Nexus Gamma

The NEXUS GAMMA 14th - 15th August 2004

Some of the games played:

UT2004 Instagib
UT2004 CTF
Battlefield Vietnam
AVP2
CS 3v3

Opening the doors at 11am on Saturday, once again the crew at GHQ looked forward to another Nexus LAN. Setup at the venue began early Friday afternoon and continued through till early evening and then back into at as soon as TeManawa opened on Saturday. By the time 11am arrived, we were all set up and the gamers started to arrive.
A first for the Nexus (and as far as we know most LAN's in NZ), was that in association with AT networks and InspireNet, everyone at the LAN had a gigabit port and Internet access for the entire event. (Playing CoD on the Inspire server with a ping of between 1 and 5 is just something you never get tired of :) ).

Something new we were trialing at the LAN this time was some LAN specific intranet software (ALP), that we hoped would make getting the info out to the gamers easier and more fluid, currently we've only used a small portion of the ALP's capabilities, Full scale competitions can be run on it and a running total of gamers' scores can be recorded throughout the event. From the feedback we've received from several gamers, we hope to be able to make further use of ALP in up-coming events to help provide a more enjoyable and informed gaming experience for all involved.

Kicking off the gaming was UT2004 with some instagib to get everyone warmed into the event, one shot kill gaming always makes life interesting with some snap shots pulled off that defy reason. At the end of the warm-up it was time to get into the proper UT2004 comp.
The game-play mode was switched from instagib to CTF and we were straight into it. It took a few minutes for people to adjust to the various weapons now available, and not killing off anything that moved. Very quickly however, the teams seemed to come together and start attack and defense phases around their flags (and how the hell did red score that flag point? :P).
Before we knew it, just over an hour of hard out fragging had passed and with the scores compiled, the winners emerged as follows; 1st: Acrylic 2nd: Stimps 3rd: Diamond Slicer and 4th: Wazzle (who we now know was t0ad in disguise).

With the UT2004 comp finished, it was time to slip into a bit of a different genre and BF:Vietnam was fired up. Teams were organized via the Intranet where people had signed up for the comp and as luck would have it the teams where actually fairly balanced.

Using version 1.1 of Vietnam, the game has come along way in a short time with more balanced weapons and smoother game play noticed from those that have been playing it since its release, a good time was had by all involved with quite a few sneaky knife kills being noted around some of the closer maps and some very questionable flying skills being shown by some of the helicopter pilots (I swear that hill just appeared in front of me .. must have been a graphics glitch :o ).
The end of the comp (by this stage it was approximately 7pm) saw the following heading the point table

• 1st: Knightley
• 2nd: Rainman
• and apparently not following the rules of the server
  (which stated quite simply "in all cases shoot Bazz")
  3rd: Bazz

A quick word on how we try and score the comps is that rather than as-had-been done at some events in the past with kills vs. deaths ratios being worked out (thus rewarding the sniping campers), we try to make it kills vs points, so if you've been running around capturing points, stealing the enemy flags and getting a few kills along the way, that's what we want to see as its more about playing the game as a team rather than playing to win individually.

Dinner came and went quickly as always with an impromptu order going out to Hells Pizza for supplies for some and as always it was worth the wait (though picking up that many Pizza's got a few raised eyebrows from some of the other customers there). We'll be attempting to make this a more regular occurrence as more people discover the sinfully good taste that comes in their pizzas (damn I sound like an advertiser for them).

After dinner a game that hasn't seen the light of a LAN for quite awhile (in fact I'd never actually gotten round to playing it), was Alien vs. Predator 2 (version being played was the special edition 2). With a bit of practice snuck in earlier in the LAN, we had 2 servers running and for the most part both where full of Aliens, Predators and Marines slugging it out and generally causing carnage. Even though the game was not an official competition as such, we sorted out a few rules and had a go at running a 'Hunt' competition with Marines vs predators at a 4:1 ration, with the marines that kill the predator spawning into the Predators role, needless to say I think there had been a fair bit of practicing going on before the LAN in this particular game as the number of times that I died from a sneaky cloaked predator was to a point where I lost count and ended up starting to 'accidentally' off the odd Marine with my twitchy trigger finger.

With the games coming thick and fast and not wanting to let the gamers have one ounce of rest at the end of the AVP2 carnage, we immediately setup a Farcry server. With a few patches under its belt and the modders starting to release a few new skins and maps, we decided to take people out of their comfort zone and drop them all into some of the new maps to see how they played.
We where pleasantly surprised to see that obviously some thought had gone into the mapping and a lot of fun was had with the maps that we tried. The maps focused more on close quarter combat than some of the larger maps where sniping can be employed to a deadly extent. With a few rounds of free for all and several rounds of Assault being played, this is one game we hope to see more of as the modders really get their teeth into the crytek engine.

Time for some prizes: By now it was just shy of around 2am and as always our suppliers hadn't let us down in providing us with some great prizes to pass onto the gamers that make the Nexus LAN's what they are. Our thanks go out to OverclockersNZ, Starlyte Computers, V, EA Games, Microsoft and Dick Smith Electronics for all their support.

UT2004 CTF

• 1st: Acrylic - Zalman5.1Headphones(Compliments of Starlyte Computers), CDR's and V
• 2nd: Stimps - BF Vietnam T Shirt, CDR's and V
• 3rd: Diamond Slicer - CDR's and V

BF Vietnam

• 1st: Knightley - Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard, CDR's and V
• 2nd: Rainman - Doom3 Tshirt, CDR's and V
• 3rd: Bazz - CDR's and V

Another big first for NZ lans I believe, was the screening of 4 tech demos for Battlefield 2, and dear lord this game looks unbelievable. MOHPA, Stalker, NFS Underground 2, Burnout3 and Tribes Vengeance were also previewed with all the gamers gathering round to view the next generation of games. At every event we run, we try to show off the latest and greatest on the projector for all to see and so far there have been some stunning demos and movies to view.

During the gaming, most would have heard and seen the projector that was hooked up to an Xbox console in the middle of the LAN allowing gamers to partake in the latest console games that Microsoft (and in this case EA games) have to offer, and to also give the gamers some time out on the couch. It was taken upon Darkmist to realize that one of the games had been getting a lot of playtime, and was being reviewed by all with some fierce competition and a whole lot of laughs. The game in question was 'Fight Night', a boxing game that as yet I have seen no equal in the fact that you can just get in and have a blast as well as some rather complex controls for those that really want to get to grips with the game.

So with out hesitation we organized a single elimination tournament via the Intranet and proceeded to watch various gamers (under the watchful eye of our resident security man and Don King look-alike Darkmist) punch it out for the reputation of King of Fight Night. With the amount of laughs and the number of entrants we had this is one competition we'll be trying to keep going at future LAN's (even though I got taken out in the first elimination round... watch out next time I'm getting some practice in).

Around the same time as the Fight Night comp was being run, our local CS addicts (rek and stimps) decided that a CS competition was in order. Once again ALP made our life easy with 5 teams registering for a 3v3 consolidation draw. With the matches being run by the ar' clan, things progressed fairly quickly with the only slow down being team members running away to play Fight Night. In the end, some very close matches were fought and once again CS resisted the urge to quietly leave the LAN scene (and considering as I write this steam is updating to CS : Source (utilising the HL2 engine) I doubt we'll see the end of CS for some years to come).

Fight Night - won by Sn00py and for his troubles (and dodgy evasive maneuvers) wins a copy of Battlefield Vietnam (compliments of EA Games)

After the prize-giving it was time to get into some more gaming and a poll was setup on the intranet so the gamers could vote on what game was to be played next ... the eventual winner: UT2004 Deathmatch, which by the amount of people playing shortly after, the poll result was definitely the right game to pick.
UT was played right through till the small hours with a spattering of other games including for a short while, Multiplayer Doom 3. While Doom 3 currently allows 4 person MP (more with mods added), a fair bit of fun was had sneaking round in the shadows and scaring the crap out of each other. I also committed the ultimate sin at a LAN, and had a bit of a run around in the single player levels and can honestly say that they've hit the atmosphere on the head, every dark corner, flickering light and creak seems to be amplified 100 fold when your waiting for that next demon to jump out and attack you.

Bazz and I also fired up a quick game of Lock On - Modern Air Combat (LOMAC), getting us away from the FPS genre for a short while and into the world of inch thick manuals and game play that gives your brain a right workout. After a bit of a play round with setting up the missions, Bazz and I took to the skies in a pair of Su-27's and proceeded mix it up with about 8 other AI aircraft, all of which seem to have their anti-missile techniques down to a fine art (which was something that couldn't quite be said for Bazz and I, as we spent quite a bit of time under parachutes watching our planes descend into the ground). As always, much fun was had with some fairly close formation takeoffs and the occasional stray missile zooming across each others HUD's. If you have the time to get to grips with the array of keys and weapons systems for the different aircraft available, it's well worth picking it up and giving it a go.

Come 8.30am, a few of the tables were looking empty and the pack-down began, with a few helpers this task is becoming easier with each LAN (as well as a few tasks we used to do now being taken care of by others) but still takes around 2 hours to get the location to a standard to which we're happy with. With all the equipment packed up and the venue looking clean and tidy again we departed and looked back on another well run LAN.

Thanks to all those who made the effort to come to the Nexus : Gamma. As always, without the gamers support we wouldn't be able to stage these events and we look forward to running many more in the future (as well as a few that should well and truly put Palmerston into the NZ LAN scene spotlight)

Also another huge Thanks to all of our sponsors and suppliers for their support of GamerHQ and the gaming community, it is much appreciated, bring on the next one!!!!

Cheers and see you next time from the staff at GHQ

Stone_Cold_Killa
Heppi
Bazz
Jetboy