Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Competitive FPS Gaming Documented, Exposed

Posted by simoniker on from the of-orient-are dept.

Simon Bysshe writes "I've just released the latest freely downloadable film in my series charting competitive FPS gaming. This film, shot in more of a TV show style compared to my previous Slashdot-featured documentaries, features a Counter-Strike match between the UK 4Kings team & the French Armateam. This time, the film was sponsored by Intel, who also flew in the star Quake3 player Cyrus Malekani (aka proZaC) to present the show. The 24 minute, 185mb WMV movie includes in-depth interviews with the players, extended coverage of games with commentary & post-match tactical analysis covering the key rounds."

32 comments

  1. different encode? by the_greywolf · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    i'm interested in seeing this, but i don't have Windows Media Player 7+ installed, and WMP 6.4 on my machine doesn't like most WMVs...

    so... is there another format i can watch?

    --
    grey wolf
    LET FORTRAN DIE!
    1. Re:different encode? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      If you ever get prompted for them, let your WMP 6.4 download the WMP 7-9 codecs. Even better, download WMP 9 and totally disable the player (by associating mplayer2.exe - which is WMP 6.4 - with every 6.4-compatible WMP file type). The only thing you'll be sacrificing is the ability to play Cinepak-encoded QuickTime movies in WMP and the WMP 6.4 Netscape plugin, but you should already have QuickTime or QT Alternative separately, and that plugin never worked right for me anyway.

    2. Re:different encode? by crazyaxemaniac · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Windows Media Player 9 codecs are now available through Windows Update as a separate download.

    3. Re:different encode? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is also an option, but I purposefully didn't mention it, because that download package requires WMP 7 or higher as a baseline. I haven't tried forcing it to install on 6.4.

      I'd still recommend sticking with WMP 6.4 as long as possible, only going straight to 9 if you have to. I don't recommend installing - or staying at - 7 or 8 at all, especially 7.

  2. Dear Santa... by MachDelta · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ...please give all my gifts to other good little boys and girls, because all I want for Christmas this year is my very own Intel girl. If you could do this for me, I promise I won't bug my little sister for all of next year. Maybe even two years if you can get me a really hot, leggy, blonde who likes games.

    Sincerely,
    Adam

    PS: If she had a nice rack, that would be really great too.

    1. Re:Dear Santa... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Off topic? Try watching the video first, mods.

  3. Yah cos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Everyone knows that having a hyperdeveloped thumb really makes you a sportsman. :-P

  4. I am very pleased with this. by GearType2 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    His previous videos were very... amatuer at best. I remember one of my biggest peeves of them being the voice and music. It was always the blaring techno in the background that would be thrown in and the terrible mics used to get voice. You would hear maybe, 3 words and the rest would be muffled.
    Another qualm I had with his earlier works was that these are supposed to be videos of how these events draw crowds and how that this is in fact a sport now, but what he would do is talk to the players and ask them *why* they are playing and how they like to play. Newsflash: they get paid for it.

    But, this video is top notch. The sound is so much better. It's obvious he put a lot of work into making it *sound* better. The quality is very high, although I would like it to be nativly louder, as I had to turn up my speakers quite a bit to hear their voices, but that's not a big deal, as the background music was lower than the voice. The presentation of the entire video itself was very great. If I had not seen the earlier videos I would think this was done by a great studio. It looks like TechTv had a special on e-gaming. I am very pleased with this, and hope we see much more.

    1. Re:I am very pleased with this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Awww. come on.

      Everybody here on slashdot knows that if you know Linux, and it's your OS of choice, then you can probably get a friggin WMV to play on it too.

      Or are you just "leet" enough to have linux on your workstation, but not know how to use it?

      Touchez, teacher... touchez...

    2. Re:I am very pleased with this. by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 1

      The guy needs to learn about interlace...

  5. Text script please by MMaestro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes I have broadband, yes I have a crap load of video codecs to watch movies/videos/clips, and yes I could very easily download this movie. BUT as nice as video are, I think the interview in text format would still be helpful for some. Some people still use 56k modems. Personally, I don't like the idea of having to listen to someone talk about their gaming experience when I could read it.

    1. Re:Text script please by Prien715 · · Score: 4, Informative

      You've got no way of knowing this, but it'd actually be incredibly unhelpful. If you're looking for the teammates talking about the other team, they pretty much say they think they're both good but think they're team is better. As for in game strategy, it's a lot of pointing at the monitor and saying "We decided to rush here [points], but that didn't work, so we camped out here[points]."

      I don't know if Halflife has replay files (ala WC3, SC, etc), but if it did, giving those replays along with an mp3 of audio (start them at the same time as the replay and they should sync) could be a very good way to watch these that doesn't require lots of bandwidth.

      --
      -- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
    2. Re:Text script please by MMaestro · · Score: 1

      Actually, I was referring to the interviews only. As for Half-Life replay videos, there SHOULD be some kind of third-party program that records what your computer projects, thus mimicing the feel of watching a replay.

    3. Re:Text script please by Prien715 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Replays for networked games are incredibly simple, or so I'd think. If one simply stores the content of the packets sent to and from the machine, you should be able to reconstruct the game. The video method you suggest would require much more memory. However, the packets sent out by networked games are designed to be small.

      --
      -- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
  6. Why Team FPS isn't a good spectator genre. by Prien715 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I watched the video and it was really entertaining...but that's probably because I love counterstrike.

    I kept wanting to watch some other perspective but instead had to watch whoever the camera crew was watching. This made me wonder: how do more traditional sports deal with this problem? They don't. In every other sport, there's a ball of some sort. If you follow the ball you follow the action.

    In counter-strike, there is no ball. It's harder to present a visual image that captures the beauty of a well-executed pincer attack or the stealth of a hiding sniper.

    I think this perspective problem could doom pro-gaming. The only suggestion I have is to provide audio commentary while allowing the viewer to switch perspectives at will or else follow the producer's.

    --
    -- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
    1. Re:Why Team FPS isn't a good spectator genre. by Doc+Squidly · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Its video games. Everytime I watch a video game match I loose interest, after 4 seconds, when I deside that it would be more fun to go play on-line.
      Lets face it, video games are not a spectator sport. Especially when you can control the camera, which would at least give you some degree of intereaction.
      Don't get me wrong I'd love to be able to play FPS's in a pro league but until they make it enjoyable to watch (on TV, with more corporate sponsors other than tech like Intel) it's not catch to non-gamers.
      Also, I liked the video.

      --
      I think I think, therefore I think I am.
    2. Re:Why Team FPS isn't a good spectator genre. by karnal · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Then what you would probably need are good "replays" of the match.

      Let's say there's a tournament and someone wins the big prize. You could walk through with each of the opponents and asked them about the game, and reference it with clips from their point of view, a 3rd person angle, or the prey.... :)

      I think that would be an easy way to do that kind of sport. It could never be realtime, however...

      --
      Karnal
    3. Re:Why Team FPS isn't a good spectator genre. by l0tu53at3r · · Score: 0

      Isn't this exact sort of thing supposed to be remedied by the advent of more advanced television broadcast? The things I hear most about are in the very new future, and actually being tested in small viewing areas, are the abilities for the viewer to choose the camera angles of sporting events they are watching, or to go along with whatever the producer has chosen at that time. Am I wrong in assuming that we already have the technology for this, that it only needs to take hold with consumers and producers alike and there you would have your ability to make pro-gaming mainstream because it could then have an audience.

      --
      ---Excuse the bad English, I'm American---
    4. Re:Why Team FPS isn't a good spectator genre. by mikelu · · Score: 1

      Counterstrike could be very interesting as a spectator sport if you did two things:

      1) Have commentary like normal sports...but it has to be recorded and put together afterwards. CS is too chaotic to do realtime commentary in any detail.

      2) Have a server recorded replay which is then rendered into a 3d, isometric perspective, full map view point which is displayed picture-in-picture, or full screen when the commentator is talking about overall strategy instead of individual skill. This view can have various information tags attached to each player, etc. etc.

  7. BUT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Freely downloadable yes. Freely watchable no...

  8. It's odd to note.... by metalhed77 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Strange how these P4 Extreme procs are being used to run a game that runs fine on my old athlon 600 mhz wit a geforce 2mx. Ah the joys of marketing.

    --
    Photos.
    1. Re:It's odd to note.... by MachDelta · · Score: 1

      Heh, the little framerate counter (in some shots) is pretty much always pegged at 100fps. :p

  9. mpeg's? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you'll encode the data with the mpeg algorithm.

  10. when it comes to FPS gaming documentary by z01d · · Score: 3, Informative


    You must have a look at OdB Productions. The two guy made a bunch films based on several CPL/ClanBase/whatever LAN events. Their works are very professional and entertaining. (IMHO, better than the two files mentioned by /. here)

  11. The future is not now by ArcticPuppy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Competetive gaming is still very young. Give it one generation and I think it will be as mainstream as some of the smaller media-covered sports. The penetration of games in todays youth-culture is massive. Most young people ( 18 years old) will have heard of (and most probably) played the most popular titles like Counter-strike and such. I dont think these people will quit playing when they "grow up", heck im 28 years old and i still play counter-strike 3-4 times a week. But the whole gaming thing needs to be assimilated into our lives like everything else. As it is today, only hardcore players can appreciate a good counter-strike match. Im sure if i were to watch an American Football match i would loose interest after about 5 minutes because a) I dont know anything about american football and b) american football is not part of our main-stream culture. In stead we watch people doing cross-country skiing for hours. Yes, we watch people compete in this incredibly boring sport where nothing dramatic ever happens, and we love it. Why? Because over time (i would guess 50+ years) this has become "tradition", we know a lot about cross-country skiing, we do it ourselves, and we love to watch it.

    1. Re:The future is not now by l0tu53at3r · · Score: 0

      Yes, we watch people compete in this incredibly boring sport where nothing dramatic ever happens, and we love it. Why? Because over time (i would guess 50+ years) this has become "tradition", we know a lot about cross-country skiing, we do it ourselves, and we love to watch it.

      This (unfortunately?) does not apply to golf.

      --
      ---Excuse the bad English, I'm American---
    2. Re:The future is not now by Webtommy88 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ditto on that, I sometimes find myself inexplicably watching Curling for hours at a time and even into 3am once. For those who might not know, curling is almost like shuffle board except the rocks are alot larger and u throw these suckers down ice.

      Along the same line as the parent, I think even Machinima will gain a greater following as kids grow up watching more CG in their films and completely CG films for that matter, it would not be as far fetched for them to watch films made entirely in a game engine. I'm thinking along the lines of the Militia films done by TFG, a film done in the Counter-Strike environment which had a decent story line and a great score. The focus on the film was never the game play part but always on the story and thats what made it so good. He's got two new projects in the works, Pre/Selection, a movie based in the Natural Selection universe and Clan Wars another CS film.

      I recommend watching his stuff even if its just for laughs.

  12. Torrent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No torrent of this?

  13. Cannot use VLC for Apple Mac to play this. by Domini · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    It uses the wmv3 video codec for which you prob. need WiMP 9 for Mac to play.... aargh!

  14. more counterstrike docs by janesays · · Score: 1

    This is good work, but what I don't understand is why Slashdot keeps promoting this particular filmmaker's Counter-Strike docs to the exclusion of other independently produced CS docs. I haven't seen anything on slashdot ever about Gamers, which is (IMHO) better than this guy's stuff and has been shown at a bunch of CPL events... it does both interviews with C-S big shots and lots of action (competition) sequences. There's a trailer online.