Scandalnavia › A Fairytale

"Norway is situated in the western part of the Scandinavian peninsula. Nearly 70% of Norway is uninhabitable and covered by mountains, glaciers, moors, and rivers. The hundreds of deep fjords that cut into the coastline give Norway an overall oceanfront of more than 19,312 km.

The colors of the Norwegian flag are believed to have been influenced by the flags of France, the United States and Britain and are considered the colors of liberty and independence. The cross is common to most Scandinavian flags, and represents Norway's link to the other Scandinavian countries."*



Today we talk with Borcester, one of the more prominent Norwegian’s around in Enemy Territory. We will be talking about Enemy Territory as general and about his past as a gaming wonderstar. This and many other subjects are tackled in this talk with Borcester.



Hi Borcster, could you introduce yourself and explain how you started and progressed through competitive gaming?

Hi, I'm Mads "Borcster" Poulsen, 26 years old from Norway. I attempted to play some Starcraft when I was a teen, but it wasn't until I tried Enemy Territory that I really got into gaming. Started out on the Norwegian server TNX, were I was picked up by a Norwegian clan. I stepped up my gaming and got to play NC with all the Norwegian ET/RTCW legends. Took over as captain the following seasons, before retiring to play World of Warcraft.

When CoD4 came out I started playing that in the Norwegian side Chupacabras. Later on I was picked up by fastswitch, and subsequently the NC team in that game as well.


Is your life currently centered solely around gaming, or do you have other interests you spend much time on?

I must admit nowadays my life revolves pretty much around work, gaming and the occasional party. When I was most active with ET I was the coach of a soccer team as well, so I haven't always been like this: p


When you started gaming did you ever imagine you ending up playing for Norway in two different games? Has much changed since you started gaming competitively?

I couldn’t imagine that I would like a game such as cod4. It was quite different to adapt to the new playstyle as ET is more aim and less brain. The mindgames during rounds in CoD4 takes time to adapt to, as a mistake is punished much harder.

My whole mindset around gaming has changed since I started play competitively, where I before used to be able to enjoy most new games, I now automatically look for a competitive side of the game. So one could say that it has "ruined" my ability to like random games. But after years in gaming, I prefer games where I can get slapped around a little by better players, so that I need to learn the game properly.


Enemy Territory has a long history and has always had a very loyal following. Do you understand why many tournaments don't include the game or offer very low cash prizes for it?

Yeah, definitely. The game itself is quite hard to grasp at first sight, especially with the fast paced action and somewhat large maps. So viewers not having played the game have a huge disadvantage and will probably find the action tedious and repetitive. Another factor is that ET was a free game, there were not enough reasons (read: $$$) for the developers and distributors to push it.


However, seeing the longevity of the game, I think they made a mistake, and had they been allowed to continue to develop ET and sell it as a proper game, it could have been a fair bit larger.


What brought you into the gaming scene all those years ago, was there some special chain of events in your life that pushed you into gaming or did it all just happen quite unexpectedly?

Nah, happened quite unexpectedly. I've always liked playing games, but due to football, girlfriends and other real life commitments, I never had the time before. So I guess you could say it was a coincidence.


You have played with some of the best players to have ever graced ET and RTCW. Who was the best player you have ever played with in a team and why?

Hmm, the best player would probably be zenon. His ability to adapt along with his gamesense and ability to learn makes him quite underrated. I rate teamplayers quite high, however, a good candidate would also be Vead of the nam side. He could turn matches alone, and had the correct mindset of a top player.


What is the most memorable moment in your career?

Probably The Experience 09. LAN's are why we should game as they bring us together as a community and strengthen us. Gamers should do more to attend LAN's in general as they bring back the human aspect of gaming we so often lose online.


Wolfenstein was launched some months ago, what were your original ideas concerning the game? Was the out of the box version already playable according to you or were you disappointed of the game's outcome?

I had huge expectations to the game, but the version that came out of the box was a piece of junk. I cannot believe how bad it was actually, and releasing a beta build as live version is a no-go. Especially when the beta-version is shit. But I guess there's too much money in games nowadays for publishers/developers to care. *cough cough* MW2 *cough cough*


If you were sent into exile on an island full of savages, what kind of weapon from these two games would you take along to defend yourself?

Probably the k43, it can shoot, it works up close, can blow shit up, and it's long enough to poke weird looking things with.


* - http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107851.html