Tag Archives: MOHAA

Cheaters and Leakers

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Who are the worst sort of people in a gaming community? I think we can all agree that anyone who tries to dissuade other gamers from having fun and enjoying gaming are asshats. It is quite unfortunate that this lower class of gamer will never go away. In fact over the 12 years I have been gaming, starting at a local LAN and attending some larger events, this class of gamer has only increased in size and intensity.

I can honestly say from my days of Quake 2, to Action Quake 2 and more recently MOHAA and Urban Terror I have never cheated, this includes loading up an aimbot, “just to check it out.” Some would claim that if you aren’t cheating then you aren’t trying” or “it’s only cheating if you get caught.” Well, regardless of your reasoning…err…excuse once a cheater always a cheater. Unless you happen to change your online alias and take on a new personality that moniker of ‘cheater’ will stick with you. We have seen this time and time again in the Urban Terror Community. Blue (jackass) Venom anyone?

I am beginning to think an even lower class of gamer are those gamers who claim to support a game and its community who leak illegally obtained files. Being involved in development since 1999 this has always been a problem. Now, I will lay a portion of the blame on the development team for not having good quality control (not QA Team) when it came to testing the mod prior to a release. Originally, we provided ALL (including server files) to testers. Needless to say this was setting the development team up for failure.

Over the years we got better when the control of our files, but never to the point where there was not a leak for a major release. Beta 2.0 was one of the worst offenders, but again I lay a portion of the blame on the team, but more so on those gamers we thought we could trust. In the online world you cannot trust anyone!

Gamers are always wanting to make a name for themselves and sometimes how they do it is cause for concern. Personally, I don’t want to hear excuses as to why, I just want justice. While we cannot completely police the leak, we do try and make the best out of a bad situation. Thankfully we have some in our community who do come to our defense and help do the policing.

Why gamers think they are above the community or even the development team amazes me. I guess these are the same gamers who do nothing but bitch and complain about the game, but continue to play it. Guess that makes sense, make enough noise and you might get noticed. Oh, was that a g-line from IRC? LOL.

Regardless, these two bottom dwellers, the cheater and the leaker will never go away…unfortunately. They can be contained, but never complete exterminated. Just remember, you are not above the community or the development team. Hopefully you will think twice about hosting files on your personal website or downloading, “just to try it out” because in the end you are no better if you succumb to these sort of gamers.

Shoutcast Comeback?

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I know some have caught bits and pieces of what I do…well, what I did during my free time in the gaming community. I am a member of Inside the Game, an online, gaming related radio station. Of course there are times we stray from the standard format for something a bit different. For me, it was an all 80’s show called Just Push Play. But that show has not aired for some time due to a lack of time. The same can be said for my online gaming coverage live from Clanbase, the BEST league in the world. While there I covered Medal of Honor and Urban Terror.

With some free time today, I was able to get the shoutcast setup nearly online. I was able to move around a few monitors (whoever thought you would see the day you use 4 monitors?) and make some room and get my compressor, mixer and microphone set up. This is a good thing. I was also able to test the gaming sounds, microphone and music from my server. So far all is moving along at a great pace, but as Monday rolls around, I am sure I won’t be spending all day in front of this keyboard until Friday, at the earliest.

I am not even sure I will have time to cast, even on the weekends, but at least I will be set up if the chance rises. I still maintain an open communication with Lagus over at MOHAA for Clanbase. Not sure how their leagues are going this season, since I have not cast for some months. The next piece on the agenda is to get the audio/video server, aka the “media box” online. It will do nothing but process the audio from the mp3s and the video component in order to do some live videocasting!

Exciting time, not sure when or if it will all work out, but thought I would keep you up to date. Who knows maybe JPP will return before the end of the year, even if it is just a bullshit fest on a Friday night with requests.

Behind the Microphone

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Wednesday will make another return to the microphone. I say return because I have not been on air at Inside the Game since March as I pull “dad duty” during the week while my wife goes to work. If there were a few more hours in the day, then it would be easier to cover matches, probably on a daily basis. Unfortunately there are only 24 hours during the day and most of those are taken.

Being a big Medal of Honor: Allied Assault fan I took it upon myself to get involved with the Clanbase community who play MOHAA. Even after 4 years the game is still hugely popular in Europe and at Clanbase. Personally, I think it still ranks as one of the best games played during EuroCup [this is season XIII]. After calling the playoffs for EuroCup XII, I sort of went on hiatus, because I had no free time in which to cast. Playing dad takes a lot of effort and time and those were two things I was not able to provide to casting.

Spurred by a quick talking to by Marcus [aka djWheat] of iTG, I am going to give casting a shot. I make no guarantees that it will be my best work because my co-caster, my son will be sitting [or bouncing] next to me as I attempt to call the match. Hopefully things go well enough that I gain of confidence in being able to cast while my son hangs out with me, watching and learning…hahah.

The MOHAA Community has been asking, almost on a daily basis as to when I would be covering another match. My answer was usually the same, “I don’t know.” I would go into the reason why and could not say with any certainty when I would return. So it’s babysteps starting tomorrow. If all goes well we could see some more MOHAA coverage [I don’t believe I will return to Urban Terror, since there is little interest and even less support] and possibly the 80’s revival show, Just Push Play.

Inside MOHAA with GGLTV

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If there is one thing I enjoy doing during my free time (which is rare these days) is providing commentary for online gaming. Would you believe some people I tell this to can still not fathom the idea. I need to break it down to them, “we are like the ESPN of online gaming” I tell them. But today I introduce a new technology to the Clanbase Medal of Honor Community.

Today I start using stream media (aka video) in order to go “inside the game” when I provide commentary for Clanbase matches. Now, streaming video is nothing new, but for a community that has been starving for some sort of “tv program” like GTV or HLTV for MOHAA, this is a major announcement. The community is ecstatic with anticipation as we provide coverage today of Team SWEDEN vs. Team FRANCE at 1030 PST (1930 CET) on Inside The Game. In all honesty, it was not difficult at all to set up. Thankfully I had some of the necessary requirements, such as a fast upload speed to the Internet, two computers and a video capture card. Without those, you won’t get far. Better go back to your GTV (just kidding Joe & Preat). One nice feature of stream media is you do not need to own the game in order to watch the match. Can’t say that for GTV or HLTV, so in some respect this is revolutionary!

Through out much of the week in 2-hour blocks Marcus “djWheat” Graham and I worked on getting the media stream up and running using the Global Gaming League TV servers. The video was quite simple to install and configure. The audio was another story. If you have followed my shoutcasting, then you know I have ALWAYS had a helluva time with my audio (right Spellbinder?). Even now, I have an input jack that is coated with super glue because it is broken.

So, it finally happened today, we were able to get two individual streams going, the media stream (WMP) and the audio (listen.pls) stream with game sounds, music and voice being heard on both. I am sure there will still be a few “niggles” we need to tweak and fix, but I am looking very forward to providing this service to the MOHAA community at Clanbase.

Clanbase Newsie?

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As if I don’t have enough to do already with what little “free time” I have, I sent in an application to Clanbase after they posted looking for members to join their news team. I have an interview set up this morning (08PST/17CET) when I get home from work. In the past I have written for Planetquake back in 2000 and 2001 reviewing Quake II levels. Prior to that I was the “Head Monkey” in charge of the Action Quake Map Depot, where I was hired on after the reviews I wrote for The 6th Floor, when the site was devoted to Action Quake 2.

Since that time, I have tried to keep sharp when it comes to putting fingers to keyboard by posting news at Inside The Game as well as providing news and development notes for Urban Terror since 2000! I feel I am qualified to hold a position as a member of the news team with my previous experience and background.

I thought this would be a great opportunity since Inside The Game and Clanbase are both owned by the Global Gaming League. I have nothing but praise for Clanbase, for the way they conduct business and run their league. Hopefully the GGL will see similar success in the future, as they try to emulate the success that Clanbase has in Europe, over here in North America.To be honest, I am rather devoid of good, quality news topics. I was scanning the news wires last night, but there was nothing earth shattering to discuss. So, we will see what becomes of this interview. I do know I have many supporters at Clanbase, from Urban Terror, current and past to Medal of Honor, which I have just started supporting at Inside The Game.

Also, somewhat off topic, but thanks to djWheat I am now video capable at Inside The Game. What does that mean? It means I can provide streaming media for Urban Radio, Just Push Play and any game that I cover. For example, let’s use MOHAA, there is no TV program, like GTV. So using this technology you could actually watch the match live, as I provide commentary. I am more interested in using it for Urban Radio. Just what the community wants, to see my ugly mug on their WMP for 2 hours. Hahaha. Anyway, I think this is great news for anyone who is a gamer, as I take the next step in casting.

I am in the final stages of testing and configuring the audio. Figures that the audio would be giving me issues. The video is golden, was using it earlier in the week, streaming to the Internet and watching my stream on my wife’s machine. Hopefully by the weekend we will be ready to broadcast our first event.