with your friends in a network and give good old [UNREAL] DM a go, you are bound to be disappointed, partly because of the speed, maybe because the amount of detail and colors is actually distracting, but most likely because the weapons do not suit the concept of a fast and furious death-match".

Yep, have to agree. Maybe the "Globular-light-razor-transfuser-nuclear-flak gun" is imaginative, but give me the Quake RL any day. In UNREAL, it's called the 8Ball gun ;-).

I found myself agreeing a little less when Borg tried to find something wrong with Quake1 gameplay (what me? biased?). He rolls out the well-worn and familiar argument that Q1is dominated too much by the RL:

"And DM games always seemed to be a matter of getting a rocket launcher and going from there. The weapon balance was fairly ordinary, and despite the edition of the BFG, this is where Quake 2 excels the most. .. The weapon balance is pretty darn good, and once you become good with them all, it hardly matters what weapon you or your opponents have, you can use whatever to rack up the frags. This has made Quake 2 a more even playing field, and has attracted players who otherwise wouldn’t or didn’t play Quake. .. The emphasis was slightly taken away from pure motor skills, and demanded some tactical and clear thinking as well. Because of the nature of the weapons in Quake 2, players are forced to think twice before entering a particular area with a certain weapon".

Well, I think after 2 years it must be accepted that Q1 weapon balance has got something very special going for it. If it was "fairly ordinary" then it wouldn't have lasted (and still be lasting).

I've never accepted the argument that the RL dominance in Q1 is a bad thing. Frankly, if you forget for a moment about the RL graphics and sound effects (although they're still better than anything in Q2) what the RL boils down to is a high-damage, long-range, very fast projectile weapon. Sound like the RAILGUN? It should do, because they are extremely similar and when some ppl say "the RAILGUN" is what saves Q2 they are passing yet more compliments, in passing, to the RL in Q1.

Somehow, despite trying to find something wrong with Q1 gameplay, Borg ends up back at the place he began:

"It would seem that Id have started to learn this lesson, and with every upgrade that is released, Quake 2 becomes more like Quake. Version 3:14 gave us faster rockets, and quicker weapon change sequences. 3:15 gives us Quake style physics, allowing one to manipulate mid air movement, as well as players being thrown by splash damage of rockets when on the move. (3:15 also gives us a few extra bugs to frustrate us.) ... For the Q2 players who never played Quake, or at least weren’t that good at it, the new physics are a bit of a nightmare, and some of them are going back to the drawing board trying to come to terms with the new feel of the game. On the other hand, this is one addition to Quake 2 that just might convert a few of the die hard Quake players. To some of us, the new physics is an improvement to gameplay, and allows the player to do far more than he could before. I for one am very happy with the new feature, but would have much preferred to have it from the start".

I'm willing to play QuakeII or any new game if it can deliver gameplay as good as or better than Quake. Looks like I need to load up the latest version and try that - and I will keep an open mind until I've tried it. But the coloured lights and revolving candy do not impress me (unless I'm playing a Single Player game). I think a lot of Q2 DM maps look good, but suck. :-(.

All those cool Q2 weapons are fun, but I've never had the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when one of those Q2 rockets drifts past me sounding like a fart after a can of beans. Blue squiggly lines don't do it for me either. I prefer the harsh explosion, the echo of the rocket as it speeds to it's destination, the tiny smoke trails rising gently. Thankfully, from what Borg has said, the guys making Half-Life have created some realistic-looking, powerful weapons.

I'm willing to accept that Q2 has its own strategic and tactical gameplay, even with so many different weapons. All I'm saying is that the three simple weapons of Quake - RL, LG, GL, provide very clear and well-defined roles, and make for better (imho) gameplay.

Finally, to those ppl who say Q1 is 2 year's old and it's time to move on to the latest thing - I disagree, of course. Think of other sports, like Tennis, which rely on a few simple weapons (ball and racquet). Why do people still play Tennis Deathmatch? Do you think it would help the game to add coloured lights? Do you think it would help to complicate the game with lots of new weapons? Here's the answer - they play that game, with it's boring rectangular map and one yellow bouncing ball, because the simplicity and design of Tennis enable great sportsmen and women to reach incredible heights of skill and strategy. Sounds like Quake to me =).

Thursday, June 11, 1998
Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
Is to check out two demos over on Methos, the featured Player is Sniket. From Sweden, Sniket is the most awesome Player I have ever seen on DM6. The two demos can be found at here, the first one is between Sniket and Suglort and is called ziebell_dm6.zip. The second demo is between Sniket and [QPD] Timber and is very recent. It is called timber_dm6[980607].zip. Timber is one of the UK's most exciting Players (especially on DM4).

Not much is known about Sniket, except that he has beaten DOOMer (who has also beaten Timber by a large margin). It was DOOMer, who along with Nicodemus, was beaten by U4-Thorn and Unholy in DM3 and DM6 on LAN at E3, by 40 and 30 frags, respectively. According to D9-Frick, "In my humble opinion, I don't think DOOMer could give Thresh a close game". Makes me wonder how Thresh would fare against Sniket on DM6.

Sniket records demos against the wishes of both participants in these two demos. His favourite saying is "sug da den", which loosely translated means "suck on it". Enjoy =).

Wednesday, June 10, 1998
Picking the National Representative Australian Players:
If you've been wondering whether it's fair that we're trying to organise a match between Australia and New Zealand but in reality we represent NSW (sort of) and Wellington (pretty much) this is for you =).

You're right :-). The only reason the Challenge.AU team haven't organised a national play-off to pick the best 2 Players in all Australia is because it's very difficult to do and it would take a lot of time and cost a lot of money. It's not a bad idea though, and you probably know of a few ppl in most States who are thinking about some sort of national ranking system or a process to determine State champions. It will happen, it's just that Australia is bloody huge and these things take time.

So why do we still talk about AU Vs NZ? It's simply because AU Vs NZ has more promotional power than talking about NSW Vs Wellington. We can't claim to be organising a true national representative match, just some top Players who are able to provide their support and who happen to live nearby. But if you want to promote international Quake, if you want to promote Quake as a sport, as a spectator sport, and if you want to persuade sponsors to support you, you are better off talking of NZ Vs AU :-).

There's something of a catch22 here. If we wait until we have THE national representative Players, the best in Australia, we'll be waiting a long time. The national competitive structures and processes just don't exist yet. We need something to give us a boost, something to generate a bit of interest and excitement. The Challenge is just a vehicle (one of many) that, hopefully, takes us in the right direction.

So when you see a game promoted as AU Vs NZ, pls read "between the lines". We're just trying to hack our way through the undergrowth here, and if we do manage to achieve anything (while having fun in the process) that should open up opportunities further down the track for everyone. If you disagree and think we should really only be talking about NSW Vs WGTN, pls email me .

BTW, if other States like VIC, QLD and WA want to have a crack at the Kiwis (or the Yanks), email me and we can discuss various options. The two most obvious ones are that (1) you set up an ISDN link in your State and not only play NSW in occasional bloody and hard-fought inter-State matches but also go international in a combined AU assault on the foreign bastions; and (2) somehow we get funding for your Players to come to NSW and use our IDSN link.

The Challenge.AU concept is not limited to NSW, it's just that the old and creaking bones of Hoony happen to live and work here. I'd love to have partners in QLD, VIC, WA and other Oz States. This is an Australian Quake community thing. The door is always open ppl =).