I need a hero, I’m holding out for a hero ‘til the end of the night, He’s gotta be strong ,And he’s gotta be fast, And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight. Enough Bonnie Tyler for the time being, however I do need a hero, I need someone or some team or something to get those juices flowing once again!

My playing days are most likely very much behind me, however casting cracking match is just as good as playing in one for my money. Where is that next cracking match going to come from? The winter of discontent may just have set in as the clouds loom and the matches drown in a rain of insignificance. The sunshine will return however is this going to be the coldest winter yet?

With the mass transition of players from game to game and the testing period that this winter has become many teams and players have ceased to exist. In ET Dignitas and TLR for example lost parts of their roster to Quakewars with other players moving into other lineups. In Call of Duty the game on a competitive level has collapsed awaiting Call of Duty 4 and in Quakewars the teams are so fresh and the matches still lack competitive legitimacy that every game becomes just the same as those before it. Perhaps the avid spectator should just...go outside?

This week I was desperate to cast a Eurocup ET match and I looked through the offerings on GamesTV.org with dismay. The match of the week was MoD vs Impact and a little part of me died when I looked at that MoD roster alongside the words 'game of the week'. Their Clanbase roster is even worse than the lineup they fielded on GamesTV. I'm no Columbo when it comes to cheat busting, but I've seen those names tarnished with the cheating brush or alongside cheaters FAR to often to care about a match with them in and that was supposedly the most exciting offering from ET this week.

So I look to Quakewars and whilst I may still cast the I32 qualifiers, but I know that this stage of competition is not worth anything in prestige. Activision have poured money into Quakewars competitions online and in a competitive sense, its all for nothing from a competitive point of view. In 2 years time the winner of the 4000 Euro opencup or 3000 pound iseries competition wont be reflected upon as a hero. If you need any further example of this, then look at the legacy of ET or Call of Duty and ask yourself did the early champions have the legitimacy that today’s kings do? No, they don’t is the general answer. Whilst there may be exceptions and there isn’t always proof, the general concept is that competitive gameplay evolves to better upon the first generation of tactics. Remember in RTCW when we used to defend in the war room on beach for example?

With Call of Duty 4 poised to be modded out of its designed format and Quakewars going through the same phase its hard to predict where the next big match is going to come from. Perhaps it will be TLR vs Impact in Eurocup ET, perhaps it will be the first knockout stage of next seasons Quakewars Eurocup or maybe it'll be that first Dignitas vs Speedlink game played in a standard Call of Duty format. Until then must I sit and be bored?

Perhaps we on Crossfire are a victim of ET's competitive success? After years of excellent coverage and celebrities being born, bread and eventually shot down do we now demand a level of prestige attached with any match - prestige which cannot be attained in the early months of a games competitive development.

I always used to say, coverage is king - But what happens when nobody warrants the crown?