Troopers,

The legend of Justice on the net continues to be supported by M-Web's game judges, whose sole purpose is to monitor the corridors of cyberspace for cheat codes and socially irresponsible players. But judges themselves are not above the law, and more than one judge has been given the regulation shotgun with 7 shells and dismissed into the radiation desert. The good news? Well, we can safely assume that the judges are still human-:>

Now that Counterstrike 1.1 has been released and successfully absorbed by the community, isn't it time NDC and KK have their long awaited rematch?

Regarding the evergreen question of Counterstrike cheating, only one thing is clear. We need more heroes and less villains.

But I guess the same goes for real life.

Troopers and Judges,

Looks like that bit of fiction I wrote below to hype the game was somewhat prophetic because not only did the game turn out very much as I expected, Titan crashed nb authentication, and thus I was unable to post anything after the match and due to a rare Monday meeting in Sea Point before lunch only got home now.

Militia : Round 1 : NDC - CT : 2 KK - Ter : 5 Round 2 : KK - CT : 2 NDC - Ter : 3

Prodigy : Round 1 : NDC - CT : 7 KK - Ter : 3 Round 2 : KK - CT : 7 NDC - Ter : 3

Dust : Round 1 : NDC - CT : 3 KK - Ter : 5 Round 2 : KK - CT : 2 NDC - Ter : 11

So we lost three maps, but also won three maps. Result - A draw! Two undefeated teams remain undefeated, for the meantime.

The crush started in the first round. I played somewhat erratically due to having just delivered a two car load ball pond and jumping castle after my daughters first birthday party, getting back at only 8.30. I ate supper during the first round of militia, which fortunately we won. The next round wasn't as easy, though with practise I reckon this is the map we stood the best chance of defeating them both ways.

The other two maps followed a similar patter, with us winning one, and them winning one. NDC needed to win the last round of the last map, dust, and as I'd already realised, they are so well practised at terrorist tactics on this map that i think we'll probably refuse it as a tie maker/breaker next time:)

The game was played using PunkBuster with chasecam turned off, though we had a few false starts because it kept creeping back everytime we changed the map. We'll make sure this doesn't happen for the rematch.

So as a summation, the game was very well played by both sides, with the KK Judges showing individual genius, and the NDC players scoring high points for teamplay. It was an out there game with no one hiding in dark places waiting to whack an unsuspecting opponent, so I reckon I represented the campers :) I'll never forget the look of surprise on Default's face when he ate half-a-clip of silenced ammo - haha -

Update: NDC have asked us for a re-match which will take place Sunday a week same time, same place because we accepted:)

NDC vs. KK.

He felt like the last cycle had spun by in slow motion. Watching the shuttle rise in equally slow motion from Titan's rocky surface carrying a full load of KK warriors, the unnamed commander of the Kalahari Killers secret training ground blinked twice in succession, then closed the dome's titanium viewport.

It had been a cycle to remember, what with the communications shut down and the deadline to get the deputised Judges to combat readiness by launch-time. He knew it was going to be a tough battle against NDC, and that some of them probably wouldn't survive, but he wished he was going along for the ride. It had been a long time since he'd seen Earth, having been actively engaged in combat duty for as long as he could remember.

Using his backpack as a pillow, all that lay between him and extruded rock was his cape, and the thought that a Judge didn't need to be comfortable. He watched the shuttle's fiery path on live optical, hoping com would be returned in time for him to watch the fight.

Titan 9.00 PM Sunday night.

The Day of Defeat server on Titan has been upgraded to beta 1.1.

Relevant links:

• dodbeta11.exe - Full download (73MB)
• dod11up.exe - Upgrade from beta 1.0 (22MB)

A Justice meeting was held recently at Gamezone HQ. Present were Judges Gosh't, Neter, AL33 and Rapts. The conversation embraced the philosophy of online gaming and lasted long into the night. Rapts talked us into putting up a LAN at some time in a nearby future, and we were pleased to have Darren and his GF filming and taping the scene. We will make some footage available soon, and will be using the impetus of such spontaneous events to make online mp known far and wide.

I guess we're not that disappointed that the NDC vs. KK game has been delayed at NDC's request till Sunday 25th Feb, which is in two weeks time. This will give all players time to get used to PunkBusters and also give us some more time to perfect our game -:> If you don't have this anti-cheat program for Half-Life Counterstrike yet, get it here. We'll be running this mod on all our servers at some time in the near future, so putting this download off will only catch up on you - :>

From this side, Gamezone just got kitted out with MS Gamevoice, which is obviously awesome. Flight sims really start taking off with this excellent in-game voice chat. If you don't have this excellent piece of hardware, get it delivered to your door at the excellent price of R459 by first reading here. Anyone with either MS Combat Flight Sim 2 or Crimson Skies is advised to get in touch asap with us so we can contact you for some multiplayer flight time.

Troopers,

Thanks to the sterling efforts of Chaz, Judge Buccanner and Judge Siberian, I'm pleased to announce a South African, and possibly world, first. All South African Unreal Tournament servers can now be entered from a single central game server hosted by M-Web on titan.mweb.co.za. In addition, several websites, including Gamezone, Unreal ZA, Map Pack Downloads and the Unreal ZA Forum can be entered directly from the lobby. The map required can be downloaded from here. If you don't have UnrealTournament, get a screenshot of Chaz's great map here.

For RPG fans, our newly spawned Ultima Online shard, Zulu Hotel, is up and running. For details check http:\www.Zuluhotel.co.za, or just register here. Server: shard.zuluhotel.co.za

Nextly, the almost forgotten but legendary M-Web clan, Kalahari Killers [kk], has been hauled out of retirement to play No.Damn.Clan. NDC is led by Judge (feel the love) Rapts, while the KK are traditionally formed of available mercenaries deputised especially for such combat occasions. The game will be played on the KK's Moscow Crater server this Sunday @ 9.00 PM.

PunkBusters, a small mod which helps prevent cheating, has been installed and is currently being tested on our Namib Clan Counterstrike server. Address: namib.mweb.co.za:27016. So if you're sick of getting blasted through walls, get the client side files here.

JKS won their Counterstrike game against MTS 2-1.

Note: There will be no servers passworded on Sunday 10th due to all Judges being required for combat duties.