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As a constant poster -slash- lurker on the GameFaqs.com message boards.  I see many topics popping up complaining about “Lag Switchers” (mostly in the Super Street Fighter IV message boards).

Personally I was unaware as to what specifically was being mentioned here at first, although I did kind of get the jist of what was being implied, as ever since my first foray in to online PC gaming back in like 1999, I’ve been aware of what Lag is.  If you’re unaware, then see below.

Definition of Lag: In computer networks, lag refers to delays in information transmission between network nodes. Latency is the time taken for a sent packet of data to be received at the other end.

Today I came across a topic on lag switching, that linked to a video, that not only showed me what a lag switch was, but also taught the viewer how to make one.

I swiftly “thumbs down” rated that video as soon as I realised it was the real deal, and I was happy to see a lot of the recent comments on it (at the time I watched it) where hating on the guy for posting such a tutorial.

I CANNOT believe the lengths at which some pricks will go to in order to obtain an anonymous online victory.  Nor can I believe how they can climb the online leaderboards and actually feel any sort of pride in what they’re achieving.  Super Street Fighter IV is not a game where online leaderboards are seen as a true measure of skill in the first place (it’s face to face tournaments held globally where players prove dominance, in a 100% lag free environment), and it’s no wonder why when you have assholes like these “lag-switchers” in circulation.

Another example of how the leaderboards in SSFIV aren’t a true measure of skill is how the currently #1 player on XBL (in terms of overall player points) has been many a times referred to as a “rage quitter”.  I’m not going to name and shame this person in question in this blog, simply because I haven’t fought that player personally, and no one has uploaded video evidence of this on YouTube, although with so many people backing up the accusation (and with allegations of this rage quitting user dating back to the Soul Calibur IV days) it seems highly likely.

Rage Qutting: The act of exiting the game/ turning off your console/ disconnecting your internet whilst you are losing before an online game/ match is finished.  This saves you from having a loss put on your record, and causes the winning player to not receive his win.

**Rage Quitting and Lag Switching is not limited to fighting games.  It is used in FPS’s, sports games, and many others.

It would bring me great pleasure to watch, or play these players who have such glamorous online records (through cheating methods) in real life, and see them exposed for the cheating scrubs that they are.

If/ when I have children, if I ever caught them playing video games online doing tactics like the ones mentioned in this topic, I’d take away there copy of that game, or worse yet take away there online gaming privileges.  I don’t condone this kind of behaviour at all.

Video games are meant to be a source of fun/ entertainment.  If you put enough time into a game and develop great skills at it, then that’s awesome.  However, if you want to cut corners, cheat, and effectively live a lie through the game, then you’re the urinal cake of society, whom I and many others would love to pee-on.

Apologies if anyone was offended by the increase in profanity in this post, but it really is a topic that just called for it.

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Extra:

Example of online rage quitter >>here<<

A rare example of a REAL LIFE rage quitter >>here<<

Rage Quit T-Shirt >>here<<

Time for another This & That.  An assorted bag of video game related topics.

This time I’m covering the following things:

• Competitive Gaming, and how I think it would be great on TV.
• The excitement that comes from E3
• Those annoying missions where…

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If you grew up playing video games then it’s more than likely that you have at one stage or another experienced some fun competitive multi-player with friends.  In today’s online multi-player bombarded video game market the chances to compete against other people are all to easy for us, hell, I know there are many people out there these days who will often opt for the game with the online multi-player added on over the good old fashioned 1 player game.

The point I’m getting at is that there is a lot of fun to be had with multi-player, and when you have people of an equal skill level, knowing all the ins and outs of a game and showing you all the game can offer, then you have the makings of some really entertaining gameplay footage.

In North America exists “Major League Gaming”.  A professional video game league that holds all sorts of events and tournaments on competitive multi player games to bring together some of the worlds best video game players (of specific games).  It has numerous endorsements and sponsors, so with the revenue they can offer some substantial prize money to these top players competing within “MLG”.

Sure enough there are critics against MLG and other such professional video gaming circuits, mainly due to controversies in the past (for instance, reportedly not paying people, or taking there sweet time to do so).  However I believe in recent years things have improved within these companies.

A few months back though I happened to be browsing the XBOX live marketplace and came across some MLG content that was free to download.  There are a number of downloadable videos offered on the marketplace but the majority cost a small fee to purchase.  However, THIS competitive HALO 2 match is FREE to download.  Now, I urge you if you’re reading this blog and have an XBOX Live account to download that video and give it a watch.  I was quite surprised to have enjoyed it as much as I did as although I have had many hours of fun with a lot of the Halo franchise’s offerings, I wouldn’t of thought me watching someone elses match would have been my thing, but the level of play shown, along with the enthusiastic and informative commentary and good video editing gave it a great overall production value.

Another area where I have a lot of experience in watching professional gamers play is with Street Fighter (particularly Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV).  As I’m personally a big fan of the street fighter series, and try to keep up to date on what big events have been played within the Street Fighter scene, what’s coming up, and then lurking forums and websites trying to find the videos of some of the worlds best Street Fighter players working there magic.

Daigo vs Justin (Capcom Fight Club April 2010 Part 2/2)
Online Tony vs Alex Valle (West Coast Warzone 2).

Getting back to my point though.  I really love how the internet and the communities within games give us ways to be able to watch the very best at work.  Although I can’t help but dream of how if there was a TV channel (well in the UK anyway) offering these matches, I would definitely be glued too it, and it would become to me what watching “Sky Sports News” is to the sports nuts.  Obviously it would have to cover a number of different games and genres though, to make sure everyone was happy, but I think competitive gaming [when done with commentary from people who know there subject, and with good video editing]  is just as much fun to watch (if not more fun, coming from a hardcore gamer here) than many actual sports.

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As you may well know this week has been the Electronic Entertainment Expo (or “E3″ for short).  Which is generally regarded as the biggest event in the video game industry’s calendar.

Basically it’s a gathering (mainly for the video gaming press’s benefit) to showcase what a company has planned for the coming month/ year.  The big 3 (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony) generally try to raise excitement among it’s fans as well as attract new ones with upcoming games, features, and/ or hardware.  Plus you’ll have the big games publishers and developers doing similar unveils and announcements of new games, or showcasing new trailers, details, and demo’s on games not too far off their eventual release.

For the hardcore gamer it’s an exciting time of year, especially if you’re lucky enough to own more than just 1 console, as you can happily watch the majority of press conferences on show and generally be wowed by an onslaught of potential purchases.

I remember when I was growing up (we’re talking back in the mid 90′s here), when the internet wasn’t anywhere near established, in the days when it was the magazines that were THE ‘go to’ source for upcoming game information.  Over the summer months magazine after magazines would hit the shelves with big headlines on them letting you know they’d been to E3 and had a lot to show to it’s readers.  It was generally one of the most exciting issues of the year for the gaming magazines.

It’s those fond memories of the 90′s and video game magazines that made me realise, even as a kid, that E3 was somewhat a big deal.

As time passed, and the internet evolved into the “information super highway” that it now is.  We, the mass majority of gamers… the general public… have practically an all you can eat buffet’s worth of E3 coverage instantly available too us.

For the past 4 years or so now I have watched most of the E3 press conference’s LIVE, and before we was granted such great coverage, I settled with live text blogs from the video game press (such as IGN) from editors there attending the press conferences.

This year was great for me personally though, as I’m currently on a summer break from my university studies, so I had free time on my hands.  This year I hooked up my laptop screen up to my 42″ plasma, put the audio through my surround setup, and watched Microsoft, Nintendo’s, and Sony’s conferences live in HD thanks to GameTrailers.com‘s amazing streams of the show.  In previous years I’ve really let my love for video games be shown by the fact I’ve actually made arrangements in advance to make sure I could catch E3 live.  Such as either finishing work early on those days, or taking days off entirely.  That’s how much I dig E3.

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Lastly.  I was playing Bully: Scholarship Edition earlier.

In which I had a mission in which I had to sabotage a prized object of my (in game) opponents.  It was one of those missions you find in games where you have to do something fairly epic, but regardless of succesfully doing this act of sabotagery…unless you get all the way back to safety without dying it won’t count as being done.

I don’t hold much of a grudge though, as those kinds of missions are an integral part of video games, so I can accept them being there. Although on the other hand… God dammit! I did some serious damage to our foes… So what if I didn’t get back safe! I died fighting for the good of our side.  Now I have to start all over and do that whole sabotage part over again?  Jeez!

Did World War II widows get letters back saying: “Your husband killed 14 Nazi’s, saved over 20 Jewish war prisoners, but as he didn’t make it back safe, we must declare…Mission Failed”

I guess I’ll just take it as a nod to those difficult retro games I grew up with that didn’t believe in mid-way checkpoints, and really demanded you to bring your A-game and hope lady luck is on your side.