=BC= : Speed3D, Thanks for taking time out to let me ask you a few questions, First off, what kinda setup do you practice on?

Speed3D : Celery400 w/ 128mb ram, tnt1, logitech gaming mouse, crappy 14" monitor that won't do higher than 640x480, oh and my lightning fast 56k modem


=BC= : So Speed3D how did you come up with that name?

Speed3D : 'Speed' used to be my nickname in high school and when I started visiting irc umm 6? years ago I found I needed a nick...usually 'Speed' was taken though, so I tried a couple of others infrequently (one of those was 'Davros'). It was shortly after that that I started becoming interested in 3d graphics, and the idea of speed having volume appealed to me, so....


=BC= : How did you first get into gaming and what was your first puter?

Speed3D : I first got into gaming when we (my siblings and I) got our first computer...a c64 beast with tape drive! My bro and I would play on it every day....our sister didn't get much of a look in after the initial period where it was all new :) There were heaps and heaps of innovative games back then...Paradroid, Uridium (Andrew Braybrook was a god), They Stole A Million (my bro and I spent an entire day (about 6 or 7 hours straight) planning out the robbery for the 4th mission (I think...it was a while ago :)) avoiding the guards and cameras, getting the timing down perfectly....only to have it ruined in the actual run through, due to a police car passing (everyone had to freeze while it went past to avoid detection), of course that through the timing out the window...Needless to say, we didnt play that much again :P There's a host of other cool c64 games....wizball was another particular favourite (the music absolutely rocked). Towards the end of my c64 days we started getting into the bbs community, buying a 2400bps modem for $300! A couple of years later we got our first pc, a 286 with 1mb of ram...One of the first games I remember seeing on the pc was Wing Commander...From then on we were hooked....pc's were the way to go.


=BC= : What Clans have you been in/played for?

Speed3D : The first clan I played for was the Low Ping Helpdesk Bastards, which consisted of 3 ihug helldesk guys - MrKill, Gargoyle and Ender (they were crap players helped immensly by their pings), 2 TPNet people - rkm and JSR (who was also a crap player) and Ranger1 and myself rounding things out. We played in one organised game, against UF. 7 players all low ping, against modemers...they didn't have a chance. The second clan I was in was NFC (No Friends Club). I was recruited in part by rkm (who's now an eq junkie...poor bastard :)). I'd been following the quake scene for a while, having played the qtest (back on keyboard and kicking everyone in our little groups' collective asses...things changed slightly, when rkm moved onto mouse first...the bastard. (I'd spent the entire doom period obliterating him every chance I got :)) I didn't actually start playing online till the advent of qw. But rkm had (he worked at an isp, so his connection made vq playable) and he'd told me stories of his exploits, playing people such as Ab, cb, immortal and GoosE_ . I used to play on xtra's ffa server everyday once I did start though, having a great time beating up cb (on his low ping), Baal (except for most dm2 games :P), etc...lots of fun. After NFC (which was a controversy filled era (or some may think error :)) I joined Project 7 (I was pretty bored/frustrated with the ctf side of things, and had been getting into teamdm quite a bit (following the big-12 series over in the US... Momaw rux!) and playing locally with the likes of rkm (who had joined an american clan and was playing a few friendlies with them (I've still got one of his demos in what must be one of his first ever tdms...it's funny stuff), Claymore, Skel (who spent most of the time on 999 spectating), Arial etc...I played teamdm almost anytime of the day or night...if there was a game going, I was there.). After the BR3 teamdm comp Centaura and Ajax decided that P7 would be lan only from there on out.....and due to not playing in many lans (Christchurch never really did have many skilled players :( ) I joined VOID (lame name, I blame wolph) for the next teamdm comp. After that VOID was renamed (and kinda reformed with a few other players joining the team) to Phoenix...At the same time as I was playing in Phoenix I was doing double duty, playing for AWOL in BR4 ctf (theGOAT convinced me AWOL was a fun team, and they were...albeit a bit weird). Once q3 came out (I'd more or less completely avoided q2 (YAY for me :))) some of the Phoenix guys had moved on, and we recruited more to fill up the numbers....so it meant time for a name change...Malevolence was born, and that's where I am still...I'm still part of P7 (I hope :)) and AWOL... There were a few other clans that I was/am part of....DCL (formed with the idea of owning all at the next lan (one of the auckmageddons). It consisted of GoosE_ rkm, Setebos, Chief Bastard, Wolph, Dynamop, Ceasar (I think) and me. We played a couple of tdms....the first was esentially the South Island players (rkm, sete, me) vs a team of mainly central NI players...it was a whitewash, we absolutely obliterated them to the point where they left before the end of the game...then we played HATE (a team formed with the sole purpose of kicking DCL's ass). It consisted of Centaura, Ajax, Frag-m0n, Immortal, McNasty and a couple of other skilled players. GoosE_ selected who was to face HATE, putting himself, rkm, setebos, wolph and cb forward for the 5on5...I wanted to play, seeing as it was to be the tdm to end all tdms and I had already had a lot of experience honing my tdm skills...but GoosE_ was the leader, so what he said went... The result didn't turn out too well, in fact, GoosE_'s deaths accounted for over half of HATE's frag count, a point which has been the subject of much humour whenever members of DCL/HATE discuss old times :P There's another couple of clans I'm in, one of which was formed due to a conversation on irc one night, discussing why most NZ ctf players are morons (a point which hasn't really changed...even in q3), even giving examples of their tactical ineptitude. [aNTi] based a lot of their tactics on the moron tactics...such as everyone on the team camping the rl room in e1m1. We participated in the first couple of 4x4 ctf days and did as well as could be expected considering it was the first time playing ctf for most of the team... :P The other clan I won't bother discussing, except to say it was quite fun while it lasted.


=BC= : What comps have you played in?

Speed3D :
BR2 CTF - 2nd
BR3 TDM - Knocked out in semi final round (to HO)
TDM Competition organised by HeKTik - Knocked out in semi final round
BR4 CTF - Knocked out in semi final round
BR4 TDM - Win - Phoenix!
Q3 CTF - Knocked out in semi final round (close game against d2d)
GamePlanet Q3 RA3 - knocked out in second round (the majority of M (the lpbs) had moved onto CS, and so often scored less than their hpb teammates (ie Death and myself :P)
NQL - SI won RA3 portion, lost CTF side (the main lot of SI had lost all interest in playing once they were without their lpb connections, so didn't really bother turning up to play...an attitude I found quite frustrating, seeing as I'm still on hpb and have hardly ever missed an organised clan game, and generally when I have it's due to sleeping in or the server not being up at game time)
There has also been a couple of lan 1on1 comps...but I usually get knocked out early, due to not being a 1on1 player. Including the wellylan3 1on1 comp, where I was knocked out by Claymore in the restarted game...apparently he'd crashed out in the first attempt while I was leading :P


=BC= : So what would your most memorable game of all time be?

Speed3D : There's been a few that really stand out for me...beating Hurricane (the then champions) in vq (which I'd played maybe once or twice online) during the BR2 ctf competition...One particular moment I recall was when defending, trying to tell the guys in say_team to stfu and get on with the game. A couple of teammates were whinging about the tactic Hurricane were employing. H were trapping the lift (which lead to their base) making it near impossible to gain entry. Halfway through typing, 2 or 3 Hurricane attackers decide now is a good time to attack...I managed to dispatch them all, but it took me quite offgaurd :). There's also the 3rd game in the P7 vs HO semi final, I managed to score around the same as Setebos (our lpb), including a funny moment where I jumped out to the pent area on dm3, only to find 2 enemies...one with rl, one with sg...I had sg too....The funny thing was, I was the one left standing :P There's been a couple of other teamdms that are particularly memorable....Griven and myself taking on 3 players from Hollywood's clan, (one of Griv's first tastes of the game)...he was on rl duty, I was on quad....but I did let him get quad a few times (when I was busy elsewhere :))...the score ended up quite high, well, for us at least...Hollywood and crew didnt fare so well :P I even managed to kill all 3 with one shot at one stage... The other memorable tdm would be the one where I almost got a perfect record...had it not been for Massaker (one of my teammates) shooting at me at the start of the game (I had to kill him to protect myself), and Mass also killing me later on... I ended up with something like 30 kills, 1 tk, 1 death....As far as q3 goes...there haven't been that many outstanding games (maybe I'm just too seasoned now to notice :)).


=BC= : You have not played any games online for a short wile, do you plan on geting back into q3TA?

Speed3D : It all depends on how the new modem code is (unless I manage to get a low ping connection soon), because with the proliferation of low ping players (even though most of them are still tactically inept) it's become next to impossible to compete with them. And also, how much of a hit the big levels make on my fps rate...Only being able to get up to 45fps is a bit of a disadvantage. Death seems to think it's not too bad, but we'll see.... I'm also kinda moving away from gaming into the world of art (both digital painting and traditional stuff), it's great fun.


=BC= : In your opinion what would be the best game of all time?

Speed3D : Hard to pick, seeing as I haven't played every single game on the market, but out of the games I have played q1 is the one that has lasted the longest on my hdd. Not to say that q3 isn't as good as (or better in some respects than) it's counterpart...but having played a quake style fps of some sort or other for the last, umm...how long has it been since qtest came out? I'm ready to move on. And besides, in my experience at least, it all depends on who you're playing the game with/alongside as to whether it's good or not.


=BC= : Worst game?

Speed3D : Q2, Any form of RA, Topper the Copper (a c64 game with the most hideous loading method ever devised (it consisted of starting, stopping, rewinding, and starting the tape again...it took over 2hrs to load). Alternatively, see previous question :)


=BC= : Is there anything you would like to add?

Speed3D : Computer gaming has been an interesting ride so far, and the adventures I've had don't all fit into this interview....maybe once I get round to making a website (hopefully soon) I'll write some more things down....or I could just draw some pictures or something :P. I might even get round to posting some of my extensive q1 demo collection (3 or 4 cds worth!). In conclusion I conclude that this conclusion has concluded... Well Speed3D, thx for your time and good luck in TA, hope to see you on the servers soon :) ( IF you are gonna play it that is :D )