Wanna Learn Creating Mods Using Valve Source Engine?

Wanna learn how to make your own Counter Strike and Left 4 Dead mods?

Now you can do your own mod. With thanks to the cooperation between Noesis Interactive Sdn Bhd, the educational arm of Online E-Club Management, the distributor of Valve games and ADCOM, everyone can learn how to make custom animation using the tools provided by Valve which is based on the Source engine.

The launch of this cooperation was being officiated recently by Casey Noland, CEO of Noesis Interactive USA, Darren Ng, Managing Director of ADCOM and Dylan Ang, Director of Noesis Interactive ASIA.

Among the courses that will be offered are:-

• 3D Content Creation
• Character Design & Integration With Half-Life 2
• Custom Props & Animation For Source Powered Games
• Advanced Character Animation For Gamers
• Advanced Source Level Design Essentials

Each course will be taught throughout 3 months on every weekends for 10 hours per week. Student will be taught through the combination of DVD Tutorial, guided practice sessions and project based learning.

During the launch, audience were being exposed to how Valve started out with Half Life and progressing through a lot of mods such as Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2 and others by using the toolkit based on Source engine.

They were also exposed to the live designing of character animation where yours truly TPK was being used as a test subject to be integrated with Francis from Left 4 Dead. Custom maps such as Bukit Bintang for CS:Source and Bukit Bintang map for Left 4 Dead were also being shown to the audience.



TPK was being reconstructed into Francis in L4D

During this launch as well, the certificate of excellence also being given out to 10 best improvement students, as well as gold, silver and bronze award for the excelled students from ADCOM

According to Casey, he is hoping that, with the cooperation between Noesis and ADCOM, it would embark Malaysian gaming industry into one step further where Malaysian-made games will be at par with other mods such as DotA, Counter Strike and others.

For more information, log on these websites to know more about Source Engine

Noesis Interactive USA
Noesis Interactive ASIA
ADCOM

Noesis & ADCOM Game Dev. Training Launch Pictures
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PART 2: WHAT CAN I DO?

by Rinie 2 July 2009



Previously, we have talk about the role of an organizer. If you miss the previous entry, basically now we will touch on the things which can help the growth of the community even if you are not a gamer. Today, we will talk about one of the important role which many people had overlook on it, which is Analyst/Statistician.


Why is this role important? The answer is very simple. Just like normal sports, we need analyst/statistician who will observe the current happenings and surrounding. Usually they will take note on things which many didnt realize. A good analyst is someone who will tell us what is wrong and what is right and have solid evidence to back up their words. Even in politics we have political analyst, who usually talks crap about other parties but it is always interesting to listen. Just kidding on the crap part. Usually political analyst will present to us on our current political situation and its effect to the country, and even whole world. They will talk about a certain political decision and its effect to our community. A good political analyst usually will add on some of his own suggestion on how to handle on the current issue.

Plus it is always fun to see the words and figures of a sports like football for example. From the statistic alone its pretty easy to figure out which team is actually the better team. Not to mention with this stats too it wouldnt be a problem if we were to held some sort of award or determining who is actually the best players in each respective games. Somehow it can also be an indirect motivation for our players as well to out rank each other.

What is more interesting is when you have a few analyst in the same field with different point of view. This in the end will make the scene look more interesting and will allow us to see from a different perspective, mostly from the analyst point of view. Were there they are right or wrong is base on subjective understanding.

At the same time, a good analyst/statistician will be able to attract more people about the community because of their simple explanation backed up with their solid evidence will make it easy for others to understand on what is going on. Analyst/statistician are like the off field commentators. They will 1st gather their info and presented to all.

As far as we know, there are only a handful of analyst/statistician in our industry and most of them are gamers themselves. What we need at the moment are full time unbiased analyst/statistic such as Underminer to give us more deep input in each respective field. So if your one of the person who like to observe on our community and pretty good in seeing a bigger picture of a situation, maybe this role is suitable for you.


Part 3 coming soon. Stay tune ^^



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PART 1: WHAT CAN I DO?

by Rinie 22 June 2009


If you have the passion for games and really wanted to help the gaming community, look no further as I will guide you on what you can help contribute to the gaming community even if your not good in gaming.



We usually have this mentality that the only way to help our gaming community to grow is to achieve the highest rank in any local or international tournament. Yes its true but its only one of the many other ways that can help grow the gaming community. Plus i believe this is one of the hardest way to influence the growth of the gaming community because it requires the gamers to achieve high skills. To make it more worst, there can only be one champion. Plus if nobody knows about your achievement, it will definitely not inspire others to follow your foot step as well. So obviously, there is more factor involve than just winning competition.


Now dont get me wrong. We have to be good in what we are doing. But my main point is this; that you dont have to necessarily be a gamer to help the growth of our beloved gaming community. Here i will list down 1 by 1 on what you can help contribute besides being a gamer:



1. Organizer

Last weekend, i met with some of my friends who is one of the best tournament organizer in town. The interesting facts that he told me is; doesnt mean you're a gamer you can be a good organizer . Painful fact as it seems but he has his own reason to support his facts. When organizing a tournament you got to get out of your "For Gamers" thinking. You got to think on how to expose this tournament to the PUBLIC, not just to the gamers. Notice that i stress on the word PUBLIC. Yes if you do a tournament and your target is just within the same group of gamers, your not a good organizer. Being a organizer is to think how to promote this tournament to the mass public and influence new faces to join as well. Not for the sake of your specialize group of gamers. When i look back on our current community, it just hit me in the head how many tournament organizer made this same mistake over and over again. I too have to admit did the same mistake as well.

But why be an organizer? The reason is simple. Without tournaments, there wont be any competitive gaming scene. Without tournaments, the community is dead. So it is very important to have a number of people who specialize in being an organizer. Believe me, a good organizer can tremendously increase the growth of the gaming community compare to being a good gamer.

The correct mentality to being a good organizer is:

1. For The Public
2. For The Gamers
3. For The Profit


We need to expose the tournament to the public so that the public know of our existent as well as to influence new faces to join our gaming community. At the same time the organizer must never neglect the already existing current gamers. Dont make this same stupid excuses where in order to promote the tournament we have to reduce the prizes. Most often this type of organizer fail to cater the needs and wants of both the public and gamers. And definitely, you need some profit to keep the tournament going. But never ever put profit as the highest priority. The money is like food,water,oxygen and blood for the tournament.

Public 1st, gamers 2nd and profit 3rd.

I think many business owner will disagree with my statements. But i would like to quote on what Henry Ford, the founder of Ford says about this issue:

" A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large. "

" A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. "

" I am willing to sell my cars even with small profit. Then all Americans can afford and enjoy driving their very own car. That is the true spirit of Ford Organization; To provide cars to the general masses."

Part 2 will be publish soon. So stay tune ^^

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THE NEWBIE GUIDE TO COMPETITIVE GAMING

by Han
published by Rinie 1 June 2009


They say the first step is always the hardest. For a casual gamer, or newbie to get involved with competitive gaming, might prove to be a culture shock if he/she isn’t mentally prepared. All the environmental factors may prove to be difficult for a newbie to handle if he did not have the knowledge required at 1st. But as always, Spotgamers is here to lend a helping hand. Here is a guide for a newbie to get involved with Competitive Gaming.



1.Train hard

This is a must if you want to succeed in gaming. Newbies must understand that success do not come overnight, even the best pros train very often. Therefore for a newbie to make an impact, he must train hard and try to give the pros a run for their money.

2.Join Tournaments

After all the vigorous training, hard work and kicking your friend’s butt, it is time to show your talents on a bigger stage. Joining tournaments have its rewards, like meeting new people, gaining more experience and who knows, winning prizes. Do not stay at home and be a couch potato, come out and expose yourself.

3.Have No Fear, UNDERDOG is Here!

When a newbie goes up against more established names in the tournaments, it is normal for him to have nerves. However, that should not be the case. If the unfortunate happens and you are drawn to face a top pro, you should stay calm and always remember that as you are the underdog, the opponent is expected to win and if there is any other outcome, it is a great bonus. Have no fear and show what you are capable of, and who knows, the odds might be stacked in your favour.

4.Join A Clan

What is next after giving your best shot at your 1st tournament? It is joining a clan of course. By joining a clan, you can get exposure to many styles of play. You can share tips and tricks with them and learn some new moves as a part of your arsenal. Also, support from clan mates during tournaments might be invaluable in giving you that mental boost to succeed.

5.Keep Going Strong

Once you are in a clan, established a strong reputation and no longer consider yourself a newbie, you are almost there! This is the difficult part, to keep motivated to succeed. Always remember to continue and pursue your passion. Do not give up at the slightest obstacles, then you will find that winning and having fun in competitive gaming is very much possible.


We hope this guide help shed some light for the newbies. If you would like to share your own view for newbies please dont shy and drop us some 2 cents!

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FOR LOVE OR FOR MONEY?

by Rinie Friday 29 May 2009



Recently, I had a discussion with some of my friends about the pro-gaming scene. Their question is simple, why waste time in something that doesnt give high profit?


Let us look back to the meaning of Pro-Gamers. The simple explanation is you get paid to play games competitively. But how much do you get paid to call yourself as pro-gamer? Does someone who won a competition prize of RM300 consider as pro-gamer too?

Apparently, if its according to the meaning itself, yup the person above is a pro-gamer. But to my own definition, I prefer to say that Pro-Gamers is you get paid to play games competitively and still manage to pay all the bills,foods and etc etc. Meaning you can live just by playing games. So does this group apparently exist in Malaysia?

I would say NO. We dont have this type of groups yet. Even if we heard some gamers get paid to play, well they still cant afford to live alone or live only by playing games. Its either they get some sort of support by their families or they have another normal job. I myself is in the later group. Or if you know anyone who actually fulfill the above requirement, please do let us know. We will be happy to be proven wrong ^^

But here is the catch; why do you play games? why do you want to be a pro-gamer? Is it because of the money? Is it because you wanna run away from the normal boring jobs offered in the market? Why do you want to be a pro-gamer?

Everyone has their own reasons. But i will tell you this right now, if you play games because of money, you will never be a Pro-Gamer. Even if you became a Pro-Gamer, you will not live a happy life. The reason is simple, its because your doing it because of the money, not because you like/love it. No matter what you do, be it you wanna be a doctor,engineer,lawyer,astronaut and etc etc, if the reason alone is because of money, you will fail.

Live is simple. If you want to do something, if your looking for the correct job, the best thing is to follow your heart. Never do because material things. I know we all like to be rich. But you can choose which type of rich person you wanna be. The happy one or the miserable one? Yes there is miserable rich people too. No matter what nothing can substitute eternal happiness and eternal love.

So i urge everyone,especially our readers who have this aspiration to be a pro-gamer to be honest and ask yourself 1st, why do you wanna be a pro-gamer?

No matter what your heart says, even if it hurts you, even if its hard to swallow in, always and always follow your heart~

So why am i still playing games? Its because i love it.

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THE GAMING TREND PART 2

This is the sequel to our discussion about the previous topic, the gaming trend. Here to discuss the way gaming trend works is Albert of FMJ|Asisoft.MY(Puggies) which once upon the time is one of the legendary clan in Counterstrike.




Rise to Popularity


Many popular games do not become famous overnight. They become a hit among gamers at first when the cyber café’s start installing them and when people start to play them in massive numbers. Albert however, has a different view.

“I suppose most games would follow the trend that you have set out. I however agree to disagree with that being how competitive games remain popular; there are a lot of factors to consider. I would normally gauge games played in CC's as more casual based, the more popular the game the more the casual base of gamers in Malaysia would play it.”

More Tournaments Hit the Streets


As games become more and more popular, there will be an increasing demand for tournaments for players to showcase their skills. Or brag about their recent success. Albert supports the notion.

“Competitive gamers on the other hand live and breathe for tournaments; it is the rush and the thrill of competition that keeps them coming back for more. Although after awhile most do give up or move on. Tournaments are vital for any game to be able to rise in popularity albeit driven by either the community or game companies themselves. Tournaments create a certain lore and mystique that will entice gamers to talk about the top team/player of the day and dispute on who the top team is at the moment.”

More and More Clans Emerge


To win the battles, you need to be with like minded people who are as skilled as you and can provide the training you need. The clans then emerge and compete with each other to achieve their intended goals.

“Games reach a high point when many clans emerge and start popping up trying to compete and take advantage of a new game’s release. However, huge bulk of these players lacks substance. They really do not care about e-Sports, community or recognition which most of us fight for. They really only care about how much money is able to go back into their pocket after Tournament 'X', which is pretty hard to fault as the saying goes money makes the world go round.”

Domination of a certain clans


Like sports (think Manchester United, Rafael Nadal etc), certain clans would prove better than the rest and the gap between the winners and the rest would widen. Albert offers a thorough insight about this issue based on what is happening locally.

“Then there are the few who dominate, usually with the help and benefit of International experience. Teams / players often build up this ego that they are unbeatable, that they should expect to win, that the new kid on the block should be considered a noob. This is quite disheartening to most new comers and therefore a huge problem in the competitive scene here in Malaysia. Most competitive gamers and their community do not leave space for breeding of new talent. Coupled together with the fact that Malaysians also like to adopt the "if I can't win I better don't waste my time lah" instead of the "if you beat me this time I will practice harder and ‘tapau’ you next time" attitude, is it even a wonder why there are no professional gamers in Malaysia? The top players try to ‘lanci’ and the new players don't even bother trying.”

Dislike/Banning of Certain Clans


If a clan is proven to be too dominant, should they be banned? Just like how International Football governing bodies try to prevent the rich teams from becoming more powerful, can this be implemented in E-sports?

“Sure some teams are disliked; rivalry however is a good thing. Would Manchester United be anything if not for clubs like Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal? It is that intense rivalry that generates raw emotion that the viewing public can feel apart of. That is the essence of sport. The problem with this is that the teams / players in Malaysia are so blinded by their raw hatred and rivalry to the point that many don't even unite against a common enemy or cause. I mean Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez can call each other names until the cows come home, but when UEFA decides to limit teams from the EPL into the Champions League they UNITE together and fire UEFA. Time to wake up, stop being cry babies and blaming the establishment. Until the competitive scene can show maturity and UNITY only will things change for the better. Take for example if Tournament "X" is a load of crap but puts up a substantial amount of prize money and team "A" calls for a boycott of the tournament, I am pretty sure more than 90% of the teams will still show up instead of team A's protest. Less competition might mean a higher chance of winning to some of them. Stop selling ourselves short and stabbing each other in the back, aren't we in the end just shooting ourselves in the foot?”

Fewer New Faces Emerge


Many gamers who lack the confidence and courage to try would not participate in tournaments, they themselves have already written of their chances of success. In this situation, the popular games would be dominated by the same people year after year. Unlike Colborn, Albert agrees about this.

“It is pretty hard to blame that lesser new faces show up during tournaments, because as I said before there really is no breeding ground for new teams to play in. Take USA for example there are many faceted leagues from Pro to Amateur for players to join. Tournaments here in Malaysia mostly just cater to whoever wants to play and the only real figure that matters to organizers are how many teams actually show up. Until we can find a balance, this trend will just continue. Sure most top teams are the ones that receive the most publicity and fame, but the top teams need to realize that the only reason they receive so much fame or publicity in the first place is because there is a core community of new players out there that want to talk about, follow and support them. You are only a superstar if you have supporters and followers, without them you are just a have been hero or never was.”

Game Dies


All good things come to an end. Even the strongest Roman Empire shall falter, and the longest serving ministers will be replaced. Does the same apply in gaming? Would players get bored after a period of time and ditch the game completely?

“A game doesn't really die, it just loses interest from the the bulk of the community and when tournament turn out starts dipping; it eventually loses interest from the organizers as well. Of course most games don't create residual income for most game companies because once a game is marketed and sold there really is no real reason to continue marketing them right? With no backing from the game distributors and publishers, lack of interest from the organizers and lack of participation from the community, it just fizzles out. Korea is the exception with StarCraft, why and how? Is a question that still hasn't been answered clearly maybe most of the spotgamers readers would like to provide some feedback and opinion as to why that is?”

The say you can never stop learning, and Albert’s insights have certainly been a breath of fresh air. The gaming trend may change gradually depending on the market and popularity, but that does not stop us gamers from doing what is most important-Having fun.



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THE GAMING TREND

by Han
published by Rinie Wednesday May 20 2009

Ups And Downs

Many games come and go. Some become an instant hit among gamers; while some games which were less popular may not be able to enjoy the success of other games. Here we chart the rise and fall of the gaming trend when a typical game became popular, through the eyes of a DOTA analyst, Underminer.


Rise to Popularity


Many popular games do not become famous overnight. They become a hit among gamers at first when the cyber café’s start installing them and when people start to play them in massive numbers.Underminer agrees.

“In the case of Dota, the game came out of nowhere. At the beginning, the game will be played as a “side game” for players in CC after “real games” like Counter Strike, Warcraft and Fifa were played. When people found out that there is a competitive side to it, much like the games I mentioned above, people start to play it more and hence contribute to its development, competitively and popularity.”

More Tournaments Hit the Streets


As games become more and more popular, there will be an increasing demand for tournaments for players to showcase their skills. Or brag about their recent success. Underminer agrees.

“As more and more people start to play a certain game, organizers of tournaments (CC owners mostly) will foresee an opportunity to promote their services/premises to the gaming audience by organizing tournaments. Event organizers would take the opportunity to attract crowds for their sponsors by casting popular games in their events for media cash in advertisement.
From a gamers’ point of view, tournaments are means to meet up with like-minded people who loves the game as much they do to actually take time off their lives to play competitively. The interaction between high level pros is something incredible to the gamers and audiences were top quality games between top pros were played out”

More and More Clans Emerge


To win the battles, you need to be with like minded people who are as skilled as you and can provide the training you need. The clans then emerge and compete with each other to achieve their intended goals.

“As the competitive scene increases, more and more individuals who love the game try to become the best in what they like. Where more clans are formed to compete in tournaments, the impression of the public will seem that the scene is huge will lead to more sponsor money being poured in to attract the public’s attention. More and more clans provide the bedrock for competitive ideas to be tabled out and put to test. This indirectly increases the competitiveness of our local teams. For the game of Dota, the collective competitiveness achieved along the years allowed the local Dota scene to win honours and respect internationally.
More and more clans increase the chances of the clans being sponsored by various sponsors for advertisement purposes. In the case of Dota, cybercafés seeks to attach their names in tags of better teams to promote their premises to a wider elite audience”.

Domination of a certain clans


Like sports (think Manchester United, Rafael Nadal etc), certain clans would prove better than the rest and the gap between the winners and the rest would widen. Here is how Underminer views such an incident.

“When the competition went up a notch like what Kingsurf did to the local Dota scene, teams which normally can get by with 1 or 2 less committed players just cannot do that any longer. Merges appear and teams will more dedicated individuals started to grace the scene to even the odds of domination of a certain team. This creates a skill gap between the top 1% and the rest where we can see the contenders for all open tournaments will be among the top 1% (or even 1 or 2 teams).
This is not a necessary a bad thing and should not be the reason of the decay of the game. Note that badminton itself faces the same problem where only 1 player in Malaysia Male singles is currently the best of the crop and is considered “dominating”. This does not kill off badminton, in fact it serves a good yardstick for everyone to improve and did not kill off but actually promoted the casual badminton players interest in the game. I believe the same should hold true in truly great E-sport titles.”

Dislike/Banning of Certain Clans


If a clan is proven to be too dominant, should they be banned? Just like how International Football governing bodies try to prevent the rich teams from becoming more powerful, can this be implemented in E-sports?

“This is not something I cannot agree fully nor can I agree whole heartedly to. Where it is of some argument that banning certain teams in tournaments will improve the chances of unknown teams in the competitive circle, the fact still proves that they are unknown for a reason.
The famous Dota player from Penang, NZ.K1ng once told me at an SMM Grand Final, he believes what you work for is what you get. Players and teams who work hard to be good will come good and if your effort is not there, you will, well…. Lose. This is meritocracy in its brutal(est) form and organizers who seeks to reward complacency really goes beyond my understanding.
Unless there is a certain series of tournament where past winners individually will not be eligible for the next tournament of the series (much like the amateur series and SMM qualfiers), banning certain teams that are strong or even worse, banning teams based on the organizers liking will only kill off the scene."

Fewer New Faces Emerge


Many gamers who lack the confidence and courage to try would not participate in tournaments, they themselves have already written of their chances of success. In this situation, the popular games would be dominated by the same people year after year. As ever, Underminer has a different view to this.

“The situation may not be as gloomy as you see it is. Back to the badminton scenario, we can only see Lee Chong Wei dominating men’s singles tournaments in Malaysia where no one can come close to dethrone him for the past few years. It will seem that less and less new faces emerge from the badminton scene. But did badminton die? No. In fact it could be argued that his domination inspires a whole new generation of players to take up his mantle once he retires from the game.
The point of that example is when the E-sport is good enough to endure, new faces always will appear, for them to reach the kind of heights of their dominating predecessor requires time and effort. For that new faces which will not be apparent until after the older generation retires.”

Game Dies


All good things come to an end. Even the strongest Roman Empire shall falter, and the longest serving ministers will be replaced. Does the same apply in gaming? Would players get bored after a period of time and ditch the game completely?

“The game “dies” when no one is playing it anymore and the game itself will not be able to generate any sponsorship money. Much like Warcraft 2 “dies” when “Warcraft 3” is released. I believe an enduring E-sport title will survive and not technically “dies” unless a clear successor to it in the form of a sequel replaces it in the gamer’s heart.
The long term strategy is to get the mainstream media involved and make it something like in Korea, where the interdependency of Starcraft stakeholders just will not allow it to die off.”

The Spotgamers team would like to thank Underminer for his time and effort in conducting this revealing and thought-provoking interview.



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PATIENCE,HOPE AND FAITH

by Rinie Tuesday May 19 09

Suddenly This Sign Post Fit So Nicely In My Writings

How many of us are willing to wait for 4-5 years just to be the champion of a tournament?

I did.

I've been in the competitive gaming scene for almost 7 years now. I've witness so many things, had experience so many situation and had undertake so many struggles in my journey for my dream. In this 7 years, i've started out as a gamer, had tried to play a role as an organizer, as a teacher, as a clan vice leader, as a friend, as an enemy, as a loser, as a champion, as a spectator and now as a media. It all started back in 2002 when my friend Ibrahim(i've to keep on mentioning his name everytime i look back lol) introduce to me FIFA WC2002 and WCG02. But because i was still young and naive, i didnt dare to join WCG02 coz i feel there are just too many pro players out there. But how wrong could i get when Ibrahim became the champion of Pahang. I regretted and vow to join next year, and so i did and thats how it all started.

From just a personal glory, my dream evolve into a national glory because it was through gaming i became matured and understand how important it is to have E-Sports in our country. Unlike what majority people think that playing games make you stupid, but i guess that wasnt true in E-Sports for it has the same core values as any other sports trying to promote. But this article is not about that. Its about PATIENCE,HOPE AND FAITH.

As i said,i've seen many come and go. What worried me is the current trend that we have in our gamers generally. Im gonna put this in a simple example:

A new game start to bloom and became popular. More and more people trying it out thus more and more competition organize out of nowhere. Then there will be this regular group of clans joining competition. At 1st, it was a healthy one with no clear winner. But as time goes by, suddenly there is this 1 particular gamer/clan that will start to dominate any competition joined. Because of the domination,slowly and slowly less and less people starting to lost interest in competing anymore. In the end, with no good basic and with no new faces the community gone in the wind and became another fairy tale to tell.

There are a lot of other reasons actually that we can find. But rather focusing on what we cant control, i prefer to address problems on what we ourselves can do about it. Many of us rate how good a gamer is base on his achievements. Of course that is the most logical way to rate. But we often forget that the only thing, the only one that can measure our success.. is one and only...

TIME

Time is the true measure of someone success. Even if you lost 2,3,4 or more than 5 time, that doesnt mean you are a loser. Always remember that failure is the 1st step to success. Believe it or not, the more you lose the closer you are to success. Haih. But unfortunately, not all of us has this kind of mind set. Usually when we lost more than 3 time, we just quit. Because we feel its impossible to win especially if "that guy" joined the tourney. So whats the point joining the tourney?

Believe it or not, that thinking above is one of the main reason why we are not going anywhere. Thats the reason why we cant compete with international players and thats the reason why E-Sports wont come true in the future. We are scared of competition and worst we are scared of losing. We often measure our own success by the number of trophy in the cabinet rather than measuring our true inner ability and self confidence. So how does time became the true measure of success? Here are the examples:


Si_Jali

If some of you guys follow my gaming history, i started out in WCG03 and break the record in WCG World Final in 05 with no.4 in the world. It was the highest achievement. But do you know, that i only won my 1st Malaysia tournament in 2007? It took me 4 years to win a title! And since then i've won 3 Asian Champion title and 4 Malaysia Champion title. In 7 years i only won that much. Thats why when people talk highly about me i felt a lil bit shy because the truth is.. i dont win that much. Isk.. Malulah~


Forza & H3av3n


I cant really remember when he actually started out but i can roughly say it was around 2004-2005.Back then, Luige a.k.a CK was dominating the NFS scene. It was pretty hard to overthrone his grip on the title. But Forza was never disheartened. He believed the same concept we all believed in, that time will proved everything. In the end, he won his 1st title in WCG.MY06 and has been dominating the NFS scene until now.

H3av3n is another perfect example for this case. Tell me, how many times everyone can remember he lost to Forza? I cant count. After years and years of trying, in the end he won WCG.MY 08 beating Forza in the finals. Wasnt that a sweet victory? Whoever sit on H3av3n shoe at that time will feel how satisfying and worthwhile for all the struggle for the victory.


Tun Dr.Mahathir

What more can i say about our ex-PM? Do you know that during Tun early tenure as PM, many people opposed his decision to create highways in Malaysia saying its a waste of money? Now tell me, which of you doesnt enjoy the smoothness travel between our states? Tun was a visionary, and time was the measure of his success.


Manchester United & Sir Alex

Before all you MU haters say anything, let me remind you of the wisdom Sir Alex possess. After he sold Beckham, he bought Ronaldo. During Ronaldo early days, they were not really consider as title contender, especially with Chelsea and Arsenal domination that time. But he was patient. He value education more than winning, so he prefer to wait and lose and bank all the knowledge in the future.

And now, MU won so many titles including reached the same record as Liverpool since Ronaldo joined and is still in the CPL Final. Though i am a Chelsea fan, i personally wish MU will win the cup.


As you can see, success doesnt come just like that. It was all determine by time. If we all can understand this recipe to success, nothing can stop us.

Now my question is this, are we willing to change our perception of success? Are we willing to be PATIENCE, to keep HOPE and have FAITH? If you do, how long? 1 year? 2 year? 5 year?

Whatever your answer will be, only time will tell truth of it.

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WHAT STOPPING US?

by Rinie

Monday May 11 2009






Its been awhile since I type on my keyboard for serious writing. But it has been in my mind since then to write about it but couldnt find the perfect timing. Now i've learn there is no such thing as perfect timing, its all about if I wanted to do it or not.. and so I did!



I believe everyone as gamers,be it casual gamers or competitive gamers would like to see E-Sports grow in Malaysia. Im not talking about the same old small tournament here and there which always base on popularity or trend of a certain game, im talking about the true E-Sports; Having our own national gaming league irregardless to games popularity and trend, E-Sports as a career and most importantly, E-Sports as a national sports.


So what stopping us? We have the numbers, we have the quality, we have tournaments every now and then, so what stopping us?


This question seems to amazed me everyday. Because as I go deeper,more and more theory pop up out of a sudden. It can even confused you which is the correct path and which is not.


But from all the path, everything share a common and main reason of it success. It is

UNITY

Scrap all those bullshit talk about no financial support, no government support or what ever brilliant excuses many had think of. The only reason why we are still nowhere is because we are not united enough. We brag about how good are our popular game is and look down on the rest. We ridicule those who think are playing unrealistic game and talk about the awesomeness gameplay of our sacred game. We envy other communities success and giving out excuses of why they can do it but not us. We even form up our very own group of haters to justify our low IQ thinking and to.. well to hate other games! What the hell?


Scrap this. Scrap that. Scrap it all! Scrap all of this gamist nonsense!


How can we be united when we find reason to divide among ourself? Why cant we just live in peace? All of us want E-Sports to be true in Malaysia. We all have the same dream. So why should we fight among each other?


As what my mom perfectly summarize it to me

“ We shall not envy others ability. We shall thank God that God has blessed us with great abilities and God shall blessed us more when we learn to appreciate ourselves and OTHERS. Coz God loves us all and hate to see we fight among each other. For that is the devil's plan”

Think for a moment now. Are we matured enough to form our very own E-Sports?



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UTP ESC 09: Gamers Forum

On Sunday 8th of March 2009, i was invited for UTP ESC 09 Gamers Forum to talk about gaming in terms of a pro-gamers view. It was a really happening forum i have to say due to the fact that there were 3 different speakers present to give their views in gaming. From the student view we have Mr. Khairul Ridhwan Project Manager of ESC 09 and from an academician view Dr. Mohd Fadzil Bin Hassan(BSc, MSc, PhD) Senior Lecturer Of Computer and Information Sciences Department. The crowd consist of students,gamers and even school students accompany by their teachers. I was inform that they was actually the one who call up to ask if they could participate in the forum as well.

They had recorded video of the forum but unfortunately due to some technical problem some of the video files is missing. Therefore i've taken the initiative to summarize the discussion and debates during the forum.


The forum format consist of 3 rounds which the host will ask 1 question in each round to be discuss. A set time of 20 min was given for each round. In between the round there will be a few min break as well as Q&A session from the crowd.

So without further due, here are the questions that was directed to me during the forum:


1st Round

Host: There are a lot of cases that students neglect their studies because of gaming. How do you perceive gaming activities among student? Is it a positive or negative? Could you give more examples on that?

Rinie: I would say both. First of all we need to know why do the student play games? How do they perceive gaming as? Do they play for casual or play to be a pro? If they are playing to be a pro then there are more positive than negatives. For example, most people thought that those who play games neglect their studies. But do you know that almost all the best pro-gamers in the world are college and university students? It shows that if you wanna be the best, if you wanna be a pro-gamer, you gotta be smart. You cant be good in what you're doing if your not smart. All the best pro-gamer in the world are smart intelligent people. So kids if you wanna be a pro- gamer, if you wanna be the best, stay at school!

Crowd: Play games suppose to reduce stress. But losing will also make you stress. What do you think?

Rinie: We all like to win. Nobody like to lose. As the Malay saying goes "Menang kalah adat permainan". But do you know that losing or failure is the 1st step to success? You got to lost to learn how to be better. When you had learn your mistake you will be better and stronger in the future. Even i myself have to face a lot obstacles to be where i am now because success takes time. So everytime you lose, tell yourself this "Im 1 step closer to success"!

2nd round

Host: What are the positive aspects of gaming that everyone should look for and bear in mind?

Rinie: There are plenty to be honest but i will state the benefit in terms of competitive gaming scene. The most obvious aspects would be your fluency in English. You will definitely need to use English to communicate with other gamers around the world even in Malaysia. Although i myself came from an English speaking family; my dad speak English while my mom speak Malay.. thats another reason why im not really close to my dad (LOL) but my English improve a lot because i participate in tournaments and play with gamers all across the world.

Second aspect will be your typing skills. Even while your still studying, you will notice that assignments and projects were done on Microsoft Words thus require good typing skills. Gamers easily develop this skills and can finish a 1000 words assignments in jst a few minute. Here gamers have extra advantage compare to those who are not familiar with computer.

Beside gaming act as relieving stress, it actually educate you to learn how to manage your time efficiently. Like my previous statement, pro-gamers have to balance between studies and gaming therefore they need to create a time table for their activities. When i was still studying, i have allocated in the day for studies and at night for gaming. You dont have to allocate that much, just 2 hours of good quality gaming will do. The key word here is quality and consistency, not quantity. And as you can see it works. Therefore there are just more reason why you should never quit school and should play games to be the best.

Crowd: What type of games help in terms of improving reaction? Maybe football games? Racing games? FPS?

Rinie: All the games helps in reaction. Ok when you use ur right hand to write, which brain did you use?

Crowd: Left!

Rinie: What about if your left handed?

Crowd: Right brain!

Rinie: Now if your playing game, which brain did you use?

Crowd: Both!


3rd Round


Host: In a broader sense, what is your opinion on the prospects of gaming career?

Rinie: Ok this time i will be realistic. Usually gaming clan in Malaysia get paid RM4000 per month but this is divided accordingly to each members. So we can safely say that RM800 was given to each member of a clan consist of 5 members. But they still earn a bonus from tournament prizes thus we can estimate their earnings around RM1500-RM2000. This depends on how many tournament they won. As you can see its not that much but efforts has been made to improve our local scene. We are not there yet but we are going there. Its coming. I predict in 5-6 years things will change.

However, this shouldnt stop you from pursuing your dream. Gamers in Malaysia must be creative in finding sources of income, and there are plenty available here in Malaysia. Myself for example had expand from being a pro-gamer into having a partnership in a cybercafe. Not to mention have my own company Rinie ICT Solution which provide consultancy and reseller about TM and Celcom products. And im also one of the founder of Spotgamers which emphasize to give exposure to gamers in Malaysia. Currently im giving out tuition and classes teaching FIFA. I charge only RM50/person for the time being just to test out the effectiveness of the class. Its not that much but wait till it works!

So as you can see, there are tons of opportunities gamers in Malaysia can explore. If you really love gaming, doesnt mean you have to be a pro-gamer. You can also be a journalist in gaming like our friend Marcus Ho (MYM, Gameaxis Singapore) and he is still 21! You can operate your own cybercafe and organize your own tournament. You can even be marshalls and pro-marhsalls are in demand and in need in almost all tournaments. There are just plenty and all are in demand. Just we lack the supply at the moment. But believe me, things are changing and will come.


Crowd: What are the obstacles that you had face to be a pro-gamer?

Rinie: There are plenty. The most obvious one and everyone had to face is from your family. I am glad to have my mom because she was very supportive even in the beginning. But my dad was not. He will always say "Study 1st, Play later" but i will say "Play 1st, Study Later" (LOL). But the worst part was that my father pass away 1 month before i join my first tournament in 2003 which is WCG 2003. It was really sad but that gives me more reason why i want to join tournament. Because i want to prove to him, to everyone that i can be the best, that i can be no.1 in the world. And with that spirit i bring into every tournament. If others they usually target for just get through 1st round or quarter final or anything. But my target was always to be the champion. Nothing less. Like my uncle use to say "Whatever your going to do, make sure you be the best!".

Friends were not really supportive as well in the beginning because most of my friends are those who are really academic base. Once i was surrounded by 10 of my friends confronting me and telling me that my decision to be a pro-gamer is a waste of time. So obviously i dont really care what they think but i understand their concern. But now they have saw how succesful i've been and they have supported me since then. In this world its all about proving your worth. Everyone face obstacles but those who never give up will strive to be on top.

And of course i've face losses to in tournaments. Success doesnt just come easily like that. It takes time. It may look easy but its not. But whatever happens never give up. It jst a phase, a test to see if your worthy to be call the best. As always, failure is the 1st step to success. Always remember that.


Thus the last question marks the end of the forum. We are still waiting for the Gamers Forum Video to be release and hopefully they manage to find all the missing files.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank University Teknologi Petronas Electronic Sport Championship committee who had invited me to the forum. I believe that UTP ESC effort to give exposure to the gaming scene thru conducting forum will be the 1st step in revolutionize the gaming scene in Malaysia. And not forgetting appreciation for your kindness in "layan-ing" me during my stay there. Hopefully we will meet again next time.

Till then, Majulah E-Sukan Untuk Negara!

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Soul Calibur IV tutorial for nubs

Hola everyone
Today while I was lurking as usual around the internetz, I found some nice omake on Soul Calibur IV tutorial targeted for newbies.
Just for extra information, there is a high chance that Soul Calibur IV will be voted as the next competitive fighting games in next year edition of e-sports tournaments.
Other potential games will be Virtua Fighter 5 and Street Fighter IV
It's too bad Tekken 6 had to be only for PS3, else it would've got into the competitive scene as well.
Well what are you guys waiting for? Start grabbing your sticks and controller and practice for the future.
Credits on translation goes to otadesho.com
Read from left to right unlike the normal japanese manga
Omake after the hyperspace.

















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Game Review: World Of Warcraft And Its Future

by Tris.Tz on Tuesday 5/8/08






Its a HIT, It is Life, It is...........................World Of Warcraft


Ok, I'm not here to review the game. I'm not here to describe the game piece by piece. I'm not here to talk on talent builds. I'm just gonna give my say on the game and its future.

World Of Warcraft, the game flamed by many and has hooked many as well. Over 10 Million players, its the biggest MMORPG in the world. So lets begin with the discussion of the day shall we?

1. The future of World Of Warcraft
Anyone expecting it to fall one day? Definitely. The one game that has made many addicted and many that get jealous as well. The haters often say that WOW is for noobs, WOW sucks, WOW is not worth the money, guild wars are better etc etc. However I beg to differ that the game will not be falling down unless the Blizzard team does not support it anymore.

Take a look at Starcraft. After 10 years, its still a big game in Korea and its still an official game in the World Cyber Games (WCG). Warcraft 3 is also not dead although there are many that blames/complain about imbalances. World Of Warcraft, the money making machine will definitely go for a long run.

2 years after the release of the game, Blizzard has put out the first expansion, The Burning Crusade. What more a year later, Blizzard will again release the second expansion, Wrath Of The Lich King. Will anymore come ahead in the future? Yes, it will as long as the game grows.

2. World Of Warcraft in Competitive Gaming
Starcraft, Counter Strike, FIFA, NFS, Warcraft 3, very familiar names in the WCG game list and some other tournaments like ESWC or Dreamhack. However, World Of Warcraft is the upcoming game that will probably be place in the WCG hopefully. No news or rumours about it but the Championship Gaming Series in USA has already name it as an official game. Every year, tourneys will be held online and even at the Blizzcon, teams from all over the world gather to fight for the might of the horde of the alliance. Its seriously a game that will be considered to go into the list hopefully soon.

3. The Community
Lets start with the foreign countries first. World of Warcraft has brought up many hardcore fans. From videos on youtube, to skits, to uniform designing at Cosplays and many many more. Even in the previous season of Pure Pwnage , Tagi is a World of Warcraft addict. It was even till the extend of creating songs for World of Warcraft such as World of Warcraft is a feeling and Christmas Time in Dun Morogh. Professional clans had even chat with players on Xfire on how to raid a certain dungeon. Xfire even host 2v2 Areana Team to give you a chance to play against the professionals.

In Malaysia however, the community is rather small. In the Lowyat.net forums, the community is doing real well. I am assuming the community is small due to the fact that the monthly fee is a bomb of 120 ringgit. However, for those who can afford, its fine.

4. The Conclusion to this review
What do I have to conclude about. Well, World Of Warcraft is game with a bright future ahead. With new expansions, dungeons and tournaments, Malaysians that can afford should try to venture into it. With the game slowly building competitively, it will be soon before it becomes a official game in major tournaments.

Till the next time,

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Gaming Edu: Fear Of Losing Harm The Community?

by Rinie. Monday 28/9/08.




It may be a reason but its not the main reason. If fear is the main reason then there would not be doctors in Malaysia. Doctors is more dangerous than playing games. If the docs failed to heal a person and was the reason for a person death, it will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Because health and fitness is deeply connected to a person's live thus docs are a more fearful jobs of all.


But why ppl still be docs? Infact, every year more and more ppl are going into the medicine line. More and more colleges and universities open up slots for the medicine fields although its the highest risk job. Why?


1. The Pay


It is the jobs with the highest risk but its the most highest return as well. A doc can easily earn more than 5 digit and live a luxurious life.


2. The Image


Everybody look high on them. They have the respect of all the community in the world. They have been portrayed as someone that we should all respect and as someone living the good lives and a promising future regardless in good or bad situation.



That is why many people want to be docs. Because of the good pay and good image. Even fear can be overcome just by focusing on this 2 elements. There are just plenty other reasons why more and more ppl bcome docs but this 2 are the main. This is something the gaming community lack off and never tried to portray. Heck majority of people never know that there is Asian Champions in Malaysia.

But it is still not a good reason if someone want to be a doc because of the 2 reason. In fact i discourages those who wanted to go into the medicine line because of this. We all should do what we love to do the most not because money and fame.

But if you do have the fear of losing, guess what? You are not a gentleman at all! You are not worthy to be called a man! (If you're a women than you dont have girl power!) What is this? You think you can be a champion if you are afraid to lost? You think you deserve to be called champion if you afraid to lost face infront of your families and friends? You dont even deserve to join with those so called pro-gamers.

Losing is just another stage to success. Nobody can ride the bicycle at the 1st try. We all will fall down at 1st. But if you were like the young boy you used to be where you dont care anything you just want to ride the bicycle because you love it and its fun, you will in the end ride the bicycle. And trust me you will never regret falling down at all.


Come on. Even rainbow only appear after the rain. ^^
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Gaming Edu: Whats The Problem?

by Rinie. Tuesday 22/7/08




The only thing that holding us back is our mentality.
What stop us right now is not the lack of coverage, not lack of money, not lack of support and anything lack that you can think off.
The only thing that stop us from growing is yourself. We are just too selfish and spoil wanting others to do what we all are responsible to do.

Gamers: Too immature to understand their responsibility in the gaming community. Only think to be the best at their games but are ignorant to the problems in the community. Often don't care.

Organizers: Too ego to listen and often neglecting gamers the core value of the tournament. Less effort to bring the gamers forward.

Medias: Not much exposure given to gamers. No exposure so gamers remain unknown to the public. For them it is more interesting to talk about an object rather than a subject.

Sponsors: Looking into short term investment rather than long term. Its all bout the money rather than invest to nurture the community. Which the return of investment will be greater in the future.

In order for the community to grow, all of this 4 core basic must work together and realize their responsibility in the gaming community. If depends on 1 side it will never work in a million years.
Take big gaming countries for example. All of this 4 basic work together pretty well. Harmonious relationship between all side will encourage the development of the gaming community.

The funny thing is, it is not the gaming community only facing this problem but our very own local entertainment industries is facing the same problem as well. Local popular singers/bands couldn't even do their own concert and sponsors are more in favor of overseas artists. They want short cut and fast money and feel investing for the long term is a waste of time and money.


So the problem is not just our community, but the culture of the entire country.
Until then we will always be at the same place even when we all get married and have family in the future.
So everyone start realize your responsibility. Spread the words out. Kick out "Tak Apa" attitude and think about the future.
Be visionary. Be responsible. Be the revolution.


Just like a tag line in Melodi:
"Kurangkan Kontroversi, Tingkatkan Prestasi" (Less Controversies, More Development)
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Lots of International Game Tournaments; But We’re Still Far Behind

Another interesting article was written by eddyhan @ multiplay.lowyat.net

Some gamers are always worried about how much money in a short span of time on the things they do best. It’s in their blood to think like that and it’s damn idiotic since they preached about playing for “passion” and “wanting to represent the country and kick ass outside”. But after that they will open their palms and ask “how much am I getting since I’m the champion if not I don’t want to play”.

Almost all the time I hear gamers whining and complaining about how screwed up a sponsorship deal or prize of an event were. “I play and win all the time, but all I get was freaking RM100 a month. This XXX company is stupid.”

for more visit to multiplay.lowyat.net

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Gaming Edu: What You Give, You Get Back

by Rinie. Monday 23/06/08




If you ever heard the title yup its from a song by Scorpion. I know i know most of us prefer "Rock You Like A Hurricane" but hey the title has its own truth in the meaning.



Some of you might disagree in me saying all the good things that we have done most of it never being paid back. But in order for the community to grow everyone must understand the importance of giving something back to the community. After all the community have help us a lot when we 1st started as gamers. If there is no gaming community, gamers would not exist as well.



One of the secret why i manage to be on top until now is because of my 2 little project, The FIFA Blog and W|nDs Youth Academy. Try guess what do i get in return of me sharing my knowledge in FIFA to the public? Yup i get new knowledge in return because everyday i have to think on what to write in the blog and have to come out with new tips and tricks to share as well. So this will force me to think of new skills and tactics and make me a better player. Plus helping out people does make me feel good as well. It is part of my duty, my responsibility to help everyone and the community as well. Because even how good i am, i wont be here in the 1st place if the community itself never exist.



Now now if you are afraid that one day you will run out of your brain cells, there is a research made by some scientist that shows there are millions to billions brain cells in our brain. Averagely we use up to hundreds of brain cells per day. Some well dont even use 1 cell at all.



Let say if you use up to 100 brain cells a day:


1 year= 365 day


100 cells x 365 days = 36500 brain cells per year


Let say you live until 100 years:


36500 x 100 = that is 3.7million cells


So even if you live until 100 years, there are a slight chance you become brain dead. I repeat, slight chance.

Unless if you are Homer of course.. lol

So everyone start realizing your responsibility. Even if you dont know how to share your knowledge, you can always do other things such as organizing a league, tournament, charity event, road tour, seminars and clinics, skills presentation, media(thats where we come in ^^) and much much more. As i always said, gamers in Malaysia must be creative in finding ways on how to help the gaming community to be bigger and better. So start giving back to our little community.



If you still dont believe the meaning in the title, try punch someone on the face and see if you get a punch back at your face.. or maybe more. If you are afraid no one will acknowledge you, dont worry, we will ^^
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Gaming Edu: Sponsorship

by Rinie. Monday 16/6/08

For some reason, sponsorship seems to be an alien here in Malaysia. It is pretty hard for gamers, even top gamers to actually seek sponsorship as well. Not just games facing this alien prob, but even our own local celebrities; singers and actors are finding it hard to get sponsorship for concerts,movies,etc. Is this a big issue here in Malaysia?


To understand this more, why not we be in the shoe of the sponsors for awhile. What do sponsors want? There might be a lot of reason but the main purpose is to increase the sales or the branding of their company.


Now if gamers actually just focus in winning tourney, does this improve the sales for the sponsors? If they wear a logo of the sponsors, does this help their branding publicity?

No money. Sad T_T

Just by winning tourney, gamers would not made much different, UNLESS the tourney manage to get many mainstream media coverage. Even the most popular gamer in the world Fat4lity would not be so famous if his winnings were never been expose by the media. Nobody will know his amazing achievements. But sadly, there are not much exposure done by the media, even the prestige WCG didnt get big coverage locally and internationally as well.


So gamers in Malaysia must understand their role and be creative in finding ways on how to work together with sponsors. Gamers,sponsors,medias and all party must play its role to ensure that the gaming community will always be strong,better and productive.

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