17 November 2001
The drive up to Palmerston North (my new base) was rather pleasurable, bar the absence of air conditioning. It seems a 15-year-old rice burner with over 200,000 kms on the clock is still up to the task - with about 200kg of cargo in the boot as well!
It's been a rather long time coming, but the OUCC pages are now located on their new home, SourceForge. It took us a while to figure out how to upload in the first place, but in the end, we got there. All the links have now been fixed, along with a few aother loose ends.
In our last meeting for 2001, Psy discussed a graphics routine he was working on for a yet-to-be-released demo. At a first glance it looks pretty impressive - there are some neat effects in there. In a matter of time it will be available for download from this site.
About the only major event between updates, apart from the odd LAN game at the Dunedin Clubs Building, was the the big game - the DGE 2001 Tournament. I wrote a little article about the event that was originally posted on Scoop.co.nz, it's also here on the site with this update.
This will probably be my last OUCC meeting, as I hope to be graduating in May 2002 if all goes according to plan. However I may still be able to update the site remotely. Still, if anyone else wants to take over the reins, just contact me.
Seasons greetings to all!
Next OUCC
meeting will be held in February/March 2002.
- Matthew SewHoy
A Summary Of The DGE 2001 Tournament
by Matthew SewHoyOn the weekend of August 18/19, DeepRed (myself), Ferox (Chris Pearce), and Harlequin (Jesse Stiles) attended the Dunedin Gaming Event (DGE) 2001 Tournament at the Dunedin Town Hall. Our team ended up getting dicked big time, but at least we got nailed with grins on our faces! :)
The DGE holds network computer games on the first Saturday of each month, at the Otago Chess Club in Dunedin. But every six months, it organises a much larger event at the Town Hall, and this one was no exception. Other major centres around the country will have their own LAN gaming events at various times of the year, and you may be able to find them through the local university clubs.
Everyone started arriving about Saturday 11:00H, and after the initial shuffling about, piecing various bits of computer together, plugging in the UTP network cables, and waiting for absentee players to show up, the whole outing was just about ready to rumble. Well, almost. It seemed half the network experienced a power outage - thankfully it wasn't our section.
Before the first official matches started, we all had a blast with a 32-player game of Camper-Strike. I'd like to see JetStream or Paradise.Net equal that! I do have a word of advice: if you're setting up a Counter-Strike server with that many players, make sure it's a dedicated server, not a client/server hybrid. And of course, make sure it's a really fast machine.
First up was the 6-on-6 Counter-Strike tournament (or Camper-Strike if you're a veteran player). To the uninitiated, Counter-Strike is a 'mod' or add-on to the award-winning PC game Half-Life. It puts the player straight into a real-life novel in the vein of Tom Clancy and Frederick Forsyth. Players are split into two teams, the Terrorists and the Counter-Terrorists. One of the key reasons for Counter-Strike's wildfire popularity, since its first release in mid-1999, is its balance of team play strategy and non-stop free-for-all action.
We pretty much cobbled together a team on the day, while others were organised before hand. We decided to form a team called MLF - or the Mainland Liberation Front . It included us three from the Otago University Computer Club (DeepRed, Ferox, and Harlequin), plus three other opportunists coming here for a decent blast-fest. All in all, close to 90 players in 12 teams duked it out for the ultimate prize.
The first CS matches fired off just after 14:30H, where the winning teams were the ones who made it first to 8 wins. MLF was up first against the DSG clan from Christchurch - and MLF got dicked big time, getting shut out by 16-0. To complicate things further, two of the MLF team mates did a runner before the second match began at about 16:00H. Naturally this put an already struggling team in a stickier situation, and again the MLF got shut out by 16-0, this time by the Gay Eskimos.
We did manage to find a replacement member for the third match, but even then we were still a player short. Our efforts still came to no avail - once again we were shout out 16-0, by the GoSouth clan.
The fourth and final match fired off later in the evening. Still again we got dicked. This time however, we managed to pull off 3 wins against the Gladiat.Whores - and on a more even footing, with five of us against their five.
In between and after the CS tournaments, the organisers showed various movie clips on the projector (during tournament games it showed the team matches and results), and PlayStation 2 units featuring Dead Or Alive 2 (yes, they still have the infamous boob physics), Tekken Tag Tournament (which we all got to play after the night's CS matches), and Gran Turismo 3.
The next day, we had Quake 3 Arena deathmatching - and of course, the semi-final CS playoff between the two DSG factions (DSG #1 and #2), the GayEskimos and the GoSouths. That ended with DSG #1 and GayEskimos duking it out for the big one at 15:30H. Meanwhile, the rest of us engaged in somewhat less sneaky peer-to-peer swapping, or cheered on either of the teams in the CS final.
To top it off before the prize giving, some of us entered the Unreal Tournament deathmatch free-for-all. I personally am not into deathmatching - I seem to be more of a team player, as Counter-Strike goes to show.
The winners of the CS tournament were the GayEskimos, who walked off with the official DGE T-shirts - and a Microsoft SideWinder Game Voice unit. Not too far behind were the first half of DSG, who are now enjoying four free pizzas over a CS match over the 'Net. Winner of the Unreal Tournament deathmatch was SharkFoo, who got a free pizza and a box of blank CD's. There was a similar prize for the winner of the Quake 3 deathmatch, whose name I have since forgotten.
Two days of digital warfare were certainly worth the $25 per head - I would definitely go to one again when I have the chance. To those who didn't come, you just don't know what you missed! But don't worry, be happy - the next match will be six months after this one - in February 2002. Plenty of time to practise and organise a team...
Matthew SewHoy
buzzard@ihug.co.nz
10 June 2001
Apologies for the delay, but the DHIS server has had some major technical hitches of late. The server's admin, Rob Guthrie, has informed me that the server has recently been migrated to an ADSL connection, only he forgot to reconfigure the FTP port numbers. In plain English, the pages were still accessible, but they couldn't be updated. At the time of writing, Psy is arranging for a Stonebow account on campus.
Anyways, I've just put out my first, and only major, exam out to pasture. Which leaves just one trifling exam (MATH151) left on the 16th.
I went to the DGE LAN games @ the Chess Club on June 2, which lasted from the early afternoon until just after midnight. It was pretty much full - 21 gamers in all - although for future outings there is a smaller back room which can take several more people. They played the usual stuff - HL Counter-strike, HL Day of Defeat, Quake 3, Tribes, and Unreal Tournament. In addition, we got to swap files via peer-to-peer access towards the end of the night. In my case, I added to my MP3 collection (due to be burnt to CD), at last count 2.46GB and still waging a campaign of hard disk imperialism...
DGE games are now held on the first Saturday of each month - in this case the next ones will be held on July 7, and then August 4. Still currently $5 for casual attendance.
There are new
Members' Pages and Files sections, following the last couple of
discussions. Any suggestions for files we could host or link to
are encouraged.
For those of us who will be killing time over the mid-term break, there will be not one, but two LAN games @ Clubs & Socs on Wed 20 June and Fri 6 July. There will be the usual $5 cover charge. Psy will be @ the 1st game only. In order to get at least 16 people per game, the LAN games will be publicised. Transport can be arranged by Psy and myself, just bring a couple of dollars for petrol.
Next OUCC
meeting will be on 19 June 2001.
- Matthew SewHoy
13 May 2001
Due to some confusion with the dates, the Dunedin Gaming Event LAN party was actually held a week earlier than originally planned, and so I turned up with my computer gear... to find an empty Chess Club building. Anyways, the next DGE LAN game will be held on June 2, same time, same place. However it may be a little bit close to the exam season.
On a different note, the Cue Club (@ 65 St Andrew St, Dunedin) will be hosting an upcoming Counter-Strike tournament. Teams will be in groups of five, and the entry fee is $60 per team ($12 per player). At stake is a $250 cash prize - and many an ego to be bruised. :) Computers will be provided - no need to bring your own at this stage.
Links page is now up, send me your suggestions.
Next OUCC meeting
will be on 22 May 2001.
- Matthew SewHoy
27 April 2001
Meetings will now
be fortnightly, starting from Tuesday, April 24 (no meeting on May 1).
For those who are interested, there will be a Linux install day @ Clubs
& Socs on Sunday 29 April, from 12:30-17:00H (BTW, I'm used to the 24-hour
system).
UPDATE - It appears the Dunedin Gaming Event
LAN party will be held @ the Chess Club after all. The games will take
place from 2pm until late. For more info you can e-mail the LAN
game convenor.
Forum and Links buttons added... pages will be following in due course.
- Matthew SewHoy
The OUCC web site is now up and running. Well, almost... The forms are still to be sorted out by David, and there's also a club logo in the pipeline.
The Dunedin Gaming Event will be holding a LAN party on May 12, however the Chess Club has come under new management, so the DGE is now having to find a new venue.
Watch this space!
- Matthew SewHoy