Hey what`s up guys,

Been a long time since I wrote a blog, I apologize for that.

First of all, I wanted to start by saying thank you to all the people who keep visiting my website and supporting me, I couldn`t be happier really. You give me a lot of motivation to keep doing what I do and I`m really grateful for that.

So what`s up in my life lately? Well.. for the past 2/3 months I lived in Milan in a really comfortable home with a really good old friend of mine, Michele, who was also used to play Quake3 back in the good old days with the Italian clan Mad-Squad (his nickname Is Mik[M] or Mattisani now in QuakeLive). Life in Milan it`s pretty cool and I had the chance to reconnect with some of my best friends that I haven`t seen in a long time..  Riccardo “Vicious” Zanocchio and Vincenzo “Booms” D`Aurelio.

Since May I started increasing my Quake Live playing hours but really slowly, not only because I didn`t want to get burned out too early, but also because I am working on a cool project that took a lot of my time.

In June I`d say I started playing only with other top players, unfortunately I had to stop using my real account because it would have been impossible for me to play online calm and quiet , without stressing out.. I want to thank Spartie for practicing a lot with me lately, he`s a great player.

Right now I`m preparing for Quakecon, which definitely will be a cool event.. I can`t wait really. I haven`t played in a tournament in a year, since CGS finals, and in a FPS tournament in like… 2 years? Maybe even more.. My last official FPS tournament was i30 in April 2007 I believe.. I`m really excited ;).

Yesterday I played a showmatch vs av3k, one of the best Quake players in the past few years.(what a coincidence, my last serious game in a FPS tournament was actually against him in the i30 Quake4 final..).The showmatch was streamed Live on ESL TV and it was the introduction match for the big tournament they’re holding online in the next weeks, called ESL Quake Live Invitational, sponsored by Razer.

I increased my playtime few days before the showmatch, tried to re-learn old maps like dm13 and t4 since it has been awhile since I played them and also because they are in the  Quakecon map pool

I played decently considering I was a bit nervous, but I definitely shook off that tournament rustiness/feeling .

You can download all of the demos of the show match HERE and you can also watch the ESL LIVE Streaming HERE

I`m going back again to my real home in Andora tomorrow and stay there until I leave for the United States.. so I can enjoy the sun and some relax at the beach between hours of practice.. I`ll probably invite some players over as usual, but unfortunately we will have to play online since Quake Live doesn’t have LAN support yet :p.

Till the next blog,

Alessandro “stermy” Avallone

As an iphone user, I felt like I had everything I needed while using my apple phone.

2 months ago I was in Los Angeles with my friend Yaz (clown) and we saw a blackberry promotion so I started making some research about this phone and found it really interesting.

What I found really appealing about this phone was the possibility of having all the blackberry features (Push tecnology, Blackberry messenger, etc) plus some of the things that made the iphone so special, like the touchscreen, the great camera, full internet browsing and so forth.

Vodafone Italy released this phone last week in Italy and I was one of the first people to ever put an hand on this phone in my country; last Thursday I went to Genova to pick it up and went back home with this new toy.
The package was really nice build and inside you will find a 8gb MicroSD memory, Hands Free headset/microphone, a really nice leather case, a little thing to clean your screen and ofcourse the CD-ROM with the application and drivers for your phone.








My impressions so far:

First time I turned on the phone, it took awhile before it actually boot up (about 2mins). I followed the initial tutorial and then I was ready to play around with the phone.
The screen is impressive, colour and contrast are really well balanced. Screen Resolution is 480 x 360 pixel.
First thing I did is went through the options and see what I could change. I found it really easy to understand but still didnt change anything :).

I started adding my emails on the phone and WOW it was easy. It did everything by itself and now I get my emails way faster than ever, I didnt think the push mail technology was that good.
Right after that, I finally checked the application I wanted the most: Blackberry Messenger. Why?
Because most of my friends in the US and 90% of the people I work with have a blackberry and they always use this application, and now I know why.
It`s pretty much like a Msn messenger / AIM that stays on with the phone everywhere you go. You can change your status, chat, even have group chats, send files etc. It`s great and it`s the best way I can keep in touch with my friends all around the world because I can just send them a message whenever I want, without spending anymoney. And it`s really cool ofcourse!
I checked my device PIN and started sending it to my friends who added me in no time, really great.
You can also find all the other InstantMessaging programs such as Windows Live Messenger, AIM , Yahoo Messenger etc already on the phone and they all work with the Push technology I believe, as they also receive messages in real time and they stay connected even when the phone is on “standby”. I played around with some options and added my mobile accounts to the phone (yes I have different IM accounts for the phone so only few people that can contact me and I dont receive 2000 messages, I suggest you do the same!).

3G internet seems really fast and the browser itself works great, however it is different from the iphone browser and I`m still not used to it. The functionality is there thought and I probably just need sometime I heard disabling Javascript will improve speed, but i havent tryed it yet as I didnt feel the need to. Some people say to turn it on only on the pages you really need, so... we`ll see, I left it on for now :).

The camera is good, 3.2 megapixel with an impressive flash (maybe too powerfull if it`s really dark as the same night I was in a club and I pretty much lightned up a whole area and all the people turned at me [yes it was my blackberry storm ladies ;p]). I would suggest to turn ON image Stabilizer (if thats the right translation, anyway second option)... pictures come out way better!
A really cool thing, after you took a picture, you can send it straight to any of your friends on MSN, AIM, Blackberry Messenger and even upload it straight in one of your online social network profiles such as facebook... and I found that so easy and one of the greatest feature so far . 1 click and “boom” I got the picture on my profile, couldnt ask for more.

Social Network Applications are also in there. Facebook , flickr, myspace , etc. Let`s just say you will be reachable by anybody and you won`t be bored anymore in dead times.

NOW SOME PROBLEMS:

Right Right… this phone is not perfect..
The blackberry storm Screen is way different from the iphone screen; It`s like 1 big button you can press down. For example, you are typing the word A, you can “lightup” the letter by just having ur finger on it, like the iphone, and then press down for give the input. Like a real keyboard pretty much.

 

However, it seems like the first generation of this phone came out with a few bugs. On some phones, the edges of the screen don’t click correctly as they are really hard to push down. This is a really annoying problem and I felt it right away on my phone when I started typing for the first time. Most of the people I know called their providers and got a replacement phone with a working screen and they also say it works faster and smoother. Yes because you will notice that the storm is a bit laggy sometimes, especially on the home screen which they say they are going to fix as soon as possible with a new firmware. I found a really easy solution for the screen problem thought which works kinda okey. I took a business card, folded it in 2 and then put it between the battery and the blackberry case (the top case so right on top of the battery). Close it and you will feel that the edges actually work ok now, not as great as the center of the screen, but hey that’s a good temporary solution. You will find online other kind of fixes, however that’s the easiest one in my opinion and that`s what I am using. Also, for the home screen lag, I made sure to put under options-advanced options-accesibility- 4x4 grid and re organize the home screen so I only have 16 icons and no more useless ones. I have also updated my firmware to 4.7.0.78 (platform 4.0.0.98 by Vodafone) and it seems better, but it still needs some work.  

 

I won`t go more into details  because in the end of the day it was supposed to be a blog and not a phone review, but you know, I love technology and I believe I have quite good experiences with phones and such things so why not talking about it J. With that being said, I kinda already love this phone because it`s really easy to use and you have everything you need in one device. I personally never found a phone with so many great options and I am really enjoying it so far. My iphone is still next to me thought and hopefully there will be a new firmware soon to fix some of the bugs that are still there.

When one door closes …

                                           ……”hopefully” another opens, I would say.

 

I guess it's time to move on. I feel pretty sad for the players , the community, the people I probably wont see anymore. .
It was a great ride, and I probably won't find another group of people as great as my team, the San Francisco OPTX,  in my next adventure but they will all stay in my heart; those kind of memories will never be forgotten.

 
I was reading different webpages, and I found it funny how some people that have been working in gaming for years, don’t understand how important the CGS was for gaming. It also saddened me  that some people were full of joy in knowing that the CGS was no more.

 
I'm a gamer, I care about the players and the people involved. I read Frod's blog and he definitely got some points there.  I'm not saying CGS was perfect , because it wasn’t and I wasn't happy with some of their decisions myself, but I loved it like every gamer who was part of it.

The CGS was , in my opinion, one of the most successful leagues ever created and the only one at the moment who could have pushed gaming in the mainstream like no other leagues have ever done in years. Their concept and their games might not have pleased everyone, but which other league/organization has ever put up together what they did in less than 2 years?  If you think about it, when I joined the CGS there were just a couple of players around the world who could consider themselves real professionals, who could actually made a living by playing games and they gave this opportunity to hundreds of players worldwide. For the first time in my career I was playing on a sport channel in my own country, in Italy, with commentators and fans cheering for me.
Back in the days when people like me, fatal1ty, Redeye or DjWheat used to travel all over the world, we could have just dreamt of something like that.
…I wouldn’t of have left my main career (fps ) for be part of this if I didn’t believe in it.

 

It takes a lot of courage to actually disagree that it's definitely one of the saddest moments in gaming. At the end of the day,  this is not the first time I've seen a league die.  I was there when, one by one, the CPL, WSVG, now CGS, died and every time I found myself without something to look forward to. But something else came up and I was ready to jump on the ride and go.
Is it gonna happen again? We will see.. but It's not gonna be the same.

 
I personally wanna thank all the people who were behind the CGS and also all the players and the community who were part of this. I know a lot of them right now are looking for new jobs or taking important decision in their lives, so I wish all of you the best and I hope to see you all again really soon.

I know we will.

 

Sincerely ,

Alessandro “stermy” Avallone

 

 

... stermy.com is online!
Big thanks to my friend Nicola Geretti (many of you know him as Forrest, Unreal  Tournament/Painkiller player) who coded and also restyled the design of the website. www.geretti.com !

I have alot of great projects and ideas for the future.
One of my main goals is to help gaming growing as a real sport:gaming has given me so many great experiences in my life, I met so many great friends and I also made a living by doing it.
I think it`s time to show everybody that gaming is a lifestyle and that professional gamers are real athletes.
No more stereotype of the usual gamer sitting in front of the computer 20 hours a day with no life or friends.
We travel around the world, we play and work on tv, we do what we love and yes, we do have a great life,personality and tons of friends.

I also want to help upcoming gamers to reach their dream.

I know that there are alot of young gamers out there with alot of talent and they just wish they could have a chance to compete against the best. Alot of gamers are also being taken advanage from different organizations who promise them alot and never deliver.
I know for a fact that I want to help gamers out and I hope in the future I can try my best to do that.

-----

As you can see, my website is pretty much open to the community. I will try and upload videos, pictures,blogs and demos as often as possible. I will also have different promotional things going on where gamers can win great prizes.
For my website`s launch,XFX is giving out a 9800GTX , one of the best gfx cards out there at the moment,and also 2 great cases from Thermaltake aswell.
Other Prizes , like rams from GeiL, will be part of other promotions in the next few days.

I want to thank everybody who helped me out in my career and also my family for supporting me in anything I have ever done in my life.

Thank you.

Alessandro "stermy" Avallone

Sorry for the late update,
been really busy lately with  a team Bootcamp and the Championship Gaming Series.. Didnt have much time to be on my pc at all beside practicing and playing my official matches so hopefully by the end of next week I will have more time to write a blog and tell u guys what`s going on here...keep supporting me and my team on www.sfoptx.com as usual!

As for my website, it`s close to be done, I just had to wait a little bit more than expected but hopefully for the end of the month we`ll have something :)

Ciao,
Alex