Angry Gaming 06.04.07: The Difference Between Us
Posted by Damian Sarcuni on 06.04.2007
At the World Cyber Games, MoB kicked my ass. Now everyone gets to hear about it.
Welcome to another special edition of Angry Gaming. Last Friday I was given the opportunity to attend the World Cyber Games media event at the Samsung Experience here in midtown New York City. This week, the WCG begins hosting its annual open tournament to find out who the best professional gamers are in the world. The event was kicked off with a special media tutorial featuring pro gamers teaching lessons and giving hints on some of the most competitive games available today. The lesson they taught me, however, can't be recorded in any strategy guide.
The Difference Between Us
I will openly admit that I don't follow professional gaming leagues as closely as some of my fellow writers here at the 411mania games section (check out the news reports to see what I'm talking about). I don't know much about who the top gamers are outside of Fatal1ty and anyone else who shows up on those random MTV pro gaming features that run occasionally on the weekends. Yet the world of pro gaming has always fascinated me, for the obvious reason that pro gamers pretty much get paid to do something I do for fun, as well as pick up some fame along the way. I think every gamer who has heard of the MLG or other pro gaming leagues has at one time or another flirted with the idea of joining into the professional circuit for their favorite games, and I am no different.
It's for this reason that I was extra excited to check out the WCG's event where media members would be able to check out personal tutorials from some of the top rated pro gamers participating in the annual WCG U.S. open. Upon arriving at the Samsung Experience in Columbus Circle, I met up with Andrew Kelly of Bender/Helper Impact who helped to organize this event. Imagine how I felt when Andrew informed me that the event was far more personal than I originally expected, and that media members would actually get a chance to play against the professionals in their favorite games.
I floated around the event for a bit while members from one of the invited professional teams, team MoB, gave some kids a basic rundown of the controls in Project Gotham Racing. While that was going on, I checked out some of the local technology that Samsung had on display. While the various entertainment theaters and big screen televisions were certainly impressive, one particular item trumped everything else there.
At one of the entertainment set ups was a coffee table with two rather goofy looking pairs of sunglasses on top. After poking around a bit, and wondering why the center's TV was so blurry, I soon realized that these were actually prototypes of 3D glasses, designed for specific use with the TV's special visual mode. While several images of Quake and Madden Football appeared on the display, I slipped on the glasses and was blown away. These things actually do work, and they work very well. While the effect was not that of elements actually coming towards me in three dimensions, the TV turned into a sort of diorama with those elements appearing in 3D themselves. In other words, I didn't feel like I was carrying a gun in Quake, but I could clearly see the enemies ahead sectioned off from my position in the game. You might say these glasses made things appear to move further away, rather than get closer.
Removing the glasses, I turned back towards team MoB's game station only to find that most of the team had left. Cursing myself for having missed the opportunity, I strolled over to the remaining member, Sup3rLuiGi, who was making a fool of some poor sap barely worth his salt in Gears of War. After 5 rounds of one sided action, I decided to see how well I would fare against a pro.
We played the gridlock map with pretty standard settings on execution mode (apparently execution is the more popular game played in professional tournaments). In the first round, LuiGi was quick to get me down with a well placed sniper shot. As he did with his opponent before me, LuiGi didn't bother to finish me off, preferring instead to squeeze a little more training out of the situation, or possibly just humiliate me more. He let me get back up and waited for me to move into view where he would fire off yet another round.
The mistake cost LuiGi dearly. I take my Gears of War skill level seriously and I was determined to make my presence known. With some of the most depth maneuvering I've ever done in the game, I avoided LuiGi's next two shots and placed two shotgun shells directly into his chest. Round 1 over, Damian wins.
Rather than break his spirit, all I had managed to do was light a fire under LuiGi's ass. For the next five rounds, LuiGi made damn certain I would never score another point again. For what it's worth, I was able to avoid all of his long range sniper shots and actually screw up his positioning quite a few times. In fact I even saw my mistakes just before making them, and was able to lament defeat while LuiGi blasted me with an up close active reload shot, again and again.
The way LuiGi moved his character and the strategy behind his moves was so advanced it blew my mind. His accuracy was deadly most of the time, and he seemed to know every trick in the game as if it was second nature. After a few rounds, I hung my head, utterly defeated. For the first time I had no excuse in losing. True, we were playing a very confusing split screen game, but obviously that was still an equal condition. The guys in MoB are true pros, and I simply wasn't on their level.
I got up to go hide in shame when Vincent Pagliano, the MoB Godfath3r, approached me. "You're pretty good!" he said. It was a bold enough comment to perk my ears up. The entire MoB team had returned and had been watching the match. They seemed to be somewhat impressed with my strategic skill; chiding LuiGi for his performance which I guess was not as dominant as usual.
I took the opportunity to ask Vincent about his team. From their t-shirts I could easily tell they had just flown all the way to New York from Charlotte, North Carolina.
"China." The Godfath3r corrected me. "We just came in from China. We participated in a competitive World of Warcraft tournament out there."
It was clear I was dealing with some serious gamers.
"It's a huge deal." Vincent continued. "I own about 12 teams right now; I sponsor them and handle all their contract work. The team we have here has been playing Gears of War together for some time now, and they're just learning about the differences in competition. The level of skill is being raised, and even people online are starting to catch up to them. But we're confident we'll do well here at the WCG."
12 teams? Flights to China and New York City? This was a harsh introduction to a world I clearly knew too little about. I asked the Godfath3r to start at the beginning. How does a gamer, who simply plays competitively online each day, get recruited into a gaming family like the MoB?
"Well as far as scouting, it comes from the existing teams. If I wanted to put together another team right now, I would be asking my guys ‘who's good?' or ‘who is beating you?' but it's much more than just that. Location is a part of it, we've just come from China but we can't exactly afford to fly anywhere at anytime. Age is another part; we usually don't do contracts with minors."
And what of MoB's Gears of War team themselves? How does a formed team enter into something as serious as a pro gaming tournament?
"The competition is at a really high level." The Godfath3r replied, "If you don't rank in the top 8 you aren't really considered a professional. Top 16 gamers are just considered semi-pro. For a long time now, MoB members have been individually focusing on different games. But in Gears of War the winner is the team with the better communication, so this will be a really good time for us to focus on the one game and really dominate. But the level of competition is still really high and this team is really learning that now. We're going to do really well."
As I left the WCG media event, I found it hard to argue with the Godfath3r. From LuiGi's dominant performance to the real world events surrounding this tournament, it's obvious that MoB would accept nothing less than first place. If the other teams participating in the WCG are half as competitive as these guys, the event is going to be full of some truly interesting, brutal battles.
The Anger
You can check out more of the MoB gaming family at http://www.mobgaming.net. You can find out more about the World Gaming Championships by visiting http://www.worldcybergames.com. At the time of this article's posting, MoB will be competing in the first round of WCG's Gears of War competition, and we wish them all the luck in the world.
I have to say, I'm pretty envious of the MoB. For all the high stakes competition they seem to be facing, these guys are traveling the world and clearly having a hell of a fun time doing it. As a team they show the great camaraderie that Vincent was talking about, and at the end of the day who can ask for anything more in a career?
As for me, it's back to Xbox Live to brush up on my Gears of War skills, in the hopes that I'll get my rematch against LuiGi someday. Who knows? Maybe I'll get good enough that the MoB or some other team might take notice. Keep your dreams alive, no? Until then, embrace the hatred.
