Team Forever TwistedEach month, a team or player is chosen as a featured team or player here at Proving Grounds. Chosen based on participation, attitudes, and general 'good karma' at Proving Grounds, these clans and players are the cream of the crop, and are featured for the entire month. The June 2004 Spotlight On goes to Team Forever Twisted.
Rising from the Battlefield scene this month we have a group of gamers that don't normally get much attention here at PG. This team has a diverse set of talents ranging back to the original Tribes and they're currently focused on the Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942. We had the chance to interview Team Forever Twisted and below is a recap of our session with the team. IntroPG|Binary: First question, and an off-topic one at that. :) What do you guys do when you're not gaming and not focusing on clan matters? Messiah: I play with my baby girl. Killer: Work and sleep, usually. Eating falls somewhere in there too. Right now I'm working on my A+ certification and MCSE. Magic: I often find myself either recording movies or working on someone else's computer problems. SgtYORK: I play with my three boys and two dogs. Messiah: I read and study occasionally too. I work when I get really bored. :) Marauder: I own a computer store in Orangeville, Ontario. I spend most of my time there, but I also like to read, canoe, and play paintball whenever I can. Zink: I'm usually hanging out at a friend's house or spending a day watching my brother's house, and I'm at school when it's in session. Marauder: I also like to post lots on the PG forums and make fun of Da Lost Boyz whenever possible. Killer: Actually, I'm a spy for Da Lost Boyz and I'm here to team kill all the FT members. Online GamingPG|Binary: Is your team involved in other games beyond the Battlefield series? Magic: Many of us are into several games, and a lot of us into several as a team. Rune: Well, we used to be really into Tribes... FT was formed around the time Tribes 2 came out. Messiah: I keep trying to convince them to play Tribes 2 again, but no luck thus far. Battlefield is definitely the most active and our primary focus though. Killer: I came in playing Rainbow Six 3 and got suckered into play Battlefield 1942. Marauder: Many of us actually played Tribes 1 together with different teams and formed up as !FT! to play Tribes 2 back in 2000. After Tribes 2 we sort of floated around for awhile until we found Battlefield. We then switched over to Desert Combat. Quite a few of us also play other games together, especially the Rainbow Six games. Zink: I play games like the Comand and Conquer series and many simulators from planes to trains. Rune: I've played a game or ten of Quake 3 on occasion although I suck. :p Killer: It went downhill when I started playing Desert Combat. Marauder: We've played... Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Tribes 2, Tribes 1, Quake 3 CTF a little, Planetside, Crimson Skies, that wierd one with the Zergs, Nukezone, Savage, and World War 2 online. Magic: You forgot Urban Ops and America's Army. Marauder: Yep. I also forgot Enemy Territory. When someone gets a new game inevitably a bunch of others end up messing around with it too. Magic: We also had a good time playing Rune. PG|Binary: Is there a particular practice regimen you guys go through on a regular basis for strategy or is it on-the-fly tactics during your matches? Marauder: We do try to set excercises during practises... Attack this base, hold this base, practice stinger defense, etc. Recently we've not had a server so it's been quite difficult. We're getting a new server though. Messiah: We have no particular practice regimen or at least it changes constantly depending on the coming maps. Our tactics generally revolve around a few key ideals and a detailed opener. Marauder: We do try to have a strategy for each map as Messiah said. We get the battle going, then we see how it works and call everything as it happens. We used to have a detailed battle plan, but frankly as the old saying goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Killer: I think !FT! prides themselves on sportsmanship and having fun rather than concentrating on winning or losing. Marauder: I agree with Killer. We're mostly about companionship and having a good time over just winning. It's always been like that. PG|Binary: Are there other BF1942 mods that TFT plays besides Desert Combat? Marauder: We've played around with a few other mods for fun but Desert Combat is our focus. Killer: I think Battlefield Pirates would be kinda fun. Marauder: It's fun to mess around with some of the others like Empires or BF1918. Zink: I've tried Galactic Conquest, Empires, and 1918. Killer: Sometimes I'll revert back to vanilla Battlefield 1942. Rune: Eve of Destruction is really cool. I haven't played it for a while though. Marauder: We messed around with Battlefield Vietnam a little bit also. Rune: Galactic Conquest is one of the coolest BF1942 mods going. Desert CombatPG|Binary: To someone that's never played Desert Combat, how would you explain it and how would you argue its fun-factor in comparison to other games? Killer: It's absolute mayhem. Marauder: It's basically a reinactment of the first Gulf War. It's the Americans vs. the Iraqis, but it's actually balanced, sort of. ;) It's a first person shooter on massive, miles-wide maps with tons of weapons and player classes to choose from. As the cherry on the sunday you've got dozens of controllable vehicles, from tanks and APCs to bombers, fighters, helicopters and even destroyers and subs. Rune: I'd describe it as Battlefield 1942 (which is mad fun in and of itself) with modern weapons and vehicles in a middle eastern scenerio. And it's not overly realistic to the point where it's not fun. Instigator: It's a more realistic type multi-map all out war game. Killer: What makes it fun is the fact that it's not a linear game. SgtYORK: Well, one of the things I like most about Desert Combat is that you can utilize any equipment, building, or emplacement. I find this unique and makes the game well rounded, not to mention fun! Marauder: The version we play is called Conquest, where the goal is to make the oposing team's tickets reach zero, or have more than them at the end of the map. Each team starts with a set number of tickets and loses them based on how many flags the opposition is holding at the moment, and also on kills. If you hold one more flag than the opposition, they start losing tickets. If you kill an enemy, they lose a ticket. Killer: You can play a map a dozen times and almost never do the same thing twice. SgtYORK: I like being able to drive or utilize equipment usually only available to the AI of the game. Rune: The best part of the game is that it's an action game and not a simulation. Marauder: It's different from other games in that you just don't have the infantry part of the war. You actually have combined arms. Helicopters and artillery can soften up a base before the armor and infantry goes in. Dukester: I like the voice chat aspect of the game and knowing where your teammates are and working together. Marauder: It's just amazing to see someone shelling the heck out of an enemy base before you come in and seeing explosions everywhere. Zink: Being able to use artillery is an aspect unique to this game. Marauder: When I play standard shooters now it's like I'm only playing part of the game. It just doesn't have the satisfaction of Desert Combat. The really nice thing is that you don't have to be all twitch shooters. You can sit back and use artillery or be a medic and repair guy. Instigator: I like to hide and snipe. Marauder: It's not all reflexes and timing like Quake 3 or some other games. SgtYORK: I agree. Strategy plays a big part in this game. Marauder: And it's very cool that artillery can hit targets from literally miles away if someone's spotting for them. PG|Binary: Do you have any special preferences for joysticks or other peripherals when playing Desert Combat? Magic: Thrustmaster joysticks. They're the best responsive joysticks I have ever used. Messiah: Yeah, I've got a nice sleek silver Thrustmaster. It has lots of buttons and a large range of motions. It's beautiful. Marauder: You pretty much have to have a joystick when you're playing as a pilot. You just can't turn fast enough with your mouse. Dukester: I like the Nostromo key pad. It's a programmable 14-key keypad that has 3 different shifts. Instigator: The Thrustmaster is a nice joystick. Killer: I like trackballs when using the Arty. SgtYORK: I really enjoy my Wingman Extreme for Flying any of the aircraft. For ground I prefer my Microsoft 5-button optical scroll mouse and keyboard. Magic: A few of us prefer trackballs instead of regular or optical mice. Marauder: I use a Logitech MX500 mouse and Logitech keyboard and Extreme 3D stick. In fact, why isn't Logitech sponsoring me!? Killer: I recently switched to the Logitech MX510 gaming mouse. Messiah: Gamevoice is also cool for rigging up in-game chat commands. Instigator: Teamspeak helps too. Killer: TeamSpeak works even better with a headset and microphone. Rune: I use a Logitech MX500 mouse and Wingman Extreme Digital joystick over here. Marauder: I keep meaning to try a Nostromo. The awe-inspiring Pappy-R uses one and I keep looking at it every time I see it. Twisted...PG|Binary: What's the best or funniest story you can think of involving one or more TFT members? Marauder: Oh! I've got a good one! Kingpin: Oh no... Here we go. Marauder: It involves Rune, a bottle of rum, Cheetos, and some marshmallows. And the consumption of them. Kingpin *laughs* Marauder: And then the reverse comsumption of them... all over our firewood. Rune: Hey, there's context to this! Which I don't want to get into... Marauder: It seems that Rune is unable to hold down his rum and Marshmallows when sitting around the camp fire. Rune: He is until certain other members start encourging him to toss his cookies (marshmallows) when he isn't feeling very well. Messiah *laughs* Rune: Suddenly all they can talk about is upchucking. Marauder: That I think is the very best story of all time. Rune: Say, isn't it about time for the next question? PG|Binary: Any other stories? Magic: The best in game moment was anti-gravity night. Marauder: Yes! Anti-gravity night was awesome. :) Magic: Marauder has a demo of a tank jumping over the scud and landing perfectly on El Alamien. Marauder: Magic turned the gravity off and we taped the night of jumping jeeps and tanks across the map. :) Rune: Yeah, it was very Matrix-like... sailing an APC across the sky. SgtYORK: Well, there is also the time I was too busy playing in a PG ladder match to stop my 5 year old son from shaving the dog with my electric razor. *laughs* The wife was not pleased. The poor dog came up and gave me that "Man... please help me" look. *laughs* Marauder: Stupid dog... It should have run when it heard the buzzing. Fun, Food, and EntertainmentPG|Binary: It's still early, but what is the "Game of the Year" for 2004? Magic: Desert Combat for most of us... Kingpin: Well, so far Soldner is not that great and Joint Ops is about the same. Marauder: I honestly think that the games field has been sort of dead since Battelfield came out. It's depressing really. Dukester: Far Cry's not bad though. Rune: Doom 3! ;) Kingpin: I'm looking forward to trying Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. Messiah: Tribes 3, Tribes 3, and Tribes 3. SgtYORK: I'm looking forward to the release of World of Warcraft. Rune: Yes, I'm really looking forward to Tribes Vengeance. Not to mention Battlefield 2. :) Killer: I would say Joint Ops. Marauder: I don't get my hopes up too much these days. I'll wait until I have the game in my hands to make a decision. Thus far this year nothing's grabbed me. I've seen way too much hype and way too little delivery from the game industry in the last few years. PG|Binary: What's the must-see blockbuster movie this summer for gamers? Marauder: Shrek 2. Oh my word, that's such a great movie. It has tons of really good, harmless humor. :) Killer: Spiderman 2. Dukester: I agree with Spiderman 2. Kingpin: The Bourne Supremacy... That movie rocked. Rune: I hear that the Bourne Supremacy is pretty good. Messiah: Catwoman... although it will be better on DVD when I can pause it. Rune: Messiah, you do know that the stunt person in Catwoman is a guy right? Killer: Still cute though. PG|Binary: What's the food and beverage of choice for TFT players? Killer: Mountain Dew and Chex Mix. Magic: Iced tea and pretzels. Rune: Don't even go there! Kingpin: Marshmallows, Cheetos, and rum. :) Instigator: Black-N-Tan and Oreo cookies. Zink: Ice cream and Dr. Pepper. Messiah: Coffee, beer, and Kool-aid. SgtYORK: Hot pockets and pizza (one handed eatin'). *laughs* Marauder: Orange juice or green tea. For food I like ice cream. It's a long standing tradition, ever since we started playing Tribes 2, I get a bowl of ice cream after every match. :) Then I go to bed and sulk. Congratulations to Team Forever Twisted for earning the Spotlight On for August 2004. TFT has demonstrated a level of excitement about their team and about their game that most teams could envy. We're honored to see them make PG their home through thick and thin. Congratulations, TFT! All Spotlight On: Recipients |
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