Australia’s Team Immunity were looking to kick ass and take names at last year’s World Cyber Games... and Atomic was riding shotgun.
"See, I TOLD you all this gaming wasn't a waste of time!"
Isn't that what many dream of telling their parents? That we are now raking in the dough like we're living in some kind of pay per frag sponsorship program? That day is here for many serious gamers playing on the international stage, but for the Aussie elites it's still early days in the money stakes. But while there's not a lot of money being made locally as a gamer for hire, there is some free globetrotting up for grabs to compete with the best in places like Paris, Stockholm, or Singapore; in the case of Team Immunity at World Cyber Games 2008, it was Cologne, Germany.
For some of the team it's their first trip anywhere in the world, making the quote above a sure thing as family farewells are conducted at the airport. Atomic was along for the ride to Germany with Immunity's Counter-Strike 1.6 team to see the world of pro gaming up close and personal. Call it embedded reporting for the geek set. Yes, somebody has to do it, and better a CS virtual warzone than something more serious. We'll leave the hard work to real foreign correspondents.
Eye of the TigerImmunity flew into Frankfurt, then hopped a train to Cologne, and - showing their commitment to the cause - they had no intention of crawling off to their hotel for a nap like any sane human after a long haul to Europe. Having arrived a week early in Cologne, the team dumped their gear and headed straight into bootcamp, having secured a great opportunity to train with one of the best teams in the world, SK Gaming.
SK is one of the world's premier pro gaming organisations, covering the gamut of core pro gaming titles. Their Counter-Strike 1.6 team hails from Sweden and was warm favourites to take out the title. SK is a superstar team on the world stage, signing autographs and earning a very comfortable living winning giant novelty-sized cheques. In fact the walls of the SK offices are practically wallpapered in these cheques, and we spotted more tucked behind the furniture - there's only so much wall space for showing off your winnings!
Immunity hit the SK offices for a week of morning-to-midnight training sessions, and within days the boys were starting to see their game improve in the face of first class competition.
The gaming servers in Europe were stunning to see in action. With a real international pro scene, Immunity was granted access to a private server network to train against the best from right across the continent. When a match is organised through this network a private server will be raised at a location in a third country, when necessary, to ensure fair latency between the two competing teams. A very different world from the laggy garbage we all take for granted back home.
The team really showed they were not just here for a holiday, putting in a big effort to show the world they had real talent to bring to the table. Over the week their confidence grew, and when they started taking regular matches against some fancied competition, the team started to entertain thoughts of scoring some upset wins at the Games.
But it wasn't all skittles and no beer. Two nights before the tournament kicked off, the boys headed out for some 'team bonding' and went very hard on the tiles of Cologne's cobbled town streets. More than one actually managed to make it home before daylight. Funnily enough, it wasn't the drink but a very dodgy Subway roll that caused a very big mess in the SK Gaming bathroom as Gaz copped a bout of food poisoning. Let's call it his faux rockstar moment, as a sink had to be dismantled and cleaned because it was plugged full of sick. Good thing Gaz is a plumber by trade, so he got in and did the job himself. But that's negative rockstar points for fixing what you broke.
ShowtimeCrunch time arrived in a flash, and like all the best Australian sporting encounters Immunity would face Dignitas, the British team, first up. Pound for pound, this was a match-up akin to the Socceroos taking on the England in the football.
The Aussies weren't being shown much respect from the referees during setup, either. While the Brits were cruising during map practice before the start time, we were dealing with seating changes, log-in issues, and wonky tables. Once in the server, Immunity did get some extra time to warm up but were still a good 20 minutes behind Dignitas.
But none of that would matter. With the match underway, Immunity shot out of the gate and took the opening round, and with that leapt into the air, screamed, pointed, and offered a keen lesson for our cricketers in what some classic celebratory sledging looks like. It was all over in a flash, before the team resumed their seats for round two, but an official warning landed on the team for 'unsportsmanlike conduct'. From a spectator's viewpoint, this was a team that looked like they were fired up and enjoying their game while the rest of the room sat all too quietly in their seats. Very quickly, the Aussies had a crowd gathering as people came to see what all the excitement was about.
And Immunity rolled on, taking the first half comfortably and getting out to a good lead in the second. While Dignitas fought back hard toward the closing round, the Aussies managed to take the match 17-13 for a very big upset victory. All this with that crowd of random spectators; word quickly spread that the Australian team were not the pushovers people were expecting.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012