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Its a scorching summer afternoon, but all sunlight is blocked from the small 8 foot by 10 foot room, specially imported industrial sunblockers cover the window, the only luminance in the room is from the neon green glow of the Cooling Fan. 'Its all about the look' quips Barry Blogensdenschaffen, a self confessed addict to the undergroung phenomena that has come to be known as Xtreme gaming.
The hardware that Barry shows me wouldnt look out of place in a science fiction movie, a translucent case contains enough hi tech gadgets to make even Bill Gates cack himself, we're talking about liquid nitrogen cooling systems, fibre optic connections as opposed to traditional wiring, all contained within an airtight sealed case. A strange looking green light emmission is occasionally accompanied by the red LED of an active hard disc, or the blue spark of a fibre optic cable, clearly this is not the kind of system you can buy down your local Special Reserve.
'I think in total I've probably stripped down and reconfigured the system sixty to seventy times, adding components here, streamlining the OS there, Its not the type of thing a serious gamer let alone a casual gamer will be willing to do, its only for the most diehard, the most extreme' proclaims Barry. His boasts seem slightly distressed, maybe its because later tonight he will be testing his system out against other such Xtreme gamers, who have come from all over the country to test their skills against him. 'A challenge is a contest between two gamers to see whose computer can outperform the others, we take a one player game and see who can complete it the fastest, the faster the computer the faster the game moves, but obviously a great deal of skill is needed by the gamesplayer to maintain control, its the ultimate union of man and machine'.
Its 5.30 PM, and barry is making last second changes to his system, he asks me to leave the room when he's making modifications for fear that I might damage his systems components, that in some cases cost thousands of pounds, in leaving the room I meet his Brother Bobby Blogensdenschaffen, 'I have no idea why he does it, he spends thousands of pounds souping up his PC, and the difference in performance is negligable, most of the modifications are only cosmetic anyway'. Clearly Bobby is not enamored with Xtreme gaming in the same way as Barry is. Its now 6.00 PM and Barry has let us back into his room, for some strange reason he has drawn go faster stripes on the side of his PC casing, maybe its just a supersticious thing, maybe hes a few bananas short of a bunch, either ways its almost gametime. A knock on the door signifies its about to start, the competition is here, we make our way upstairs both nervous and adrenalised at the same time.
Upon answering the door I was extremely suprised to see the crowds that had gathered to see this competition, a clash between two greats, a lot of them were little more than children, but some were as old as 23, they were clearly the old school, and at their age were both revered and disliked by the younger upstarts. In a flurry of people rusing in to the large front room to watch the contest, in was wheeled a standard looking PC 'Its old, It can barely run the game', I looked down for the source of the voice, and was shocked to see it eminated from the mouth of a twelve year old kid, was this the competition?
Barry was at this time sitting at his beast of a computer, his determined stare showing his concentration and desire to win, the kid, who everyone knew only as 'J.D.' sat down next to his 'old' computer, and they both looked eager to play, though it must be said Barry certainly seemed to be the more aggressive of the two, as J.D. chatted with others, Barry made only growling animal noises, it was time the battle was about to begin. They were both handed the game of choice it was Return To Castle Wolfenstein, a single drop of sweat ran down Barrys forehead and as the clock turned to 7.00 PM the race was on.
As J.D. started the installation process, Barry threw a curveball, he had already installed the game on his system. As cries of thats not fair echoed through the crowd, Barry growled a reply 'Its not about fair, its about winning!'. Barrys eyes bulged maniacly, his face distorting with every zombie guard from hell, as Barry reached the end of the first level J.D. had finally installed the game and started playing.
Twenty minutes later J.D. was not only in the lead, but was absolutely hammering Barry whose face was a curious mix of a red face and uncontrollable salivation, 'F**K OFF! All of you!', Screamed Barry throwing his computer on the floor. The crowd quickly dissapated, and I snuck away quietly.
Outside I met up with Bobby, who informed me that this had happened before. 'He really stinks at games, but thinks he's the best in the world, its quite sad really'. As I looked in through the window and saw Barry rocking rhythmically clutching his PC as if it were a child, I couldn't help but think, If he's representative of an Xtreme gamer, I cant help but feel glad I dont take it as serious as him, after all I have fun playing games, wheras Barry doesnt seem to have had much fun at all. As for the potential for growth of this strange craze, I dont see it growing when there are people like Barry about, maybe gaming is not meant to be taken to the extreme.
The hardware that Barry shows me wouldnt look out of place in a science fiction movie, a translucent case contains enough hi tech gadgets to make even Bill Gates cack himself, we're talking about liquid nitrogen cooling systems, fibre optic connections as opposed to traditional wiring, all contained within an airtight sealed case. A strange looking green light emmission is occasionally accompanied by the red LED of an active hard disc, or the blue spark of a fibre optic cable, clearly this is not the kind of system you can buy down your local Special Reserve.
'I think in total I've probably stripped down and reconfigured the system sixty to seventy times, adding components here, streamlining the OS there, Its not the type of thing a serious gamer let alone a casual gamer will be willing to do, its only for the most diehard, the most extreme' proclaims Barry. His boasts seem slightly distressed, maybe its because later tonight he will be testing his system out against other such Xtreme gamers, who have come from all over the country to test their skills against him. 'A challenge is a contest between two gamers to see whose computer can outperform the others, we take a one player game and see who can complete it the fastest, the faster the computer the faster the game moves, but obviously a great deal of skill is needed by the gamesplayer to maintain control, its the ultimate union of man and machine'.
Its 5.30 PM, and barry is making last second changes to his system, he asks me to leave the room when he's making modifications for fear that I might damage his systems components, that in some cases cost thousands of pounds, in leaving the room I meet his Brother Bobby Blogensdenschaffen, 'I have no idea why he does it, he spends thousands of pounds souping up his PC, and the difference in performance is negligable, most of the modifications are only cosmetic anyway'. Clearly Bobby is not enamored with Xtreme gaming in the same way as Barry is. Its now 6.00 PM and Barry has let us back into his room, for some strange reason he has drawn go faster stripes on the side of his PC casing, maybe its just a supersticious thing, maybe hes a few bananas short of a bunch, either ways its almost gametime. A knock on the door signifies its about to start, the competition is here, we make our way upstairs both nervous and adrenalised at the same time.
Upon answering the door I was extremely suprised to see the crowds that had gathered to see this competition, a clash between two greats, a lot of them were little more than children, but some were as old as 23, they were clearly the old school, and at their age were both revered and disliked by the younger upstarts. In a flurry of people rusing in to the large front room to watch the contest, in was wheeled a standard looking PC 'Its old, It can barely run the game', I looked down for the source of the voice, and was shocked to see it eminated from the mouth of a twelve year old kid, was this the competition?
Barry was at this time sitting at his beast of a computer, his determined stare showing his concentration and desire to win, the kid, who everyone knew only as 'J.D.' sat down next to his 'old' computer, and they both looked eager to play, though it must be said Barry certainly seemed to be the more aggressive of the two, as J.D. chatted with others, Barry made only growling animal noises, it was time the battle was about to begin. They were both handed the game of choice it was Return To Castle Wolfenstein, a single drop of sweat ran down Barrys forehead and as the clock turned to 7.00 PM the race was on.
As J.D. started the installation process, Barry threw a curveball, he had already installed the game on his system. As cries of thats not fair echoed through the crowd, Barry growled a reply 'Its not about fair, its about winning!'. Barrys eyes bulged maniacly, his face distorting with every zombie guard from hell, as Barry reached the end of the first level J.D. had finally installed the game and started playing.
Twenty minutes later J.D. was not only in the lead, but was absolutely hammering Barry whose face was a curious mix of a red face and uncontrollable salivation, 'F**K OFF! All of you!', Screamed Barry throwing his computer on the floor. The crowd quickly dissapated, and I snuck away quietly.
Outside I met up with Bobby, who informed me that this had happened before. 'He really stinks at games, but thinks he's the best in the world, its quite sad really'. As I looked in through the window and saw Barry rocking rhythmically clutching his PC as if it were a child, I couldn't help but think, If he's representative of an Xtreme gamer, I cant help but feel glad I dont take it as serious as him, after all I have fun playing games, wheras Barry doesnt seem to have had much fun at all. As for the potential for growth of this strange craze, I dont see it growing when there are people like Barry about, maybe gaming is not meant to be taken to the extreme.
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Thegerrid wrote:
> Why would I enjoy a film that is only good because it will have a
> better sequel?
> I don't like The Fats and The Furious.
The first film is VERY good on its own, I was pointing out that the flaws that were brought up could be rectified in a sequel, not that the first film needed a sequel to be good, as anyone who has seen the film whether they think its good or lacking would at least say its alright, maybe not to their tastes but still quite good.
> Why would I enjoy a film that is only good because it will have a
> better sequel?
> I don't like The Fats and The Furious.
The first film is VERY good on its own, I was pointing out that the flaws that were brought up could be rectified in a sequel, not that the first film needed a sequel to be good, as anyone who has seen the film whether they think its good or lacking would at least say its alright, maybe not to their tastes but still quite good.
Why would I enjoy a film that is only good because it will have a better sequel?
I don't like The Fats and The Furious.
I don't like The Fats and The Furious.
Thegerrid wrote:
> I didn't think that it had plenty of action, I thought that it was
> sorely lacking in the action department, with too much time spent
> trying to develop the shoddy characters.
could be said for the first star wars
> But everyone likes different things (each man to his own and all), so
> lets drop this silly argument, because it isn't going anywhere.
> ;)
Then stop making digs at the fast and the furious which not only totally rules but is also very sequeltastic (shame Vin Diesel's characters not going to be in it though).
> I didn't think that it had plenty of action, I thought that it was
> sorely lacking in the action department, with too much time spent
> trying to develop the shoddy characters.
could be said for the first star wars
> But everyone likes different things (each man to his own and all), so
> lets drop this silly argument, because it isn't going anywhere.
> ;)
Then stop making digs at the fast and the furious which not only totally rules but is also very sequeltastic (shame Vin Diesel's characters not going to be in it though).
Mr Ripper wrote:
>Why do you think there have been 5 Star Wars films so far?
Like genesisofthesith said, Because each of the films has been good in it's own right (except Episode 1).
The reason that there have been 5 Star Wars films is because the forst one was good, so the sequelled it (quite well), then everybody liked that, so they did it again and agian and so on.
However, the first film which spawned all the sequels was much better than The Fast and The Furious, and it wasn't filled with plot holes and undeveloped characters which could be fixed in the sequel.
>Why do you think there have been 5 Star Wars films so far?
Like genesisofthesith said, Because each of the films has been good in it's own right (except Episode 1).
The reason that there have been 5 Star Wars films is because the forst one was good, so the sequelled it (quite well), then everybody liked that, so they did it again and agian and so on.
However, the first film which spawned all the sequels was much better than The Fast and The Furious, and it wasn't filled with plot holes and undeveloped characters which could be fixed in the sequel.
I didn't think that it had plenty of action, I thought that it was sorely lacking in the action department, with too much time spent trying to develop the shoddy characters.
But everyone likes different things (each man to his own and all), so lets drop this silly argument, because it isn't going anywhere.
;)
But everyone likes different things (each man to his own and all), so lets drop this silly argument, because it isn't going anywhere.
;)
there was an accident there, but nobody will notice.......
Thegerrid wrote:
> So when films are bad and the plot has holes and doesn't lead
> anywhere, it's okay because it can be rectified in the sequel. What a
> perefct rule to judge all films by. You have changed my outlook
> completely! Wow, thanks!
Why do you think there have been 5 Star Wars films so far?
> So when films are bad and the plot has holes and doesn't lead
> anywhere, it's okay because it can be rectified in the sequel. What a
> perefct rule to judge all films by. You have changed my outlook
> completely! Wow, thanks!
Why do you think there have been 5 Star Wars films so far?
star wars films, or the die hard films, or the indiana jones films. On there own the films are good, but once the characters are developed in the other films its the action you enjoy, and fast and the furious has plenty of action.
If you look at the terminator films there were a load of problems with it, but T2 by further explaining plot points makes the first one look better. So although the first film is good on its own its better as a series. Same goes for the
genesisofthesith wrote:
>but thats what sequels are for
So when films are bad and the plot has holes and doesn't lead anywhere, it's okay because it can be rectified in the sequel. What a perefct rule to judge all films by. You have changed my outlook completely! Wow, thanks!
;-)
>but thats what sequels are for
So when films are bad and the plot has holes and doesn't lead anywhere, it's okay because it can be rectified in the sequel. What a perefct rule to judge all films by. You have changed my outlook completely! Wow, thanks!
;-)
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