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Pro Gamer Fatal1ty Talks Tactics, Endorsements

Posted by simoniker on from the fatal-l33t-speak dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Quake master Johnathan Wendel, better known as Fatal1ty, talks about his life and the professional gaming scene over at ZDNet. Asked how he keeps his reflexes sharp, he said: 'I use the same tactics in 'Quake' that I used in tennis. It's all about mind games, knowing what your opponent's thinking, knowing where a shots going to go. Anything in a computer game, I can relate it to something in sports I've played. The rail gun (the heaviest weapon in 'Quake') -- that's like going for the overhead slam in tennis. You set 'em up and then you drive it home with your hardest shot. It's like all the shots in tennis are, back and forth, trying to get them off balance. And when you do, you slam it down their throat. Same as gaming.'"

5 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. hehehe by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 5, Funny

    He says he plays tennis...

    I wonder if he blasts one into his opponents skull if he yells "HEADSHOT!"

  2. Ten-nis? by Cosmik · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tennis? Ten-nis? What on this green earth is that?

    Sorry, I only follow the professional sports, like Quake.

    1. Re:Ten-nis? by SamSim · · Score: 5, Funny

      Tennis is a relatively obscure Dreamcast game - well, isn't everything obscure when compared to Quake? The control system's pretty neat, but it could use support for more than four players and really needs some power weapons. And don't get me started on the scoring system.

      --
      qntm.org
  3. Sports by leadfoot2004 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's interesting that he mentions in the article that in order to keep his reflexes up, he exercises and plays sports. This has two implications. First, this breaks somewhat the stereotype where professional gamers spends 20 hours a day sitting in front of the computer and practise, not getting much exercise. Second, professional gaming might argubly be categorised as sports. You'll never know. One day you might see a Quakefest on ESPN2.

  4. played fatal1ty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Or maybe I was played by him.

    One of his sponsors had him set up in Kentia Hall at the last E3, going head to head on UT2k3 with hapless fools like me. I'm about an average to slightly above average player (I end up right in the middle when I play online)...with fatal1ty I think we wound up at around 0-30 after five minutes.

    Before seeing him in action, I wouldn't have believed that there was such a huge difference in hand-eye coordination and reflexes between a normal player and a pro. Pretty impressive. He said that he had a perfect record for E3 - he hadn't been killed once.