loonygames Feature: Extreme Annihilation

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volume 1, issue 29

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Extreme Annihilation

By Jason "loonyboi" Bergman

3/12: 10:00 AM – On Board

Hiya! Welcome to my ever so enjoyable diary from the Extreme Annihilation event in Dallas, Texas. Actually, I'm writing this from New York, but you get the idea. :)

Anyway, here's the deal, dig? This is my journal, unedited, uncensored, and guaranteed to be off topic 3/4ths of the time. Since this event hasn't happened yet, I have absolutely no idea what awaits you in the following pages…but if you read my last one of these, you've got a good idea of what to expect.

For those curious about such things, I am writing this by hand, in a Star Trek federation-style notepad. Aren't I a geek? :)

I own a laptop, but it's an ancient PowerBook with a battery life-span of about 10 minutes. I've done stuff like this on my Palm Pilot before, but this actually is my favorite way to do this. Maybe if I ever get that funky Palm Pilot keyboard I'll switch…but I doubt it.

Okay…more when I'm in the air. I need to go panic now.

3/12: 11:15 AM – In the Air

Jeez…why can't flying be more like Falcon 4.0? I was sure that after all the Falcon I've been playing, this would be easier…but no dice. God, I hate flying.

I bet if I were in an F16 this would be no problem. Someone really needs to make a "passenger flight simulator". I'd be first in line to buy it, that's for damn sure. Picture it: the point of the game is not to get annoyed with the airline when your flight gets delayed, and not to panic during the inevitable turbulence.

We sat on the runway for over an hour. I guess I should be thankful we took off at all…but still…that's just plain annoying. Besides, I read all of the issue of Wired I just bought at the airport. At least I still have my H.P. Lovecraft book…

The flight was completely full (overbooked, in fact) so I was unable to get one of those swanky bulkhead or exit seats. The result is that I've got this annoying woman in front of me who just doesn't seem to understand that I'm 6 foot 3…and therefore when she puts her seat back, she's going to hit my knees.

Anyway, there was a cool little piece on pro-gaming in that Wired I was reading…they talked to Angel @ the CPL and Garth @ the PGL. Both really nice guys. Of course, they also mentioned Thresh…It's impossible to do one of those things without mentioning him, I suppose. Thresh is a really nice guy…it's funny, that some people hate him because of all the publicity he gets. I say more power to him.

Let's see…things I'm going to have to do at this event:

- Continue argument with George Broussard about the chances of Sega's success with the Dreamcast.
- Verify that Daikatana does exist.
- Get butt wooped the Daikatana celebrity tournament.
- Check water supply…make sure I wasn't drugged/hallucinating.
- Get drunk.
- Restrain myself from cracking any bigamy jokes around Billy Wilson.
- Ask Billy for the correct pronunciation of "lubings".
- Attempt to hold back from lecturing the Requiem: Wrath of the Fallen people on Midrash and the inconsistencies of their game. [Editor's note: the correct title is in fact, Requiem: Avenging Angel. Wrath of the Fallen was the original name.]
- Play Starsiege.
- Find some people playing Shogo, and kick their asses.
- Attempt to find some people playing Delta Force/get in on that.
- Get drunk.

Woo! Snack service. If I haven't had a heart attack I'll report more later…

3/12: 2:35 PM – Hotel

It's raining. I left snow in New York for rain in Dallas. Just my damn luck.

This hotel room is nice. It's going to take some major strength on my part to leave this tomorrow morning…

Okay, I'm ready…time to get annihilated.

3/12: 11:25 PM – Lotta stuff. Oy, a lotta stuff.

So, dig it…when last I wrote, I had just checked in. I went downstairs and ran into Billy Wilson o' Voodoo Extreme…we did the lunch thing.

We went up to the event room, and there was Paul from Telefragged…we talked a bit, wandered about the room, etc.

First off, according to Billy, "lubings" is pronounced, "loob-ings" not, "lub-ings". I just wanted to clear that up. :)

I checked out Mortyr, that game from I-Magic that's sort of like Wolf 3D '99…I was playing for about 15 minutes before I realized I wasn't actually connected to a server. Doh. And there I thought it was just especially difficult to find anyone. ;)

It looks pretty interesting…very colorful graphics…it actually reminded me of Montezuma's Return in that regard. There are a couple of cool, "bouncy weapons" where your projectile bounces off the walls…the first one's a laser thingie, that shoots a round glowing object that ricochets well…the second is a machine gun with bouncy bullets.

One interesting thing is that you've got the ability to kick people…nothing unique there, Duke 3D did it (actually, it looks very similar to Duke's mighty boot) but in Mortyr you can kick people while you've got a gun drawn. Not sure how useful it is…but it's certainly interesting.

I'm very curious to try the single player game…looks like it could be fun. There's a couple of people playing it behind me right now…beating Nazis…sounds like fun to me. :)

So anyway, after some Mortyr DM action, Paul, Billy, and I went off…to id Software. Oooh, baby. Did I mention how cool it is running a web page? ;)

Anyway, I went to id. We were greeted at the door by Brian Hook, who gave us the dimestore tour…I stepped into Paul Steed's office when we got to that part, so I kinda missed out on a bunch of it. (I think I missed where they keep all the corpses…oh well.) Paul showed me the new sword he's got…and damn…it's pretty. Very elegant. Wonder if he'll cut down Carmack's door with this one. :)

Paul also showed me some of the stuff he's working on for Quake 3: Arena…there's some really great animations in here, and Kenneth Scott's textures are absolutely gorgeous. When I saw his work on Daikatana I wasn't especially impressed…I liked that they were stylized and all…but I didn't like the style very much. These are amazing. Insane detail, and I commented to Paul how it's very difficult to determine what's purely on the skin, and what's actually part of the 3D model. These two guys (Paul and Kenneth) really work together seamlessly.

After a while, the sounds of deathmatching were heard, so I hopped over to a computer and jumped right into a heated Quake 3: Arena match. We played for several hours, and I must say…there's something very good being made here. I didn't care for Quake 2's DM experience, and I'm pleased to report that it's not just the same DM with prettier graphics. It's a whole new thing. Every bit as enjoyable as Quake 1 DM, and even my multiplayer game of the moment, Shogo. They were all very interested in our feedback, and I got the impression that they are really trying to make the best damn deathmatch game ever. When Q3Test is released, you'll see for yourself.

The smurf colored guy [Blue] showed up after a while…he was still new to the maps, obviously, as I was able to get quite a few frags in (something that would normally be an impossible notion, mind you). We got hungry and Paul, Billy, and I went off in search of food. We came back to the hotel, where we discovered his lordship of levels [Richard "levelord" Gray, of Ritual Entertainment] relaxing outside the ballroom. Apparently he was waiting for a 5 on 5 CPL vs. Ion Storm Daikatana thing to start. I just found out that the demo was actually released…have to check that out.

Billy and I did Bennihanna…mmm…Japanese steak.

Which pretty much brings us back to the present. That Daikatana thing went down while I was writing…have to find out how it went. 'Specially if the Romero lost in his own game. ;)

There's lots of cool stuff here to check out…think I'll go play some Daikatana n' maybe some Starsiege…I'll be back with more…stay tuned.

3/13: 12:10 PM – Rise n' Shine, Baby

Got up about two hours ago…was horrified to discover that a "continental breakfast" is all fruits n' crap. Damn. Wish I hadn't ordered that…that's what I get for placing it at 4:00 AM…

Went down here and saw an opening at the Dreamcast station…w00p. Checked out Sega Rally 2…totally fun stuff. The Dreamcast is much smaller than I had thought…it's very portable. The controllers look strange, but in fact are very comfortable. They're made in such a way as to make the trigger buttons the primary controls…the top ones are secondary (at least in Sega Rally 2 they are). It feels like a slightly less bulky version of the Saturn's analog pad. Cool stuff. Have to check out Virtua Fighter 3 later.

(continued on next page)

Credits: Illustration © 1999 Illiad. Extreme Anniliation is © 1999 Jason Bergman. All other content is © 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so don't try it...or we'll kick yer sorry ass.