We had a Lan at Troep's house, it was fun. Here's a video of it:

The MSSA's Management Board has finished its deliberations, and with a great amount of input from the Team Captain. Mr Barry Louzada, has finalized the team selection for the 2013 edition of the "Nation's Cup".

The MSSA is particularly proud of its appointment of the appointment of Barry Louzada as Team Captain.

Louzada who first received National Federation Colours in 2006, has also represented South Africa at the 2007 Asian Games. Thus this award of National Federation Colours, will be his third. As such Louzada will be entitled to wear the much coveted Honours Badge. He is only the fifth eSports Player that has qualified for the award, and the first person to be awarded such award for eSports since 2008.

The team has a hard task in front of it. The South Africans have been allocated to Group C. Group C contains, Bulgaria, Spain, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, and Russia. There are no easy matches and the South African Team is thus going to have to rely on all their skill and talent to get through the group stages.

The team's first match is against Russia, and the MSSA and all its members are fervently supporting the team, the team in which the entire MSSA has full confidence. The Match is to be played on-line in the period between 4 to 11 February 2013.

Once again MWEB stepped up to the plate to support the South African team. MWEB, provided the team with a server on which to practice, and is most supportive of the National Team.

The MSSA's MWEB National Battlefield 3 Team consists of the following Cyber-Athletes:

Jean 'wraithfiend' Barendse
Michael 'silencerbb' Belmonte
Craven 'enigma-shifty' Buitendach
Theuns 'Alpha-Renji' Louw
Barry ;Anthr4xZA' Louzada
Sean 'Scoper' McCalgan
Rogan 'Sabre' Mocke
Thomas ' Steigerz' Reid
Dean ' HackeM' Seyfried
Lyle ' Grizzlah' Thuynsma
Daniel 'Crincler1' Towse
Danie ' couch' Zwarts

MERRY X-MAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR

If the Mayans predictions were incorrect We would like to take the opportunity to wish each and every Guest,  Recruit and Member a Merry X-mas and prosperous 2013.

Further we would like to thank everyone for their loyalty and dedication during 2012 no matter what game tickles your fancy. 

Please note as most of us will (maybe) be on holiday all brand new recruitments  will be dealt with in the new year.  The current recruits can carry on with their task should they choose to, depending on availability and that of the assigned D.S.

 Enjoy the holidays and travel safe.

BUD ON!

~The Admin Team~

ToyRun 2012

By TnTeddy

On Sunday 25th November at 8am, me and Rofty set off on his Honda Shadow Spirit for the 2012 ToyRun. The annual ToyRun is a charity event where bikers from across the Western Cape come together to give toys to needy children.

We met up with some friends at a local coffee shop. I was then strapped to the front of his bike meaning I had a 1st class view of the whole trip. After chowing down on some omelettes, we took the N1 to Cape Town Market in Epping where we met up with literally thousands of bikers. The combination of roaring engines and smell of fumes was so exciting and thrilling. We slowly moved through the hoards of bikes to our starting position.

After a while we were given the signal to go. We drove through the industrial Mecca of Cape Town, then through lush green southern suburb neighbourhoods. People standing next to waves as we drove passed. I would have waved back, but I was holding on to the front of the Shadow for dear life.

We finally reached our destination - Maynardville, Wynberg. Everywhere you looked motorcycles where pouring into the sportsground to finding parking. We finally found a parking spot, and made our way to the centre of the gathering. Rofty starting drinking a few beers, while I was sitting on top of huge heap of biker jackets overlooking the action. I saw some hot chick cruising past, tapid as hell, but still hot.

We went for walk towards the two large trucks where people deposited their toys. Deposit is a bit of an understatement. People flung toys up onto the truck. It literally rained toys.  Click Here

After walking around the grounds checking out stalls and demonstrations, we headed back to the group. We finished our last beer, and then headed back to bikes.

This was truly an awesome experience. 

Special Thanks to Rooiwduiwel for his toy contribution he made.

BUD TnTeddy Out!

Many of you probably heard of Minecraft, and those that followed the development cycle of the game will also know about the great financial success story it has become. (6,733,748 sales x R228 and 1000000 beta sales x R100 = R1 635 294 544 estimated, with 8000 purchases daily), about the amount of money the ANC spends on catering and partying according to today's news.

"Don't mind me, I'll jusssst wait for you to turn around"

This is the pipe dream for any Indi(vidual) Game developer, (making games, not screwing taxpayers mind you) to create something that they and others can enjoy, free from the financial shackles of "Triple AAA" publishers breathing down their necks, lording over them and basically controlling how the game should be made, since they are footing the bill. Many developers were forced to take this route or faced the possibility that their game could not see the light of day. For many of these guys, while profit was definitely important, their main objective was to get their game out of there, and create a least a ripple of originality in the re-hashed torrents whirpooling around FIFA 28 and Call of Duty 17: Soap's Revenge.

Captain Price was unavailable for COD17, ever since he engaged with Soap's sister in bondage activities, the brother didn't think "Soap on a rope" was funny.

Right, back to the indie games themselves. The premise? Buy a game that is cheaper compared to the big boys, have "supposedly" less content than premium games, but somehow capture your attention and holds it ransom until your bladder caves in to negotiations and submits. These can aim to a broad market (Angry Birds, "but they sold out to the corporations maaaan!") or specifically to a niche market (Kerbal Space Program).

Many games start out as mods to existing games and cause shockwaves through the industry: Counter-Strike from Half-Life, Desert Combat from BF1942, DotA for Warcraft and more recently DayZ for ARMA II. (The DC mod is considered the springboard of the current success of the BF series, the DC team almost as a whole were hired to also develop BF2)

Modifications/Conversions are still a great boon to creativity and new fresh ideas, but big business is clamping down on that route, since they consider it lost revenue because they didn't think of the cool mods themselves and can't profit from it. BF3 is a prime example, such an awesome game, but tarnished by the boys in finances and marketing and their Origin, no possibility of mods, citing hacking as a risk, but failing to protect their "protected code" from said hackers.
These guys are shooting themselves in the foot. DayZ have elevated the ARMA II sales into Steam's top selling charts, and made the game makers Bohemia Interactive very, very happy due to a small team that wanted to play something else with an existing game engine.

So the Indies usually work from scratch, hence many of the games are in 2D (nothing wrong with that) and rely on great game play (EA, Activision, are you taking notes here?) to sell their titles at much more affordable rates (OK folks, pencils down - Ubisoft, pay attention, I said pencils down!)
 

If Cortex Command would lower its $19 price then they would see more sales

The end result? Games like the aforementioned Minecraft, currently the flagship of indie gaming, not because of game play so addictive, it is considered substance abuse, but because of its success story. Kerbal Space Program, a game where rocket science is considered easy and catastrophic failure is always the first option.

Magicka enjoyed favourable reception last year with its Final Fantasy-esque black mages and pop culture parodies.

"Battlefield? Can't say I've heard of it"

Limbo raised concern and curiosity with its one line plot, while its stark silhouette graphics and deadly game play provided the entertainment.

Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee los my

 
New financial avenues such as the publically funded Kickstarter program and the Steam supported GreenLight project have recently made their appearance and assist these developers with that extra bit of cash and/or exposure (Carmaggedon is back baby, WOOOOO!!!) so you can hope for many more new titles at affordable pricing in the near future. There are indie games that don't sit right with you (such as Dear Esther, it's like that book everybody said you must buy because everybody is buying it) but that's another aspect of Indie games, they are not-one-size-fits-all.

Yes, they made a game from this

I play some titles much to the chagrin of others, while others engage their time in titles I wouldn't spend a few seconds with. These games fit to you, just like your taste in music where there is smashing hits you can play in concerts, to something you mellow out with your headphones (shaggy sheepdog, fireplace, monocle and cigar optional).

While the Big hit games will always be welcome and the main attraction in the club, the Indie games are starting to get their own VIP room. Farmville players can stay outside in the rain and try to play "Dodge the bouncer's fists"

Julle Sims bliksempies kan ook gan tsek