Alias – Warblade, Warb, War
XboxLIVE Gamer Tag – WarbladeX23
Clans – [McP] (Master Control Program); grX Clan (Gamers Redefining Xcellence)
Real Name – Randall
Status – Active
Systems – PS2, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, Mac
Current Games –
- Check my raptr feed!
Bio –
It was almost as if he was born with a video game controller in his hand. Born into the 1980s, Randall grew up with computers and video games, as the Atari 2600 and Apple ][e kept his attention in the earlier years. In 1985, Randall’s family purchased the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the non-stop hours of gaming started. Many memories were made with his brother as they played through Zelda, Super Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt, practically any game that they could buy, borrow, or get their hands on. Randall knew the fun and sport of video games through the competition often found within his family. Whether it was shooting down more ducks in Duck Hunt, getting rid of the tri-colored pills in Dr. Mario, or seeing who can dragon kick more enemies in Double Dragon II, they were always trying to 1up each other (pun intended).
Their parents often traveled to Hong Kong and on one instance in their travels, they bought the SuperFamicon system, along with the SuperGameDoctor game copier. This was the Japanese equivelent of the SNES system, but the GameDoctor was a new piece of technology which allowed SNES games to be copied onto 3.5″ diskettes, and loaded in the same fashion. This was the new start to console piracy. The family owned hundreds of games and played through RPGs, to side scrolling adventures, to fighter clones.
Around the same time, the internet was just starting up, and some of Randall’s friends had started using local BBS’ for their online game and chat systems. A whole online world of BBS hosted games were out there, and he dabbled in the likes of Trade Wars 2002, Legend of the Red Dragon, and MUDs. Eventually BBS’ lead to Internet Service Providers, and the whole internet to play on. Randall found and played on a MUD called “Sundered Realms” under the moniker of “Warblade”, a homage to character in the WildCATs comic book. Starting his run in 1994, he played at Sundered Realms for close to 4 years, before there was a major crash that took down the MUD. “Warblade” was the 9th highest player in the game, reaching level 337 and accumilating a staggering 72 days of playing time.
In 1996 id software released Quake, an online-ready sci-fi FPS that took the world by storm. Randall had played through all of id’s former titles, but for the first time he found opponents that that were on par with his level, that he could compete against. He routed himself in the ranks of ThreeWave CTF and the Future Vs. Fantasy mods. He jumped ship to the Sequel, Quake 2 in late 1997, and played CTF, ActionQuake, and WeaponsFactory. The mod that he spent most of his time was with Rocket Arena 2. This mod allowed the playing field to be even in all aspects, and gave the game a gladiator type feel. Everyone stats out with the same weapons, ammo, and health, and all items are removed from the maps, leaving the opponents to kill each other just using their skill and their wit. It was there that Randall found his first clan, {CK} Casual Killers. He was a valued member who played in most of the OGL clan matches, despite his dial-up ping status. He designed the website for {CK}, and the clan came in second in the west coast division of OGL in 1998, losing 2-1 to Master Control Program in the finals. {CK} disbanded in late 1998, and after a few months, Randall joined up with [McP]. He competed regularly in clan matches, and was part of the 4 man starters for the “dial up” matches. After a short and funny April Fools Prank, which involved the OGL East winners HKA (Hong Kong Action Clan), and [McP] merging into one win-all entity MAC (Master Action Clan), [McP] retired from online competitions.
Despite retiring from competion, [McP] still met at GameSpy sponsered monthly Beatdown LAN events and still had scrimmage matches with different opponents. While at Beatdown XIX: THE ROCK!, hosted for the first time in San Francisco, CA, Randall competed in the 150 person Quake 2 tournament and placed 3rd in the competition. After Quake3 had released, [McP] returned to online gaming for a short while, going back into retirement in late 2000. Most of [McP] still played together in some form or another in MMORPGs like Shadowbane, GuildWars, World of Warcraft, and now Age of Conan, as well as FPS like Quake4 and Team Fortress 2. They will be awaiting the next big gaming FPS to make their return.
In college, Randall started dabbling more in console gaming in addition to his PC gaming. His freshman year roommate introduced him to the Playstation console, and he played through Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy 7, and Gran Turismo all in his first semester. He eventaully purchased a PS1, and later a PS2 to continue his RPG and racing gaming. For a long while, Randall had no interest in the “Next Gen Consoles” of the xbox 360, ps3, or wii, as he was still playing a few PC games here and there. After some prodding from some fellow coaches in the college ministry, his wife and friends surprised him with a Xbox 360 system for his birthday in 2007. The competition he is able to find online through XboxLIVE as well as the gaming sessions with his church friends provide him with some well needed rest at night.
Now he tries to balance his marriage with his online gaming at night. Randall loves to try and find his specialties within the games of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, and finds that it’s often the time spent “hanging out” with friends more so than the competition. As one passion and drive of “competition” dies, he knows that it’s more important of who he’s spending that time with, than the real thrill of the game.
And the story goes on…