Quake ace gets US trip

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Neal Thompson, regarded in Quake circles as the country's top player, is close to securing sponsorship to a $US100,000 ($200,000) international competitive event to be held in Dallas next month.

"He's definitely going to Texas," said Mr Thompson's agent, Sharon Tumbridge. Some big-name companies were queuing to back him and she hoped a deal would be concluded this week.

Ms Tumbridge said callers had included an Auckland man who pledged $200 "to go into the pot," but would not reveal which companies were making offers.

However last week, Harvey Norman, Clearnet, FlyingPig.co.nz, PR agency 141 Palace Plus and Mai FM were among the companies understood to be seeking the whereabouts of the 20-year-old computer technician who plays as "Mirage."

"It's like The Matrix," Mr Thompson explained.

"Everyone plays under internet aliases."

Mr Thompson had been desperate to find a sponsor to travel to the Razer/ Cyberathlete Professional League Tournament to be played between April 13 and 16 and take a shot at the $US40,000 top prize.

The Razer/CPL event is one of several competing world championship-type Quake events in the US.

Entries to the 512-player event are closed, but Mr Thompson had secured an "autoberth," similar to a seeded place in a professional tennis match, based on his previous victories.

Mr Thompson will meet three Australian finalists from the Melbourne Big Day In CPL qualifier to be held over the weekend March 4 and 5.

Before his sponsorship prospects took a dramatic turn for the better, Mr Thompson considered the Australian event to be his only chance of getting to Dallas. However he was barred from the qualifying tournament as it was open to Australian residents only, leading him to suggest the Australians were afraid he would win.

Big Day In organiser Steve "Trixter" Trickey said considerable fundraising work had taken place with state level qualifiers to send three Australian players to Dallas.

Contrary to earlier reports, the American organisers had only agreed to help with player accommodation.

The affair has led to some transtasman acrimony among Quake players, but if it could be resolved an Australia versus New Zealand event could be in the offing.

Meanwhile those not able to make it to Dallas or Melbourne might be interested in the following local events: the Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo at the Aotea Centre in Auckland on March 18 and 19 is expected to feature a Quake competition sponsored by Gateway (see www.pulpexpo.com).

Rebirth, which will feature several Quake tournaments, will be also held at the Aotea Centre between April 14 and 16. The event is being sponsored by Intel which will provide servers (see www.rebirth.co.nz). Details of other Quake events can be found on www.challenge-nz.com.

Quake is a 3D action game, which may be played against computer-generated opponents or against real players over the internet or a Lan.

Quake, now in version III, and its forerunners Doom and Wolfenstein have established its makers, id Software based in Mesquite, Texas, as one of the most influential games software companies.

Id software pioneered non-traditional means of product distribution such as shareware channels and internet sales, and Doom sold more than 15 million copies.

Around 2000 people are estimated to play Quake as named players on the New Zealand internet and a much larger number are believed to play offline.