GGL Wire

Yesterday I got a chance to speak to Army Gaming Championships and DigitalLife Command & Conquer 3 PC ladder leader Khufu_Ownz about his gaming background and experience.

This was right before a scheduled AGC match with Gentho, which unfortunately ended in a loss for Khufu. He’s still the points leader, however, and enthusiastic about his chances in these and future tournaments.

Mahmood: Let’s get your name and age first and any short introduction about yourself.

Khufu_ownz: My name is David Lathrop. I’m 20 years old. This is my first year competitively gaming with LAN events so I’m relatively new to it.

Mahmood: What sort of games were you playing competitively before?

Khufu_Ownz: For $$? Just Rise of Legends and Command and Conquer 3. I must have burned through 15 + RTS titles before gaming competitively though.

Mahmood: What about just for fun, but still competitively? Matches, scrims, and such.

Khufu_ownz: Playing competively is fun for me. All my gaming since the start of this year has been competitive.

Mahmood: I see–what other RTS games did you get started on before C&C3?

Khufu_ownz: Aoe II, III, Lord of the Realms, I,II,III, were the ones I mainly played. I dabbled in lots of smaller titles though.

Mahmood: Forgive my ignorance as an aside, but what faction do you play in C&C3? (there’s no way for me to be able to tell without a replay — viewers can’t see it in the ladder display).

Khufu_ownz: All three. I don’t limit myself and just stick to one faction. The game is ever-evolving with patches so I keep myself sharp with all three factions.

Mahmood: So in matches, you play random?

Khufu_ownz: Depends on my mood / map. I generally prerfer random mirrors as my gametype.

Mahmood: So, both players picking random; that’s your ideal scenario?

Khufu_ownz: That’s what I prefer, yeah.

Mahmood: What side do you think is strongest in the game now?

Khufu_ownz: I think all of the sides are about as even as you could make them … well, the only small issue is the rocket spam. Its not a big deal — easy to counter — but it’s still an imbalance.

You can spam as both GDI and NOD, but NOD have nice upgradable rocket soldiers.

Mahmood: OK, how do you rate your chances on the AGC and DigitalLife ladders?

Khufu_ownz: As coming in first? I think I have the AGC ladder sewn up. I should easily get first in that one. The DigitalLife ladder I’m going to let slide — I’m not going to really try hard for it anymore. All I need to get is top 4 on it to get free travel, and I just started the fall semester at my college and that adds about 8+ hours of work to my day so my life is hell right now.

I just don’t have the time I need to practice for any of the several events I’m going to.

Mahmood: Who’s your biggest rival on those ladders?

Khufu_ownz: Gentho for AGC. In DigitalLife I don’t have a rival; in the top 10 spots everyone is just around the same skill level so anything can happen.

Mahmood: OK, I’ll try and catch up with you later when you have some more time. Good luck with school and good luck in the competitions! Thanks for the interview.

Khufu_ownz: No problem. Talk to you later.

Khufu_ownz will be attending the World Cyber Games USA qualifier in Orlando, Florida this month and, if he qualifies, the World Cyber Games Grand Final in Seattle, Washington in October. If you’re attending one of those events, stop by and say hello to this C&C owner.