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GAMER OF THE MONTH
WazzUp Name: AGE: CITY: GAME: SKILL:
Awais Saeed 22 LAHORE CS1.6 AWPER
Tell us about yourself. My name is Awais Saeed, I’m 22 at the moment and I play by the alias “wAzZuP”. Counterstrike has been quite a part of my life since the last 4-5 years. Just like everyone, I too took gaming as just a hang-out activity but who knew that this was much more than that!
How did you get in to gaming? It was the last day for my O-levels and there was this gaming café called “Coliseum”, I went there with a couple of friends of mine and we played “Unreal Tournament” for a week. This was the beginning of the gaming era in Lahore. There were two major gaming cafes, one was NeoMatrix and the other was Portal 47 at that time. For the first time going to gaming cafes was just random but then with the passage of time I started enjoying this and went there more often. My house was quite far away from the DHA at this time so it was not that easy for me to come here however I did manage to come here once a week.
What was your first Lan game at a gaming center? I played “Unreal Tournament” for a while but then I started playing “Counter-Strike” and it seemed like a really nice game! I was good at it, better than my friends so I preferred playing this game over any other. Then I heard about another gaming café called “IGX gaming” which is located in Garden Town, this was a bit more convenient for me so I started going here.
What was your first Clan and and do you enjoy clan matches? While gaming, I met a couple of boys from UET who later became really good friends of mine and we managed to come up with a team and kept on with the flow, the team was called “TnT”, my first ever clan. Then when Neo-Matrix 2 opened, life became much easier because for a gamer quality computers and a good rate means a lot. Me and my team mates started coming here on a regular basis, we started playing matches and tournaments which were quite fun at that time! This was the time of GC, Havok, Heat and such clans, they were active and playing on a regular basis, imagine that! Probably the best time of this game in Lahore. Then one day there was a match going on in Neo2 and I was there too, the match was between Havok and GC, Havok was one player short so DOT asked me to play for them that day. This was how I took the next step of my gaming career after this I joined various clans such as “Ra|”, my first A category clan as we would call it nowadays! We even qualified from Lahore for the big event at that time, I’m not sure if it was WCG or ESWC but I couldn’t go because of a clash of dates between my A-levels and the event.
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More on
WazzUp How was your experience at the Professional Tournaments like ESWC and WCG? Well, I played in Going Clutch and Demise for quite some time. I played the World Cyber Games ’08 with Demise and lost badly. In Counter Strike, teams from Karachi were more experienced as compared to teams from Lahore. Then ,I think in May ’09, a friend of mine formed a team called “United5” [U5] and I was part of it. The time that I spent in this team and the matches we played and the level we achieved was by far the best part of my gaming career. We won the World Cyber Games ’09 National Event that was held in Lahore and then went to China to represent Pakistan in the Grand finals. Playing here against Karachi teams in the qualifiers and there at such a big platform was quite a feeling and perhaps the biggest achievement in my gaming career.
How are the Lahori Counter Strike teams compared to the Karachi teams? The best part about teams from Karachi is that there is a sort of rivalry between the Karachi and Lahore teams which makes the matches and gaming more intense and interesting! This year we went to Karachi for the National Finals of World Cyber Games, we lost the finals unfortunately but again it was quite thrilling and fun!
How do you see the future of Lan Gaming in Pakistan? Gaming as a profession and as an activity both has been enhanced quite a lot in the past few years, mainly due to the efforts of Neo-Matrix in Lahore but then again the uncertain economic and political conditions make it quite difficult to promote this activity. I wish Neomatrix and all the gamers good luck and hope to see a better future for gaming. Play hard go pro! Cheers
wazzup
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THE HYPE OF
Champion’s Trophy Yes, as the name describes it, we are talking about the champions. With more than 200 participants every year and an uncountable number of spectators, Neomatrix proudly presents its best event each year in the starting weeks of January, The Champions Trophy.
U5
The champion’s trophy judges the best potential of gaming through this tournament. Honestly this festival runs by fans, for fans. Some like to call us a convention, others like to call us a party. Both of these are somewhat accurate, but really, Champion’s Trophy is always been a unique experience. This prestigious event includes most popular LAN games, Counter Strike 1.6, Call of Duty 4, DOTA and Medal of Honor Spearhead. Counter-strike is the most crowd pulling LAN game ever. In Champion’s Trophy, eight teams participated last year. After an intense competition, all the way to the finals, U[5] from Lahore became the champions. Owais a.k.a Wassup and Yousef a.k.a Carnage were the two main leads in U[5].The final match was played between U5 and 5K. U5 beat 5K in the finals. In Call of Duty 4 tournament, Clan [LLG] tool the top spot. LLG was well lead by Usman and later the top COD4 player Boom also joined the team in the final match. In Mohaa Spearhead tournament, ‘DaddYz’ won Champions Trophy 2010 by beating ‘D-Edge’ in the final match (3-1). The man of the match was ‘Noori Power’. From D-Edge, ‘Cany’ showed excellent Spearhead skills.
VZ
In DOTA, clan [VZ] won the 1st prize by beating [U5]. With few weeks left for the Champion’s Trophy 2011 to start, every one is talking about this event. Let’s see who wins this time.
Previous winners – 2009 -
IMZ
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About
COUNTER STRIKE Counter-Strike is a first-person shooter in which players join either the terrorist or counter-terrorist team (or become a spectator). Each team attempts to complete their mission objective and/or eliminate the opposing team. Each round starts with the two teams spawning simultaneously. A player can choose to play as one of eight different default character models (four for each side, although Counter-Strike: Condition Zero added two extra models, bringing the total to ten). Players are generally given a few seconds before the round begins (known as "freeze time") to prepare and buy equipment, during which they cannot attack or walk/move (a player can still take damage, having the player drop from a certain height during freeze time was the only way a map designer could control the players starting "HP"). They can return to the buy area within a set amount of time to buy more equipment (some custom maps included neutral "buy zones" that could be used by both teams). Once the round has ended, surviving players retain their equipment for use in the next round; players who were killed begin the next round with the basic default starting equipment.
Standard monetary bonuses are awarded for winning a round, losing a round, killing an enemy, being the first to instruct a hostage to follow, rescuing a hostage or planting (Terrorist)/defusing (Counter terrorist) the bomb.
HOW DOES SCORING WORK? The scoreboard displays team scores in addition to statistics for each player: name, kills, deaths, and ping (in milliseconds). The scoreboard also indicates whether a player is dead, carrying the bomb (on bomb maps), or is the VIP (on assassination maps), although information on players on the opposing team is hidden from a player until his/her death, as this information can be important. Killed players become "spectators" for the duration of the round; they cannot change their names until they spawn (come alive) again, text chat cannot be sent to or received from live players; and voice chat can only be received from live players and not sent to them (unless the cvar sv_alltalk is set to 1). Spectators are generally able to watch the rest of the round from multiple selectable views, although some servers disable some of these views to prevent dead players from relaying information about living players to their teammates through alternative media .
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PART 1 - PUNJAB WhiteShadOW(SPEARHEAD) CARNAGE (CS1.6) MANI (SPEARHEAD & CS) MAV (SPEARHEAD)
DOT (CS1.6) STUD (WC3) VICI (SPEARHEAD) GISPATO CAT (DOTA)
NooRIPOWER (SPEARHEAD) PRETENDER (CS1.6) NICK (CS1.6) SASUKE (CS1.6)
This is just a small collection of legends and leets. We will be adding many more in the next edition of Gamer’s Hype e-magazine.
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DIARY By: Ahmer aka ‘Kichooo’ Neomatrix. Wait, did someone say Neomatrix ?. THE Neomatrix? The magnum gaming café in Lahore ? Yeah Yeah, I know the place. Let’s embark upon a boring tale right now. I can safely presume that my association with Neomatrix spans more than anyone who is reading or will read this excerpt of mine. Neomatrix opened to a packed house on the 1st of December, 2002. What some of you don’t know is that the soft opening was held on the 15th of November, 2002. No Points for guessing who was there. That’s right; It was yours truly. Upon entering the locale, I was greeted by Mr. Majid Mahmood, the Manager Operations at Neomatrix, with whom my friendly affiliation still exists even to this day, though I have yet to receive magnanimous discounts. Anyways, so there I was, timecode in hand and ready to log in. (Milestone Alert : I was technically the FIRST customer that Neomatrix had). Yes Majid Bhai, I know “Nraged” was there but as I have pointed out to you countless times, I was the first one who entered the timecode and started gaming. Please do not deny. ( =D ).
Neomatrix has provided me with a lot of fond memories and a plethora of great friends and acquaintances as well.
Enough about my self-obsessed yarns. Neomatrix is the brainchild of Mr. Salman Rashid, an IBA Alumnus who has a pertinent passion for gaming. He has a passion for kite flying as well but then again, who’s ever heard of a kite flying café ? However, he decided to give life to his plan of opening a gaming café that not only boasted the latest hardware and peripherals but also sported a welcoming and eclectic ambience for all the gamers within. At the time of Neomatrix’s inculcation into the social scene, LAN gaming had already started to make an imprint in the youngsters’ agendas so the timing could not have been more impeccable. What started out as a meager time pass soon turned into an obsession for a number of cyber warriors as they combated in various virtual arenas with their counterparts for bragging rights and digital domination. Throw in some regular tournaments with attractive cash prizes and that was all the rave in Lahore back in those days.
I would rather see any youngster spending an hour or two playing Counter Strike and improving his talent than loitering somewhere aimlessly, with a cigarette or a hard drink for company.
The rise of drug abuse in the city and the country in general has reached alarming statistics and it is activities like these that can successfully ward off vices such As far as social impositions and as smoking etc. Neomatrix has a worldly taboos are concerned, strict No Smoking Policy and Cafés in general are considered courtesy of their regular gamers, it to be a “Not-so-Suitable” place is also implemented throughout for youngsters by their parents the café. Studies have also and all adults alike. I find this to shown that gaming enhances the be a disturbing notion as I have, sharpness of the brain which over the years realized that what none of you will take as a bad Mr. Salman Rashid, Mr. Majid thing I am pretty sure. You can Mahmood and Neomatrix are say that too much of everything is promoting as a whole is a harmful and yes, a number of platform for young talented hours spent regularly on gaming gamers to come onto and will surely cost you a trip to the perform. eye doctor;
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Yours truly
Kichooin “Bandits”, one of the earliest Mohaa Spearhead Clans .
Do bear in mind that even a regular cigarette a day can cause cancer in patients with a mediocre immune system (21 Percent Probability), whereas an hour of Counter Strike or D.o.t.A a day will not harm your eyes. (There is a 5 percent chance of someone weakening their eyesight with this pattern). The statistics now speak for themselves I believe. Pakistan’s representation in International events has also spurred the interest of all the gamers alike. Neomatrix’s collaboration with well-known brands such as Wateen, Djuice and Samsung has enabled them to highlight the presence of Pakistan in international gaming events, such as the prestigious WCG (World Cyber Games) and ESWC (Electronic Sports World Cup). It was the team(s) from Lahore who won the National Qualifiers for both Counter Strike 1.6 and Defense of the Ancients last year. The Dota team was able to repeat their feat in this year’s qualifiers
as well, but were unable to participate in the event itself (being held in Los Angeles, California) due to inevitable unprecedented circumstances. The Counter Strike team from Lahore (United5), though, was able to make a mark on the international level last year in Chengdou, China where although they bowed out in the group stages of the competition, they defeated Arch-Rivals India in an epic battle and also gave well renowned teams like eG (evilGeniuses) a tough time.
The management has done a remarkable job over the years to solidify it’s clientele and take care of their regular gamers. The friendly attitude and welcoming aura all but signifies the quality of Neomatrix as a bona fide gaming café in Lahore. Personally speaking, Neomatrix has provided me with a lot of fond memories and a plethora of great friends and acquaintances as well. My association has been a lively one and I hope to continue it in the long run.
Neomatrix currently has two branches; one being in T Block, DHA while the other is situated in Ahad Arcade, Liberty. It is somewhat of a general notion but usually, the DHA branch is labeled for matches pertaining to Call of Duty; Medal of Honor Allied Assault (SpearHead) and Counter Strike 1.6. The Liberty branch is taken to be the abode of Warcraft : Defense of the Ancients fanatics. Be that as it may, be sure to always find some competitive battle going on every time you set foot in Neomatrix.
May the Force be with you, team NEO. And for all those out there who have yet to feel the Ultimate Gaming Experience ….. Get Your Game On @ Neomatrix. Happy Fragging. !
Ahmer “Kicho0o” Mubashar.
Gaming
INCREDIBLES
U5
MIX
CLAN OR
5K
METAL
Gaming
Daddyz
D-EDGE
LIVEWIREZ
RAPTORS
KILLERS
CLAN [VZ]
CLAN [U5]
FARRUKH & BABAR
RANK
TITLE
PLATFORM
1
CALL
2
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS . WII
WII
3
WII SPORTS RESORT
WII
4
WII FIT
WII
5
MARIO KART
WII
6
WII PLAY
WII
7
CALL
PS3
8
WII FIT PLUS
WII
9
HALO 3 : ODST
XBOX 360
10
POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION
NDS
11
MADDEN NFL 10
XBOX 360
12
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS
NDS
13
MARIO KART DS
NDS
14
ASSASSIN’S CREED II
XBOX 360
15
MADDEN NFL 10
PS3
OF
OF
DUTY MODERN WARFARE 2
DUTY MODERN WARFARE 2
XBOX 360
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 attempts to capture the insanity and life-and-death situations of real-life combat. Once again you hop between several engaging story arcs as you globe-trot on missions to stop a war and ultimately bring a madman to justice.
SOURCE: ESA
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A BIT ABOUT
Neomatrix Gaming Network opened its first branch in Defence Housing Authority , Lahore, in December 2002. In that very year, a good number of gaming centers had started operating in different areas of Lahore with the main concentration in Defence. It was a craze that youth could just not ignore. Multiplayer gaming came out with a bang and gamers had a great time socializing and competing with each other. While most of the gaming centers were concentrating on providing LAN gaming, Neomatrix strategized to provide quality gaming with great emphasis on ambiance and the gaming environment. It provided top notch PCs with top of the line motherboard and video card combinations that simply beat out competition. Most of the gamers started shifting to Neomatrix for regular gaming. And that was the beginning of our network.
the most popular game in Lahore was Medal of Honor Allied Assault. In fact, Medal of Honor was Punjab’s top played multiplayer game all the way from Lahore to Islamabad and Peshawar. The top two clans in the early days of Neomatrix were ‘MAUT’ and ‘FRONTLINE’. Extremely competitive Spearhead tournaments became a feature at Neomatrix. Top Mohaa Spearhead Players like WhiteShadow, Subculture, Big hurt, nRaged , Mani and others were the talk of the town. Over time, a number of multiplayer games are now played at gaming centers. These include, Counter Strike, Call of Duty 2 & 4, Generals, Need for Speed etc. The most played games at thi s time are Counter Strike and Call of Duty4. DOTA comes next.
With regular tournaments and sponsorships from some of the big name companies, Neomatrix won the hearts of the gamers of Lahore. When Neomatrix started,
Neomatrix has two branches in Lahore. One in Defence (near DHA Cinema) and the other in Gulberg (near Liberty Shopping Center). Both of these gaming centers feature Dual Core processors and top notch graphic cards including nVidias 8600GTs & 9600GTs. Web: http://www.neomatrixgaming.com
Get your game on at Neomatrix!