ARCHIVES: THURSDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER 1997 -WEDNESDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER 1997

RORSHACH MOVES!

Yes, King Of Skins is no more. The King has left the building, but only to move to Planetquake, where you can see all of the UK's best Skinmaker's work and hints in all their glory.

UKCL NEWS

The UKCL is undergoing major changes... Firstly, Leann has also left the UK Clan League Admin Team:

"With John leaving that's me going as well. I only became part of the UKCL because John needed the help. I'll finish the league tables through to Week 6, rounding up any missing scores I have to, update the "unofficial www league tables", then hand over those spreadsheets to whomever is taking over the score keeping roll. Which also means as of today, I won't be adminning any weekend games."

Then, Killjoy has sent out a message about his assumption of the post of Acting Chief Administrator:

"This is a long read but I think very relevant, so bear with it. Just to quickly re-cap, John Burton has now resigned from the UKCL and so after a hurried chat with Adze, Groffy and various other people, I have decided to take over for now as Acting Head Administrator for the UKCL, until I have time to sort things into sensible order. I must say that my respect goes to John, who has put in a lot of hard work: I hope that ppl will recognise that and not remember him for ducking out right in the middle of things. I personally, will be the first to buy him a few beers at Frogstock!

Right - now, I hope all the other admins, such as Leann, Aero, Urban and Spud, will continue on in their current roles. Me and Adze have some cool ideas as to how to structure things so as to spread the workload over all the admins, so no one person will be breaking under the strain again.HOWEVER, we really do need some more admins. It costs a lot of money to sit online most of the weekend adminning: more people should contribute. Hopefully that problem can be solved pretty easily.

So, all admins need to meet up on IRC sometime very soon and have a short meeting about things. If you are interested in adminning, please direct all queries at Adze, who is collating all the information and then sending it on to me. The better we make things, folks, the better off we will all be. Other ppl such as Spirit, Boywonder and a smattering of peeps off #Quake.uk have offered to help in various different ways, which is cool - I will be back to you soon with an idea of what I need.

For now, just rest assured that the UKCL will continue to operate as if nothing has happened.

There are a few adjustments that I would like to make. In no order of importance:

1. The LPB limit will stay at 3 and the MAX team numbers will stay at 5. Before, an LPB was defined as someone with a ping of under 100. From this day forward, that limit has now been increased to 130 - please note this. At least twice now, I have seen LPBs adjusting their ping using the FAQ PROXY: however, really, this has just been taken advantage of as the pings have literally been right on 100, sometimes over, but quite often under too. You must remember that this position in the team is supposed to be filled by a modem player, and so the ping limit has been increased to reflect this.

2. The Quake Lords Vs. Clan McNailz game from week 6. Following a chat with John, it was finally established that the Nailz lads did actually get a mail from QL asking to postpone it, so accordingly all the regulations were followed and it WAS a postponement. This game will now be played on Saturday at 1.30pm, getting it out of the way before the UKCL week 7 starts properly.

3. Fixtures to the end of the season. After going through the first 6 weeks' fixtures, it was quickly becoming apparent that there are going to be problems coming up to the last couple of weeks, due to the fact that fixtures don't all tie in nicely. So, you are just going to have to bear with it. What it means is that coming up to the last couple of weeks in the the season, some teams will end up playing 2 games over one weekend, whilst others may not have a game. There are only a couple of these fixtures, and I don't envision them being a problem, because Clans will just play one game Saturday and one Sunday. When you see the fixtures, you will see what I mean.

Next time round, I shall sort it all out properly and there should be no problems whatsoever. After the league finishes, I am probably going to change the format of the semi-finals and finals. More than likely, it's gonna be a random knockout, where the 1/4 finals and the semis are played one weekend, and the following weekend, the final will be played.

4. Servers. More often than not, most of the weekend's problems derive from bad servers and lack therof. Pry and Ozzy have, allowed me to use Alchemy in the past, courtesy of U-net of course: I would appreciate it if i could continue to use it for the UKCL. I am speaking to Danman too about the possibility of using 2 3_Secs servers too.

5. Maps. Each week from now, I will randomly choose a map that all games that weekend will be played on. I also know that there are some other cool maps out there. If anyone knows of any cool maps that would be suitable for UKCL, then email them over and I will check them out with the admin team : if they are cool, then they will be used along with the other maps.

So thats about it for now. Sorry for this message being so long, but i think I covered most of the blocks for now.

One other thing, the more co-operative people are during the weekend, whether it's on IRC or on the server, then the easier it is to run the UKCL- so please co-operate fully, we will all have a cool time and the games will go on!!

Finally (yes, really) please get a screenie of your Clan's score in the console and send it to me so I can clarify the score as soon as you finish your game. There is absolutely no reason this cant be done straight after you have played your game. To save me huge downloads of 300k TGA pics, please convert them to .jpgs and send me only the bit of the screenshot with the score. Eventually a score system will be set up with my mate Razza, but that's a while off yet.

The week's fixtures will follow shortly."

PLAYER NEWS

- Redshift has decided to quit Quake permenantly, as "my reputation is tarnished beyond repair, and quite frankly I think it's better if I leave quietly rather than trying to patch it all up. My pride has been dented, and I feel I cannot hammer it back into shape.". Goodbye to him.

- Vulcan is looking for a new Clan. "I consider myself to be an above average player: I`m top scorer in my Clan in nearly all the matches i play. I`d like to take part in the UKCL and MCW if possible because my current Clan aren`t in either of these."

FRAGSTOCK APPLICATION FORM BACK ONLINE

Rawmeat emails me with good news about Fragstock's Web Page:

"The Fragstock application form is now working again. I heartily encourage you to submit your application if you received an error the first time."

EXETER LUXURY LAN OFF

Cheeky sends this news about his proposed Luxury LAN party at Exeter University:

"The university have decided to let me know now that the builders have not yet completed the scheduled refurbishment of Mardon Hall. As a result the hall is unavailable for booking over the Christmas period and this may extend to Easter as well. I hope that this will not be the case and that we can organise it for Easter. Thanks to those of you who mailed me to register your interest and I hope that we can do this at a later date. "

QFFL NEEDS YOU!

The Quad Frag Fest League is looking for one more Clan:

"The United Kingdom Quad Frag Fest League is to start on Tuesday 23rd of September, but we have 1 hitch. I currently have 31 clans down for the League, but I need one more! Just ONE more clan needs to enter so that all the divisions are complete. Please if you can help me and would like to join contact me as soon as possible."

Email MadCow for details.

JOHN BURTON RESIGNS FROM THE UKCL

Yes, it's true. John Burton has officially resigned from his post as chief administrator of the UK Clan League with the following email earlier today:

"As of today, I have decided to close down the UKCL.

My thanks to all of you who have helped out of the past 9 months.

John Burton."

John has been considering this move for some time, having been unhappy with his post and the considerable expenditure of time it entails since the start of Season 2: as he says, " basically, I've been doing this for the last 9 months, having no life. My heart hasn't been in Season 2 and all the shit between seasons and the crap in Season 2 has just basically made me say enough is enough." However, his efforts to find a replacement have come to naught, so he chose this dramatic method of resignation in an effort to provoke the reaction it has: "this has woken them all up and stopped them from relying on me: they have to sort something out themselves now."

The reaction has, as John might have expected, been intense. Aerotus sent this message of thanks to John and thoughts for the future to the UK Quake mailing list:

"Before I start, I'd just like to say a big thank-you to John for running the UKCL for so long, on behalf of the whole UK quaking community . Having been an admin for only a week I can appreciate wholeheartedly the reasons why he has decided to retire from his post - after all, one person can only take so much shit. We should all take a bit of a look in the mirror, and rather than blaming John ( something which would be pointless and out of order ), take positive action to ensure a reliable future for the UKCL, the backbone of the UK quaking community.

I'm on irc as I'm writing this. YES, John will be leaving the UKCL, but this does not mean the end - far from it - rather a smooth transition to lots of helpful people willing to step in and help out.

I would be happy to do any of the jobs involved if need be, as I really don't want the UKCL to fold, and as long as a handful of people pull their weight, it won't."

Adze, in the meantime, has already written a "Proposal for the restructuring of the UKCL". If you are involved in the UKCL or would like so to be in any way, shape or form, you need to read this.

As for John? He's currently undecided about his future, and not even sure if he will continue playing Quake. "I'm not even sure if I'll continue to play Quake. I've just lost heart in the entire UK quake/quake thing. " We'll have to see if he has an Uther-like change of heart.

These are exciting times. More news as I get it, including an in-depth retrospective of John's time at the UKCL from our new reporter Chemical.

LAN, LAN, GET A LAN...

More LAN parties, coming soon...

Cheeky emails me this:

"I have been thinking about organising a LAN party in Exeter using my hall as the location. All the rooms have RJ45 network connections with access to the JANET network as well. Due to the postponement of Fragstock it would probably be best if this event took place after Christmas before the new term starts. The advantages of using this location are that there is no need to set up a network because there is already one in place, each room has a bed (surprise surprise), and each room is lockable which is a distinct advantage. There will be no computers available so its a case of bring your own I'm afraid but I might be able to get some network cards on Sale or Return if anyone needs one. I am still waiting to hear about availability and the cost of hiring the hall and it may be that this will all work out as impossible but it would be helpful if you could let me know if you would be interested in attending such an event were it to take place."

The South-West, in fact, seems to be sprouting LAN parties. Here's another one, Cornwall QuakeCon '97, organised by Mike Thompson:

"This is an open invitation to all quake players to come to sun-drenched cornwall and join our gibfest conference 'Cornwall QuakeCon '97': not an original name but we just want to play quake.

The event will take place at the Berkeley Centre Function Rooms on Sat/Sun 29th & 30th November (10am - 12 midnight and 10am to 5pm respectively) with a bar nearby and free access to a nightclub (attached) in the evening . Numbers have not been set as to how many machines we will have, but it is expected to be in excess of 32. We will have team and individual deathmatch on first day and special patches such as TF and CTF on the second day.

Moves are under way to get some magazines involved, and we are currently begging ID to show off Quake2 - watch this space.

Information should be all together at the end of the month."

CLAN NEWS

- The Fallen Angels would like to point out that their game against the Quake Police Department in the Modem Clan War was considerably closer than I intimated in yesterday's Division 1 roundup. Sorry for calling your pint a poof, guys...

- The Rude Monkeys are restructuring, and are looking for any players who might wish to join them: email Kane for details. They are also looking for "a saint", a more experienced player who can help them with their teamplay, without necessarily joining RM. If you would like " a genuine opportunity to gain hero status and be idolized by many, as well as doing your bit for the reputation of UK Quaksters", email Kane.

- Kage would like to point out that it was, in fact, his poor attitude within QPD that caused the Clan to ask him to leave.

- Redshift has left the Dark Deviants. He says "I have done this for many reasons, I have been involved in many arguments within the clan lately, many with our chief Aerotus, and now something else has simply taken the proverbial biscuit - something I do not wish to disclose at this point. I am as of now clanless".

BOYWONDER'S BRAGBOOK

Following the recent discussion over "trial by screenshot" on the Uk Quake mailing list, Boywonder has posted an interesting response to the accusations of his self-aggrandisement on his Brag- sorry, Frag- book.

MCW SEASON 2 UPDATE- PART 1

Although it hasn't been receiving much publicity in NFTF so far, the second season of the Modem Clan War began recently, with clans ranging from old stalwarts like the Demonic Core and Xtreme chaos to new entries this season (Death Gone Bad and the Lava Louts to name but two) competing in the UK's two who only modem-only quake tournament. So, it's about time to correct that and see how they're doing.

Division 1: In Division One, perennial near missers Demonic Core have got off to a very good start, currently unbeaten in games against the Desperados and TFS. Whilst not the most challenging opponents in the division, this surely bodes well for future games. However, the Dominion are certainly looking like they could be DC's most feared opponents, unbeaten despite tougher games against the Quake Lords and Xtreme chaos. Lastly, the Quake Police Department are also unbeaten so far, although with a relatively easy game against the Fallen Angels in week two, it is difficult to predict whether they will be able to keep this standard up. Over all, only DOM have been seriously challenged so far, and for all three clans, their most fearsome matches are yet to come.

Further down Division one, the Desperados are unlikely to be able to keep up their form (one win against Clan Pendragon and one loss by default to DC so far), thanks to the well-publicised split that the Clan has undergone. However, given their determination to carry on as a viable Clan, we'll see.

Former Division Two Clans Fallen Angels and Xtreme Chaos, manewhile, are doing fairly well, with both clans being on one win and one loss: Xtreme chaos beat TFS for their win, whilst the Fallen Angels managed a surprise win over Division One champions the Quake Lords. Lastly, CIX clan are playing at about the same level as last season, with one win and one loss, showing that at least one Clan in this Division is currently on track for a similar performance as in Season One.

At the bottom of the league, Clan Pendragon are having considerable problems, presumably due to their well publicised lack of modern players. With two losses so far this season, against the Desperados and CIX, hardly the most dangerous opponents in the league, if they don't manage to pull their act together soon, the relegation that they avoided in Season 1 may well greet them at the end of Season Two.

However, in what has to be the greatest departure from Season One's form so far, the Quake Lords are playing even more poorly, and have so far yet to win a match! With a narrow loss against former Division two clan the Fallen Angels in Week 1 and a drubbing from the Dominion in Week 2, the QLs are looking the weakest they have all year. What is going on? Frankly, I have no idea, although Cenobite's well-publicised comments about the Clan's lack of organisation following Lord Storm's departure may offer some clues: we'll have to see if they can pull their performance back together in time to achieve a respectable result in this league.

Lastly, T F S are obviously having a difficult time. However, with at least one of their hardest matches (against Demonic Core) now played, they might still be able to get their game back together: as one of the obviously weaker clans in this Division, though, that won't be easy.

UK MODEM TEAM STILL UNDERSUBSCRIBED!

Coerj emails me the following depressing news:

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink...

Everyone who hasn't mailed me about the UK Modem Trials you have until the end of the month. If you want to find out more or check I have recieved your mail then check out my web page where I have a Quick and simple couple of pages describing what is wanted and who I have recived mails from.

Check it out, I think we can do better than 2 DC, 4 QL, no TD, no Cix, no SPG to name but a few. I can't wait forever for everyone to get their asses into gear so please sort it."

Look, this is appalling. I've actually signed up myself: if I get into the team it will be a travesty (as I'm crap) so get on, sign up, and leave me to report on International matches rather than playing in them.

UKOOLDM9 RELEASED

Yes, the Levelab is still putting 'em out- UKOOLDM9, by TFS-Mick, is now available from the Lab. Thanks to Copy for emailing me that.

KELVIN NEEDS HELP!

Yes, yes, alright. Apparently Kelvin, of Shoot And Surf, needs help with a patch for the SNS computers:

"I am wondering whether any of you kind souls would be prepared to help SnS out a bit. Ideally you would create a progs.dat that allows the following things:

1) deathmatch mode 3 and 4

2) optional randon respawns (temp 1 variable?)

3) a way to set the next level like in qw server (including non-iD levels).

4) telefrag *reduction*

5) last weapon impulse command (like in airfist)

6) camera features (for taking competition demos) and/or spectator modes, ike chase cam tracking (maybe).

If this is possible then I would be able to offer to my customers a better quake-service, and I do feel that that is an important part of my job... The writer would naturally get some reward, prize or something (probabally an evening in a padded cell with Ledge!)"

If you can help, write the patch and them email it to both Kelvin and Reaper.

CLAN NEWS

- The Quake Police Department have been restructuring: Kage (whom they were accused of "poaching" from TFS a few months ago) is out, and Cenobite, late of the Quake Lords, is in.

- The Desperados are still here! Mongoman has now left TD, but they have found some solace in their hiring of a "well-known" player now going under the name of TD-Superted. Thanks to Silva for that information.

- Terminal Gibbage have moved. Find their new site on http://www.spiritualnet.com/terminus/.

QUAKE WIDOWS UPDATE!

Yes, the UK's very own Quake Widows Site has been updated, with new interviews including, ahem, a certain whisky-soaked hack's ramblings...

BUSY, BUSY

Sorry about dropping the ball lately. Between preparations to move to Edinburgh (I'm moving house completely) and the Uk Movie Project's many disasters ("a producer's life is not a happy one"), I'm a little busy, and so I've been spending too little time on NFTF to do a first-class job. Sorry about that; I'll try and improve the quality a bit, although my movements are likely to ensure that service is a bit dicky for about the next three weeks.

MCW NEWS

Sorry, the update is going to take even longer, as I try to wrestle Simply Speaking into working with, rather than against, me. However, in the meantime, why not feast your eyes on the Modem Clan War's new Demo Archive?

CLAN NEWS

- The Desperados have moved: their new address is http://www.compuryt.demon.co.uk/desperados

- The Gib Gurus can be found at http://monoplas.com/gibgurus/

CLANLIST UPDATED

As it says...

UKCL APPOINTS OFFICIAL LEVEL TESTER

John Burton emails me:

"The UKCL are pleased to announce that Rorshach has agreed to be the official UKCL map tester/vetter.

If you have a map that you wish to submit fir the UKCL then email both Rorshach and myself a URL where we can download the map.

DO NOT SEND MAPS TO US VIA EMAIL!!!!!

Also, can you please only submit finished maps."

UURRHH...

Got a killer cold. I might try to do the MCW update later.

Need Lemsip...

HAYLP!

The UK Movie team needs an animator and a QuakeC person, now! If you can help, email me!

ECTS REPORT

If you missed the big computer show, ECTS, which had demos of Quake II, Daikatana and Unreal running, amongst others, you might be interested to read Swam and Funk's report on the show.

UKCL UP TO DATE

Leann emails me to let me know that the UK Clan League's scores are now up to date. Find them here.

NORTERN IRISH QUAKE

If you're in Northern Ireland, or just interested, you may wish to know about the Northern Irish Quake Page. If you're feeling like kicking some serious butt, you may also wish to know about it, and then to read the August 27th entry on their newspage...

UK VS US CTF MATCH

From the Xenocide Flag Academy:

"Fox, the creator of the Invite Capture League and CTF news guru for the League of Capture, let me know of an exciting, international CTF match that may be happening in the near future:

"After your post about the UK CTF league I went over to their site. A small titbit:

The Invite Capture Ring challenged the UK CTF league to a USA vs UK brawl. The challenge will most likely take place in November when both rings have decided their best clans. The top 2 clans from each league will take part in a 2 day - 3 game match up to decide the best qwctf teams around. The international challenge will be played on 1 level played both on a home and away server, with the winner being crowned by highest points. Its still early but more news later of this USA vs UK challenge. "

DE DE DE DUM (CLAP, CLAP)

Fester's latest level has been released: get it from Hunted. It is a new base level, apparently, with new textures and other cool features.

MODEM CLAN WAR SEASON 2 ROUNDUP

Coming tomorrow (sorry, more work to do for it than I thought).

LORDSTORM LEAVES UK1

Nightwing emails me the following message:

"Lordstorm has resigned his position as Captain due to outside commitments: as he says, " I would love to be able to contribute more time to it but unfortunately from now until Christmas I am extremely busy at work." So, for the moment, I'll be sorting stuff out with regard to the LPB team, with Coerj in charge of the modem team, the new tryouts and so on. Try-outs/practices will resume once players are back at University with matches beginning again shortly after that.

Pry is setting up an LPB squad mailing list, which currently should include the following players:

Sujoy, Ettu, Nightwing, Groffy, Boywonder, LordStorm, Crystal Tips, Adze, Ving, Cenobite, Dragon Tung, Flying Ribs, Bastard Doug, Ricardo, Enrique, Prophet, Dibbler, Shmern, Gib McNails, Spirit, Sauron, TD-Kickarse, Danman, Alamo, Dusted, Joni-bo, Orlith, Pyro, Toxic, Carnage, Quicksilver.

If you're not on the list and think you should be then please let me know and I'll forward it on to Pry. We will also be holding trials for new players: details to be announced once we decide them. Our aim is to get enough players for a first team and reserve team, as well as an all modem team.

Well, that's enough for now, watch out for some more info soon .

INTERPHAZ HAS AN(OTHER) SON- CONGRATULATIONS!

TG-Interphaze has a baby son, Jordan (his third child, I think), who was born today weighing 7 pounds and 10 ounces. Congratulations!

20,000!

Yes, we've hit 20,000 visitors. Congratulations to SAS-Kong, who was the 20,000th: his prize is coming soon...

PC GAMER- OOPS...

I haven't got the exact quote here, but it would appear that my little joke about the Quake Lords being sponsored by Renault managed to make its way to PC Gamer, minus the humour content...

Remember, don't believe everything you read in magazines...

UKCL NEWS

Yes, the Uk Clan League has been busy. Firstly, Leann has been working:

"Since I have taken over the job of compiling the UKCL scores and league tables, but not the UKCL www page html. I've creted an "Unofficial (yet accurate) UKCL League Table". Currently you'll find the UKCL League Table correct through to Week 5. If your clan is missing scores (listed on the site as well) send them to me immediately."

As soon as the scores are up, I'll do a roundup. The scores still missing are:

Week3: CiA vs Mere Mortals, RSI vs The X

Week4: NIQ vs Corpus, Funky All-Stars vs RTW, BOG vs Pyscho.

Secondly, John Burton has been playing new mods again:

"The UKCL has a Rocket Arena server up at 158.143.100.69:27555. This is 1 on 1 with a difference.

If you don't have the client files you will need to download them. "

CLAN NEWS

- Clan Insomnia are looking for top notch modem players to join their ranks and play in various leagues. Mail their leader, Govinda, for more information.

- The Special Armed Services (Clan, not military organisation) are currently in the recruiment stage and are after HPB's and LPB's. They will trial "anyone and everyone":email Kong or Best_Of_British for details.

20,000...

Check that counter. If you're the 20,000th visitor, you've got a surprise coming...

SORRY...

Sorry about the paucity of reports and so on in the past few days- following finishing my NetGamer column, my hands went badly pear-shaped, and I've been taking it easy yesterday and today. However, I aquired Simply Speaking Gold today, so provided I can get it working normal service should be resumed tomorrow.

Oh, anyone who writes any Web pages needs to take a look at the Webethics page. Very good stuff.

QFFL READY FOR TAKEOFF!

MadCow emails me the following anouncement:

"The QFFL is now in its last stage. Teams have been assigned and placed in Divisions, which we are currently ratifying. If you would like a spot then contact me and I will sort you out.

The whole thing is due to start on Tuesday 23rd September so long as:

A: We get some admins. Please if you are interested in helping out in the UKQFFL games get in touch, we are very thin on the ground as far as Admin is concerned. (like there is only me, due to ZENDog leaving for Uni)

B: We need a new server. The one we where to use is very laggy and tempermental at the moment and we can't afford for it to go down "mid-game". If you have a server free on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, please get in touch."

CLAN NEWS

- The GunSharks are re-organising. GS.Tyro has been removed from the Clan " as a result of several days of harrasment and immaturity". The Sharks are currently looking for new players, particularly LPBs: if you'd like to try out, email Hakeem.

THE DESPERADOS- THE SAGA CONTINUES...

Kenzie emails what will be the last word I print on the Desperados' split into TD and the Gib Gurus:

"We didn't leave in bad spirit, we left because we were fed up of the total lack of discipline in the rest of the clan, the fact that when I (Kenzie) was away on holiday, none of the so-called "leaders" took the responsibility of mailing the clan and informing them of matches (that is why we defaulted against QPD, because noone was told). Also we found the attitude of certain factions of TD appalling - directing gales of abuse at well-respected members of the Quake community and then falling back on excuses like "We are just getting our own back!". A lot of banter and light-hearted digging in the ribs goes on in IRC, which is why we cannot understand why certain members of TD couldn't laugh it off, come back with a witty retort or even just say nothing at all.

Also, as for the "stealing" of players: this is not the case. Several people were leaving TD anyway, and merely thought "Hey, we all know each other let's start a clan!". True we did ask other TD members if they wanted to join our new clan, but this is hardly theft - people move clans all the time, so are they being "stolen"?. Ultimately, nobody signed on a dotted line saying they would stay with TD forever, so these claims are inherently ridiculous.

As for "going behind their backs", most of us decided to leave about two days before we did, so it was hardly a long-term conspiracy.

Finally, we'd appreciate it if the remaining members of TD would stop sending us abusive e-mails and icq messages, because we have not and we WILL not send abusive messages to them."

THE DESPERADOS CONTINUE!

Silva emails me this announcement:

" Contrary to what Kenzie says, TD are still going. Mongo is thinking about continuing with us. Also, Kenzie and company didn't leave in good spirit: the 6 planned behind our backs without saying a thing to me or Mongo leaving us in an extremely bad position. Kenzie 'thought we'd be cool' about stealing half our players.

Please post this as TD are taking TD's place in MCW/UKCL."

CLAN NEWS

- The Criminally Insane Assassins are seeking a server on which to practise Capture The Flag. Apparently they should have a server soon, but it's still in the planning stages. If you can help, email Droopy.

TWO MINUTES' SILENCE (UPDATE)

Redshift emails me the following announcement:

"I am talking with pRy to get the 2 minute silence in honour of Diana organised. Don't know if you'll get this, but it will be around 11:45am, so if you are around can you put a notice up on NFTF ?"

Done. The silence will be at 2:00pm.

THE DESPERADOS DISBAND

Kanzie emails me the following message (slightly cut):

"As of 10pm tonight, the long-running Desperados quake clan have disbanded. Six of TD left for to form a new clan, and Mongo made the decision to end TD after hearing the news. The six members hope they will be able to continue their new clan, "The Gib Gurus" in TD's MCW and UKCL spot.

The members of Gib Gurus are:

kENzIe, Acquiesce, BennyBoy, Teppic, Mr. Mauve, and Zero."

Each of the six have different reasons for leaving, but all of them cite laziness and a poor attitude amongst some of the other TD members. They say they wish to re-start their Clan without the dead weight or the poor reputation.

"Mongo is hoping to join another clan or continue as a CTF only player. Snap him up while you can! The TD site will stay online until the Gib Gurus page is finished, and the ClanList will move then too. I want to let everyone know that we're leaving in good spirit but at the same time, don't want to be branded as 'just td' with the reputation."

FOUNDING XC MEMBERS LEAVE

It seems to be the week for disbanding Clans or player movements. Flame emails me the following statement:

"In a shock move today, both Flame (High Clan Lord & LPB) and Zippy (Founder & LPB) both left Xtreme Chaos. Flame has attributed his leaving to the general bad vibes around XC recently over one or two members persistance to trash the XC name, and because of his faith has been destroyed in what Xtreme Chaos has always been about during its year as a clan. This leaves the "controversal" clan without a leadership structure, as I hear Psychopath is Dom bound.

It will be very sad to lose one of the oldest clans in the UK (Founded Sept '96), and is a general reflection of how petty the quake scene can be in the UK to drag leaders down. Flame and Zippy (Now Madcow) are trying out for the smallish clan of Moo, because this clan basically typifies what playing quake is about: having fun."

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to MM-TheBorg, who has just found a job, and to Rorshach, who is being interviewed for two jobs!

*COUGH*

Yes, the John B resignation thing is a hoax. Sorry, John...

What did I start with the Renault thing? Incidentally, that hoax almost made it onto Radio 1...

PC ZONE INTERVIEWS CARMACK

Sanners emails me with the following piece of news:

" The UK magazine "PC ZONE" (OCTOBER) has a 3 page interview with John Carmack. It covers a range of topics and is pretty interesting to read. It also has a two page advert for Quake II - very impresive.

PC ZONE has a web page: www.pczone.co.uk."

RORSHACH OFFERS FREE SKINS!

Rorshach, Probabally The Best Skinmaker In The World, emails the following cool news:

"I've just released a set of 15 free base skins to aid skinmakers, in the hope of making it less of a necessity for people to steal others' skins due to not have the ability required themsleves. This way they have a good base and perhaps it will give Rich Fleider's Bearian skin a bit of a break from the skin thiefs!

The skin set can be downloaded from my website.

On a different note: I've issued a promise to make a free skin for anyone who knows who has been harassing Hellkitten, and can prove it."

UK CAPTURE THE FLAG LEAGUE: WEEK 1

Kickass emails me the following report on the UKCTFL's first week:

"The UKCTFL has finished its first full week running with all results now compiled and verifed using the server logs. Full results and league standings can be found on the UKCTFL Web Page.

The league kicked off to a good start this week with a full turnout. All clans participating turned up on time, with good numbers of players and all matches were played with little delay or problems. The server we were using struggled somewhat under the load of running two full matches but we will hopefully be able to remedy this in future. Thanks to all participating for tolerating the lag and playing on regardless. The folowing is a summary of the results:

First match up was HH vs NIQ, with HH taking the match 518:253 and 5 captures to 1. Following this came EW vis CIA with EW taking a very decisive victory of 1257:76 and 12 captures to 0. TBF vs BSE proved to be the closest match of the evening, with BSE snatching the game 234:213, however TBF scored the only capture of the game. The ACME vs LT match was won confidently by LT with 1395:115, LT taking 13 captures to ACME's 0. The final match of the night was ASQ vs Nasty, ASQ taking a strong victory of 3021:69, and 27 captures to 0.

The current league leaders are ASQ, with LT, EW and HH taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. However, this first match was played on ctf2m3, Spill Tha Blood, which is a notorious level for high action and strong base defence. Next week's match which is to played on McKinley Base should offer a lot less one-sided action: the level is large, with copious quantities of weapons, armour and power ups, making it very hard for one team to dominate. Additionally, McKinely Base is biased towards the red base which is much easier to defend and harder to attack than the blue base. The league standings are by no means set and the forthcoming games should prove very interesting."

And if you want to know who all the acronyms are, email Kickass.

CLAN NEWS

- MNK has joined a Clan! Yes, he has joined the Demonic Core: he'd like to apologise to all the other Clans who offered him places, but "as is usually the case, there can only be one winner." He says he's looking forward to playing alongside such great players as Sujoy and Jibsta.

- Kickass has left The Desperados to devote all his time to the UKCTFL. Good luck to him.

DOE GL...

Blue's News tells me that the Transparent Water patch for the wonderful Dissolution Of Eternity mission pack is now available in UK flavour. Cool. Go there for more details.

IDIOCY

I'm hoping and praying that this has nothing to do with anyone in the UK, but given some of the idiocies we've sen recently, I can't be sure. So, here is a distressing email I recieved from Leann of the Quake Womens' Forum this morning:

"When Dhab posted his artwork of HellKitten, HellKitten began receiving emails and messages as a response. This week I learned that those emails turned into "foul, disgusting, sexually perverted emails and altered images" of HellKitten. At first HellKitten's response was, what I think any woman's response would be: She removed her personal pictures from her www page.

After a few days, and some positive responses from people, HellKitten decided to put her "pictures back up despite the offensive emails, because I am not letting those immature scum hurt my page". As of today, HellKitten has again removed all photo's from her www page, since she continues to receive emails of her face pasted on porn pics, included with threats to send the pics to newsgroups and Stomped.

My question to those immature scum is why? Why did some people in the Quake Community feel they had the right to violate a player by sticking her "real" face on a pornographic pic. I know some of you out there, believe sexual harrassment in the Quake Community is not really happening, because you've never experienced it, but HellKitten's experience definitely proves otherwise.

This sort of behavior should not be tolerated, and a statment needs to be made by the women and men of the Quake Community."

DELAYED...

Boywonder of Quake Perfect sent this to me a while ago, but I lost it...

"Quake Perfect is proud to announce that as of 19:00 BST today, it is offering the first IE4 Quake Channel. Yes, you heard it right, you can now get all the best UK quake sites delivered straight to your desktop. Just click on the 'Add Active Channel' button on the Quake Perfect home page when viewing the site in IE4 and it is done. Pre-cached Quake news and views at the touch of a channel button. We hope you find this new feature useful, and you can rest assured that we are not stopping here.

Quake Perfect is the UK's most popular Quake site, recieving on average over 100,000 hits a week. It consists of a network of sites run on a not-for-profit basis by many different members of the UK Quake community and aims to be the definitive online gaming community site in Europe."

News From The Front and all written material therin is copyright 1997 The Nomad This page has had visitors since 26th May 1997 Report News to nomad@easynet.co.uk