Archive for the ‘Meetings’ Category

Awesome Games Done Quick – REPRESENT!

The Elite has been featured on other speedrunning websites before, but the buck stops at Speed Demos Archive! Our very own Alex Anderson (20th in Goldeneye) will be featured on Thursday, January 10, at 9:30 EST. Alex will get one attempt (no resets) to beat GoldenEye on a 100% speedrun in front of 10,000 viewers plus a live audience of nearly 50 people!

Cheer Alex on at www.speeddemosarchive.com and if you wish to donate, all the money will be going to the Prevent Cancer Foundation – a very good cause

Best of luck Alex, may Dr. Doak have mercy on you.

The November Update – Insane records, new podium player!

October has come and gone. For most of us, it was a time of foliage changing color and cooler temperatures, but boy did the world records stay hot! Not only did both games see some huge activity, but there was a significant change in the point rankings in Goldeneye, as well as some insane untieds by a potential high-profile player. Lets start with the most important stuff from October.

Henning Blom, Goldeneye’s highest-ranked Swede and top 5 overall player, has absolutely dominated the world record topic. Previously known for having sub-standard Depot times, he had suddenly risen to the top of the Depot leaderboards and is well on his way to an untied 300 point stage. Henning posted Depot Agent 0:25 back on October 7, then followed that up by tying David Monteith’s only untied record of Depot Secret Agent 0:40 on October 30; finally, he improved one of his worst times by posting an insane Depot 00 Agent 0:48, tying Bryan Bosshardt, and is well on his way to posting a 0:47 (he has 6 failed 0:48s as of this update). Along with this incredible Depot domination, Henning posted a smooth Streets 00 Agent 1:55. Overall, Henning launched himself over former champion Bryan Bosshardt to assume 3rd place and a spot on the podium for the first time in his career. Henning could easily challenge Rayan Isran‘s #2 spot and has already announced his intentions of getting there, could he perhaps one day challenge the seemingly untouchable David Clemens?

Speaking of the champ David Clemens, it’s worth noting that during a warm-up session in Minnesota just 2 short days ago as of this update, David failed a Frigate SA 1:00 by failing the engine bomb objective… the hostages completed! Henning was *that* close to losing his one and only precious yet insane untied world record to a guy who seems like he can turn it on at any moment. The featured video of David failing 1:00 is below with a live reaction recorded, it is absolutely priceless but heartbreaking to watch.

Next on the insanity list is a little-known player to most casual observers. Luke “Lucky P” Pettit has made himself known as the guy who has insane times, yet never had a world record. While rather interesting, it was a shame that he missed out on Runway Secret Agent 0:23 by a few hours or so after Bryan Bosshardt got 0:22. Luke absolutely smashed this reputation by posting an unexpected and insane Frigate 00 Agent 1:06! To add insult to injury to anyone who ever made fun of his lack of world records, he followed that up by posting a 1:05 on the very same difficulty! This is a bittersweet video to watch, because Luke took a safe strat at the end and waited for Objective A to complete at the boat, leaving it up for nearly a second and almost assuredly giving up 1:04 in the process. Regardless, Pettit did the rare feat of making champion David Clemens lose a record while establising himself as a real player and a threat to the top 10 (and possibly top 5!)

Never to be forgotten, PAL sensation and top 5 player Marc Rützou untied his own record by posting a smooth Train SA 1:23. This record was far out of reach already to NTSC players, but Marc made this record nearly out of reach for anyone by lowering his own record and proving he’s the greatest Train player of all time. Marc also finally got a Bunker 1 Agent 0:17, a record that was a glaring void in his times page up to this point. One must not look past his Aztec 00 Agent 1:41 as well, which was achieved on his way to possibly obliterating the current record of 1:40. This guy is clearly capable of setting any record he wants.

Lastly on the world record front, Perfect Dark saw it’s on share of the action. Bryan Bosshardt, never to be forgotten for his PD accomplishments (including being a former champion), blasted away a former Paragon record by posting a sweet Infiltration PA 1:40. The record likely isn’t quite as impressive as the former Paragon record of 1:52 only because a forgotten shield was left in the game in the Japanese version. Nevertheless, Bryan’s 1:40 gives him a 2 second advantage on his next competitor, Taka. Taka wasn’t completely forgotten this month; he posted a Rescue SA 2:17, tying a record set by David Clemens.

Moving onto the PR front, Jimmy Bauer takes the prize as the player of the month (in my humble opinion, anyway). Jimmy was always known as the guy who wasn’t always around, but when he posted, it was usually an insane PR or WR that took everyone by surprise. This time though, he posted a barrage of PRs that elevated him several ranks in overall time and boosted him solidly into the top 10 in points. Eddie Lovins now holds onto his top 10 spot by a mere 2 points over Dan Cervone! Bauer posted some great PRs like Jungle 00A 0:58, Frigate SA 1:03, Jungle A 0:52, as well as Aztec 00 Agent 1:48 – this being a 44 second cut and an 50 point gainer!

Ilari Pekkala posted a Silo Agent 1:04, Train Agent 1:04, Depot 00A 0:50, and even made the switch to PD for an Attack Ship PA 3:14 (during his chase for the bounty offered to take down the 6 year untied of 3:12). Ryan White has come back with a vengeance by posting some insane Statue times, as well as being the flagship streamer on the elite’s new pursuit of Goldeneye 100% world records (which is currently held by David Clemens). The streams feature Clemens, Ryan White, and Marc Rützou on a consistent basis. The viewer count at times has peaked at over 100!

Lastly, as a shout-out and thank you for hosting an epic meet in Minnesota, I must mention that Dan Edeen is slowly becoming good speedrunner. He spent countless hours for his precious Dam Agent 0:54 and Archives Agent 0:17, both taking a ridiculously long time, but it shows his persistence for these times as he strives to match his Minnesota brethren in skill at the games. This is a guy who buys and sells games on the side for some major extra cash, he’s also a guy who currently owns a Millennium 2000 controller, a Nintendo Power 100 controller, and a DK64 controller! Dan is projected to host a major midwest meet next spring at his new (big!) house, it would be the largest concentration of top-players in the history of the elite. (Hint, we could see 4 of Goldeneye’s top 5 players in one house!)

The October Update – Controversial [banned] strats, and….?

Well folks, September was pretty boring. Upon looking at the time history for September 2012, I found a total of TWO new world records, both in Goldeneye. The big topic of the month though centered around the new strat veteran Trent Hovis managed to find through game rage and unorthodox experimentation, and here is a basic explanation of how it works:

It involves taking a 2nd controller apart and plugging it into the 2nd controller port (using whatever style you want, 1.2 for example). If you press on the circuit board a certain way during the fadeout, it freezes the game by making all objects disappear and completely freezes the mission timer while countdowns CONTINUE. The flip-side to this glitch is that anything with a countdown to end the level can be advantageous because “unfreezing” the game as the level fades out will give you a completion at whatever point you froze the level using your controller originally…

It’s basically the equivalent of stomping on your N64 a certain way to get the mission timer to stop at 0:09 and calling it a glitch. This would only be useful on Facility A/SA/00A and Train SA/00A, Aztec 00A for a no-armor run so you don’t have to go back to the vents.

The controversy began when Trent posted some untied records on Train and left us all hanging as to how he pulled off these miraculous untieds (1:22 SA and 1:49 00A). With some whistle-blowing detective work from David Clemens, it was found that hardware manipulation was used to get these times (including Facility Agent 0:43) and subsequently these times were immediately removed from the rankings.

See this topic for more details on everything.

The big new time of the month comes from Marc Rützou, who landed a cool Silo 00 Agent 1:22; David Witten also posted a sweet Archives Agent 0:16, a record I will always be biased for.

On an end note, the Virginia 2012 compilation video is complete and uploaded! The video can be found here.

The (belated) August update – Virginia winners, chicken dinners!

11 days late, but hey who’s paying attention right? The 6th international meet of the Eliters and (a few specific) Karters came to a close about 9 days ago, and what a meet it was!

David Clemens took down his first Virginia Goldeneye championship in rather dominating fashion, winning 5 matches in a total of only 6 played over competitors Karl Jobst and Jimbo Barrett. Karl showed his amazing ability by backing up all of his trash-talk on the boards and finishing a solid 2nd… Myself on the other hand, well… I was no more than a meat bag for these guys. When it comes to 3P and 4P games, these 2 are in their own zip code. It’s also to note that David took home a cool $250 cash from Karl in a special 4P match set up by the Aussie with his own custom rules. David ended the meet about $400 richer and with an amazing controller as a prize…

In Mario Kart 64, Bryan Bosshardt cruised to his first Kart championship. With his win, he continues the streak of no repeat winners since 2008. Upstart Tyler “Third” Wishall took home 2nd place from the angry Jimbo Barrett, who finished 3rd, just ahead of Nathan Stinson. (note: That was my 5th consecutive finals appearance without a win, Kart can get depressing sometimes)

In other Goldeneye news, Marc Rutzou finally became a top 5 player by getting a complete set of times. With relative ease, he coasted into his current 5th place in both time/points. Ryan Koch keeps climbing the rankings and is now ranked ahead of legend Wouter Jansen and ice cold Aussie Glen Stevens. Ilari Pekkala came out of his inactive cave and posted a Depot SA 0:42 just after he was supplanted by Marc Rutzou. Finally, I myself have posted about 100 points worth of new PRs to get over the 5000 point mark again. (Goldeneye has been relatively inactive the last month and a half compared to the last few updates)

Last but not least, the elite Summer Contest is wrapping up and the 2 finals entrants have been announced! Check the boards to see who made it!

The July Update – The Countdown to Virginia is ON!

Here we are, officially under 30 days to go until what has become the largest Elite meet and an annual occurrence brings a lot of us together once again. Memorable lifetime moments are created at the lake house, as personalities and competitiveness both mesh together and clash violently both on the big screen, and leisurely around the Elite’s real life bachelor bad. Friends are made and more great players will emerge as the newly-formatted Goldeneye tournament takes place this year. By this time next month, we’ll see if Eddie Lovins can step his game up in 3P-multi and hold his crown as the king of Multiplayer.

In solo news, who else but David Monteith is to highlight the July update? David has posted 7 new PRs in total, including Streets Secret Agent 1:55 and 00 Agent 1:55, giving him his first 300 point stage! David also posted Bunker 1 Agent 0:17, the 27th person to do so; and Facility Agent 0:45, which is insane in its own right, being worth 95 points.

The young gun wasn’t the only one posting new PRs this month. Veteran Australian legend Karl Jobst came roaring back onto the scene, posting Dam Agent 0:53, the 34th player to so do; and Bunker 1 Agent 0:17, the 28th player to do so. Karl also posted some PRs on other levels, likely to get into prime gaming shape for his first trip to the United States and first major international tournament in just about a month! Karl wasn’t the only grizzled veteran to be posting PRs, yours truly is also active; 19 seconds have been cut off of Aztec and a rank was gained in the process. Top 10 player Eddie Lovins posted Caverns 00A 1:41, and Greg Woll improved his Caverns 00 Agent time from something like 3:36 to 1:48! Luke Pettit posted both Facility Secret 0:55 and 00 Agent 0:55. Finally, Bryan Bosshardt followed up Runway SA 0:22 (see below update) with Depot Secret Agent 0:41, and Depot 00 Agent 0:49.

In Perfect Dark, Ilari “Illu” Pekkala’s dominance on Investigation has spilled over to Special Agent, as the record sits at an incredible 2:06. Illu continues to have untied records on both Agent and SA.

The first round of the Elite Summer Contest is nearly over, and boy what a contest it’s been! A huge thank you goes out to the 40 or so participants that consistently vote in every match.

Final note: By this time next month, the Virginia meet will be in progress, so the update will be a few days late. The next update will have all the tournament results and links to the epic recaps … perhaps even YOU could participate next year!

No Excuses Anymore…

With a dearly-devoted wife of nearly 4 years now, and a second baby on the way, Shawn Johnson of the Goldeneye rankings has defied every theory and law of speedrunning. Not only has Shawn blasted his way into the top 10 in points and time, but he’s now moved into a stellar position of 7th place and the 3rd-highest ranking American! The move into 7th puts him atop Goldeneye Multiplayer champion and legendary speedrunner Eddie Lovins!

What’s impressive is that Shawn still has a few garbage times that are “easily improvable” by top 10 standards, and a campaign bid for a top 5 position just might be on his horizon…

Thank you Shawn for your dedication. It’s guys like you who create amazing story lines for us to comment on and share with the rest of the elite. A husband, father of 2, and full time employee is ranked behind only 6 people in the entire world. Think about that.

In other news, Virginia 2012 is approaching at lightning speed and if you need to start discussing travel plans or anything else pertaining to our annual Elite-Kart meet, visit the topic here.

One final note is that The Elite has finally created a page of live streaming, created by David “DKK5” Kovaz, and Hugo “Cara” Van der Wolk! This page allows any speedrunner to play while simultaneously allowing us to watch everything they do… LIVE. It can be any level-specific world record attempt, or a full segment (Agent, Secret/Special, 00A/PA) speedrun. The stream will eventually be embedded permanently into the front page, but for now the link can be found here. Information about the page and how to participate for yourself can be found here.

Florida 2010 Meet Recap Online!

Although it may have been the coldest week in Florida in many years, that didn’t stop the rest of us from having a great time as usual in the variety of games that we play! Check out the topic (with pics!) on the boards.

http://perfectdarkelite.yuku.com/topic/15110