Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Virtual champions
|
Youngsters gathered at Zapak Gameplex to play their favourite games
|
I am a stone duffer, when it comes to online gaming. After a stint as an agent who foils attempts to create terror (Counter Strike) and driving a car with just four buttons (Flatout 2) and getting goal-oriented, thanks to Fifa 07, I have yet to cometo a full understating, let alone mastery, of any of these games. Yet, I have become fond of them and, when nobody is watching, play them in my own ham-handed way.
So, I could understand the impassioned shouts at the Zapak Gameplex (on Thirumalai Pillai Road) this past Friday. Over a hundred diehard online gamers had assembled for a tournament that featured these three games. Most were adolescents given to spending an average of seventy hours in a week playing them, with Counter-Strike taking the lion’s share.
At the tournament, it was fun to watch how this game was played. There were ten teams with five members each. Before the semi-finals and finals, a knock-out cum round robin format was followed. Always, two teams squared off with each playing terrorists for 15 rounds and counter-terrorist for the other 15 rounds.
Flatout 2 and Fifa 07 did not need any special monitoring, but Counter Strike had gaming jockeys watching online if a team used more than the allotted quota of grenades, flash-bangs and other instruments of offence and defence. In the event of a tie-breaker, the players chucked the guns and crossed swords.
First and last, it is a world of make-believe. And those who play Counter-Strike often play it to the hilt. One team was called Boss, with its members named Andy (Ananth), Devil (Venu), Matt (Gaurav), Ayoo (Guru) and Mel (Preeth). In my judgement, MW (Make Way) excelled all other teams. It had a manager in Shfty (Justin). Shfty has the responsibilities of setting matches, finding players, figuring out the mistakes they commit and developing strategies to improve their game. Its line-up, Bufu (Cholaraj), Blood (Anish Vasanth), ISN (Ashiq), K4ML (Kamal) and Rellik (Karthik), is considered formidable and MW’s participation was reason for many teams to stay away from the tournament (“Man, the other teams have a Devil’s chance in Heaven” is how one gamer put it).
MW proved pre-tournament predictions by winning the Counter-Strike competition and pocketing Rs. 8,000. EVO was the runners-up (Rs. 2,000). Raghav won Fifa 07 (Rs. 2,000) ahead of Harish who collected Rs.1,000 as runner-up. Finishing first and second in Flatout 2, Sathyanarayanan and Venu received the same prize money as the best performers in Fifa 07.
Zapak Gameplex is planning to hold a tournament every Friday till December 14. For details, call 93800 02655.
PRINCE FREDERICK
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
