Archive for the ‘Social/Contest’ Category

An Outstanding Fan Video – Producer Approved!

I received a private message from the Elite’s Facebook page from a fellow named Greg Johnson, an avid Goldeneye fan who led the creation of one of the neatest soundtrack medleys ever created for the game. Grant Kirkhope and Graeme Norgate, creators of the original soundtrack, both gave their outstanding approval and I felt the need to also share it with the rest of the Elite. Enjoy!

I’d also like to point out that the comment section below has been upgraded and finally works! Feel free to post your thoughts as freely as you’d wish.

First it was Runway SA 0:22, now Streets?!

It was Saturday, June 25, 2005 – Wouter Jansen, the elite’s greatest 1.1 control style player and one of the most dominant speedrunners in the elite’s history, finally achieved an unheard-of record of 1:13 on Streets Agent. That record stood alone for a year and a half until Ryan White tied it on March 2, 2007. Since those two, 22 additional players claimed 1:13 as a record on their times page – including myself just 3 short days ago – only to see the record fall today by a player who is almost certainly the most persistent player since the days of Wouter Jansen himself; both players being so determined to get a record that many others would simply settle for less on.

That player is Marc Rützou, whom now is finally a top 5 player after a long period of time with an incomplete set of times. 1:12 was a figment of the imagination for a while until Ryan White had a 1:12.99 rounded up a few years back. Marc’s robot-perfect strafing, a cash offer of $100, the new addition of 2.2 control style, and hours upon hours of free time has contributed to a record that most certainly will not be tied by very many people in the long run.

As it stands, only 41 people currently hold a Goldeneye record, and only 33 people hold multiple records – an astoundingly low number in comparison to the BBWJ era or DCRI era.

Without further ado, here is the video. Once again, congrats to Marc for being a stubborn speedrunner who literally settles for nothing less than the very best.

On a horrible sidenote, David Clemens is the 2012 Elite Summer Contest winner! Clemens was victorious by a margin of 28-26 over his opponent, who had another solid showing in the contest for the 2nd time in 3 years. Dave’s win closes the book on possibly the most dominating month in elite history (see previous update for his Virginia results)

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!

The June Update – 22 seconds gone, SUMMER CONTEST!

To summarize the month of May, Perfect Dark has completely stolen the show for headlines and activity. Investigation Agent has seen a total time drop of 22 seconds from the previous world record of 1:27 to a completely-unforeseen 1:05 by Ilari Pekkala. The record and strategy has now been optimized into a double-laser-glitch, essentially eliminating the bot-speed-luck factor altogether.

The video of the current record of 1:05 can be found here.

On the Goldeneye side of the spectrum, some new mid-carders have emerged as the powerhouses of the PR topic this month! Ryan Koch has emerged from a 30th-ranked player and is now knocking on the door of the top 15 with PRs such as Dam 00A 2:00 and Silo A 1:06. David Monteith, now shedding the mantra as “new Dave”, has gotten 17 total PRs in the month of May, including Runway Agent 0:22 and an astounding Depot 00A 0:49 as his world records for the month. David is currently ranked 25th as of this update and I’m personally very curious to see what he can do in the month of June!

Finally, the big non-game news of the month is the emergence of the annual Elite Summer Contest! All the information including brackets, links to everything, and match write-ups can be found in General Chat near the top of the boards.

We all openly welcome the time of year when contest is upon us. Certain people who are inactive throughout the other 3 seasons of the year come back to catch up and have fun as the traditions of first vote, predictions, and participant reactions roll through chat and the boards on a nightly basis.