GGL Wire

Shortly after Evil Geniuses announced its Unreal Tournament 3 squad, GGL Wire was able to get in touch with manager Alex Garfield and the rest of the team for a thorough grilling. We covered the impetus for creating an EG UT3 squad, the selection process, and some background information about the team. Let’s get to it:

GGL Wire: Is the EG UT3 team salaried?

Alex Garfield: No, however with this EG covers all travel, hardware, and competition costs. It also means that we do not take a percentage of the players’ winnings.

GGL Wire: What was the impetus for forming the EG squad? Do you (Alex) know something that the general gaming public doesn’t about next season’s CGS game picks?

Garfield: The reasoning behind EG’ venture into UT is extremely straightforward. First of all, it’s a very well-tenured brand of dueling game with an already-established community with its own stars and history. Secondly, it looks absolutely incredible, and serves any hardware company well (this, I believe, is proven by the fact that it’s already becoming a relatively popular “booth game”). Lastly, its cross-platform appeal is a huge plus. I believe the gap between PCs and consoles is quickly closing; in 5 or 10 years, there very well may be little to no difference between the two. And so I believe that cross-platform titles like UT3 are crucially important from a broader perspective.

As far as the CGS goes, I have absolutely no idea what they’re doing with their game selection for 2008. However, even if they were to pick UT3, I don’t see how that would be motivation for me to pick up a teeam. Having a player or team drafted into the CGS is great for that player, or group of players, but it poses little to no benefit to the non-CGS gaming organization. So, if the CGS picks up UT3, I’ll be happy for my players, but it would be a loss for EG as a business and an organization.

GGL Wire:  What’s the long-term outlook for the team? Forming such a high-profile squad only to have them play online would be a major waste of their marketable faces.

Garfield:  There are numerous offline events taking place this coming year in addition to the online competition the squad is currently taking place in. PDXLan, VanLan, i33: all events that we feel our players will do well at, and most importantly enjoy.

GGL Wire: What’s the thought process behind each squad member’s selection?
Ecstacy: Far beyond being a marketable face, Ecstasy and Stryfe have practiced together for a while now, and Ecstasy’s skill is undeniable ingame having placed very well in the online tournaments the UT3 community has organized thusfar.

Elix: Elix was the last addition to our UT3 roster and given his history with x6 and the other team members, a very easy choice to make.

Stryfe: Stryfe has beyond proven himself skill-wise in the previous iterations of Unreal Tournament dominating the North-American scene both online and offline with an incredible win record. Stryfe was the perfect choice to lead this squad.

CombatCarl: Sean has quite a history with Unreal Tournament along with Stryfe and Tex in x6, and even previously Kaizen. The combination of sheer skill, and teamwork with the other members are irresistable.

Tex: Tex, Tex, Tex… Possibly one of the most reciognized individuals in the UT 2k era, Tex’s experience with Kaizen, x6, and most importantly his other teammates make him the quntissential anchor for the team.

GGL Wire: Were Stryfe, CombatCarl and Tex a package deal? They’ve been clanmates in two separate squads before EG.

Garfield:  In short yes, the three wanted to play together, and their longtime synergy as a team coupled with their skills made it an easy choice to pick up all three.

GGL Wire: From a business perspective, why would a sponsor choose to back an Unreal Tournament 3 team? As of December, the game had sold a dismal 33,995 units on the PC in North America.

Garfield:  The UT series has a huge amount of potential. With CustomUT the community now has a solid competitive medium on which to play. From a sponsor’s perspective, UT3 is the sucessor to one of the most renowned deathmatch games we’ve ever seen. The visuals are gorgeous, and that shows off the muscle of Intel’s Core 2 Extreme processor line. The inclusion of UT3 at i33 shows it has a strong community globally despite lackluster sales in North America.

GGL Wire: For Tex: What prompted you to come back to competitive gaming from semi-retirement?
Nick “Tex” Borelli: Simple - A new installment in the Unreal Tournament series

GGL Wire: How long, on average, does the EG squad practice per week?

Garfield:  The EG UT squad has had a slow start due to a number of reasons, as a team the squad has a difficult time practicing, due to Tex’s currently frantic work schedule, and CombatCarl’s PC problems have put a hiatus on team time. Tex’s work schedule should clear up soon, and we’re sending CombatCarl a PC equipped with a Core 2 Duo processor from Intel to get him back in the game. Individually the players play in everything from pick-up games to ladder tournaments.