Meet Snoop: An Unreal gamer

[Tandem]

Steven Deare, PC World
17/09/2003 09:49:58

Sydneysider Dominic Lewandowski takes gaming competitions like next month's World Cyber Games in Korea seriously; so seriously that his teammates have flown interstate to practise against him.

The 15-year-old, who plays under the nickname of Snoop, recently won the competition for the Unreal Tournament 2003 PC game at the Australian finals of the World Cyber Games, held in Sydney. On 10 October he'll leave for the world championships of the Games in Seoul, Korea, where officials expect 600 participants from 55 countries to contest a range of games.

Lewandowski will compete against about 40 of the world's best Unreal gamers for $US20,000 in prize money.

Run by International Cyber Marketing, the World Cyber Games have been held annually since 2000, and have received sponsorship from several high-profile technology companies. The Australian finals of WCG pitted each game's state champions against each other to decide the Australian champion.

Currently preparing for the Games in Seoul, Lewandowski said his practice consists of about four to six hours of Unreal a day. A futuristic first person shooter, players in Unreal hunt opponents through space-based landscapes, trying to shoot each other with a range of weaponry. Shooting accuracy and speed are essential requirements for success.

Lewandowski has honed these skills via a gaming clan called Dimension X. Some of his clanmates will fly from interstate to play against him before major gaming competitions. This provides better practice than playing online, Lewandowski said.

The Dimension X clan includes New Zealand's Nicholas McCabe (nickname: eVeNfLoW). McCabe was the only gamer from the Southern Hemisphere to win a medal at last year's Games in Korea. His sponsor, Intel, flew him to the Sydney finals of the World Cyber Games.

"So they might fly in for the weekend and stay at my house. The flights are paid for [by event organisers]," said Lewandowski.

Lewandowski first played (the original version of) Unreal in 2000. Once Unreal Tournament 2003 was released, he began to realise his potential.

"How I got to be professional started from playing online," he said. "I realised I was beating pros, and then I went to [last year's] WCG and it went from there."

He advises aspiring professional gamers to try to see the world's best in action, before trying the game(s) themselves.

"Last year I came second [in Unreal] at WCG, but I was really disorganised in my practice. This year I made sure my practice was better, and put my strategy in place," he said.

This strategy revolves around his ability to outthink and outsmart his opponents.

"Often they [opponents] will go in circles, so I try to know where they're going," he said.

"Also things like armour respawn [in the environment] every 50 seconds, so you have to be there then [to collect the item]."

For his first WCG world championships, Lewandowski said he wanted to finish in the top six to eight gamers.

After Korea, Lewandowski has set his sights on the USA's Cyber X Games in January, which offers a total $US600,000 prize pool.

[Mr.Deflok]

I bet I could kick his ass... at PONG!

[Tandem]

Originally posted by Mr.Deflok
I bet I could kick his ass... at PONG!

LOL - I bet you could Mr.Deflok.

It's amazing what opportunities have turned up for some people as a result of playing 'games'.

[Mr.Deflok]

Yeah it makes me want to give up on a successful career, shell out on an even better rig than what I've got, cut off all ties with the world outside these walls, disconnect my phone and play CS all day... ah.. the good life.

[mrquackers]

I shadowed Fatal1ty at QuakeCon this year for an afternoon after meeting him at a dinner. Watching him play was like watching surgery. Whereas I hunch over my keyboard and lean into the screen when playing a FPS, he sits back and takes out competitors with an eerie ease. I spent an entire damn clip trying to frag somebody who's standing right in front of me. He kills them with one shot, while in mid-leap.

Scary stuff. I got more respect for his abilitites after that.

[CyN1caL]

Originally posted by mrquackers
I shadowed Fatal1ty at QuakeCon this year for an afternoon after meeting him at a dinner. Watching him play was like watching surgery. Whereas I hunch over my keyboard and lean into the screen when playing a FPS, he sits back and takes out competitors with an eerie ease. I spent an entire damn clip trying to frag somebody who's standing right in front of me. He kills them with one shot, while in mid-leap.

Scary stuff. I got more respect for his abilitites after that.

The best idea is just to get as confertable as you can.

Also, think about changing your key layouts. Some different changes to your style may suit you in an excellent way.

[Xiangsu]

They sound good. I envy there(well, more like the money that they will earn) skills.

[battlemouth]

i wonder how much time you have to waste to get that good..

[H12]

Holy Christ dude, I hate hearing all these stories about people making an assload of money for playing games. Given, I wish I was doin' the same thing, but I don't really understand who'd wanna cough up that much money to see who's the best gamer around. More power to the winners who get the moolah though; I just don't like the idea of outrageous amounts of money for the guy who can get the most frags.