The birth of ET and Call of Duty came within months of each other. The Activision titles were released within 6 months of eachother and for the RTCW community it presented a fork in the road. Now in 2007 the fork is back as Quakewars and Call of Duty 4 arrive on the shelves just 6 weeks apart. Which path will you take?

Looking back into the history books of RTCW the player divide from those leaving the game after Eurocup VIII was relatively even. Ironically the team that won that Eurocup, mysod, were formed from remains of the first Amnesia ET squad, who played the game from release only to return to RTCW for the final Eurocup. Some of that side were never to be seen again, however darv and dolt briefly returned to ET with an unsuccessful reincarnation of Amensia along side the likes of Shakes, Christa and Darky. Blaze moved from the mysod team over to Call of Duty where he kept his name amongst the cream of the crop, however his subsequent move to CounterStrike Source has seen him become one of Europe’s top FPS gamers.

Their opponents in that final, Kreaturen saw some players move to ET but most drop off the radar completely. On their route to the final, Kreaturen conquered the Swedish giant iNfensus (then playing as GMPO). From that team some went on to form CoD1 team, cubic, who enjoyed some success after the games release however didn’t stick together long. Quakecon champion SoD could be found playing for the powerful spooks roster at the start of ET, but just like his Swedish compatriots in CoD1, he didn’t stay long in ET.
Mysod had conquered british lineup uC in the knockouts of that infamous Eurocup and the bulk of their lineup went to CoD1 and despite various reincarnations along the way they always kept themselves at the pinnacle of the scene.

Other top names who didn’t feature heavily in that Eurocup such as Ocrana and Rewind took their leave from RTCW early only to hit back in ET with a vengeance. Names with massive RTCW reputations took to the ET field and ruled the roost as soon as it was there to be ruled. There of course they would meet a gunslingers name and lineup that could trace its roots all the way back to RTCW, and for fans favourite mystic, Eurocup VIII RTCW. Quakecon attendees Last Chance made an early move to Call of Duty and some of their top names were eventually plucked into Team AMD Gamer. Interestingly enough for the RTCW movers to Call of Duty, it was Unreal Tournament players (mick) and SoF and MOHAA players (Trigger) that went on to rule the roost in both CoD1 and 2.

Of course the fork also had other prongs, staying with RTCW, Quitting Gaming or eventually being eaten alive by World of Warcraft upon its release 18 months later. These options still present themselves on this latest fork.

The reason for this dive into the history books? Well this Christmas, it might all happen again. The writing is already on the wall for some player moves, Dignitas’ Quakewars team will feature Reload and Jak. One need only look at humm3l’s CoD journals of late to know that he’ll likely be giving its next instalment a go and upon release more with make up their mind. However the question unanswered, is why move? One of the answers will be revealed in tommorows column, ‘The birth of a competitive future’. However in short, those who play to win and play to the death will always be hungry for the competition that comes with new games and challenges.

It does however strike me as exceedingly odd to release both titles within six weeks of eachother. Many publishers such as ubisoft release titles in just March and October, Acitivision have a less stringent yet similar strategy. The Christmas rush is certainly on, and Activision will want their titles sitting under the Christmas tree, however they’re competing against their own games and they will lose out. However in a winter with Halo3, Crysis and Unreal Tornament all releasing new titles, publishers are competing more than ever, a subject worthy of a whole new article.

The fork is coming!